Eye of Barad-dûr

The lidless Eye looked out from Sauron's fortress.

Sting's lore reads "'This is Sting. You have seen it before once upon a time.'"

Indeed we have. With its ability to give your opponent a strategic glimpse of your hand and hinder any Orc-based minion deck with it's twilight removal, Sting has become one of the most popular cards in the game. Prior to The Battle of Helm's Deep set, the Sauron culture had no way to defend against hand revealing cards like Sting, Glamdring, and Curse Their Foul Feet. While Isengard had No Business of Ours, and Moria had Throw Yourself in Next Time, Sauron players were left helplessly removing twilight and discarding cards. But now, all that has changed.

Eye of Barad-Dur marks the first time that you can gain an advantage by letting the Free Peoples player reveal your hand. By simply drawing Eye of Barad-Dur and holding on to it (especially if Sting or Glamdring are on the table) you can set a very effective trap for your opponent. Should they choose to reveal your hand, the terrible sight of the lidless Eye will add two burdens to Frodo, who is probably already hindered by the powerful burden adding ability of the Sauron culture. Simply discarding the Eye if it is revealed will meet the card's cost, and the two resulting burdens come at a bargain price.

Even if you can't entice your opponent to reveal your hand, the Eye's skirmish ability can come in handy. It allows you to make a character skirmishing a Sauron Orc strength minus one for each ringbound companion you can spot. In every case, this results in at least a strength decrease of one (as either Frodo or Sam are always in play), but in a ringbound ranger deck, or a Frodo/Sam/Smeagol deck, the results can be devastating to your opponent's unwary companion. Combined with its big brother, Enduring Evil (which, no coincidentially, benefits from the burden-adding aspect of the other half of the Eye of Barad-Dur's abilities), the Eye and a small Sauron Orc can easily take down even the toughest of companions.

With it's powerful burden adding and strength sapping ability, Eye of Barad-Dur will likely find a place in most Sauron decks, and as its use becomes more prominent, Free People's players will have to think twice about revealing your hand, which is the true benefit of the Eye's threat.