Sauron's Ransom
Sauron's Ransom: Instant, The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth. Choose an opponent. Printings, prices, and format legality on Mana Grove.
- Mana cost
- {1}{U}{B}
- Mana value
- 3
- Type
- Instant
- Colour identity
- Blue and black (UB)
- Rarity
- Rare
- Set
- The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth (LTR)
- Released
- 2023-06-23
- Collector number
- 225
- Artist
- Alex Brock
Build around this card with Grover
About Sauron's Ransom
Sauron's Ransom is a Magic: The Gathering card, a rare blue and black instant from The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth (LTR), a draft-focused set released in June 2023. It is collector number 225 in that set, with art by Alex Brock. It costs {1}{U}{B} (one generic, one blue and one black mana) to cast, for a mana value of 3. Its colour identity is blue and black. It is legal in Modern, Legacy, Vintage, Commander, Duel Commander, Oathbreaker, Brawl, Historic, Timeless, Gladiator and Penny Dreadful. It has been printed in 2 sets. The latest aggregated market price for this printing is $0.56 (normal finish, as of 2026-10-23).
Card text
Choose an opponent. They look at the top four cards of your library and separate them into a face-down pile and a face-up pile. Put one pile into your hand and the other into your graveyard. The Ring tempts you.
"He was dear to you, I see. And now he shall endure the slow torment of years."
Market price
Latest aggregated market price for the normal finish of this printing: $0.56 (as of 2026-10-23).
The figure covers this printing only; other printings carry their own price on their own page.
Format legality
Legality of Sauron's Ransom by format. Formats in which it is not legal are not listed.
| Modern | Legal |
|---|---|
| Legacy | Legal |
| Vintage | Legal |
| Commander | Legal |
| Duel Commander | Legal |
| Oathbreaker | Legal |
| Brawl | Legal |
| Historic | Legal |
| Timeless | Legal |
| Gladiator | Legal |
| Penny Dreadful | Legal |
Other printings of Sauron's Ransom
Sauron's Ransom has been printed in 2 sets. The other printings are listed newest first, with the rarity and release year of each.
| Printing | Rarity | Year |
|---|---|---|
| The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth (LTR) #676 | Rare | 2023 |
| The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth (LTR) #782 | Rare | 2023 |
| The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth (LTR) #371 | Rare | 2023 |
| Tales of Middle-earth Promos (PLTR) #225s | Rare | 2023 |
Official rulings
The 8 most recent official rulings for Sauron's Ransom, newest first.
- Some spells and abilities that cause the Ring to tempt you may require targets. If each target chosen is an illegal target as that spell or ability tries to resolve, it won't resolve. The Ring won't tempt you.
- Each player can have only one emblem named The Ring and only one Ring-bearer at a time.
- The Ring can tempt you even if you don't control a creature. In this case, abilities that trigger "whenever the Ring tempts you" will still trigger.
- As the Ring tempts you, you get an emblem named The Ring if you don't have one. Then your emblem gains its next ability and you choose a creature you control to become (or remain) your Ring-bearer.
- You don't have to reveal the cards in the face-down pile if you put it into your hand.
- The opponent may split the cards into one pile of four and one pile of zero. The pile of four cards could be the face-up pile or the face-down pile.
- You choose just one opponent to look at the top four cards of your library and put them into piles. Other players can't look, but they may attempt to offer advice without knowing what cards are there. The player who looks may choose what information to share with others if that player wants advice on how to split the cards, but that player doesn't have to share any information at all.
- If the creature you choose as your Ring-bearer was already your Ring-bearer, that still counts as choosing that creature as your Ring-bearer for the purpose of abilities that trigger "whenever you choose a creature as your Ring-bearer" or abilities that care about which creature was chosen as your Ring-bearer.
Similar cards
Other instant cards with a blue and black colour identity, ranked by how often they appear in Commander decks.