While Yazan is a very expensive Ally card, his special ability is incredible - giving him a bonus Direct Damage sniper attack (limit once per phase) dealing 1 damage on any non-unique enemy regardless of the enemy defense!

Perfect for taking out pesky cards like Goblin Sniper, or putting that last point of damage on a wounded, but heavily armored foe.

Here is a mathematical comparison on how powerful the special ability of Direct Damage can be....

There are 52 non-unique enemy cards in game with Defense of 4 or more, so the ability is the equivalent of a single 5 or more strike on a variety of enemies. The highest non-unique enemy in game has 6 , Thus Yazan's special ability can be equivalent to up to a single 7 attack strike!

And if you upgrade Yazan to a Hero with the new Messenger of the King card, his abilities rival Middle-Earth's most well-known archer Hero, Legolas.

Let's compare Core set Legolas, with Messenger of the King Hero Yazan. Both are sphere Ranged Heroes with 9 to start.

Questing: Hero (as well as Ally) Yazan has one more than Legolas, at a loss of one health . This gives Yazan some "quest assist" flexibility - and somewhat reduces the gap between Hero Yazan's ability to advance quests, vs. Legolas special ability. Although this flexibility will cost Yazan an action, you can ready Hero Yazan for combat with the usual Hero readiness combos, and you can additionally ready either the Hero or Ally version using Kahliel's special ability. And you can buff Yazan by up to +3 with Kahliel’s Tribesman. This is something Legolas (or just about any other questing hero for that matter) cannot match.

Survivability: Since both heroes would not be used as defenders, Yazan's three health is not a big drawback vs. Legolas, except in the rare instance of one shot (and conditional) instant kill treacheries such as Festering Wounds (Journey to Rhosgaobel), or The Master's Malice (Heir's of Numenor).

Attack: Here is where Yazan shines as either an ally or a Hero. Yazan and Legolas both attack at baseline 3 . However Yazan can also be easily buffed up to +3 without attachments using Kahliel’s Tribesman. In addition Legolas special ability is restricted as it only triggers if the enemy is killed in the attack. Yazan's special ability triggers on each attack (once per phase), and as noted at the top - can be very strong.

Finally, Let's look at the most extremely powerful one phase combat scenario for Yazan (either Hero or Ally), no attachments but with thematic Kahliel and 3 Kahliel’s Tribesman allies on table, and a spare Yazan (or other Harad ally) card in hand: Exhaust the Tribesman for the buffs. Defend with 4 . Ready using Kahliel discarding the useless spare Yazan in hand. Attack with 6 . Direct point of damage to another enemy: equivalent to up to a single 7 strike.

And you can repeat this every combat round as long as you have a Harad Ally card in hand....Once set up, Yazan can be borderline insanely overpowered, and we haven't even added any attachments to him!

The ability to put 1 damage on most enemies, anywhere on the board is incredibly versatile.

The Ranged trait ensures the combat phase trigger for the special ability can be used if an enemy is engaged with any player on the table. And attacks triggering the special direct damage ability can also come outside of the combat phase with the conveniently in sphere Hands Upon the Bow event card.

Either in Ally or MoTK Hero form, Yazan is a powerful and unique card that adds many options to how you engage enemies on the table.