In the Shire it didn't have to be the 4th of July for them to see
Fireworks # Resource # Permanent-event
Ritual. Playable on an untapped sage at a tapped Border-hold or Free-hold. Tap
sage. Make a roll (draw a #) and add the mind of the sage (+10 if a Wizard)-if
the result is greater than 12, the site untaps. The next time the sage would
otherwise become untapped, make him tapped instead and discard this card.
There are several times when I've been building a deck and wished I could get several resources at the same site. Now, with Fireworks, it's possible.
It has a pretty high cost, but also a nice benefit. The cost is tapping a sage for this turn and probably the next. It's best if it's a high mind sage or wizard as you then need some good rolling. The best choices (other than wizards) are Elrond, Galadriel, Thrain, Cirdan, and Glorfindel. Those you'll often want to keep untapped for playing things, so this is a pretty high cost, and this card is thus best used in a deck with a pretty large company. And if you want your sage untapped next turn, eat some Waybread.
Consider, though, the benefit of this card. With three of these you can play all four ent allies (8 MPs), though I don't recall any explosions in The Two Towers... You can play both factions at Minas Tirith plus the palantir (6 MPs) and then leave it untapped so you can come back to The White Tree. Or you can play the Army of the Dead and the Men of Lamedon and the Stone of Erech (10 MPs), Tom Bombadil and Goldberry (4 MPs), Mistress Lobelia and Hobbits (2 MPs), Men of Lake-town and Men of Northern Rhovanion (4 MPs), etc. This can both increase your MP per turn ratio and the role playing value. For instance, as you bring in the Men of Anorien, throw a party! Have a few drinks, get some Cram as an hors d'ourve, and watch Gandalf's Fireworks. Now that you've made some friends, head away from Minas Tirith in search of other items knowing you can come back and hang out with your friends any time you want.
This card can also get into some sick combos with Rebuild the Town. For
instance, you head to The Stones, Rebuild the Town just as some creature is
crawling out of a den he made, grab a greater item, untap the site and grab
another one. Then, you can untap the site and head off to another one and
know that you can come back to the Stones again at a later time.
So if you have a high mind sage (or good luck) and you want to center around
one site, Fireworks can be an excellent choice to speed up your deck.
| Ratings for Fireworks: | |
|---|---|
| Isildur: | 7.0 |
| Samwise: | 7.5 |
| Bandobras Took: | 9.5 |
| Farmer Maggot: | 8.0 |
| Frodo: | 7.5 |
| Fingolfin: | 7.0 |
| Beorn: | 6.9 |
| Strider: | 8.0 |
| Legolas: | 8.0 |
| Cirdan: | 8.0 |
| Wormtongue: | 7.1 |
| Average: | 7.7 |
Card names and text copyright 1996 by Iron Crown Enterprises, all rights reserved. This document copyright 1997 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.