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How playable is Guidance of the Istari?
| 5 (best) |
| [ 3 ] 33% |
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| 4 |
| [ 3 ] 33% |
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| 3 |
| [ 2 ] 22% |
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| 2 |
| [ 1 ] 11% |
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| 1 (worst) |
| [ 0 ] 0% |
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Total Votes : 9 |
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| Cobra |
![]() Posted: Wed Jan 24, 2007 2:01 pm |
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Joined: 12 Jul 2005
Posts: 1202
Location: Austin, TX, USA
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The obvious question is, how many playable  Men are there? A quick search shows seven that are standard-legal:
Barliman Butterbur, Red-faced Landlord (coming with Rise of Saruman)
Brand, King of Dale
Dasron, Merchant from Dorwinion
Erland, Dale Counselor
Ghan-buri-ghan, Chieftain of the Woses
Grimbeorn, Beorning Chieftain
Jarnsmid, Barding Emissary
Now, a +7 strength skirmish pump is nothing to sneeze at, but using all these characters in a deck would be dangerous thanks to that pesky old "Rule of Five." It might be worth a try, but these guys are no Ents.  More realistically, you could expect to have three men in your fellowship -- leaving room for Gandalf and Frodo -- which makes Guidance of the Istari a reasonable but not overly good strength booster.
That’s the standard format. Guidance of the Istari looks considerably better in the Expanded or Open formats, where you gain access to Men as allies. Take Barliman Butterbur, Prancing Pony Proprietor, for example. He plays for free, increases Guidance’s strength bonus but NOT the size of the fellowship, and you can even exert him to get a copy of the event back! |
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| AnxiousChieftain |
![]() Posted: Wed Jan 24, 2007 2:22 pm |
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Joined: 15 Jul 2005
Posts: 3947
Location: Maryland
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Hmm....
I love it in Expanded, since you can have these 5 companions:
Gandalf (Ring-bearer)
Erland, Dale Counselor
Jarnsmid, Barding Emissary
Brand, King of Dale
Grimbeorn, Beorning Chieftain
And these 4 allies:
Albert Dreary, Entertainer from Bree
Barliman Butterbur, Prancing Pony Proprietor
Ottar, Man of Laketown
Hugin, Emissary From Laketown
That makes it a +8 pump. Barliman’s ability and Erland’s ability can both take it back into hand, allowing for more pumpage.
I give it a 5, because it has some cool possibilities.
- AC
P.S. What does the picture, title, and lore have to do with the gametext? It seems like it would fit better to have it help  Men instead of Men.  |
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| NBarden |
![]() Posted: Wed Jan 24, 2007 2:48 pm |
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Joined: 28 Dec 2006
Posts: 5468
Location: I don't know...
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Yes, this card is good with ally system. Cobra, remember it doesn’t say for each man companion, simply man. So, this allows you to spot allies, as AC pointed out (You stole ym thunder, AC  ).
I wonder if you ran an ally/follower gandy man deck with the new Misty Mountain Eagle and new Barliman Butterbur...we have a new macho man.... Now, how do I get Barliman Butterbur AND Grimbeorn in my starting fellowship... |
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| DáinIronfoot |
![]() Posted: Wed Jan 24, 2007 5:15 pm |
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Joined: 12 Jan 2007
Posts: 4594
Location: Beltsville, MD, USA
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Cobra wrote: That’s the standard format. Guidance of the Istari looks considerably better in the Expanded or Open formats, where you gain access to Men as allies. Take Barliman Butterbur, Prancing Pony Proprietor, for example. He plays for free, increases Guidance’s strength bonus but NOT the size of the fellowship, and you can even exert him to get a copy of the event back!
I’m sure I’m not the first to notice, but Erland, Dale Counselor can do the same thing in all formats. And he can do it in the skirmish phase, so you can get it back the same turn! Hard to beat that. |
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| Cobra |
![]() Posted: Wed Jan 24, 2007 7:18 pm |
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Joined: 12 Jul 2005
Posts: 1202
Location: Austin, TX, USA
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You guys are reading weird things into my review...  I said that Guidance of the Istari probably won’t be too strong in Standard, but looks very good in Expanded and/or Open formats because you gain access to Men as allies, not just companions.
I think AC’s post is pretty close to an "ideal" way to play this new card. Personally I’ve never liked Gandalf, Bearer of Obligation, though. I would probably replace him with the new Gandalf, Returned and use a Frodo Ring-bearer.
Regarding the card’s picture and lore, Decipher probably just had a limited supply of images to deal with. (Is there a moment in the Lord of the Rings movies where Gandalf is shown helping out someone we think of as a -culture Man?) I’d say they achieved a pretty reasonable result under the circumstances. |
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| Glamdring |
![]() Posted: Wed Jan 24, 2007 11:38 pm |
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Joined: 13 Oct 2006
Posts: 575
Location:
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| I don’t think it is very playable, unless you have a men deck. The gandalf culture I think has more ents than men. |
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| CarpeGuitarrem |
![]() Posted: Wed Jan 24, 2007 11:51 pm |
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Joined: 07 Apr 2006
Posts: 3361
Location: Franciscan University of Steubenville
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With allies, this could be a fun card. Especially if you pack in an Elrond to heal Ottar and Hugin every turn. That’s an excellent pump, especially comboed with Grimbeorn.
In Standard, not too bad, not too good, I agree. Although we’ll have to see. Maybe there’s going to be some more men who change my mind. |
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| corvus |
![]() Posted: Thu Jan 25, 2007 9:01 am |
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Joined: 13 Oct 2006
Posts: 1696
Location: Roaming, but dangerous!!!
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Well, WKBC’s deck can only get better! 
This card is awesome, especially with all these new men lying around... Especially since we don’t know how many more are coming. I’ve thought two things about this card:
1) Erland. Exert him to give a strength +5-6 pump.
2) A fine gandalf-men follower deck with the BR condition and G for Grand.
Just think of it: you got pumps from:
-G for Grand
-Follower-pump condition
-Followers
-Pump events including this one + Erland.
By far more than enough...
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