The LotR LCG: Gems of the Core Set pt III- Events

In the third and final look at the Gems of the Core Set series for the Lord of the Rings Card Game, I am going to examine the best events from the set! In part one, I identified a huge list of allies- going so far as to find uses for allies that may not at first seem fantastic. In part two, I really narrowed it down and chose the one best attachment from each sphere. While "best" is subjective, I generally mean it's a great value and broadly useful. As with the previous articles, my main goal here is to remind players (old and new alike!) that the core set still provides a huge chunk of the best player cards, so you don't have to worry so much about "keeping up with the Joneses".

Narrowing it down to one event per Sphere was actually quite difficult! There's some great Core Set events, but as previously, I will limit it to one per sphere! So, on we go!


First up is Sneak Attack. Playing a deck with leadership? Not using Sneak Attack? What are you thinking?! Sneak Attack is the BEST! Sneak Attack + Core Set Gandalf has been one of the best combos since day one, and to this day it's satisfying to play it (or see it played across the table). Nowadays with so many allies with "enters play" abilities, it's even better! remember: Some allies do specify "...is played from your hand..." which will NOT work with Sneak Attack. 

Sneak Attack is almost always a "3 of" in any deck I have with the leadership sphere.

Next up, I have to go with an old standby: Feint. The card is pretty straightforward, so there isn't much else to say about it! Tactics don't have a lot of event recursion to get it back, but having 3 of them in your deck is usually enough to ensure the nastiest attacks the enemy has to hit you with can be stopped.

For Spirit, I think you're hard pressed to find a better event than A Test of Will. Cancelling the "When Revealed" effects of a treachery card effectively kills the card dead. Remember Surge and Doomed still occur! You can also stop the "when revealed" effects of nasty enemies or locations as well, which people sometimes overlook. This card is why you'll often find a spirit hero going into the quest phase with 1 resource! Again, I don't think I've ever run a deck with Spirit without including 3 of this card. It will always be useful.

Alright. I'm going to be honest here. I wanted to highlight one card from each sphere, but honestly none of the Lore events in the core set are anywhere near the sheer value of the three mentioned above. That's not to say they aren't any good - but they're much less universally great as the ones I've mentioned before. So, let's look at the Lore events from the core set on Hall of Beorn.

I guess if I had to choose it'd be Secret Paths? It's effects could be the difference between beating a quest phase, or languishing due to location lock. But only for a turn. So... it's decent, but it rarely sees a home in any of my decks! So help me out here! Sound off in the comments!

What is the best Lore Event card from the core set? Please sound off in the comments below, or let us know on our forum!