Behold the White Rider (4U88)

Valor (4C87)

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Gandalf, Greyhame (4R89)

Strategy

Collection

History

Data

Behold the White Rider (4U88) is a Gandalf Condition from the The Two Towers set.

EN Nonfoil First Edition EN Foil First Edition DE Nonfoil First Edition DE Foil First Edition FR Nonfoil First Edition FR Foil First Edition IT Nonfoil First Edition IT Foil First Edition ES Nonfoil First Edition ES Foil First Edition

Collection Info Title Behold the White Rider Unique Yes Collectible Yes Set 4 - The Two Towers Rarity U - Uncommon Card Number 88 Language EN - English Revision 0

Gameplay Info Playable Yes Culture Gandalf Side Free Peoples Card Type Condition Twilight Cost 2 Game Text Each time Gandalf wins a skirmish, you may place a token here. Skirmish: Wound a minion skirmishing Gandalf for each token here. Discard this condition. Lore “‘Gandalf is come again.'”

Translations DE - German Card Name Sehet den weißen Reiter Game Text Spiele diese Karte in deinen Unterstützungs-bereich. Jedes Mal, wenn Gandalf einen Kampf gewinnt, darfst du eine Marke auf diese Karte legen. Kampf Verwunde einen Diener, der gegen Gandalf kämpft, einmal für jede Marke auf dieser Karte. Lege diesen Effekt ab. Lore "Gandalf ist wiedergekommen!“ ES - Spanish Card Name Contemplad Al Jinete Blanco Game Text Cada vez que Gandalf gana una escaramuza, puedes poner un contador aquí. Escaramuza: Hiere un siervo que esté en una escaramuza contra Gandalf por cada contador puesto aquí. Descarta esta condición. Lore “Gandalf ha vuelto.” FR - French Card Name Voilà le Cavalier Blanc Game Text Chaque fois que Gandalf gagne un combat, vous pouvez déposer un jeton sur cette carte. Combat : Blessez un séide qui combat Gandalf pour chaque jeton qui se trouve ici. Défaussez cette situation. Lore « “Gandalf est revenu!” » IT - Italian Card Name Mirate il Bianco Cavaliere Game Text Ogni volta che Gandalf vince una schermaglia, puoi piazzare qui un segnalino . Schermaglia: Ferisci un servitore che stia schermagliando con Gandalf per ogni segnalino qui presente. Scarta questa condizione. Lore “‘Gandalf è ritornato!'”

Technical Info Wiki Base Card ID LOTR-EN04S088.0 TLHH ID LOTR04088 GEMP ID 4_88 LOTRO Hex ID 68 95 D0 03 LOTRO Image ID 04_088

Strategy

The release of The Two Towers introduced a new resource: culture tokens. Each Free Peoples culture (except Gollum), the new Raider and Dunland cultures, and 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 Gandalf, Bearer of Obligation (13R33) is the Ring-Bearer.

Before Siege of Gondor's Not the First Halfling (8U18) , Behold the White Rider was the only card which could generate Gandalf tokens and heal a Gandalf companion via Ring of Barahir (6R55) . In later sets, cards which use tokens as a resource can benefit from Behold the White Rider. Shadowfax, Roaring Wind (13R40) reinforces a token when played and effectively allows Behold the White Rider's tokens to wound across many skirmishes instead of all at once. Alatar, Final Envoy (13U28) can reinforce a token every turn, allowing even a supporting Gandalf to bring down tough minions if he can win at least one skirmish. Gandalf, Returned (17R17) 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...

• Shadowfax (4R100) , Brego (4U263) , or Horse of Rohan (4C283) -- 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

From the Comprehensive Rules:

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.

- for_each section

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