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MIDDLE-EARTH: THE WHITE HAND GUIDE Copyright Pierre Jonas Castillo ©2001 Edited by Nigel Buckle for The Guild Companion
This is the second in the series of three articles covering the cards released in "The White Hand" expansion for the Middle Earth Collectable Card Game. The first article was in the August 2001 issue of the Guild Companion and covered the Fallen Wizards themselves and their specific stage resources. The third part will look at the sites, the hero resources, the minion resources and the hazards from this expansion. CHARACTERSDOETH (DURTHAK) - Warrior/Sage Orc (R) [MP: 1; Mind: 4; DI: 0; P/B: 4/9; Home Site: Any Dark-hold] Unique. Half-orc. Discard on a body check result of 9. Doeth is unique to other Orc characters in that he is the only sage orc in the game. This means a pure Orc company can now pack important sage only cards like Voices of Malice and let Doeth play them. His body is tough enough unlike many Orc minions as well.
EUOG (ULZOG) - Warrior/Diplomat Orc (R) [MP: 2; Mind: 5; DI: 1; P/B: 5/9; Home Site: Any Dark-hold] Unique. Half-orc. Leader. Discard on a body check result of 9. +2 direct influence against Orcs and Orc factions. Euog is another unique Orc, as he is the only Orc minion with the diplomat skill. Give him a Blazon of the Eye and he can be very effective in Mordor caravanning f to get those Orc factions. He can also use diplomat only cards that are usually used by covert minion companies. His prowess and body are reasonable enough to face various attacks, and his 2 MPs is a nice bonus too.
LUGDUSH - Warrior/Scout Orc (U) [MP: 1; Mind: 4; DI: 0; P/B: 5/8; Home Site: Isengard] Unique. Uruk-hai. Discard on a body check result of 8. The fourth unique Orc scout in the game. This means you can now have a starting company of the four unique Orc scouts and just have a hazard limit of 2. He is also the only Orc scout to have a home site not really connected with Sauron, but with Saruman. His prowess and body are average, and he carries 1 MP.
UGLÚK - Warrior/Ranger Orc (R) [MP: 2; Mind: 5; DI: 0; P/B: 5/9; Home Site: Isengard] Unique. Uruk-hai. Leader. Discard on a body check result of 9. +3 direct influence against Orcs and Orc factions. Another Orc leader, he has the useful ranger skill, and the highest body of any Orc. He is useful if you don't want (or need) another Orc scout.
ILL-FAVOURED FELLOW - Warrior/Ranger Orc (C) [MP: 1; Mind: 3; DI: 0; P/B: 2/9; Home Site: Any Dark-hold] Half-orc. Discard on a body check result of 9.
SLY SOUTHERNER - Warrior/Scout Orc (C) [Mind: 2; DI: 0; P/B: 1/9; Home Site: Any Dark-hold] Half-orc. Discard on a body check result of 9.
SQUINT-EYED BRUTE - Warrior Orc (C) [Mind: 2; DI: 0; P/B: 3/9; Home Site: Any Dark-hold] Half-orc. Discard on a body check result of 9.
These three characters provide new non-unique characters for minions and Fallen-wizards and are somewhat better compared to their MELE counterparts. Ill-favoured Fellow is the cheapest Orc ranger in the game together with Orc Tracker. However, unlike the Tracker, he is much harder to kill with a higher body. Plus, he does not have a -1 corruption check modifier. However, his prowess is one less than the Tracker's prowess of 3. Ill-favoured fellows are a good replacement for Trackers if you want to include rangers in the company. Just as Ill-favoured Fellows are the best replacements for Orc Trackers, Sly Southerner is the replacement for Orc Snifflers. Their higher body, higher discard roll and the absence of a negative corruption check modifier makes them a better choice over the Snifflers. Squint-eyed Brutes are better compared to Orc Brawlers or Orc veterans. They have a higher body at the expense of a higher mind compared to the Brawlers and at the expense of a lower prowess compared to the Veterans. Plus, they don't have any corruption check modifiers. With all these characters being common it should not prove to hard to get a bunch.
STAGE RESOURCE EVENTS: GENERALStage cards are a new type of resource card playable only by Fallen-wizard players. Most of these cards are permanent-events, and each stage resource help a Fallen-wizard player in achieving victory by "boosting" their MPs, improving their table advantage or by plainly giving them more MPs. Each Fallen-wizard also has a set of specific stage resources playable only by that Fallen-wizard (see Stage Resources - Specific). General stage resources are stage cards that can be played regardless of which Fallen-wizard you are. Some of these are very helpful to certain Fallen-wizards, as not all of their specific stage resources cover each dimension in their play, leaving them a weak spot that could cost them the game. Unless you are playing as a Fallen-wizard, most of these cards are of no use to you. A trick when playing as a Fallen-wizard is what stage resources, both general and specific, are you going to include in your deck. This is very important, as you need to fill up your resource half with MP resources and support resources. Trying to fit in stage resources in the mix can be quite difficult, especially if you're trying to limit your deck size to the 30/30 minimums. A way to deal with this is by figuring out which Fallen-wizard you're going to play as; look at the specific stage cards (covered in part 1) applicable to the wizard, and then fill in any gaps with the generic stage cards. For example, if you are going to play as fallen Alatar, it is quite obvious that he boosts item and kill MPs to their maximum, as well as allies with a prowess attribute, but you might want to use generic stage cards to increase item points.
A MERRIER WORLD - Permanent-event (C) [SP: 2] Playable if you have more than 7 stage points. Hazards your companies defeat (for which you otherwise get 1 MP) are each worth full kill marshalling points. Cannot be duplicated by a given player. A useful card, this one duplicates fallen Alatar's special ability by giving you full kill points from hazards. Very helpful if you are not playing as fallen Alatar and expecting to kill lots of hazard creatures, or worth considering for the sideboard in case you get lucky and kill some creatures anyway.
A NEW RINGLORD - Permanent-event (R) [SP: 3; CP: 1] Playable on your Fallen-wizard if he has The One Ring at one of your Wizardhavens. Only one A New Ringlord may be played in a given turn. Make a roll during each of your end-of-turn phases if your Fallen-wizard is bearing The One Ring and is at a Ruins and Lairs where Information is playable. Add 1 for each A New Ringlord you have in play. If the result is less than 6, your fallen-Wizard is eliminated. If the result is greater than 9, you win the game. [See the article "My Precious" for a discussion of fallen-wizard one ring strategy] A New Ringlord is the stage resource card that will enable a Fallen-wizard player to win a One Ring victory. However, this card carries with it 1 CP, which means your Fallen-wizard will be forced to carry a great deal of corruption (a total of 10 CPs - 7 from the Ring and 3 from the three Ringlord cards). Take note that your chances of winning is greater if you have 3 copies of this card on your Fallen-wizard, as each card will modify the roll that you have to make during the end-of-turn phase by +1. If you only have one copy of this, you might end up with a dead Fallen-wizard and a big loss. Additionally, if you want 3 copies of this card in play, you will have to spend three turns sitting at the Wizardhaven to bring each Ringlord card down that is sometimes enough for your opponent to win the game. It does not end with the successful play of 3 A New Ringlord cards. You still need to get to the Information site and there make a roll that is perhaps the most decisive one for a Fallen-wizard One Ring strategy. Only the 3 Ringlord cards can help you in achieving victory. Given you have 3 Ringlord cards in play; a double one on the dice roll will automatically kill your Fallen-wizard. You will need to roll at least a seven if you want to win it. If you roll a value between 2-6, nothing happens and you will have to wait another turn to roll again. Again, this can be the time your opponent needs to catch up and win.
A STRIDENT SPAWN - Permanent-event (U) [MP: 1; SP: 4] Playable if you are Pallando or Saruman and have 6 or more stage points and a protected Wizardhaven. Each of your Half-orcs requires one less point of influence to control. During your organization phase, you may take one Half- orc character from your discard pile to your hand. You may play Half-orc characters at your Wizardhavens, and even if your Fallen-wizard is not there. Cannot be duplicated by a given player. Official Errata: Unique Only worth putting in the deck if you are playing as fallen Pallando or Saruman, this card is very helpful if you want to include Half-orc characters in your deck and use them actively during the game. Plus, it is a good alternative to Bad Company if you don't want to play pure Orc or Troll characters. The only delay you might have when attempting to play this card is trying to have a protected Wizardhaven. Take note that there is errata making this card Unique, meaning you can only have one copy of this and you have to beat your opponent (if he is playing as the other fallen Wizard listed in the card) to play it.
AN UNTIMELY BROOD - Permanent-event (C) [MP: 1; SP: 4] Playable if you are Radagast or Alatar and have 6 or more stage points and a protected Wizardhaven. One non-unique ally with a mind of 1 is playable at one of your tapped or untapped protected Wizardhavens each of your site phases. Cannot be duplicated by a given player. Similar to Friend of Secret Things, but playable by both Alatar and Radagast, this card encourages you to leave a company in comparative safety at a wizard haven and still accumulate MPs every turn.
BAD COMPANY - Permanent-event (C) [SP: 2] You may play Orc and Troll characters and include them in your starting company. Cannot be duplicated by a given player. This card allows you to play Orcs and Trolls and form overt starting companies. However, since there are a lot of restrictions concerning the play of Orcs and Trolls as stated in the rules, you might think twice about using this card. Use this card only if your FW strategy heavily relies on such characters.
BLIND TO ALL ELSE - Permanent-event (C) [SP: 2] Your ring items are each worth full marshalling points. Cannot be duplicated by a given player. This stage resource is obviously used for FW ring strategies. Unless your resource strategy revolves around rings, you do not want to include this in your deck, unless you want to increase your stage points, as this card has no prerequisite stage card total before it can be played.
DELVER'S HARVEST - Permanent-event (U) [MP: 1] Playable during the site phase if one of your companies enters the Deep Mines site. A penny MP stage card that is easy to play and worth putting in the deck if you are going to exploit your travels in the Deep Mines. Note this does not tap the site, and can be played at a tapped site. You do not have to tap a character to play it, and it can be duplicated during a site phase, so you can play 3 in one turn if you want to.
DOUBLE-DEALING - Permanent-event (C) [SP: 1] Playable on a site. If the site is a minion site, you may play appropriate hero resources there. If the site is a hero site, you may play appropriate minion resources there. Discard when this site is discarded or returned to your location deck. Normally, you can only visit minion sites that are Ruins & Lairs. You must use hero sites for the rest. This makes it hard for FW companies to get minion resources that cannot be played on Ruins & Lairs. This card allows you to play resources of different alignments without going through automatic-attacks different versions of the site has.
EARTH-EATER - Permanent-event (R) [MP: 1] Technology. Playable during the site phase if one of your companies enters the Deep Mines site and you have more Delver's Harvest cards in play than you have Earth-eater cards. Tap Earth-eater to take a minion non-unique weapon/armor/shield/helmet major item from your sideboard or discard pile to your hand. A good card to play together with Delver's Harvest in that it also provides another penny MP. Just make sure you play the Delver's Harvest cards first before this card. Its ability to retrieve minion "combat" items can be very useful, too, if you want to supply your characters with arms or if you need item MPs.
THE FORTRESS OF ISEN - Permanent-event (U) [SP: 3] Unique. May not be a starting stage card. Playable if you are Alatar, Pallando, or Saruman. Playable on Isengard. Isengard is protected. Other Fallen-wizards may not use the Wizardhaven card for Isengard. Cards that give marshalling points are not playable at the site by your opponent in all cases. A company moving to or from Isengard is not considered to be moving through Gap of Isen (including one less Border-land in their site path). Discard this card when the site is discarded or returned to its location deck. Official Errata: Remove "A company moving to or from Isengard is not considered to be moving through Gap of Isen (including one less Border-land in their site path)." This card is essential for certain Fallen-wizard strategies; particularly those that need a protected Wizardhaven to play other stage resources or MP resources. Plus, it allows your Fallen-wizard the privilege to use this Wizardhaven all for himself (if your opponent is also a FW). This is the first of the two that protects one of the most used Wizardhavens: Isengard. This is obviously going to be seen in most fallen Saruman decks, as that is Saruman's home site. However, Pallando and Alatar can also use this site, if you plan to use this as their Wizardhaven as well. Take note that this card has been errated to minimize the dominant squatting strategies. Before the errata, this card was much more powerful as opponents had a hard time playing any creatures on the Fallen-wizard's companies, especially heavy creature hazard strategies. Considering that Gap of Isen is a central region in the map (it is perhaps one of the safer routes to cross the Misty Mountains), it also has access to many MP sources on both sides.
FORTRESS OF THE TOWERS - Permanent-event (U) [SP: 3] Unique. May not be a starting stage card. Playable if you are Alatar, Pallando, or Saruman. Playable on The White Towers. The White Towers is protected. Other Fallen-wizards may not use the Wizardhaven card for The White Towers. Cards that give marshalling points are not playable at the site by your opponent in all cases. A company moving to or from The White Towers is not considered to be moving through Arthedain (including one less Wilderness in their site path). Discard this card when the site is discarded or returned to its location deck. Official Errata: Remove "A company moving to or from The White Towers is not considered to be moving through Arthedain (including one less Wilderness in their site path)." The second of the two cards that protects anther useful Wizardhaven: The White Towers. This one is probably included in almost all Fallen-wizard decks primarily because most FW companies start off at the White Towers. Second is its central location in the region of Arthedain, which is adjacent to a number of regions whose sites are sources of various MP resources: factions, items and allies. If the Fortress of Isen can be seen in most fallen Saruman decks, this one can be seen in most fallen Pallando decks as this is his home site. Saruman and Alatar can still use this card, though. As with Fortress of Isen, this card was much more powerful before the errata as most opponents cannot play deep Wilderness creatures. However since the errata this card is still widely used by FW players.
GATHERER OF LOYALTIES - Permanent-event (C) [SP: 3] Playable if you have more than 3 stage points. Your unique factions are each worth 2 marshalling points. If you are Alatar, your unique Dragon factions are each worth 4 marshalling points. If you are Pallando, your unique factions normally worth 3 or more marshalling points are each worth 3 marshalling points. Cannot be duplicated by a given player. An essential card to put in the deck if you are playing Fallen-wizard, this one boosts your faction MPs. If you are playing as a particular FW listed on this card, you get to increase more certain faction MPs. if your are playing as fallen Alatar, Scorba Roused becomes 4 MPs. Fallen Pallando's Rangers of the North gets full MPs. The Hobbits and hero Hillmen faction become an instant 2 MP.
GNAWED WAYS - Permanent-event (R) [SP: 1] Playable on one of your Deep Mines sites. The Deep Mines site is now adjacent to an Under-deeps site of your choice whose surface site is in a region containing or adjacent to the region containing the Deep Mines surface site. The movement number required to move between these two Under-deeps sites is (7). This card may also be played as a hazard on one of your opponent's Deep Mines sites. Discard this card when Deep Mines is discarded or returned to its location deck. Cannot be duplicated on a given Deep Mines site. Another card worth considering putting in your deck if you're intending to visit the Deep Mines; this card helps you have a series of under-ground tunnels to connect certain sites that may be essential to your strategy. Imagine your Deep Mines site at the White Towers suddenly connected to The Iron-deeps or The Under-vaults. You can make a quick dash at these under-deep sites and grab some big item MPs. It can also be useful as a hazard in that it can make Fallen-wizard Deep Mines strategies think twice before going deeper underground. Balrog strategies can make use of it by suddenly forcing their Deep Mines to be entered by the Balrog's company.
GREAT PATRON - Permanent-event (C) [SP: 2] Your characters and allies that normally give 2 or more marshalling points are each worth 2 marshalling points. Cannot be duplicated by a given player. Another essential card to put in the deck to get full MPs from your 5-mind characters and to increase your ally MPs. Considering that a large part of a player's MPs either comes from items or factions, this card will be useful in balancing out those MPs.
GREAT RUSE - Permanent-event (U) [MP: 1; SP: 1] Playable during the site phase on a Shadow-hold or Dark-hold hero site if you have an overt company there. Replace the hero site card with the corresponding minion site card. Discard when this site is discarded or returned to your location deck. A site changing stage card that can be useful if you intend in organizing overt FW companies. A card to include if you plan to recruit the factions playable at the minion Darkhavens, or plan to squat at shadow-holds collecting War-wolves, Blasting Fires and Snaga-hai, plus it gives you a marshalling point.
GUARDED HAVEN - Permanent-event (U) [MP: 1; SP: 1] Playable on one of your Wizardhavens other than Isengard, The White Towers, or Rhosgobel. The site is protected. Cards that give marshalling points are not playable at the site by your opponent in all cases. A company moving to or from this site is not considered to be moving through the region containing the site (including one less of its region type in their site path). Cannot be duplicated on a given site. Official Errata: You may not use this card as a starting stage resource. Official Errata: Remove "A company moving to or from this site is not considered to be moving through the region containing the site (including one less of its region type in their site path)." In case your FW opponent got first in getting the Fortress of the Towers or Isen, this is a good alternative to have a protected Wizardhaven of your own. It gives you 1 MP plus it prevents your opponent from using this certain site to get MPs. Similar to the two Fortress cards, however, this has been errated making it less powerful. However, it still allows you to play certain stage and MP resources that requires a protected Wizardhaven. A good stage resource combo for this card is using Hidden Haven.
HIDDEN HAVEN - Permanent-event (C) [SP: 1] Playable on a non-Dragon's lair Ruins and Lairs in a Wilderness, Border-land, or Shadow-land ; the site must normally be a Ruins and Lairs. This site becomes one of your Wizardhavens and loses all automatic-attacks. Nothing is considered playable as written on the site card. If one of your companies is at this site, all attacks against it are canceled. Other Fallen-wizards may not use this site as a Wizardhaven. Discard this card when the site is discarded or returned to its location deck. It cannot be discarded otherwise. A useful card if you do not wish to start off at The White Towers. It can also be useful if you plan to cross east of the Misty Mountains, as there are no Wizardhavens out there (unless you're fallen Radagast). If you include this card in your deck, make sure to play something first at the site before playing this card to make full use of it. It can be a good combo card to Guarded Haven so as to make the Hidden Haven protected.
LEGACY OF SMITHS - Permanent-event (C) [SP: 4] Playable if you have more than 6 stage points. Your non-ring items are each worth full marshalling points. Cannot be duplicated by a given player. Another essential card to get full MPs off your non-ring items; unless you're only playing with 1 MP items, this card is important to get a boost from your items.
MISCHIEF IN A MEAN WAY - Permanent-event (R) [MP: 2; SP: 2] Playable during the site phase on a Border-hold site if you have 10 or more stage points. This site becomes one of your Wizardhavens and loses all automatic-attacks. Nothing is considered playable as written on the site. If one of your companies is at this site, all attacks against it are canceled. Other Fallen-wizards may not use this site as a Wizardhaven. Discard this card when the site is discarded or returned to its location deck. It cannot be discarded otherwise. This card's effect is similar to Hidden Haven, except this card is only playable at the site phase and needs a SP minimum requirement. Make sure you play something out of the Border-hold (Border-hold factions, Noble Hounds) before playing this card. You can even add No Strangers at this Time to make sure the site does not get discarded.
NEVER REFUSE - Permanent-event (U) [SP: 2] All corruption checks by your non-Wizard characters caused by your magic cards are modified by +2. If you are planning to play a magic-heavy resource strategy or even if you just plan to include magic cards in your deck, this card can be helpful as most of those magic cards have big negative modifiers to their resulting corruption checks. Take note that this card can be duplicated.
PLOTTING RUIN - Permanent-event (C) [SP: 3] Playable if you have more than 7 stage points. You must use minion site cards for Hero Havens, Free-holds and Border-holds. Another site-changing stage resource, this time if you intend to play certain minion MP resources (especially items at minion versions of the hero Havens) at the sites listed in the card.
SHAMEFUL DEEDS - Permanent-event (U) [SP: 4] Playable if you are not Alatar and have more than 6 stage points. Hazards with an asterisk [*] attack your companies normally, not as detainment. Such hazards your companies defeat while this card is in play give you full kill marshalling points. You receive no kill marshalling points from other hazards if this card is in play. Cannot be duplicated by a given player. This card can only be played by non-fallen Alatar decks, it is not particularly useful as it only gives you full MPs from * hazards. While there are some hazard strategies that use Free Peoples as creatures, it is very seldom as most players still prefer the tried and tested creatures such as Cave-drakes, Slayers and Sellswords. As you don't get MPs from these creatures while this card is in play, you might want to consider including this card in the sideboard and bring it into your deck if your opponent is playing a free-people (*) hazard creature strategy.
SPELLS BORN OF DISCORD - Permanent-event (U) [SP: 2] Your Fallen-wizard may use sorcery, spirit-magic, and shadow-magic. Cannot be duplicated by a given player. A stage card that allows your Fallen-wizard to play magic cards, some Fallen-wizards can already use certain magic cards, but this card allows you to use all three. If you plan to include magic cards or are running a heavy magic resource strategy, this card is useful. Imagine Alatar casting A Malady without Healing. Just make sure your FW can handle the resulting corruption checks.
THRALL OF THE VOICE - Permanent-event (C) [SP: 1] Instead of a normal character, during your organization phase you may bring into play one character (including a minion agent) with up to a 6 mind. Place this card with the character. -1 to his mind to a minimum of 1. Such a character may also be in your starting company. A useful starting stage resource, this card allows you to play up to three 6-mind characters in your starting company. It can even allow you to play agents, somewhat duplicating the effects of Open to the Summons. Or allowing you to play an orc or troll without a Bad Company.
WAR-FORGES - Permanent-event (U) [SP: 2] Playable on one of your protected Wizardhavens (not by Radagast). You may tap War-forges to make an additional non-hoard, non-unique minor item playable at this site this turn (if the site is tapped or not). The item may be taken from your discard pile or sideboard. Discard when this site is discarded or returned to your location deck. Cannot be duplicated on a given site. If you plan to use Armory in your deck, this card can be useful in quickly getting those penny MPs as it speeds up your acquisition of minor items.
WIZARD'S MYRMIDON - Permanent-event (C) [SP: 1] Playable on one of your non-Fallen-wizard characters. +1 to his direct influence. The character requires 3 points of influence to control and may only be controlled by general influence or a Fallen-wizard. Cannot be duplicated by a given player. Another useful starting stage resource, this is the basic mind-alterer cad available for all Fallen-wizards. It reduces a character's mind, thus saving you precious GI. It even increases his DI - helpful in controlling characters and influencing factions.
WIZARD'S TROVE - Permanent-event (R) [SP: 1] You may play The White Tree at one of your Wizardhavens if Sapling of the White Tree is stored there. Place Wizard's Trove with The White Tree - which is worth full marshalling points. Your Wizardhaven becomes protected. Ignore the text of The White Tree. Alternatively, you may store one miscellaneous marshalling point card at one of your Wizardhavens. Any reference to the site where the card can normally be stored are transferred instead to the Wizardhaven. Place Wizard's Trove with the stored card - which is worth full marshalling points. This card is very helpful in a number of ways. First is that it allows you to play The White Tree at your Wizardhaven. Second is that it gives you full MPs from the Tree - a good +5 increase to your MP total. Plus, it can be very frustrating to hero Gondor decks if you manage to plant the Tree first. Third, it protects your Wizardhaven - a good alternative to the two Fortress cards or Guarded Haven. Its alternative effect can also be useful if you don't plan to play The White Tree. If you plan to play cards like Fate of the Ithil-stone, you get the full MPs. However, it's much easier to just play the Tree for a quick 5 MPs.
FACTIONS GREATER HALF-ORCS - Orc Faction (R) [MP: 2; SP: 1] Playable at one of your protected Wizardhavens (if tapped or untapped) if you have A Strident Spawn and Half-orcs in play and if the influence check is greater than 11.
HALF-ORCS - Orc Faction (U) [MP: 1; SP: 1] Playable at one of your protected Wizardhavens (if tapped or untapped) if you have A Strident Spawn in play and if the influence check is greater than 9.
MEWH provides two new factions that are playable only by Fallen-wizards. Both are non-unique, carry stage points and are playable at their protected Wizardhavens. A problem both of these factions present is that there are certain requirements to be met in order for them to be played. A bad shuffle can ruin the strategy. Hence, it is helpful to prepare your deck with the important cards listed in the faction cards to get them out easily if not quickly. The Half-orcs are the easier to play, as they only need a protected Wizardhaven and A Strident Spawn to play; and the influence check is lower. Greater Half-orcs are much harder to recruit, as you need to have at least one Half-orcs faction to get them out in addition to the protected Wizardhaven and A Strident Spawn requirement. Plus, the influence check is much higher. It is suggested that the Greater Half-orcs are to come from the sideboard and just get them when you have at least one Half-orc faction in play.
ITEMSKEYS OF ORTHANC - Special Item (R) [MP: 2; SP: 1; CP: 1]Unique. Playable at Minas Tirith. During your organization phase, you may: take The Fortress of Isen card from your play deck or discard pile to your hand or discard The Fortress of Isen card if in play by another player. Reshuffle your play deck if searched.
KEYS TO THE WHITE TOWERS - Special Item (R) [MP: 2; SP: 1; CP: 1] Unique. Playable at Barrow-downs. During your organization phase, you may: take the Fortress of the Towers card from your play deck or discard pile to your hand or discard the Fortress of the Towers card if in play by another player. Reshuffle your play deck if searched.
The two stage items included in MEWH are useful only to Fallen-wizards and only if you plan to have a protected Wizardhaven. It can be very useful if your FW opponent is also using the same Wizardhaven as yours. These two Keys virtually gives you the right to build or own either Fortress even if your opponent already has as long as you have them in your possession. Even if having a protected Wizardhaven is not integral to your strategy, it can still be useful to include in your deck just in case. It's better to have a place to stay at and heal rather than have nothing at all. Finally these keys are a guaranteed 2 MPs each – even if you don't manage to play Legacy of Smiths.
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