701.54. The Ring Tempts You

Subrules

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.

Ring-bearer is a designation a permanent can have. Being a Ring-bearer is not a copiable value.

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.”

Some abilities trigger “Whenever the Ring tempts you.” The Ring tempts a player whenever they complete the actions in 701.54a, even if some or all of those actions were impossible.

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.

Other rules in this chapter

Ask the judge Pro

The life counter has an AI judge that answers your play citing the exact rules. It is part of Gatewatch Pro; the rules, Oracle text and rulings stay free.