Best Company (4C42)

Axe of Erebor (4R41)

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Come Here Lad (4U43)

Strategy

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Data

Best Company (4C42) is a Dwarven Event 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 Best Company Unique No Collectible Yes Set 4 - The Two Towers Rarity C - Common Card Number 42 Language EN - English Revision 0

Gameplay Info Playable Yes Culture Dwarven Side Free Peoples Card Type Event Twilight Cost 0 Game Text Skirmish: Make a Dwarf strength +2 (or +4 if at a battleground). Lore “An axe swung and swept back. Two Orcs fell headless. The rest fled.”

Translations DE - German Card Name Beste Gesellschaft Game Text Kampf Gib einem Zwerg Stärke +2 (oder Stärke +4, wenn er sich auf einem Schlachtfeld befindet). Lore Eine Axt wurde geschwungen und sauste noch einmal nieder. Zwei Orks waren die Köpfe abgeschlagen. Die übrigen flohen. ES - Spanish Card Name La Mejor Compañía Game Text Escaramuza: Da a un Enano fuerza +2 (o +4 si está en un campo de batalla). Lore “Un hacha osciló como un péndulo. Dos Orcos cayeron, decapitados. El resto escapó.” FR - French Card Name La Meilleure Compagnie Game Text Combat : Donnez +2 en force à un Nain (ou +4 s’il se trouve à un champ de bataille). Lore « Une hache se balança et revint brutalement. Deux Orques tombèrent, décapités. Les autres s'enfuirent. » IT - Italian Card Name La Miglior Compagnia Game Text Schermaglia: Aggiungi +2 alla forza di un Nano (o +4 se è presso un campo di battaglia). Lore “Un'ascia oscillò e cadde. Due Orchi piombarono a terra decapitati. Gli altri fuggirono.”

Technical Info Wiki Base Card ID LOTR-EN04S042.0 TLHH ID LOTR04042 GEMP ID 4_42 LOTRO Hex ID 6A 92 D0 03 LOTRO Image ID 04_042

Strategy

by Ben Litz

When you look at the Dwarven Culture one thing that jumps out at you is their ability to win skirmishes and kill minions. In fact, many other Dwarven strategies key off winning skirmishes. The Dwarven discard mechanic powered by Dwarven axes and Nobody Tosses a Dwarf key off winning skirmishes, as does the Legolas/Gimli combo using Final Count and My Axe is Notched. Keeping the Dwarves on top of each skirmish is the mass selection of pump cards that they have available to them. One of the newer cards that has been added to the selection is Best Company.

For zero cost Best Company gives your Dwarven skirmisher a +2 strength bonus anywhere on the site path, but its when you are on a Battleground that Best Company shows its true power. When used on a site with the keyword Battleground Best Company yields a devastating +4 Strength for the same zero cost. Few cards yield such a bonus, and getting it for zero cost makes it especially useful.

With the standard format now in the mix the Nazgul are becoming more prevalent, which means high strength, Fierce minions at every site. Usually just one copy of Best Company will keep your Dwarf from being overwhelmed, and two or three of them will more than likely win the skirmish, enabling your Dwarven damage bonuses to kick in, and hopefully killing the big minion before he has time to come back in the Fierce round.

Best Company's true benefit becomes apparent when playing against an Uruk-Hai deck that employs minions that use the Battleground keyword to become Fierce, or stronger. Being able to beat, and use the Dwarven damage bonuses to kill, these minions in the first skirmish can make a big difference to the health of your fellowship. To some extent, this makes choosing Best Company as one of your Dwarven skirmish pumps dependent on what opponent's you expect to face, though there are enough Battlegrounds that you are likely to encounter them from many different deck-types.

Back in the days when Fellowship block was all you could play, one of the fun things to do was to have Gimli kill the Balrog, with the correct combination of weapons and skirmish boosts - it was truly a sight to see. Gimli's role as the killer of large minions has now been somewhat usurped by Eomer, Third Marshall of the Riddermark, but as long as the Dwarves keep in the Best Company, Gimli's crown will be safe.

Strengths and Weaknesses

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Rulings

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See Also

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