When it comes to sports cards, One of One cards are among the few offerings in the hobby that can garner so much demand, hype, and value from the market. Much like what happened to Luka Doncic's Logoman Rookie Patch Auto, which went on to sell for millions of dollars, other notable cards with a One of One badge on them went on to make an impact amongst collectors and investors alike right away. Wizards of the Coast, as it seems, has joined in on the fun by partnering with Lord of the Rings to bring the first ever Magic: The Gathering One of One card.
The One Ring: Magic: The Gathering's first One of One card
Just recently, Magic: The Gathering gave an early glimpse at its upcoming Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle Earth set. First announced in 2021, the highly-anticipated set is part of the Universe Beyond series, which brings various franchises and transforms them into playable cards. Some examples include Stranger Things, Warhammer, and Street Dungeons and Dragons, among others.
This particular set, though, is the most ambitious venture yet by the card company as it attempts to bring the beloved franchise to Magic: The Gathering. As part of this effort, Wizards of the Coast gave fans a preview of things to come when the said set is released in June. Those who love both LOTR and MTG will certainly see their jaws drop over the first cards announced by WOTC, including those that feature Frodo Baggins, Gandalf, Samwise Gamgee, Gollum, and Lands that feature the actual map of Middle-Earth during the Third Age.
While all the upcoming cards and products drew a lot of hype online, none among those generated a lot more excitement than The One Ring, Magic: The Gathering's first-ever One of One card. The legendary artifact comes with a 4 mana casting cost and is Indestructible, much like Sauron's most famous creation itself in the books and movies. When it enters the battlefield, the player who cast it gains protection from everything for a single turn. Its main function, though, is to give players the opportunity to draw tons of cards at the cost of one life each as the game progresses.
The card will come in different variants with the One of One expected to draw interest, not just from the community, but from those into rare collectibles. As it stands, Wizards of the Coast will release a base version of this Lord of the Rings card and an extended art borderless variant with both foil and non-foil offerings for those who'll purchase the Tales of Middle Earth bundle boxes and collector booster packs.
Speaking of the products that will come out of this set, The One Ring card One of One variant can only be found inside a collector booster pack. As compared to set and draft booster packs, a collector booster has more rare cards in it with a higher price in the market. That's why buyers who are planning to hunt for MTG's first-ever One of One card will really have to spend some money to even get a chance to find The One Ring.
Why this Magic: The Gathering card can exceed the $1 million mark
Right before the announcement of Tales of Middle Earth, there has only been on Magic card that is considered the top dog in this hobby. That's an Alpha Edition Black Lotus signed by its artist, Christopher Rush, and encased inside a gem-mint PSA 10 slab. Just a couple of days ago, one of the two signed slabs sold on PWCC for $540,000 over a two-week auction.
The thing is, an Alpha Black Lotus has several copies out there at this point in time. With the best being the signed PSA 10 slabs, it must be remembered that these Magic cards aren't the only copies in existence. In fact, there are six PSA 10 slabs of this card out there. This is where The One Ring from the upcoming Tales From Middle-Earth set comes in.
So @wizards_magic basically just created the rarest most expensive card ever in #MTG the special "The One Ring" full art version is 001 of 001 meaning there will only be one in existence ever. I can see this card going $250k-$1 million easy. Who ever pulls this, is one lucky SOB. pic.twitter.com/KWZn8muv6Y
— 🏳️‍⚧️ Salacious V (@salacious_v) March 15, 2023
Wizards of the Coast announced a few days ago that their upcoming One of One card can only be procured by purchasing English-language only Collector Booster packs, which can be found in a box format or inside a gift bundle. This will make it a lot harder for customers to pull The One Ring as doing so will entail purchasing a lot of Collector Booster packs in the process. And if it does, the hype and demand for this Magic card will definitely ramp up its value as soon as the set is released.
But perhaps the biggest factor here is when using the value of a signed PSA 10 Black Lotus. Since costs around half a million dollars already, there's no reason for The One Ring to exceed the $1 million mark, especially if it gets a good grade down the line. But the mere fact that when compared to the Black Lotus, it only has one copy that will ever be produced is more than enough to drive up the card's value to insane levels.
In any case, it's safe to say that The One Ring from Wizards of the Coast and Lord of the Rings will elevate the status of Magic: The Gathering when it comes out. Those interested can go wild right now as the pre-order on these products are already available. Come June of this year, expect a bloodbath to happen as the chase for The One Ring will be a wild one, especially if it passes $1 million in no time at all.
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