Rider's Mount (4C287)
 Rider of Rohan (4C286)
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Rider's Spear (4C288) 
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Rider's Mount (4C287) is a 
Rohan Possession from the The Two Towers set. It is arguably the most culture-defining card in the game, the basis for Rohan as they exist in LotR TCG. While a variety of other mounts are available within the culture, all but two of them are really just Rider's Mount made unique or more expensive and given additional text. The exceptions are part of the token mounts cycle in Bloodlines, Firefoot, Mearas of the Mark (13R126)
and Snowmane, Noble Mearas (13R136)
. Its text is available to select companions of other cultures through Horse of Rohan (4C283)
and to Gandalf specifically through Shadowfax (4R100)
and Shadowfax, Greatheart (8R21)
.
Rohan has access at least one non-unique mount with the text of Rider's Mount in every block, making it legal in spirit for every format after Fellowship Block -- only Hobbit Sword (1C299)
and The One Ring, The Ruling Ring (1C2)
are more accessible. Rider's Mount itself was reprinted in Hunters Block, one of the few cards to remain legal in Standard after its originally printed set rotated out.
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Strategy[edit]
Gameplay Strategy[edit]
The humble Rider's Mount brings a quite a bit of power creep compared to Fellowship block. Before The Two Towers, the only ways for a Free Peoples player to exert a minion were A Ranger's Versatility (1U113)
and Blood of Númenor (2U31)
, very conditional cards which actually exhaust minions. All other ways to place wound tokens on minions were through wounding. As the Free Peoples cultures gained access to more and more wounding effects, Shadow cultures gained access to wound prevention effects in turn. Yet for all the expansion of Free Peoples cards with exerting effects that began in The Two Towers, there are only two Shadow cards capable of preventing exertions: The Balrog, The Terror of Khazad-dum (12R79)
and Lurtz, Resilient Captain (19P33)
, which only do so themselves. Rohan mounts may not be the only cards to exert minions introduced in set 4, but they are by far the most effective and their inevitable exertions have to be taken into account for every Shadow side from that point on.
Placing what is essentially an unavoidable wound on minions would be impactful enough. A permanent card effect that does this without cost only makes the prospect more attractive, providing the bearer with something better than a damage bonus. That it happens at the very start of a skirmish renders many abilities that exert minions in the skirmish or regroup phases completely useless against Rohan. Even losing a skirmish can accomplish about the same thing as winning in some cases (the minion comes away from the skirmish wounded), especially when the Free Peoples player really just wants to deprive a minion such as Úlairë Cantëa, Lieutenant of Dol Guldur (1R230)
or Wulf, Dunlending Chieftain (4R40)
of its vitality. Fierce minions which win their first skirmish are then primed to be exerted in the second skirmish, usually to the point of exhaustion, and killed thanks to Éomer, Third Marshal of Riddermark (4R267)
or We Left None Alive (6C97)
Rider's Spear (4C288)
grants a damage bonus for mounted characters, meaning anyone with both is effectively damage +2 and able to kill all but a handful of minions in every culture. This, combined with high strength companions and numerous non-event strength pumps, makes Rohan the standout skirmishing culture in Towers Standard.
Deckbuilding Strategy[edit]
Simbelmynë (4R289)
allows players to get exactly the possessions they need as they are needed, leaving little reason to have more mounts than you have eligible bearers in your fellowship. Any potential replacement copies could instead be more general possession retrieval such as Mustering for Battle (7U244)
. Even among the characters who could bear a mount, however, only those which will be skirmishing with some regularity will actually benefit from being mounted most of the time. The rest of the time you want to take advantage of specific card text for mounted companions and already know how many mounts you'll need to accomplish this.
Brego (4U263)
is basically a unique Rider's Mount with free healing, always worth taking over the first copy of Rider's Mount. Eomer being such a standout companion for any Rohan deck tends to put Firefoot (4R274)
and its defender bonus above Rider's Mount as well despite being more expensive. Windfola (7R260)
and Snowmane (7R250)
are much more situational, with the value of the extra cost depending on how important those companions and effects are to your deck. Other than those, the competition Rider's Mount faces for deck space comes from the costlier versions of it released in every block with additional text. In one sense, these upgrades only really cost 
since you would have played Rider's Mount instead of them anyway. In another, 
is a fairly expensive Free Peoples card and will often allow opponents to make the most of their Shadow hand, especially when played the same turn as a companion or other mounts.
Which mounts you choose for your deck, then, depends on your tolerance for risk and how much benefit you expect to get out of them. Along the King Block site path, for example, the plentiful plains can make Swift Steed (7C253)
an attractive alternative. An Expanded or Standard adventure deck with many plains could likewise benefit from it or Rohirrim Mount (11U156)
. But without many plains available to you, or when your opponent is playing their sites all game long, they may not provide any benefit for the extra twilight. Horse of Great Stature (15U129)
turns bearer vitality into strength for your Rohan companions at any site, though the extra twilight may occasionally require you to use its text the turn it is played to offset a more potent Shadow turn.
Even when these alternatives are great fits for your deck, it's rare that every mounted companion will be able to make use of their added benefits. Rider's Mount remains a great choice for filling in the gaps.
Strengths and Weaknesses[edit]
Synergizes With...[edit]
- Many Rohan cards which require or benefit from having mounted companions, such as Thundering Host (5R94)
or Rider's Spear (4C288)
- Many Rohan cards which require or benefit from skirmishing a wounded minion, such as Éomer, Third Marshal of Riddermark (4R267)
or Fey He Seemed (7U231)
Strong Versus...[edit]
- Shadow cards which exert minions to some effect, especially those in cultures with easy access to wound prevention such as Wulf, Dunlending Chieftain (4R40)
- Minions with 3 or more vitality, which are otherwise difficult for most companions to kill
Weak Versus...[edit]
- Minions which gain strength for being wounded, namely Enduring minions and those in the Uruk-hai Berserker (5U63)
line - Nazgul such as Úlairë Enquëa, Thrall of the One (10R68)
, which want to heal as many wounds as possible in a skirmish - Minions with only one vitality
Alternate Versions[edit]
| Portrait | Name | Game Text |
|---|---|---|
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Rider’s Mount (15C133)
|
Bearer must be a Man.
At the start of each skirmish involving bearer, each minion skirmishing bearer must exert. |
