The Magic: The Gathering x Lord of the Rings crossover set "Tales of Middle Earth" contains a single "One Ring" card that was hidden somewhere in a collector booster pack released in the English-speaking world. The anticipation for this Golden Ticket-like card led one store to price the set at $1 million before it was even released.

The card has now been found and certified by card grading service Professional Sports Authenticator, with a grading of "mint 9". Given that the whole point of card grading is to compare a card to other cards, the idea of grading a unique card is pretty pointless. I can only assume that they gave it a 9 out of 10 to leave open the possibility of improving it in a sequel.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the owner of the card wishes to remain anonymous, which is not surprising considering that the Eye of Sauron still casts an evil eye over the land in search of the ring's owner. Rumor has it that the card is in the possession of one of the people of the Shire, who was last seen crossing New Zealand in search of an active volcano.

For those who value Magic: The Gathering cards as a means to play the game rather than a means to accumulate value, the "Tales of Middle-earth" set is quite wonderful. The gorgeous map-style basic lands are a reason to care about Magic's least exciting cards, and Tolkien's legendary tales give Magic a mythic resonance that no other crossover has.

In addition to being available in rare paper editions, cards from Tales of Middle-earth have been added digitally to Magic: The Gathering Arena, available on Steam and Epic.