Hunt for LOTR’s One Ring grossly inflates cost of Magic booster boxes

This March, Magic: The Gathering Wizards of the Coast has announced an exciting promotion in support of its first card set based upon J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings: A singular card representing the One Ring has been hidden among thousands of packs of cards. At least one retailer placed a bounty of multimillion dollars on the card. As of Friday — launch day for The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-Earth — The price of a box of cards is now $518.45. That’s roughly twice what past sets of cards have cost per box. What happened?

Wizards has released in January 2019 a brand new type of booster with its own unique design. Ravnica Allegiance set. These packs, also known as Collector Boosters include more rare and unique cards than other boosters. They are also priced much higher than other packs, with a manufacturer’s suggested retail price of $12.99 for 15 cards. One month later Wizards of the Coast started not listing the MSRP of its products. The company’s reasoning at that time was to simplify the international pricing.

“We’re making this change to streamline our communications around new products,” wrote communications director Blake Rasmussen. “MSRPs are not favored in many parts of the world, which led to some confusion among our global player base. As Magic becomes more and more global, it makes less and less sense to suggest a retail price.”

This change also led to a greater commodification. Magic cards — especially unopened boxed product. Now it’s easier than ever for would-be investors to purchase boxes of booster packs and either cellar them, waiting for their price to go up after a set launches, or quickly flip them on a global secondary market.

Of course, individual investors aren’t the only ones interested in this price fluctuation. Amazon has algorithms that can monitor and adjust prices in real-time based on customer demand. It’s no wonder, then, that the world’s largest retailer has opted to let market forces decide how much a new box of MagicCards should cost. And so, with the increased popularity of this particular set of cards, that retail price has gone sky high — roughly double the cost of previous Collector Booster boxes.

This situation is not without caution. This unique One Ring can be only found in the Collector Boxes that were available at launch. The prices for other items will therefore be different. MagicThe quest to find the Ring of Power has had a much smaller impact on the products. Prices of Draft Booster Boxes are exactly the same as they were for previous sets (although the Ring is not included). But the success of this set — and the unique card itself — will likely embolden Wizards to try similar promotions in the future in the hopes of artificially inflating the retail price of its cards at launch.

Finally, if the One Ring isn’t discovered in a timely fashion, the price of these Collector Booster Boxes could actually go even higher on the secondary market. Wizards wouldn’t directly profit from this, but it would be a reward for investors who choose to store unopened boxes in their lairs.

More on The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-Earth, check out our beginner’s guide.