When I first opened The Grey Havens box, I was confused by this particular ally. Its stats to cost ratio is pretty favorable, while it has an interesting ability as well as a seemingly negative Forced effect. My initial knee jerk reaction was to dismiss this card as one of the bad ones. However, upon gaining some experience with it, I began to change my mind. To begin with, as well as being a solid quester, Lindon Navigator will have an extra action every turn. Coupled with the Scout trait, this gives one the freedom to play cards such as Distant Stars, Expert Trackers, or even use Mariner's Compass consistently. In addition, being able to quest while exhausted, though not as generally useful as not exhausting to quest, makes this card outstanding in edgy cases such as sailing quests. The downside to all this? After Lindon Navigator participates in a quest, you must discard a card from your hand. This seems to extremely limit the ally, and at times make it look downright bad. However, while its true that it can't be put into every deck, there are a few strong cases that stand out.

I am going to focus on two types of decks where Lindon Navigator can really shine. The first is of course a standard Noldor deck, or more specifically an Erestor deck. This is obvious, as the card was released in a box dedicated to that archtype. In a standard Noldor deck, having ways to dump cards like Elven Light or Lords of the Eldar is not just good to have, its necessary. Though there may be other ways to get the job done, Lindon Navigator is a cheap and easy way that provides a good return on investment of the discarded card. Now if multiple Navigators are in play, the burden of discarding multiple cards per round could become too heavy to sustain. However, in an Erestor deck, there will almost always be extra cards laying around. Lindon Navigator provides a prime target to make use of those otherwise wasted cards. Then, if one feels so inclined to play Lords of the Eldar, those already good questers will still be ready in the combat phase with solid enough stats to pull their weight. On top of all this, the Navigator allows one to set up other cards such as Mithlond Seawatcher or Warden of the Havens. Having the ability to discard whatever card type may be needed for that particular combat phase lends a variety of versatility which brings those allies to another level.

However, outside of a typical Noldor deck, there is another use for this ally that is not archtype specific. Card draw is a huge part of the Lore sphere. Because of this, one will often have extra cards in hand that are serving no purpose. Here the Core Set attachment, Protector of Lorien, swoops in to save the day. With this in mind, I would like to make several simple efficiency comparisons. Protector of Lorien costs one resource, while Lindon Navigator costs two, a difference that is not backbreaking. Protector of Lorien also has a one card to one willpower ratio. Lindon Navigator on the other hand has a one card to two willpower ratio, as well as an extra action to toy with. Just based off this, I would argue that the Navigator should be included in any deck that would use Protector of Lorien. Now if you're using the Protector to boost defense, then this argument becomes obsolete. But because this particular means of defense boosting is rather unreliable, the vast majority of decks will focus on the willpower aspect, making Lindon Navigator a prime target. In the end, even outside of a dedicated Noldor deck, I think Lindon Navigator has a place as a much more efficient Protector of Lorien substitute.

I have enjoyed using them in a Tri Leadership Deck with Gondor ally spam.

With Leadership Boromir +1 resource this guy quests for two, a chump defends and dies, then Prince And leader Boromir attack with 4 each.

Highish threat though, so I depends on getting blockers out quickly.

This card may not seem very powerful at first, considering the cost of 2 and a requirement of hero. As pointed out by Warden of Arnor, heroes are generally exhausted post quest phase. However this card is totally invaluable when you take some of the existing heroes with Light of Valinor in mind:

Glorfindel anyone?
Arwen Undómiel
Círdan the Shipwright
Legolas
Galadriel (Light of Valinor not even needed as she does not quest and you could exhaust her for card/threat at the end of the round)

All of the above are extremely potent heroes that would make this card shine.

i 've been playing the Weather Hills for the last few days, and i can chime in on its usefulness. the last game i counted how many times its effect was triggered: six times, not including combat. that kind of utility is amazing. just what Spirit needs. so whenever i go into an archery quest or a heavy direct damage quest like the Weather Hills, and i'm questing with Spirit, then the Mithril Shirt will be a go-to for its utility.

i'm surprised.

Avoiding enemy attacks is always more profitable than merely finding ways to defend them, as shadow cards or occasionally forced effects can no longer throw a wrench in your game plan. I would like to think of Coney In A Trap as the gold standard at achieving this, even better than Feint, which has been god-teir since the Core Set. The reason is simple. Coney In A Trap keeps an enemy from attacking you for the entire round, not just one phase. This is powerful. Think of enemies like Thaurdir, who are attacking multiple times per round over multiple phases. Coney In A Trap just laughs these into oblivion. In quests where having a boss attack you multiple times per round is a large part of the challenge, this card can skew things heavily in your favor.

However, there are two limitations for this card, which cannot be ignored. The first is that it requires a unique Ranger character and a unique Warrior character. Now these traits are relatively common, but this does mean that the card is restricted to a much narrower selection of decks then would otherwise be the case. The second limitation is that it can only be played after an enemy engages you. This is the big one, and definetaly brings the value of the card down a notch. Unlike Feint, which is a simple plug and play, Coney In A Trap requires careful timing. Thus it lacks versatility, but that does not mean that it's hard to use. There are meany boss enemies that cycle in and out of engagement. Additionally, those hated shadow cards that return the attacking enemy to the staging area allow you to play this card. Finally, early in the game when you may be unprepared to handle an enemy that showed up too early, Coney In A Trap delays the onslaught for one more round. It combos well with cards like Wait No Longer or Dunedain Hunter, and in certain cases can counter cards that cause each engaged enemy make an immediate attack.

As a straight up attack canceler, I think Feint ranks slightly ahead just based off of no conditional requirements. However, Coney In A Trap provides another element to shenanigans that can be pulled off, and certainly has the potential to be much more powerful.