A Light in the Dark

Another example of Core Set setting a card’s cost too high for the effect.

Background

The art and flavor text out of context makes a player think think this is when Thorin’s Company are in Goblintown. It is actually from afterwards at Beorn’s house. The flavor text is just a little set dressing as Bilbo, Gandalf, and the Dwarves eat with Beorn.

Card Theme

In the books, we learn that goblins, orcs, and their allies the Wargs and wolves don’t like the light. Aragorn also drives back the Nazghul with a burning brand in Fellowship of the Ring. It makes sense that in the game enemies can be driven way to the staging area.

Card Synergies and Interactions

Lore Traps

The Lore traps that came out in Against the Shadow, all get played into the staging area. Then they attach to the first enemy to enter it. A Light in the Dark because it is just an action can be used to push an engaged enemy into one of the traps right after one is played during the Planning phase. This is great to neutralize a though lower threat enemy with Ranger Spikes. Pushing an enemy into Entangling Nets is more a long term play. It can weaken a bigger enemy to make it easier to deal with, or keep a low attack enemy with surge in play indefinitely. Poisoned Stakes is similar in use to Entangling Nets since it will start damaging an enemy, but if you had the enemy engaged already you could have just attacked it. That same criticism can be leveled at Ithilien Pit and Ambush since they allow the player to attack the enemy outside the normal rules. Ithilien Pit would need threat reduction to happen at the same time to make it worthwhile with A Light in the Dark. Ambush at least when the enemy is engaged again, the play might kill it avoiding a second attack, but it would be more efficient to play Feint or Coney in a Trap.

Staging Area Direct Damage

Staging Area Attack

Ring Rating

Card Talk uses the highly scientific yet arbitrary scale of 1 ring for the card to rule them all to 10 to be cast back into the fiery chasm from whence it came.

I rate A Light in the Dark at 8 rings. There are 2 big problems with this card that keep it from seeing play in the full card pool, cost and alternatives. It costs 2 resources to avoid an attack and let another player engage it next round. The players then have to quest over the enemy’s threat. Feint in the Core Set costs 1 less, avoids an attack, and the players don’t have to quest over it. Besides Feint doing a similar effect for less, 2 Spirit resources have many better alternatives for those resources like Unexpected Courage also in the Core Set. It can go on a defensive hero so the players can deal with an extra attack on an ongoing basis.

Later expansions introduced repeatable return to staging area with Spirit Pippen and Fastred heroes. Then there is Terrible to Behold and Guardian of Ithilien for one time return to staging area. Fastred gets to return the enemy when he defends and get threat reduction which is huge two for one. Fastred of all 4 is the best for this effect especially when paired with staging area attack or direct damage. Guardian of Ithilien is the best one time effect replacement considering it can push enemies into traps and in the same sphere as many direct damage effects.

I don’t rate A Light in the Dark as 9 or 10 considering a player can still get some use out of it. I could see players running it with any of the 4 above to make a deck more consistent in pushing enemies to the staging area. It is also just an action that offers more flexibility on timing. It could be played during the Encounter or Planning phases depending on what the player is trying to do.

• Dave – 9
• Grant – 8
• Ted – TBR
• Matt – 8
• Average – 8.33

External Links

• Hall of Beorn
• Ringsdb

Sample Decks