The Way Into Mordor - Gandalf (8/28: "You still speak in riddles.")

[menace64]

•Gwaihir, Friend At Need
Ally • Home 5 [LA] & 3 [FotR] • Eagle
Strength: 11
Vitality: 4
Signet: Gandalf
Unhasty. Damage +1. Toil 1.
Each companion bearing a follower is strength +1.
Response: If an unbound Wizard companion is about to be killed or discarded, if you cannot spot a card stacked here, stack that Wizard here instead.
Fellowship: Exert Gwaihir twice to play a Wizard stacked here as if from hand.
"‘Light as a swan's feather in my claw you are....Indeed I do not think you need me any more: were I to let you fall you would float upon the wind.'"

Not to mention the fact that so many words would never, ever fit on a single card. If you were wanting all of this on one ally (which as previously stated is rather clunky), I think your best bet would be to word it as such:

Damage +1. Unhasty. Each companion bearing a follower is strength +1.
Response: If no card is stacked here and an unbound Wizard is about to be killed or discarded, stack him or her here.
Fellowship: Exert Gwaihir twice to play a Wizard stacked here.

Trimming each action down to its bear roots of wordiness should net you the space required. I'm also a big lore-nut so I'd like to see yours make it onto the card, but I think you'd need to trim it quite a bit first. Sometimes a brief snippet of lore is cooler than a sentence or two anyways:

"'...were I to let you fall you would float upon the wind.'"

[Thranduil]

Just out of interest, why is he home site 3?

Thranduil

[DáinIronfoot]

I changed Gwaihir according to Menace's wording. As for why he has the home sites he has, they are both leftovers from my previous two sets. Gwaihir in my first set Lasting Alliances had home sites of 5 and 8 on that set's sitepath ([LA]) while Gwaihir in my second set The Road Ahead had the same home sites as this one. Of course, being unhasty kind of nullifies that, but still.

Okay, some Gandalf fun with possessions and borne conditions today. Enjoy!

•Gandalf's Cloak, Grey Cloak
Possession • Cloak
Resistance +1
Bearer must be a Wizard.
Fellowship: Discard this possession to take a spell of bearer's culture into hand from your draw deck or discard pile.
"Casting his tattered cloak aside, he stood up and leaned no longer on his staff; and he spoke in a clear cold voice."

The original Gandalf's Cloak (found in Lasting Alliances) is similiar: it lacks the resistance bonus, negates weather cards, and can exert Gandalf and discard itself to play a event from the draw deck or dicard pile...during the maneuver phase. I figured this one was close but different enough to warrant a new version, especially with the spell conditions in this set.

Suddenly Changed
Event • Assignment
Spell.
Exert Gandalf to heal a companion for each card borne by that companion (limit 3).
"There the darkness seemed to clear, and through the opening could be seen, high and far, a patch of shining sky."

Too good? That's my real worry here....

Remember Their Strength
Event • Assignment
Exert Gandalf to choose one: discard a Shadow possession; or play a possession from your draw deck on a companion with the Gandalf signet or bearing a condition.
"‘Nor does age lie so heavily on your shoulders as some would have you think. Cast aside your prop!'"

A new and improved Roll Of Thunder...I hope. Also gives you a very nice way to pull what you need from your deck.

[lem0nhead]

•Gandalf's Cloak, Grey Cloak
Possession • Cloak
Resistance +1
Bearer must be a Wizard.
Fellowship: Discard this possession to take a spell of bearer's culture into hand from your draw deck or discard pile.
"Casting his tattered cloak aside, he stood up and leaned no longer on his staff; and he spoke in a clear cold voice."

Of very limited use, could find a place in a deck but im sure many more cards would make the cut before this.

Suddenly Changed
Event • Assignment
Spell.
Exert Gandalf to heal a companion for each card borne by that companion (limit 3).
"There the darkness seemed to clear, and through the opening could be seen, high and far, a patch of shining sky."

Not at all, im actually worried its UP! Costs 2 and exertion on gandalf which is a premium cost anyway and its limited and there isnt that many gandalf borne cards.

Remember Their Strength
Event • Assignment
Exert Gandalf to choose one: discard a Shadow possession or Shadow artifact; or play a possession from your draw deck on a companion with the Gandalf signet or bearing a condition.
"‘Nor does age lie so heavily on your shoulders as some would have you think. Cast aside your prop!'"

Alright i guess, just seems slightly too costly.

[DáinIronfoot]

•Gandalf's Cloak, Grey Cloak
Possession • Cloak
Resistance +1
Bearer must be a Wizard.
Fellowship: Discard this possession to take a spell of bearer's culture into hand from your draw deck or discard pile.
"Casting his tattered cloak aside, he stood up and leaned no longer on his staff; and he spoke in a clear cold voice."

Of very limited use, could find a place in a deck but im sure many more cards would make the cut before this.

There will be a LITTLE more incentive for bearing this when I post one of tomorrow's cards. (Probably.)

Suddenly Changed
Event • Assignment
Spell.
Exert Gandalf to heal a companion for each card borne by that companion (limit 3).
"There the darkness seemed to clear, and through the opening could be seen, high and far, a patch of shining sky."

Not at all, im actually worried its UP! Costs 2 and exertion on gandalf which is a premium cost anyway and its limited and there isnt that many gandalf borne cards.

Yes, but a few things seperate this from other healing cards:

- It plays during the assignment phase, meaning it can be used to heal wounds right until skirmish time, unlike other cards like Have Patience and Citadel To Gate that do their healing only during the fellowship phase.

- This is more combo-intensive, yes, but it can potentially heal more than Have Patience and Peace Of Mind, which are both more expensive (though lack the exertion).

Remember Their Strength
Event • Assignment
Exert Gandalf to choose one: discard a Shadow possession or Shadow artifact; or play a possession from your draw deck on a companion with the Gandalf signet or bearing a condition.
"‘Nor does age lie so heavily on your shoulders as some would have you think. Cast aside your prop!'"

Alright i guess, just seems slightly too costly.

I dropped the cost to and made the first part only add an additional , so it's for the discarding text and only for the drawing text. Better?

[Thranduil]

I changed Gwaihir according to Menace's wording. As for why he has the home sites he has, they are both leftovers from my previous two sets. Gwaihir in my first set Lasting Alliances had home sites of 5 and 8 on that set's sitepath ([LA]) while Gwaihir in my second set The Road Ahead had the same home sites as this one. Of course, being unhasty kind of nullifies that, but still.

No, I meant why is his home Rivendell?

•Gandalf's Cloak, Grey Cloak
Possession • Cloak
Resistance +1
Bearer must be a Wizard.
Fellowship: Discard this possession to take a spell of bearer's culture into hand from your draw deck or discard pile.
"Casting his tattered cloak aside, he stood up and leaned no longer on his staff; and he spoke in a clear cold voice."

Fair enough.

Suddenly Changed
Event • Assignment
Spell.
Exert Gandalf to heal a companion for each card borne by that companion (limit 3).
"There the darkness seemed to clear, and through the opening could be seen, high and far, a patch of shining sky."

Why assignment? Why not maneuver or skirmish? If it was fellowship, then adding and exerting Gandalf would definitely be enough to ignore the limit. Even as it is, I would be tempted to remove the limit because (though it may be powerful) it's the kind of card you need to build a deck around.

Remember Their Strength
Event • Assignment
Exert Gandalf to choose one: add to discard a Shadow possession or Shadow artifact; or play a possession from your draw deck on a companion with the Gandalf signet or bearing a condition.
"‘Nor does age lie so heavily on your shoulders as some would have you think. Cast aside your prop!'"

I preferred it the way it was for 2 reasons: 1) it's cleaner and 2) because I think such good fetching of possessions should also warrant a cost of , especially after the fellowship phase.

Thranduil

[DáinIronfoot]

Gwaihir is Home 3 on the FotR sitepath because it seemed to make sense, since his tale is recounted by Gandalf at Rivendell. *shrug* I contemplated Site 4 to coincide with some the site number of Saruman and most Orcs, but I wanted it a little earlier. That's something I'd be willing to go back and change if you think it should be, though.

Remember Their Strength is back at . I have a confession to make, though: I didn't intend for it to be an assignment event, but rather a maneuver event. Oops. But now that I think about it, I really like the smart mistake I made. In fact, I think I'll make the assignment phase a Gandalf specialty in this set from here on out.

[Anvar]

Remember their Strength looks far too good to me.

Roll of Thunder was very playable (especially versus Corsairs) but having a card this flexible would make it too much of an automatic 4 of. The fact that it can pull Sting for your Ringbearer at a crucial moment is good enough. Personally, I would make this two different cards. One that discards in the Assignment phase, and one that plays cards in the assignment phase. Both powerful effects, but a bit much to have both on a single card.

Anvar

[sickofpalantirs]

NO DISCARDING ARTIFACTS. all I have to say.

[DáinIronfoot]

Remember their Strength looks far too good to me.

Roll of Thunder was very playable (especially versus Corsairs) but having a card this flexible would make it too much of an automatic 4 of. The fact that it can pull Sting for your Ringbearer at a crucial moment is good enough. Personally, I would make this two different cards. One that discards in the Assignment phase, and one that plays cards in the assignment phase. Both powerful effects, but a bit much to have both on a single card.

I respectfully disagree on one major point. Splitting them into two seperate cards means you could, in theory, pack 4 of the card that let you discard possessions/artifacts and 4 that let you pull your own stuff from your deck. Combining them into one card limits you to 4 total between those two distinct abilities. Yes, it makes the card itself more flexible, but I think it also helps keep it MORE balanced by prohibiting you from having 4 of each in the same deck.

That all being said, looks like I should probably dumb it down a bit, eh? How about if I restrict the first part to possessions/artifacts borne by characters?

[Elf_Lvr]

•Gandalf's Cloak, Grey Cloak
Possession • Cloak
Resistance +1
Bearer must be a Wizard.
Fellowship: Discard this possession to take a spell of bearer's culture into hand from your draw deck or discard pile.
"Casting his tattered cloak aside, he stood up and leaned no longer on his staff; and he spoke in a clear cold voice."

Fine.

Suddenly Changed
Event • Assignment
Spell.
Exert Gandalf to heal a companion for each card borne by that companion (limit 3).
"There the darkness seemed to clear, and through the opening could be seen, high and far, a patch of shining sky."

It seems alright to me. But in all honesty, I'd still use Have Patience.

Although it IS very good in a spell-intensive deck that exerts Gandalf a lot... it's a spell itself, and if you exert Gandalf you can still heal him 3 times... in fact, it'd be easiest to get the 3 cards on Gandalf. Or anyone, actually, with followers...

Hmm... Pallando combo?

I'm liking this card more as I talk about it!

Remember Their Strength
Event • Assignment
Exert Gandalf to choose one: discard a Shadow possession or Shadow artifact; or play a possession from your draw deck on a companion with the Gandalf signet or bearing a condition.
"‘Nor does age lie so heavily on your shoulders as some would have you think. Cast aside your prop!'"

Don't let it discard Artifacts. With that, it seems more balanced to me.

[DáinIronfoot]

Alright, Remember Their Strength no longer discards artifacts. Hopefully everyone can approve now.

A couple semi-random events today. One of them continues the inadvertant theme of Gandalf wreaking havoc in the little-used-to-date assignment phase, and the other is a promised card that makes the cloak at least a little better. Enjoy!

Be Silent
Event • Assignment
Spell.
Exert Gandalf to spot a minion with strength less than Gandalf. That minion cannot be assigned to a skirmish until the regroup phase.
"‘I have not passed through fire and death to bandy crude words with a witless worm.'"

Towering Above Them
Event • Skirmish
Toil 2.
Make Gandalf strength +1 for each card he bears.
"Then suddenly he threw back his grey cloak, and cast aside his hat, and leaped to horseback. He wore no helm nor mail. His snowy hair flew free in the wind, his white robes shone dazzling in the sun."

[Thranduil]

Be Silent
Event • Assignment
Spell.
Exert Gandalf to spot a minion with strength less than Gandalf. That minion cannot be assigned to a skirmish until the regroup phase.
"‘I have not passed through fire and death to bandy crooked words with a serving-man till the lightning falls.'"

I want some strength boosts that last until the regroup phase to get the most out of this card, but it looks solid.

Towering Above Them
Event • Skirmish
Toil 1.
Make Gandalf strength +1 for each card he bears.
"Then suddenly he threw back his grey cloak, and cast aside his hat, and leaped to horseback. He wore no helm nor mail. His snowy hair flew free in the wind, his white robes shone dazzling in the sun."

I think toil 2 would be fine: for an exertion is not a very good tradeoff.

Thranduil

[sickofpalantirs]

go with thran

[lem0nhead]

Be Silent
Event • Assignment
Spell.
Exert Gandalf to spot a minion with strength less than Gandalf. That minion cannot be assigned to a skirmish until the regroup phase.
"‘I have not passed through fire and death to bandy crude words with a witless worm.'"

Niiiiice, very powerful so maybe undercosted but certainly sweet as is.

Towering Above Them
Event • Skirmish
Toil 2.
Make Gandalf strength +1 for each card he bears.
"Then suddenly he threw back his grey cloak, and cast aside his hat, and leaped to horseback. He wore no helm nor mail. His snowy hair flew free in the wind, his white robes shone dazzling in the sun."

Id lower cost to 2 as its not THAT amazing it needs 3.