Errand Rider is an incredible splash card. He's a great fit for two different archetypes: the Gondor Swarm and a multi-sphere deck, but first, let's look at the Errand Rider in a vacuum.

That one cost immediately tells me this card is worth something. You'd be hard pressed to show me a one-cost ally in this game that is not good, and our serviceable friend here is no exception. Even with a blank text box, Errand Rider is a nice chump blocker that can even take some direct damage before biting the dust.

Now let's throw his action in the mix. The first thing you should have coming into this game as a new player is an understanding of sphere and resource pool balance. Having the ability to shift resources around is phenomenally useful. Your single Spirit hero? Now you can play those crucial two cost cards in one round or have a resource handy for some cancellation. Hand full of pricey uniques? Get 'em out there! If your deck has heroes from three different spheres, Errand Rider can even save games; and multiplayer takes him to a whole new level.

He also fits extremely well into your old Leadership Gondor swarm deck. This one cost chump becomes a serious contributor being boosted by Boromir and Visionary Leadership. Even if he dies the round you play him, a Gondor deck benefits just from having another ally around to key off of (AVGT, Herald of Anorien , Citadel Custodian).

As you can see, auto include glue ally in many decks. Don't let that stat-line fool you from giving this hard worker his due credit.

100% staple for multisphere decks. He'll get your money where it needs to go, and won't charge any of those goddamn fees - in fact, he'll even take a couple arrows or a sword to the face for you. It might not seem significant, but he provides a lot of value for one resource. Gondor trait is an added bonus, but he fits into a ton of decks without any effort.

I found this to be an incredibly useful card in some decks. Since it isn't unique, you can play two or even three of these Errand-Riders, which means you could move up to THREE resources per turn.

Paired with Steward of Gondor, this can supply other decks with much needed resources in a pinch and even in solo-play I found that the resource smoothing helped a lot.

While very mediocre in solo, Errand-rider becomes a very good option in higher player counts. Its Gondor trait often means that it will have increased stats and 2 hitpoints are always very nice, if only it means soaking up some archery along the way. The main reason it is of course played for is its ability. While gaining resources is almost always better than just moving them, I would still never underestimate the utility of having your coins wherever you want them. Errand-rider is an incredibly flexible way to move those resources around repeatedly, often ensuring that the whole fellowship can optimize their output accordingly. A very decent glue ally for a variety of tables!

Rating: 7/10

Decks of mine using Errand-rider

All my card ratings