The Lord of the Rings MTG set has come with a lot of hype. There are tons of flavorful cards to sink your teeth into and a handful of cards making their way into various Constructed formats. Of course, the most hyped card in the set is certainly the One Ring. Not just any copy of the One Ring, though. Everyone within the MTG community is wondering who the lucky individual will be. How much will the unique card sell for? When will it be found? The MTG community certainly has their eyes set on this card.
Well, this card, in particular seems to have attracted the attention of more than just MTG enthusiasts. Yesterday, one of the world’s biggest streamers began opening boxes of the set on stream in search of the card. Further, he claims he is willing to drop up to $500,000 on boxes hoping to find the card! This is certainly an interesting move but showcases the popularity and reach this promotion has.
The Only Ring
The idea behind the promotion in the first place was to bring a flavorful, lottery-esque situation to the MTG community. In addition to players having the opportunity to obtain normal copies of the One Ring, there is a one-of-one serialized copy of the One Ring printed that should command an absurdly high price tag. Not only would more players get excited about the set, but players would also be further incentivized to open MTG product. Given that the serialized copy of the One Ring is simply a one-of-one card, many collectors have already expressed their interest, and the asking price recently ballooned all the way to over $2,000,000!
All of this publicity is great for Wizards of the Coast and those who have already made offers to buy the card. Some well-known celebrities, such as NFL player Cassius Marsh have put their offers on the table as well, further growing the hype surrounding the set. However, up to this point most of the curiosity surrounding the One Ring has been centralized within the MTG community. The celebrities involved have primarily been previously established MTG enthusiasts. This recent stream may be changing that narrative.
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Popularity Potential Skyrocketing
In recent news, well-established streamer xQc signed a massive $100,000,000 contract with Kick, a primary streaming service similar to Twitch. This would make him the highest-paid streamer in the world, with tons of reach and influence. Interestingly enough, he knows very little about MTG. However, the news about the One Ring not only reached him but stuck with him enough that he decided to make trying to find the unique card a priority.
While this may not seem like much initially, this is especially excellent for MTG and Wizards of the Coast. The amount of added publicity that can be gained from popular stream outside of the MTG community is enormous. Hunting for the One Ring is becoming more mainstream now that others outside of the MTG community are becoming involved.
Obviously, the fact that the One Ring news is becoming more mainstream is great for Wizards of the Coast, but it’s also great for the MTG community. MTG does have a bit of a niche player base, and more people will become immersed within the world of MTG the more mainstream the One Ring situation becomes. Growing the game is important, and the more xQc streams these box openings, the more the set and MTG as a whole get advertised.
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An Interesting Decision
It is nice to see people outside of the MTG community getting more involved in the search for the One Ring. That being said, it is still unlikely that xQc does, in fact, find the serialized copy. Even spending a ton of money on boxes does not guarantee anything, especially given that the One Ring can theoretically appear in gift bundles too. There’s even some speculation that the One Ring is more likely to be in a gift bundle in order to prevent the possibility of the card getting locked in storage. The thing is, xQc is the perfect person to be searching this hard for it.
As a non-MTG streamer with his level of influence, he’s not just growing the number of people interested in MTG and the One Ring, but he’s also growing his fanbase, which may be worth more in the long run than these box openings in the first place. This simply increases exposure to MTG to a more mainstream audience, and the level of excitement xQc has for Lord of the Rings MTG product should get more people interested in this set and future MTG sets alike.
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MTG Moving Forward
Beyond just the serialized copy of the One Ring, the Lord of the Rings set has been a slam dunk within the community. This not only includes the general MTG community, but also the Lord of the Rings community. It’s hard to imagine that these crossover sets won’t continue to become more and more of a part of the world of MTG with the reach that this set is having. It’s also interesting to think about the One Ring’s impact on MTG moving forward. If rare cards like this can reach influencers beyond the world of MTG, is there incentive for Wizards of the Coast to do something similar in the future? I’m curious to see how MTG evolves in the next few years, and it’s awesome to see the game continue to grow in unique ways.
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