VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — You don’t have to be familiar with "Magic: The Gathering" to realize just how high the stakes are right now. The hunt is on for a multi-million dollar playing card.
The company behind the beloved card game, Wizards of the Coast, has partnered with the "Lord of the Rings" franchise to create a new playing card set called "The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth" and it includes one card forged in the fires of fantasy fandom.
“Over a single card…I don’t think there’s ever been this much hype,” Scott Blauvelt at Tower of Games in Virginia Beach told 13News Now.
Blauvelt — a long-time fan of both "Magic: The Gathering" and "Lord of the Rings" — said people are paying nearly $50 for a longshot chance at finding “The One Ring” card.
That’s the cost of a "collector’s booster pack," which is a 12-card deck and the only place to unwrap the elusive card.
The card is based off of the all-powerful ring at the center of the "Lord of the Rings" story.
There's a normal version of "The One Ring" card which won't be as hard to find.
But the serialized version is a "one-of-one," which collectors say is unheard of for "Magic: The Gathering."
Because of that, its value has skyrocketed.
“There are a couple of guys who have posted and said, ‘Hey, I’ll give you $50,000 if you don’t tell anybody about it, and you just take it to a volcano with me and throw it in,’” Blauvelt explained.
When it is inevitably uncovered, a bounty awaits. Auction houses currently value “The One Ring” card at a whopping $2 million.
The official release date of "The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth" is June 23.