Another card that I was asked to do is considered by many people to be the best card in the set. Best card or no, it is certainly very powerful.
Aiglos # Resource # Special Item # 5 MP # 3 Corruption # [+3] DI # +2(5)/+1
Unique. Playable at any Under-deep Dark-hold or Shadow-hold. Weapon. Warrior
only: +2 prowess (+5 if Doors of Night is in play) (to a maximum of 11); +1
body (to a maximum of 10); -2 to target's body; +3 direct influence against
Elves and Elf factions.
Ouch. This card is extremely powerful, as the Spear of Gil-Galad should be, and only has two real disadvantages. As Cirdan the rater put it, it's like an infomercial: "It also has THIS feature! NOW how much would you pay? But wait, it's also got..."
Firstly, it's worth 5 MPs for only 3 CPs, a pretty good ratio. The only resources that give more MPs are quest cards and certain rings (which give more than 3 CPs). It gives +2/+1 normally, but with Doors of Night, this card becomes a killing machine. You can put this card on a Wizard, bringing his prowess up to 11, something to be feared by even Nazgul. The only item that can possibly get bigger is Wormsbane against a dragon or drake in the hands of Fram Framson or Glorfindel II. Plus, you can use other enhancers along with this card like Fellowships and rings. It also gives -2 to the body of oppsoing creatures, making Nazgul hunting a viable option. Throw this on Alatar, making him an 11/10, then use The Hunt (rereview of that coming soon) to fetch back an Uvatha, who is now at 15/7, moderately easy picking. But wait, there's more. You can also get +3 DI for Elves and Elf factions. That's right. Give this card to Aragorn, and let him control Celeborn and let an 11/10 and a 6/9 run around and beat people up. NOW how much would you pay?
There are, of course, some disadvantages. Primarily, this card may only be played at an Under-deeps Shadow/Dark-hold. This can be pretty dangerous, even just getting to the site (most of the shadow/darks are under shadow/darks) and then you have to deal with the nasty auto-attacks. However, if you've got a moderate company, or several cancellation cards, this card can be worth the risk, making a buff company into a buff company with a really buff leader. One other disadvantage is that the extra prowess only works if Doors is out. While Doors tends to be out most of the time, I tend to want to have Doors out of play when I go to the Under-deeps (restricting the range of several things like Durin's Bane and making stuff like Plague of Wights or Minions Stir less dangerous). So you might want to jump down there, play Aiglos, jump up and then play Doors (maybe from the sideboard). The other disadvantage is that it's got 3 CPs, but you can use Free to Choose to lower that to 1, a fearsome prospect (he's got a Magic Ring of Stealth AND Aiglos and only 3 CPs?!?). It's also Unique, so your opponent may beat you to it, but you can use things like Far Sight or Token of Goodwill (or influence his away, which is REALLY mean :-)
There's not much else to this card, it's just a really nasty weapon that needs something like itself to get into play (for those nasty Under-deeps attacks).
| Ratings for Aiglos: | ||
|---|---|---|
| Isildur: | 9.0 | |
| Frodo: 9.5 | ||
| Bandobras Took: 8.5 | ||
| Cirdan: 10.0 | ||
| Alatar: 9.0 | ||
| Fingolfin: 9.0 | ||
| Legolas: 9.0 | ||
| Samwise: 9.5 | ||
| Gandalf: 7.0 | ||
| Farmer Maggot: 9.0 | ||
| Strider: 8.5 | ||
| Beorn: 8.0 | ||
| Merry: 9.0 | ||
| Wormtongue: 9.5 | ||
| Average: 8.9 | ||
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.