Who bought the MTG One Ring?

Magic: The Gathering has always had highly valuable cards. In the past, this was either because they were on the Reserved List (meaning they were both old and never to be reprinted) or because they were powerful and highly desirable in a format, whether that be competitive (like Standard) or casual (such as Commander). In recent times, the ways in which cards can hold value and be of interest to collectors of the game have really ramped up with all kinds of card variants, from specific foiling treatments to alternate art and even serialised cards.

And then, in secret, another card was printed to rule all of these; the most valuable Magic: The Gathering card of all time. The Lord of the Rings One Ring.

Background to the One Ring

In possibly the greatest marketing campaign ever for Magic: The Gathering, Wizards of the Coast, the game’s designers, created a very special limited-edition version of the card The One Ring in The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-Earth set. With gorgeous alternate art and written in The Black Speech (the likes of which I won’t utter here), the card had one amazing feature – there was only one copy of it made, and everyone had the chance to find it inside the set’s Collector Boosters. A great idea, burning with flavour.

Just as with The Golden Ticket in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, what followed was a huge amount of hype about where the card could be and what it could be worth, with fakes even appearing almost immediately on social media. Bounties of thousands of dollars were even being offered for the MTG One Ring before it was even found, mainly from collectors, YouTubers, and card-grading services.

And one thing we know about The One Ring is that it wants to be found, and found it was – eventually popping up on the PSA grading website. People speculated who could buy such a high value item, and much like the Eye of Sauron, the gaze of the MTG community turned towards one man who already had a track record with hefty MTG purchases.

Post Malone’s Involvement with Magic: The Gathering

Post Malone is a rapper and producer who has sold more than 80 million records and scooped numerous industry awards. He’s also a huge Magic: the Gathering fan, having appeared on numerous gameplay videos, most notably playing Commander with The Command Zone crew, piloting powerful decks with rare and expensive cards. He’s also got a track record with spending among the largest amounts on Magic: The Gathering cards, hitting the headlines for forking out $800,000 for an artist signed Black Lotus, while also playing in a bounty event where a member of the public could win $100,000 by beating him.

Post Malone has been known to play commanders such as Merieke Ri Berit, complete with the original dual lands and Sun Quan, Lord of Wu to make his army unlockable. He’s also a mono black K’rrik, Son of Yawgmoth deck, which led to him getting his own version of the card as part of a Secret Lair.

There have been rumours of MTG playing celebrities for years, but few have acknowledged it publicly let alone embrace it the way Post Malone has. His fame and passion for the game is bound to welcome in new players and it feels almost like fate that he would become the eventual owner of ‘the precious’.

The Auction and Eventual Purchase

When it was revealed that the Lord of the Rings One Ring had been found after the card was PSA graded, the owner, understandably, remained anonymous, accepting offers via a third party. Eventually a video appeared on TikTok revealing the lucky finder was Brook Trafton, who uncovered the MTG One Ring in a card shop in Canada, and that he sold the card to Post Malone, with the pair embracing and posing for photographs with the card during the exchange. It’s estimated that it was sold for a little over $2 million, making it the most valuable card in the game’s history, usurping even the iconic Black Lotus.

Trafton said: “I have played Magic: The Gathering since I was a kid and obviously it would be amazing to keep this card. But for a guy like me, being able to sell it is life changing. I just really hoped it would go to someone who would appreciate it as much as I do.”

Significance of The One Ring In collectable culture

In the short term, the One Ring had an obvious impact on raising the prices of Collector Booster Boxes, but even after it was found, boxes still have value at between £300 and £400. The huge success of the promotion will of course lead Wizards to producing more ultra-rare, serialised cards, both ‘golden ticket’ style inserted into boosters, but possibly via other means, such as exclusive Secret Lairs.

There’s also no doubt that Universes Beyond partnerships and products will not only continue but grow and grow. Universes Beyond allows Magic to reach new audiences of other big franchises, providing both a marketing opportunity but also exciting new products for MTG players and beyond. And we know there are some big partnerships coming, including Marvel in 2025.

Insights and reaction from the Magic community

Whilst many feel the Magic: The Gathering One Ring card itself (not the one-of-one version) is perhaps a bit too powerful as it continues to dominate the Modern format, the general reaction to it has been positive.

Firstly, it’s hugely fun. A real life ‘golden ticket’ promotion enables everyone to dream big on whether they could be the one to find it, and even the disappointment of it being discovered by another was balanced out by the well-loved Post Malone being the eventual owner and showing it off on his social channels. People also appreciate what a cool idea it was, and the excellent flavour of their being a single copy of the MTG One Ring.

There’s also the fact that, while many players are critical of Wizards trying to squeeze every penny they can out of players, that ultimately fans of MTG need the company that makes the game to be successful so they can keep printing cards. If you love the game, it’s important that Wizards of the Coast thrives, and promotions like this make a big difference to the company’s bottom line at relatively low cost (it’s just printing an extra piece of cardboard at the end of the day!).

It’s important, of course, that the one-of-one copy of the Magic: the Gathering One Ring was just a super rare version of the card and not the only mechanically-unique The One Ring to be printed, meaning anyone that just wanted a version of the card could get one fairly easily (yours for £55.29 on this very site at time of writing). A variant was even included in the Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-Earth bundle, for example.

In terms of the downsides, this kind of promotion is akin to a lottery, and may need to be regulated as such. It’s not ideal, for example, for players with gambling tendencies if boosters effectively turn into lottery packs. It also meant that there was a potential price-crash-timebomb on Lord of the Rings Collector Boosters based on when the MTG One Ring was found, although even today they are holding decent value, mitigated in part due to other serialised cards found within them (The Sol Ring ‘Rings of Power’) and the set’s general popularity and appeal to fans of both franchises.

All in all, the one-of-one One Ring is up there with one of the game’s best marketing campaigns, arguably even the best, and we can expect much more of this kind of thing going forward.