The Road Darkens: Hero Review

Just the act of typing the words “The Road Darkens” before the word “review” feels a bit surreal. It was just a couple of months ago that I stood in Fantasy Flight Games’ line in Gen Con, disconsolate in the knowledge that The Road Darkens would not be mine after all. It’s been a long wait since then, and the excitement has only built with each new spoiler. Some players have been a bit disappointed with the relatively small number of player cards for a larger expansion, but I’m still too busy basking in the glow of finally being able to continue my Lord of the Rings campaign to complain much. Of course, this criticism has partially extended to the fact that we’ve only receive one new hero in The Road Darkens, rather than the four that have been part of previous Saga boxes and the two that are standard for deluxe expansions (I’m leaving aside Fellowship heroes from the count for what should be obvious reasons). However, if there was any one hero that perhaps deserves to occupy the spotlight by himself, it is surely Gandalf. While we may debate the relative merits and reasons for this hero count and that player card count, there is little doubt that finally getting a character of the import of Gandalf in hero form is a momentous moment in the life of LOTR LCG.

HERO

* Gandalf (Neutral Hero, 14 threat, 3 willpower, 3 attack, 3 defense, 5 hit points):

The Gandalf hero establishes quite a few firsts. This is the first Neutral hero, the first hero with 14 threat, and the first hero with a rating of 3 in each of willpower, attack, and defense. Everyone’s favorite Istari also has a completely unique ability that immediately answers the question of how a Neutral hero will actually pay for non-Neutral cards:

Play with the top card of your deck faceup. Once per phase, you may play the top card of your deck as if it was in your hand. When playing a card this way, Gandalf is considered to have the printed Leadership , Lore , Tactics , and Spirit icons. 

This ability may seem a bit odd at first, but there are a few ways to think about it that help frame it in the proper light. First, this is essentially a form of “card draw” in that it adds at least one additional card to your hand per round. Since this faceup card can actually be played once per phase, rather than once per round, this can actually add up to a net of 2, 3, or more extra cards that are played each turn that wouldn’t have been played otherwise. Second, Gandalf’s ability is also a form of scrying/player deck manipulation in that it allows a player to always know what the top card of one’s deck will be, which can be used in conjunction with a variety of effects. Finally, this is a way of granting spheres in a manner that is very roughly analogous to songs or Narvi’s Belt, but is built into the hero itself and actually adds “printed” resource icons, with the printed portion being meaningful for several cards.

Dealing with the card draw aspect of Gandalf’s ability, he is on the same level as hero Bilbo, who grants an extra card to the first player each turn, although the benefit is restricted to just the controller (barring Desperate Alliance shenanigans). However, as previously mentioned, the once per phase aspect can make this even more powerful. For example, you could play Steward of Gondor from the top of your deck during planning, A Test of Will during questing, and Feint during combat. In practice, I’ve found that playing 1-2 extra cards is a more typical experience with Gandalf, but this alone makes for some powerful, built-in card draw that you have access to from the very beginning of a game and is continuously active. Even better, since it doesn’t actually use the word “draw” and since the card doesn’t count as part of your hand, this ability completely sidesteps any card draw or hand size hate built into scenarios like the Fords of Isen. Perhaps the most powerful aspect of this draw, though, is actually the fact that it comes packaged as part of a Neutral hero. This means that spheres other than Lore can have access to meaningful card advantage, as long as they can find a way to swallow the high threat cost of Gandalf. Still, this is just one way in which Gandalf being Neutral significantly adds to his overall power level.

Of course, knowing the top card of your deck at all times can allow you to take full advantage of several cards that benefit from such knowledge. Perhaps foremost is Expert Treasure-hunter, which allows you to draw the top card of your deck if you can guess its type correctly after questing successfully. Normally this is a bit of a gamble each turn, but Gandalf makes this completely automatic, which means that your Gandalf deck can become even more of a card draw machine, being able to benefit from at least 2 additional cards each round (assuming you are able to work around any resource match issues, but that’s where the Wizard Pipe comes in — which I’ll say about 1000 times more in this article). Since Gandalf always has a resource match with the top card of your deck and Expert Treasure-hunter is very conveniently a 0-cost card, you can also splash in Expert Treasure-hunter to non-Lore decks relying on Gandalf’s ability to play it (again, Wizard Pipe comes in here), bringing in even more draw to card poor spheres. With additional copies of Expert Treasure-hunter on other heroes, the rain of cards just gets even more ridiculous, since the top card of one’s deck is always turned faceup as soon as the old card is removed, since Gandalf’s ability is a passive effect, meaning that you could guess correctly on 2-3 copies of Treasure-hunter in one go. If you’d like to have some cash to go along with those extra cards, why not include Hidden Cache as well, to be discarded intentionally by the Treasure-hunter once it hits the top of your deck? In fact, Gandalf makes a great partner with Dwarven mining decks, being able to enhance the performance of cards like Zigil Miner, or even help to pump out key attachments more reliably withe Well-Equipped. Bifur could perhaps form a good partnership with Gandalf, siphoning off his Neutral resources when they are better used elsewhere for paying for Lore cards traditionally.

Beyond the treasure hunting and mining, though, Gandalf can also facilitate a few other card effects. The most obvious combination is with Vilya. Gandalf and Elrond can form one of the most fearsome combinations in all of Middle-earth, albeit at a starting threat of 27, which is high considering that a third hero isn’t even in the picture yet!. Still, with these two working in tandem, you could always be sure of what Vilya would be playing, and could even use Wizard Pipe to set up Vilya in the most beneficial way each round. Elrond’s ability to pay for allies of any sphere could also work well with Gandalf’s inclination to splash from all spheres, and both heroes’ starting stats allow them to fill almost any role. Therefore, I could easily imagine using a two-hero Elrond/Gandalf deck and doing fine or adding a third hero and still being able to win with a ludicrously high starting threat. Beyond Gandalf/Elrond buddy cop hi-jinks, Gandalf can also rehabilitate a fairly marginal card, such as Taking Initiative, that has only found use in a small handful of Secrecy decks. Although the card is still likely reliant on seeing it early, at least you could use it with 100% effectiveness and net some extra card draw, as well as direct damage. While Gandalf can help cards that rely on player deck scrying, he also can benefit from player deck manipulation as well, with Gildor Inglorion and Imladris Stargazer both providing means to make Gandalf’s ability more effective.

Since Gandalf is a Neutral hero, he needs some way to pay for cards, and this is accomplished by granting him the resource icon of the top card of a player deck when that card is being played. This is a fairly ingenious solution that grants him powerful access to all spheres, but in a limited fashion. When the card was first spoiled, players speculated that this limitation would be a tough restriction on Gandalf’s power, as it would mean that he would be unable to pay for cards in hand (other than Neutral ones) without the aid of manipulation from Gildor or the use of songs or other cards that grant resource icons. This would mean that Gandalf would be limited to only paying for the top card of one’s deck otherwise, which would put decks including Gandalf at a significant resource disadvantage. The revelation of Wizard Pipe, however, effectively scuppered these ideas. What remains is a restriction that is not altogether meaningless, but can be circumvented with a single attachment, and the ability of Gandalf to gain access to any sphere quite easily. This makes building a deck with Gandalf quite fascinating, as you can pick and choose from all four spheres, opening up possibilities that were much more difficult to set up previously. It also means that Gandalf can make use of attachments that normally can only be used on heroes with a matching icon, such as A Burning Brand, as when the Brand is played from the top of the deck, Gandalf gains the Lore icon just long enough to complete the attachment process. Just imagine sticking Support of the Eagles on Gandalf as well and being able to boost either his (already high) attack or defense as needed. The specific granting of “printed” resource icons is also important in that Gandalf can play events such as Mithrandir’s Advice or Strength of Arms or one of the other mono-sphere events from the Against the Shadow cycle (as well as the resource specific Record attachments at a discount), which usually can only be played if all heroes have a printed icon or have an effect that counts the number of heroes with a printed icon. All of this just makes Gandalf more versatile and is great news for deck builders and combo lovers.

Beyond his ability, Gandalf has impressive stats as well. With 3 willpower, defense, and attack, along with 5 hit points, he can excel in all areas, and, depending on your choice of attachments, can be customized to fit almost any role. The biggest problem, as with any hero with strong stats in multiple areas, is how to get the most out of these stats so that they don’t end up going to waste. Since you’re paying a hefty threat cost of 14, you better make the most of Gandalf at all moments! This implies a need to include plenty of readying effects, with a usual suspect like Unexpected Courage being an obvious choice, especially with built-in access to it. Beyond Unexpected Courage, Gandalf also his own specific readying in the form of Flame of Anor. I also really like The White Council for thematic and gameplay reasons, as it can either ready him, add a resource, or draw the top card/shuffle the deck in order to reveal a card on the top of your deck that may be more useful. Miruvor is also a powerful option, especially in conjunction with Wizard Pipe. For example, you could attach Miruvor to Gandalf, then use it at some point to ready Gandalf and add it to the top of your deck. Normally, this would mean that you have to face getting stuck drawing Miruvor again, but with Wizard Pipe, you could simply pull Miruvor to your hand, replace it with something in your hand that you were going to play anyway, and end up getting to the next card in your deck. This would then leave you free to repeat the process again, as long as you’re willing to pay the 1 resource for Miruvor each round.

The bottom line is that Gandalf is an extremely powerful hero, worth every point of that 14 threat. However, he is bound to be divisive. I have yet to mention the biggest oliphaunt in the room, which is the fact that including Gandalf as a hero in your deck means that no Gandalf allies can be included in your deck or anyone’s deck. In solo play, this isn’t much of an issue, as you only have yourself to disappoint, and the hero version can do enough (especially with his attachments) that you won’t miss the ally much. In multiplayer, this certainly becomes a much trickier proposition. Playstyle and preference will likely play a key factor here. Some players still swear by Gandalf and include him in every deck without fail. There’s little doubt that both Core Gandalf and OHaUH Gandalf are still extremely powerful and can make a huge difference in multiplayer. On the other hand, many players eschew Gandalf these days, at least in some decks, and prefer to use those extra slots for other purposes. The latter group of players is not likely to bat an eye at your inclusion of Gandalf, while the former might just feed you to a Balrog. You might be able to make an argument that Gandalf’s Staff and the overall power of the Gandalf hero should mean that your life should be spared, but such matters are not always tied to logic alone. If I had to venture an early judgement, I would say that the value of hero Gandalf diminishes as you add more players, but only because of the unique issue, the limitations of Gandalf’s Staff compared to the high impact effects of Core Gandalf, and the way in which the contribution of each individual player tends to decrease anyway in 3 or 4-player games. Still, I’m confident that a skilled Gandalf deck builder and player could make enough of an impact to quiet the doubters. (And if you’re feeling really desperate for approval, you could also loan out Gandalf for a phase with Desperate Alliance.)

The last point to make is Gandalf’s impact on the meta. Make no mistake that Gandalf will shake things up in a big way, and this is as it should be, considering the weight of this particular character in the story. Some, though, are perhaps justifiably worried that we may have another Spirit Glorfindel on our hands: an overpowered hero with a limitation that is easily circumvented with a single attachment and that will find its way into every deck under the sun. While I can certainly understand these fears, I don’t think they’re warranted, simply because of one crucial factor: threat. The main reason why Glorfindel makes it into so many decks is not his power level per se, but because his low threat of 5 allows him to fit into almost anything. By contrast, Gandalf’s towering threat of 14 means that he will only be able to fit into certain builds. This doesn’t mean there isn’t room for quite a bit of creativity due to him being Neutral and having universal sphere access, but the options are more limited. Time will tell if I am wrong on this point and perhaps I am merely blinded by the shiny newness, but I feel that Gandalf in this incarnation is a net positive for the game and the meta and hits the mark perfectly. Surely, designing this particular hero is one of the biggest challenges the designers have ever faced, but when I have Gandalf on the table, I feel like I am controlling Gandalf, and that’s the highest praise I can give.

Versatility: ♦♦♦♦◊

Efficiency: ♦♦♦♦♦

Uniqueness: ♦♦♦♦♦

Possible Attachment Choices: Gandalf’s Staff, Wizard Pipe, Steward of Gondor, Unexpected Courage, A Burning Brand, songs, and the list goes on…

Conclusion

Readers will perhaps notice that I didn’t discuss Gandalf’s Staff much at all and made only fleeting references to Wizard Pipe and Flame of Anor. This was intentional, as I want to give those cards the full review treatment later without spoiling all the fun now, so I’ve endeavored to focus on the Gandalf card itself as much as possible. When it comes to the hero, I find it likely that I will be playing plenty of Gandalf in the near future. However, I do wonder what his staying power will be? Will myself and others eventually tire of trotting out Gandalf at every opportunity? Will his toys and tricks eventually grow old? Or will he make an indelible mark on the game and be featured in decks years from now? Time will have to tell on these larger questions. For now, I have little time for such lofty inquiries, as I’m too busy shouting “You cannot pass!” at every adversary as I smash on the minions of Mordor with my new Istari pal.

 

Readers, what are your thoughts on Gandalf? What are your favorite Gandalf combos? Will you use him? Is he good or bad for the game? Can he make up for the loss of ally Gandalf in multiplayer? Is he the new Glorfindel? What is Gandalf’s favorite food? So many questions!