The popular Modern (and Premodern!) streamer fpawlusz (Fran to his friends) asked a provocative question following last week's release of The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle Earth digitally:

How many copies of The One Ring will we see in the top 8 of tomorrow's Modern Showcase Challenge?

— fpawluszmtg (@fpawluszmtg) June 23, 2023

I confess, that like a lot of respondents, I voted for 4-8. To answer Fran's question, we were wrong... Zero copies of The One Ring made it to the Top 8 of the June 24 Modern Showcase Challenge. The highest finishing The One Ring deck was Bmadman in 12th place:

Izzet Breach | Modern | Bmadman, 12th Place MTGO Modern Showcase Challenge 6/24/2023

• Companion (1)
• 1 Jegantha, the Wellspring

• Creatures (12)
• 4 Dragon's Rage Channeler
• 4 Ledger Shredder
• 4 Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer

• Instants (18)
• 1 Prismari Command
• 1 Thought Scour
• 2 Remand
• 3 Consider
• 3 Spell Pierce
• 4 Lightning Bolt
• 4 Unholy Heat

• Sorceries (4)
• 4 Expressive Iteration

• Enchantments (3)
• 3 Underworld Breach

• Artifacts (4)
• 4 Mishra's Bauble

• Lands (19)
• 1 Mountain
• 2 Island
• 1 Otawara, Soaring City
• 3 Steam Vents
• 4 Flooded Strand
• 4 Scalding Tarn
• 4 Spirebluff Canal

• Sideboard (15)
• 2 Blood Moon
• 2 Flusterstorm
• 1 Mystical Dispute
• 1 Jegantha, the Wellspring
• 2 Engineered Explosives
• 2 Dress Down
• 2 Unlicensed Hearse
• 1 Cast into the Fire
• 2 The One Ring

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... And even then we see The One Ring as "merely" a sideboard card with no particular synergies in an established archetype.

The One Ring did make all kinds of splashes in Modern events following (even later the same day)... Just not in the Modern Showcase Challenge. Before we leave that event, though, it's worth looking at ArgentumSky's deck from the Top 8:

Boros Aggro | Modern | ArgentumSky, 1st Place Modern Showcase Challenge 6/24/2023

• Creatures (35)
• 3 Esper Sentinel
• 4 Goblin Bushwhacker
• 4 Halo Hopper
• 4 Knight-Errant of Eos
• 4 Memnite
• 4 Ornithopter
• 4 Thraben Inspector
• 4 Venerated Loxodon
• 4 Voldaren Epicure

• Sorceries (8)
• 4 Gleeful Demolition
• 4 Kuldotha Rebirth

• Enchantments (1)
• 1 Flowering of the White Tree

• Lands (16)
• 1 Snow-Covered Mountain
• 3 Sacred Foundry
• 4 Arid Mesa
• 4 Inspiring Vantage
• 4 Sunbaked Canyon

• Sideboard (15)
• 4 Burrenton Forge-Tender
• 4 Leonin Relic-Warder
• 3 Containment Priest
• 4 Drannith Magistrate

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This deck is a Modern update to the boogeyman-that-never-was from Pioneer. Super cheap creatures; Ornithopters paired with Gleeful Demolition for extra materiel. Eight five-mana 4/4 White Convoke creatures at the top end as payoffs. Sure, sure... ArgentumSky played Esper Sentinel. What a genius! (Esper Sentinel is not legal in Pioneer, and is only in this deck as a three-of).

What is actually relevant to our Modern Meandering to Mordor?

ArgentumSky played not a single Legendary creature in this deck and it's still a no brainer from Tales of Middle-Earth. Just an awesome Glorious Anthem for the price of a Crusade that conveniently pumps Ornithopters and Goblin tokens. Balrog forbid you'd dip your toes into a Legend or three.

Okay! How about The One Ring?

As many have said around social media and the Internet, it kind of makes sense that the central artifact of The Lord of the Rings is actually a good Magic card. What relatively few realized initially is that it has quickly become one of the best Magic cards of all time, across most of the formats where it is legal. While it does make sense that The One Ring is good, what makes less sense is that it's good in multiples, specifically due to Magic's The Legend Rule.

The central problem of The One Ring is that Burden counters can become - like the name implies - a burden. Drawing cards is nice and all, but they can weigh down on you, and eventually kill you to death. The One Ring does allow you to outstrip Burden counters in value and card drawing (at least in the short term) but they can pose a long-term detriment to your health nevertheless.

There are two ways to manage Burden counters (at least so far with one week of The One Ring under our collective belts):

1. Play lots of copies of The One Ring. Draw. Draw up to get ahead of the next Burden payment. Play another copy of The One Ring to reset your Burden. Flavor fail. Oh well. At least you get to ape Progenitus another time.
2. Just play Sheoldred, the Apocalypse. As if this card were not already so ridiculous... With Sheoldred in play, Burden counters are anything but. We haven't seen Sheoldred as too much of a force in Modern on Magic Online yet... But if you watch some of the digital-only formats on Arena, you're largely going to see Sheoldred and The One Ring against Sheoldred and The One Ring a lot unless something changes. They go together like the veritable peanut butter and chocolate. And obviously? If you've got Sheoldred and they've got The One Ring? Either they find an express ticket to Mount Doom or the game is going to end soon.

Four-Color Omnath | Modern | Slasher21, 4th Place MTGO Modern Showcase Challenge 6/24/2023

• Creatures (18)
• 1 Elesh Norn, Mother of Machines
• 1 Endurance
• 2 Fury
• 2 Nissa, Resurgent Animist
• 4 Delighted Halfling
• 4 Omnath, Locus of Creation
• 4 Solitude

• Planeswalkers (9)
• 1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
• 4 Teferi, Time Raveler
• 4 Wrenn and Six

• Sorceries (4)
• 4 Prismatic Ending

• Enchantments (4)
• 4 Leyline Binding

• Artifacts (1)
• 1 The One Ring

• Lands (24)
• 1 Forest
• 1 Island
• 1 Plains
• 1 Boseiju, Who Endures
• 1 Breeding Pool
• 1 Hallowed Fountain
• 1 Raugrin Triome
• 1 Sacred Foundry
• 1 Steam Vents
• 1 Stomping Ground
• 1 Temple Garden
• 1 Zagoth Triome
• 4 Flooded Strand
• 4 Misty Rainforest
• 4 Windswept Heath

• Sideboard (15)
• 2 Chalice of the Void
• 1 Hallowed Moonlight
• 2 Crumble to Dust
• 1 Veil of Summer
• 2 Dovin's Veto
• 2 Orvar, the All-Form
• 1 Dress Down
• 1 Endurance
• 1 Boseiju, Who Endures
• 1 Elesh Norn, Mother of Machines
• 1 Change the Equation

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This deck is one of the mildest The Lord of the Rings-enabled Modern decks you'll see... But it still bears a mention.

Not only did Slasher21 play The One Ring in a shell that can make good use of it (four mana is just not that difficult for a Green Ramp deck)... The strategy itself teaches us a little something about how to approach a format that might revolve around The One Ring soon.

The One Ring is indestructible, not hexproof. That means that while it is tough to destroy with an Abrade, cards that can remove it from the game entirely are still fair game.

Slasher21's deck choice is one of the best for putting up resistance to The One Ring (and plays one copy itself).

Not for nothing, this deck also features a different, ultimately important, addition from The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle Earth:

In many ways this card is just an upgraded Llanowar Elves. While it can't produce quite as regularly, one colorless mana will usually do just fine. The ability to make any color - and protect whatever Legendary creature is being cast - is certainly exciting... But not that much better than Llanowar Elves except in particular circumstances.

What's really important about this card is just that it has two toughness.

Two toughness? What's so important about that?

Flowering of the White Tree is kind of awesome, but it's not going to be a whiz bang four-of in very many decks. The One Ring might become the center of the Modern metagame; but early on it's being outnumbered by Delighted Halfling in at least one The One Ring deck. What makes Orcish Bowmasters so good?

Like, everything!

But principally? It eats Llanowar Elves, Birds of Paradise, Esper Sentinel, and even Ragavan for lunch. Orcish Bowmasters is almost comically overpowered. Jace, the Mind Sculptor hasn't been popular in Modern since its unbanning... But can you imagine Jace against Orcish Bowmasters? Thank the Balrog The One Ring has simply ended Jace's career at four. The onetime "better than all" would never live it down.

Orcish Bowmasters is probably going to be either the most popular or second-most popular card from The Lord of the Rings in Constructed deck. It's priced to move relative to The One Ring, and offers a ton of flexibility.

B/G Aristocrats | Modern | Xerk, 5th Place MTGO Modern Showcase Challenge 6/25/2023

• Creatures (28)
• 1 Blood Artist
• 1 Hapatra, Vizier of Poisons
• 1 Prosperous Innkeeper
• 2 Endurance
• 3 Ignoble Hierarch
• 4 Delighted Halfling
• 4 Orcish Bowmasters
• 4 Wall of Roots
• 4 Yawgmoth, Thran Physician
• 4 Young Wolf

• Planeswalkers (4)
• 4 Grist, the Hunger Tide

• Instants (4)
• 4 Chord of Calling

• Artifacts (3)
• 3 The One Ring

• Lands (21)
• 1 Swamp
• 3 Forest
• 2 Boseiju, Who Endures
• 2 Khalni Garden
• 2 Nurturing Peatland
• 2 Overgrown Tomb
• 2 Twilight Mire
• 3 Blooming Marsh
• 4 Verdant Catacombs

• Sideboard (15)
• 2 Chalice of the Void
• 1 Engineered Explosives
• 1 Crime // Punishment
• 3 Thoughtseize
• 2 Fatal Push
• 2 Force of Vigor
• 2 Endurance
• 1 Haywire Mite
• 1 Pile On

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One way to measure how good this card is might be to look at the number of cards just in Xerk's deck that it beats up... Prosperous Innkeeper, Ignoble Hierarch, Blood Artist, Young Wolf itself... Even other Orcish Bowmasters can fall prey to its initial 187. Add Flash and Chord of Calling to the mix?

... You'll barely even grok how this creature deck manages to fit three copies of The One Ring.

But! It's here. The One Ring is so good, and so colorless, it seems capable of fitting in to any deck, almost regardless of strategy.

In case you were wondering if Orcish Bowmasters can only show up in elegant creature decks? That's not the case! It is just as at home in a brutal one. To wit:

Rakdos Aggro| Modern | DethFrmAbove, 2nd Place MTGO Modern Showcase Challenge 6/24/2023

• Creatures (24)
• 1 Kroxa, Titan of Death's Hunger
• 3 Seasoned Pyromancer
• 4 Dauthi Voidwalker
• 4 Fury
• 4 Grief
• 4 Orcish Bowmasters
• 4 Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer

• Instants (10)
• 1 Fatal Push
• 3 Feign Death
• 3 Terminate
• 3 Undying Malice

• Sorceries (4)
• 4 Thoughtseize

• Enchantments (2)
• 2 Blood Moon

• Lands (20)
• 1 Mountain
• 3 Swamp
• 1 Castle Locthwain
• 1 Marsh Flats
• 1 Mount Doom
• 1 Verdant Catacombs
• 2 Polluted Delta
• 3 Blackcleave Cliffs
• 3 Blood Crypt
• 4 Bloodstained Mire

• Sideboard (15)
• 2 Chalice of the Void
• 1 Blood Moon
• 1 Seasoned Pyromancer
• 2 Engineered Explosives
• 2 Orvar, the All-Form
• 1 Tourach, Dread Cantor
• 2 Unlicensed Hearse
• 1 The Filigree Sylex
• 3 Call of the Ring

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This is a deck that, at least in the absence of Sheoldred, does one of the best jobs at bringing all the disparate advantages of The One Ring together:

Mono-Green Tron | Modern | yPrincipe, 5th Place MTGO Modern Showcase Challenge 6/24/2023

• Companion (1)
• 1 Jegantha, the Wellspring

• Creatures (7)
• 1 Cityscape Leveler
• 1 Kozilek, Butcher of Truth
• 1 Sundering Titan
• 1 Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger
• 3 Wurmcoil Engine

• Planeswalkers (5)
• 1 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon
• 4 Karn, the Great Creator

• Instants (2)
• 2 Warping Wail

• Sorceries (8)
• 4 Ancient Stirrings
• 4 Sylvan Scrying

• Artifacts (21)
• 2 Relic of Progenitus
• 3 Oblivion Stone
• 4 Chromatic Sphere
• 4 Chromatic Star
• 4 Expedition Map
• 4 The One Ring

• Lands (17)
• 2 Snow-Covered Forest
• 1 Blast Zone
• 1 Boseiju, Who Endures
• 1 Sanctum of Ugin
• 4 Urza's Mine
• 4 Urza's Power Plant
• 4 Urza's Tower

• Sideboard (15)
• 1 Chalice of the Void
• 1 Sundering Titan
• 1 Trinisphere
• 1 Engineered Explosives
• 1 Liquimetal Coating
• 1 Tormod's Crypt
• 1 Walking Ballista
• 2 Haywire Mite
• 2 The Stone Brain
• 1 Oblivion Stone
• 1 Soulless Jailer
• 1 Jegantha, the Wellspring
• 1 Ensnaring Bridge

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First of all, yPrincipe played all four copies of The One Ring. I do think it's a little odd that they're all in the main deck given that this is a Karn, the Great Creator deck... But the sentiment is there. When the Burden starts to feel like too much? Throw any and all flavor text into Mount Doom.

Secondly, this is a Karn, the Great Creator deck. Meaning, Karn naturally turns off the opponent's The One Ring, should it be in play. Karn does this as a static ability, so The One Ring's ability to protect its master the turn it appears can't protect it from Karn.

Finally, this is a Wurmcoil Engine deck. Meaning, if the Burden gets too high... You always have the life gain from papa Wurmcoil to help keep you alive to draw more cards another day.

If The One Ring has got you down before you've even sleeved it up to play yourself? I'd recommend you don't worry over much. My second favorite Streamer Andrea Mengucci, already has one proposed solution:

As The One Ring gets more and more popular I believe it's better to play Cast into the Fire over Abrade in Modern right now. #MTGModern #MTGxLOTR pic.twitter.com/5RJVBETWAN

— Andrea Mengucci (@Mengu09) June 23, 2023

Cast Into the Fire actually has some upside against the non-Bowmasters-aware decks; but its ability to actually deal with The One Ring (or at least one copy of The One Ring) is what justifies its appearance as a potential Modern option.

Take that! Orcish Bowman and... Um... Other Orcish Bowman!

LOVE

MIKE