The One Ring is a problematically flavorful MTG card. Not only was there the One-of-One Ring, but it’s apparently unkillable. Maybe we should have thrown it into a volcano after all. The latest evidence of this indestructibility comes in the form of it avoiding yet another ban.
Despite being the most popular, and arguably powerful, card in the entire format, The One Ring is still Modern legal. Not only has this caused the card’s price to spike, but it also makes a mockery of Wizards’ banning logic. On all fronts, this decision appears to be the wrong one, and MTG players aren’t happy about it.
Flawed Logic
For pretty much all of MTG’s existence, it’s been expected that if a card is too popular or powerful, it will be banned. After all, the most popular cards are often the most powerful and subsequently need to be addressed. For The One Ring, that apparently isn’t the case.
Thankfully, The One Ring did at least get a mention during the recent ban announcement; however, it obviously wasn’t good news. During the news post, Wizards revealed they considered banning The One Ring but ultimately decided against it for now. This was due to The One Ring not creating a ban-worthy archetype on its own.
“While present in several decks, there is no clear The One Ring deck terrorizing Modern.”
Wizards of the Coast
Instead of being a problematically powerful combo card like Nadu, Winged Wisdom, The One Ring is just good. Really really really good. It offers protection and card draw and is incredibly difficult to interact with. Thanks to this utility, The One Ring sees play in almost every single Modern archetype.
Thanks to being a colorless artifact, The One Ring is absolutely everywhere, and it’s not going anywhere now. According to MTGGoldfish, The One Ring appears in 47% of Modern decks. In comparison, Nadu only appeared in 18% of decks and Grief only appeared in 13%. While Nadu is, or rather was, undeniably a problem, these numbers are nonetheless worlds apart.
Due to these statistics, the decision not to ban The One Ring has baffled many MTG players. Not only is the card obscenely powerful, but it’s making the format feel stale through its ubiquity. Many games are defined by who drops their The One Ring first, and that’s not exactly compelling gameplay.
Despite this detail, Wizards has consistently decided against action. Hopefully, this inaction will end soon enough with the next bans in December. Until then, The One Ring is only going to become more problematic.
The Pricing Problem
Given its immense popularity, many MTG players were expecting The One Ring to get banned. Over the past few weeks, this has brought the card’s price down for a change. Back in July, The One Ring was at least $100, but it dropped to $70 at one point! Now that it’s not been banned, its price is quickly starting to shoot back up.
Already, the cheapest copy of The One Ring is back up to $92. This follows an insane volume of almost 200 sales on TCGplayer within the last day. Should this trend continue, the price of The One Ring is likely to balloon even more. Some MTG players expect this card could even breach $200.
Obviously, this immense price tag is a problem, especially considering the card’s ubiquity. Since The One Ring is played in almost every deck nowadays, Modern has become a lot more expensive. Getting into the format will require you to drop almost $400 on a playset of this card alone.
This financial angle is yet another reason MTG players wanted to see The One Ring banned. The price of this card is simply out of control, and it’s harming the appeal of playing Modern right now. The same was true of Mox Opal back in 2020. Banning cards just because they’re expensive, however, may set a dangerous precedent that could be abused.
Sadly, this monetary aspect may also prevent Wizards from banning The One Ring haphazardly. Since the card is guaranteed to appear in the Tales of Middle-earth Bundle, this product still sells like hotcakes. So long as it’s in print, it’s in Wizards’ best financial interest to not ban this card to sustain the demand. Hopefully, this won’t stop them from doing what’s necessary.
An Eventual Reality
Thankfully, it seems like it will only be a matter of time before The One Ring is banned. Not only do players want it, but Wizards states they’re watching the card going forward. Should it continue to be overly and problematically dominant in Modern, it should finally get what’s coming to it.
“Once we see how the format evolves after this change, we will continue to observe and evaluate the health of Modern and see which future actions are necessary.”
Wizards of the Coast
From the sounds of this statement, The One Ring may only last until December 16th, 2024. This is when the next MTG bans are scheduled to take place. Hopefully, when this date rolls around, Wizards will take the action that players desperately want to see. Much like we’ve seen recently, having The One Ring avoid yet another ban will only exacerbate the card’s problems.
Alternatively, some of the burden of The One Ring could be eased by it being reprinted. It would have to be one hell of a reprint, however. Since The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth is the best-selling set of all time, there’s plenty of supply already. As such, this card getting a mythic rarity reprint in a Masters set might not move the needle much.
Ultimately, can only hope that The One Ring gets the attention, or rather scrutiny, that it is long overdue. It’s no secret that the card is problematic, MTG’s Lead Designer has even admitted this. It feels like banning this card shouldn’t even be up for discussion, yet here we are.
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