Legacy Ruling 6

Status: Discussion (2025-04-13)

Saruman's Staff and Sentences

Saruman's Staff, Wizard's Device (4R174) reads:

 Plays on Saruman. He is fierce and damage +1. 
 Maneuver: Make the first sentence of Saruman’s game text not apply until the regroup phase.

The issue is that "sentence", which has a specific grammatical meaning in English that encompasses a number of structures, is not well-defined for the purposes of the LOTR-TCG.

The card was clearly designed with early versions of Saruman in mind, such as Saruman, Servant of the Eye (3C69) :

 Saruman may not take wounds during the archery phase and may not be assigned to a skirmish. 
 Assignment: Exert Saruman to assign an  minion to a companion (except the Ring-bearer). That companion may exert to prevent this.

In all such Sarumen, the first line of game text is a self-contained sentence that has to do with not participating in skirmishes, which the Staff is clearly meant to turn off so that Saruman may skirmish.

However, in later sets of the game (notably around the time that Towers Block rotated out, taking the Staff with it), Sarumen were printed that did not take this card into consideration at all, and so now we are left with a conundrum as to how it should be interpreted when played on such individuals.

Compatible Sarumen

The below cards have a clear first sentence and have no interpretation issues (even if some would be of poor strategic compatibility with the Staff):

• Saruman, Keeper of Isengard (3R68)
• Saruman, Servant of the Eye (3C69)
• Saruman, Rabble-rouser (4R33)
• Saruman, Black Traitor (4R173)
• Saruman, Master of Foul Folk (5R56)
• Saruman, Instigator of Insurrection (17R37)
• Saruman, Coldly Still (17S48)
• Saruman, Curunir (17S115)
• Saruman, Master of the White Hand (17R116)
• Saruman, Mind of Metal and Wheels (V2_29)
• Saruman, Fell Voice (V1_30)

Problematic Sarumen

The below cards are somewhat less clear how they should interact with Saruman's Staff:

• Saruman, Of Many Colours (12R54)
• Saruman, Agent of the Dark Lord (12S144)
• Saruman, Servant of Sauron (17R38)

Saruman, Servant of Sauron (17R38) can perhaps be discounted due to the following rule:

 Followers can't bear other cards, including possessions or conditions. 

However for the other two, there are various ways to apply "sentence":

• Consider a single keyword to be a complete sentence
  • Of Many Colours would thus lose damage +1
  • Agent of the Dark Lord would lose lurker.
• Skip one-word keywords as not sentences, and consider the next batch of game text as a complete concept.
  • Of Many Colours would thus lose nothing, as the "name a culture" sentence would have already been carried out.
  • Agent of the Dark Lord would lose his Skirmish: ability but not his Each Time trigger.
• Skip one-word keywords as not sentences, and skip special abilities, thus only considering standalong English sentences as sentences.
  • Of Many Colours behaves as in the previous bullet point.
  • Agent of the Dark Lord would lose his Each Time trigger, but keep his skirmish special ability.

Ramifications

We could issue rulings just on the two relevant cards, or we could attempt to make a ruling on what "sentence" means in general. While the PC has utilized the "sentence" term, it was on The White Council (V1_18) , which was essentially binding itself to how Saruman's Staff works and is not a further evolution of the concept. The PC can easily avoid using the terminology in the future if the Rules Council decides to avoid making a general ruling.

The Question

Do we:

• A: Make Saruman's Staff deactivate the first keyword if there are no clear first sentences.

• B: Make Saruman's Staff deactivate the first Special Ability.

• C: Make Saruman's Staff skip special abilities and only target non-ability sentences.

In addition, the Legacy Team must decide whether to:

• D: Rule on each Saruman individually

• E: Add a new rules entry on "sentence"

---