The Ring Tempts You in MTG: Rules, History, and Best Cards

Last updated on September 5, 2025

Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth promo image

The long awaited Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth introduced the new “the Ring tempts you” mechanic. It’s the main mechanic in the set, and much of the gameplay is based around it.

If you played Limited with this set, you probably got tempted by the ring a lot, and so did your opponents. But what is a Ring-bearer? And why should we care about getting tempted by The Ring?

Stay with me and together we'll face all this complexity together, and hopefully our path will be easier than Frodo and Sam’s. Enough talk, let’s dive in!

How Does The Ring Tempts You Work?

Sauron, the Dark Lord | Illustration by Kieran Yanner

You first you're tempted by The Ring, you gain an emblem named “The Ring” and a corresponding helper card. It starts with only the topmost ability active but permanently gains additional abilities moving down the emblem each time you're tempted by The Ring. Every time you're tempted, including the first time, you must choose a creature you control to become your Ring-bearer.

The History of The Ring Tempts You in MTG

The ring tempts you is a mechanic first introduced in Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth. The first cards the mechanic appeared on were Frodo, Sauron's Bane, Samwise the Stouthearted, and Gollum, Patient Plotter.

Coincidentally these are all characters that are highly impacted by The One Ring in LotR lore, but that’s what we expect from such a top-down design.

Is “Ring-Bearer” a Creature Type?

No, “Ring-bearer” is a new and unique designation. It's not a creature type, ability, or subtype.

Is The Ring Equipped to a Creature?

The Ring isn't an equipment, and it's not equipped to a creature. Instead, a creature is given the designation of “Ring-bearer.” The creature chosen to be the Ring-bearer remains the Ring-bearer until you either choose another one, it leaves the battlefield, or leaves your control.

Can You Have More Than One Ring-Bearer?

No, only one of your creatures can be the designated Ring-bearer at a time.

Can I Choose the Same Ring-Bearer?

Yes, you can choose a creature that is already the Ring-bearer to be the Ring-bearer again.

If My Target is Illegal Does the Ring Still Tempt Me?

No, if your target is illegal and the first part of your spell fizzles, the Ring does not tempt you. This only applies on cards that require targets like Breaking of the Fellowship. With this example you can target your opponent's halfling in attempt to have it deal damage to an elf, but if the halfling is sacrificed, then the spell sees no legal target and does nothing, including no Ring tempting.

What Happens After The Ring Has All Its Abilities?

When you're tempted by The Ring but it already has all its abilities, you'll still be able to chose a new or existing Ring-bearer which will then get (or keep) all of The Ring‘s abilities. The Ring will neither gain nor lose any abilities.

Does The Ring Gain Abilities If You Don't Have a Creature?

Yes, The Ring still gains abilities even if you don't have a creature to designate as the Ring-bearer since you were still tempted by The Ring in the first place.

Can I Make a Creature I Control But Don't Own a Ring-Bearer?

Yes, you can choose a creature you control but don't own as your Ring-bearer. So controlmagic once again demonstrates how powerful it is.

Do I Need The One Ring for Ring Tempts?

No, you do not need to own or control The One Ring in order to use Ring-tempting. That's the powerful draw of The Ring.

Gallery and List of The Ring Tempts You Cards

• Aragorn, Company Leader
• Bilbo, Retired Burglar
• Birthday Escape
• Bombadil's Song
• Boromir, Warden of the Tower
• Breaking of the Fellowship
• Call of the Ring
• Claim the Precious
• Dreadful as the Storm
• Dúnedain Rangers
• Elrond, Lord of Rivendell
• Enraged Huorn
• Faramir, Field Commander
• Fiery Inscription
• Frodo, Adventurous Hobbit
• Frodo Baggins
• Frodo, Sauron's Bane
• Galadriel, Elven-Queen
• Galadriel of Lothlórien
• Gandalf, Friend of the Shire
• Glorious Gale
• Gollum, Patient Plotter
• Gollum's Bite
• Horses of the Bruinen
• Inherited Envelope
• In the Darkness Bind Them
• Mirrormere Guardian
• Nazgûl
• Now for Wrath, Now for Ruin!
• One Ring to Rule Them All
• Ranger's Firebrand
• Rangers of Ithilien
• Relentless Rohirrim
• Ringsight
• Ringwraiths
• Rohirrim Lancer
• Sam's Desperate Rescue
• Samwise the Stouthearted
• Sauron, Lord of the Rings
• Sauron's Ransom
• Sauron, the Dark Lord
• Scroll of Isildur
• Shortcut to Mushrooms
• Slip On the Ring
• Sméagol, Helpful Guide
• Soothing of Sméagol
• Stalwarts of Osgiliath
• The Black Breath
• There and Back Again
• The Ring Goes South
• Took Reaper
• Uruk-hai Berserker
• War of the Last Alliance
• Witch-king of Angmar

Note that there are two other cards that specifically mention ring-bearers, but don't actually tempt you: Sauron, the Necromancer and Lord of the Nazgûl.

Best The Ring Tempts You Cards

#10. Ringsight

You're in deep if you have Ringsight. It functions almost like a legendary sorcery in that you need to control a legendary creature, but with the Ring tempt at the start of the effect and Commander's color identity, this is essentially a Grim Tutor with upside rather than life loss.

#9. Frodo, Sauron’s Bane

Frodo, Sauron's Bane cares about being tempted by the ring, and four times is the key here. In EDH it can be a 2/3 with lifelink on turn 2 and start attacking, which goes well with lifegain synergies.

Later in the game you can develop a gameplan around getting tempted by the ring four times and start taking players out with the alternate wincon. It’s totally possible to develop a gameplan around cards like Darksteel Plate, Swiftfoot Boots, and Rogue's Passage.

#8. Galadriel of Lothlórien

Galadriel of Lothlórien is an elf commander that offers ramp and card selection, which is usually what Simic () decks require in EDH anyway. It’s very easy to fill your deck with scry effects in blue, and many Simic elves in this set have a scry theme.

Thrasios, Triton Hero can offer a scry on demand too, and these two together can be a scary combination.

#7. Call of the Ring

Call of the Ring is a 2-mana way to get the Ring tempts you triggers for free. You can change your Ring-bearers to draw cards each turn, and get an advantageous attack.

Commanders like Sheoldred, the Apocalypse can use the extra card draw that you’ll get through this card and Ring-bearer attacks, and you’ll also gain a bunch of life to offset the life loss.

#6. Boromir, Warden of the Tower

Boromir, Warden of the Tower is a part of some infinite combos and an honorary white counterspell that disrupts a lot of free spells. In the end, this is an outstanding and self-sacrificing soldier.

#5. Fiery Inscription

Fiery Inscription is a Guttersnipe that’s more resilient to removal, and it should be a mainstay of EDH decks that care about instants, sorceries, and noncreature spells overall.

If you already have a prowess creature like a Monastery Swiftspear, you’ll affect the board twice by triggering prowess and making Swiftspear your Ring-bearer.

#4. In the Darkness Bind Them

In the Darkness Bind Them is a powerful saga that can give you four tempt triggers, three 3/3 menace tokens and much more. You can even make one of your opponent’s best creature into your Ring-bearer for a turn if you want to, and coupled with sacrifice outlets you’ll get rid of three of their threats.

Granted, the card will take four turns to give you all the benefits, so you can compare it to a nice Grixis () planeswalker. If you want long-term value, look no further than this saga.

#3. Witch-king of Angmar

Witch-king of Angmar is a very flexible creature that's a nice attacker that also passively defends you. Players won’t want to attack you if you have the Witch-king around, and you can even protect it from removal by discarding cards, which leaves the door open to madness or reanimator synergies.

Witch-king of Angmar is a powerful threat in a fliers deck, can be an awesome Voltron commander, and even a stax piece.

#2. There and Back Again

Look how much Treasure this saga can make all by itself! There and Back Again gives you a 6/6 dragon that gives you 14 Treasures when it dies. Besides the awesome potential to get 14 mana to cast crazy-expensive spells or giant Eldrazi, there's great potential to abuse this card in decks that want to sacrifice artifacts or generate tokens.

Mirkwood Bats can deal 28 damage to players with that amount of Treasure, while Brudiclad, Telchor Engineer can turn them into creatures to attack. The list goes on.     

#1. Sauron, the Dark Lord

Look at this thing. Sauron, the Dark Lord in EDH is a massive 7/6 for 6 mana that's very hard to target with spot removal, and you’ll amass orcs whenever they cast spells. Sauron allows you to grow massive orc armies, draw a bunch of cards, and play all sorts of graveyard shenanigans, be it flashback, reanimator or wheels synergies.

Be sure to put many the Ring tempts you effects in your deck. Oh, and Sauron can be a very powerful Ring-bearer too, exactly as J.R.R. Tolkien (might not have) intended.

Wrap Up

The Ring | Illustration by Viko Menezes

As a LotR fan I approve of this mechanic and I’m glad it exists. Contrary to what most players thought when the mechanic was first revealed, being tempted by the Ring isn't a bad thing at all (in MTG, at least).

It’s a complicated mechanic for sure, and one of the most individually complex mechanics overall, but not the worst mechanic if you ask me, and at the same time it's easy to grasp since it heavily draws from LotR lore. And you can build around it, so there are decks that will be tempted by the Ring at all times, while some can have a Ring-bearer here and there thanks to some strong, individual designs.

Have you had any success being tempted by The Ring? Do you think the mechanic is too complex and shouldn’t have been printed? Let me know in the comments, or find us over on the official Draftsim Twitter.

Stay safe folks, and when in doubt, always follow your nose!