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. It gives you a chance for a free MP or two and it can take a creature out of cycling, but you risk 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 possibilty 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 several problems with this card. First, it has to be non-unique, so you can't get really big and go slam a Nazgul. Second, you can't use spells, so that eliminates several options. Third, the biggest non-unique creature is worth only 2 MPs, so you aren't risking Alatar for much. Also, 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. Plus, for the space of this card in your deck, you could put a card worth one or two MPs (like a Dreams of Lore, a Sword of Gondolin, faction, etc.), and play it with Alatar, giving more MPs than you would get with The Hunt.
So all in all, The Hunt can give you an MP or two, but it's usually too much of a risk, which furthers my view that Alatar looks like great wizard, but falls a bit short. (Personal opinion there, flame if you wish :-)
| Ratings for The Hunt: | |
|---|---|
| Isildur: | 4.0 |
| Frodo: | 5.5 |
| Samwise: | 7.3 |
| Wormtongue: | 5.5 |
| Legolas: | 3.0 |
| Strider: | 8.0 |
| Gandalf: | likes Alatar, not this card, no rating given |
| Farmer Maggot: | 9.0 |
| Morgoth: | 7.0 |
| Average: | 6.2 |
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.