Any of you guys has found any good combo or a decent use for this card?It can't be so bad.

I might consider it in a deck with only one spirit hero where I can't afford to play Lorien Guide or Northern Tracker consistently, perhaps in a location-heavy scenario where there will always be one or two in the staging area. But I'm not sure about it even then.

Honestly.......no. There are just much better and permanent ways to deal with location threat. Aside from that, it only takes away 1 threat. Just not worth it. Maybe one day there will other cards that make this one worth playing.

if it cost zero, then yeah...but now? No

You could use it in a spirit lore deck and recycle it with Erebor Hammersmith. Yes, I know, it is still an awful card, but I'm trying.

I think it is the worst card in the core set.I can't find a way to make this card useful for coop or solo and i can't imagine how this card will be useful in the future.

Thanks all for your answers.

This card can be useful against the Banks of the Anduin in the second scenario...but other than that the best use to make of it is discarding it into PoL or Eowyn.

It is one of the worst cards for sure. I really don't like Brok but I'm sure in certain cases it can be used quite well - although I'd really hate to count on losing heroes, it just seems wrong. Leadership has some smashing cards in my opinion, Sneak Attack or Ever Vigilant - great events but it has some very poor allies like the Guard of the Citadel, Silverlode Archer or Longbeard Slayer but still Power in the Earth seems totally useless even in comparison. All the worse because I like both the theme and the art - quite beautiful (even the quote on it), I'd like to play it but I can't, it just suck and the Boromir aspect in me totally overrules Bilbo here.

servant of the secret fire said:

The only way I can think of it being useful is if there is a card that plays off of taking away threat in the staging area. It may then be useful, to combo with something like that. Then again, Secret Paths and Radagast's Cunning do a much better job, although they are not permanent.

As for Brok Ironfist, I played him just like that a couple of days ago. I lost Gloin, so I put Brok in play. He's really pretty good, just expensive. Which reminds me, I need to be a little more careful in how I use Gloin.

servant of the secret fire said:

It's right up there with Gandalf's Search!

You can use it to wallpaper your room, Atog style.

Bohemond said:

Nah,bad idea.A graffiti with Gandalf fighting Balrog on the bridge of Khazad-Dum already covers the walls of my room.

Just out of curiosity: Do you like Hasty Stroke of Favor of the Lady?

servant of the secret fire said:

The one decent use I got out of it was putting it on Old Forest Road in the Mirkwood scenario and keeping the Road in the SA for 0 threat until I desperately needed to ready a Hero post-Questing. Got me out of a few tricky situations that way. But yeah, not the wildest card in the set.

plueschi said:

Yeap, i use them both.Especialy hasty stroke has saved my heroes countless times.

As for the Favor of the Lady except that it is my favorite card(art wise) in the core set with 2 on Eowyn many times i only quest with Eowyn so i have more characters to defend/attack.

servant of the secret fire said:

Since you answered yes, I may have some food for thought for you:

I think Power in the Earth is a pretty valid card and can compare to the other two in strength.

1. PitE hard counters Old Forest Road, Banks of the Anduin and the Endless Caverns. A card that acts as a silver bullet to some Encounter cards can't be completely useless imho.

2. PtiE essentially gives you +1 Willpower for a certain while. There is only one other card with +1 Willpower for a cost of one, that is Henamarth (and I haven't used him to quest anytime). So 1 Willpower for a cost of one is pretty nice.

3. Its low cost makes it a good choice for mulit-sphere decks, where you can't afford to lose the early quest phases (eg for fear of hitting 30 threat and a Hill Troll). Handling the first -lets say- three turns is probably the most important step in winning the game.

4. Consider putting it on cards like the Enchanted Stream, where you usually don't want to travel to. Now with a threat strength of 1, I often leave the Stream in the staging area (which nets me a card so to speak, since traveling to the Stream very often prevents you from drawing one card and hopefully none more).

5. This is a funny one: PitE acts as a lifeguard for your better attachments! There are many Shadow cards out there, that cost you an attachment and playing Hasty Stroke to counter those is often what I'll do, especially if I'd have to discard Steward of Gondor or Unexpected Courage. Now discard PitE instead! Comparing the net gain with Hasty Stroke: you have spent one resource in both cases, you have invested one card in both cases to get "rid" of that shadow effect. While Hasty Stroke can also be used against other shadow cards, PitE has netted you some more progress or less threat. And considering that you play both PitE and Hasty Stroke, you can now safe you Stroke for when the Hummerhorns or the Spawn come out as the shadow effect.

6. Comparing it with the Favor of the Lady also is not too bad: Both cards net you one extra Willpower and if you play PitE on those 1 threat locations, then it is just cheaper. If you do a move like that under number 4, then it also is just cheaper. If it goes away after a couple of turns, then FotL would have been better, but you still got something at a reasonable cost.

Hope this helps.

plueschi said:

Im my eyes PitE is not even near compared to TfotL.TfotL goes on any character you have and you have the +1 wp even if in the staging area you have only enemies.If you use your nothern trackers most of the locations in the staging area will leave play in 1 or 2 rounds so PitE will leave play too.That means you don't have your +1 anymore but TfotL is still there.

Now the question is if you prefer to have PitE over TfotL or hasty stroke.I can't think why someone will want to replace any of those 2 cards for PitE.Will you?

servant of the secret fire said:

Considering your first point. You are right that PitE obviously is not useful if there are no locations around, but you really don't have to wait long, now do you?

The point of Northern Trackers highlights one of the uses of PotE: If you are playing deck that is short on Sphere resources, the Tracker might not be a good choice to put in your deck in the first place.

And regarding your question about whether or not I would put PotE in my deck instead of one of the others? Yes, I would. Sort of. I would rather play 2 PotE, " FotL and 2 Hasty Stroke, than play 3 Hasty Stroke and 3 FotL in my current situation. That way you are more flexible I think.

Maybe I can phrase my point differently: The effect of FotL is superior to PotE, but thats why it costs double, right? And considering the relative strength, I do like PotE.

In my view PotE is worth it, if it sticks around for three turns. Thats three more progress/less threat for one resource. A fair deal I think. Of course FotL sticks around "forever", but "forever" is just until the end of the game (which takes about 6 turns to finish in my experience).

Hope this makes sense. And to reinstate: I am not saying PotE is better, but it is not way off imho.

plueschi said:

For my experience this is worst.I use 3 core sets so i have the cards i want more X3 in my deck and some times i don't have the card i want wen i want.Now if i have 2 hasty stroke in my deck i have less chances to draw one and maybe i will not have even one in an entire game.With lore things are easier but you have so many other more useful cards to use than having 2 PitE in your deck.

Anyway i will try your method and see how it works.

FFS i spend 30 min to write 2 lines in English and with no good results.I hope you can understand me mate.

I think I understand what you are saying and you are probably right and so am I

I really depends (like so many things in so many games). It depends on your playing style, it depends on how you build your deck, it probably even depends against which scenario you are up against.

I totally see the merit of playing 3/3/0 of these cards, but for my playing style I prefer variety (aka 2/2/2), because I often end up drawing lots of cards (I have a crush on Beravor ). In such situations I usually don't need a third Hasty Stroke.

It is really hard to tell, if any combination is "better". And I personally think both are fine and well... ... it depends

servant of the secret fire said:

I like to have all the cards in my decks 3 times. There are few that I don't want and playing Protector of Lorien it is rather better to know what to discard...so far it has always proven to be the way to go...I have never regreted having everything thrice in the deck (and I have a slight crush on Beravor as well), thus I recommend it to everyone...

Plueschi broke it down with maths.

qwertyuiop said:

Ain't that the way to go with such games usually?