Last week, someone finally pulled the $2 million bounty MTG The One Ring card, but four days later, it's still on the market.
As reported by CBC, the winner of this lucrative trading card lottery has chosen to remain anonymous, but they're a retail worker who lives in Toronto. They currently have a couple of high-stakes offers on the table to choose from—Dave & Adams is willing to pay $1 million for the card, while Gremio de Dregones put out a bounty of $2 million with a paid trip to Valencia.
According to Brad Hartlin, who works for the Professional Sports Authenticator, the world's largest third-party trading card authentication and grading company, The One Ring holder hasn't cashed in just yet. "This is such a unique moment," he said. "I truly believe when someone buys this card, you're not going to see it on the marketplace again for a long, long time."
It's unclear if the cardholder is in negotiations with Dave & Adams, Gremio de Dregones, or someone else entirely—if anyone at all right now. While anonymous, we know they're cousins with a regular customer of MAXimum Cards and Collectibles, and its co-owner James Hammond gave the lucky winner some advice about what to do after drawing The One Ring. It could be that they're waiting for the bounty to increase, we'll have to wait and see.
Despite the card coming with the promise of at least a $2 million buyout, the owner says they have no plans to quit their job. In an interview with CBC they said, "My hands were literally shaking. I couldn't believe it was real. These things don't happen to people like me."
Given that they're based in Canada, their payout ranges from $1.3 million Cdn to $2.89 million Cdn, but with how rapidly the bounty increased before the card was even found, we might see a bidding match between excited collectors unfold in the coming weeks. Or the cardholder could go with one of the existing offers—it's all up in the air right now.
They weren't the first to claim that they had drawn The One Ring card. Hartlin told CBC, "It was like, yeah, jump in line, You're the 20th person that said they had the card."
But after verifying that this wasn't a fraud, a joke, or someone eagerly trying to bluff their way to millions, Hartlin flew to Toronto to pick up the card, returning to Santa Ana to authenticate it at PSA headquarters. Shortly after, we all discovered that it's real, meaning that the hunt for The One Ring has finally come to a close.