MTG's Two-Million Dollar The One Ring Has Been Found!
At long last, the one-of-one serialized copy of The One Ring from The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth has been found!
Technically, this isn’t the first time that Magic: the Gathering’s two-million dollar card has been claimed to appear. That being said, however, it is the first time that a credible source claimed so. With more and more evidence coming in over the past hour, it now looks like we’re dealing with the real deal! The hunt is over!
Considering the hunt for The One Ring recently went mainstream, it’s safe to say this is a momentous occasion. Not least because it’s likely going to upend the market for Collector Booster boxes! Over recent weeks the price of this Booster Box has been exploding, however, that may not come to and end. After all, the set’s most expensive card has finally been found!
The Hunt is Over
🚨 Breaking News 🚨
The hunt is over! We can confirm that the 1/1 The One Ring has been PULLED!
Stay tuned as more details become available. — Dave & Adam's (@dacardworld) June 30, 2023
Dave & Adam’s, one of the biggest companies in the entire Trading Card Game industry, has just announced on their Twitter page that The serialized One Ring has been pulled. As you can imagine, MTG players world over have been rather excited by this news. So much so, in fact, that the tweet has already been seen more than 100,000 times only an hour after the announcement went live.
As a well-respected authority, many players are fervently waiting for the details but, as expected, there is a subset of the community that is still doubtful about whether this announcement is the real deal or not. Unfortunately for these naysayers still looking to find The One Ring for themselves, more and more evidence has been pouring in. Coming from all manner of sources, it seemed near guaranteed this was real.
To put the nail in the coffin of this argument, PSA has confirmed they have seen, authenticated, and graded this ultra-rare MTG card.
As if it wasn’t enough that PSA has graded the card themselves, MTG personality Fireshoes recently shared further proof on Twitter. Sourced from a high-end MTG trading group, reportedly the head gaming buyer for Dave & Adam’s can confirm the card’s legitimacy.
For those curious, Dave and Adam’s recently offered a one million dollar bounty on the one-of-one serialized ring. This was topped by an LGS in named Gremio De Dragones for two million Euros. Having Dave and Adam’s announce The One Ring’s appearance, with this bounty on the card, makes a lot of sense.
According to an update from Polygon, the card was found in Whitby, Ontario, found by “the cousin of a regular customer” of the Maximum Cards and Collectibles local game store.
Breaking news! 🚨
If you pull "The One Ring," you're in for a treat. The 1/1 Serialized card now has a mind-boggling bounty of 1 million dollars from Dave and Adam's. Everyone is eagerly wondering how much higher this bounty can go. 💸
Magic: The Gathering Lord of the Rings… pic.twitter.com/H8OaL0txEy — Drip (@dripshop_live) June 8, 2023
The One Ring isn’t a PSA 10?
Lmfao PSA 9
💩 — BooM.CitY.Cards & Collectibles (@BoomCityCards) June 30, 2023
While it may seem absolutely wild that this one-of-one MTG card doesn’t have a perfect 10 grade, this actually isn’t too shocking. It is not at all uncommon for cards to have slight damage right out of a pack, regardless of the TCG. A grade of nine can actually be seen as a rather fortunate thing, especially when another recent one-of-one card that went for sale is put into consideration.
Tyler the Great Warrior, a one-of-one Yu-Gi-Oh! card that was recently sold for $311,211, only had a Beckett grade of seven, despite never being handled by gloveless hands. This is because, when originally put in the case, the back of Tyler, the Great Warrior was apparently scratched up.
In cases of one-for-one cards like these ones, however, grading matters little. There is only one copy of this card in the entire world, after all, so there are no other copies of these cards with different conditions to compare them to.
Read More: LotR MTG Commander Decks Are Being Review Bombed Online
What Does this Mean for Lord of the Rings Products?
Chances are, MTG Gift Bundles are going to get a heck of a lot less expensive. For those who were not aware, The serialized Ring was not guaranteed to appear in a Collector Booster Box. Wizards of the Coast claimed that The One Ring could also appear in the Collector Booster pack in Holiday Gift Bundles. Unlike most Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth product, these had a bit of a delay on release, so the product, as of the writing of this article, is still in its preorder stage.
Because of the release delay on this product, many MTG players speculated that The One Ring would appear in the Gift Bundle packs. This, theoretically, allows Wizards of the Coast to cash in on the hype generated for the search of The One Ring for a longer time frame.
The prices on these bundles were so overinflated that they were selling for as much as $300 during preorder season! This is despite the bundles only containing one Collector Booster pack and eight set boosters, these boxes were still being preordered for more than a Set Booster box! Now that The One Ring’s appearance is basically confirmed, the markup on this product will likely disappear. This also means that, unfortunately for those who bought in at high prices, there may be a lot of refunds going on.
Otherwise, many players expect Collector Booster prices to drop a bit. Despite The One Ring being found, there is still a lot of chase cards to find in these packs, but not enough to consider paying the $500 price tag.
Wizards Confirms!
One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all and in the Darkness bind them.
We are thrilled to hear tale of a new Ring-bearer in possession of the serialized 1:1 The One Ring! This journey is finished, but the adventure with #MTGxLOTR's continues! pic.twitter.com/nlKqJ02Qqk — Magic: The Gathering (@wizards_magic) June 30, 2023
Following The One Ring’s appearance, even Wizards of the Coast has joined in the announcements. While we do not yet know who our fabled Ring-bearer is, details are being uploaded at a rapid pace.
This should also make Lord of the Rings product a lot more affordable on the collectible end for players who are interested in cracking Collector Booster packs for the other potential goodies. Magic has never had something like this card in its history before, so the effects of The One Ring being discovered could have some unprecedented implications.
Read More: LotR MTG Card Hits $1000+ and It’s Only Getting More Expensive
Source: MTG Rocks
