Legacy Ruling 5

Status: Discussion (2025-04-13)

White Hand Sieger

White Hand Sieger (18C129) reads:

 Damage +1.
 To play, spot an  minion and you must control a site.

The way that this card should be interpreted is unclear. It could be:

• A: To play, spot an minion and a site you control.
• B: To play, spot an minion and an uncontrolled site eligible to be controlled. You must take control of that site to play this minion.

(Dis)similar Cards

The wording on this card is unique, due to being a set 18 card (and possibly due to its unique usage). However, Decipher waffled considerably on the precise wording that should be used for "if you control a site"/"spot a site you control" as an adjective vs "take control" / "control a site" as a verb.

"Controlled Site" as an adjective

Decipher used both "spot a site you control" and the spot-less "if you control a site" throughout all eras of the game:

• Hill Chief (4R20) uses "spot a site you control" in Towers Block.

 Shadow: Spot a site you control and exert Hill Chief to draw 3 cards.

• (King Block does not appear to have any, as the vast majority of site control mechanics involved stacking "on a site you control" rather than caring about those sites themselves directly.)
• Land Had Changed (17R114) uses "spot a site you control" in Hunters Block.

 Make an Uruk-hai strength +2 (or spot a site you control to make that Uruk-hai strength +3 instead). You may then liberate a site to make that Uruk-hai strength +2 and damage +1.

• Burn Every Village (4C5) uses "if you control a site" in Towers Block

 Skirmish: Make a  Man strength +2 (or +4 if you control a site).

• Gothmog, Lieutenant of Morgul (10R88) uses "while you control a site" in King Block

 Besieger. 
 When you play Gothmog, the Free Peoples player must wound a companion for each site you control. 
 While you control a site, Gothmog is fierce.

• White Hand Berserker (17R121) uses "if you control a site" in Hunter Block

 Damage +1.
 At the start of the archery phase, if you control a site, you may add 2 to the minion archery total for each Free Peoples culture you can spot over 2.

"Control" as a verb

Decipher used both "take control of a site" and "control a site" as the way to describe the act of taking a site and putting it into your support area throughout all eras of the game:

• Hillman Band (4C21) shows "take control" in Towers Block

 Each time the fellowship moves, you may spot another  Man to take control of a site.

• Siege Troop (8C106) shows "take control" in King Block

 Besieger. 
 Regroup: Exert this minion twice to take control of a site.

• Uruk Infantry (15U175) shows "take control" in Hunters Block

 Damage +1.
 While you can spot a companion of strength 10 or more, this minion is strength +2.
 Regroup: Exert 4  minions (or discard 3  minions) to take control of a site.

• Isengard Scout Troop (5U55) shows "control a site" in Towers Block

 Warg-rider.
 While this minion is not exhausted, it is fierce.
 Each time an  Orc wins a skirmish, you may exert this minion to control a site.

• Gorgoroth Swarm (10C87) shows "control a site" in King Block

 Besieger. 
 When you play this minion, you may spot another besieger and 6 companions to play a besieger from your discard pile and control a site.

• Corsair Bow (18U61) shows "control a site" in Hunters Block

 Bearer must be a  minion.
 Bearer is an archer.
 Each time a companion is killed during the archery phase, you may control a site.

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For a complete list, see Site Control.

Precedent

In 2018, Dictionary made a summary post on TLHH, which links back to threads from 2013 and 2008. He argues that "must" is a counterpart to "may" in the phrase "may control a site", which would make "must control a site" read as an imperative verb.

Past threads did not seem to be very thorough in their interrogation of what wordings did and did not exist in each era of the game; there was a common misconception that "take control" was retired when it was clearly not. There does not seem to have been a solid consensus in any era.

As of the Grand Card Rework, Gemp implements Sieger as option A.

Ramification

White Hand Sieger is also unique in that it is completely free, a cost 0 minion; this wasn't done on any other minion in the game. Usually a low cost is associated with an alternate cost, such as exertions, card discard, or stringent spot requirements.

It can be argued that the prerequisite of having already controlled a site is the alternate cost. However, this then means that you could control a site and then drop 4x Sieger with no additional penalty.

If instead it is a verb-cost, meaning that you must take control of a site to play the minion, this restricts the card from being spammed 4x on a single site unless the site path has been carefully prepared. It also often prevents the card itself from being played in region 1. A highly successful site control deck will also "suffer from its own success" if they ramp up control too consistently and be unable to play Sieger. This overall inconvenience would compensate for the low cost.

The Question

Do we:

• A: interpret White Hand Sieger as requiring Shadow to already have controlled a site to play it.

or

• B: interpret White Hand Sieger to force a site control to occur, and to be unable to play if a site cannot be controlled at the moment of play.

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