Rule of 4

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. In Fellowship Block, Allies were a much bigger aspect of the game than they were in later sets, meant to represent the aid given to the Fellowship by Elrond and Galadriel in the first movie, which resulted in players using allies almost universally. After all, why not pack your deck full of allies? There is no limit to the number that you can have in play at once (whereas the Fellowship is restricted by the Rule of 9) and their special abilities can often be used to great effect.

There was one card that was particularly useful because of a combination of reasons, and that was Elrond, Lord of Rivendell (1R40) . Any deck packing Elves or Gandalf could use him, and due to the prevalence of Legolas, Greenleaf (1R50) , that meant practically everyone could use him. On the turn that you dropped Elrond, you could draw 3 cards, and if any of those were other copies of Elrond, you could discard to heal and draw more. Put this in combination with any other drawing mechanism and you could easily play the turn with double the normal hand limit. There are hardly any strategies where this did not work in the player's favor, and so Agent Smith rose to huge popularity.

To combat this, Decipher ruled sometime before the release of Realms of the Elf-Lords to instigate a new rule, known as the Rule of 4: no more than 4 cards can be put into your hand during the Fellowship phase. This includes drawing from the draw deck, recovering from the discard pile, or taking cards into hand from play. 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" (such as Gandalf, The Grey Pilgrim (2P122) ) , as this happens before the Fellowship phase.

For this reason, card cycling is usually (but not always) done on the Shadow side of play, since there is no limit to the number of cards that can be put into hand while acting as Shadow player. A list of cards that are affected by the Rule of 4 are shown below.

See also Draw Deck, Draw, Discard Pile, Hand, Fellowship Phase.

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