Previously, small companies with small hazard limits were a good way to avoid strategies of a few big creatures. Now strength in numbers is being realized.
Eyes of the Shadow - Hazard - Permanent-event
Environment. May only be played if Gates of Morning is not in play. The hazard
limit is increased by two for each moving company with a size of less than four
that also contains a Wizard or a non-ranger character with a mind of 6 or more.
Cannot be duplicated. Discard when any play deck is exhausted.
Now that can get dangerous. It knocks a couple of strategies right out of the water. Also, if planned right, it won't hurt you at all.
First, when does this take effect? Most companies of two or three (or one, which is rare) have a wizard or a big character to protect the smaller weaklings. For the record, there are at least 10 characters with 6+ mind and without the Ranger skill. Not to mention the countless small companies with a wizard protectorate. This also completely screws the Radagast/Shadowfax card engine.
So, what can you do with +2 hazard limit? Many strategies (such as Nazgul) require about 4 hazards to effectively operate. One to perhaps throw a medium creature at them to tap a few characters or maybe use up a Concealment. Then you often need a card to be able to play the big nasty in the right place, then the big nasty, and then a modifier (like Passion of Wrath or Fury of the Iron Crown). This can't normally be accomplished on a company of size two or three, but with this card, you've got some extra room to work with.
There are of course drawbacks to this card. The first is that is's an environment, so it can get hosed by Gates of Morning and Twilight. Gates isn't too common (though I may have to start playing with it, I just can't come up with quite enough Gates cards). However, a handy Twilight can always help that out (don't leave Rivendell without one :-)
The other problem is that, being an environment, it affects you too. However, if you're planning to be moving in companies less than four you'd have to either be dumber than a troll or be looking for a fight to put this card in your deck. However, sometimes, through greusome battles, it is unavoidable to have a company smaller than four, so you should watch out (or keep some more Twilights handy).
So Eyes of the Shadow is a scary card, enough to make almost any deck go with four-character companies.
| Ratings for Eyes of the Shadow: | |
|---|---|
| Isildur: | 9.0 |
| Farmer Maggot: | 8.0 |
| Gandalf: | 8.5 |
| Frodo: | 7.0 |
| Strider: | 6.0 |
| Legolas: | 6.0 |
| Eonwe: | 7.8 |
| Average: | 7.5 |
Card names and text copyright 1996 by Iron Crown Enterprises, all rights reserved. This document copyright 1996 by Trevor Stone. Permission given to duplicate so long as no profit is made and the copyright notice is kept in tact, blah, blah, blah.