It's what's called a designation: It confers certain properties to the card, but it's not itself an ability
However, I was tinkering around with the deck a little more to address the weaknesses you stated, and I think I've made a deck list that could possibly hold its ground better against a lot of the decks you play tested mine against
Unfortunately the format revolves heavily around Greasefang, so expect maindeck graveyard hate and more coming from the sideboard
When you're tempted by The Ring but it already has all its abilities, you'll still be able to chose a new or existing Ring-bearer which will then get (or keep) all of The Rings abilities
If you don't want to send your cards by mail and wait to get paid, this is a quick way to get the cards off your hands
For your first-ever Commander game, a four-player game is usually the sweet spot