Hello LOTR LCG community!

In this thread , I learned something super helpful: if spirit ally Prince Imrahil is in play under your control, and you activate Caldara’s ability, he counts as a hero immediately and you can then bring 3 allies in from your discard pile, not just 2. Sweet!

I have a follow-up question, on which I can’t find a ruling: if Prince Imrahil is one of my 2 allies coming in from my discard pile via Caldara’s ability, does his hero status begin immediately and net me one more ally from the discard pile?

It seems too good to be true, but I also thought the answer linked above was too good to be true, and it’s officially verified!

Anyone know the answer?

Essentially, no, you cannot do as you state.

Excerpting the ruling you cited:

So, you must discard Caldara before you can resolve the rest of her effect. That means Imrahil is a hero at the time that you calculate how many allies you put into play…

To rephrase this, you pay the cost of Caldara's ability (discarding her) and determine at that time what her effect does. Because in your scenario Imrahil is not in play yet—he is still in your discard pile before you resolve Caldara's effect—he cannot count as a hero for the purposes of Caldara.

To put it another way, you don't resurrect Imrahil first, then say, "Hey, I have another hero with a printed Spirit icon, now I count him for Caldara too!" The # of resurrected allies is determined once and not modified by what happens thereafter.

Very succinctly explained. Thanks.

Just to add up and clarify:

Although Prince Imrahil can't count towards Caldara ability, he still looses ally type and becomes a hero...

1 hour ago, CJMatos said:

Just to add up and clarify:

Although Prince Imrahil can't count towards Caldara ability, he still looses ally type and becomes a hero...

Sure, once he's in play, and a hero (presumably Caldara) remains in the discard pile.