Stay This Madness (7R48)

Sharpen Your Swords (7U47)

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Steadfast Champion (7U49)

Strategy

Collection

History

Data

Stay This Madness (7R48) is a Gandalf Condition from the Return of the King 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

Collection Info Title Stay This Madness Unique No Collectible Yes Set 7 - Return of the King Rarity R - Rare Card Number 48 Language EN - English Revision 0

Gameplay Info Playable Yes Culture Gandalf Side Free Peoples Card Type Condition Target Play Area Support Area Twilight Cost 0 Game Text To play, spot Gandalf. Each time the fellowship moves, add a threat or discard this condition. Regroup: Discard this condition to wound 2 minions.

Translations DE - German Card Name Haltet ein mit diesem Wahnsinn Game Text Entdecke Gandalf, um diese Karte zu spielen. Lasse jedes Mal, wenn sich die Gemeinschaft bewegt, eine Bedrohung entstehen oder lege diesen Effekt ab. Sammeln: Lege diesen Effekt ab, um 2 Diener zu verwunden. FR - French IT - Italian

Technical Info Wiki Base Card ID LOTR-EN07S048.0 TLHH ID LOTR07048 GEMP ID 7_48 LOTRO Hex ID 60 FF AC 06 LOTRO Image ID 07_048

Strategy

Stay This Madness is part of a cycle of Free Peoples conditions in Return of the King that add a threat every time the Fellowship moves, and can be discarded in the Regroup Phase for some effect. In this case, it wounds two minions, which is usually only useful if you're hoping to make a double move that turn. Like most of those cards, you ideally want to discard Stay This Madness the turn you play it, because otherwise it's stacking up extra threats for no benefit. And, like most of those cards, Stay This Madness is garbage.

The first problem is that Stay This Madness is a very unreliable gamble, as you try to guess at the beginning of the turn whether this card will help you at the end of the turn. If you kill all the minions on your own? Stay This Madness is useless. If one wound on two minions isn't enough to enable a double move? Useless. If your Fellowship is too beat up to attempt a double? Still useless. Even if it's a do-or-die turn and any contribution in regroup is a help, Gandalf culture already has Out of the High Airs (10R17) , which is much stronger and doesn't have to be played speculatively.

You can make this card (arguably) cheaper and a bit more reliable by playing it from the discard pile in the regroup phase with Treebeard, Keeper of the Watchwood (10R18) . (In this way, it's a diluted version of the Fruity Loops combo with the now-banned Steadfast Champion (7U49) .) But that's still much, much weaker than Out of the High Airs, at a comparable or arguably more-expensive price.

The other cards in this cycle are Dark Ways (7R5) , Leaving Forever (7R24) , Scouting (7R68) , Guarded (7R101) , With Strength to Fight (7R261) , and Pressing On (7R325) .

Strengths and Weaknesses

Synergizes With...

• Treebeard, Keeper of the Watchwood (10R18) can play this card in the regroup phase, bypassing the threat cost. It's still weaker and (combined with the cost to exert Treebeard) arguably more expensive than Out of the High Airs (10R17) , though.

Strong Versus...

• This can occasionally kill or exhaust a minion with an annoying Regroup Phase ability, like Isengard Orcs or Gollum, Dark as Darkness (9R+28) .

Weak Versus...

• Effects that prevent minions from being wounded, such as Broad-bladed Sword (4C142) or Easterling Polearm (6U79) .
• Condition Removal on the turn it's played means it adds a threat and contributes nothing.
• Minions that aren't exhausted in the regroup phase will often not care about just one wound.
• This just is not a strong card in general, and will often whiff on many Shadow sides.