Council of Elrond

What is this card designed for?

The White Hand Players Guide just gives this blurb:

There are a lot of unique non-character
resources that most hero players would
not consider putting because of its low
MP. Fallen Gandalf players love playing
this card because it instantly boosts those
penny resources.

But when I search on cardnum for unique resources, there's almost no 1 MP unique resources this would apply to...? Given that the Grey Embassy already boosts unique 1 MP factions to 2 MPs, the only cards I can see Give Welcome to the Unexpected to really benefit are:

Anduril, The Flame of the West
Bill the Pony
Book of Mazarbul
Choice of Luthien
Goldberry
Lindion the Oronin
Mistress Lobelia
Red Book of Westmarch
Roac the Raven
Shadowfax

So it seems like we're mostly looking at a group of allies around the Arthedain area, or Lindion/Shadowfax in the Gondor area (where I'm more focused on for an Await the Onset build).

Is there something I'm missing with this card?

It's free MP. You just made your deck but yes, stick to the Eriador resources. If you do the Gondor allies it's still free MP.

Lobelia is useful for fetching, especially for Fallen-wizards. Red Book can be stored easily. Bag End, Bree, and Old Forest can become havens. You can get decent MP from only a few sites.

Well I took your advice and built around the Eriador resources instead of Gondor... and wow that turned out really strong
The Fallen-Wizard deck archetypes have been particularly rewarding to build over the last couple of weeks. I never really understood how to make them work quite right when I was a kid. It's really interesting how each of them have these unique little engines to pour cards out onto the table. FW Gandalf is especially fun with the end of organization phase untap every turn, so you can keep moving resources from the sideboard effectively for free as you need them.

Some specific follow-up questions with this deck archetype (I'm trying to figure out how far I can bend the rules before they break).

I'm trying to figure out the best way to play out multiple resources that tap the site at Bag End/Bree/Old Forest. Fireworks in one option (that fits pretty well thematically to boot).

Secret Book:
From the URD and other threads here I gather:
Secret Book CAN be used to untap a hero version of a site.
However, Secret Book must be at the site that's being untapped.
(I'm attempting a scheme of using Warforges to recur a Secret Book each turn and then send Bill the Pony as a courier to whatever site I need untapped, which then gets recurred by Lobelia)

Question 1: when I used a card like Chambers in the Royal Court or Mischief in a Mean Way to turn a site into a Wizardhaven, it loses its previous site type right? (and thus would no longer be an eligible target for Secret Book)

Question 2: when a company moves away from a tapped site that has been converted into a Wizardhaven, that site would then be returned to the location deck (since it's a haven) instead of being discarded right?

Question 3: there isn't a way to use the "untap a haven by moving a new company to it" trick with a created Wizardhaven (since I can't have a second copy of the site in my location deck) right?

New sub-topic

Wizard's Trove
I create a Wizardhaven with Mischief in a Mean Way at Bree, and then store Sapling there, and then play Wizard's Trove to play the White Tree. Wizard's Trove/White Tree don't play on the site card itself, but say that Bree is now a protected Wizardhaven. What happens if I then move the company away from the site. Am I still considered to have a protected Wizardhaven at Bree even while the site card is not on table? (e.g. for the purposes of Await the Onset) What happens if I then move back to Bree on a later turn? Is it a Border-Hold or a protected Wizardhaven?

Bob654 wrote: ↑Tue May 26, 2020 2:38 am Secret Book CAN be used to untap a hero version of a site.
However, Secret Book must be at the site that's being untapped.

Yes and Yes. You can also grab minor items with Mathom Lore. If you like this idea look into the Dream Cards. You can play White Tree without ever leaving the Shire. FW Gandalf - Very Respectable Hobbits Never Had Any Adventures or Did Anything Unexpected + Black Riders
Go to: https://cardnum.net/cards and uncheck "Hide Dreamcards" and "Only Released."

Bob654 wrote: ↑Tue May 26, 2020 2:38 am Question 1: when I used a card like Chambers in the Royal Court or Mischief in a Mean Way to turn a site into a Wizardhaven, it loses its previous site type right? (and thus would no longer be an eligible target for Secret Book)

Correct.

Bob654 wrote: ↑Tue May 26, 2020 2:38 am Question 2: when a company moves away from a tapped site that has been converted into a Wizardhaven, that site would then be returned to the location deck (since it's a haven) instead of being discarded right?

Correct.

Bob654 wrote: ↑Tue May 26, 2020 2:38 am Question 3: there isn't a way to use the "untap a haven by moving a new company to it" trick with a created Wizardhaven (since I can't have a second copy of the site in my location deck) right?

No there isn't, you need 2 copies of the site in play, which can't be done with a DIY Haven.

Bob654 wrote: ↑Tue May 26, 2020 2:38 am I create a Wizardhaven with Mischief in a Mean Way at Bree, and then store Sapling there, and then play Wizard's Trove to play the White Tree. Wizard's Trove/White Tree don't play on the site card itself, but say that Bree is now a protected Wizardhaven. What happens if I then move the company away from the site. Am I still considered to have a protected Wizardhaven at Bree even while the site card is not on table? (e.g. for the purposes of Await the Onset) What happens if I then move back to Bree on a later turn? Is it a Border-Hold or a protected Wizardhaven?

Trove and White Tree are not played on the site card itself so they stick around if the site returns to the location deck. However, if you move everyone away from Bree, then Mischief in a Mean Way will be discarded -- you aren't considered to have anything and certainly not a protected Wizardhaven because Bree is not in play. If you move back to Bree it is not a Wizardhaven.

Now, what if you return to Bree later and play another Mischief to turn Bree back into a Wizardhaven -- does Wizardhaven Bree become protected? The rule is "a permanent-event played on a site affects only the copy of the site it is played on, unless otherwise specified. A permanent-event not played on a site affects all versions of affected sites." Consider News of the Shire which is not played on a site and affects all versions of the Bag End site: "Bag End becomes a border-hold." Trove similarly states "your Wizardhaven becomes protected" without being played on the site.

Bob654 wrote: ↑Sun May 24, 2020 3:06 am Is there something I'm missing with this card?

Minion resources. Note that Grey Embassy doesn't boost minion factions. Additional cards affected by Give Welcome to the Unexpected:

Angmarim
Black Trolls
Half-trolls
Morgul-orcs
Orcs of Dol Guldur
Orcs of Gorgoroth
Orcs of the Ash Mountains
Orcs of the Ephel Duath
Orcs of the Red Eye
Orcs of Udun
Ungol-orcs

Fallen Wizards need Great Ruse (or Double Dealing) for these, though, and they get none of the usual detainment protection like Minion players.