One does not simply buy the One Ring — unless you’re Post Malone
By Ash Parrish, a reporter who has covered the business, culture, and communities of video games for seven years. Previously, she worked at Kotaku.
[In her best Cate Blanchett impression]
The world is changed.
It began with the forging of the great IP crossover between Magic: The Gathering and Lord of the Rings. In addition to rendering J.R.R. Tolkien’s beloved characters as powerful Magic cards, Wizards of the Coast also printed special thematic versions of the game’s Sol Ring card modeled after the book series’ rings of power.
Three (hundred) were made for the elves, immortal, wisest, and fairest of all beings. Seven (again, hundred) for the dwarf lords, great miners and craftsmen of the mountain halls. And nine (you guessed it, hundred) rings were made for the race of men, who, above all else, desire serialized, double-rainbow foil Sol Rings.For within these rings was bound the strength and the will to run the Magic tables at your local game shop.
But they were all of them deceived, for another ring was made.
Deep in the land of Hasbro, in the fires of Mount Wizards of the Coast, the Dark Lord Mark Rosewater forged a one-of-one, serialized master ring. And into this card he poured his cruelty, his malice, and his will to frustrate players with an indestructible card-drawing factory.
(Though obviously cool, the One Ring, as a Magic card, actually isn’t all that powerful. It can draw you a lot of cards, which is always good, and with the right card combinations, it can continuously protect you from damage. However, it’s relatively easy to thwart. Unlike its namesake that has only one mountain-based weakness, the One Ring card can easily be countered, exiled, tapped, sacrificed, or otherwise enchanted into
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