The One Ring is dominating Magic: The Gathering’s newest Modern-legal Universes Beyond set The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth, as the community wrestles with the potential of one-of-one serialized cards being added to future sets.
Since the early launch of The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth (LTR) set on June 16, collector booster boxes have soared in price, cresting $500 and more through some sellers as of June 27. The flavor of a one-of-one The One Ring is spot-on and has surely boosted sales to unprecedented levels. For many, the chase is fun and exciting to watch. The MTG community, however, appears divided when it comes to a future one-of-one serialized card.
A question was asked through game designer Mark Rosewaters Tumblr on June 26, asking if Wizards of the Coast was considering running another one-of-one serialized Magic card through a future set based on the success of The One Ring so far. Rosewater responded to the question with another question. “Is it something you all want to see?” And a majority of the responses were either an adamant yes or no.
Related: All MTG Lord of the Rings cards worth money
For some MTG fans, the flavor of The One Ring is enough to excuse the sky-high collector booster box prices and hype surrounding the serialized card.
“I very much don’t want to see it again. It’s at least a bit amusing for LotR, and is very thematic,” one Tumblr user said. “But it shouldn’t be done again due to all the chaos and distractions it creates.
For others, the answer is no. If a product like LTR collector booster boxes continue to rise to a price point that’s out of range for many loyal consumers, it could harm the overall secondary market.
And some MTG fans are happy about The One Ring and the hype surrounding it, especially those who create content and those who are selling massive amounts of collector booster boxes.
No matter the outcome of Rosewater’s mini-poll on Tumblr, should Wizards of the Coast and Hasbro want to create another one-of-one serialized card in the future, it will happen. But it’s unlikely to happen any time soon.
At the time of writing, The One Ring from the MTG Lord of the Rings set hasn’t been found.
