Denethor, Lord of Minas Tirith (10R28)
 Dead Man of Dunharrow (10C27)
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Drawing His Eye (10R29) 
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Denethor, Lord of Minas Tirith (10R28) is a 
Gondor Companion from the Mount Doom set.
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Strategy[edit]
Denethor, Lord of Minas Tirith is a powerful, versatile card that appears in many Gondor decks in Movie Block and Expanded due to his ability to tutor key cards to speed up your Free Peoples setup once you make it to site 3. He can also be spotted for strategy-defining cards like Noble Leaders (7R112)
and Stewards’ Legacy (13U75)
, and to top it all off he has unusually good base strength for his relatively low Twilight cost.
Denethor can only search your deck for cards at a Sanctuary, and you generally want to filter out Free Peoples cards as quickly as possible, so ideally you have him in play before site 3. Because of this, his low Twilight cost, and relatively high strength, he's a strong candidate for your starting Fellowship. This usually means that you'll generally need to start with one of the Gondor alternate Ring-bearers plus a low-cost Gondor companion. Which companion is best depends on the deck. Faramir, Captain of Gondor (4R116)
(possibly with Aragorn, Strider (11R54)
) or Faramir, Captain of Ithilien (18R48)
are popular choices in Noble Leaders (7R112)
-based decks, like the eponymous deck in Movie Block, or Expanded decks like Token Tanks or Roaming Rangers. Ingold (7C106)
is not strong, but is the strongest Knight option to start with Denethor in Gondor Knights. (He's generally not used in Gondor Wraiths due to his requirement that you can spot men in particular.) Derufin (7R87)
or Dervorin (7U88)
are useful utility cards, but probably not a part of your core strategy. If you do run Denethor in your starting Fellowship, don't worry about racking up a wound or two on him in the early skirmishes, since you'll almost always be able to heal him at the first Sanctuary.
Once you have Denethor at the Sanctuary, exert him to tutor your key cards. Typical targets include conditions that are key to your strategy, like Stewards’ Legacy (13U75)
or Sixth Level (8U44)
, key possessions like Aragorn’s Bow (1R90)
, Andúril, Flame of the West (7R79)
, Aragorn’s Bow, Ranger's Longbow (15R56)
, or Ithilien Blade (15C62)
, or the owner of a Free Peoples possession that's clogging up your hand. Being able to smooth out the gaps in the cards you drew can go a long way in making your deck more consistent. This comes at a significant risk, however, because you're helping your opponent as well.
The main risk with Denethor is how much he gives away to your opponent. Unless your Fellowship is very weak or you absolutely must double move this turn to keep from falling behind, it may be best to hold the cards you tutored in your hand (or on The Shards of Narsil (3R44)
) and wait until next turn. His ability can give your opponent an massive hand full of cards, so any twilight you generate will very likely get used. Flooding the twilight pool on the turn where you used Denethor can be fatal. Alternately, you may be helping out your opponent to set up their own Fellowship—although this, in turn, can sometimes bait them into flooding. Make sure that the cards you're drawing are key to your strategy, or that thinning your deck is genuinely worth the risk.
There are some tricks to get more than two cards out of him, however, up to the limit of four cards in one turn. Any healing that can be used anytime in the Fellowship Phase can allow him to tutor again: Beacon of Minas Tirith (7U338)
(in Movie Block) can heal him multiple times, for example. Any Gondor card that heals a companion and has some other desirable effect (e.g. Aragorn, Elessar Telcontar (10R25)
) can offset the exertion cost to tutor that card. Any card that adds vitality to Denethor (e.g. Narsil, Blade of the Faithful (9R+34)
) can be tutored and played on him, then that point of vitality can be used to search for another card. Transferring Narsil to another companion once Denethor has used that point of vitality will kill him, although that can occasionally be strategically useful if you want to stay under six companions for fear of Rule of 6 cards like Úlairë Enquëa, Lieutenant of Morgul (1U231)
, or if you need to clear threats the hard way for some reason.
Denethor's ability to turn extra vitality and healing into more tutored cards can also be used to thin your deck with cards that just heal him or add more vitality to him. Even if you have Denethor in your starting Fellowship, you can add extra copies of him to your deck. At the first Sanctuary, you can exert him to search your deck for a copy of himself, then discard that extra copy to heal the exertion. If you draw the extra copy before the Sanctuary, you can just hold it in your hand for a turn or two to heal him at the Sanctuary for a free extra tutor. (This is similar to an old tactic with Elrond, Lord of Rivendell (1R40)
.) You can also do the same trick with The Saga of Elendil (1R114)
, to have another card to filter out of your deck. The main benefit of these strategies is reducing the size of your deck, although occasionally they also result in some extra useful uses of his tutor ability. Be careful when using these strategies, though, because no matter how much healing or vitality you pack on, Denethor is still subject to the Rule of 4. If you don't make sure you filter out all of these otherwise low-value cards, you might also have some dead draws at site 7 and higher.
Once you've used him to set up, Denethor is a respectable combatant in his own right, with an 8 strength 3 vitality body and access to strong generic Gondor Men effects. Decks using Noble Leaders (7R112)
and/or Stewards’ Legacy (13U75)
can get reasonable mileage out of him as a backup to main combatants like Aragorn and Elendil, The Tall (9R+32)
. (His best weapons are Knight's Spear (7C108)
or Gondorian Sword (7U98)
in Movie Block, and Ithilien Blade (15C62)
in Expanded.) Other decks, particularly decks focusing on Knights or Rangers, can get some use out of his skirmishing ability, but often don't feel bad about using him up then throwing him away once he's been used to set up.
Strengths and Weaknesses[edit]
Synergizes With...[edit]
- Gondor cards that heal him in the Fellowship Phase or increase his vitality, like Beacon of Minas Tirith (7U338)
or Narsil, Blade of the Faithful (9R+34)
.
- Noble Leaders (7R112)
benefits from spotting him. He also can gain muster from Stewards’ Legacy (13U75)
, but that is by far the weakest part of that card.
- More copies of himself, even if he's in your starting Fellowship, to thin your deck and occasionally get some free extra uses of his tutor ability.
- If the cards you tutored are particularly situational, The Shards of Narsil (3R44)
can be useful to store them until you need them.
Strong Versus...[edit]
- Denethor helps your deck set up faster and more reliably. He doesn't counter any Shadow strategy in particular, although he can grab counters to specific Shadow strategies if they're in your deck.
Weak Versus...[edit]
- Swarm decks appreciate a huge hand, especially swarm decks with relatively weak hand extension like Isengard Orcs, Stupid Swarm, and Morgul Orcs. Normally they are limited on how many cards they can play by how many cards they can draw.
- Cards that can discard cards in hand for some effect, like They Are Coming (1C196)
or They Stole It (6R46)
.
Rulings[edit]
- Remember that his tutor ability is subject to the Rule of 4. Only ever use it four or less times per turn, and try to avoid playing cards that draw extra cards on the same turn.
Alternate Personas[edit]
| Portrait | Name | Game Text |
|---|---|---|
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Denethor, Steward of the City (7R85)
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Fellowship: Play a knight. That knight’s twilight cost is –2.
Each time a Shadow card adds a threat, add a burden. Each time a Shadow card adds a burden, add a threat. |
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Denethor, Wizened Steward (7C86)
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Denethor is strength +1 for each other Man you can spot (limit +4).
|
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Denethor, Last Ruling Steward (13R64)
|
Denethor is resistance +1 for each possession in your discard pile.
Maneuver: Spot a |
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Denethor, On the Edge of Madness (18R42)
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Each time the fellowship moves from a site, add a burden.
Skirmish: Exert another |
