For months, there has been a ton of talk from players about what they would do if they opened the one of one serialized copy of The One Ring. Would it be sold quickly to one of the high-level offers already in place? Would it stay hidden for years in a collector’s storage without anyone knowing? There’s been a ton of speculation around the card and how much it will sell for, but now there’s additional speculation about how its opening will be proven to the public. With an item this rare, there is sure to be a load of impersonators trying to pawn off fake openings for clout and cash. How will this be handled? For starters, it’s important to understand a brief history of the serialized copy of the One Ring.
What Is the “One” Ring?
As stated above, the One Ring that everyone has their eyes on is a unique, serialized copy of the card the One Ring that premiers in the Lord of the Rings MTG set. While there will be plenty of copies of the One Ring opened that are not serialized, the serialized version features gorgeous art and foiling that help embellish the ultra-rare design. The idea of collectible cards having a one-of-one version of a card is not new, but it is new to Magic. For example, the Yu-Gi-Oh! card game showcased a unique version of Tyler the Great Warrior that ended up selling for roughly $300,000.
Magic, however, has an even bigger market than Yu-Gi-Oh! Combine that with the fact that the One Ring in particular reaches another extremely popular market as a Lord of the Rings collectible and you have a card that could skyrocket in price. In fact, before the card even had an opportunity to be opened, we have seen lots of public offers for the card that continued to increase over time.
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Offers for the One Ring
The One Ring has featured a number of public offers over the past few months. From celebrities to card store owners to MTG enthusiasts, there is a lot of hype surrounding this card, and there are a lot of collectors ready to try to get the card in their own hands. One of the first offers made public was by a card store owner, initially setting the asking price at $190,000. From there, the offers continued to grow.
Cassius Marsh, an NFL player and MTG enthusiast, quickly upped the ante by offering $500,000 for the card, already far exceeding the final price of the Tyler the Great Warrior. Before long, offers spiked even further, to the point of reaching over $2,000,000 before prerelease weekend! It makes sense that these offers would continue to be made and raise the asking price. After all, this functions as great publicity not just for Wizards of the Coast, but also for the players who put out the offers themselves.
It’s clear the serialized copy of the One Ring has a ton of hype around it, and rightfully so. Still, there is a mysterious element to this whole process, as there is a range of possibilities that could happen with this card. It could be completely unopened for years, get locked in storage, or could even be theoretically destroyed.
With all of the hype surrounding the card, there are bound to be multiple instances of players claiming that they have found the rare card. The question is, how will the community know when it has been opened?
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The First Claim
With prerelease weekend still in full force, we have what appears to be the first public claim of the serialized copy of the One Ring being opened in Brazil. The artwork and design resemble that of the version that was previewed with potential curling. It is clearly different than the non-serialized versions of the One Ring, yet there is still tons of skepticism around the card having been opened, and rightfully so.
In this case, many people took to Twitter to show their skepticism with the claim that the One Ring had already been opened. Above, we have a statement saying the card in question looks too small. Others mentioned the foiling of the card, and how things simply looked off. The thing is, there is bound to be skepticism surrounding the One Ring until it is proven real. So how does one go about doing this? If you are indeed the lucky individual who obtains this rare gem, what steps should you take?
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Real or Fake
The general consensus with the first claim is that the card is indeed fake. One of the more convincing arguments to show why it is fake is to compare the picture in question with the original video put out by Wizards of the Coast. In this instance, it does indeed look like foiling around the gold ring itself is mismatched. Pictures aren’t always perfect, though, and in some cases, it may be hard to prove whether the card is real or fake. Obviously, collectors aren’t going to want to buy a fake version of this card.
That being said, there could very well be continuous fake claims of the One Ring being found before the real version of the card is indeed spotted. It is advised that anyone who thinks they have opened the unique copy of the One Ring is careful.
What’s interesting is that, with the price of the card continuing to go up over time, it may be best to try to hold onto product to drive the price up. Yet, at the same time, if you do open the One Ring, it may be best to have witnesses and a good way to verify legitimacy.
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Moving Forward
While the asking price of the One Ring is sure to be high, and curiosity surrounding the card remaining high until it is opened, it is unclear how long it will take for the card to truly appear in a confirmed way. Any player, regardless of background, could potentially be the lucky individual to get their hands on the card. It is important to stay vigilant about potential fake versions of the One Ring going forward, as there could be many.
Likewise, be prepared for people to say even the real version once opened is fake, as players will always be skeptical of something this rare, especially if there are a lot of fake versions floating around. It should be interesting to see what ends up happening to this one-of-one card, and how serialized cards in general will impact MTG in the coming years.
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