Lobelia Sackville-Baggins

Hero. Threat: 8. 1   2   2   3  

Hobbit. Burglar.

You may look at other players’ hands at any time.

Action: Choose an Item attachment in play or in a player’s hand. Pay X resources to attach it to Lobelia Sackville-Baggins, even if she is ineligible for it. X is its printed cost. (Limit once per round.)

Katerina Poliakova

ALeP - The Shire's Reckoning #4. Tactics.

Lobelia Sackville-Baggins
Reviews

Lobelia Sackville-Baggins is not that strong of a hero but has quite strong for a hobbit.

Her ability is very thematic if you know the books. Bilbo is quite afraid of her and her attitudes.

The fact that she can use all atachments might be of some use.

chessplayer 34
Can you use this with a card like Sting while it is attached to an enemy? If yes, then I feel it can become too OP. — Saloon 29
i think guarded cards are not "in play" — doomguard 2406
'A player card attachment with the Guarded (X) Keyword cannot be attached to a character until it is free of encounters.' Since her ability only says she can grab things she is ineligible for, I don't think it would overwrite the guarded keyword, since that's a condition applied to the item itself. — FaldororLaridon 1

Ah, Lobelia. The grumpy Hobbit we all know, accompanied by her trusty umbrella.

Lobelia has 8 threat cost for 1 , 2 , 2 , and 3 . These are not great stats, but they open up great horizons when coupled with her ability. It is also worth mentioning that she has considerable strength for a Hobbit.

Lobelia has the Burglar trait, which does nothing except let her quest without boosting the threat of Smaug the Golden in the Lonely Mountain (and it gives us warm fuzzy thematic feelings). She also has the Hobbit trait, which makes her eligible for cheap readying via Fast Hitch (among other Hobbit tricks). This cheap readying will be important later.

She is in the sphere, which allows her to slot into a Bond of Friendship Hobbit deck if you use Merry. Other than that, she allows you to play Bilbo's Spoons (which is quite thematic).

However, Lobelia's luster is in her ability. She allows you to look at other player's hands whenever you want. She also allows you to pay for Item attachments at any point and attach them to her, even if she is ineligible. These attachments can be in play or in a player's hand (that's how it ties into her first ability).

Imagine this: you are playing Lobelia and hold Sterner than Steel in your hand, allowing you to cancel a shadow effect by exhausting a Weapon or Armor attachment on the defending character. Lobelia is defending, and scrying (such as Spyglass from the Dream-chaser) tells you that she is going to die. You look in another player's hand and see a Gondorian Shield. For one mere resource, you have saved Lobelia from an awful shadow effect.

There are endless opportunities of what to do with Lobelia. You can give her some Staffs of Wizards, turn her into a stalwart defender or attacker, or even steal other people's stuff and give it around the table with Long Lake Trader. Here is my favorite deck using Lobelia as a hero: ringsdb.com by community member Shellin.

All in all, Lobelia is the wildcard hero in this pack. She doesn't seem to fit with the others, but she fits into much more decks: from Hobbits to Eagles to Dale to Grief Decks. Lobelia remains one of the most interesting cards in this pack, and one of the most game-altering that ALeP has produced.

Maedhros100 148