Creatures with shadow cannot be blocked except by creatures with shadow, and cannot block other creatures unless they have shadow, which fits given the nature of the Unseen world in Lord of the Rings
One card serving as an accelerant, discard outlet, and card draw is remarkably efficient, even at 4 mana
Either way, this nets plenty of value for your land drops and uses all those extra lands by making them threats
He simply stretches games until opponents run out of options
Your creatures are likely going to have +1/+1 counters on them, as it's often better to use riot to give them counters instead of haste
There are First-Place Foils which are a golden color, and Ive been told they look better in real life