Category: Discard from Deck

Highest attack boost from an event card, perfect for slaying Balrogs.

Background

Gandalf mentions the flame of Anor during his fight with Durin’s Bane.

I am a servant of the Secret Fire, wielder of the flame of Anor.

J. R. R. Tolkien. The Lord of the Rings The Fellowship of the Ring, Ch. 5, The Bridge of Khazad-dum

There are a couple theories as to what Gandalf is referring to here. He could be revealing he is the weilder of Narya with a flame red gem. The other is based Anor’s meaning in Sindarin which is Sun. Then it could be that he is wielding the light and fire of the sun.

Card Theme

The link between mechanism and theme on this one is going to rely a bit on the game LOTR is based one, Magic the Gathering. In Magic, a player’s deck is flavored as a library of spells their planeswalker knows. The cards in the players deck can similarly be considered knowledge as card draw effects are primarily in the Lore sphere. Flame of Anor represents Gandalf unleashing his knowledge of magic to attack.

Card Synergies and Interactions

Deck Manipulation

The magnitude of the attack boost is determined by the cost of the deck’s top card. There are a few ways to try and improve the bonus. Wizard Pipe can take any card in the player’s hand and put it on top. Imladris Stargazer can choose from any of the top 5 cards. Gandalf’s Search is much maligned for how costly it is for its effect, but it can rearrange any of the X top cards the player pays to see.

High Cost Cards

Dwarf Mining Bonus

Quest Specific

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 Flame of Anor at 7 rings. The main reason is the limited number of characters it works with. It has to target an Istari character of which there are 3 of in the game each with a hero and ally version. Gandalf’s 2 versions make that 7 possible targets, but 2 of the ally versions are only in play for a single round. Getting Flame of Anor to work with Core Set Gandalf of Saruman ally would take some luck or lots of card draw. Over Hill and Under Hill Gandalf ally or Radagast ally at least can stick around although Radagast ally’s attack is low at 1. The other inconsistency in the card is the reliance on the cost of the card being discarded from the deck. There are at least cards to set it up and make it more consistent. Wizard Pipe among them in particular works well with both Gandalf and Radagast heroes. Still it can be much to build around for a single event. A powerful event especially when a large attack boost is really needed. It just won’t make it into very many decks and be somewhat situational.

• Dave – 6
• Grant – TBR
• Ted – 3
• Matt – 7
• Average – 5.33

External Links

• Tolkien Gateway
• Hall of Beorn
• Ringsdb

Sample Decks