The Coal-black Ram is pretty efficient with 2 attack and hit points for 2 cost. It joins the elite group of Quickbeam, Loyal Hound, Wandering Ent, Soldier of Isengard, and Eryn Galen Settler of 2 cost Lore allies of 2 attack or more.
The Ram much like the Snow-white Sheep synergizes with both versions of Radagast, Boern’s Grimbeorn ally, and put into play effects to trigger its response.
The ram’s ability could be used to get back an item lost to a treachery or shadow effect. More likely, it can be used to get back an item that was discarded to trigger an effect. Beorn’s advent set added a couple like Cram and Lembas that can be attached to a hero or character and as an action discarded for an effect on the hero or character. Both Beorning Mead can heal a damage, but the Mead grants willpower and attack bonus while the Honey Cake could boost defense, ready the character or discard a Condition attachment. The ram only swaps the item cards between hand and discard. This make the decision more tactical in nature of what kind of effects are more beneficial at the time.
Location attachments are another category that the ram can help swap a more useful one that had previously left play. The extra resources from Ranger Provisions or Elf-Stone putting an ally into play are likely candidates for not being needed later in the game. Thror’s Key to blank a troublesome location or the staging area threat reduction from Beorn’s Beehives and Beeswax Candles could mean the difference in advancing to the next quest stage.
I like the ability on Coal-black Ram. Discard recursion offer many opportunities for interesting combos. Dwarves and Noldor can help fill up the Discard to give its ability targets to swap. If nothing else, it can be used to get more uses out of some powerful item attachments like Thror’s Key.
The flavor text on the card is from after Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli send Boromir on his final journey down the Anduin. Aragorn makes the decision they will follow the orcs that took Merry and Pippin. That is the chase referred to in the card that the 3 races will marvel at.
Card Synergies and Interactions
Messenger of the King Arwen
Arwen ally is the only one that isn’t an objective that generates an effect as response when exhausted. This is opposed to heroes like Beravor, Galadriel, or Lore Denethor that as an action can exhaust to generate an effect. This means that finding more ways to exhaust Arwen ally can generate her effect multiple times. There aren’t many ways to do this.
Heroes with Strong Stats, Built-in Readying, and Lower Stats
The best targets to ready will be the heroes with stats of 3 or more especially if they have more than 1. They can leverage the readying effect to quest and attack, quest and defend, or defend and attack. Those that can boost their own stats are great targets as well to use their bolstered stat more than 1 like Treebread hero, Core Set Gimli, and Hirulan the Fair. Those that have built-readying are good targets for the cost like Leadership Aragorn, Tactics Boromir, Leadership Imrahil, Leadership Gimli, or Spirit Legolas. This gives the player some tactical options. For example, a player might exhaust Tactics Boromir to ready another hero with a strong attack stat. Then ready Tactics Boromir for both of them to attack together rather than use Boromir’s readying to attack 2 different enemies. Heroes with lower stats of 2 or less are also good targets for the cost to ready the stronger stat heroes like most Hobbit heroes, many of the Dwarf heroes, and Ranger heroes often have balanced stats of about 2 each. There are many more often with a threat cost of less than 10.
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 Common Cause at 10 rings. I’ve played this card once back when I just had the Core Set. Even then the cost of exhausting a hero to use this card was too high. Heroes are often the cornerstone of what a deck can do. It is rare to have one just sitting ready with nothing better to do. Besides that, this card has been replaced with a better version not long after the Core Set came out, Cram. It has the same resource cost of 0 and same Leadership sphere. Only differences are Cram is attachment and doesn’t require exhausting another hero which is marked improvement. Attachments in my experience are a little more vulnerable than cards in hand. Attachment hate is just a little more likely than encounter cards that force a player to discard a card. Still I’d take that chance over having to leave a hero ready to later ready a different one.
Have you tried mercenary work? It might suit you. by Darkling Door
Thematic Nightmare Peril in Pelargir deck for the Darkling Door blog. Battle-questing (or combat) deck that focuses on using Na’asiyah to kill an Enemy every round, regardless of how big it is.
Strategy
This is a
Main Deck
Hero (3) Boromir (Heirs of Númenor)
Denethor (Flight of the Stormcaller)
Na’asiyah (A Storm on Cobas Haven)
One of the best willpower boosting attachments that is even better on Aragorn.
Background
Celebrian’s Stone is an elfstone that Galadriel gave to her daughter. Celebrian then later gave it to her daughter, Arwen. In the books, we find out Galadriel has it. She gives it Aragorn before the Fellowship leaves Lothlorien “as a token of hope”. The elfstone was also worked into Bilbo’s verses about Earendil at Aragorn’s insistence. This is what the flavor text is referring to as Bilbo explained to Lindir what Aragorn added after reciting the verses in Rivendell.
Card Theme
The Stone representing hope to the Fellowship is meant to inspire their determination and strengthen their resolve. It is fitting that it bolsters a hero’s willpower to represent this in the game.
Card Synergies and Interactions
Aragorn Hero Cards
It makes sense that Celebrian’s Stone given to Aragorn synergizes well with him. It combos with the Core Set’s ability considering the player can quest with him and then ready for combat. The stone makes the questing with him on par with Spirit Eowyn’s 4 willpower. It is conveniently even in the same sphere as the first version of him. The Lore and Tactics version don’t synergize as well although poor spheres are often “willpower poor”. The willpower boost can go a long way considering there are few options to 2 willpower for 2 cost. Spirit Aragorn doesn’t benefit from the Spirit resource icon, but it does make his ability better. He can reduce most locations threat to 0 once the Stone is attached and put a progress on it. The Fellowship versions work well with it too. The Treason of Saruman one can ready him himself to quest and be available for combat a little less efficiently than his core set version. The Flame of the West gets a bit more benefit because the Stone’s artifact trait will let Aragorn quest without exhausting.
Convert Willpower to Another Stat
There are some cards that help make more use of the willpower stat than just questing. Tale of Tinuviel, Fair and Perilous, and Herugrim can add willpower to the character’s attack. Golden Shield will do the same for defense. Against the Shadow will substitute the hero’s bolstered willpower for defense.
Forth, the Three Hunter’s Contract
The Stone works really with this contract. It has the restricted keyword to help flip the contract and give the attached hero an additional bonus willpower. It can go on any hero providing flexibility to help flip the contract faster. The Three Hunters contract also works best when each hero specializes with one questing, one attacking, and one defending. Celebrian’s Stone is one of the few options to help the main questing hero. Especially as the contract limits how much willpower the player can bring to bear with only 3 characters available.
Burglar’s Turn
The Stone can be one of the loot cards for this contract. It also can help explore the active location once it is attached to a hero to gain more loot.
Quest Specific
Escape from Dol Guldur limits the players to playing only 1 ally per round. Celebrian’s Stone is one of the few ways to get additional willpower without running afoul of the ally limit.
Characters can die in The Redhorn Gate‘s Stage 3B if their willpower is ever at 0. Celebrian’s Stone offers a bit more buffer against this.
In the Treachery of Rhudaur one of the starting side quests gives all allies -2 willpower when it is the active quest. A voltron or tower of attachments approach is much more effective to complete the side quest and claim the Clue objective on the other side.
Mount Doom, similar to Treachery of Rhudaur, punishes players that use a large number of allies. Although it does so via The Tower of Barad-dur raising their threat each round by the number of non-Fellowship characters they control. Stacking willpower on as few of characters as possible is a good strategy.
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 Celebrian’s Stone at 2 rings. Two willpower for 2 resources is the standard for questing allies. Two resources is low on the cost curve to work well in dual and tri-sphere decks. Two willpower is material enough to really advance a player’s ability to quest. It is rare to find 2 willpower on an attachment. The first cycle had the non-unique willpower boosting attachments of Favor of the Lady and Dunedain Quest cost 2 but add only 1 willpower. It is not quite as good as a two cost, two willpower ally because the ally can always chump block if needed. The ally also can increase the benefits of global willpower boosts from effects like Leadership Faramir ally. It does come with some advantages in scenarios that punish ally swarms. Heroes also have more readying available to leverage the higher willpower in quests with tests like the Hide test in A Shadow of the Past. If anything that keeps this from always being in Leadership decks is that it is unique. It adds some coordination issues in multiplayer. It also usually ends up being a 2 of in decks to avoid being a couple of dead draws after the first copy is played.
Same strategy as Onidsen’s Ride Them Down! deck this is based on. Use Nenya and Heugrim to boost Eomer’s attack while he quests. Fastred can bounce enemies back into the staging area for Eomer to attack.
Mainly added some of the newer willpower boosting attachments (Silver Circlet, Necklace of Girion, and Stone of Elostirion) to make it more hero centric.
Main Deck
Hero (3) Éomer (The Mountain of Fire)
Fastred (The Black Serpent)
Galadriel (Celebrimbor’s Secret)
The Brandybucks are descendents of the first Thains of The Shire. Originally called the Oldbucks, they ruled The Shire until the twelveth Thain, Gordenhad Oldbuck, moved to Buckland. He began to turn it into a settlement and renamed himself Brandybuck. The only member of the Brandybuck family from the main story is Meriadoc “Merry” Brandybuck.
Card Theme
This card appears to be modeled after Gordenhad as the exmplar of the Brandybuck family. The ally comes into play for traveling to a new location. Then once that location is known, the ally goes away much like how Gordenhad left his nominal leadership position to establish a new Hobbit settlement.
Card Synergies and Interactions
Hobbit Character Boosts
Curious Brandybuck particularly benefits from any Hobbit character boost that doesn’t require an attachment to be placed on it. Fortunately Hobbits have a few options here. Tom Cotton boosts its attack to 2 for the round. This could be triggered multiple times in a game if the Brandybuck is put back on the bottom and later drawn again. Redbook of Westmarch will boost its willpower by 1 each time it can quest. Lastly, Bill the Pony provides an extra hit point that can help soak some damage, especially archery. This is a good play since any damage put on it will disappear when it is placed on the bottom of the deck.
Merry + Horn of the Mark
Hobbits don’t have many ways to bounce in and out of play like Rohan. Curious Brandybuck, however, provides one of the more reliable triggers for Horn of the Mark. The card draw from it helps offset the loss of the card when Brandybuck leaves play.
Westroad Traveler
West Road Traveler provides a way to avoid the Forced effect to put the Curious Brandybuck on the bottom of the deck. It still can only be temporary since there is an active location providing a buffer to the main quest. Still if a player wants to keep the Curious Brandybuck around for another round to chump block then West Road Traveller
Erestor
Curious Brandybuck gives an Erestor deck a free ally it can play. This is important when Erestor decks have a 10 card starting hand but only 3 resources to play them. Mid to late game, the card being put back on the bottom is not an issue as a player can expect to draw it eventually with 4 cards being drawn a turn.
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 Curious Brandybuck at 7 rings. This is recognizing that getting a free ally even temporarily is a good deal. Tom Cotton can give it low but helpful attack when it comes into play. It also can be used to get a free chump block in an emergency. Using its cost reduction ability, however, results in it having to leave play eventually. Horn of the Mark, Valiant Sacrifice, or other card draw can offset the loss of the card. Still there are other 2 cost 2 willpower Spirit allies that won’t have to leave play if the active location is explored. The availability of these solid alternatives make this more of a niche card.
A multiplayer gift deck that uses Beregond’s armor and weapon discount combined with Battering or Long Lake Trader to pass out attachments to other players.
Main Deck
Hero (3) Beregond (Heirs of Númenor)
Erestor (The Treachery of Rhudaur)
Thurindir (Race Across Harad)
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