If there are no cards in the staging area, except a trap or side quest, does Driven by Shadow surge?
Edited by cmabr002When Revealed: Each enemy and location currently in the staging area gets + 1 Threat Strength until the end of the phase. If there are no cards in the staging area, Driven by Shadow gains surge.
This could also apply to unclaimed objectives being in the staging area.
Looks like a freebie to me! Don't tell anyone, they might errata it.
A Trap is certainly a card, and certainly in the Staging Area. So as written it should not gain surge.
Feels like cheating
Feels like payback for the way the "Power of Mordor" treats objective cards in staging. Can't remove objective? Get a replacement card anyways! And by the way, you can't cancel this.
Feels like cheating
Yeah, payback for all those encounter cards with ''this effect cannot be canceled''... which also feels like cheating.
Feels like payback for the way the "Power of Mordor" treats objective cards in staging. Can't remove objective? Get a replacement card anyways! And by the way, you can't cancel this.
Yeah honestly I think that the ruling on Power of Mordor when playing The Morgul Vale is easily my most hated designer decision. You end up with multiple extra cards from a card that is already super super nasty and powerful as it is but no here's two more free encounter cards for no real actual reason (To the Tower and whatever Captain is in play).
On top of that this quest already has some cards that are almost game enders when they appear (Masters Malice not to mention that ridiculous Orc Vanguard enemy with 8 attack and stupid other effects that should be in the running for worst encounter card in the game!) or have some seriously nasty effects so you are more than likely going to get some horrible extra cards.
Even worse than this is when a lieutenant of mordor appears and triggers Power of Mordor a second time......... board flipping moment right there...
Feels like payback for the way the "Power of Mordor" treats objective cards in staging. Can't remove objective? Get a replacement card anyways! And by the way, you can't cancel this.
Yeah honestly I think that the ruling on Power of Mordor when playing The Morgul Vale is easily my most hated designer decision. You end up with multiple extra cards from a card that is already super super nasty and powerful as it is but no here's two more free encounter cards for no real actual reason (To the Tower and whatever Captain is in play).
On top of that this quest already has some cards that are almost game enders when they appear (Masters Malice not to mention that ridiculous Orc Vanguard enemy with 8 attack and stupid other effects that should be in the running for worst encounter card in the game!) or have some seriously nasty effects so you are more than likely going to get some horrible extra cards.
Even worse than this is when a lieutenant of mordor appears and triggers Power of Mordor a second time......... board flipping moment right there...
The thing is, Morgul Vale is the only place where Power of Mordor kind of functions properly rather than just breaking the central mechanics of the quest (I talked about this in a blog post: https://wardenofarnor.wordpress.com/2016/04/28/breaking-the-game-power-of-mordor/). There's a reason they took it out of the nightmare versions of the quests.
Also, Orc Vanguard is bad, but no way is he even close to being the worst encounter card in the game.
Feels like payback for the way the "Power of Mordor" treats objective cards in staging. Can't remove objective? Get a replacement card anyways! And by the way, you can't cancel this.
Yeah honestly I think that the ruling on Power of Mordor when playing The Morgul Vale is easily my most hated designer decision. You end up with multiple extra cards from a card that is already super super nasty and powerful as it is but no here's two more free encounter cards for no real actual reason (To the Tower and whatever Captain is in play).
On top of that this quest already has some cards that are almost game enders when they appear (Masters Malice not to mention that ridiculous Orc Vanguard enemy with 8 attack and stupid other effects that should be in the running for worst encounter card in the game!) or have some seriously nasty effects so you are more than likely going to get some horrible extra cards.
Even worse than this is when a lieutenant of mordor appears and triggers Power of Mordor a second time......... board flipping moment right there...
The thing is, Morgul Vale is the only place where Power of Mordor kind of functions properly rather than just breaking the central mechanics of the quest (I talked about this in a blog post: https://wardenofarnor.wordpress.com/2016/04/28/breaking-the-game-power-of-mordor/). There's a reason they took it out of the nightmare versions of the quests.
Also, Orc Vanguard is bad, but no way is he even close to being the worst encounter card in the game.
So essentially the only time Power of Mordor doesn't have the potential to break the game is when it does the most damage and has the most teeth. So either it completely ruins a quest or instead completely ruins your day. Both are pretty terrible....
I think that they more or less had to take it out of Nightmare Versions as it is a completely broken and extremely poorly designed card. It breaks two quests and makes a third way harder than it should be and already is.
Yeah I was exaggerating about Orc Vanguard, that card has just ruined my day and lost me a game on far too many occasions.... there is certainly worse but it is definitely pretty **** nasty. If you look at these hall of beorn search results 8 is literally the highest base attack any enemy has...
http://hallofbeorn.com/Cards/Search?cardType=Encounter&Attack=8&AttackOp=gteq
Not only that but you are more or less forced to engage it as soon as it appears unless you are running mono tactics. I have had many games in which it appears during setup or the first round of staging and then has to be engaged so that it doesn't just completely shut both of my decks down. Then you not only have to contend with its 8 attack but also its fairly decent 3 armour and 5 hitpoints. Can't sneak attack it either. Feint and then quick dispatch of this foe is usually your best bet.
I feel like maybe a competition similar to the Hero Championship but for most hated/most nasty encounter cards would perhaps be quite a fun exercise for the community.... hmmmm...