Re: Online Game Results

[TheHumanHydra]

Hey, a thread about games. Just what I was looking for.

I'm new (an extremely casual player back in the day), and don't know how to build good decks. I've only played my brother so far. We have been playing with Movies Block cards but whichever site path we agree on beforehand.

Today he was playing Dwarves (Gimli, Skilled Defender) and Isengard Orcs, and I Aragorn, Defender of Free Peoples with Elves and Rohan, paired with ... something indescribably weird (as far as I know). We played two games, on the Towers site path.

The first game, he bid three to my one and took the first turn. He used his Binding Ring to fetch the Rings of Fury, Retribution, and Guile to put on his Gimli, Linnar, and Durin III. My strategy was to start by playing Gollum, Nasty Treacherous Creature with Captured by the Ring to generate threats, but this failed to produce anything threatening and he doubled to three with no more than a Nasty breeze to oppose him.

I started Arwen, Queen of Elves and Men and Eowyn, Lady of Ithilien. I used an Agility token to stave off overwhelming by his Orc Overseer, but with three wounds on my two fighters, I ashamedly stopped at site two.

Now I made some horrible misplays that culminated in triumph. He played some free axes and presented me with only seven twilight on the move. I recurred Gollum with Captured by the Ring and thought to get out some wounds with Morgul Ambusher, forgetting he requires three threats. He slew my minions and moved again, to Hornburg Courtyard, adding 12 twilight. With 14 in the pool, I got excited. I played my Foul Tentacle and prepared to unleash the swarm.

Alas, I did not have an Evil-smelling Fens in play. Then I saw that the Sauron, Lord of the Rings in my hand was highlighted. What? I can play him already? Oh -- the nine burdens on Frodo! Sauron annihilated Durin and Linnar. Well, that certainly plugged the leaking holes of this game. But my fellowship was still at site two, to his five!

Brego gave me some breathing room, but his lone Isengard Orc brought me to five wounds in the party and I stopped at the sanctuary. It's up to my Shadow side.

He moves to six with me only playing support conditions (Fens and Fat One Wants It). I deny his Tidings of Erebor and he stays put.

Finally! Aragorn and Eomer, Third Marshal of Riddermark enter the fray, the latter fully equipped via Stables and a spear-toss from his sister. Now I have the impetus to double through his minions, though Caradhras Has Not Forgiven Us buries the Marshal on the second move.

And the snap finish. With nine in the pool at Cavern Entrance, I Capture for Gollum, exert him with Evil-smelling Fens, and dial Sauron for murder. Down falls the Fellowship.

Game two, my brother bid zero and I was able to fetch Aragorn off my Riddermark and arm him. I doubled; he outfitted his starting fellowship and followed. Two orcs alive at site four made me stop for Frodo's sake; he ran over my Witch-king, Morgul King and shot past me. I decided my triad of Morgul Ambushers was clogging my hand and dropped them, a threat short. They were dispatched.

Now I made a massive mistake, getting into an exertion contest with Saruman, Servant of the Eye and losing Arwen -- realizing immediately after that discarding my Agility would have beaten the Isengard Smith. The Elf side of my deck was now shut down. I took a calculated risk and doubled, tanking his added Ulaire Enquea, LoM.

My brother called for Farin and Fror and advanced to the Hornburg Armory. I deployed an armed Eomer and inched ahead through orcs. He dropped a Dwarven Bracers and a Lord of Moria and took to the Hornburg Causeway, giving me 14 twilight. I had Sauron in my hand again with four burdens (two rings summoned), but I opted for my Foul Tentacle into Foul Tentacle into Foul Tentacle into Foul Tentacle -- the Huge Tentacle was in my hand -- the Watcher in the Waters, Keeper of Westgate. Five tentacles, one Watcher. Five companions.

Gimli hacked up the Watcher and killed Linnar's tentacle; Farin and Fror amputated theirs -- the Foul Tentacles on Frodo were down to four strength each, but his ungirded flesh they wrung for Victory by Tentacles.

We agreed that his Fellowship was actually quite strong (by our standards), especially for how little twilight it put out. My Shadow side was usually utterly ineffective against it, except with the enormous burst damage a couple cards provided. In particular, I underestimated how much threat support I'd need to empower my Morgul Aggressors and Troop of Haradrim. His Shadow side wasn't overwhelming, but he characterized it as doing consistent damage, which did frequently give me pause. My Free Peoples felt good when it was working, but sometimes struggled to gain traction, especially with the token strategy in the second game. I used the Rohan token ability once across the two games, though it did save two of my possessions from his Isengard Smith. I was able to use the Elf token ability more frequently, and it was very helpful.

Here's my rainbow of a decklist:

Ring-bearer: Frodo, Resolute Hobbit
Ring: The One Ring, The Binding Ring

Adventure deck:
The Riddermark
Uruk Camp
Stables
Westemnet Hills
Hornburg Courtyard
Hornburg Armory
Cavern Entrance
Wizard's Vale
Palantir Chamber

Free Peoples Draw Deck:
1x Arwen, Queen of Elves and Men
4x Aragorn, Defender of Free Peoples
2x Éomer, Third Marshal of Riddermark
1x Éowyn, Lady of Ithilien
1x Asfaloth, Elven Steed
1x Elven Bow
1x Gwemegil
1x Aragorn's Bow
2x Ranger's Sword
1x Brego
1x Eomer's Spear
1x Firefoot
1x Horse of Rohan
1x Éowyn's Sword, Dernhelm's Blade
1x Ring of Barahir
1x Mortal Men
1x Trust
2x Agility
2x Strength of Arms
2x Fortress Never Fallen
2x We Left None Alive

Shadow Draw Deck:
1x Gollum, Nasty Treacherous Creature
4x Foul Tentacle
1x Huge Tentacle
1x The Balrog, Terror of Flame and Shadow
1x Watcher in the Water, Keeper of Westgate
4x Troop of Haradrim
1x Sauron, The Lord of the Rings
4x Morgul Ambusher
1x The Witch-king, Morgul King
1x Úlairë Enquëa, Lieutenant of Morgul
1x Úlairë Nelya, Ringwraith in Twilight
4x Captured by the Ring
4x Evil-smelling Fens
2x Fat One Wants It

I do welcome critiques, as I have little idea what I'm doing. I want to keep the deck small to keep my Free Peoples draws reliable, but this makes the card slots ve-e-e-ry tight. I'm thinking of dropping a culture, but I don't really want to do that as the zaniness is part of the appeal of the deck (and of Aragorn, Defender of Free Peoples). The Shadow side I will revise significantly. I really wanted to use the Watcher in the Waters, and that led me to Gollum, and him to threats. I figured that if I fetched six minions out of my deck early, I'd be light on Shadow draws later, so the rest of the minions had better be heavy-hitters, hence the multicultural bombs. That part worked, I guess.

Thanks for reading!