LOTR-TCG Wiki - User contributions [en]

The Shire Countryside (3R113)

2024-03-14T03:23:27Z

Phallen Cassidy: found a citation for Erland

<noinclude>__NOTOC__
{{NavBar|3R113|[[Realms of the Elf-Lords Index]]|[[Seek and Hide (3C112)|Seek and Hide (3C112)]]|[[Three Monstrous Trolls (3C114)|Three Monstrous Trolls (3C114)]]}}
{{CardTabs|Shire}}

[[{{ROOTPAGENAME}}]] is a {{C|Shire}} [[Condition]] from the [[Realms of the Elf-Lords]] set. While not particularly noteworthy upon its release, later cards empowered it to become one of the most notorious Free Peoples conditions. This posed a particular problem for Decipher: they had few ways to create new sources of burden removal without continuing to propel The Shire Countryside to greater heights and no way to use a companion's vitality to reliably limit phase actions. {{Card|Erland, Dale Counselor}} was the final straw,<ref>[http://web.archive.org/web/20070408171859/http://www.decipher.com/content/2004/10/102804lotrxlistchange.html Shadows X-list Update]</ref> a generally well-costed card that would introduce an endless loop with The Shire Countryside and {{Card|A Light in His Mind}}. It was one of many [[Fellowship Block]] cards to be [[X-list|banned]] when [[Shadows]] was released, a precursor to set rotation in [[Black Rider]].
{{CardInfobox|3R113}}
{{QueryCardCategories|3R113}}</noinclude>
= Strategy =
== Gameplay Strategy ==
In Fellowship Block The Shire Countryside was a relatively unimpressive card. It required a relatively large stockpile of burdens from bidding (only {{Card|Power According to His Stature}}, {{Card|Eregion Hills}}, or putting Frodo in situations to be wounded could reliably add burdens), which could put players in danger from {{Card|Ulaire Enquea, Lieutenant of Morgul}} and {{Card|Ulaire Toldea, Messenger of Morgul}}. Only a handful of cards could remove burdens, and while in conjunction with {{Card|Gandalf's Pipe}} it produces downright obscene healing, that deck already has {{Card|Aragorn's Pipe}} and is generally weakened by adding conditions to the mix. It's not that The Shire Countryside wasn't strong, it's just that all the preparation tended to overshadow the results. In [[Fellowship Block]], it is most notable for a quirky combo with {{Card|Stout and Sturdy}} + {{Card|Extraordinary Resilience}} (or sometimes {{Card|Songs of the Blessed Realm}} + {{Card|Voice of Nimrodel}}) to heal {{Card|Boromir, Son of Denethor}} and {{Card|Merry, Friend to Sam}} in the middle of a skirmish to apply their bonuses several times: a deck which aims to produce the highest strength level achievable rather than necessarily win the match.

This changed in [[The Two Towers]] when two important things were made available: more and easier ways to remove burdens, and (perhaps less obviously) reliable ways for the Free Peoples to ''add'' them as needed. With the Free Peoples player controlling both the supply and demand of burdens, The Shire Countryside immediately went from quirky combo piece to serious asset. The key to its power is not just that it provides among the greatest healing potential in the game, but that it offers this at any time -- particularly useful for skirmish phases, when healing is scarce and many actions are otherwise constrained by companion vitality. Strategies built on exerting characters in skirmish phases benefit the most, but archery and maneuver phase exertions can also be undone in preparation for a double move. In fact, the healing made available by The Shire Countryside often has players actively looking for ways to exert their companions to keep the effect from going to waste.

Perhaps the most notorious deck for The Shire Countryside in [[Towers Standard]] is {{Card|Smeagol, Slinker}}, {{Card|Sting, Baggins Heirloom}}, and {{Card|Not Listening}}, further supplemented by {{Card|Frodo's Cloak}}. By tapping into two of the game's largest resources - the Ring-bearer's resistance and vitality - Smeagol is able to reach previously unheard of strength levels ''at any time''. Not Listening refunds the burdens added, triggering The Shire Countryside to remove up to 8 wounds from the Fellowship (plus another one on Smeagol from the event) and prime the Fellowship to do it all over again. In [[Movie Block]] it is further enabled by {{Card|A Light in His Mind}} and {{Card|Nine-fingered Frodo and the Ring of Doom}}, with one or the other (occasionally even both) often seen with {{Card|Birthday Present}} to churn out constant healing.

The greatest downside for The Shire Countryside is that it is often the only thing connecting the burden part of the deck to the rest of it. There will be some games when it is drawn later than one would like, and even more when it is discarded by a Shadow player before a player can get much use out of it. This makes The Shire Countryside both the cornerstone and the weak spot for a deck which is over-reliant on it, a dangerous combination: without it the Fellowship loses healing, of course, but they're also left to choose between not using the burden-adding portion of their strategy, conserving burden removal to take advantage of healing later (potentially allowing 5 burdens for {{Card|Ulaire Enquea, Lieutenant of Morgul}} or clogging the hand), or using up their burden removal and not having enough left for healing down the road. The most consistent Shire Countryside decks, therefore, are aware that it may not always be available. Instead of forming the entire deck's identity, it is best used to compliment everything that the Free Peoples is ''already'' doing. Reliable and relatively costless burden removal from {{Card|A Light in His Mind}} goes far to mitigate these concerns, but of course it is an obvious target for removal as well and unique to boot.

While any deck with lots of burden removal is able to bid high, The Shire Countryside scales well as the game progresses and more copies are put in play. For some builds (particularly ones with a capacity for clearing minions off the table), it may be favorable to bid low and accept going second on occasion in hopes of passing the opponent later once everything is set up. Sanctuary healing can be unnecessary for Shire Countryside decks: [[doubling]] past the healing from site 6 is an act few others can follow and sets the stage for a double move to site 9 next turn for the win.

The [[Site#List of King Block Sites|King Block site path]] can be especially harrowing for The Shire Countryside. All site 4s allow the Shadow player to remove burdens, not only for great benefit but also denying an opportunity for the Free Peoples player to remove them and trigger healing. {{Card|Pelennor Prairie}} in particular demands that there be no burdens upon moving, which may be difficult at that point in the game. {{Card|7U341}} allows the Shadow player to make sure the Free Peoples player can't keep burdens on the board through usual means and may end up overwhelming companions. {{Card|Steward's Tomb}} at the next site is even worse. {{Card|Follow Smeagol}} or {{Card|Get On and Get Away}} are natural fits, but there's no way to rely on drawing them by site 3. Rather than risk unfavorable sites it can be best to plan on going second, with {{Card|Pelennor Plain}} usually the safest site 4.

The "(except a Hobbit)" clause is carved out almost explicitly for {{Card|Sam, Son of Hamfast}}, though the two cards aren't always at odds. With some source of burden removal in the Fellowship phase, it can be shifted from a healing engine to a burden removal engine: remove burdens with Sam's text and then one more with a card like {{Card|Brace of Coneys}} to trigger The Shire Countryside and heal Sam. This may be worth considering for a Free Peoples side which accumulates more burdens than wounds, though such strategies are few and far between.

== Deckbuilding Strategy ==
The cultural enforcement required by The Shire Countryside is weak for any deck with Frodo as the Ring-bearer. Playing a second Hobbit in the starting fellowship makes it much less likely to ever clog your hand, and having backup Hobbits in the deck provides some cover should you run into trouble early on. {{Card|Merry, Friend to Sam}} is a popular choice in the starting fellowship as his ability is naturally complemented by its healing, and {{Twilight|3}} remaining allows plenty of decks to take advantage of the setup.

The Shire Countryside enables some of the game's most potent and flexible healing, but it's not the only way to constantly remove wounds from companions. If there are many Frodo signets or a {{C|Gondor}} Man, Pipeweed decks provide a similar caliber of healing in the Fellowship phase without relying on conditions (though the reliance on possessions is a liability itself in [[Movie Block]] where corsairs and {{Card|Corsair Marauder}} are popular). {{Card|Shoulder to Shoulder}} allows easy healing for Elven and Dwarf fellowships in the maneuver phase, transferring wounds to self-healing {{C|Elven}} allies. The [[Hobbit Hospital]] strategy keeps Shire-folk healthy with {{Card|Hobbit Party Guest}} refilling {{Card|The Gaffer, Sam's Father}} and {{Card|Farmer Maggot, Chaser of Rascals}} every turn.

= Strengths and Weaknesses =
== Synergizes With... ==

* Cards which stay on the table and can remove burdens essentially at will: {{Card|Brace of Coneys}}, {{Card|A Light In His Mind}}, {{Card|Frodo's Cloak}}, {{Card|Gandalf's Pipe}}
* Events which remove burdens, particularly in the middle of a turn where healing is harder to come by: {{Card|Not Listening}} and {{Card|Nine-fingered Frodo and the Ring of Doom}} chief among them
* Cards which add burdens at will, to fuel the above: {{Card|The One Ring, Answer to All Riddles}} an obvious choice (though any version of The Ring other than {{Card|The One Ring, The Ruling Ring}} will often do the job), {{Card|Birthday Present}}, {{Card|Frodo, Wicked Masster!}}, {{Card|Smeagol, Slinker}}
* Self-exerting companions: {{Card|Boromir, Son of Denethor}}, {{Card|Merry, Friend to Sam}}, {{Card|Legolas, Greenleaf}}
* Other reliable companion exertion sources: {{Card|Sting, Baggins Heirloom}}, {{Card|Aragorn's Bow}}, {{Card|Trust Me as You Once Did}}
* {{Card|Sam, Samwise the Brave}}, to secure complete control over the number of burdens at all times
* Cards like {{Card|A Promise}}, which make it easy (and desirable) to keep Hobbits on the table

== Strong Versus... ==

* Wounding strategies: Archery of every sort, {{C|Sauron}} grind, Ring-bearer hate such as {{C|Ringwraith}} Orcs, {{Card|Promise Keeping}}
* Corruption, to varying degrees based on the makeup of the rest of the deck
* Certain beatdown decks, which may never be able to make wounds stick to the strongest companions

== Weak Versus... ==

* Swarms, which rarely care about burdens or wounds (though {{Card|Merry, Friend to Sam}} and/or {{Card|Boromir, Son of Denethor}} are natural fits which cover this weakness)
* Multiple wounds applied all at once to kill companions: for example, losing a skirmish against a minion with a damage bonuses of 2+ or one in which {{Card|Red Wrath}} was played
* Beatdown decks that can overwhelm companions, especially {{C|Sauron}} ones with {{Card|Enduring Evil}}
* {{Card|Discovered}}
* {{Card|Saruman's Power}}, a potential danger in ''any'' {{C|Isengard}} deck and sometimes splashed in wounding decks specifically for this card
* {{C|Dunland}}: site liberation rarely is a natural fit in a Shire Countryside deck, and they can play {{Card|Too Long Have These Peasants Stood}}, overpower the Free Peoples with {{Card|Dunlending Elder}} and {{Card|Ready to Fall}}, or sidestep the Free Peoples strategy with {{Card|Over the Isen}}
* Most site 4s on the [[Site#List of King Block Sites|King Block site path]], especially {{Card|Pelennor Prairie}} which comes when the Free Peoples player may have a stockpile of burdens from earlier sites and little opportunity to remove them
* {{Card|Steward's Tomb}}

= See Also =

Rider's Mount (4C287)

2024-03-13T19:51:30Z

Phallen Cassidy: Created

<noinclude>__NOTOC__
{{NavBar|4C287|[[The Two Towers Index]]|[[Rider of Rohan (4C286)|Rider of Rohan (4C286)]]|[[Rider's Spear (4C288)|Rider's Spear (4C288)]]}}
{{CardTabs|Rohan}}

[[{{ROOTPAGENAME}}]] is a {{C|Rohan}} [[Possession]] from the [[The Two Towers]] set. It is arguably the most culture-defining card in the game, the basis for Rohan as they exist in LotR TCG. While a variety of other mounts are available within the culture, all but two of them are really just Rider's Mount made unique or more expensive and given additional text. The exceptions are part of the token mounts [[cycle]] in [[Bloodlines]], {{Card|Firefoot, Mearas of the Mark}} and {{Card|Snowmane, Noble Mearas}}. Its text is available to select companions of other cultures through {{Card|Horse of Rohan}} and to Gandalf specifically through {{Card|Shadowfax}} and {{Card|Shadowfax, Greatheart}}.

Rohan has access at least one non-unique mount with the text of Rider's Mount in every block, making it legal in spirit for every format after [[Fellowship Block]] -- only {{Card|Hobbit Sword}} and {{Card|The Ruling Ring}} are more accessible. Rider's Mount itself was reprinted in [[Hunters Block]], one of the few cards to remain legal in [[Standard]] after its originally printed set rotated out.
{{CardInfobox|4C287}}
{{QueryCardCategories|4C287}}</noinclude>
= Strategy =
== Gameplay Strategy ==
The humble Rider's Mount brings a quite a bit of [[power creep]] compared to Fellowship block. Before [[The Two Towers]], the only ways for a Free Peoples player to exert a minion were {{Card|A Ranger's Versatility}} and {{Card|Blood of Numenor}}, very conditional cards which actually [[exhaust]] minions. All other ways to place wound tokens on minions were through wounding. As the Free Peoples cultures gained access to more and more wounding effects, Shadow cultures gained access to wound prevention effects in turn. Yet for all the expansion of Free Peoples cards with exerting effects that began in The Two Towers, there are only two Shadow cards capable of preventing exertions: {{Card|The Balrog, The Terror of Khazad-dum}} and {{Card|Lurtz, Resilient Captain}}, which only do so themselves. Rohan mounts may not be the only cards to exert minions introduced in set 4, but they are by far the most effective and their inevitable exertions have to be taken into account for every Shadow side from that point on.

Placing what is essentially an unavoidable wound on minions would be impactful enough. A permanent card effect that does this without cost only makes the prospect more attractive, providing the bearer with something better than a damage bonus. That it happens at the very start of a skirmish renders many abilities that exert minions in the skirmish or regroup phases completely useless against Rohan. Even losing a skirmish can accomplish about the same thing as winning in some cases (the minion comes away from the skirmish wounded), especially when the Free Peoples player really just wants to deprive a minion such as {{Card|Ulaire Cantea, Lieutenant of Dol Guldur}} or {{Card|Wulf}} of its vitality. Fierce minions which win their first skirmish are then primed to be exerted in the second skirmish, usually to the point of exhaustion, and killed thanks to {{Card|Eomer, Third Marshal of Riddermark}} or {{Card|We Left None Alive}}

{{Card|Rider's Spear}} grants a damage bonus for mounted characters, meaning anyone with both is effectively damage +2 and able to kill all but a handful of minions in every culture. This, combined with high strength companions and numerous non-event strength [[Pump|pumps]], makes Rohan the standout skirmishing culture in [[Towers Standard]].

== Deckbuilding Strategy ==
{{Card|Simbelmyne}} allows players to get exactly the possessions they need as they are needed, leaving little reason to have more mounts than you have eligible bearers in your fellowship. Any potential replacement copies could instead be more general [[Recursion|possession retrieval]] such as {{Card|Mustering for Battle}}. Even among the characters who could bear a mount, however, only those which will be skirmishing with some regularity will actually benefit from being mounted most of the time. The rest of the time you want to take advantage of specific card text for mounted companions and already know how many mounts you'll need to accomplish this.

{{Card|Brego}} is basically a unique Rider's Mount with free healing, always worth taking over the first copy of Rider's Mount. Eomer being such a standout companion for any Rohan deck tends to put {{Card|Firefoot}} and its defender bonus above Rider's Mount as well despite being more expensive. {{Card|Windfola}} and {{Card|Snowmane}} are much more situational, with the value of the extra cost depending on how important those companions and effects are to your deck. Other than those, the competition Rider's Mount faces for deck space comes from the costlier versions of it released in every block with additional text. In one sense, these upgrades only really cost {{Twilight|1}} since you would have played Rider's Mount instead of them anyway. In another, {{Twilight|2}} is a fairly expensive Free Peoples card and will often allow opponents to make the most of their Shadow hand, especially when played the same turn as a companion or other mounts.

Which mounts you choose for your deck, then, depends on your tolerance for risk and how much benefit you expect to get out of them. Along the [[King Block]] site path, for example, the plentiful plains can make {{Card|Swift Steed}} an attractive alternative. An [[Expanded]] or [[Standard]] adventure deck with many plains could likewise benefit from it or {{Card|Rohirrim Mount}}. But without many plains available to you, or when your opponent is playing their sites all game long, they may not provide any benefit for the extra twilight. {{Card|Horse of Great Stature}} turns bearer vitality into strength for your Rohan companions at any site, though the extra twilight may occasionally require you to use its text the turn it is played to offset a more potent Shadow turn.

Even when these alternatives are great fits for your deck, it's rare that every mounted companion will be able to make use of their added benefits. Rider's Mount remains a great choice for filling in the gaps.

= Strengths and Weaknesses =
== Synergizes With... ==

* Many Rohan cards which require or benefit from having mounted companions, such as {{Card|Thundering Host}} or {{Card|Rider's Spear}}
* Many Rohan cards which require or benefit from skirmishing a wounded minion, such as {{Card|Eomer, Third Marshal of Riddermark}} or {{Card|Fey He Seemed}}

== Strong Versus... ==

* Shadow cards which exert minions to some effect, especially those in cultures with easy access to wound prevention such as {{Card|Wulf}}
* Minions with 3 or more vitality, which are otherwise difficult for most companions to kill

== Weak Versus... ==

* Minions which gain strength for being wounded, namely [[Enduring]] minions and those in the {{Card|Uruk-hai Berserker}} line
* Nazgul such as {{Card|Ulaire Enquea, Thrall of the One}}, which want to heal as many wounds as possible in a skirmish
* Minions with only one vitality

= Alternate Versions =
{{AlternateVersionTable|4C287}}

chump blocker

2024-01-25T21:38:25Z

Phallen Cassidy: redirecting more directly

#REDIRECT [[Other Terms#Chump Blocking]]

Whiff

2024-01-25T21:37:35Z

Phallen Cassidy: Redirecting to new home

#REDIRECT [[Other Terms#Whiff]]

Fishbowl

2024-01-25T21:37:19Z

Phallen Cassidy: Redirecting to new home

#REDIRECT [[Other Terms#Fishbowl]]

Fat

2024-01-25T21:37:04Z

Phallen Cassidy: Redirecting to new home

#REDIRECT [[Other Terms#Fat]]

Chump Blocking

2024-01-25T21:36:28Z

Phallen Cassidy: Redirecting to new home

#REDIRECT [[Other Terms#Chump Blocking]]

speed bump

2024-01-25T21:36:21Z

Phallen Cassidy: redirecting more directly

#REDIRECT [[Speed Bump]]

Template:Gameplay Table

2024-01-25T21:32:36Z

Phallen Cassidy: Reconfigured some gameplay terms

{| class="wikitable" style="width:95%; margin: auto; text-align:center;"
|-
!colspan="7"| Gameplay
|-
! Game Setup
|[[Starting Fellowship]] • [[Bidding]] • [[Mulligan]]
|-
! [[Deck Building]] Considerations
|[[Unique|Uniqueness]] • [[X-List]] • [[R-List]] • [[Errata]] • [[Format]]
|-
! General Strategies
| [[Beatdown]] • [[Bomb]] • [[Corruption]] • [[Hand Extension]] • [[Run]]/[[Stop]] • [[Skirmish Cancellation]] • [[Swarm]] • [[Win Condition]] • [[Wound Prevention]] • [[Wounding]]
|-
! Deck Archetypes
|[[Auto-Corruption Bomb]] • [[Beasterlings]] • [[Berserker]]s • [[Bouncing Hobbits]] • [[Elvents]] • [[Forestguls]] • [[Hobbit Hospital]] • [[Fruit Loops]] • [[Gondor Knights]] • [[Gondor Rangers]] • [[Gondor Wraiths]] • [[Moria Archery]] • [[Moria Beatdown]] • [[Moria Navy]] • [[Moria Swarm]] • [[Moria Tentacles]] • [[Nazgul Beatdown]] • [[Ninja Gollum]] • [[Orc Corruption]] • [[Rainbow Wounding]] • [[Sauron Grind]] • [[Sauron Initiative]] • [[Sauron Roaming]] • [[Sauron Threats]] • [[Solo Smeagol]] • [[Southron Archery]] • [[Southron Initiative]] • [[Stupid Swarm]] • [[Super Friends]] • [[Telepathy]] • [[Threatguls]] • [[Token Tanks]] • [[Troll Swarm]] • [[Uruk Archery]] • [[Uruk Machines]] • [[Uruk Trackers]] • [[Warg Super Swarm]]
|-
!colspan="7"|
|-
! Rules
|[[Rule of 4]] • [[Rule of 9]]
|-
! Mechanics
|[[Bear]] • [[Discard]] • [[Draw Deck]] • [[Exert]] • [[Exhausted]] • [[Fellowship]] • [[Initiative]] • [[In Play]]/[[Leave Play]] • [[Move Limit]] • [[Reconcile]] • [[Roaming]] • [[Site Control]] • [[Spot]] • [[Stack]] • [[Support Area]] • [[Threats]]
|-
! Gameplay Terms
| [[Boat]] • [[Body]] • [[Broken]]/[[Negative Play Experience|NPE]]/[[Overpowered|OP]] • [[Buff]]/[[Nerf]] • [[Choke]] • [[Combo]] • [[Cultural Enforcement]] • [[Cycling]] • [[Dead Draw]] • [[Fetch]] • [[Filter]] • [[Flood]] • [[Grind]] • [[Hand Clog]] • [[Hate]] • [[Interaction]] • [[Loop]] • [[Matchup]] • [[Meta]] • [[Mill]] • [[Newbie Trap]] • [[Pile]] • [[Power Creep]] • [[Pump]] • [[Rainbow]] • [[Recursion]] • [[Removal]] • [[Resource]] • [[Rogue]] • [[Rule of 6]] • [[Side]] • [[Site Manipulation]] • [[Speed Bump]] • [[Splash]] • [[Subculture]] • [[Tank]] • [[Other Terms]]
|}
<includeonly>[[Category:Gameplay]]</includeonly>
<noinclude>[[Category:Navigation Tables]]</noinclude>

Speed Bump

2024-01-25T21:29:48Z

Phallen Cassidy: Created

[[File:LOTR-EN01S307.0_card.jpg|right|Peregrin "throw yourself in next time" Took, reporting for duty]]

A '''speed bump''' (commonly written as ''speedbump'', with no space) is a disparaging name for a Free Peoples character that its owner intends to sacrifice in a skirmish, ideally after first loading up with [[wounds]] to the point of [[Exhausted|exhaustion]]. They represent a small inconvenience that almost any minion will easily overcome and often [[overwhelm]], but in doing so be "slowed down" and have less opportunity to cause any lasting harm. Sometimes this is done out of necessity. When the Free Peoples player is backed into a corner and has to choose a companion to be killed, having already planned on a particular character's death makes the decision easy. Other times this is done for the sake of convenience. Players might choose to kill off such a character to preserve vitality on more important companions, save skirmish events and abilities for later, or even just reduce the number of companions in the fellowship and add less twilight per move or stay below a threshold like the [[Rule of 6]].

Of course, a Free Peoples character can be killed without being "a speed bump." Calling a character a speed bump implies a certain contempt and triviality. These are always characters of minimal importance to the Free Peoples player and, by extension, all Shadow players. The only accomplishment an opponent can claim in killing a speed bump is counting down against the [[Rule of 9]], unless that character was an ally in which case there is no sense of accomplishment at all. {{Card|Pippin, Hobbit of Some Intelligence (1R307)}} and {{Card|Thrarin, Dwarven Smith}} are among the most obvious and popular examples, often called "Pippin, Hobbit Speedbump" and "Thrarin, Dwarven Speedbump" in recognition of this.

The question then becomes, why put an unimportant character in a deck at all? First, ''unimportant'' is not the same as ''useless.'' Speed bumps typically provide some value in their game text even if they aren't essential to the deck at large. Second, the dead pile is a resource just like twilight and companion vitality. If one copy of a character destined for the dead pile does the job of two or three cards needed to keep an important companion alive, that can be a more efficient use of resources and might even free up some deck space. Third, remember that a Fellowship only needs to make 8 moves. Stalling an opponent with meaningless victories while your [[Ring-bearer]] coasts to the end is as valid a strategy as any other. Finally, they provide a good contingency. When things go south and your best companions die unexpectedly, what was intended to be a speed bump can suddenly become crucial to your survival.

Because the importance of a character is subjective, what is a speed bump in one deck - or even one particular game - can be a core companion in another. {{Card|Legolas, Greenleaf}} is sometimes be splashed to kill one or two minions in archery and die to another (not necessarily all in the same turn) without any investment from the Free Peoples player. In other decks he is prioritized for healing and relied upon for many turns, killed only as a last resort. {{Card|Sam, Son of Hamfast}} is commonly exhausted immediately after he is played to remove the [[Bidding|starting bid]], then kept on the sidelines until a troublesome minion like {{Card|The Balrog, Durin's Bane}} needs a skirmishing partner. Against a [[corruption]] deck, however, the Free Peoples player may instead want to keep Sam alive until site 6 to heal him and remove additional burdens or even make Sam the Ring-bearer.

When a deck's helpful characters are intentionally killed in skirmishes they aren't usually considered speed bumps, even when the sacrifice isn't strictly necessary (i.e., the Free Peoples player could have assigned minions in a way that no companions die). However, in those circumstances they are sometimes said to be "used as a speed bump" or simply "speed bumped." They are fulfilling the "role" of a speed bump without actually being one since the loss of that character will have a lasting impact on how the Fellowship copes for the rest of the game. Occasionally players will use this sort of usage to poke fun at important characters that are killed too, especially when strong characters are overwhelmed thanks to Shadow [[Pump|skirmish pumps]] or important characters are inadvertently killed by Free Peoples error. For example, one might say "Gandalf was just a speed bump to The Balrog" after the Free Peoples player carelessly assigned a 7-strength Gandalf to the 17-strength Balrog without realizing it would overwhelm him.

If the Free Peoples player is obliged to kill a specific character as soon as possible, that character is likewise not really "a speed bump" unless they were already considered one. A companion bearing {{Card|Sense of Obligation}} may find themselves hopelessly assigned to the strongest Nazgul on the table, but that's the Shadow player making a meaningful impact with their cards rather than the Free Peoples player depriving them of a meaningful impact. Still, as with circumstances where other helpful characters are sent to their doom by the Free Peoples, these companions are could be compared to speed bumps as a reflection of how useless or downright detrimental they have become. The only real contribution they have left for the Fellowship is by dying the most useful death possible.

The concept of an unimportant character who is expected to die is not unique to this game and there are many ways to describe the same basic phenomena. "Red shirt" from Star Trek most closely captures the trivial nature of speed bumps, while other popular terms such as "meat shield" and ''Magic: the Gathering'''s "[[Other Terms#Chump Blocking|chump blocker]]" could describe any character who dies for the sake of more important characters.

----

{{Gameplay Table}}

Other Terms

2024-01-25T21:16:27Z

Phallen Cassidy: Moving some uncommon game terms from dedicated articles to here

There are many other card games out there, some of which have terms or slang that have worked their way into common gamer usage. You might encounter casual usage of those terms in conversations about the Lord of the Rings TCG, some of which you can find defined below.

== Chump Blocking ==
'''Chump Blocking''', sometimes "'''chumping'''", is the act of flinging a weak character that has zero chance of winning into a suicidal skirmish against a much more powerful minion. Using an [[exhausted]] {{Card|Sam, Son of Hamfast}} to skirmish {{Card|The Balrog, Durin's Bane}} is the classic example of chump-blocking.

Chump blocking might be done intentionally to get that character killed, for instance if your Fellowship is too large and you want to avoid being [[Rule of 6|vulnerable]] to cards like {{Card|Ulaire Enquea, Lieutenant of Morgul}}. Occasionally, it might be because that character [[bear]]s a condition like {{Card|Desperate Defense of the Ring}} or {{Card|Sense of Obligation}} that makes them a liability. Even more rarely, the card might itself have harmful gametext, like {{Card|Aragorn, Strider}} or {{Card|Denethor, On the Edge of Madness}}.

Another reason is because the character is useless or used up, and either can't be [[heal]]ed any more or is no longer an attractive target for healing. Oftentimes this includes characters who exert to produce some effect or produce their main effect when they come into play, like {{Card|Legolas, Greenleaf}} or {{Card|Pippin, Hobbit of Some Intelligence}}, characters who are only in the deck to for a situational benefit, like {{Card|Radagast, The Brown}}, or relatively weak characters, like most [[Hobbit]]s. In the case of {{Card|Sam, Son of Hamfast}}, he's all three, and it's rare that he'll survive to site 9.

Another common case is that you just don't have any other plan to deal with some horrific [[minion]]. If you're careless and {{Card|Sauron, the Lord of the Rings}} comes down, you may not have a better option than feeding two of your weakest [[companion]]s to him. The characters you throw in front of Sauron to die might be quite important and valuable, but none of them are more valuable than the [[ring-bearer]]!

Generally, people only call it chump blocking when the chump in question is a Free Peoples character, because while weak [[companion]]s usually have the option to avoid skirmishing, weak [[minion]]s do not. Playing many [[minion]]s as the [[Shadow Alignment|Shadow]] player to tie up all of the strongest members of the Fellowship is called [[swarm]]ing.

The term originates from [https://mtg.fandom.com/wiki/Chump_blocker the Magic: the Gathering community]. In MTG terms, minions are always analogous to attackers and only Free Peoples characters are analogous to blockers.

== Fat ==
'''Fat''' or '''fatty''' is an informal game term. A fat [[character]] is one with high base [[strength]] and [[vitality]], making it a strong [[skirmish]]er. Such characters generally have a high [[Twilight]] cost or other restrictions like [[cultural enforcement]]. This term [https://mtg.fandom.com/wiki/List_of_Magic_slang#Fatty comes from ''Magic: the Gathering''].

[[Ent]]s, [[Nazgul]], and [[Trolls]] are all typically fatties.

== Fishbowl ==
'''Fishbowl''' play, also occasionally called '''goldfish''' play, is an informal game term for playing without [[Interaction|interacting]] with your opponent in any meaningful way. You're playing as if your opponent was a pet fish in a bowl. Playing solo and simply skipping all of your nonexistent opponent's actions and turns can be a useful way to see how reliable your Free Peoples deck sets up in early turns, or whether your hand is likely to [[clog]] with unplayable situational cards.

Alternately, the term can be used derisively to refer to a '''fishbowl deck''', a deck strategy that involves simply ignoring your opponent and executing a game plan regardless of what they do. A Shadow deck that does all of its damage (be it [[wound]]s, [[burden]]s, or [[discard]]) in the [[Shadow phase|Shadow]] and [[Maneuver phase]]s offers the Free Peoples player little chance to prevent that damage, since such a deck probably doesn't care if its minions die in the [[Archery phase|Archery]] or [[Skirmish phase|Skirmish phase]]s. These decks are often not very strong, but playing against them can be an [[NPE]].

This term comes from [https://mtg.fandom.com/wiki/Goldfishing the Magic: the Gathering community]. In that game, testing to see how fast you can win without interacting with your opponent is somewhat more useful.

== Gas ==
'''Gas''' is an informal game term.

== Glue ==
'''Glue''' is an informal game term.

== Value Engine ==
'''Value Engine''' is an informal game term.

== Whiff ==
'''Whiff''' is an informal game term. A whiff is when you play a card with a random effect and get no [[Value|value]] from it, usually because the card affects cards in hidden area, like a player's [[deck]] or your opponent's [[hand]]. If you play {{Card|Forearmed}} and reveal a card with a zero [[twilight cost]] from the top of your deck, it whiffed.

The term comes from sports, where a "whiff" is the sound made when you swing a bat or a golf club at the ball and don't even make contact.

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events

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spell

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Wounds

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''This article is about the noun "wound," as in "wound token." For the verb, as in "wound a character," see [[Wounding]]''

[[File:LOTR-EN01S250.0_card.jpg|right|Good, good, let it flow through...what do you mean, "wrong franchise"?]]

'''Wounds''' are used to represent injury sustained in battle that affects a character's vitality. Wounds are shown through the use of wound tokens, which are usually blood-red glass beads. Once a character has wounds equal to their vitality, they are immediately killed. This is in contrast to [[exert|exertions]], which cannot remove a character's final point of vitality.

The most common way that wounds occur is through losing [[Skirmish Phase|skirmishes]]; once a skirmish has resolved, the losing characters each receive one wound (or more if the winner has any '''[[damage]]''' bonuses). [[Archery]] is also a common form of [[Wounding|wound-dealing]], either through indirect archery fire (that is, your opponent gets to pick where the arrows land) or directed archery fire (such as through use of cards such as {{Card|Legolas, Greenleaf}} or {{Card|Aragorn's Bow}}). In [[King block]] and beyond, [[threats]] also became a potent form of wounding, with mechanics similar to a surprise Archery phase.

However, there are a great many cards that allow wounds to be assigned at plenty of other times, such as Hate shown to the right. {{C|Sauron}} orcs in particular are well-known for this type of direct exert-to-wound setup, but {{C|Raider}} men and {{C|Isengard}} orcs also have a number of cards that deal wounds in similar ways. Use the [[Advanced Card Search]] to find a list of such cards.

[[Wound Prevention|Preventing wounds]] is done through a number of different avenues depending on the culture. {{C|Gandalf}}, for instance, relies primarily on [[spell]] [[events]] such as {{Card|Intimidate}} to prevent wounds at the last moment, whereas {{C|Gondor}} and {{C|Dwarf}} have possessions such as {{Card|Armor}} and {{Card|Gimli's Helm}}, respectively. Wound prevention can certainly be a powerful avenue to keeping your Fellowship alive, but for most decks it's a secondary consideration at best, since [[healing]] is more versatile (in that it can also help against exertions).

See also [[exhausted]], [[heal]], [[exert]], [[threat]].

{{RulesQuote
|source=wound
|text=When a character is wounded by an enemy attack, his vitality is depleted. Place a wound token on the character to illustrate this. Glass beads (preferably blood red) make good tokens for this purpose.

Wounds are always placed on a character one at a time.

When you “wound a character,” you place only one wound.

If a card tells you to wound a number of companions, you must choose different companions to wound one time each (you cannot wound a single companion more than once).

A wounded character is a character who has at least one wound token.

If a character cannot take wounds, wounds cannot be assigned to that character. However, if a card prevents wounds, wounds may still be assigned to that character.

''Faramir, Wizard’s Pupil reads: “Skirmish: Exert Gandalf to prevent all wounds to Faramir.” This prevents wounds as they are assigned to Faramir, not the assignments themselves.''}}

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downloading

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download

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undirected wounds

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Indirect Wounding

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undirected wound

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directed wounding

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direct wound

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Template:Gameplay Table

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{| class="wikitable" style="width:95%; margin: auto; text-align:center;"
|-
!colspan="7"| Gameplay
|-
! Game Setup
|[[Starting Fellowship]] • [[Bidding]] • [[Mulligan]]
|-
! [[Deck Building]] Considerations
|[[Unique|Uniqueness]] • [[X-List]] • [[R-List]] • [[Errata]] • [[Format]]
|-
! General Strategies
| [[Beatdown]] • [[Bomb]] • [[Corruption]] • [[Hand Extension]] • [[Run]]/[[Stop]] • [[Skirmish Cancellation]] • [[Swarm]] • [[Win Condition]] • [[Wound Prevention]] • [[Wounding]]
|-
! Deck Archetypes
|[[Auto-Corruption Bomb]] • [[Beasterlings]] • [[Berserker]]s • [[Bouncing Hobbits]] • [[Elvents]] • [[Forestguls]] • [[Hobbit Hospital]] • [[Fruit Loops]] • [[Gondor Knights]] • [[Gondor Rangers]] • [[Gondor Wraiths]] • [[Moria Archery]] • [[Moria Beatdown]] • [[Moria Navy]] • [[Moria Swarm]] • [[Moria Tentacles]] • [[Nazgul Beatdown]] • [[Ninja Gollum]] • [[Orc Corruption]] • [[Rainbow Wounding]] • [[Sauron Grind]] • [[Sauron Initiative]] • [[Sauron Roaming]] • [[Sauron Threats]] • [[Solo Smeagol]] • [[Southron Archery]] • [[Southron Initiative]] • [[Stupid Swarm]] • [[Super Friends]] • [[Telepathy]] • [[Threatguls]] • [[Token Tanks]] • [[Troll Swarm]] • [[Uruk Archery]] • [[Uruk Machines]] • [[Uruk Trackers]] • [[Warg Super Swarm]]
|-
!colspan="7"|
|-
! Rules
|[[Rule of 4]] • [[Rule of 9]]
|-
! Mechanics
|[[Bear]] • [[Discard]] • [[Draw Deck]] • [[Exert]] • [[Exhausted]] • [[Fellowship]] • [[Initiative]] • [[In Play]]/[[Leave Play]] • [[Move Limit]] • [[Reconcile]] • [[Roaming]] • [[Site Control]] • [[Spot]] • [[Stack]] • [[Support Area]] • [[Threats]]
|-
! Gameplay Terms
| [[Boat]] • [[Body]] • [[Broken]]/[[Negative Play Experience|NPE]]/[[Overpowered|OP]] • [[Buff]]/[[Nerf]] • [[Choke]] • [[Chump Blocking]] • [[Combo]] • [[Cultural Enforcement]] • [[Cycling]] • [[Dead Draw]] • [[Fat]] • [[Fetch]] • [[Filter]] • [[Fishbowl]] • [[Flood]] • [[Gas]] • [[Glue]] • [[Grind]] • [[Hand Clog]] • [[Hate]] • [[Interaction]] • [[Loop]] • [[Matchup]] • [[Meta]] • [[Mill]] • [[Newbie Trap]] • [[Pile]] • [[Power Creep]] • [[Pump]] • [[Rainbow]] • [[Recursion]] • [[Removal]] • [[Resource]] • [[Rogue]] • [[Rule of 6]] • [[Side]] • [[Site Manipulation]] • [[Splash]] • [[Subculture]] • [[Tank]] • [[Value Engine]] • [[Whiff]] • [[Other Terms]]
|}
<includeonly>[[Category:Gameplay]]</includeonly>
<noinclude>[[Category:Navigation Tables]]</noinclude>

Undirected Wounding

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#REDIRECT [[Wounding]]

Direct Wounding

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wounding

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Wounding

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''This article is about the verb "wound," as in "wound a character." For the noun, as in "wound token", see [[Wounds]]''

[[File:LOTR-EN01S050.0_card.jpg|right|Greenleaf can do two things: shoot arrows and shoot arrows]]

'''Wounding''' is the name for any way to place wound tokens on opposing characters other than skirmish resolution (the wound from winning a skirmish and any additional wounds from [[Damage]] bonuses). Although wounds and exertions are distinct, the term "wounding" can also used for effects which exert an opponent's characters. After all, there's no such thing as an "exert token": once a token is placed, it doesn't matter how it got there.

A strategy which primarily wounds with these effects is known as a '''wounding strategy''' or a '''wounding deck'''. An "archery deck" is a subset of wounding deck which uses [[Archer|archers]] and archery phase actions to do most or all of its wounding, while "[[Grind|grind]]" is used to describe more varied wounding decks which often have no archers at all. Strength is typically less important for wounding strategies than others, and they can win the game without winning a single skirmish: Free Peoples sides will aim to put out enough wounds that no minions make it that far, and Shadow sides will apply wounds regardless of skirmish outcomes. Even so, the Free Peoples in particular can't always afford to ignore strength entirely as various forms of [[Wound Prevention|wound prevention]] exist to protect minions.

'''Direct wounding''' is used to describe wounding which allows players to put wounds directly on an opposing character of their choice. The most notable examples since the first set have been {{Card|Legolas, Greenleaf}} and {{Card|Aragorn's Bow}}, and some players call direct wounding effects ''aimed archery'' or ''targeted archery'' because of them -- at times even when the wounding does not take place during the archery phase (especially when a bow is involved, such as {{Card|Gondor Bow}}) . Players who prefer to speak in terms of the wounds placed rather than the action that places them may call them ''directed wounds'', and use ''directed wounding'' to describe the action as a result.

'''Indirect wounding''', by contrast, is wounding which makes an opponent put wounds on their own characters. Players "indirectly" wound opposing characters since, while their cards are the cause of the wounding, it was not ultimately their decision to wound a particular character. The [[Archery|archery total]] and the [[Threats|assignment of threat wounds]] are the most common sources of indirect wounding by far, but since these are core game mechanics rather than card effects they are usually simply called "archery" and "threats." As with direct wounding, some players refer to indirect wounding as ''unaimed/untargeted archery'' regardless of the phase. Players referring to the wounds themselves may call them ''undirected wounds'', and the action ''undirected wounding''.

Direct wounding is often more desirable while indirect wounding is often more accessible, so wounding strategies generally incorporate both. [[Sauron Grind]] decks, for example, use {{Card|Under the Watching Eye}} and {{Card|Orc Bowmen}} to constantly pepper the Free Peoples player until a companion has enough wounds to be killed by {{Card|Hate}}, or use a Hate drawn too early to bring companions closer to exhaustion so that the persistent archery from Orc Bowmen will force the Free Peoples player to kill companions later on.

----

{{Gameplay Table}}

Death to the Strawheads (4U8)

2023-10-05T19:46:59Z

Phallen Cassidy: updated wiki references

<noinclude>__NOTOC__
{{NavBar|4U8|[[The Two Towers Index]]|[[Dark Fury (4C7)|Dark Fury (4C7)]]|[[Dunlending Arsonist (4U9)|Dunlending Arsonist (4U9)]]}}
{{CardTabs|Dunland}}

[[{{ROOTPAGENAME}}]] is a {{C|Dunland}} [[Event]] from the [[The Two Towers]] set.
{{CardInfobox|4U8}}
{{QueryCardCategories|4U8}}</noinclude>
= Strategy =

With the release of [[Towers Block]], {{Card|Ulaire Enquea, Lieutenant of Morgul}} was only legal in [[Towers Standard]] play and the door was opened for large fellowships such as Ents to appear on the scene without the concentrated counters from [[Fellowship Block]]. Each Shadow culture had a new way of discriminating against large fellowships, and Death to the Strawheads is Dunland's. Big fellowships generate enough extra twilight to cover the event's cost, and the strength bonus on an already high strength culture all but guarantees an overwhelm to an unsuspecting companion. Unlike most cards against big fellowships, this one functions as {{Card|Morgul Hunter}} by being devastating against larger fellowships but remaining effective regardless. The higher twilight cost combined with Dunland's access to free events such as {{Card|Burn Every Village}} and {{Card|Dark Fury}} (each capable of giving +4 strength) makes Death to the Strawheads of limited usefulness against fellowships of 5 or fewer, and it is not very popular as a result.

= Strengths and Weaknesses =
== Strong Versus... ==

* Large fellowships
* {{Card|Gandalf, The White Wizard}}

== Weak Versus... ==

* Small fellowships
* Choke

Banner of the Mark (6U90)

2023-09-26T14:19:39Z

Phallen Cassidy: Created

<noinclude>__NOTOC__
{{NavBar|6U90|[[Ents of Fangorn Index]]|[[Winged and Ominous (6R89)|Winged and Ominous (6R89)]]|[[Blood Has Been Spilled (6U91)|Blood Has Been Spilled (6U91)]]}}
{{CardTabs|Rohan}}

[[{{ROOTPAGENAME}}]] is a {{C|Rohan}} [[Possession]] from the [[Ents of Fangorn]] set. It is part of a [[cycle]] of hand weapons, along with {{Card|Banner of Elbereth}} and {{Card|Banner of Westernesse}} on the Free Peoples side and {{Card|Banner of Isengard}} and {{Card|Banner of the Eye}} on the Shadow side.
{{CardInfobox|6U90}}
{{QueryCardCategories|6U90}}</noinclude>
= Strategy =
== Gameplay Strategy ==
Unlike its {{C|Elven}} and {{C|Gondor}} counterparts, this Banner is usually only considered for its site liberation if it is considered at all. Rohan has access to abundant possession [[recursion]] which, combined with {{Card|Simbelmyne}} to [[fetch]] when needed, allow a single copy to cover site liberation at the first sign of need and for the rest of the game. {{Card|Weapon Store}} and {{Card|Ecglaf}} are the most obvious ways to put it back in play for Towers, though {{Card|Armory}} along with any of {{Card|Eowyn, Daughter of Eomund}}, {{Card|Theoden, King of the Golden Hall}}, or {{Card|Gamling, Warrior of Rohan}} can also do the trick in a single turn. {{Card|Merry, Swordthain}} is the premier possession recursion in any later format.

The banners all provide some benefit from winning skirmishes while making it harder to do so by depriving the bearer of a strength-providing hand weapon. Elves have many event-oriented decks and Gondor has several ways to win skirmishes through exertions, so in a roundabout way those banners do aid skirmishing in recovering the cost to win them. But Rohan's Banner has no interaction with the bearer's skirmish at all. If anything is expended to win the skirmish - which is more often necessary for a banner-bearer than bearers of other hand weapons - the Free Peoples player will not get any of it back. Further, since it is an optional trigger, the exertion happens ''after'' the skirmish wound and will leave minions alive that the damage bonus from {{Card|Rider's Spear}} would have killed.

Still, if the bearer wins a skirmish the exertion can help another companion. Minions can be exhausted for {{Card|We Left None Alive}}, be given an extra wound to buff up {{Card|Eomer, Third Marshal of Riddermark}}, or allow a companion to avoid a skirmish altogether with {{Card|Rohirrim Helm}}. Several strategies do play a mix of weaker supporting minions and stronger frontline minions, and in some cases a companion's base strength may be enough to reliably win skirmishes against the supporting minions. {{Card|Cave Troll of Moria, Scourge of the Black Pit}}, for example, needs a {{C|Moria}} Orc which often have 1 vitality and low strength.

One benefit the exertion effect has over other Towers-era cards is its ability to exert any minion -- including ones skirmishing the Ring-bearer. [[Towers Block]] experimented with a new division of [[ring-bound]] vs [[unbound]] that left Frodo with only The One Ring and a hand weapon to increase his strength, capping at a pitiful 6 or 7 depending on the version of The Ring. An exertion from Banner, combined with a wound from {{Card|Cliffs of Emyn Muil}}, can finish off a troublesome minion or help protect Frodo from a swarm of higher vitality minions like {{C|Isengard}} Orcs. In other formats, however, there are better ways of protecting Frodo specifically and putting wounds on minions in general.

== Deckbuilding Strategy ==
Rohan excels at exerting effects, making mild ones like this difficult to justify. Though it has some uses, by and large companions are better off with a mount and just about any other hand weapon, especially {{Card|Rider's Spear}}. If you determine that, for whatever reason, this sort of effect is necessary, {{Card|Rider of Rohan}} won't make you rely on winning a skirmish first if you have room in the Fellowship for him. And of course, {{Card|Merry's Sword}} has the best exerting effect a possession can offer if you're not playing [[Towers Block]].

The response action benefits from Rohan's affiliation with possessions -- with {{Card|Simbelmyne}} and a way to replay it, only one copy is ever needed. However, all site liberation effects have to contend with two powerful forces: how often opponents actually take sites, and how much doing so actually matters. Is your deck adversely affected by site control strategies anyway? In Towers the handful of cards that control sites do so by winning skirmishes or relying on conditions, two things that Rohan is very adept at managing already. Should an opponent take a site, only {{Card|Nurn}} from [[Expanded]] does anything on its own. Beyond that, the mechanic merely enables other cards. If your deck can handle them without trouble, liberation is often completely unnecessary and could even make your deck ''more'' vulnerable to site control by crowding out cards that are essentially already doing the job.

If some site control strategies are indeed a weakness to your deck, can you access any incidental site liberation? Rohan has the greatest number of site liberation effects out of any culture, with many options that have better secondary effects than Banner. {{Card|Helm! Helm!}} and {{Card|Let Us Be Swift}} from earlier sets don't require companions to win any skirmishes, much less do so without any strength gain from a hand weapon. They come with additional requirements though, and can't be played on demand by Simbelmyne. In [[Movie Block]] a few more alternatives appear, alongside some events there is {{Card|Snowmane}} able to be played by Simbelmyne. [[Expanded]] brings about {{Card|Sturdy Shield}}, the only card able to liberate two sites in one action.

If you can't handle site control and the alternatives don't cut it, there are plenty of more powerful dedicated options too. {{Card|Ceorl}} is the ultimate stop and can lock opponents out of ever taking them. {{Card|Fell Deeds Awake}} offers intensely reusable liberation which can be triggered on demand by {{Card|Leowyn}} or {{Card|Deor}}. And {{Card|Rohan Worker}} completely upstages the liberation aspect of Banner while being difficult for the Shadow Player to remove. Banner does have some margin where it is the best choice over the alternatives when liberation is needed, especially in Towers. That margin is just very thin with how many alternatives exist and how little the need tends to be.

= Strengths and Weaknesses =
== Synergizes With... ==

* {{Card|Ecglaf}}, {{Card|Weapon Store}}, and {{Card|Merry, Swordthain}} for [[recursion]]
* Rohan effects which only work against minions who are exhausted rather than simply exerted, such as {{Card|Rohirrim Helm}} and {{Card|We Left None Alive}}
* Similarly {{Card|Eomer, Third Marshal of Riddermark}}, who would benefit from another exertion on a minion he is about to skirmish

== Strong Versus... ==

* Site control decks
* {{C|Moria}} beatdown builds, which plays {{Card|Goblin Runner}} alongside much stronger minions such as {{Card|Cave Troll of Moria, Scourge of the Black Pit}} or {{Card|Goblin Patrol Troop}} bearing {{Card|Moria Axe}}
* {{C|Isengard}} Orcs, especially {{Card|Isengard Smith}} when protected from wounds by {{Card|Isengard Shaman}}

== Weak Versus... ==

* {{Card|Over the Isen}}, which can ensure any banner-bearer is always assigned to either a losing skirmish or no skirmish at all
* Beatdown strategies with few or no supporting minions to offer easy wins
* {{C|Moria}} swarm, which mostly plays 1-vitality minions anyway
* Decks where most minions have 3 or more vitality, as the damage bonus from {{Card|Rider's Spear}} tends to mean more than another exertion

= Rulings =
{{RulesQuote
|source=action
|text=Every action is either optional or required. An optional action is defined as: an action that uses the word "may," an event, or a special ability. All other actions are required actions.

All required actions responding to a particular trigger are performed before any optional actions.
}}

No Retreat (4R30)

2023-09-24T13:21:08Z

Phallen Cassidy: updated wiki references

<noinclude>__NOTOC__
{{NavBar|4R30|[[The Two Towers Index]]|[[No Refuge (4R29)|No Refuge (4R29)]]|[[Over the Isen (4U31)|Over the Isen (4U31)]]}}
{{CardTabs|Dunland}}

[[{{ROOTPAGENAME}}]] is a {{C|Dunland}} [[Condition]] from the [[The Two Towers]] set.
{{CardInfobox|4R30}}
{{QueryCardCategories|4R30}}</noinclude>
= Strategy =

No Retreat is capable of killing a Free Peoples player outright by forcing them to take a move they simply aren't prepared to make -- and therein lies the trouble with this card. As powerful as it seems (and rightly so), it's often either redundant or useless. If you have a site under your control and can get 2 {{C|Dunland}} Men to the regroup phase, you're already making big gains with your Shadow side and probably won't need to push your opponent to win. On the other hand, if you're having trouble keeping sites or keeping your Dunlendings alive then this card will do nothing but clog your hand. Unless your deck is built to use Dunland's characteristic low site number to win quickly, leaving this card out in favor of extra Dunlendings, pumps, or situational minions such as {{Card|Grima, Wormtongue}} or {{Card|Ulaire Enquea, Lieutenant of Morgul}} will give your deck more consistency.

= Strengths and Weaknesses =
== Synergizes With... ==

* {{Card|Constantly Threatening}}
* Decks which rely on their Shadow sides for victories and build their Free Peoples to simply survive

== Strong Versus... ==

* Free Peoples strategies such as choke and pipes, which rely on slow movements and tricks to manage dangers rather than defeating them

== Weak Versus... ==

* Strong Free Peoples, which will make meeting the conditions for using this card difficult
* Condition discarding after the Fellowship Phase

Behold the White Rider (4U88)

2023-09-23T20:58:27Z

Phallen Cassidy: updated wiki references

<noinclude>__NOTOC__
{{NavBar|4U88|[[The Two Towers Index]]|[[Valor (4C87)|Valor (4C87)]]|[[Gandalf, Greyhame (4R89)|Gandalf, Greyhame (4R89)]]}}
{{CardTabs|Gandalf}}

[[{{ROOTPAGENAME}}]] is a {{C|Gandalf}} [[Condition]] from the [[The Two Towers]] set.
{{CardInfobox|4U88}}
{{QueryCardCategories|4U88}}</noinclude>
= Strategy =

The release of The Two Towers introduced a new resource: [[culture tokens]]. Each Free Peoples culture (except {{C|Gollum}}), the new {{C|Raider}} and {{C|Dunland}} cultures, and {{C|Isengard}} Uruk-Hai was part of a [[cycle]] of unique conditions which collect tokens whenever their respective character wins a skirmish, all to some different effect. Gandalf's Behold the White Rider is perhaps the least commonly seen of the Free Peoples conditions, and for several reasons. Unlike the cards available to other cultures, Behold the White Rider only gains tokens when a specific character (Gandalf) wins a skirmish so accruing those tokens is slow. Similarly, only Gandalf is capable of reaping the benefits of those tokens where the comparable Free Peoples conditions can benefit many characters, some even across cultures. Finally, the effect tends to be underwhelming: once Gandalf wins several skirmishes, he can use Behold the White Rider to... win another skirmish, albeit often a challenging one.

Since collecting tokens is slow, the condition is unique, and its use tends to be situational, a player hoping to incorporate Behold the White Rider is caught between two opposing forces: including enough copies to play it early and get the full value of it when needed, and not cluttering the Free Peoples deck with extra copies of a card that is rarely useful twice. Still, while the card will rarely make a big game impact, it is capable of hindering an opponents progress and force a Shadow player to make sub-optimal decisions.

Fittingly, Behold the White Rider can enable Gandalf to instantly defeat powerful minions such as The Balrog as long as nothing protects that minion from being wounded. Because it wounds a minion "for each" token, if Gandalf is Defender +X Behold the White Rider can be used to kill multiple minions at once by spreading wounds across minions. This may be particularly handy against swarm strategies when {{Card|Gandalf, Bearer of Obligation}} is the Ring-Bearer.

Before [[Siege of Gondor]]'s {{Card|Not the First Halfling}}, Behold the White Rider was the only card which could generate {{C|Gandalf}} tokens and heal a {{C|Gandalf}} companion via {{Card|Ring of Barahir}}. In later sets, cards which use tokens as a resource can benefit from Behold the White Rider. {{Card|Shadowfax, Roaring Wind}} reinforces a token when played and effectively allows Behold the White Rider's tokens to wound across many skirmishes instead of all at once. {{Card|Alatar, Final Envoy}} can reinforce a token every turn, allowing even a supporting Gandalf to bring down tough minions if he can win at least one skirmish. {{Card|Gandalf, Returned}} can double the rate at which Behold the White Rider gains tokens, though other conditions may be able to utilize the free token better.

= Strengths and Weaknesses =
== Synergizes With... ==

* {{Card|Shadowfax}}, {{Card|Brego}}, or {{Card|Horse of Rohan}} -- the added exertion makes Behold the White Rider deadly with one fewer token

== Strong Versus... ==

* Fierce minions, which offer Gandalf an additional opportunity to win a skirmish
* Minions which are usually very difficult to beat in skirmishes, once the Free Peoples has managed to gather enough tokens
* Swarm decks, if Gandalf is the Ring-Bearer

== Weak Versus... ==

* Decks in which Gandalf is the main skirmisher, as Behold the White Rider is often redundant
* Beatdown decks, which have few skirmishes and often allow the Free Peoples to claim even fewer wins
* Direct wounding decks such as archery, which rarely count on skirmishes
* Condition discard, as tokens on Behold the White Rider are hard to accumulate

= Rulings =
{{RulesQuote
|source=for_each
|text=When something affects a character (or characters) using the phrase "for each", you may affect a single character more than once. This includes such things as wounding, exerting, healing, or strength modifiers. (See toil.)

Aragorn, Wingfoot (4P364) says, "Each time the fellowship moves, you may wound a minion for each unbound Hobbit you spot." If you spot two unbound Hobbits, you may wound two minions each once or one minion twice.}}

= See Also =
* ''Add links to the wayback machine (or wiki archival links) for official Decipher articles regarding the card''
* ''Link to decks that use this card''

Hrethel, Rider of Rohan (6C95)

2023-09-11T01:01:38Z

Phallen Cassidy:

<noinclude>__NOTOC__
{{NavBar|6C95|[[Ents of Fangorn Index]]|[[Hama, Doorward of Theoden (6R94)|Hama, Doorward of Theoden (6R94)]]|[[News From the Mark (6R96)|News From the Mark (6R96)]]}}
{{CardTabs|Rohan}}

[[{{ROOTPAGENAME}}]] is a {{C|Rohan}} [[Companion]] from the [[Ents of Fangorn]] set. He is the only Free Peoples card in the game which can heal an arbitrary minion.
{{CardInfobox|6C95}}
{{QueryCardCategories|6C95}}</noinclude>
= Strategy =
== Gameplay Strategy ==
Hrethel, put simply, is a replacement for {{Card|Eomer, Third Marshal of Riddermark}}. Both get up to 9 strength when facing a minion with one wound, a slight edge over the 8 strength that the non-unique {{Card|Elite Rider}} offers. Higher strength means winning more skirmishes and taking fewer wounds, but because Hrethel heals minions to achieve it he will also apply fewer wounds himself. This sometimes keeps a minion alive that Eomer or Elite Rider would have killed, an important consideration for the Free Peoples when deciding whether to [[double move]].

Usually whether to use Hrethel's text is a simple consideration of a minion's strength against its vitality and overall importance. Many minions exert themselves, however, with their vitality the natural limit to the effect. Healing them with Hrethel might be worse in the end than simply losing the skirmish. A wounded {{Card|Wulf}}, for example, can be beaten by Hrethel bearing a hand weapon after being healed, but if the Shadow player can block the wounds with {{Card|Hides}} then Wulf's ability may cause more harm long-term.

Most of the time, healing the minion is an appropriate and meaningful cost to Hrethel's strength gain. In a few cases, however, it winds up in the Free Peoples player's favor and may even be worth using several times. This is clearest for [[Enduring]] minions and those in the {{Card|Uruk-hai Berserker}} line, as they gain strength for wounds on themselves and can be difficult for even Third Marshal to beat. One of Rohan's biggest weaknesses, corruption, can be covered by Hrethel -- {{Card|Ulaire Enquea, Thrall of the One}} normally has a field day adding burdens thanks to Rohan's mounts. Healing cuts its burden-adding abilities in half, rounded down since the Free Peoples player gets to take the first action every phase. Between Hrethel and {{Card|Eowyn, Lady of Ithilien}}, Enquea can either be killed immediately by Eowyn at 2 wounds or add no burdens thanks to Hrethel at 1 wound.

Sometimes, though, it is in the Free Peoples player's interest to keep a minion on the table. {{Card|Gollum, Stinker}} usually can't be allowed to win a skirmish, and at the same time if he is killed the Shadow player may be able to play him again and cause more harm with his fresh vitality by replaying a minion with {{Card|Evil-smelling Fens}}. In a similar vein, {{Card|Ulaire Enquea, Lieutenant of Morgul}} is often left alive when a large fellowship needs to move again, but that usually means taking two more wounds. By healing Enquea before beating it, the Free Peoples player can ensure that Enquea stays exhausted without taking any additional wounds.

For fierce minions, Hrethel's heal can be a blessing or a curse. {{Card|Fortress Never Fallen}} rewards winning as many skirmishes as possible, so if Hrethel can win a skirmish against a relatively weak fierce minion without killing it the Free Peoples player is able to get extra tokens. Of course, a stronger minion that required pumps to beat the first time often won't be any easier the second time around. In fact, sometimes it's better to lose a skirmish against a higher vitality minion without using Hrethel's ability if possible so the exertion from the mount sticks around for the next skirmish.

Rohan has many effects which key off of wounded or exhausted minions, which are more complicated to use with Hrethel than other companions. This comes up most often with {{Card|We Left None Alive}}: the Free Peoples player will often use a token or two and then Hrethel's text last for the strength gain needed to win the skirmish. If the Shadow player has a pump of their own, Hrethel will be uniquely unable to use the condition again.

== Deckbuilding Strategy ==
Unlike Elite Rider, Hrethel is culturally enforced and unseen outside of a dedicated Rohan deck. In [[Towers Block]] he is chosen for his extra strength over wounded minions compared to Elite Rider. In [[Movie Block]] and beyond, his unique ability to heal [[Enduring]] minions is more often his greatest feature: whether he earns a spot in a decklist depends on whether being able to heal a minion is valued rather than his skirmish potential.

{{Card|Eomer, Third Marshal of Riddermark}} is almost always superior and must spot a man to be played for 2, leaving no place for Hrethel in a starting fellowship. While this would normally mean he must be drawn to be played, thanks to {{Card|Simbelmyne}} there's not much benefit to a second copy.

= Strengths and Weaknesses =
== Synergizes With... ==

* {{Card|Rider's Mount}} and {{Card|Rider's Spear}}
* {{Card|Merry's Sword}}
* {{Card|Thundering Host}} and similar Rohan effects which go naturally with a fully armed Rider
* Free Peoples archery, especially a lone arrow from Legolas or {{Card|Hornburg Parapet}} which could otherwise have no impact

== Strong Versus... ==

* [[Enduring]] minions, especially Nazgul such as {{Card|Ulaire Enquea, Thrall of the One}} who would use their wounds to pay for their own effects
* Similarly, certain minions in the {{Card|Uruk-hai Berserker}} line
* Generally good skirmisher against wounded minions of almost any sort

== Weak Versus... ==

* Minions which exert to some effect in the Skirmish phase, such as {{Card|Easterling Army}}, {{Card|Berserk Slayer}}, or {{Card|Mordor Defender}}
* Disposing of minions, especially when lacking any damage bonuses

= See Also =
== Decks ==
'''"Fear This" - Michael Dalton's Worlds 2003 Champion deck''' ([https://lotrtcgwiki.com/forums/index.php?topic=12100.msg99058 Click here for the full decklist])
* Format: [[Towers Standard]]
* Ring-bearer: {{Card|Frodo, Tired Traveller}}
* Ring: {{Card|The One Ring, Answer To All Riddles}}

* 1x {{Card|Elite Rider}} (Starting)
* 1x {{Card|Éomer, Third Marshal of Riddermark}} (Starting)
* 1x {{Card|Éowyn, Lady of Rohan}} (Alternate starting, when bidding 9)
* 1x {{Card|Sam, Proper Poet}} (Alternate starting, when bidding 9)
* 1x {{Card|Legolas, Greenleaf}}
* 1x {{Card|Aragorn, Ranger of the North}}
* 1x {{Card|Hrethel, Rider of Rohan}}
* 1x {{Card|Hlafwine, Village Farmhand}}
* 1x {{Card|Leod, Westfold Herdsman}}
* 1x {{Card|Brego}}
* 1x {{Card|Eomer's Spear}}
* 1x {{Card|Firefoot}}
* 1x {{Card|Rider's Mount}}
* 2x {{Card|Rider's Spear}}
* 1x {{Card|Rohirrim Bow}}
* 1x {{Card|Frying Pan}}
* 2x {{Card|An Honorable Charge}}
* 4x {{Card|Simbelmyne}}
* 3x {{Card|Arrow-slits}}
* 2x {{Card|Fortress Never Fallen}}
* 3x {{Card|Thundering Host}}
* 1x {{Card|We Left None Alive}}

Leowyn (7R239)

2023-09-10T20:55:40Z

Phallen Cassidy: Created

<noinclude>__NOTOC__
{{NavBar|7R239|[[Return of the King Index]]|[[Knights of His House (7U238)|Knights of His House (7U238)]]|[[Long Spear (7C240)|Long Spear (7C240)]]}}
{{CardTabs|Rohan}}

[[{{ROOTPAGENAME}}]] is a {{C|Rohan}} [[Ally]] from the [[Return of the King]] set.
{{CardInfobox|7R239}}
{{QueryCardCategories|7R239}}</noinclude>
= Strategy =
== Gameplay Strategy ==
Leowyn - along with {{Card|Deor}} - is a major jump up from all Towers villagers and a useful card for any Rohan deck, usable throughout the game without further investment. {{Card|Simbelmyne}} can play her at the first sign of need and she in turn helps to [[Cycling|cycle]] through the deck for any other important cards.

The Free Peoples player should plan to use Leowyn's ability first thing if she's going to be used at all, lest initiative be lost before all unwanted cards are discarded. Whenever the Free Peoples player discards from hand during their turn the primary targets are often unwanted Shadow cards or Free Peoples duplicates, sometimes turning her cost into a benefit. Against a wounding strategy, however, discarding additional Free Peoples cards with Leowyn tends to be more fruitful than playing them. In addition to keeping a Fellowship healthy, this prevents opponents from using the twilight those cards would have added.

Leowyn has no use for her vitality, but that doesn't mean her vitality is useless. In addition to being a little harder to kill, she is an excellent bearer of {{Card|Rohirrim Bow}} to snipe exhausted minions in a pinch. {{Card|Weapon Store}} is a good way to recur {{Card|Merry's Sword}} after {{Card|Merry, Swordthain}} bounces back to hand. And in [[Standard]] or [[Expanded]], {{Card|11S259}} and {{Card|Throne of the Golden Hall}} always benefit from having spare vitality around.

== Deckbuilding Strategy ==
Leowyn's primary competition for deck space is {{Card|Deor}}: both use the same resource to do things that tend to keep a Fellowship healthy (heal wounds or win skirmishes). There's no reason a deck can't have both, there's just no real way to ''use'' both on the same turn. Some people optimize one or the other out of a deck as a result. If you're trying to cover yourself against wounding strategies specifically, {{Card|Rohirrim Shield}} is among the most efficient counters in the game. Playing it just once usually won't be enough though, so compared to Leowyn it requires more investment in either multiple copies or {{Card|Ecglaf}} to replay it and some way to heal him -- potentially Leowyn!

Since her cost will most likely be paid with some Shadow cards, a deck that relies on her alone to cover all of its healing needs won't pair well with a Shadow dependent on gathering several key cards in hand. It's still not a bad idea to put her in for the occasional use or as a way to pivot to the Free Peoples when your Shadow doesn't have a chance. However, when whether you need to win with your Free Peoples or your Shadow depends on what happens this turn, whether she is used or not will determine the outcome with nearly no way to know what the right choice is.

= Strengths and Weaknesses =
== Synergizes With... ==

* Any of the Towers allies, especially {{Card|Aldor}} who is not a villager and can't be healed by {{Card|Well Stored}}
* Cards which exert any {{C|Rohan}} Man, such as {{Card|Rohirrim Bow}}
* {{Card|Ceorl}}, who needs a villager with vitality to spare and a way to heal himself
* Hand extension such as {{Card|Gandalf, The Grey Pilgrim}}

== Strong Versus... ==

* A generally useful effect (and sometimes cost), worthwhile against any opponent. But especially...
* Shadow sides focused on [[wounding]], where Rohan's skirmish-oriented cards may accomplish little more than adding twilight if played
* An opponent with a [[Choke|choking]] Free Peoples, which might cause [[Hand Clog|hand clog]] and prevent you from getting the cards you need most

== Weak Versus... ==

* Shadow conditions which prevent the Free Peoples player from ever having initiative, such as {{Card|Harsh Tongues}}

Hrethel, Rider of Rohan (6C95)

2023-09-09T01:18:33Z

Phallen Cassidy: minor adjustments

<noinclude>__NOTOC__
{{NavBar|6C95|[[Ents of Fangorn Index]]|[[Hama, Doorward of Theoden (6R94)|Hama, Doorward of Theoden (6R94)]]|[[News From the Mark (6R96)|News From the Mark (6R96)]]}}
{{CardTabs|Rohan}}

[[{{ROOTPAGENAME}}]] is a {{C|Rohan}} [[Companion]] from the [[Ents of Fangorn]] set. He is the only Free Peoples card in the game which can heal an arbitrary minion.
{{CardInfobox|6C95}}
{{QueryCardCategories|6C95}}</noinclude>
= Strategy =
== Gameplay Strategy ==
Hrethel, put simply, is a replacement for {{Card|Eomer, Third Marshal of Riddermark}}. Both get up to 9 strength when facing a minion with one wound, a slight edge over the 8 strength that the non-unique {{Card|Elite Rider}} offers. Higher strength means winning more skirmishes and taking fewer wounds, but because Hrethel heals minions to achieve it he will also apply fewer wounds himself. This sometimes keeps a minion alive that Eomer or Elite Rider would have killed, an important consideration for the Free Peoples when deciding whether to [[double move]].

Usually whether to use Hrethel's text is a simple consideration of a minion's strength against its vitality and overall importance. Many minions exert themselves, however, with their vitality the natural limit to the effect. Healing them with Hrethel might be worse in the end than simply losing the skirmish. A wounded {{Card|Wulf}}, for example, can be beaten by Hrethel bearing a hand weapon after being healed, but if the Shadow player can block the wounds with {{Card|Hides}} then Wulf's ability may cause more harm long-term.

Most of the time, healing the minion is an appropriate and meaningful cost to Hrethel's strength gain. In a few cases, however, it winds up in the Free Peoples player's favor and may even be worth using several times. This is clearest for [[Enduring]] minions and those in the {{Card|Uruk-hai Berserker}} line, as they gain strength for wounds on themselves and can be difficult for even Third Marshal to beat. One of Rohan's biggest weaknesses, corruption, can be covered by Hrethel -- {{Card|Ulaire Enquea, Thrall of the One}} normally has a field day adding burdens thanks to Rohan's mounts. Healing cuts its burden-adding abilities in half, rounded down since the Free Peoples player gets to take the first action every phase. Between Hrethel and {{Card|Eowyn, Lady of Ithilien}}, Enquea can either be killed immediately by Eowyn at 2 wounds or add no burdens thanks to Hrethel at 1 wound.

Sometimes, though, it is in the Free Peoples player's interest to keep a minion on the table. {{Card|Gollum, Stinker}} usually can't be allowed to win a skirmish, and at the same time if he is killed the Shadow player may be able to play him again and cause more harm with his fresh vitality by replaying a minion with {{Card|Evil-smelling Fens}}. In a similar vein, {{Card|Ulaire Enquea, Lieutenant of Morgul}} is often left alive when a large fellowship needs to move again, but that usually means taking two more wounds. By healing Enquea before beating it, the Free Peoples player can ensure that Enquea stays exhausted without taking any additional wounds.

For fierce minions, Hrethel's heal can be a blessing or a curse. {{Card|Fortress Never Fallen}} rewards winning as many skirmishes as possible, so if Hrethel can win a skirmish against a relatively weak fierce minion without killing it the Free Peoples player is able to get extra tokens. Of course, a stronger minion that required pumps to beat the first time often won't be any easier the second time around. In fact, sometimes it's be better to lose a skirmish against a higher vitality minion without using Hrethel's ability if possible to let the exertion from the mount sticks around for the next skirmish.

Rohan has many effects which key off of wounded or exhausted minions, which are more complicated to use with Hrethel than other companions. This comes up most often with {{Card|We Left None Alive}}: the Free Peoples player will often use a token or two and then Hrethel's text last for the strength gain needed to win the skirmish. If the Shadow player has a pump of their own, Hrethel will be uniquely unable to use the condition again.

== Deckbuilding Strategy ==
Unlike Elite Rider, Hrethel is culturally enforced and unseen outside of a dedicated Rohan deck. In [[Towers Block]] he is chosen for his extra strength over wounded minions compared to Elite Rider. In [[Movie Block]] and beyond, his unique ability to heal [[Enduring]] minions is more often his greatest feature: whether he earns a spot in a decklist depends on whether being able to heal a minion is valued rather than his skirmish potential.

{{Card|Eomer, Third Marshal of Riddermark}} is almost always superior and must spot a man to be played for 2, leaving no place for Hrethel in a starting fellowship. While this would normally mean he must be drawn to be played, thanks to {{Card|Simbelmyne}} there's not much benefit to a second copy.

= Strengths and Weaknesses =
== Synergizes With... ==

* {{Card|Rider's Mount}} and {{Card|Rider's Spear}}
* {{Card|Merry's Sword}}
* {{Card|Thundering Host}} and similar Rohan effects which go naturally with a fully armed Rider
* Free Peoples archery, especially a lone arrow from Legolas or {{Card|Hornburg Parapet}} which could otherwise have no impact

== Strong Versus... ==

* [[Enduring]] minions, especially Nazgul such as {{Card|Ulaire Enquea, Thrall of the One}} who would use their wounds to pay for their own effects
* Similarly, certain minions in the {{Card|Uruk-hai Berserker}} line
* Generally good skirmisher against wounded minions of almost any sort

== Weak Versus... ==

* Minions which exert to some effect in the Skirmish phase, such as {{Card|Easterling Army}}, {{Card|Berserk Slayer}}, or {{Card|Mordor Defender}}
* Disposing of minions, especially when lacking any damage bonuses

= See Also =
== Decks ==
'''"Fear This" - Michael Dalton's Worlds 2003 Champion deck''' ([https://lotrtcgwiki.com/forums/index.php?topic=12100.msg99058 Click here for the full decklist])
* Format: [[Towers Standard]]
* Ring-bearer: {{Card|Frodo, Tired Traveller}}
* Ring: {{Card|The One Ring, Answer To All Riddles}}

* 1x {{Card|Elite Rider}} (Starting)
* 1x {{Card|Éomer, Third Marshal of Riddermark}} (Starting)
* 1x {{Card|Éowyn, Lady of Rohan}} (Alternate starting, when bidding 9)
* 1x {{Card|Sam, Proper Poet}} (Alternate starting, when bidding 9)
* 1x {{Card|Legolas, Greenleaf}}
* 1x {{Card|Aragorn, Ranger of the North}}
* 1x {{Card|Hrethel, Rider of Rohan}}
* 1x {{Card|Hlafwine, Village Farmhand}}
* 1x {{Card|Leod, Westfold Herdsman}}
* 1x {{Card|Brego}}
* 1x {{Card|Eomer's Spear}}
* 1x {{Card|Firefoot}}
* 1x {{Card|Rider's Mount}}
* 2x {{Card|Rider's Spear}}
* 1x {{Card|Rohirrim Bow}}
* 1x {{Card|Frying Pan}}
* 2x {{Card|An Honorable Charge}}
* 4x {{Card|Simbelmyne}}
* 3x {{Card|Arrow-slits}}
* 2x {{Card|Fortress Never Fallen}}
* 3x {{Card|Thundering Host}}
* 1x {{Card|We Left None Alive}}

Hrethel, Rider of Rohan (6C95)

2023-09-08T03:27:02Z

Phallen Cassidy: Created

<noinclude>__NOTOC__
{{NavBar|6C95|[[Ents of Fangorn Index]]|[[Hama, Doorward of Theoden (6R94)|Hama, Doorward of Theoden (6R94)]]|[[News From the Mark (6R96)|News From the Mark (6R96)]]}}
{{CardTabs|Rohan}}

[[{{ROOTPAGENAME}}]] is a {{C|Rohan}} [[Companion]] from the [[Ents of Fangorn]] set. He is the only Free Peoples card in the game which can heal an arbitrary minion.
{{CardInfobox|6C95}}
{{QueryCardCategories|6C95}}</noinclude>
= Strategy =
== Gameplay Strategy ==
Hrethel, put simply, is a replacement for {{Card|Eomer, Third Marshal of Riddermark}}. Both get up to 9 strength when facing a minion with one wound, a slight edge over the 8 strength that the non-unique {{Card|Elite Rider}} offers. Higher strength means winning more skirmishes and taking fewer wounds, but because Hrethel heals minions to achieve it he will also apply fewer wounds himself. This sometimes keeps a minion alive that Eomer or Elite Rider would have killed, an important consideration for the Free Peoples when deciding whether to [[double move]].

Usually whether to use Hrethel's text is a simple consideration of a minion's strength against its vitality and overall importance. Many minions exert themselves, however, with their vitality the natural limit to the effect. Healing them with Hrethel might be worse in the end than simply losing the skirmish. A wounded {{Card|Wulf}}, for example, can be beaten by Hrethel bearing a hand weapon after being healed, but if the Shadow player can block the wounds with {{Card|Hides}} then Wulf's ability may cause more harm than losing the skirmish.

Most of the time, healing the minion is an appropriate and meaningful cost to Hrethel's strength gain. In a few cases, however, it winds up in the Free Peoples player's favor and may even be worth using several times. This is clearest for [[Enduring]] minions and those in the {{Card|Uruk-hai Berserker}} line, as they gain strength for wounds on themselves and can be difficult for even Third Marshal to beat. One of Rohan's biggest weaknesses, corruption, can be covered by Hrethel -- {{Card|Ulaire Enquea, Thrall of the One}} normally has a field day adding burdens thanks to Rohan's mounts. Healing cuts its burden-adding abilities in half, rounded down since the Free Peoples player gets to take the first action every phase. Between Hrethel and {{Card|Eowyn, Lady of Ithilien}}, Enquea can either be killed immediately by Eowyn at 2 wounds or add no burdens thanks to Hrethel at 1 wound.

Sometimes, though, it is in the Free Peoples player's interest to keep a minion on the table. {{Card|Gollum, Stinker}} usually can't be allowed to win a skirmish, and at the same time if he is killed the Shadow player may be able to play him again and cause more harm with his fresh vitality by replaying a minion with {{Card|Evil-smelling Fens}}. In a similar vein, {{Card|Ulaire Enquea, Lieutenant of Morgul}} is often left alive when a large fellowship needs to move again, but that usually means taking two more wounds. Hrethel can sometimes ensure that Enquea stays exhausted without losing to it, minimizing its harm.

For fierce minions, Hrethel's heal can be a blessing or a curse. {{Card|Fortress Never Fallen}} rewards winning as many skirmishes as possible, so if Hrethel can win a skirmish against a relatively weak fierce minion without killing it the Free Peoples player is able to get extra tokens. Of course, a stronger minion that required pumps to beat the first time often won't be any easier the second time around. In fact, sometimes it's be better to lose a skirmish against a higher vitality minion without using Hrethel's ability if possible to let the exertion from the mount sticks around for the next skirmish.

Rohan has many effects which key off of wounded or exhausted minions, which can be more complicated to use with Hrethel than other companions. This comes up most often with {{Card|We Left None Alive}}: the Free Peoples player will often use a token or two and then Hrethel's text last for the strength gain needed to win the skirmish. If the Shadow player has a pump of their own, Hrethel will be uniquely unable to use the condition again.

== Deckbuilding Strategy ==
Unlike Elite Rider, Hrethel is culturally enforced and virtually unseen outside of a dedicated Rohan deck. In [[Towers Block]] he is often chosen for his extra strength over wounded minions compared to Elite Rider. In [[Movie Block]] and beyond, his unique ability to heal [[Enduring]] minions is more often his greatest feature. Whether he earns a spot in a decklist depends on whether being able to heal a minion is valued much more than his skirmish potential.

{{Card|Eomer, Third Marshal of Riddermark}} is almost always superior and must spot a man to be played for 2, booting Hrethel out of the starting fellowship. While this would normally mean he must be drawn to be played, thanks to {{Card|Simbelmyne}} there's not much benefit to a second copy.

= Strengths and Weaknesses =
== Synergizes With... ==

* {{Card|Rider's Mount}} and {{Card|Rider's Spear}}
* {{Card|Merry's Sword}}
* {{Card|Thundering Host}}, {{Card|We Left None Alive}}, and similar Rohan effects which go naturally with a fully armed Rider
* Free Peoples archery (when not mounted), especially a lone arrow from Legolas or {{Card|Hornburg Parapet}} which could otherwise have no impact

== Strong Versus... ==

* [[Enduring]] minions, especially Nazgul such as {{Card|Ulaire Enquea, Thrall of the One}} who would use their wounds to pay for their own effects
* Similarly, certain minions in the {{Card|Uruk-hai Berserker}} line
* Generally good skirmisher against wounded minions of almost any sort

== Weak Versus... ==

* Minions which exert to some effect in the Skirmish phase, such as {{Card|Easterling Army}}, {{Card|Berserk Slayer}}, or {{Card|Mordor Defender}}
* Disposing of minions, especially when lacking any damage bonuses

= See Also =
== Decks ==
'''"Fear This" - Michael Dalton's Worlds 2003 Champion deck''' ([https://lotrtcgwiki.com/forums/index.php?topic=12100.msg99058 Click here for the full decklist])
* Format: [[Towers Standard]]
* Ring-bearer: {{Card|Frodo, Tired Traveller}}
* Ring: {{Card|The One Ring, Answer To All Riddles}}

* 1x {{Card|Elite Rider}} (Starting)
* 1x {{Card|Éomer, Third Marshal of Riddermark}} (Starting)
* 1x {{Card|Éowyn, Lady of Rohan}} (Alternate starting, when bidding 9)
* 1x {{Card|Sam, Proper Poet}} (Alternate starting, when bidding 9)
* 1x {{Card|Legolas, Greenleaf}}
* 1x {{Card|Aragorn, Ranger of the North}}
* 1x {{Card|Hrethel, Rider of Rohan}}
* 1x {{Card|Hlafwine, Village Farmhand}}
* 1x {{Card|Leod, Westfold Herdsman}}
* 1x {{Card|Brego}}
* 1x {{Card|Eomer's Spear}}
* 1x {{Card|Firefoot}}
* 1x {{Card|Rider's Mount}}
* 2x {{Card|Rider's Spear}}
* 1x {{Card|Rohirrim Bow}}
* 1x {{Card|Frying Pan}}
* 2x {{Card|An Honorable Charge}}
* 4x {{Card|Simbelmyne}}
* 3x {{Card|Arrow-slits}}
* 2x {{Card|Fortress Never Fallen}}
* 3x {{Card|Thundering Host}}
* 1x {{Card|We Left None Alive}}

Elite Rider (7C225)

2023-08-26T23:11:00Z

Phallen Cassidy: eliminating extra space

<noinclude>__NOTOC__
{{NavBar|7C225|[[Return of the King Index]]|[[Elfhelm, Marshal of Rohan (7U224)|Elfhelm, Marshal of Rohan (7U224)]]|[[Enraged Horseman (7C226)|Enraged Horseman (7C226)]]}}
{{CardTabs|Rohan}}

[[{{ROOTPAGENAME}}]] is a {{C|Rohan}} [[Companion]] from the [[Return of the King]] set.
{{Reprint|7C225|4C265}}
{{QueryCardCategories|7C225}}

Elite Rider (4C265)

2023-08-26T01:42:59Z

Phallen Cassidy: Somewhat clarified the relationship to Eomer

<noinclude>__NOTOC__
{{NavBar|4C265|[[The Two Towers Index]]|[[Ceorl, Weary Horseman (4U264)|Ceorl, Weary Horseman (4U264)]]|[[Eomer, Sister-son of Theoden (4C266)|Eomer, Sister-son of Theoden (4C266)]]}}
{{CardTabs|Rohan}}

[[{{ROOTPAGENAME}}]] is a {{C|Rohan}} [[Companion]] from the [[The Two Towers]] set.

{{CardInfobox|4C265}}
{{QueryCardCategories|4C265}}</noinclude>
= Strategy =
== Gameplay Strategy ==
Effectively a non-unique and milder version of {{Card|Eomer, Third Marshal of Riddermark}}, this companion is reliably 10 strength with {{Card|Rider's Mount}} and {{Card|Rider's Spear}}, on par with Aragorn equipped with a sword. The twilight discount makes him a popular starting companion, and a common tactic is to start him with Eomer to put two {{Twilight|3}} companions in the starting fellowship. Gearing this companion up before Eomer gives 1 less strength overall and no extra strength after the first wound on a minion, but will allow the Free Peoples to put a strong companion in danger early on without fear of losing any of the unique benefits that Eomer can access. It will also save the twilight of transferring the generic gear if {{Card|Firefoot}} or {{Card|Eomer's Spear}} are drawn afterward.

Because the twilight discount requires no cultural enforcement, he can start alongside Legolas to take advantage of the [[archer]] keyword and get to 8 strength even without any gear. This can be particularly helpful in a deck using {{Card|Eastemnet Gullies}}, allowing the deck to have just one copy of Legolas and still start with him after losing the bid. Because Elite Rider is not valiant and can't meet the criteria to play {{Card|Simbelmyne}} on his own, some players instead prefer to start Eowyn (especially {{Card|Eowyn, Lady of Rohan}}) when they won't start two {{C|Rohan}} companions.

Mounts are often viewed as +2 strength for Elite Rider and therefore necessary equipment. However, remember that Mounts merely apply exertions which in turn grant the strength boost. Any deck with other ways to put wound tokens on minions will be able to tap into that strength boost without them. Archery is one avenue, as mentioned above. [[Return of the King]] introduces another with Rohan's strongest exerting effect: {{Card|Merry's Sword}}. It encourages a large fellowship to get the most out of the effect, and the effect nullifies the most popular large fellowship counter, {{Card|Ulaire Enquea, Lieutenant of Morgul}}. Merry's Sword also prevents {{Card|Grima, Wormtongue}} from threatening to send borne cards back into hand, so while a mount is no longer necessary for the exertions there's little to fear from giving Elite Rider a mount, spear, and ranged weapon such as {{Card|Rohirrim Bow}} to bring him up to 11 strength. Elite Rider's expendible nature makes for the ideal bearer of Rohirrim Bow to either keep for strength or use it to take out a minion exhausted by Merry's Sword, as the exertion will not hurt the Free Peoples player very much.

== Deckbuilding Strategy ==
Since this card is basically {{Card|Eomer, Third Marshal of Riddermark}}, it is a natural fit in any deck using him. This makes him a core companion in almost every Towers-era Rohan deck. If your deck has fewer than 9 potential companions, using Elite Rider to fill in any gaps is never a bad idea. [[Towers Block]] in particular is shaped not by {{Card|Ulaire Enquea, Lieutenant of Morgul}} but by {{Card|Southron Commander}}, making it possible to play more than 9 companions over the course of the game.

{{Card|Hrethel, Rider of Rohan}} is also something of a Third Marshal replacement, getting up to Third Marshal's 11 strength when fighting a wounded minion at the expense of healing that minion. However, his cultural enforcement means he can't be played in a starting fellowship with Third Marshal, so he can only compete with the first Elite Rider that would be played normally for deck space.

Elite Rider was reprinted in [[King Block]], but unlike Towers there are enough attractive alternatives to replace him much of the time in it and [[Movie Block]]. Most notably is {{Card|Eowyn, Lady of Ithilien}}, a deck-defining powerhouse for Eomer to spot. Robbed of a place in the starting fellowship, this companion competes for deck space with not only Hrethel (who gains extra utility against [[Enduring]] minions), but also the post-Towers versions of Theoden, {{Card|Rohirrim Army}}, {{Card|Merry, Swordthain}}, and supporting characters of other cultures. Depending on the deck, he may also be supplanted by {{Card|Elfhelm}} (sometimes aided by {{Card|Grimbold}}) or {{Card|Veteran Horseman}}. Nonetheless, he remains a great choice when filling up any remaining companion slots.

= Strengths and Weaknesses =
== Synergizes With... ==

* {{Card|Rider's Mount}} and {{Card|Rider's Spear}}
* {{Card|Merry's Sword}}
* {{Card|Thundering Host}}, {{Card|We Left None Alive}}, and similar Rohan effects which go naturally with a fully armed Rider
* Free Peoples archery (when not mounted), especially a lone arrow from Legolas or {{Card|Hornburg Parapet}} which could otherwise have no impact

== Strong Versus... ==

* The supporting minions in most decks, as minions which cost {{Twilight|4}} or less often have at least 2 vitality and less than 10 strength
* Beatdown decks, as this companion is difficult to overwhelm and easily replaced
* Minions which exert themselves, alleviating the need for a mount on all Elite Riders

== Weak Versus... ==

* {{C|Dunland}} minions, which typically have only 1 vitality and cannot be exerted
* Healing effects such as {{Card|Scaling Ladder}} or {{Card|Not Easily Destroyed}}, which can act as a strength buff if they fully heal a minion skirmishing this companion
* [[Enduring]] minions, which offset Elite Rider's strength gain with a bonus of their own

= See Also =
== Decks ==
'''"Fear This" - Michael Dalton's Worlds 2003 Champion deck''' ([https://lotrtcgwiki.com/forums/index.php?topic=12100.msg99058 Click here for the full decklist])
* Format: [[Towers Standard]]
* Ring-bearer: {{Card|Frodo, Tired Traveller}}
* Ring: {{Card|The One Ring, Answer To All Riddles}}

* 1x {{Card|Elite Rider}} (Starting)
* 1x {{Card|Éomer, Third Marshal of Riddermark}} (Starting)
* 1x {{Card|Éowyn, Lady of Rohan}} (Alternate starting, when bidding 9)
* 1x {{Card|Sam, Proper Poet}} (Alternate starting, when bidding 9)
* 1x {{Card|Legolas, Greenleaf}}
* 1x {{Card|Aragorn, Ranger of the North}}
* 1x {{Card|Hrethel, Rider of Rohan}}
* 1x {{Card|Hlafwine, Village Farmhand}}
* 1x {{Card|Leod, Westfold Herdsman}}
* 1x {{Card|Brego}}
* 1x {{Card|Eomer's Spear}}
* 1x {{Card|Firefoot}}
* 1x {{Card|Rider's Mount}}
* 2x {{Card|Rider's Spear}}
* 1x {{Card|Rohirrim Bow}}
* 1x {{Card|Frying Pan}}
* 2x {{Card|An Honorable Charge}}
* 4x {{Card|Simbelmyne}}
* 3x {{Card|Arrow-slits}}
* 2x {{Card|Fortress Never Fallen}}
* 3x {{Card|Thundering Host}}
* 1x {{Card|We Left None Alive}}

Elite Rider (4C265)

2023-08-25T21:51:58Z

Phallen Cassidy: Handling reprint

<noinclude>__NOTOC__
{{NavBar|4C265|[[The Two Towers Index]]|[[Ceorl, Weary Horseman (4U264)|Ceorl, Weary Horseman (4U264)]]|[[Eomer, Sister-son of Theoden (4C266)|Eomer, Sister-son of Theoden (4C266)]]}}
{{CardTabs|Rohan}}

[[{{ROOTPAGENAME}}]] is a {{C|Rohan}} [[Companion]] from the [[The Two Towers]] set.

{{CardInfobox|4C265}}
{{QueryCardCategories|4C265}}</noinclude>
= Strategy =
== Gameplay Strategy ==
Effectively a non-unique version of {{Card|Eomer, Third Marshal of Riddermark}}, this companion is reliably 10 strength with {{Card|Rider's Mount}} and {{Card|Rider's Spear}}, on par with Aragorn equipped with a sword. The twilight discount makes him a popular starting companion, and a common tactic is to start him with Eomer to put two {{Twilight|3}} companions in your starting fellowship. Gearing this companion up before Eomer gives 1 less strength, but will allow the Free Peoples to put a strong companion in danger early on without fear of losing any of the unique benefits that Eomer can access.

Because the twilight discount requires no cultural enforcement, he can start alongside Legolas to take advantage of the [[archer]] keyword and get to 8 strength even without any gear. This can be particularly helpful in a deck using {{Card|Eastemnet Gullies}}, allowing the deck to have just one copy of Legolas and still start with him after losing the bid. Because Elite Rider is not valiant and can't meet the criteria to play {{Card|Simbelmyne}} on his own, some players instead prefer to start Eowyn (especially {{Card|Eowyn, Lady of Rohan}}) when they won't start two {{C|Rohan}} companions.

Mounts are often viewed as +2 strength for Elite Rider and therefore necessary equipment. However, remember that Mounts merely apply exertions which in turn grant the strength boost. Any deck with other ways to put wound tokens on minions will be able to tap into that strength boost without them. Archery is one avenue, as mentioned above. [[Return of the King]] introduces another with Rohan's strongest exerting effect: {{Card|Merry's Sword}}. It encourages a large fellowship to get the most out of the effect, and the effect nullifies the most popular large fellowship counter, {{Card|Ulaire Enquea, Lieutenant of Morgul}}. Merry's Sword also prevents {{Card|Grima, Wormtongue}} from threatening to send borne cards back into hand, so while a mount is no longer necessary for the exertions there's little to fear from giving Elite Rider a mount, spear, and ranged weapon such as {{Card|Rohirrim Bow}} to bring him up to 11 strength. Elite Rider's expendible nature makes for the ideal bearer of Rohirrim Bow to either keep for strength or use it to take out a minion exhausted by Merry's Sword, as the exertion will not hurt the Free Peoples player very much.

== Deckbuilding Strategy ==
Since this card is basically {{Card|Eomer, Third Marshal of Riddermark}}, it is a natural fit in any deck using him. This makes him a core companion in almost every Towers-era Rohan deck. If your deck has fewer than 9 potential companions, using Elite Rider to fill in any gaps is never a bad idea. [[Towers Block]] in particular is shaped not by {{Card|Ulaire Enquea, Lieutenant of Morgul}} but by {{Card|Southron Commander}}, making it possible to play more than 9 companions over the course of the game.

{{Card|Hrethel, Rider of Rohan}} is also something of a Third Marshal replacement, getting up to Third Marshal's 11 strength when fighting a wounded minion at the expense of healing that minion. However, his cultural enforcement means he can't be played in a starting fellowship with Third Marshal, so he can only compete with the first Elite Rider that would be played normally for deck space.

Elite Rider was reprinted in [[King Block]], but unlike Towers there are enough attractive alternatives to replace him much of the time in it and [[Movie Block]]. Most notably is {{Card|Eowyn, Lady of Ithilien}}, a deck-defining powerhouse for Eomer to spot. Robbed of a place in the starting fellowship, this companion competes for deck space with not only Hrethel (who gains extra utility against [[Enduring]] minions), but also the post-Towers versions of Theoden, {{Card|Rohirrim Army}}, {{Card|Merry, Swordthain}}, and supporting characters of other cultures. Depending on the deck, he may also be supplanted by {{Card|Elfhelm}} (sometimes aided by {{Card|Grimbold}}) or {{Card|Veteran Horseman}}. Nonetheless, he remains a great choice when filling up any remaining companion slots.

= Strengths and Weaknesses =
== Synergizes With... ==

* {{Card|Rider's Mount}} and {{Card|Rider's Spear}}
* {{Card|Merry's Sword}}
* {{Card|Thundering Host}}, {{Card|We Left None Alive}}, and similar Rohan effects which go naturally with a fully armed Rider
* Free Peoples archery (when not mounted), especially a lone arrow from Legolas or {{Card|Hornburg Parapet}} which could otherwise have no impact

== Strong Versus... ==

* The supporting minions in most decks, as minions which cost {{Twilight|4}} or less often have at least 2 vitality and less than 10 strength
* Beatdown decks, as this companion is difficult to overwhelm and easily replaced
* Minions which exert themselves, alleviating the need for a mount on all Elite Riders

== Weak Versus... ==

* {{C|Dunland}} minions, which typically have only 1 vitality and cannot be exerted
* Healing effects such as {{Card|Scaling Ladder}} or {{Card|Not Easily Destroyed}}, which can act as a strength buff if they fully heal a minion skirmishing this companion
* [[Enduring]] minions, which offset Elite Rider's strength gain with a bonus of their own

= See Also =
== Decks ==
'''"Fear This" - Michael Dalton's Worlds 2003 Champion deck''' ([https://lotrtcgwiki.com/forums/index.php?topic=12100.msg99058 Click here for the full decklist])
* Format: [[Towers Standard]]
* Ring-bearer: {{Card|Frodo, Tired Traveller}}
* Ring: {{Card|The One Ring, Answer To All Riddles}}

* 1x {{Card|Elite Rider}} (Starting)
* 1x {{Card|Éomer, Third Marshal of Riddermark}} (Starting)
* 1x {{Card|Éowyn, Lady of Rohan}} (Alternate starting, when bidding 9)
* 1x {{Card|Sam, Proper Poet}} (Alternate starting, when bidding 9)
* 1x {{Card|Legolas, Greenleaf}}
* 1x {{Card|Aragorn, Ranger of the North}}
* 1x {{Card|Hrethel, Rider of Rohan}}
* 1x {{Card|Hlafwine, Village Farmhand}}
* 1x {{Card|Leod, Westfold Herdsman}}
* 1x {{Card|Brego}}
* 1x {{Card|Eomer's Spear}}
* 1x {{Card|Firefoot}}
* 1x {{Card|Rider's Mount}}
* 2x {{Card|Rider's Spear}}
* 1x {{Card|Rohirrim Bow}}
* 1x {{Card|Frying Pan}}
* 2x {{Card|An Honorable Charge}}
* 4x {{Card|Simbelmyne}}
* 3x {{Card|Arrow-slits}}
* 2x {{Card|Fortress Never Fallen}}
* 3x {{Card|Thundering Host}}
* 1x {{Card|We Left None Alive}}

Elite Rider (7C225)

2023-08-25T21:40:31Z

Phallen Cassidy: Reprint

<noinclude>__NOTOC__
{{NavBar|7C225|[[Return of the King Index]]|[[Elfhelm, Marshal of Rohan (7U224)|Elfhelm, Marshal of Rohan (7U224)]]|[[Enraged Horseman (7C226)|Enraged Horseman (7C226)]]}}
{{CardTabs|Rohan}}

[[{{ROOTPAGENAME}}]] is a {{C|Rohan}} [[Companion]] from the [[Return of the King]] set.

{{Reprint|7C225|4C265}}
{{QueryCardCategories|7C225}}

Elite Rider (4C265)

2023-08-25T20:31:53Z

Phallen Cassidy: Created

<noinclude>__NOTOC__
{{NavBar|4C265|[[The Two Towers Index]]|[[Ceorl, Weary Horseman (4U264)|Ceorl, Weary Horseman (4U264)]]|[[Eomer, Sister-son of Theoden (4C266)|Eomer, Sister-son of Theoden (4C266)]]}}
{{CardTabs|Rohan}}

[[{{ROOTPAGENAME}}]] is a {{C|Rohan}} [[Companion]] from the [[The Two Towers]] set.
{{CardInfobox|4C265}}
{{QueryCardCategories|4C265}}</noinclude>
= Strategy =
== Gameplay Strategy ==
Effectively a non-unique version of {{Card|Eomer, Third Marshal of Riddermark}}, this companion is reliably 10 strength with {{Card|Rider's Mount}} and {{Card|Rider's Spear}}, on par with Aragorn equipped with a sword. The twilight discount makes him a popular starting companion, and a common tactic is to start him with Eomer to put two {{Twilight|3}} companions in your starting fellowship. Gearing this companion up before Eomer gives 1 less strength, but will allow the Free Peoples to put a strong companion in danger early on without fear of losing any of the unique benefits that Eomer can access.

Because the twilight discount requires no cultural enforcement, he can start alongside Legolas to take advantage of the [[archer]] keyword and get to 8 strength even without any gear. This can be particularly helpful in a deck using {{Card|Eastemnet Gullies}}, allowing the deck to have just one copy of Legolas and still start with him after losing the bid. Because Elite Rider is not valiant and can't meet the criteria to play {{Card|Simbelmyne}} on his own, some players instead prefer to start Eowyn (especially {{Card|Eowyn, Lady of Rohan}}) when they won't start two {{C|Rohan}} companions.

Mounts are often viewed as +2 strength for Elite Rider and therefore necessary equipment. However, remember that Mounts merely apply exertions which in turn grant the strength boost. Any deck with other ways to put wound tokens on minions will be able to tap into that strength boost without them. Archery is one avenue, as mentioned above. [[Return of the King]] introduces another with Rohan's strongest exerting effect: {{Card|Merry's Sword}}. It encourages a large fellowship to get the most out of the effect, and the effect nullifies the most popular large fellowship counter, {{Card|Ulaire Enquea, Lieutenant of Morgul}}. Merry's Sword also prevents {{Card|Grima, Wormtongue}} from threatening to send borne cards back into hand, so while a mount is no longer necessary for the exertions there's little to fear from giving Elite Rider a mount, spear, and ranged weapon such as {{Card|Rohirrim Bow}} to bring him up to 11 strength. Elite Rider's expendible nature makes for the ideal bearer of Rohirrim Bow to either keep for strength or use it to take out a minion exhausted by Merry's Sword, as the exertion will not hurt the Free Peoples player very much.

== Deckbuilding Strategy ==
Since this card is basically {{Card|Eomer, Third Marshal of Riddermark}}, it is a natural fit in any deck using him. This makes him a core companion in almost every Towers-era Rohan deck. If your deck has fewer than 9 potential companions, using Elite Rider to fill in any gaps is never a bad idea. [[Towers Block]] in particular is shaped not by {{Card|Ulaire Enquea, Lieutenant of Morgul}} but by {{Card|Southron Commander}}, making it possible to play more than 9 companions over the course of the game.

{{Card|Hrethel, Rider of Rohan}} is also something of a Third Marshal replacement, getting up to Third Marshal's 11 strength when fighting a wounded minion at the expense of healing that minion. However, his cultural enforcement means he can't be played in a starting fellowship with Third Marshal, so he can only compete with the first Elite Rider that would be played normally for deck space.

Even though Elite Rider was reprinted in [[King Block]], there are enough alternatives to replace him much of the time in it and [[Movie Block]]. Most notably is {{Card|Eowyn, Lady of Ithilien}}, a deck-defining powerhouse for Eomer to spot. Robbed of a place in the starting fellowship, this companion competes for deck space with not only Hrethel (who gains extra utility against [[Enduring]] minions), but also the post-Towers versions of Theoden, {{Card|Rohirrim Army}}, {{Card|Merry, Swordthain}}, and supporting characters of other cultures. Depending on the deck, he may also be supplanted by {{Card|Elfhelm}} (sometimes aided by {{Card|Grimbold}}) or {{Card|Veteran Horseman}}. Nonetheless, he remains a great choice when filling up any remaining companion slots.

= Strengths and Weaknesses =
== Synergizes With... ==

* {{Card|Rider's Mount}} and {{Card|Rider's Spear}}
* {{Card|Merry's Sword}}
* {{Card|Thundering Host}}, {{Card|We Left None Alive}}, and similar Rohan effects which go naturally with a fully armed Rider
* Free Peoples archery (when not mounted), especially a lone arrow from Legolas or {{Card|Hornburg Parapet}} which could otherwise have no impact

== Strong Versus... ==

* The supporting minions in most decks, as minions which cost {{Twilight|4}} or less often have at least 2 vitality and less than 10 strength
* Beatdown decks, as this companion is difficult to overwhelm and easily replaced
* Minions which exert themselves, alleviating the need for a mount on all Elite Riders

== Weak Versus... ==

* {{C|Dunland}} minions, which typically have only 1 vitality and cannot be exerted
* Healing effects such as {{Card|Scaling Ladder}} or {{Card|Not Easily Destroyed}}, which can act as a strength buff if they fully heal a minion skirmishing this companion
* [[Enduring]] minions, which offset Elite Rider's strength gain with a bonus of their own

= Alternate Personas =
{{AlternateVersionTable|4C265}}

= See Also =
== Decks ==
'''"Fear This" - Michael Dalton's Worlds 2003 Champion deck''' ([https://lotrtcgwiki.com/forums/index.php?topic=12100.msg99058 Click here for the full decklist])
* Format: [[Towers Standard]]
* Ring-bearer: {{Card|Frodo, Tired Traveller}}
* Ring: {{Card|The One Ring, Answer To All Riddles}}

* 1x {{Card|Elite Rider}} (Starting)
* 1x {{Card|Éomer, Third Marshal of Riddermark}} (Starting)
* 1x {{Card|Éowyn, Lady of Rohan}} (Alternate starting, when bidding 9)
* 1x {{Card|Sam, Proper Poet}} (Alternate starting, when bidding 9)
* 1x {{Card|Legolas, Greenleaf}}
* 1x {{Card|Aragorn, Ranger of the North}}
* 1x {{Card|Hrethel, Rider of Rohan}}
* 1x {{Card|Hlafwine, Village Farmhand}}
* 1x {{Card|Leod, Westfold Herdsman}}
* 1x {{Card|Brego}}
* 1x {{Card|Eomer's Spear}}
* 1x {{Card|Firefoot}}
* 1x {{Card|Rider's Mount}}
* 2x {{Card|Rider's Spear}}
* 1x {{Card|Rohirrim Bow}}
* 1x {{Card|Frying Pan}}
* 2x {{Card|An Honorable Charge}}
* 4x {{Card|Simbelmyne}}
* 3x {{Card|Arrow-slits}}
* 2x {{Card|Fortress Never Fallen}}
* 3x {{Card|Thundering Host}}
* 1x {{Card|We Left None Alive}}

Throw Yourself in Next Time (2U71)

2023-08-12T23:29:29Z

Phallen Cassidy: Rearranging

<noinclude>__NOTOC__
{{NavBar|2U71|[[Mines of Moria Index]]|[[Power and Terror (2U70)|Power and Terror (2U70)]]|[[Troubled Mountains (2U72)|Troubled Mountains (2U72)]]}}
{{CardTabs|Moria}}

[[{{ROOTPAGENAME}}]] is a {{C|Moria}} [[Condition]] from the [[Mines of Moria]] set.
{{CardInfobox|2U71}}
{{QueryCardCategories|2U71}}</noinclude>
= Strategy =
== Gameplay Strategy ==
This card is often overlooked by Moria players for its situational bent, unplayable against a Free Peoples without a Hobbit and useless against a Free Peoples that won't be exerting its Hobbits anyway. But until Movie Block every deck is required to have at least one Hobbit (Frodo), and in Fellowship block every deck is likely to have at least one card that will exert a hobbit: {{Card|Sting}}. Add in the popularity of {{Card|Merry, Friend to Sam}} and {{Card|Sam, Son of Hamfast}}, plus the powerful effects of {{Card|Filibert Bolger}} and {{Card|Frying Pan}}, and there's no shortage of opportunities for this card to interfere with a Fellowship.

Because the card plays on a companion, it can create a timing dilemma for the Shadow player. Drawing it early might mean playing it before an opponent has any cards which exert Hobbits, while drawing it late often means playing it after Hobbits are already nearly exhausted. In both cases, almost any other card would have a greater impact. The safest bet is often playing it on Frodo, as Sting or Frying Pan will probably be put on him at some point even if he doesn't have them now. Merry, Friend to Sam is also an obvious target when he is in play, though it may not be worth playing on him once his text has been used already and is rarely worth holding in hand for him. Sam, Son of Hamfast's exertions aren't something this card can solve, but {{Card|Sam, Proper Poet}} can cause problems for a swarm. If Frodo is healthy, he can be made Defender +1 and sacrifice himself. And of course, if Frodo is not healthy any version of Sam can bear Frying Pan and take The Ring. Perhaps ironically (given the movie scene referenced), Pippin tends not to have any innate use for his vitality and is often the least important companion to target. Still, his vitality can be an excellent resource for Frying Pan and Filibert Bolger, and preventing the Free Peoples from using it can get him killed a turn or two sooner than planned.

Throw Yourself in Next Time has much less utility after Fellowship block thanks to the [[X-list]]. Sting and Filibert Bolger were banned soon after the start of [[Towers Standard]] and Frying Pan is banned beginning in [[King Standard]]. There are other cards that exert Hobbits, of course, but none of them are usable in any deck the way those cards were. At the same time, the number of possible companions exploded: there are 16 distinct companions in all of Fellowship block and 30 in set 4 alone. This combination of a wider variety for Fellowships and fewer key cards available which exert Hobbits make it less generally useful as more cards are added, where Moria is already relatively weaker since it gets only a handful of new cards itself. [[Reflections]] brought the first wave of [[Alternate Ring-bearer|alternate Ring-bearers]], so from [[Movie Block]] onward the card risks not only being unhelpful against decks that don't exert Hobbits, but unplayable against decks that don't even ''have'' Hobbits.

That said, it isn't outright useless. An unexpected use in later formats is against Rohan. {{Card|Merry's Sword}} protects the fellowship from a variety of effects, most famously the wounds from {{Card|Shotgun Enquea}} which is often included for crowd control in Moria decks since the culture lacks any of its own. Because {{Card|Merry, Swordthain}} is the popular choice and he loses all stacked cards when returning to the Free Peoples Player's hand, the Shadow player may only be able to expect one turn of disruption per copy.

Another creative use for the card is in a corruption build in [[Movie Block]] with {{Card|Lost to the Goblins}}. One might think that the primary target would be {{Card|Sam, Son of Hamfast}}, however he will remove as many burdens as he can when played which minimizes the opportunity for Shadow players to interfere. Instead, it can be played on the Ring-bearer to prevent the Free Peoples from exhausting him. This is the only way to stop {{Card|Gollum, Dark as Darkness}} from exerting Frodo and triggering all copies of Lost to the Goblins in hand which - after the deck has been stacked by {{Card|Goblin Sneak}} - adds up to 12 burdens. {{Card|Host of Moria}} is able to play Throw Yourself in Next Time from discard if desired, making the condition difficult for the Free Peoples to navigate around even with plentiful condition discarding.

If it is needed, note that there is no restriction on the number of copies that can be played on a single companion. If there's only one Hobbit companion to play it on (or worth playing it on), extra copies can just stack on that character. The redundancy can save the effect from {{Card|Athelas}} or offer padding against {{Card|Secret Sentinels}}. As with all Shadow cards which play on a companion, this can tip a companion from 2 cards to 3 and allow {{Card|Grima, Wormtongue}} to send the Free Peoples cards back into its owner's hand. Sometimes this can be used to kill a Hobbit outright, if that companion's vitality is boosted by {{Card|Escape}} or {{Card|Rare Good Ballast}}.

It is worth emphasizing that bearer may be exerted ''only by'' Shadow cards, which excludes more than just Free Peoples cards and can cut both ways. Frodo bearing this card at {{Card|Moria Lake}} would force two other companions to be exerted instead, but he would likewise be exempt from {{Card|Silverlode Banks}} when moving there with no ranger. A Hobbit Ring-bearer with {{Card|The Binding Ring}} would not be able to wear it using its text.

== Deckbuilding Strategy ==
While Throw Yourself in Next Time is a straightforward solution to many problems, the question is whether those problems are actually worth solving -- whether using another card would have a greater benefit anyway. {{Card|Sting}} can remove 4 twilight, but there's no better culture for adding twilight back than Moria. {{Card|Merry, Friend to Sam}} can save someone from the swarm, but having another Orc in a swarm would probably have killed Merry anyway. The culture is rarely concerned with burdens and {{Card|Sam, Son of Hamfast}} does his greatest damage the same Fellowship phase he was played. {{Card|Filibert Bolger}} and {{Card|Frying Pan}} can be big hurdles, but they tend to only be seen in a deck with a big investment in the Shire culture which means weaker companions and less condition discarding.

Beatdown decks typically have more supporting cards than other Moria strategies and can feel the impact of some of those Shire cards more. A deck with a great focus on the most expensive minions might not be able to afford losing twilight to Sting every turn, and pays much more dearly when a minion is killed by Frying Pan. A build oriented around {{Card|Cave Troll of Moria, Scourge of the Black Pit}} will also benefit greatly from nullifying Filibert Bolger.

Swarm decks are not as forgiving in their deck compositions, and most of the time a minion would probably go much farther since swarms rarely build on themselves from one turn to the next. Instead, a typical build will simply throw as many minions as possible as often as possible at a Fellowship to use up its companions, either by killing them or getting rid of whatever keeps them alive (e.g., vitality for Frying Pan). This leaves just a small window of opportunity for it to bring any tangible benefit to the deck.

Regardless of what kind of deck you have, ask yourself what problem you want it to solve and whether it can be solved in another, more general way before turning to this card for answers. After Fellowship block - when the most problematic cards are no longer available (or simply less effective) - it becomes extremely situational. There are some Hobbit exertions worth worrying about, sure, but if they're not seen very often it's probably not worth the card slot. Should you decide to run this card, 1 copy will often come too late, and after whatever damage you'd want to avoid has already been done. Given Moria's natural penchant for cycling you'll probably want more copies (discarding copies that come too soon, if applicable), yet given the very specific nature of the card you probably won't want too many. 2 copies is a good start to balance these two competing desires, and will give you a chance to see if the card has the impact you're hoping for.

= Strengths and Weaknesses =
== Synergizes With... ==

* {{Card|Host of Moria}}, to replay it when its intended target his the table
* {{Card|Grima, Wormtongue}}, when it pushes a companion from the normally safe 2 cards up to 3
* {{Card|Lost to the Goblins}}, and especially {{Card|Gollum, Dark as Darkness}}, to help keep the Ring-bearer from being exhausted until you are ready
* {{Card|Moria Lake}}, which will force the Free Peoples to exert two other companions when played on Frodo

== Strong Versus... ==

* {{Card|Sting}}
* {{Card|Merry, Friend to Sam}}
* {{Card|Sam, Proper Poet}}
* {{Card|Frying Pan}} and {{Card|Filibert Bolger}}, especially when Frodo is the only Hobbit
* {{Card|Merry's Sword}}
* {{Card|Bilbo, Melancholy Hobbit}}
* {{Card|The One Ring, The Binding Ring}} on a Hobbit Ring-bearer
* {{Card|Aragorn, Elessar Telcontar}}, who typically moves vitality from Frodo to other companions

== Weak Versus... ==

* Decks with no ways to exert Hobbits, especially those with an [[Alternate Ring-bearer]] where it is usually outright unplayable
* {{Card|Merry, Swordthain}} and {{Card|Pippin, Wearer of Black and Silver}}, who shake off all stacked cards
* Relatively worse than most other Shadow cards most of the time outside of Fellowship block due to its situational nature

Throw Yourself in Next Time (2U71)

2023-08-11T00:55:21Z

Phallen Cassidy: Created

<noinclude>__NOTOC__
{{NavBar|2U71|[[Mines of Moria Index]]|[[Power and Terror (2U70)|Power and Terror (2U70)]]|[[Troubled Mountains (2U72)|Troubled Mountains (2U72)]]}}
{{CardTabs|Moria}}

[[{{ROOTPAGENAME}}]] is a {{C|Moria}} [[Condition]] from the [[Mines of Moria]] set.
{{CardInfobox|2U71}}
{{QueryCardCategories|2U71}}</noinclude>
= Strategy =
== Gameplay Strategy ==
This card is often overlooked by Moria players for its situational bent, unplayable against a Free Peoples without a Hobbit and useless against a Free Peoples that won't be exerting its Hobbits anyway. But until Movie Block every deck is required to have at least one Hobbit (Frodo), and in Fellowship block every deck is likely to have at least one card that will exert a hobbit: {{Card|Sting}}. Add in the popularity of {{Card|Merry, Friend to Sam}} and {{Card|Sam, Son of Hamfast}}, plus the powerful effects of {{Card|Filibert Bolger}} and {{Card|Frying Pan}}, and there's no shortage of opportunities for this card to interfere with a Fellowship.

Playing it on Frodo is always a safe bet, as Sting or Frying Pan will probably be put on him at some point even if he doesn't have them now. Merry, Friend to Sam is also an obvious target when he is in play, though it may not be worth playing on him once his text has been used already and is rarely worth holding in hand for him. Sam, Son of Hamfast is rarely any concern, but {{Card|Sam, Proper Poet}} can cause problems for a swarm -- if Frodo is healthy, he can be sacrificed to keep the last minion off Frodo. And of course, if Frodo is too thin and stretched any version of Sam can bear Frying Pan and take The Ring. Perhaps ironically (given the movie scene referenced), Pippin tends not to have any innate use for his vitality and is often the least important companion to target. Still, his vitality can be an excellent resource for Frying Pan and Filibert Bolger, and preventing the Free Peoples from using it can get him killed a turn or two sooner than planned.

Beatdown decks typically have more supporting cards than swarms and can feel the impact of some of those Shire cards more. A deck with a great focus on the most expensive minions might not be able to afford losing twilight to Sting every turn, and pays much more dearly when a minion is killed by Frying Pan. A build oriented around {{Card|Cave Troll of Moria, Scourge of the Black Pit}} will also benefit greatly from nullifying Filibert Bolger.

Swarm decks are not as forgiving in their deck compositions, and on top of that this card has a bit of a timing issue. Drawing it early might mean playing it before an opponent has any cards which exert Hobbits and drawing it late often means playing it after Hobbits are already nearly exhausted. In both cases, a minion would probably go much farther since swarms rarely build on themselves from one turn to the next. Instead, a typical build will simply throw as many minions as possible as often as possible at a Fellowship to use up its companions, either by killing them or getting rid of whatever keeps them alive (e.g., vitality for Frying Pan). This leaves just a small window of opportunity for it to bring any tangible benefit to the deck.

Archery decks have no use for it, since it cannot play on allies and disrupt healing. A dedicated corruption deck has use for this card, though not in an obvious way. Sam, Son of Hamfast will do most of his damage when played, and trying to keep him from being able to heal and remove more burdens causes a timing issue similar to what plagues the card in swarm decks. Instead, by playing it on the Ring-bearer you can prevent a Free Peoples from exhausting their own Frodo once they realize what's happening. This is particularly true in [[Movie Block]] and beyond, where {{Card|Gollum, Dark as Darkness}} will be able to exert Frodo and {{Card|Lost to the Goblins}} - after the deck has been stacked by {{Card|Goblin Sneak}} - reveals shadow cards to corrupt Frodo all at once. {{Card|Host of Moria}} is able to play Throw Yourself in Next Time from discard, which can make the condition difficult to permanently remove.

Unfortunately for this card, the reliability of seeing cards which are impacted by it drops dramatically later formats. Sting and Filibert Bolger were banned soon after the start of [[Towers Standard]], while Frying Pan is banned beginning in [[King Standard]] and Sam, Son of Hamfast is banned from [[Expanded]]. There are other cards that exert Hobbits, of course, but none of them are usable in any deck the way those cards were. At the same time, the number of possible companions exploded: there are 16 distinct companions in all of Fellowship block and 30 in set 4 alone. This combination of a wider variety for Fellowships and fewer key cards available which exert Hobbits make it less generally useful as more cards are added, where Moria is already relatively weaker since it gets only a handful of new cards itself.

That said, it isn't outright useless. An unexpected use for the card in later formats is against Rohan: {{Card|Merry's Sword}} protects the fellowship from a variety of effects, most famously the wounds from {{Card|Shotgun Enquea}} which is often included for crowd control in Moria decks since the culture lacks any of its own. Because {{Card|Merry, Swordthain}} is the popular choice and he loses all stacked cards when returning to the Free Peoples Player's hand, the Shadow player may only be able to expect one turn of disruption per copy.

If it is needed, note that there is no restriction on the number of copies that can be played on a single companion. If there's only one Hobbit companion to play it on (or worth playing it on), extra copies can just stack on that character. The redundancy can save the effect from {{Card|Athelas}} or offer padding against {{Card|Secret Sentinels}}. As with all Shadow cards which play on a companion, this can tip a companion from 2 cards to 3 and allow {{Card|Grima, Wormtongue}} to send the Free Peoples cards back into its owner's hand. Sometimes this can be used to kill a Hobbit outright, if that companion's vitality is boosted by {{Card|Escape}} or {{Card|Rare Good Ballast}}.

It is worth emphasizing that bearer may be exerted ''only by'' Shadow cards, which excludes more than just Free Peoples cards and can cut both ways. Frodo bearing this card at {{Card|Moria Lake}} would force two other companions to be exerted instead, but he would likewise be exempt from {{Card|Silverlode Banks}} when moving there with no ranger. A Hobbit Ring-bearer with {{Card|The Binding Ring}} would not be able to wear it using its text.

== Deckbuilding Strategy ==
While Throw Yourself in Next Time is a straightforward solution to many problems, the question is whether those problems are actually worth solving -- whether using another card would have a greater benefit anyway. {{Card|Sting}} can remove 4 twilight, but there's no better culture for adding twilight back than Moria. {{Card|Merry, Friend to Sam}} can save someone from the swarm, but having another Orc in a swarm would probably have killed Merry anyway. The culture is rarely concerned with burdens and {{Card|Sam, Son of Hamfast}} does his greatest damage the same Fellowship phase he was played. {{Card|Filibert Bolger}} and {{Card|Frying Pan}} can be big hurdles, but they tend to only be seen in a deck with a big investment in the Shire culture which means weaker companions and less condition discarding.

Beatdown decks have more room for non-minions and more to lose from the effects of these Shire cards, making the card a more natural fit there than in swarm decks. Regardless of what kind of deck you have, ask yourself what problem you want it to solve and whether it can be solved in another, more general way before turning to this card for answers.

After Fellowship block, when the most problematic cards are no longer available (or simply less effective), it becomes a definite meta call. There are some Hobbit exertions worth worrying about, sure, but if they're not seen very often it's probably not worth the card slot. Should you decide to run this card, 1 copy will often come too late, and after whatever damage you'd want to avoid has already been done. Given Moria's natural penchant for cycling you'll probably want more copies (discarding copies that come too soon, if applicable), yet given the very specific nature of the card you probably won't want too many. 2 copies is a good start to balance these two competing desires, and will give you a chance to see if the card has the impact you're hoping for.

= Strengths and Weaknesses =
== Synergizes With... ==

* {{Card|Host of Moria}}, to replay it when its intended target his the table
* {{Card|Grima, Wormtongue}}, when it pushes a companion from the normally safe 2 cards up to 3
* {{Card|Lost to the Goblins}}, and especially {{Card|Gollum, Dark as Darkness}}, to help keep the Ring-bearer from being exhausted until you are ready
* {{Card|Moria Lake}}, which will force the Free Peoples to exert two other companions when played on Frodo

== Strong Versus... ==

* {{Card|Sting}}
* {{Card|Merry, Friend to Sam}}
* {{Card|Sam, Proper Poet}}
* {{Card|Frying Pan}} and {{Card|Filibert Bolger}}, especially when Frodo is the only Hobbit
* {{Card|Merry's Sword}}
* {{Card|Bilbo, Melancholy Hobbit}}
* {{Card|The One Ring, The Binding Ring}} on a Hobbit Ring-bearer
* {{Card|Aragorn, Elessar Telcontar}}, who typically moves vitality from Frodo to other companions

== Weak Versus... ==

* Decks with no ways to exert Hobbits, especially those with an [[Alternate Ring-bearer]] where it is usually outright unplayable
* {{Card|Merry, Swordthain}} and {{Card|Pippin, Wearer of Black and Silver}}, who shake off all stacked cards
* Relatively worse than most other Shadow cards most of the time outside of Fellowship block due to its situational nature

Power and Terror (2U70)

2023-08-01T18:56:31Z

Phallen Cassidy: Created

<noinclude>__NOTOC__
{{NavBar|2U70|[[Mines of Moria Index]]|[[Old Differences (2C69)|Old Differences (2C69)]]|[[Throw Yourself in Next Time (2U71)|Throw Yourself in Next Time (2U71)]]}}
{{CardTabs|Moria}}

[[{{ROOTPAGENAME}}]] is a {{C|Moria}} [[Event]] from the [[Mines of Moria]] set.
{{CardInfobox|2U70}}
{{QueryCardCategories|2U70}}</noinclude>
= Strategy =
== Gameplay Strategy ==
In [[Fellowship Block]], Power and Terror is dead on arrival. {{Card|1C349}} already gives a generous discount while often [[Fetch|fetching]] The Balrog from the deck, is unavoidable as the only site 5, and can't be combined with Power and Terror since they're both phase actions. While in theory Power and Terror could enable The Balrog to terrorize an opponent at both site 4 and site 5, in practice it can, at best, put a minion only marginally more frightening than {{Card|Cave Troll of Moria, Scourge of the Black Pit}} in play for similar amounts of twilight and a host of downsides. The card robs The Balrog of its primary upside in the format (being played from the deck by The Bridge of Khazad-dum at a discount) which in turn robs itself of any place in a deck.

In any format without The Bridge, however, The Balrog's high twilight cost becomes an impediment to playing it at all, especially as [[power creep]] adds more and more attractive alternatives in other cultures. In [[Towers Standard]] and [[Movie Block]], playing {{Card|The Balrog, Terror of Flame and Shadow}} generally means waiting until a site with a high shadow number and only playing The Balrog and an insignificant Orc or two unless the Shadow player has many twilight-generating cards in play. Power and Terror more than just takes the edge off, it allows The Balrog to be played ''alongside'' a good Shadow hand rather than instead of one. For beatdown decks this can almost mean two site's worth of danger in one. For archery decks, this tends to cause the Free Peoples to exhaust a supporting character with archery and sacrifice them to The Balrog, decreasing how much vitality the Fellowship can have at site 9. For swarm, however, the lack of fierce tends to limit any impact that The Balrog can have -- those decks rely on the number of minions more than the strength of minions so spending two Shadow cards for one minion, even a very powerful one, can sometimes be a bad deal and is rarely going to be a particularly good one.

Swarm's relationship with The Balrog changes in [[Expanded]] with {{Card|The Balrog, Demon of Might}}. At an underground site, playing it means skipping two phases and the most common ways the Free Peoples can deal with swarms. {{Card|11S232}}, which happens to be an underground site, will prevent most remaining actions and almost completely lock the Free Peoples out of any response. The Bridge is also reprinted as {{Card|12U186}}, with only a mild discount and no [[Fetch|fetching effect]]. In many ways it acts as nothing more than an extra site with a shadow number of 3, but it is not a phase action so the two discounts ''can'' be combined. If a player reveals 5 {{C|Moria}} Orcs with Power and Terror at The Bridge, Demon of Might costs just 1 twilight.

{{Card|The Balrog, Flame of Udun}} and {{Card|The Balrog, Terror of Flame and Shadow}} have a more complicated relationship with Power and Terror than other copies, requiring or benefiting from having a {{C|Moria}} Orc in play first. For Flame of Udun the Shadow player has no choice, but for Terror of Flame and Shadow there are a handful of Orcs that effectively play for less than 1 twilight and wind up saving more twilight when put in play than when revealed from hand. Minions that play for 1 twilight end up costing same whether revealed or not since their twilight cost cuts into The Balrog's innate discount. For them, it is occasionally helpful to reveal them instead of playing them to avoid putting tokens on {{Card|Fortress Never Fallen}} or having cards milled by {{Card|Greatest Kingdom of My People}}. For a more expensive minion, playing it instead of revealing it will come out cheaper provided you have the twilight to afford them both at all. {{Card|Host of Thousands}} normally works poorly with Power and Terror as a non-minion, however for these two copies of The Balrog it can be used to play the ideal minion from discard without the opportunity cost of "missing out" on a bigger discount. Cards stacked on {{Card|Goblin Swarms}} will likewise help these two Balrogs to get the most out of Power and Terror.

{{Card|Host of Moria}} is able to play any {{C|Moria}} card from discard -- including events. Host of Moria is itself able to be played by either {{Card|Host of Thousands}} or {{Card|They Are Coming}}, this can make Power and Terror a little easier to use without the [[Hand Clog|hand clog]] from waiting for The Balrog or the right moment. The hefty twilight cost can make doing this impractical much of the time since it's often more comparable to playing Host of Moria for free than The Balrog at a discount, but occasionally this is all that the Shadow player needs. Using Host of Moria this way is especially helpful with a Shadow side utilizing {{Card|Goblin Sneak}}: by stacking the bottom of the deck with many minions, Power and Terror can be sure to hit 6 minions at the end of the game and play The Balrog for just 2 twilight, well worth the up-front investment of Host of Moria. As Host of Moria can be one of the minions stacked by Goblin Sneak, only The Balrog must be kept in hand.

Above all else, remember that Power and Terror doesn't just provide a discount: it provides information. Any cards revealed and not played tell the Free Peoples player what might await in future sites, and what cards to ignore during their Shadow turn. Any cards not revealed and not played ''also'' help, as they are likely Free Peoples cards - or at the very least, not minions - and won't be a danger for a double move. While there are ways to deceive players with what is revealed, it is often more effective to simply use Power and Terror with a strong Shadow hand and lay it all on the table. The cards gained by reconciling provide enough mystery and opportunity on their own.

== Deckbuilding Strategy ==
Power and Terror has a complicated relationship with deckbuilding. It can enable playing The Balrog more often, but cards which need The Balrog to be in play are not minions which would in turn keep Power and Terror from being able to play The Balrog more often in the first place. This makes it harder to use for decks in which The Balrog is a key component, leaving it best as a splashed card which requires a splashed card -- a very unappealing prospect. Any shadow side with relatively few minions can't expect much twilight from the card naturally since at least two Shadow cards (Power and Terror and The Balrog itself) won't contribute: for a hand with 5 Shadow cards, having 1/3rd non-minions will leave you with 2 minions and one other card for the average draw. While 4 twilight can be the difference between playing The Balrog and not, Moria has no shortage of more impactful ways to generate twilight. Most of them involve playing minions or cards otherwise leaving hand, and that lost potential quickly deprives Power and Terror of its power and, well, terror.

That said, even as archery and beatdown decks tend to have fewer minions than swarm decks they are more likely to have to keep minions in hand over several turns due to twilight constraints. This makes all hands a bit more minion-heavy, depending on how {{Card|They Are Coming}} is leveraged. Leaning more heavily on the most expensive minions will sometimes save twilight through Power and Terror because of the hand clog they impose, though the implications of this are far-reaching for both your Shadow and Free Peoples sides.

Ultimately, the value of Power and Terror cannot be separated from the value of The Balrog. Since Power and Terror is at best redundant with {{Card|1C349}}, it is not worth including for any serious Fellowship block deck. When deciding on whether to include this card in a deck for other formats, ask yourself what you want The Balrog to accomplish. In formats without {{Card|The Balrog, Demon of Might}}, The Balrog is imposing but manageable, which makes the value of Power and Terror questionable. Where Demon of Might is legal there are often better Shadow sides to pair it with than {{C|Moria}}.

Should you decide that Power and Terror is a good fit, it is obviously not a minion itself duplicates drawn together will either detract from the effect or have to be discarded. While one copy is safest, all Moria decks cycle well so some players may prefer multiples to ensure it comes at the right time. The card is so self-restricting and unpopular that, even after discarding a copy or two, actually playing it will likely take opponents by surprise.

= Strengths and Weaknesses =
== Synergizes With... ==

* {{Card|The Balrog, Demon of Might}}
* {{Card|Fill With Fear}}, when using a different Balrog
* {{Card|12U186}}
* {{Card|Goblin Sneak}}
* Free Peoples cards that can put Shadow cards back into hand or deck to make draws more minion-heavy, such as {{Card|Final Account}}, {{Card|We Shall Meet Again Soon}}, and {{Card|Preparations}} with {{Card|Rest by Blind Night}}

== Strong Versus... ==

* Choke strategies, which may struggle to deal with The Balrog and normally deny the twilight necessary to play it
* Decks which rely on the archery or maneuver phases to deal with big swarms, when paired with Demon of Might
* Fellowships with only one competent skirmisher, when used with certain {{Card|Moria Axe}} builds

== Weak Versus... ==

* Strong companions such as {{Card|Durin III, Dwarven Lord}} or {{Card|Cirdan, The Shipwright}} which can easily beat The Balrog -- you'd be better off playing two weaker minions
* Fellowships with many companions, where the twilight savings are less necessary and killing one of them isn't much of an accomplishment
* When used on any Balrog other than Demon of Might, a host of archery and maneuver phase actions that can get rid of any big minion

Initiative

2023-07-26T16:24:38Z

Phallen Cassidy: added card links

{{RulesQuote
|source=Initiative
|text=At any time, either one side or the other side has initiative. The Free Peoples player has initiative while he has four or more cards in hand.

Otherwise, the Shadow has initiative. If there is more than one Shadow player, then all of those Shadow players have initiative when the Free Peoples player does not.

''Besieging Pike says, “If you have initiative, bearer is strength +3.” Since this is a Shadow card, it only gets this bonus when the Free Peoples player has 3 or fewer cards in hand (the cards in the hands of the Shadow players don’t matter).''
}}

Initiative was added to the rules with the release of set 7 and was only ever referenced in cards from King Block (sets 7, 8, and 10). Some cards make it more difficult for the Free Peoples player to have initiative, or take initiative away from the Free Peoples player altogether. These are:

{{C|Raider}}
*{{Card|Harsh Tongues}}
*{{Card|Southron Chieftain}}
*{{Card|Corsair War Galley}}
*{{Card|Haradwaith}}

{{C|Wraith}}
*{{Card|Feel His Blade}}
*{{Card|More Unbearable}}
*{{Card|Streaming to the Field}}
*{{Card|Unhindered}}

{{C|Sauron}}
*{{Card|Mordor Fighter}}
*{{Card|Some Secret Art of Flame}}
*{{Card|Morgai}}

Whip of Many Thongs (2R74)

2023-04-02T00:01:45Z

Phallen Cassidy: Clarifying something I Didn't Explain Very Openly

<noinclude>__NOTOC__
{{NavBar|2R74|[[Mines of Moria Index]]|[[Watcher in the Water, Keeper of Westgate (2R73)|Watcher in the Water, Keeper of Westgate (2R73)]]|[[Bill Ferny, Swarthy Sneering Fellow (2R75)|Bill Ferny, Swarthy Sneering Fellow (2R75)]]}}
{{CardTabs|Moria}}

[[{{ROOTPAGENAME}}]] is a {{C|Moria}} [[Artifact]] from the [[Mines of Moria]] set. Since it specifies classes of cards rather than a type it is one of few cards capable of discarding Free Peoples artifacts, though only {{Card|Mithril-coat}} and {{Card|Mithril-coat, Dwarf-mail}} have a relevant class.
{{CardInfobox|2R74}}
{{QueryCardCategories|2R74}}</noinclude>
= Strategy =
== Gameplay Strategy ==
{{Card|1C349}} establishes a simple, unavoidable fact: every [[Fellowship Block]] deck needs a Balrog Contingency Plan. While there are many contingency plans available (some more favorable than others), a common one is using {{Card|Armor}} or similar wound prevention already included for Uruk-hai to minimize the impact of The Balrog. Whip of Many Thongs is the Shadow player's response, a sort of contingency plan for a contingency plan. The extra point of strength, while seemingly minor, is all The Balrog needs to kill companions with an 18 strength overwhelm threshold - that is, 9 strength companions or 6 strength companions with an overwhelm modifier - who might otherwise survive the skirmish, robbing the Free Peoples of additional survival tactics.

Unfortunately, players have a great deal of freedom of choice for how they handle The Balrog. Site 5 often comes before players are halfway through their decks so many different avenues are incorporated to ensure that least one of them is available by the time the fellowship approaches The Bridge. [[Skirmish Cancellation|Skirmish cancellation]] is typically the best and most popular plan -- rather than figure out how to minimize the harm done by skirmishing The Balrog, a Free Peoples can simply avoid the skirmishes altogether. Since the Free Peoples can always take the first action and cancelling the skirmish ends it immediately, even if The Balrog with Whip of Many Thongs is assigned to skirmish a Frodo bearing {{Card|Mithril-coat}} there may be no opportunity to crack that Whip's potential. The universal benefit of {{Card|Hobbit Stealth}} both up to and beyond site 5 in keeping the Ring-bearer alive makes it more likely that at least one skirmish is avoided than not, and other utility cards like {{Card|Filibert Bolger, Wily Rascal}} and {{Card|Gandalf's Staff}} mean that some games the Fellowship will simply give The Balrog the slip both times.

Even when Whip does work, it may not work in the way the Shadow player expects or desires since the Free Peoples player is (usually) in charge of all assignments. If an armor is important to the survival of the Fellowship, The Balrog can often simply be assigned to skirmish a different companion. As such, it is better to think of Whip first and foremost as a deterrent to assign The Balrog to companions bearing armors rather than as a particularly effective way to get rid of any armors.

Balrog Contingency Plans are made because The Balrog is '''always''' a possibility regardless of the broader goals a Shadow side may have. Free Peoples sides, meanwhile, may not have any type of armor at all. Even for decks with armor, the odds are slim that not only is the Free Peoples player able put it in play by the time the Fellowship has to step on Khazad-dum ''and'' that the Shadow player is able to draw Whip in time, but also that playing it makes a meaningful difference in how skirmishes are handled. This particular combination of facing the right deck where both players draw the right cards at the right time far outweighs what Whip is actually able to do. In short, Whip of Many Thongs is exceedingly difficult to meaningfully use in Fellowship Block. When it does get played, it is seldom for its own merits and instead to enable the infamously tempting combo card {{Card|Final Cry}}.

Starting in [[Towers Standard]], {{Card|The Balrog, Terror of Flame and Shadow}} can show up anywhere on the site path with a high enough damage bonus to kill most unprotected companions outright. The assignment restriction makes it difficult to assign to a Hobbit (the primary beneficiaries of skirmish cancellation), leaving most Fellowships with no choice but to confront The Balrog directly. If its damage bonus is nullified by an armor, however, instead of break a companion's back it will cause little more than a mild sprain. Men take a more prominent role in Towers as well, with easy access to {{Card|Armor}} to block wounds. Given fewer ways to avoid skirmishes and greater availability of armors, it would seem that the main problems discouraging its use in Fellowship Block are solved. Nevertheless, it often happens that a problem comes along in a later format that doesn't exist in earlier ones -- especially in a shift as drastic as the one between Fellowship and Towers blocks. Of all the changes, few cost Whip, its bearer, and a wide swath of tactics fundamental to Fellowship Block more than the two below.

First, while The Balrog ''can be played'' anywhere, it is no longer ''guaranteed'' anywhere and is expensive everywhere. This makes it a much less attractive prospect for a deck in the first place, as not only must The Balrog be drawn along with Whip but they both must be drawn at the right time. Drawing either of them too soon usually leaves players better off discarding them before the card sits out too long in hand and [[Hand Clog|hand clog]] saps the rest of the deck of much-needed card flow. This leaves little for players to do - must Whip itself be the card needed to break through a particularly tough Free Peoples - but add more copies to offset having to discard early ones or hope that the one they have will appear late enough that it won't cause issues at the start, similar to an issue faced in Fellowship block with the timing reversed. Second, and perhaps even more importantly, is the impact the rare versions of Grima have on the game.

For Whip, the relevant one is {{Card|Grima, Wormtongue}}. When something's going wrong with one side of the deck it doesn't necessarily impact the other, but when a stack of Free Peoples cards returns to a player's hand in the middle of the turn it means they lose both resources to keep their Free Peoples healthy and the ability to fill their hand with Shadow cards from the deck. This double whammy can end the game single-handedly by stopping the current player's move and enabling an easy double for the opponent, so the mere possibility of Wormtongue makes most players avoid putting more than two cards on a companion at all. Generally players prioritize offensive cards over defensive ones, causing armor of all sorts to be less popular than they were in Fellowship block.

Still, there are a few ways players skirt around Grima to let a companion use what Whip pitches to the discard pile. Since Wormtongue only affects unbound companions, Ring-bound companions have fewer concerns with bearing many possessions. A {{C|Gondor}} [[Ring-bearer]] can be one of few instances where an overwhelm-preventing armor such as {{Card|Coat of Mail}} might be endangered, as those companions have less trouble taking many wounds thanks to The One Ring. {{Card|Slaked Thirsts}} can neutralize Wormtongue and safeguard {{Card|Durin III, Dwarven Lord}}, renowned for his text which encourages stacking as many cards on him as the Free Peoples player can find. He can reach 19 strength by bearing every eligible {{C|Dwarven}} possession, so even though removing armor had been strictly concerned with removing defenses before, now Whip hits an unexpected vulnerability in a character's ''strength''. And of course, some players will still see value in defensive gear and prioritize it as one of their two "safe" cards for a companion as a way to handle big threats.

In [[Expanded]], {{Card|The Balrog, The Terror of Khazad-dum}} cannot take advantage of Whip very well since its primary benefits come from being underground where even a Shadow card cannot exert it. {{Card|The Balrog, Demon of Might}} is typically the only Balrog worth considering in any format where it is legal anyway, a good candidate for Whip of Many Thongs for the same reasons as Terror of Flame and Shadow with the addition of being fierce and skipping many troublesome phases when underground. {{Card|12U186}} helps to somewhat alleviate the twilight cost without typically helping opponents, effectively acting as an extra site with a Shadow number 3.

Helm and shield classes are also specifically targeted by Whip, yet there is hardly an opportunity or advantage to doing so. Armors typically only help skirmishing companions, meanwhile helms and shields are more often put in to shape how supporting characters help the Fellowship survive -- characters that are unlikely to skirmish The Balrog without dying regardless. The only two helms in the game are discarded to some effect: {{Card|Gimli's Helm}} is discarded to prevent all wounds and {{Card|Rohirrim Helm}} discards to let the Shadow player exert or cancel a skirmish. The Shadow player can hope that Whip forces the Free Peoples player to use these helms, but the Free Peoples probably wouldn't assign those companions to skirmish in the first place without already planning to use them. There are more shields, but for most of the game's lifespan their primary function is to reduce the archery total and are they not often played as a result. The shields released in [[Hunters Block]] break the mold, {{Card|Elven Armaments}} and {{Card|Sturdy Shield}} have offensive uses so the potential to lose them is somewhat more likely to be an influence on assignments.

== Deckbuilding Strategy ==
{{Card|The Balrog, Durin's Bane}} can be played in any [[Fellowship Block]] deck, so it may be tempting to add Whip into any deck. In practice it creates a common deckbuilding conundrum: how can one add enough copies of a card that it will be seen in time, but not so many that cards drawn too late get in the way? Since there is no way to [[Fetch|fetch]] Whip of Many Thongs, this problem has no solution. Time-sensitive cards will consistently work against the deck and are often only worth including for a strategy if they can shape it up to win when either used or soon after. Whip simply doesn't have a strong enough impact to justify the downsides.

One of the biggest things holding it back is that it does not offer anything distinct. {{Card|Beyond the Height of Men}} is a much better way to discard troublesome defensive possessions, so much that splashing a few Uruk-hai to get straightforward access to the effect is often more efficient. Later sets expand the availability of arbitrary possession discarding to the extent that class-specific discarding is rarely worth considering anyway. {{Card|Dark Places}} provides a strength boost not just to The Balrog, but also to {{Card|Cave Troll of Moria, Scourge of the Black Pit}} and other unique minions. {{Card|Goblin Spear}} offers more strength playable on any {{C|Moria}} minion and able to be pulled from discard with {{Card|Relics of Moria}}.

[[Towers Standard]] and {{Card|The Balrog, Terror of Flame and Shadow}} make all Balrog-dependent cards a little more justifiable by opening them up for use anywhere along the site path. Yet Whip's benefits are so situational and minor that unless The Balrog is a key figure for your deck, you would often rather go forward with nearly anything else. If The Balrog is the focus it may be worth including to ensure that your opponent will not be able to easily manage skirmish losses and move ahead, though any deck that emphasizes a single minion is vulnerable to the numerous ways a Free Peoples might win or avoid challenging skirmishes. Even in ideal circumstances, Whip's impact will almost always be to get The Balrog assigned to companions already not bearing any armor which is often a less-than-ideal result.

If you are attempting a {{Card|Final Cry}} deck in Fellowship block, you definitely need Whip of Many Thongs in hand by site 5 but you also can't let excess copies drown out Final Cry. What's more, the surprise factor is a big part of have the opportunity to play Final Cry at all so you don't want opponents to try to detect it based on how many copies of Whip are discarded. You will want at least 2 copies of Whip, as well as a deck that can discard other cards and draw new ones from the moment the game begins to get through as many cards as quickly as possible. However you go about it, remember that you need to have enough cards left for a competent Shadow side in its own right. Even if - and it's a big if - Final Cry scores a kill on one of the Free People's most important companions, unless it kills the Ring-bearer you still have another half of the game to worry about while digging through any additional copies of Whip and Final Cry. Similarly, since digging for specific Shadow cards is your goal you may have to sacrifice your Free Peoples side leading up to The Bridge. No matter what, be careful that it's not too late for your Free Peoples to make it to site 9 yourself!

= Strengths and Weaknesses =
== Synergizes With... ==

* {{Card|Final Cry}}, as when players are drawn to Whip it is often just for this card
* {{Card|The Balrog's Sword}}, to ensure the extra damage and strength bonuses matter
* {{Card|The Balrog, Terror of Flame and Shadow}} and {{Card|The Balrog, Demon of Might}}, who have a hefty damage bonus innately
* {{Card|Fill With Fear}}, to protect The Balrog's vitality

== Strong Versus... ==

* Any sort of armor, especially {{Card|Armor}} -- when a card shares its name with a class intended to be counted by Whip, it good and well better be countered
* Companions with 9 strength, who may not have otherwise been in danger of being overwhelmed by The Balrog

== Weak Versus... ==

* Skirmish canceling such as {{Card|Hobbit Stealth}}
* {{Card|Gimli's Helm}}
* {{Card|Roll of Thunder}}
* Particularly strong skirmishers who can reach 19 or more strength
* Comparatively weaker than nearly any other card if the Free Peoples has no armor or can survive The Balrog without having armor-bearing companions skirmish it, especially given how hard it is to play The Balrog in the first place

= Alternate Versions =
{{AlternateVersionTable|2R74}}