LotR TCG Card Strategies - #8 (the saga continues...)

Dagger Strike

One of the few cross-culture cards in the premier set, Dagger Strike plays on either Gondor or Shire companions. This makes the card very flexible. You don't need to worry about holding Halfling Deftness when you need Swordarm of the White Tower, or vice-versa. Normally you can assign your skirmishes to take advantage of cards in your hand, so if you have Hobbit-related cards you put the Hobbit against the Uruk Raiding Party and let Boromir tackle the Uruk Messenger. The trouble with that plan, though, is when the opponent plays Savagery to Match Their Numbers and you have nothing to fall back on. That's where Dagger Strike is most useful if you feel Boromir is more important to you than Merry.

This card requires a hand weapon to use. Blade of Gondor and Ranger's Sword are certainly worth playing in a Gondor deck. In fact, with those weapons, the +2 is not going to make as much of an impact as the Damage +1. The extra damage can mean the difference between killing the Uruk-hai Raiding Party now or having it follow you to the next site. The +2 is still good, though, for when the opponent plays Skirmish Events.

For the Shire part of this Event, you'll need Hobbit Swords or Sting. If you have a Hobbit/Gondor deck, odds are the Swords are in there, too. Even without a Hobbit theme, Sting shows up in a lot of decks since Frodo is in play already. This means Dagger Strike can give Frodo a little more strength if he finds himself in battle, and it's from a card that's going to be put to use anyways in your Gondor deck. (as opposed to, say, a random Noble Intentions that might go completely unused.)

Are other events better? The comparable Shire events all cost something to play them, either exerting someone (Halfling Deftness, Noble Intentions) or paying Twilight (Halfing Stealth, Hobbit Intuition). The Stealth Events can also be canceled by the opponent.

Other Gondor cards can possibly give +4 Strength, but only under very specific circumstances, so you probably won't notice a difference with Dagger Strike. (I'm sure you'll have more than just four Events in a deck anyways.) Also, there's only one other Strength-boosting Event that can play on Boromir Son of Denethor. So not only can Dagger Strike play on six different companions, it can play on all versions of them, for a total of 12 possible targets. That flexibility is very important when choosing which card to stack.