Gambling for MTG The One Ring will now cost collectors more than $500 per box

Wizards of the Coast expanded Universes Beyond sets with the release of The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth, a full Modern-legal Magic: The Gathering set that contains a one-of-one serialized The One Ring card. And as of June 27, prices of collector booster boxes have shot past $500 and may continue to rise until the one-of-one is found.

The search for The One Ring serialized foil one-of-one within The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth (LTR) continues following the global launch of the MTG set. Found only in English collector booster packs, bounties have reached as high as $2 million for the elusive cardboard card. The LTR collector booster boxes also contain serialized Sol Ring MTG cards with alternative art that have been sold for over $10,000.  

Collector booster boxes for the LTR set were priced at around $400 at the start of prerelease events on June 16. Since then prices have skyrocketed to jaw-dropping prices while the value of the cards within the collector booster packs have dropped since prerelease events launched, excluding select cards like the serialized Sol Rings and full art scene card versions of The One Ring. 

Related: All MTG Lord of the Rings cards worth money

Collectors can find an LTR collector booster box on TCG player for around $480 at time of writing while several Amazon sellers have the box priced at up to $550. And for some that doesn’t include shipping. The listed median price was around $500 on June 27. Those who purchase an LTR collector booster box also get a Box Topper. Some are worth money, but most fans who open a collector box are losing hundreds, even with a solid Box Topper hit.

Players are also grabbing other variants of The One Ring as the MTG card has had a major impact on the Modern format. But the true chase card of the LTR set is none other than the serialized foil one-of-one version that everyone wants to claim as their own. The hype for the Magic card has escalated to the point where streamers who never play the trading card game are spending thousands of dollars on collector booster boxes for views and a glimmer of hope that they’ll crack the right pack live. 

Plenty of fake The One Ring variants are circling the interweb but the real one is still out there. The big question, though, is how high will Magic: The Gathering LTR collector booster box prices go before it is found?