Rule of 4

Eat your heart out, Ancestral Recall.

From the Comprehensive Rules:

Some card effects allow you to draw cards in the fellowship phase. You cannot draw (or take into hand) more than 4 cards during your fellowship phase.

This applies to cards taken into hand by any means. This does not apply to cards drawn “at the start of each of your turns.”).

- The Rule of 4 section

The Rule of 4 was one of the few core rules that was not in the game when it first debuted with The Fellowship of the Ring. As shown in the rules excerpt above, it's a straightforward limitation: the Free Peoples player is not permitted to put more than 4 cards into their hand per Fellowship phase. This includes drawing from the draw deck (Saved From the Fire (8R20) ), recovering from the discard pile (Birthday Present (10R104) ), or taking cards into hand from play (The Shards of Narsil (3R44) ).

Cards that play directly from the draw deck or discard pile do not count towards this rule, only cards placed "into hand". This also does not affect cards drawn "at the start of your turn" (Gandalf, The Grey Pilgrim (2P122) ), as this happens before the Fellowship phase. No limit is placed on any other phase, meaning that the Shadow player remains able to draw an unlimited number of cards.

See below for a full list of all cards affected by the Rule of 4.

History

Initially, there were some very potent card draw options available from the first set, most notably 4x Ottar, Man of Laketown (1R80) with 4x Elrond, Lord of Rivendell (1R40) , which permits 18 cards to be cycled by themselves, +4 per Fellowship phase that both cards are in play. Combine this with Delving (1C6) , Wealth of Moria (1R28) , or Questions That Need Answering (1R81) / Risk a Little Light (1C82) , and there is some very solid, yet bounded, card draw that can easily over the course of the game cause you to draw most or all of your draw deck just from card effects (ignoring reconciles).

With the release of Mines of Moria, however, cards were introduced that not only improved the card draw available to the Free Peoples player, but permitted combos that were unbounded, that could infinitely cycle cards in and out of your deck. Since in the end all the Free Peoples player has to pay is Twilight, which has no cap, these actions could be repeated as much as desired.

The combo potential of the cards released in Mines were exposed in an article by tedv on Game Player's Network on March 28, 2002 (22 days after the release of Mines of Moria). The entire article analyzes all the draw engine potential of the new set, and concludes with a bombshell infinite loop:

The Advent of Combo Decks: Card Drawing Engines:

I hinted at such an engine earlier: "Honorable mentions go to Hugin, Emissary from Laketown (2C24) and Dear Friends (2U98) , both of which can be used to set up some sort of combo win later." So what is this combo?

• 3 Dear Friends (2U98)
• 2 Wealth of Moria (1R28)
• 1 Hobbit Appetite (1C294)
• 0 Cards in deck

It's just that simple. In abstract, the loop works like this. 3 Dear Friends will put 6 cards in your deck. 2 Wealth of Moria lets you draw those 6 cards. This costs you 5 cards and 3 Exertions. So each time you run the loop, you're essentially exerting Frodo 3 times to put any Fellowship card in you discard pile back into your hand.

If you play with The One Ring, Isildur's Bane (1R1) , Frodo can exert 4 times, and each time you play Hobbit Appetite, you heal 4 wounds from Frodo. So if you run the loop 4 times, this will exert Frodo 12 times and let you reclaim 4 cards from your discard pile. If you reclaim the same Hobbit Appetite 3 times (to heal frodo 12 times), then you gain one free card without using any exertions (but adding a bunch of points to the pool). You can repeat this loop as often as you like to gain back any set of cards necessary to win the game.

- by tedv on Game Player's Network.

tedv then goes over several variants of the draw engine, and then of course caps it off with some suggestions for win condition cards that can be used to skip the Shadow phase, increase the move limit to an arbitrary level, or perform one of several Shadow kill combinations.

On April 11, 2002 (14 days after tedv posted his article), Decipher announced that, rather than issuing an errata to any of the individual cards involved, they would be adding the Rule of 4 to halt this and future combos in their tracks. Only the Fellowship phase was targeted, and this was their reasoning:

Reasons for the Rule of 4:

As the Free Peoples player, you can add unlimited twilight tokens. Your resources are infinite in a sense. The design theory behind this, however, is that, for each card you play, you give the Shadow player more resources that can be used against you. While this theory is true to a point, it degrades once the Free Peoples player adds more than 20 twilight tokens in a fellowship phase. Ask yourself: How many times is a Shadow player able to spend that many twilight tokens in a Shadow phase? Not often.

Therefore, once a Free Peoples player hits that threshold of 20 twilight tokens, everything they play after that truly is 'free'. The twilight tokens added at this point will typically not be spent by the Shadow player.

Obviously, there are several ways Decipher could have addressed the problem. We could have added a rule that allowed the Shadow player to remove 3 twilight tokens to draw a card. While this may have solved the problem, it would not promote our theory of fun, interactive gameplay. How much fun would it be to watch your opponent take a 15 minute turn, only to turn around and take your own 15 minute turn? Allowing both players to take long turns slows the game down and, quite simply, is not what LOTR TCG is about.

In the end we decided to choke this problem by limiting the number of cards the Free Peoples player can take into hand in a turn. After the Free Peoples player draws 4 cards, that player is left with what he or she can play from hand, thus no longer having access to unlimited resources.

- Michael Reynolds, LOTR TCG Designer at Decipher TCG Studio

Thus, none of the tactics suggested by tedv were ever able to be used at a sanctioned tournament.

Further Reading

• The Advent of Combo Decks: Card Drawing Engines by tedv (March 28, 2002)
• The Rule of 4: Stopping the Abusive Engine in The Lord of the Rings™ TCG by Michael Reynolds (April 11, 2002)
• Reasons for the Rule of 4 by Michael Reynolds (April 11, 2002)
• Why "4" in the Rule of 4? by Michael Reynolds (April 22, 2002)

Cards Limited by the Rule of 4

Portrait	Card Name	Culture	Card Type	Game Text
	Delving (1C6)	Dwarven	Event	Fellowship: Exert a Dwarf companion to draw 3 cards.
	Wealth of Moria (1R28)	Dwarven	Event	Fellowship: Spot a Dwarf to reveal the top 3 cards of your draw deck. Take all Free Peoples cards revealed into hand and discard the rest.
	Great Works Begun There (2C9)	Dwarven	Condition	Tale. Plays to your support area. Each time you play a Dwarf, you may discard the top 2 cards from your draw deck to take a event into hand from your discard pile.
	Book of Mazarbul (3R1)	Dwarven	Possession	Tale. Bearer must be a Dwarf. At the start of each fellowship phase when the fellowship is at site 4 or higher, you may draw a card for each Dwarf companion.
	Dwarven Foresight (4R45)	Dwarven	Event	Fellowship: Spot a Dwarf to take a Free Peoples card stacked on a condition into hand.
	Ever My Heart Rises (4R46)	Dwarven	Condition	Tale. Plays to your support area. When you play this condition, reveal the top 6 cards of your draw deck and stack them here. Fellowship: Spot a Dwarf and discard the top card of your draw deck to take a Free Peoples card stacked here into hand.
	Search Far and Wide (4C56)	Dwarven	Event	Fellowship: Spot a Dwarf and discard the top card of your draw deck to draw 2 cards.
	Defending the Keep (5C6)	Dwarven	Event	Fellowship: Spot a Dwarf to draw a card or play a condition from your discard pile.
	Calculated Risk (7C4)	Dwarven	Event • Fellowship	Spot a Dwarf and add a threat to draw 3 cards.
	Loyalty Unshaken (7R10)	Dwarven	Condition • Support Area	When you play this condition, you may stack 2 cards from hand here. Draw a card for each card you stack. Skirmish: Make a Dwarf strength +2. Also, make that Dwarf damage +2 for each card stacked on this condition. Discard this condition.
	Aggression (8C1)	Dwarven	Condition • Support Area	While you have initiative, each Dwarf is damage +1. Fellowship: Spot a Dwarf who is damage +X to draw X cards. Discard this condition.
	Gimli, Opinionated Guide (19P2)	Dwarven	Companion • Dwarf	Damage +1. Fellowship. Each time you play a possession, you may draw a card.
	Elrond, Lord of Rivendell (1R40)	Elven	Ally • Home 3 • Elf	To play, spot Gandalf or an Elf. At the start of each of your turns, heal every ally whose home is site 3. Fellowship: Exert Elrond to draw a card.
	Foul Creation (1U44)	Elven	Event	Fellowship: Exert an Elf to reveal an opponent’s hand. You may discard a minion revealed to draw 2 cards.
	Alliance Reforged (4R58)	Elven	Event	Tale. Fellowship: Draw a card for each Elf companion you spot.
	Elrond, Keeper of Vilya (6R15)	Elven	Ally • Home 3 • Elf	At the start of each turn, heal Elrond. Fellowship: Exert Elrond to discard the top card of your draw deck. If it is an card, you may take it into hand and heal an Elf companion.
	Gift of Foresight (6U19)	Elven	Event	Fellowship: Spot an Elf to reveal the top card of your draw deck. You may discard it, return it to the top of your draw deck, or take it into hand.
	Strands of Elven Hair (9R22)	Elven	Possession • Support Area	To play, spot a Dwarf. When you play this possession, add 2 tokens here. Fellowship: Discard this possession or remove an token from here to reveal the top card of your draw deck. If it is a or card, you may take it into hand.
	The Mirror of Galadriel, Dangerous Guide (15R22)	Elven	Artifact • Support Area	To play, spot 3 Elves. Each time you are about to draw a card, you may exert an Elf to look at the top three cards of your draw deck instead. Take a Free Peoples card into your hand and place the other cards on the bottom of your draw deck.
	Barliman Butterbur, Prancing Pony Proprietor (1U70)	Gandalf	Ally • Home 1 • Man	Fellowship: Exert Barliman Butterbur to take a event into hand from your discard pile.
	Ottar, Man of Laketown (1R80)	Gandalf	Ally • Home 3 • Man	To play, spot Gandalf. Fellowship: Exert Ottar to discard up to 3 cards from hand and draw an equal number of cards.
	Questions That Need Answering (1R81)	Gandalf	Event	Spell. Fellowship: If the twilight pool has fewer than 3 twilight tokens, spot Gandalf to look at the top 4 cards of your draw deck. Take 2 of those cards into hand and discard the rest.
	Risk a Little Light (1C82)	Gandalf	Event	Spell. Fellowship: If the twilight pool has fewer than 2 twilight tokens, spot Gandalf to look at the top 2 cards of your draw deck. Take one into hand and discard the other.
	Speak “Friend” and Enter (2C26)	Gandalf	Event	Fellowship or Regroup: Spot Gandalf to play the fellowship's next site (replacing opponent’s site if necessary). Draw a card if you play an underground site.
	Saved From the Fire (8R20)	Gandalf	Event • Fellowship	Spot Gandalf and place a companion (except the Ring-bearer) in the dead pile to take 3 cards from that companion's culture into hand from your draw deck. Shuffle your draw deck.
	The Art of Gandalf (11U28)	Gandalf	Possession • Support Area	To play, spot a Wizard. Regroup: Stack a spell from hand here. Fellowship: Discard a card from hand to take a card stacked here into hand.
	Final Account (11C31)	Gandalf	Event • Fellowship	To play, exert a Wizard. Discard 2 cards from hand to take a Free Peoples card and a Shadow card from your discard pile into hand.
	Dasron, Merchant from Dorwinion (13C29)	Gandalf	Companion • Man	At the start of the fellowship phase, you may remove 2 Free Peoples culture tokens to take a event into hand from your discard pile.
	Return to Us (13C39)	Gandalf	Event • Fellowship	Discard 2 Shadow cards from hand to take a event into hand from your discard pile.
	Momentous Gathering (15U32)	Gandalf	Event • Fellowship	Choose one: spot an Ent to take a companion into hand from your draw deck; or spot 2 Ents to take a companion and a condition into hand from your draw deck. Shuffle your draw deck.
	Scintillating Bird (17R23)	Gandalf	Condition • Support Area	Spell. Fellowship: Exert your Wizard and choose an opponent to name either Free Peoples or Shadow. Reveal the top three cards of your deck. If you revealed at least two of the chosen card type, take those cards into hand, otherwise, discard those cards.
	Ship of Smoke (18U27)	Gandalf	Condition • Support Area	Pipeweed. Each time you play a pipeweed card, you may spot Gandalf to reveal the top 3 cards of your draw deck. Take all Free Peoples cards revealed into hand and discard the remaining cards.
	One Good Turn Deserves Another (11U49)	Gollum	Event • Fellowship,Regroup	Spot Sméagol to play the fellowship's next site. Then you may add a burden to take this card back into hand.
	The Shards of Narsil (3R44)	Gondor	Artifact	Fellowship: Stack a card from hand here. Fellowship: Add to take a card stacked here into hand.
	Denethor, Lord of Minas Tirith (10R28)	Gondor	Companion • Man	To play, spot 2 Men. Fellowship: If at a sanctuary, exert Denethor to take a card into hand from your draw deck, then reshuffle. Choose an opponent who may draw 2 cards.
	Isildur, Heir of Elendil (13U71)	Gondor	Companion • Man	Knight. Isildur is resistance +1 for each card in your hand. At the end of any phase, if Isildur has resistance 0, place him in your dead pile. Each time you reconcile, you may draw a card.
	News From the Mark (6R96)	Rohan	Event	Fellowship: Spot 3 mounted Men to make the move limit for this turn +2. Each Shadow player may draw 6 cards.
	Éomer, Skilled Tactician (7R227)	Rohan	Companion • Man	Valiant. While you can spot a Man, Éomer’s twilight cost is –1. Fellowship: Play a companion to take a possession or skirmish event into hand from your discard pile.
	Master Proudfoot, Distant Relative of Bilbo (1U301)	Shire	Ally • Home 1 • Hobbit	Fellowship: If the twilight pool has fewer than 3 twilight tokens, add to reveal the top 3 cards of your draw deck. Take all cards revealed into hand and discard the rest.
	Old Toby (1C305)	Shire	Possession	Pipeweed. Plays to your support area. When you play this possession, you may draw a card.
	Red Book of Westmarch (2R113)	Shire	Possession	Tale. Each time you play a tale, you may spot Bilbo to draw a card.
	Birthday Present (10R104)	Shire	Condition • Support Area	Fellowship: Add a burden to choose 2 events with different card titles from your discard pile. Choose an opponent and make him or her choose 1 of those cards for you to take into hand. ​

Game Concepts

Play Area
Piles	Draw Deck	Adventure Deck	Discard Pile	Dead Pile
Other	Fellowship	Support Area	Twilight Pool	Adventure Path

The Turn Sequence
Fellowship Phase	Shadow Phase	Maneuver Phase	Archery Phase	Assignment Phase	Skirmish Phase