Card drawing is an important aspect of the game. It increases the resources we have at our disposal at any given time. During the Fellowship phase, this usually means drawing Possessions or Characters to beef up the party until dead or discarded. Yet many cultures have cards that target large fellowships, and lately the shadow has gotten really good at discarding our possessions as well. The Rule of 4 limits us, preventing more than 4 card draws during this phase.

An often overlooked solution is Tidings of Erebor. The first and best advantage is that you get to draw cards during the Regroup phase. The Rule of 4 doesn’t apply! You have the potential to draw up past 8 cards in hand. Drawing later in the turn requires a different strategy though. Since you can’t play Possessions, Companions, or Allies outside of the Fellowship phase (unless you are playing Rohan), you would be forced to rely more on single use Events.

Lembas and Helm! Helm! are the 2 card drawing alternatives to Tidings of Erebor. All 3 cards allow you to draw during the Regroup phase, but these 2 have spotting requirements that make them best suited to decks focused on their respective cultures. Tidings of Erebor only requires that you spot 1 Dwarf, and he may be either a companion or ally. The spotting requirements are an important distinction between these cards. You can splash Dwarf Culture into almost any deck, but to Use Helm! Helm! or Lembas you have to focus on their respective cultures.

Of course Tidings of Erebor isn't without a drawback either. Your opponent can remove 3 twilight from the pool to prevent you from drawing the cards. But who says that's a bad thing? Too much twilight in the pool is often just as much a reason not to advance as too few cards in hand. In fact Tidings is especially effective in strategies that reduce pool, like Rangers (Gondor doesn't have any card drawing ability) and Shire's Deft in Their Movements.

Combined with other “mining” cards, Dwarf Culture has the strongest base for card drawing. Tidings of Erebor is the ONLY such card in this culture that does not require you exert a dwarf to discard blindly from the top of your draw deck. This makes it one of the better support cards to toss in any deck.

by Stephen Chast

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