On almost everything I do on the net a curse can be found. So why not share some with your friends, thou cockered rug-headed jack-a-nape!
Bring Our Curses Home # Hazard # Permanent-event # 3 CP
Corruption. Playable on a non-Wizard character whose company is facing a
hazard creature attack. Discard this card if no character is eliminated by the
attack. If any character is eliminated, place creature's card with this card--
creature is considered off to the side. Target character's company faces an
attack from creature at the start of each movement/hazard phase if creature is
playable. Discard associated creature's card if this card is discarded.
Discard this card if associated creature is defeated.
This card can add the proverbial insult to injury. Not only has the company lost a character, but now they're going to have to deal with something rather nasty EVERY TURN.
The main problem with this card is its playability. I'd say that, on average in a two-player two-deck game, one or two characters get eliminated through attacks. Of course, if one of the decks is a tuned Nazgul deck and the other a tuned Undead deck, this rate may be quite a bit higher. These are the decks that want Bring Our Curses Home, not decks that use weak but highly playable creatures. This is a pitty, though, as BOCH won't be too effective once in play if the creature required a vast combo to play. The best decks to use BOCH with are Nazgul or Undead. The former are, along with Dragons, the epitome of nasty hazard creatures. Though their popularity has died down some, managing to get out the Witch-king wielding The Pale Sword riding a Fell Beast is still fun, and can cause curses to be brought home. However, once BOCH is on the character, the Nazgul will likely get just one more shot at the company (as they move out), though as a bonus you still get to play enhancers on it (though not something like Awaken the Earth's Fire). So effectively you're adding 3 CPs to a character in a company where you have knocked off someone else, these CPs could probably be more easily given and the hazard better spent. Undead are another good choice for BOCH because, as can be easily demonstrated, sufficiently enhanced Undead can dispatch a character or two. Undead also make a good choice because of their higher playability (shadow-holds are oft visited), their natural partnership with corruption (a -2 corruption check just got a lot worse), and the fact that even if an undead fighting champion joins the company, your opponent will only get 1 MP (as opposed to 5). Other nice creatures to bring home some curses are Slayers and Assassins. These two are good because you can, for instance, pick out Roac the Raven to be assassinated and then let Boromir Bring Our Curses Home. You'll get to pick off whatever weak character is in the party and/or be able to try and corrupt Boromir away. One big bonus here is the fact that Slayer is pretty playable, so he should hopefully get to knock several knees before his work is done. Dragons would be a natural choice for Bring Our Curses Home, but in a Dragon/Drake deck, Foes Shall Fall is a better choice because, although it doesn't impart as much corruption, it does not require the death of a character.
Perhaps the toughest part of this card is actually making the body check, which for the average characters entails rolling better than an 8. Dark Minions helps here, with several cards to lower body. While Like the Crash of Battering-rams isn't all that great a card, if you've got some really big creatures, it can finish off a character. Tribal Totem and Tribal Banner can let a really big orc/troll attack do some permanent damage, so BOCH might find its way into a big time orc deck, though they tend not to be as effective as the Undead. Akhorahil can also be a help in this department, dropping the body of a character without lowering the attack's prowess like the above do.\
There's a reason this card is rare. It's not all that useful. Sure, it's big and nasty, but the hazard may be better spent on something else. In order to have an attack big enough to be able to count on killing a character you almost have to have a deck larger than the Council minimum 30/30 split, so BOCH may just be added weight. A corruption deck will have better ways of laying on the points and an attack deck could potentially knock out someone else THIS turn instead of letting the company run away. Plus, this card is extremely vulnerable to Marvels Told (and similar cards) or Wizard Uncloaked.
So Bring Our Curses Home is another card that gives me faith in the rarity scheme. Very nice if you can play it, but very hard to use effectively.
| Ratings for Bring Our Curses Home: | |
|---|---|
| Isildur: | 4.5 |
| Farmer Maggot: | 6.0 |
| Samwise: | 7.5 |
| Strider: | 5.0 |
| Legolas: | 8.7 |
| Beorn: | 7.0 |
| Frodo: | 7.5 |
| Fingolfin: | 4.0 |
| Average: | 6.3 |
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.