Throne of Minas Tirith (17R36)
 Spirit of the White Tree (17U34)
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Saruman, Instigator of Insurrection (17R37) 
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Throne of Minas Tirith (17R36) is a 
Gondor Artifact from the Rise of Saruman set.
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Strategy[edit]
Throne of Minas Tirith is Gondor's powerful entry in Rise of Saruman's cycle of Thrones. It's a cornerstone of the Gondor Tokens deck, as it turns Noble Leaders (7R112)
and The Faithful Stone (18R50)
into self-replenishing engines while doubling as strong possession removal. What's more, it's a support area artifact, and as a result almost impossible for the Shadow player to remove once it's played.
The core of the Throne engine is the interaction between Throne and Noble Leaders (7R112)
. Noble Leaders helps your strong skirmishers not only win skirmishes, but kill the opposing minion because of its damage bonus. Every time a minion gets killed in a skirmish, the Throne generates a culture token, which can go right back on Noble Leaders. If you only needed one token for that skirmish, you break even, and if you didn't need any, you come out ahead, generating a small trickle of value at pretty much every site.
The rest of Gondor Tokens plugs into this engine. One way is by just killing or discarding more minions in skirmishes without any help from Noble Leaders at all. Andúril, Flame of the West (7R79)
, Andúril, Sword That Was Broken (17R27)
, and Narsil, Forged by Telchar (17R31)
all have inherent Damage +1, making it easier to kill minions when you win a skirmish. Boromir, Bearer of Council (9R+31)
always discards the opposing minion when he wins a skirmish. Kings’ Legacy (13U72)
and Gondorian Blade (11U59)
let you spread Damage bonuses to your less kingly companions. And there's always the option of softening up minions with direct wounding or archery.
You don't have to put those tokens on Noble Leaders, though. Gondor has many other strong culture token conditions, which can either benefit from being reinforced by the Throne or fuel the Throne's ability to discard possessions. The Faithful Stone (18R50)
generates a pile of tokens inherently, and has a powerful ability to negate a minion for a site. Storied Homestead (13R76)
can negate obnoxious abilities. Houses of Healing (11U61)
is strong (if somewhat flood-prone) healing. Heirs of Gondor (13C69)
is more strength for your armed companions. Garrison of Osgiliath (6C52)
is a weaker alternative to Noble Leaders, and useful chiefly to work around the unique limitation.
The Faithful Stone and Throne of Minas Tirith combo in particular is a strong counter to Shadow strategies that rely on possessions. Faithful Stone generates a lot of tokens, and the Throne can funnel them into wiping out Shadow possessions. Older decks like Corsairs and Dunland Site Control rely on their boats and Hides (4R19)
, Grond, Hammer of the Underworld (8R103)
and Grond, Forged With Black Steel (18R82)
are both very obnoxious, 
Orc corruption decks want to trigger Retribution (12R101)
, and 
Men often rely on possessions like Pavise (11C94)
(but also have Countless Companies (12U58)
).
You already have all these Gondor artifacts, culture token cards, and unique Gondor characters, so it's easy to graft on more cards that spot or benefit from them. Scroll of Isildur (9R36)
and Narsil, Blade of the Faithful (9R+34)
both spot artifacts, and you can fit more artifacts like Sapling of the White Tree (9R35)
, Ring of Barahir (6R55)
, or Seeing Stone of Orthanc (9R38)
. Aragorn, Isildur's Heir (13R59)
loves to see all these tokens. Stewards’ Legacy (13U75)
benefits characters you're probably already playing, although its strongest effect, negating minion abilities, is a bit redundant with Storied Homestead. If you are playing Stewards' Legacy, you probably have rangers to exert for Soldier's Cache (18U58)
, which serves as a way to generate tokens and prevent excess healing from a sanctuary (or Mithlond (18U136)
or Neekerbreekers’ Bog (11S249)
) from going to waste.
The Throne of Minas Tirith is a support area artifact, and as such it's pretty close to indestructible. The only card in the entire game that can force you to discard it is Grond, Hammer of the Underworld (8R103)
, and the Throne can simply discard Grond first. Its weakness is instead the Gondor token conditions it relies upon to work, especially Noble Leaders (7R112)
. If those conditions are discarded, then Throne can't do anything. Be careful of strong condition removal, especially multitarget cards like Saruman's Power (1U136)
, Tempest of War (12U148)
, or You Do Not Know Fear (17R137)
. Additionally, because the Throne reinforces tokens rather than placing them, remember that you'll need to leave at least one token on each condition you want to refuel. Don't use that last token on Noble Leaders if you can avoid it!
Strengths and Weaknesses[edit]
Synergizes With...[edit]
- Andúril, Flame of the West (7R79)
and other damage-granting effects.
- Gondor token conditions, particularly Noble Leaders (7R112)
- Narsil, Blade of the Faithful (9R+34)
and Scroll of Isildur (9R36)
spot Gondor artifacts for useful effects
Strong Versus...[edit]
- Corsair Boats, Hides (4R19)
, Grond, Hammer of the Underworld (8R103)
, and Men stacking possessions like Ceremonial Armor (17R41)
and Wildman's Oath (17C66)
- Strategies that play possessions on minions, particularly Orc corruption using Retribution (12R101)
and Warg Super Swarm. Helpful but somewhat less so against Men weapon possessions, since they usually use Countless Companies (12U58)
- Beatdown
Weak Versus...[edit]
- Grond, Hammer of the Underworld (8R103)
is the only card that can force you to discard it.
- Condition removal. Saruman's Power (1U136)
, Tempest of War (12U148)
, or You Do Not Know Fear (17R137)
can wipe out your conditions, leaving you with no culture tokens to work with.
- Assault Denizen (13C159)
can get very large with lots of tokens to spot. - It's more of a comedy option than a practical counter, but Corsair Freebooter (8C54)
, Easterling Runner (13C90)
, and Sauron’s Might (19P27)
might be able to strip the last culture tokens off of a key condition, preventing it from being reinforced.
Decks[edit]
- 1st Tier deck gondor - evil men archery, an Expanded deck by argyles/pizza_fan on The Last Homely House forums.
