Like Doctor Jekyll and Mister Hyde, there is an evil and a good manifestation of
Lobelia Sackville-Baggins # Hazard # Scout Hobbit # 1 MP # 0/9 # 3 Mind # 1 DI
# +2 Corruption # Home Site: Bag End, Bree
Unique. Manifestation of Mistress Lobelia. Agent. +3 direct influence against
Hobbits and Hobbit Factions. May not move to any site other than Bree, Old
Forest, The White Towers, or a site in The Shire.
This card is almost exactly like yesterday's card, except with a couple of stats that they can't share. Her basic stats are pretty low, and her ability's pretty specialized.
First off, her three mind to one DI is pretty good. The only mind effect is that you can have about 12 similar agents in your deck. The one DI can't do much on its own, but you'll be glad for it when you make the influence check by one. 0/9 is pretty weak, so you're probably not going to want to attack with her unless she's got a couple enhancements and is facing a pretty weak company (such as all Hobbits). Her +2 to corruption checks would be pretty cool, but it doesn't do anything. As far as I know, ICE just put it there "in case." Her scout skill means she can play cards like Sudden Fury (chose that Hobbit), An Article Missing, etc.
Lobelia's main purpose is influencing cards away, especially hobbits. If she gets a chance to influence away Hobbits, a 1 MP faction, she gets a total of 8 (plus modifiers from the hazard card) and the faction's influence number becomes 0. That's a pretty chance, although it may only make your opponent lose 1 MP. Her chances against the Rangers of the North aren't as good, but that's a better faction. Her other sites, The White Towers and Old Forest, have a couple of interesting cards playable there. You can have Lobelia show up just after a company plays Goldberry or Tom Bombadil and play Will Not Come Down (a rude surprise). The White Towers, though, isn't visited very often. There's just one card playable there, and it only works well in a few decks. Chances are, however, that the Palantir of Elostirion will be a company's only item and chances are also that your opponent will have a character with low prowess there. Thus, Lobelia with An Article Missing could be a disastrous surprise. She's got two pretty big disadvantages. The first is her movement restriction. She's limited to just a few sites, but agents usually do much better to stay at home anyway. The other is that she's only really useful if your opponent plays a few certain cards and otherwise just clutters up your deck. Thus, Lobelia, like many other agents, may best be reserved for use in the sideboard since, unless your opponent is playing a Hobbit deck, Bill Ferney, Deallus, or Juoma will be a better choice. Also, if Mistress Lobelia is out, you can't bring out Lobelia, even though that's usually when you would want the hazard manifestation. Oh, and watch out or she'll steal your spoons.
| Ratings for Lobelia Sackville-Baggins: | |
|---|---|
| Isildur: | 4.5 |
| Frodo: | 6.0 |
| Bandobras Took: | 6.0 |
| Cirdan: | 5.0 |
| Alatar: | 5.0 |
| Legolas: | 3.0 |
| Samwise: | 6.8 |
| Gandalf: | 6.5 |
| Farmer Maggot: | 7.5 |
| Strider: | 7.5 |
| Beorn: | 8.2 |
| Wormgongue: | 6.8 |
| Fingolfin: | 4.0 |
| Merry: | 6.0 |
| Average: | 5.9 |
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.