Bill the Pony (3U106) is a 
Shire Possession from the Realms of the Elf-Lords set.
 EN Revision 1 (PC)  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  PL Nonfoil First Edition  PL Foil First Edition
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Revision 1 · Player's Council · 2021-03-28
| Collection Info
|
| Title
|
Bill the Pony
|
| Unique
|
Yes
|
| Collectible
|
No
|
| Set
|
3 - Realms of the Elf-lords
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| Rarity
|
U - Uncommon
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| Card Number
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106
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| Language
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EN - English
|
| Revision
|
1 (Player's Council)
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| Release Date
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2021-03-28
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| Notes
|
When the fellowship moves with Bill the Pony to an underground site, the Shadow number of that site is reduced before Bill the Pony is discarded. Lists: ERL, MXL.
Decipher Notes:
Bill the Pony – Choke appears to be a major focus of the X-list. Why? What is it about cards like Bill that make them prime candidates for the list?
Trevor: Resource denial has proven to be a huge issue with Lord of the Rings TCG.
Geoff: I think the most important thing to note here is that when people play card games, we actually want them to be able to play their cards. It’s one thing if passive denial (playing little to no cards) leads to a small pool of resources for your opponent. It’s another thing entirely if active denial (playing cards that reduce the opponent’s resources) is forcing an opponent’s entire deck to shut down. Unfortunately, in the system we have, your Free Peoples ‘choke’ strategy does more than just hinder your opponent’s Shadow strategy. It hinders their deck’s cycling…in turn hindering their Free Peoples strategy’s ability to handle your own Shadow strategy. It has a very negative cyclic effect that many players can’t fathom a way out of once they’re stuck in it.
Decipher here simply mentions the problems with choke in general, as opposed to specific problems that make Bill worthy of getting singled out. They do later mention that at least Talent For Not Being Seen requires more than just Frodo, and so we’ve taken that logic at face value.
Bill's errata here is designed to kill two birds with one stone: first, by requiring it go on Sam, the lore nerds in all of us are finally satisfied.
...what, did you need a second reason? Well in that case, notice that this can no longer be used in a solo Frodo context, nor can Bill be bounced around between whichever hobbits happen to be the least expendable at the time. Sam in general should end up as less of a pump-n-dump, which should continue to make Son of Hamfast a tiny bit worse. Just a little.
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| Gameplay Info
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| Playable
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Yes
|
| Culture
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Shire
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| Side
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Free Peoples
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| Card Type
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Possession
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| Twilight Cost
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0
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| Game Text
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Stealth. Bearer must be Sam.
Each site's Shadow number is -1.
Discard this possession when at an underground site.
|
| Lore
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“‘That animal can nearly talk.... He gave me a look as plain as Mr. Pippin could speak....'”
|
| Technical Info
|
| Wiki Base Card ID
|
LOTR-EN03S106.0
|
| Wiki Release ID
|
LOTR-EN03S106.1
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| TLHH ID
|
LOTR03106
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| GEMP ID
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3_106
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| LOTRO Hex ID
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6A 72 DC 02
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| LOTRO Image ID
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03_106
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First edition · Decipher
| Collection Info
|
| Title
|
Bill the Pony
|
| Unique
|
Yes
|
| Collectible
|
Yes
|
| Set
|
3 - Realms of the Elf-lords
|
| Rarity
|
U - Uncommon
|
| Card Number
|
106
|
| Language
|
EN - English
|
| Revision
|
0
|
| Notes
|
When the fellowship moves with Bill the Pony to an underground site, the Shadow number of that site is reduced before Bill the Pony is discarded. Lists: ERL, MXL.
|
| Gameplay Info
|
| Playable
|
Yes
|
| Culture
|
Shire
|
| Side
|
Free Peoples
|
| Card Type
|
Possession
|
| Twilight Cost
|
0
|
| Game Text
|
Bearer must be a Hobbit companion.
The Shadow number of each site is -1.
Discard Bill the Pony when at an underground site.
|
| Lore
|
“‘That animal can nearly talk.... He gave me a look as plain as Mr. Pippin could speak....'”
|
| Technical Info
|
| Wiki Base Card ID
|
LOTR-EN03S106.0
|
| TLHH ID
|
LOTR03106
|
| GEMP ID
|
3_106
|
| LOTRO Hex ID
|
6A 72 DC 02
|
| LOTRO Image ID
|
03_106
|
|
| Translations
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| DE - German
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| Card Name
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Lutz, das Pony
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| Game Text
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Muss auf einen Hobbitgefährten gespielt werden. Die Schattenzahl jedes Ortes reduziert sich um 1. Lege Lutz, das Pony an einem unterirdischen Ort ab.
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| Lore
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"Das Tier kann fast sprechen... Es warf mir einen Blick zu, der ebenso deutlich das besagte, was Herr Pippin ausgesprochen hat...“
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| FR - French
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| Card Name
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Bill le Poney
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| Game Text
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Le détenteur doit être un compagnon Hobbit. La puissance de l’Ombre à chaque site est de -1. Défaussez Bill le Poney s’il se trouve à un site souterrain pendant la phase de compagnie ou de ralliement.
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| Lore
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« “Cette bête peut presque parler... Elle m'a dit par le regard aussi clairement que M. Pippin aurait pu l'exprimer en paroles...” »
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| IT - Italian
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| Card Name
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Bill il Pony
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| Game Text
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Il possessore deve essere un compagno Hobbit. Il numero Ombra di ogni sito diminuisce di -1. Scarta Bill il Pony quando sei in un sito Sotterraneo.
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| Lore
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“‘Quell'animale sa quasi parlare... mi ha lanciato uno sguardo esplicito quanto le parole del signor Pipino...'”
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| ES - Spanish
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| Card Name
|
Bill el Pony
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| Game Text
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El portador debe ser un compañero Hobbit. El número de Sombra de cada sitio es -1. Descarta a Bill el Pony cuando esté en un sitio Subterráneo.
|
| Lore
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“Ese animal casi habla... me echó una mirada tan elocuente como las palabras del Señor Pippin...”
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| PL - Polish
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Strategy[edit]
Bill the Pony is one of the core choke cards of Fellowship Block. Similarly to No Stranger to the Shadows (1U108)
or A Talent for Not Being Seen (1U316)
, he offsets the twilight generated by having a companion in your Fellowship when you move. Bill the Pony can be played on Frodo, and is thus useful in every Fellowship in the main formats where he is legal.
The more choke cards you stack, the more effective they become, so he's often played with those two cards, as well as Aragorn, Heir to the White City (3R38)
, Consorting With Wizards (2R97)
, Sting (1R313)
, and occasionally Galadriel, Lady of Light (1R45)
and Gimli, Dwarf of the Mountain-race (2P121)
. In Fellowship Block, he's always discarded at The Bridge of Khazad-dûm (1C349)
, and often discarded at site 4, so you'll need to play him twice. Sam, Faithful Companion (1R310)
can help with that, downloading Bill twice, but keeping Sam around long enough to do that is usually counterproductive to keeping your twilight generation down, so Sam often ends up as a chump blocker instead.
In Tower Block and Towers Standard, there are fewer underground sites to get Bill down. While some of the other choke cards are X-listed, he's often played alongside Legolas, Dauntless Hunter (4R73)
. In later formats, Bill is consigned to the X-list himself along with most of the other choke cards.
Bill the Pony comes back off the X-list for Expanded, where he is only on the R-list, limiting you to one copy of him per deck. It hardly matters, though, because underground sites are far too popular in that format. Even if you packed strong site manipulation, the one site that can't ever be manipulated, Mount Doom (15R193)
, is underground.
Strengths and Weaknesses[edit]
Synergizes With...[edit]
- Other choke cards, like No Stranger to the Shadows (1U108), Aragorn, Heir to the White City (3R38), A Talent for Not Being Seen (1U316), Consorting With Wizards (2R97), Sting (1R313), Galadriel, Lady of Light (1R45), Gimli, Dwarf of the Mountain-race (2P121), and Legolas, Dauntless Hunter (4R73).
- Sam, Faithful Companion (1R310) can download him, repeatedly if necessary because of underground sites.
Strong Versus...[edit]
Weak Versus...[edit]
- Underground sites. In Fellowship Block, Bill always gets discarded at The Bridge of Khazad-dûm (1C349), and can be discarded at site 4 if it's Balin's Tomb (1U343)
, Great Chasm (2U118)
, Mithril Mine (1U345)
, or Moria Stairway (1U347)
. In Tower Block/Towers Standard, it's just Caves of Aglarond (4U352)
and Cavern Entrance (4U355)
. (Technically, Caverns of Isengard (5U120)
also discards Bill, but since it's the last site and Bill still reduces the twilight generated at that site, it doesn't matter.)
- Shadow sides that do well with relatively little twilight, such as
Moria swarm and Isenorcs.
Rulings[edit]
- From the 2002 FAQ: When the fellowship moves with Bill the Pony to an underground site, the Shadow number of that site is reduced before Bill the Pony is discarded.
Alternate Versions[edit]
| Portrait |
Name |
Game Text
|
|
|
Bill the Pony, Dearly-loved (13R143)
|
Bearer must be a Ring-bound Hobbit.
When you play Bill the Pony, you may reinforce a token.
Regroup: Spot 2 minions and remove 2 tokens to make a Shadow player discard a minion from play.
|
See Also[edit]
Why Shouldn't I Keep It? (3R105)
