After the amazingly stupid mistake I made on this card, I decided to make a few changes, realizing that it was actually a good card.
Continuing with "Wizard Enhancer Week," today's card is one that some say is the best card in the expansion, some say the worst.
The Hunt - Resource - Short-event
Playable on Alatar during the organization phase. Name a specific hazard
creature card your opponent revealed to you through a mechanism of the game
and discarded. Unless eliminated or prevented from being in play, your
opponent then finds this particular card (reshuffling his play deck if it was
searched). This creature immediately attacks Alatar as though he were a one-
character company. Alatar cannot use or benefit from spells against the
attack. If untapped, tap Alatar afterwards.
Well, aside from some pretty good art, this card may be quite a bit too dangerous. If you have an enhanced Alatar, it can give you several pretty easy MPs. If not, you may lose the game on a bad roll.
First of all, all that business about "revealed to you through a mechanism of the game" means that, unless you have some sort of palantir-like effect, he has to have played it on you and you didn't defeat it (as you CAN'T have Pallando out). Thus, you may have some problems with defeating it a second time if you had problems the first time. That's not necessarily the case, though, as you might not have had Alatar, Alatar might not have had a weapon, there might have been nasty enhancers out, etc. There is still a possibility that that will be going on when you draw this card. Plague of Wights might still be sticking around, but there won't be enhancements like Chill Douser or Pale Dream Maker. This card can help to take out a creature you don't want to see again, like a Cave-drake. If you do choose that, it becomes an 11/- creature, so to be safe you should give him a weapon of some sort (Sword of Gondolin should do it).
There are a couple of problems with this card. First, you can't use spells, so that eliminates several options. Second, this card needs to be played at the right time. It's worthless if you draw it before Alatar, and in most cases you won't want to play it unless Alatar's been buffed up. This can be taken care of by waiting until Alatar's got what you want and then bringing The Hunt in from the sideboard. Third, it totally depends on your opponent's deck. If he uses cards like Crebain and Watcher in the Water, Alatar will be able to do some serious damage. If he uses cards like Ghouls, Orc-watch, and Morgul-rats, he could be in for a nasty fight.
However, it has some really big benefits. Suppose, for instance, that your opponent has played Uvatha the Horseman and gotten a creature back from his discard pile. Alatar is wielding Aiglos and is sitting at Edhellond. Doors of Night is in play. You play The Hunt and call back Uvatha (who has been cycling with The Nazgul Abroad). Alatar's prowess is 11 with Aiglos, Uvatha's is 15, and his body's modified by -2 (to 7). Those are some pretty good odds to get 5 MPs, not to mention you don't have to leave the comfort of a haven.
So all in all, The Hunt can both give you a few points as well as take an annoying creature out of cycling. But make sure you don't blow it on a bad roll.
| Ratings for The Hunt: | |
|---|---|
| Isildur: | 8.0 |
| Frodo: | 5.5 |
| Samwise: | 7.3 |
| Wormtongue: | 5.5 |
| Legolas: | 3.0 |
| Strider: | 8.0 |
| Farmer Maggot: | 9.0 |
| Morgoth: | 7.0 |
| Average: | 6.7 |