- Card Talk Season 7 Episode 5
- Cycle
- Shadows of Mirkwood
- Set
- Core and Revised Core Sets
- Player Card Categories
- Attack Bonus
- Defense Bonus
Not for Frodo?
Background
The battle cry making up this card’s title only appears once in the text. Gondor’s cavalry cry out, “Amroth for Gondor!” when they’re sent out to drive away Mordor’s forces harrying Faramir’s men returning from Osgilith.
The flavor text comes from the song an Eagle sings to the people of Minas Tirith brining the news of Sauron’s downfall:
Sing now, ye people of the Tower of Anor,
J. R. R. Tolkien. The Lord of the Rings, The Return of the King, The Steward and The King
for the Realm of Sauron is ended for ever,
and the Dark Tower is thrown down.
Sing and rejoice, ye people of the Tower of Guard,
for your watch hath not been in vain,
and the Black Gate is broken,
and your King hath passed through,
and he is victorious.
Sing and be glad, all ye children of the West,
for your King shall come again,
and he shall dwell among you
all the days of your life.
And the Tree that was withered shall be renewed,
and he shall plant it in the high places,
and the City shall be blessed.
Sing all ye people!
Card Theme
Temporary increase to combat ability due to rousing battle cry is pretty on point. The Gondor specific defense boost makes sense considering they likely have the most experienced and disciplined army in Middle-Earth during the War of the Shadow. They’re the largest nation with a standing army that has been fighting the Shadow for hundreds of years. It makes sense they would better at defending themselves than most others in Middle-Earth at the time.
Card Synergies and Interactions
Swarm Decks
In general, any deck with resource acceleration, card draw, and/or cheap allies can make the most of For Gondor! There are some that are better at it than others.
The main one of course would be one based on the Gondor characters and maybe with some help from Erestor hero for card draw. Ledership Denethor provides plenty of resources to start pumping out allies or play a first turn Steward of Gondor even if he’s the only Leadership hero. Even if not using Erestor, Rod of the Steward and Soldier of Gondor provide some nice card draw to find more allies. Soldier of Dol Amroth provides a little resource acceleration in the Leadership / Tactics Gondor Swarm.
Dwarves, the original swarm deck since they have many effects that happen when 5 Dwarves are in play. Most importantly Thorin and Ori heroes provide the resource acceleration and card draw to keep the stream of Dwarves coming. Legacy of Durin also works great in Dwarf swarm since when you play an ally you draw a card.
Ally Mustering
These cards help find and accelerate putting allies into play. Those that search the top of a player’s deck are ideal since they do double duty as card draw and resource acceleration.
Mass Action Advantage
Of course another way to maximize the effect is to ready all characters or getting them to quest, defend, and/or attack without exhausting. There are several options for this from the expensive Core Set Grim Resolve to ones restricted by sphere, trait, or even threat level
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 For Gondor! at 7 rings. I dont’ think I’ve played this card outside of the Core Set quests. When limited to only Core Set cards getting enough attack to take down the Hill Troll or Chieftan Ufthak with their 3 defense and 9 hit points is not easy when there are many 1 attack allies. This could provide the necessary boost for several characters to destroy them in a single turn.
The release of the “Lord” heroes that provide global boosts like Leadership Dain, Leadership Boromir, and Celeborn largely made the card redundant. Then there are the allies that have their own built in attack boosts like Erebor Battle Master, Fornost Bowman, and Guardian of Esgaroth that going wide on the number of allies for attack power usually isn’t all that necessary. The defense bonus for Gondor might as well not be on the card since Beregond and Gondorian Shield released. Gondor already has great defensive options that don’t cost 2 resources.
That said, this card does affect all characters and gets better in multiplayer. Especially if everyone is playing ally swarm decks. There are also many quests out there with big boss type enemies with lots of defense and hit points like Shadow and Flame, Hunt for the Dreadnaught, Conflict at the Carrock, Fire in the Night, and so on. It still has some uses, but I think there are usually better options out there that provide ongoing attack bonuses.
- Dave – 8
- Grant – TBR
- Ted – 6
- Matt – 7
- Average – 21
External Links
Sample Decks
A Family of Leaders by emorlecallor
Mono Leadership Gondor swarm with Denethor and his sons.
Main Deck
Hero (3)
Boromir (Heirs of Númenor)
Denethor (Flight of the Stormcaller)
Faramir (The Land of Shadow)
Ally (29)
1x Anborn (The Land of Shadow)
2x Citadel Custodian (Heirs of Númenor)
3x Envoy of Pelargir (Heirs of Númenor)
3x Errand-rider (Heirs of Númenor)
3x Gandalf (Core Set)
3x Herald of Anórien (Trouble in Tharbad)
1x Ingold (The Wastes of Eriador)
2x Pelargir Ship Captain (The Morgul Vale)
3x Squire of the Citadel (The Blood of Gondor)
3x Veteran of Osgiliath (Escape from Mount Gram)
2x Warden of Healing (The Long Dark)
3x White Tower Watchman (The Drúadan Forest)
Attachment (12)
3x Rod of the Steward (Flight of the Stormcaller)
3x Steward of Gondor (Core Set)
3x Tome of Atanatar (The Blood of Gondor)
3x Visionary Leadership (The Morgul Vale)
Event (10)
3x A Very Good Tale (Over Hill and Under Hill)
1x For Gondor! (Core Set)
3x Sneak Attack (Core Set)
3x Strength of Arms (The Drúadan Forest)
Player Side Quest (1)
1x Send for Aid (The Treachery of Rhudaur)
3 Heroes, 52 Cards
Cards up to Flight of the Stormcaller
Decklist built and published on RingsDB.
Leadership Gondor Army – Erestor by BGamerJoe
Gondor Swarm using Erestor hero for card draw and featuring 3 copies of For Gondor!
Main Deck
Hero (3)
Aragorn (Core Set)
Denethor (Flight of the Stormcaller)
Erestor (The Treachery of Rhudaur)
Ally (32)
1x Anborn (The Land of Shadow)
3x Envoy of Pelargir (Heirs of Númenor)
3x Errand-rider (Heirs of Númenor)
3x Faramir (Core Set)
3x Galadriel (The Road Darkens)
3x Guard of the Citadel (Core Set)
3x Herald of Anórien (Trouble in Tharbad)
1x Ingold (The Wastes of Eriador)
3x Pelargir Ship Captain (The Morgul Vale)
3x Squire of the Citadel (The Blood of Gondor)
3x Veteran of Osgiliath (Escape from Mount Gram)
3x Warden of Healing (The Long Dark)
Attachment (12)
2x Celebrían’s Stone (Core Set)
1x Rod of the Steward (Flight of the Stormcaller)
3x Steward of Gondor (Core Set)
3x Sword that was Broken (The Watcher in the Water)
3x Visionary Leadership (The Morgul Vale)
Event (18)
3x A Very Good Tale (Over Hill and Under Hill)
3x Captain’s Wisdom (The Thing in the Depths)
3x For Gondor! (Core Set)
3x Gaining Strength (The Steward’s Fear)
3x Wealth of Gondor (Heirs of Númenor)
3x Will of the West (Core Set)
3 Heroes, 62 Cards
Cards up to The Thing in the Depths
Decklist built and published on RingsDB.