Discovered

"The voices and the clink of weapons and harness were very close."

This seldom used card has the ability to destroy many Free People's strategies. It has the virtue of not being restricted to a particular Raider subculture and can be included in either a direct wounding deck or a burden deck.

As a Maneuver Phase card, Discovered is a big improvement on events like New Fear that require you to exert a minion in the regroup phase, not only after the archery phase but also after the skirmishes have been resolved. Needing to use 1 twilight in the maneuver phase before your Ambush minions can add twilight back into the pool is the closest thing to a drawback that this card has.

Four of these cards in your deck will allow you to discard up to 4 Free People's conditions. Combine the card with a burden adding deck and as soon as your opponent has three burdens on the Ring-bearer you can discard two conditions at once. It becomes an even more useful Shadow strategy as many players begin using conditions as the solution to the Dunland possession removing decks. Let them get used to relying on conditions and then use Discovered to sneak in and discard those conditions right off the table.

The Knights of Gondor are nothing without their fortifications - all of which are conditions. Many of the burden adding cards (Easterling Lieutenant or Easterling Guard) are not affected by the Knights because their text comes into effect when they are assigned, not during the skirmish. But if you've been adding burdens to set up a fierce smack down by the Desert Legion those dread conditions can take the "oomph" out of your smack. Let Discovered take those conditions away and its as though you've taken the Knights out from behind the walls that shelter and protect them and left them all alone to face the Raiders with no support.

One strategy that impedes both the burden adding and "exert to wound" cards is archery. Unfortunately Discovered can do nothing about bows; but it can eliminate Gondor Bowmen before they can be used to up the archery total to obscene amounts.

And what about the oh so popular conditions that pump vitality such as Tale of Gil-Galad, Harken Unto Me and Boromir, my Brother - just to name a few. Not only will removing these cards take the spring out of their step, timed correctly while a companion is exhausted it's a real killer.

Then there are the infamous "Trust Me" decks. Eliminate Trust Me as You Once Did and Gandalf dissolves into confusion and weakness. The list goes on and on - Rohan decks often rely on their allies who rely on Well Stored - another Free Peoples condition that is easily tossed aside. Dwarven decks use a host of conditions and even Hobbit decks tend to use Escape or A Promise.

Somehow it is fitting that the Raiders, brought into the war by Sauron and motivated by their hatred of ancient enemies, should have this insidious ability to weaken the forces of good by taking away the Free Peoples empowering conditions. So discover the usefulness of Discovered and let it contribute to your victory.