The Ring Tempts You

The Ring Tempts You
[[File:{{#setmainimage:MTGA The Ring Tempts You.png}}|70x70px]]
Keyword Action
Introduced	The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth
Last used	The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth
Reminder Text	The ring tempts you (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.)
Statistics	51 cards 15.7% 17.6% 19.6% 11.8% 13.7% 3.9% 2% 2% 2% 2% 2% 5.9% 2%
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keyword:"The Ring Tempts You"

The Ring Tempts You is a keyword action introduced in The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth.

Description

The Ring Tempts You helper card

The Ring Tempts You shows the influence of the One Ring on those who possess it. As the temptation grows stronger, so does the Ring-bearer.

Much like venturing, the phrase "the ring tempts you" activates a command zone effect. This time, each instance of "tempting" grants an ability to a particular creature, dubbed the "Ring-bearer". The player may change the Ring-bearer for each instance of tempting. Unlike the dungeons, which have single-trigger effects, the temptings create an emblem with up to four abilities, of which each ability specifically affects the ring-Bearer.

Each time the Ring tempts you, two things happen. First, you choose a creature you control to become your Ring-bearer. If you have a Ring-bearer, you may choose to have that creature remain your Ring-bearer, or you may choose another creature you control to carry that burden.

Second, The Ring gains its next ability, if it can. Once The Ring has all four of its abilities, it has reached its full power and won't gain additional abilities as the Ring tempts you in the future. Notably, The Ring will gain its next ability even if you didn't control any creatures as the Ring tempted you, meaning you didn't choose a Ring-bearer.

The Ring

The Ring emblem

You can keep a printed emblem in your command zone to remind you that you have The Ring and what it does.

The Ring gains the following effects, in order:

• Your Ring-bearer is legendary and can't be blocked by creatures with greater power.
• Whenever your Ring-bearer attacks, draw a card, then discard a card.
• Whenever your Ring-bearer becomes blocked by a creature, that creature's controller sacrifices it at the end of combat.
• Whenever your Ring-bearer deals combat damage to a player, each opponent loses 3 life.

From the glossary of the Comprehensive Rules (June 7, 2024—Modern Horizons 3)

The Ring

An emblem that may be created at the time the Ring tempts you. See rule 701.52, “The Ring Tempts You.”

Ring-bearer

Arena icon for the Ring-bearer.

Ring-bearer is a new designation; it's not a creature type or an ability. The creature you choose remains your Ring-bearer until you choose another one, it leaves the battlefield, or another player gains control of it. Each player has their own Ring-bearer (and their own The Ring), and you can never have more than one Ring-bearer.

Spells and abilities may refer to your Ring-bearer. Most obviously, The Ring itself has abilities that affect your Ring-bearer. It immediately becomes legendary and can't be blocked by creatures with greater power. In time, The Ring's other abilities will provide valuable combat bonuses. Other cards, including Sauron, the Necromancer, refer to your Ring-bearer.

From the glossary of the Comprehensive Rules (June 7, 2024—Modern Horizons 3)

Ring-bearer

A designation that a creature can be given as the Ring tempts you. See rule 701.52, “The Ring Tempts You.”

Triggered abilities

Some triggered abilities trigger whenever the Ring tempts you. These abilities will trigger if the Ring tempts you even if you didn't choose a Ring-bearer because you didn't control any creatures. However, some of these abilities will further specify that they trigger only if you chose specific creatures as your Ring-bearer.

Rules

From the glossary of the Comprehensive Rules (June 7, 2024—Modern Horizons 3)

The Ring Tempts You

A keyword action that causes a player to choose a creature they control to be their legendary Ring-bearer and may cause them to create an emblem called The Ring. See rule 701.52, “The Ring Tempts You.”

From the Comprehensive Rules (June 7, 2024—Modern Horizons 3)

• 701.52. The Ring Tempts You
  • 701.52a Certain spells and abilities have the text “the Ring tempts you.” Each time the Ring tempts you, choose a creature you control. That creature becomes your Ring-bearer until another creature becomes your Ring-bearer or another player gains control of it.
  • 701.52b Ring-bearer is a designation a permanent can have. Being a Ring-bearer is not a copiable value.
  • 701.52c If a player doesn’t have an emblem named The Ring at the time the Ring tempts them, they get an emblem named The Ring before choosing a creature to be their Ring-bearer. The Ring has “Your Ring-bearer is legendary and can’t be blocked by creatures with greater power.” As long as the Ring has tempted that player two or more times, it has “Whenever your Ring-bearer attacks, draw a card, then discard a card.” As long as the Ring has tempted that player three or more times, it has “Whenever your Ring-bearer becomes blocked by a creature, the blocking creature’s controller sacrifices it at end of combat.” As long as the Ring has tempted that player four or more times, it has “Whenever your Ring-bearer deals combat damage to a player, each opponent loses 3 life.”
  • 701.52d Some abilities trigger “Whenever the Ring tempts you.” The Ring tempts a player whenever they complete the actions in 701.52a, even if some or all of those actions were impossible.
  • 701.52e Some abilities check to see if a creature “is your Ring-bearer.” For the purposes of those abilities, that condition is true if that creature is on the battlefield under your control and has the Ring-bearer designation.

Rulings

• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• The Ring gains its abilities in order from top to bottom. Once it gains an ability, it has that ability for the rest of the game.
• Each time the Ring tempts you, you must choose a creature if you control one.
• Each player can have only one emblem named The Ring and only one Ring-bearer at a time.
• 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.

Trivia

• The mechanic originally was called “choose a ringbearer”, but was changed to “the ring tempts you” to be more flavorful.
• The progressive abilities of the Ring emblem match the three stages (declare attacks, declare blocks, combat damage) of combat, which also limits the power of instant-speed Tempting as each ability checks at exactly one juncture.