Rule of Five

[Anubis1Anpu]

Greetings all,
I have seen various posts refer to the "rule of five," what, pray, is that exactly?

[Elessar's Socks]

Welcome to the forums!

It's probably referring to how five companions in a fellowship is traditionally the "safe" maximum number, before cards like Ulaire Enquea, Lieutenant of Morgul and Gorgoroth Swarm kick in at six.

[Anubis1Anpu]

Thank you for the salutation and for the response!

[Elrohir]

Hi
The Rule of five does not exist. It is either an expression for playing 5 companions, as Elessar's Socks mentioned above, or you are asking about:
The rule of 4. You may not draw or take into hand more than 4 cards during the fellowship phase.
The rule of 9. You may not have more than 9 companions in play and the dead pile.

[Kralik]

ES is right. The Rule of 5 isn't an official "rule" of the game -- more like a "rule of thumb."

[Gil-Estel]

And in Standard games it is less interesting, for cards like Greed and Enquea, considered to be the meanest crowd control aren't available....

[Kralik]

I still don't know how to handle Standard because I'm so used to the earlier strategies... I build decks with 5 companions and they get slaughtered while my opponent marches along with 9 impervious to my Shadow. That's my excuse, anyway.

[Elrohir]

Use cards like:
Gorgoroth Agitator
Gorgoroth Swarm
Invincible Uruk
Broken in defeat
Ulaire Nelya, Fell Rider
Ulaire Cantea, Black Assassin

Anduin Banks
City Gates
....
In worst case, play some Demon of might (a 9 companion deck gives a lot of pool),  The Lord of the rings,
Her Ladyship (paralyses a companion) and focus on the ringbearer!

I like playing 5 comp. decks. You can imagin much more how your charcters feel and suffer. And it is easier to handle. Just keep your ringbearer away from skirmishes (overwhelming news  )

[Thranduil]

I still don't know how to handle Standard because I'm so used to the earlier strategies... I build decks with 5 companions and they get slaughtered while my opponent marches along with 9 impervious to my Shadow. That's my excuse, anyway.

In my experience, most decks want 9 companions in the deck. If you find that your opponent is playing hefty 6-companion hate, then you just don't play more than 5 and discard the others, or replace dead ones. But in general, in standard I find the risk is worth it - after all, worst comes to worst you can just kill companions until your back at 5, and this doesn't bother most decks hugely.

Thranduil

[legolas3333]

well yeah broken in defeat and that orc that makes skirmish events -1 twilight and you kill everyone, thats a combo i always put in my uruk decks

[jdizzy001]

There are always cards like orkish headsman too.  I'm always nervous to kill off companions willy-nilly like.

[Kralik]

A str 17 minion for 5 twilight doesn't seem like too much of a threat in Standard to me.

[Pepin The Breve]

The best crowd controling minion in standard for most decks is Pitiless Orc. Few things can be that awesome for 3 pool. 

Other nice strategy is playing anduin banks multiple times with sitecontrol manipulation.