Find the one ring in the new MTG: Tales of Middle-Earth Set

DISCLAIMER: The 1-of-1 One Ring card has now been found in Canada. While you won’t find this unique serialised card in your booster packs, you may still find a whole load of other powerful and valuable things!

The Lord Of The Rings: Tales Of Middle-earth is one of the most highly-aniticipated Magic: The Gathering releases of all time. A crossover with J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth, the set brings characters like Gandalf, Frodo, Gollum and the Nazgul to MTG, with a set bursting with flavour, power, and iconic scenes. However, one of the most exciting cards of all is The One Ring.

You can uncover the One Ring in MTG: Tales of Middle-earth. An immensely powerful card that’s already seeing play in practically every format, it’s also a wildly valuable card. If you want strategies to find the One Ring in MTG, here is everything you need to know.

What Is The One Ring?

The One Ring is an artifact card in MTG’s Tales Of Middle-earth. Costing just four generic mana, it gives you protection from everything for a turn, and can draw you a whole lot of cards very easily. It being indestructible also ensures you’ll be getting the maximum amount of value for it. The One Ring is an absolute staple, and has been dominating in formats like Modern.

Just by tapping The One Ring, you can put a burden counter on it, and then draw a card for each counter on it. That means from the moment it enters play, you’ll be drawing at least one card whenever it’s tapped. Of course, there is a downside: at your upkeep, you lose life qual to the number of counters on it.

This tradeoff is so minor though, as having access to more cards than your opponent will almost always be enough to make up for losing some life. Any experienced Magic player knows your life is just as much of a resource as mana, and so paying a little each turn for such a powerful draw spell makes it one of the all-time greats.

It’s only fitting this card is so powerful, considering the significance it has in Lord of the Rings lore. The One Ring was created by the Dark Lord Sauron, and not only corrupted anyone who held it, prolonged the life of those who possessed it, and could control the other Rings of Power; it could even turn the wearer invisible and cast illusions for anyone looking at the bearer. Most of the series follows Frodo to Mount Doom with the express goal of destroying the One Ring once and for all.

Of course, for collectors, The One Ring is important for another reason. Until quite recently, everyone was ripping open Collector boosters hoping to be the lucky one to find an exclusive one-of-one serialised The One Ring. This card includes exclusive art and a serial number to confirm its authenticity, and quickly became the most valuable Magic: The Gathering card ever printed. Unfortunately, The One Ring was found in Canada, meaning you’ll “only” be pulling regular versions of this stunning card.

How To Find The One Ring

You won’t need strategies to find the One Ring in MTG, because, despite its power, it’s surprisingly easy to get a hold of.

The first way is by finding it in any booster pack. The One Ring is a mythic rare, making it one of the rarest cards in the entire set, but it can be found in Draft, Set, and Collector boosters. Note that these versions will be the base printing with the most basic art – if you want anything fancier, you’re going to have to look elsewhere.

The second version of The One Ring is a borderless scene card. Throughout Tales of Middle-earth, many cards have been given art that, when put together like puzzle pieces, make an extended scene from the series, like Bilbo Baggins’ Birthday or the Battle of Pelennor Fields. These are all gorgeous, but The One Ring comes in the four-card Mount Doom scene, along with Golum, Frodo, and Samwise.

This scene is by far the easiest to get a complete set of, because you can find The One Ring in literally any bundle box for Tales of Middle-earth. Its inclusion has made bundles hard to come by, but if you manage to get a hold of one, you’ll have a guaranteed One Ring all to yourself. Keep an eye in stores and online to see when it comes into stock, and make sure you act quickly as people are chomping at the bit for this extra-powerful card.

Finally, and perhaps the easiest way of getting a hold of The One Ring, is to buy it as a single. You can go to pretty much any online marketplace, like Magic Madhouse, or even your local game store and see if they have them for sale. Keep in mind that the popularity of the card has driven the price up, though, and you could be paying more for The One Ring as a single than even an entire bundle if you are able to find one.

Keep an eye on marketplaces like Magic Madhouse, and your own local scene, and maybe you’ll find a booster bundle. Alternatively, you could get involved at your local store and play in draft or sealed events for Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth. These are not only a great way to experience the game and get to know players in your area; it’s also a way to cheaply get booster packs and increase the odds of you pulling The One Ring. Find it, and you’ll be the envy of everyone in your store, and have a powerful card to win that evening’s matches with!

Strategies For Finding The One-of-One The One Ring

Getting the one-of-one The One Ring is a completely different matter entirely. Originally, the card was placed into one English-language Collector booster of Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth. Nobody knew what country it was in, or when it would turn up, but the hype surrounding The One Ring led to people buying boxes and boxes and boxes of Collector boosters, hopping to hit the One Ring.

Now, the only way you’re going to get that special print of The One Ring is by buying it off its owner for a massive amount of money. Right now, that owner is none other than rapper Post Malone, who bought it from the Canadian player who found the card for a whopping $2 million. It’s not likely he’ll be putting it up for sale any time soon, but when he does you can expect there to be an uttely incredible amount of interest. If you’re not willing to drop seven figures on this, you may be better suited finding a booster bundle or a single elsewhere.

Whether you’re wanting to get a full playset to power up your Modern deck, or just want one to commemorate this iconic Magic: The Gathering set that has proven a smash hit with both MTG and Tolkien fans alike, The One Ring is up there with the likes of Black Lotus and the Moxes as a card that has come to define MTG.