Seeing Stone of Orthanc (9R38)

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Seeing Stone of Minas Anor (9R37)
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Library of Orthanc (9R+39)

Seeing Stone of Orthanc (9R38) is a Gondor Artifact from the Reflections set.

Collection Info
Title Seeing Stone of Orthanc
Unique Yes
Collectible No
Set 9 - Reflections
Rarity R - Rare
Card Number 38
Language EN - English
Revision 0
Gameplay Info
Playable Yes
Culture Gondor
Side Free Peoples
Card Type Artifact
Item Class Support Area
Twilight Cost 0
Game Text To play, spot a Man with 3 or more vitality (or spot a Man and add 2 threats).

Regroup: Add a threat or discard this artifact to remove or draw a card.

Lore “‘I am the lawful master of the Stone, and I had both the right and the strength to use it, or so I judged.'”
Translations
DE - German
Card Name Der sehende Stein vom Orthanc
Game Text Entdecke einen Menschen, um diese Karte zu spielen. Lasse dazu 2 Bedrohungen entstehen, wenn dieser Mensch 2 oder weniger Lebenspunkte hat. Sammeln: Lasse eine Bedrohung entstehen oder lege dieses Artefakt ab, um den Einfluss um zu verringern oder eine Karte zu ziehen.
Lore "Ich bin der rechtmäßige Herr des Steins, und ich habe das Recht und auch die Kraft, ihn zu gebrauchen, so beurteile ich es jedenfalls."
FR - French
IT - Italian


Technical Info
Wiki Base Card ID LOTR-EN09S038.0
TLHH ID LOTR09038
GEMP ID 9_38
LOTRO Hex ID 66 46 95 08
LOTRO Image ID 09_038


Strategy[edit]

Seeing Stone of Orthanc is paradoxically a very weak, situational card, but also a staple of Gondor decks in Movie Block. It's chiefly played as part of a whole package of Gondor artifacts, to strengthen Narsil, Blade of the Faithful (9R+34) and Scroll of Isildur (9R36) .

The Stone isn't very strong on its own. Drawing cards in the Regroup Phase is only useful if you're about to make a double move, since otherwise you reconcile and refill your hand anyway. Even in those circumstances, it's weak: Gondor culture generally does not play a great many cards after the Fellowship Phase in Movie Block (or later formats) as it is. Removing twilight in preparation for a double move is generally more useful, but a threat is a very high price to pay. Regaining initiative against a Shadow deck that wants initiative but doesn't run a card that grants initiative regardless of your hand size—most common with Sauron decks running Tower of Barad-dûr (3R104) and minions like Orc Archer Troop (7U294) and Orc Stalker (7U307) —can be useful but is very situational. The Seeing Stone can also fix your hand size to activate the game text on Derufin (7R87) . When it does get used, it's usually discarding the Seeing Stone to remove two twilight on a do-or-die double move.

What makes the Seeing Stone actually useful is the fact that it's a Gondor artifact that is almost always free. (It's almost never worth playing at the cost of two threats.) It increases the strength of Elendil, The Tall (9R+32) or Isildur, Bearer of Heirlooms (9R+33) while bearing Narsil, Blade of the Faithful (9R+34) , and increases the resistance of the ring-bearer when Scroll of Isildur (9R36) is in play. (Later formats add two new noteworthy Narsil bearers: Elendil, High-king of Gondor (13R65) and Isildur, Sword-bearer (18R54) .) Elendil, the Tall can also discard it to liberate a site. Narsil and Scroll of Isildur are useful cards on their own that benefit from other useful cards like The Shards of Narsil (3R44) , Ring of Barahir (6R55) , Andúril, Flame of the West (7R79) , Sapling of the White Tree (9R35) , and Throne of Minas Tirith (17R36) , so it's easy to include the Seeing Stone and possibly its counterpart Seeing Stone of Minas Anor (9R37) . In Movie Block, this Gondor artifact package is common in Noble Leaders (7R112) and Elfman decks, and sometimes appears in Gondor Knights. In later formats like Expanded and Standard, it sometimes appears in Token Tanks or other Stewards’ Legacy (13U75) decks.

Strengths and Weaknesses[edit]

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