Continuing with our week of wizard enhancers, here is one that can actually be duplicated more easily by a different character and a different resource.
Herb-lore - Resource - Permanent-event
Playable on Radagast while moving during his movement/hazard phase if there is
at least one Wilderness in his site path. If untapped, tap Radagast
afterwards. During any organization phase, Radagast can tap and discard this
card to heal all characters in his company from wounded to untapped and to
untap all tapped characters.
This card, like most of the wizard enhancers, is easy to play and gives a decent, though not spectacular, effect. This one, in particular, is playable in wilderness and speeds up your deck, both of which are common themes in many Radagast decks.
As I said, this card is easily played, as if Radagast doesn't move through at least one wilderness then you're probably better off with a different wizard. Also, you can play this card right before you discard/draw to 8, so Radagast can tap to fight stuff first.
The effect is also pretty easy to use, as it just has to be in an organization phase and Radagast must tap. The effect can be very useful if time is on the line, but if it is a slow game, it's not all that useful. You can heal and untap all characters in your company including, if my interpretation of Annotation 5 in the Wizard's Companion is correct, Radagast. This means you can tap most of your characters to remove corruption or to help with corruption checks from transferring items. However, this is even better used after a dangerous trip. For instance, you drop down to the underdeeps and get pretty beat up, but manage to leave Radagast untapped to grab Aiglos. You then decide that you want to move to another Under-deeps site to get another item or two. Just discard this card and you're ready to plunder another site. Otherwise you would have had to take an extra couple of turns to head back to a haven and another couple of turns to heal everyone. And four turns can be a REAL waste if you're in a close MP battle.
There is another way to accomplish the effects of this card, Ioreth with Healing Herbs. That combo is actually easier to get into play, as you can start with both Ioreth and the Herbs. However, that combo is, I think, inferior to this card, especially if you design your deck around Radagast. The Ioreth combo, while more reusable with cards like Mathom Lore, Cup of Farewell, and Armory, also gives corruption. Ioreth must also be untapped by the time the site phase comes around. Plus, she must still be around. And at 0/7, she's not as easy to keep alive as Radagast at 6/9. The other advantage the Ioreth combo has, though, is that it can be used after a couple of big creature attack in time for the site phase.
So Herb-lore can be a great addition to any Radagast deck, especially a speed deck.
| Ratings for Herb-lore: | |
|---|---|
| Isildur: | 7.0 |
| Frodo: | 8.5 |
| Samwise: | 6.2 |
| Wormtongue: | 7.0 |
| Legolas: | 7.0 |
| Strider: | 7.0 |
| Gandalf: | 8.0 |
| Morgoth: | 9.0 |
| Farmer Maggot: | 9.5 |
| Average: | 7.7 |
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.