Call of the Ring
Enchantment
At the beginning of your upkeep, the Ring tempts you.
Whenever you choose a creature as your Ring-bearer, you may pay 2 life. If you do, draw a card.
- CMC
- 2
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- B
- Rarity
- rare
- Set
- Tales of Middle-earth Promos
- Price
- —
- EDHREC rank
- #1378
Call of the Ring is a three-mana enchantment that makes a creature your Ring-bearer each turn, stacking up evasion, card selection, and a scaling life-loss clock on opponents — all for no mana investment beyond the initial cast. The cost is real: you lose 1 life per Ring temptation level whenever the Ring-bearer attacks, so in dedicated Ring-matters decks that number climbs fast, but the card advantage engine it provides makes it the backbone of nearly every Sméagol, Helpful Guide build.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Sméagol, Helpful Guide
Sméagol, Helpful Guide triggers whenever a creature becomes your Ring-bearer, and Call of the Ring generates that trigger every single turn on a free activation — the two cards form the deck's primary draw-and-ramp engine in over 90% of lists.
Frodo, Sauron's Bane
Frodo, Sauron's Bane advances through his Ring temptation stages to become unblockable and drain opponents on combat damage, and Call of the Ring accelerates every stage of that progression while giving him built-in card selection each attack step.
Sauron, the Dark Lord
Sauron, the Dark Lord rewards having the Ring tempt you with Army token generation and a punishing trigger whenever opponents discard, making Call of the Ring a reliable repeatable source of Ring temptation that feeds his board-building and disruption simultaneously.
Lord of the Nazgûl
Lord of the Nazgûl enters alongside a Wraith token and creates more Wraiths whenever the Ring tempts you, so Call of the Ring's once-per-turn temptation trigger directly converts into a free 1/1 with menace every upkeep.
Frodo, Adventurous Hobbit // Sam, Loyal Attendant
Frodo, Adventurous Hobbit // Sam, Loyal Attendant leans into Ring-bearer synergies across both halves, and Call of the Ring ensures Frodo advances his temptation count consistently while keeping the card selection flowing in a deck that often wants to maintain a wide board.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | legal |
| pioneer | not legal |
| standard | not legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
Call of the Ring is a Commander card in practice — the Ring mechanic is a multiplayer value engine, and the payoffs scale directly with how many opponents you're draining each attack step. In Legacy and Vintage it's technically legal but sees no meaningful play; three mana for an enchantment that doesn't interact with the stack or the board in any immediate way is far too slow for those formats. Oathbreaker is the one non-Commander format where it has a plausible home, specifically in Ring-matters builds that mirror the Commander archetype. Pioneer, Standard, and Pauper are off the table entirely.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
unknown tier
Pricing data isn't available in the current dataset for Call of the Ring, so check Scryfall or TCGPlayer for a live number before buying. Given its near-universal inclusion in Sméagol, Helpful Guide lists and strong representation across several other Ring-matters commanders, demand has historically kept it from being a bulk rare — verify the current price before assuming it's an easy pickup.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
- Sméagol, Helpful Guide
- Frodo, Sauron's Bane
- Sauron, the Dark Lord
- Lord of the Nazgûl
- Frodo, Adventurous Hobbit // Sam, Loyal Attendant
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.