Magic Updates The One Ring Credit After Art Tracing Admission

Wizards of the Coast is changing how it credits the new The One Ring card after acknowledging that its recently revealed Magic: The Gathering | The Hobbit artwork was based too closely on an earlier version by Marta Nael.

In an official statement from the Magic: The Gathering account, longtime Magic artist Dan Frazier said he "ended up using Marta’s Ring as a reference and painted over it" while working on the new image. Wizards said the similarities between Nael's The One Ring art and Frazier's newly revealed version were "not coincidental" and that its review process failed to catch the issue before the card was shown.

"In doing so, I didn’t make it my own. I’m reaching out to Marta privately to apologize artist to artist. I love creating art for Magic, I’ve loved being a part of this artist community for more than 30 years, and I’m sorry I’ve let my fans down," Frazier said.

Wizards said it has also apologized to Nael. The company said digital versions of the card will credit both Frazier and Nael, and that Nael will be compensated for her work.

The controversy hits one of The Hobbit set's biggest collector cards

The timing gives the art issue extra weight because The One Ring is one of Magic's most recognizable modern cards. It was the headline card of 2023's The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth, including a one-of-one serialized version that sold to Post Malone for more than $2 million.

The new version is part of Magic: The Gathering | The Hobbit, which Wizards says releases worldwide on August 14, 2026. The company revealed the set's first details at MagicCon: Las Vegas, including Middle-earth classic artist cards, Dwarven language cards, book cover cards, Dragon hoard frame cards and a limited gleaming gold Smaug, the Magnificent card with approximately 500 copies printed.

The One Ring appears in the Middle-earth classic artist card treatment for The Hobbit. Wizards says each Play Booster box and Collector Booster box includes a Box Topper with one traditional foil Middle-earth classic artist card, while non-foil and surge foil versions of those cards appear in Collector Boosters.

The statement does not say whether printed versions of the Box Topper card will be changed before release. Wizards framed the issue as a human error from both the artist and the company, saying it does not condone the mistake but still values Frazier's decades of contributions to Magic.