Citadel of Minas Tirith (3R40)
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Gondor Bowmen (3R41) |
Citadel of Minas Tirith (3R40) is a Gondor Condition from the Realms of the Elf-Lords set.
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Strategy[edit]
Citadel of Minas Tirith works well in a Gondor deck that uses exertion abilities like Aragorn’s Bow (1R90) , Fortifications, or Ithilien Blade (15C62) to wound or discard minions. It can clear up the wound tokens from those exertions, as long as no dangerous minions survive to win a skirmish. Additionally, since a cancelled skirmish isn't considered lost, it works well with Boromir's Gauntlets (4C112) or skirmish cancellation in other cultures, like Gandalf's Staff (2R22) or Hobbit Stealth (1C298) .
Citadel of Minas Tirith shines in a deck using the Madril, Defender of Osgiliath (15R64) / Ithilien Blade (15C62) / Aragorn’s Bow, Ranger's Longbow (15R56) combo, as most minions do not even make it to the Assignment Phase. It also works well in Gondor Knights. Fortification cards (with the help of supporting cards like Turgon, Man of Belfalas (5U42) or Gondor Bow (7U94) ) can kill the most dangerous minions, or enfeeble the ones that can't be killed. Those Fortifications get used up, but Sixth Level (8U44) exert your companions to replay them, which in turn gets healed by your copies of Citadel.
Citadel is vulnerable to condition removal, but it's rarely a high-priority target.
Citadel heals at the end of the turn, after the Regroup Phase. This makes the it ideal to counter Regroup Phase wounding by cards such as Isengard Retainer (3U57) , as long as the Fellowship survives. However, because it's at the end of the turn, on a turn where you double move (or more!), you'll need to make sure you win or prevent or cancel all of your skirmishes in both moves, or else you'll get no healing from your Citadel(s).
Strengths and Weaknesses[edit]
Synergizes With...[edit]
- Gondor cards that exert to wound or discard minions or cancel skirmishes. Examples: Aragorn’s Bow (1R90) , Boromir's Gauntlets (4C112) , Turgon, Man of Belfalas (5U42) , Stone Tower (5R39) , Ithilien Blade (15C62) .
Strong Versus...[edit]
- Shadow decks that don't aim to win skirmishes very often, including archery decks, Isengard orcs, and some versions of Sauron Grind.
Weak Versus...[edit]
- Citadel of Minas Tirith is a win-more card. Once minions start getting through and causing damage, it stop helping at all.
- Saruman's Power (1U136) , Too Long Have These Peasants Stood (6U8) , and other multitarget condition removal. It will rarely be worth expending targeted condition removal on it, but a board sweeper can wipe all of your copies.