Grave Cairn is very thematic, but suffers from the problem that if a character is leaving play, it probably has low attack. The only in-sphere options that are possibly worth it are the Dwarven Sellsword and the Greenwood Archer. Of course Grave Cairn fits well into a gimmicky deck that tries to sneak attack Gandalf a lot or make frequent use of Reinforcements.
Grave Cairn
Event.
Cost:1.
Response: After a character leaves play, add its to another character's until the end of the round.
"We have not the time or the tools to bury our comrade fitly, or to raise a mound up over him. A cairn we might build."
Legolas, The Two Towers
Legolas, The Two Towers
Trudi Castle
The Watcher in the Water #54Leadership.
Reviews
I think that this is a very powerful card against tough enemies like trolls and dragons, if Gandalf, Gandalf, Saruman, Giant Bear, or Beorn for example are leaving play, something which they tend to do quite a lot.
It works particularly well with sneak attack, as that ally will leave play in the middle of the round
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Clade 1
Catastrophically bad. In an environment where other situational attack boosts (even up to +3 attack) are free (just compare this to Unseen Strike or Khazâd! Khazâd!) and already often hard to justify including, Grave Cairn is just terrible. Sure, with characters like Gandalf or Beorn you can get a higher boost in theory, however this is quite hard to plan for and after getting them for their big round, further temporary attack boosts in that round are not really on the top of your priority list anyways, with said allies among the best options to clearing the board before leaving play (and thus becoming relevant for this effect). I have never played Grave Cairn and probably never will.
Rating: 0.5/10
Decks of mine using Grave Cairn