Hearken to Me (4R94)

Have Patience (4C93)

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Into Dark Tunnels (4R95)

	Set:		The Two Towers
	Kind:		Free Peoples
	Culture:		Gandalf
	Twilight:		0
	Card Type:		Condition
	Strength:		+2
	Vitality:		+1
	Game Text:		Spell. To play, spot Gandalf. Bearer must be Theoden. Discard all Shadow conditions on Theoden. Shadow conditions may not be played on Theoden.
	Lore:		“‘Not all is dark. Take courage, Lord of the Mark; for better help you will not find.'”
	Rarity:		R
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General Strategy

An unusual cross-culture card which promotes a Rohan-Gandalf Fellowship, Hearken to Me provides powerful bonuses to Theoden, giving him extra strength and vitality at no twilight cost. When combined with Herugrim, any Two Towers version of Theoden can reach 10 strength and 4 vitality, while Return of the King versions of Theoden become even stronger. Hearken to Me also makes Theoden immune to [isengard] tracker conditions, [sauron] conditions and [isengard] Men conditions. Players should note that conditions that transfer (Such as Blade Tip and Black Breath) are still effective against a Theoden bearing this card, since it only prevents conditions from being directly played on him.

Hearken to Me, while powerful, can leave Theoden very vulnerable if discarded, as it will cause him to lose vitality (Which can potentially kill him). The Free Peoples player should therefore be cautious when using this condition, as some Shadows have better condition discard than others.

Strengths and Weaknesses

Strong Versus...

• Debilitating Shadow conditions
• Serves as a well-rounded boost to Theoden's statistics

Weak Versus...

• Condition discard

Rules and Clarifications

• Shadow conditions such as Blade Tip can still be transferred to Theoden while bearing this condition, as it only prevents shadow conditions from being played on him directly.

• Although the wording is rather ambiguous, the line "Discard all Shadow conditions on Théoden" works only when playing this card; hence, Shadow conditions transfered to Théoden won't be discarded by it. There are several other cards worded similarly to this condition, with Shadowfax, GotM being the best example. Discussion can be found here: http://lotrtcgwiki.com/forums/index.php/topic,2872.0.html