Update: The search is over folks, The One Ring card worth $2m has been found (sorry to everyone who was hoping to discover it themselves). Original story follows.
The first MTG Lord of the Rings cards are being shown off for the new set before it arrives later this year, and that preview includes a special version of the One Ring that is quite literally one of a kind. Only a single copy will ever be printed, and it'll be hidden away in a specific kind of booster pack.
Although it's mechanically identical to the normal One Ring card (which offers protection from everything for a single turn when cast, but drains away your life), this genuinely unique version features foil artwork and is written in the Black Speech of Mordor. And while standard One Ring cards are hard enough to find because they'll be scattered throughout MTG Lord of the Rings booster packs and bundles, this hyper-rare alternative is only available in a single English-language Collector Booster. Because nobody knows where it'll turn up, there's a chance you could stumble upon one of the rarest MTG cards in the world by chance. Which is nothing if not fitting, really. Just imagine it being found by someone who doesn't know what it is… ("And some things that should not have been forgotten were lost. History became legend. Legend became myth. And for two and a half thousand years, the Ring passed out of all knowledge.")
Anyway. That's just the headline for MTG The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth. Along with a release date for when it'll join the best card games on shelves (June 23), we got our first look at cards from across the range including the Starter Kit and bundles. You can see a few of these below, or on the MTG site via the first-look announcement post.
This preview also gave us a glimpse of themes for the four Commander decks; the Eowyn-led Riders of Rohan, Food and Fellowship (with Frodo and Sam on the cover), Elven Council with Galadriel, and the Sauron-fronted Hosts of Mordor. Combine them with special Land cards featuring artwork reminiscent of the original Middle-earth maps, 'showcase' story cards, and borderless scene cards that combine into enormous paintings for some of the most eye-catching work MTG has put out in a long time.
The cavalcade of content for Magic's visit to Middle-earth isn't stopping there, though. Come the Holiday season, more from MTG Lord of the Rings will launch. To be precise, November 3 sees the launch of Scene Boxes (offering foil borderless scene cards recreating key moments), the Collector Booster: Special Edition, and The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth Jumpstart Volume 2.
You can pre-order the entire set via Amazon now.
For more tabletop, don't miss the best board games, these essential board games for adults, and must-have board games for 2 players. As for other Middle-earth shenanigans, be sure to check out our Lego Rivendell review.
