Usually, the nastier stuff comes out at
Night # Hazard # Long-event
Environment. The prowess of each non-ranger Dunadan is modified by -1.
Additionally, if Doors of Night is in play, the prowesses of all attacks are
modified by +1 and the prowess of each Man and Dunadan is modified by -1.
Cannot be duplicated.
Like Sun, Night isn't spectacular on its own, but with Doors of Night it can be a useful boost to many strategies.
On its own, this card hurts about 10 Dunedain, most of which aren't seen too often (save Boromir). While this can be useful if you anticipate your opponent using lots of these characters, it would probably be better to put Weariness of the Heart or Gloom in your deck. You should also note that this affects the three Dunedain minions so far released. Without Doors this card is mostly useful if your opponent is playing with lots of Dunedain (unlikely) or to keep Balance Between Powers around. However, with Doors it can be a different story.
Normally, in heavy creature decks, the prowess bonuses either come from type- specific cards (e.g. Minions Stir, The Moon is Dead) or from Clouds. While all of these tend to give bigger bonuses than Night, Night still has some advantages. First, Night works on all creatures, so you can use it in a deck with Nazgul or Dragon or Drake or... Secondly, if you've already got a Wake of War out, why not add a Night to make your Wolves even bigger? Night also has two advantages over Clouds. First, it affects all attacks, not just creatures. That means you can use it with other auto-attack enhancements or in an agent attack deck. Secondly, Night, while it doesn't give your stuff as big a boost, isn't as much of a problem on your opponent's turn, especially with The Will of Sauron out. Also, Night is more likely (and probably more useful) to show up in sealed deck, though there are at most two copies of Doors in both decks combined, so you may not get the timing right to play Night.
The other advantage that comes with Doors is the fact that all Men and Dunedain get -1 to prowess (-2 for the non-ranger Dunedain). Thus, if you've built your deck around Elves, Dwarves, and Hobbits while your opponent built her deck around Men and Dunedain, Night effectively gives a +2 prowess bonus for your attacks but only a +1 for your opponent's. That's even better than Clouds. Of course, with this advantage comes a disadvantage: it hurts men creatures and agents, sending them back down the bonus the just received. Thus, to effectively use Night you have to make sure you're not playing with Men in either your hazard or resource portion. Or you could just be ready with a Twilight during your opponent's hazard phase.
So when you put Night out you can make the table become a bloodier (and thus often more fun) place to be. And one prowess can make the difference between a great character and a dead character...
| Ratings for Night: | |
|---|---|
| Isildur: | 8.0 |
| Samwise: | 5.7 |
| Farmer Maggot: | 6.0 |
| Legolas: | 5.0 |
| Bandobras Took: | 6.5 |
| Fingolfin: | 7.5 |
| Beorn: | 6.9 |
| Frodo: | 7.0 |
| Strider: | 6.0 |
| Alatar: | 6.5 |
| Average: | 6.5 |
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.