Category: Card Search

Gandalf’s Search

Matt Kell (kattattack22)Leave a comment
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LotR LCG’s much worse version of Magic the Gathering’s Brainstorm or Ponder.

Background

The card refers to Gandalf searching the records of Minas Tirith for any mention of The One Ring. He recounted the events during The Council of Elrond. There he found Isildur’s Scroll that detailed that he kept it and made it an heirloom of Arnor. Also the scroll detailed how to identify the ring by the inscription that it bore that would only reveal itself in fire.

Card Theme

This game often represents knowledge as card draw. The Lore sphere in particular is full of examples cards representing Middle-Earth’s knowledge, stories, and songs with Gleowine, Daeron’s Runes, Deep Knowledge, Erestor, Drinking Song, and Mithrandir’s Advice representing the knowledge, stories, and songs present in Middle Earth. Gandalf’s Search centered around finding a very specific piece of knowledge. Mechanically looking at cards in a player’s deck to find 1 particular card fits very well with the theme.

Card Synergies and Interactions

Istari

Gandalf’s Search can assist in setting up Gandalf hero’s ability. Especially if the top card isn’t that helpful or just trying to find an event Gandalf can play to maximize on the once per phase limit. It also plays well with Flame of Anor to maximize the attack boost to the Istari heroes and allies. Any high cost card the search can put on top works. A player knowing what their top card is also helps enable Messenger Raven’s ability. Messenger Raven is run in a lot of Radagast hero decks to give him a repeatable way to quest without exhausting. The player just returns the raven to hand and plays it next round with the added bonus of possibly drawing a card.

Elrond Vilya

It is is not the most efficient option to set up putting an expensive card into play with Vilya’s effect compared to Imladris Stargazer, Gildor ally, or Wizard Pipe. Still it is an option that can be cheaper than Gildor in the same sphere as Elrond hero.

Dwarven Mining

The Dwarven Mining cards discard cards from the top of the player deck for an effect. Zigil Miner in particular it helps to know what the top 1 or 2 cards of a player’s deck are to gain resources. Rearranging more than 2 can help set up gaining 2 resources. The other mining cards get an effect no matter what the top cards are, but the rearranging effect if enough resources are paid can help avoid discarding key cards. Then there are two cards are designed to be mined. Hidden Cache offsets the nerf Zigil Miner received from its errata down to 1 resource per card with a matching cost. Ered Luin Miner is not an efficient ally for 3 cost, but great value when put into play for free.

Expert Treasure-hunter

Expert Treasure-hunter is similar to Dwarven Mining cards since it discards the top card of the player deck. A player that knows what the card is can always guess correctly to draw it instead.

Resource Acceleration

  • Legacy of Numenor - Leadership Event - 0 Cost - Doomed 4. Action: Add 1 resource to each hero's resource pool.

More resources or cost reduction increases X and the player can see and rearrange more cards. Steward of Gondor was the big one in the Core Set and still strong today. In Lore, options are more limited with Master of Lore that can only reduce the cost by 3 at best. Love of Tales while cheap requires multiple copies in play to generate significant resources and many song cards or Drinking Song with Scroll of Isildur. Hobbits with a Good Meal can basically turn the effect into X + 2. There are all the Leadership events like Tighten Our Belts, Legacy of Numenor, and Captain’s Wisdom that can add resources to heroes.

Ring Rating

Card Talk uses the highly scientific yet arbitrary scale of 1 ring for the card to rule them all to 10 to be cast back into the fiery chasm from whence it came.

I rate Gandalf’s Search at 9 rings. I strongly suspect Nate French modeled this card on Brainstorm or Ponder. Brainstorm is incredibly strong in Magic the Gathering, and Ponder while weaker is still very good. Both are cheap and have great ability to set up combos and find answers to cards played by the opponent. Brainstorm especially is strong because it lets you swap cards in your hand with the top 3 of your deck and then put them back in any order at any time. Ponder is much closer to Gandalf’s Search since it draws only 1 deck, the player reorders the rest, and its timing is limited to main phases (equivalent to LotR’s Planning Phase.)



Like many LotR Core Set cards, cost was set fairly high compared to cards that came later. This could be Nate trying balance the card search and draw effect, or possibly it made sense with unknown plans for more strong resource acceleration on par of Steward of Gondor and original Zigil Miner. Either way, the cost never made much sense when Lorien’s Wealth can draw 3 cards for 3 cost. Gandalf’s Search for the same cost looks at 3 cards, draws 1, and the player puts the other two back on top in the order they want. Lorien’s Wealth effectively set the standard cost to draw a card at 1 resource. If you are paying more than 1 for Gandalf’s Search, then the player is better off just playing Lorien’s Wealth and drawing all the cards you get to look at. There also wasn’t any cards in the Core Set that trigger off what a player’s top card is. Getting to choose the order of cards is only setting up draws. It isn’t until Expert Treasure Hunter in The Hobbit Over Hill and Under Hill and Zigil Miner came out in Khazad-Dum that it could do more. Original Zigil Miner could help recoup the cost of it looking at more than 1, but with the errata version, it still wouldn’t be worth it.

The good news is we eventually got the better version of this card, Heed the Dream. That’s why despite the card have a few potential uses, I rated it so low. The cost is just too high for them and many cheaper more efficient alternatives exist.

  • Dave – 10
  • Grant – 10
  • Ted – 10
  • Matt – 9
  • Average 9.75

External Links

Sample Decks

Low-Cost Very Efficient 1 Core Set Deck by nelloianiro

Pretty much as the title says, a single (original) core set deck full of low cost cards.

Main Deck

Hero (3)
Aragorn (Core Set)
Eleanor (Core Set)
Glorfindel (Core Set)

Ally (17)
2x Daughter of the Nimrodel (Core Set)
3x Gandalf (Core Set)
2x Gléowine (Core Set)
3x Guard of the Citadel (Core Set)
1x Henamarth Riversong (Core Set)
1x Lórien Guide (Core Set)
2x Miner of the Iron Hills (Core Set)
3x Snowbourn Scout (Core Set)

Attachment (13)
1x Celebrían’s Stone (Core Set)
1x Dark Knowledge (Core Set)
2x Forest Snare (Core Set)
1x Power in the Earth (Core Set)
2x Protector of Lórien (Core Set)
1x Self Preservation (Core Set)
2x Steward of Gondor (Core Set)
2x The Favor of the Lady (Core Set)
1x Unexpected Courage (Core Set)

Event (20)
2x Common Cause (Core Set)
1x Dwarven Tomb (Core Set)
2x Ever Vigilant (Core Set)
2x For Gondor! (Core Set)
1x Gandalf’s Search (Core Set)
1x Hasty Stroke (Core Set)
2x Lore of Imladris (Core Set)
1x Lórien’s Wealth (Core Set)
2x Sneak Attack (Core Set)
2x Stand and Fight (Core Set)
1x Strength of Will (Core Set)
2x The Galadhrim’s Greeting (Core Set)
1x Valiant Sacrifice (Core Set)

3 Heroes, 50 Cards
Cards up to Core Set

Decklist built and published on RingsDB.

Dúnedain Message

Card Talk: An LOTR LCG PodcastLeave a comment
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Basically an extra copy of a side quest.

Background

The flavor text comes from The Council of Elrond chapter in The Fellowship of the Ring. More specifically when Gandalf is telling of how he came to suspect and eventually know Bilbo’s magic ring was The One Ring. He was relating when he first started to wonder, he notice many spies around the Shire. He then asked the Dunedain for help and they increased their watch over The Shire.

Card Theme

Many cards that draw additional cards or search for a particular card are associated with knowledge. Particularly in the form of the spoken or written word. Dunedain keeping watch over The Shire and the surrounding areas would have considerable knowledge of it and the happenings there. A message from them would contain intelligence especially considering the added context of Gandalf asking them to watch The Shire for him from the flavor text.

Card Synergies and Interactions

Side Quests

Dunedain Message needs side quests to find. It is hard to go wrong with the first player side quest, Gather Information. It is only 4 quest points making it one of the easier quests to complete. It is also neutral making it easy to slot into a deck with Dunedain Message. The Storm Comes is also a neutral side quest that offers great resource smoothing for ally cards. The Leadership side quests, Send for Aid and Prepare for Battle offer powerful benefits although their a little harder to complete with 6 quest points. Outside the Leadership sphere Keep Watch, Scout Ahead, and Double Back all have very useful effects worth having sooner than later.

Side Quest Bonus

Thurindir is amazing to run in any deck with a side quest in it because he gets a bonus willpower once the side quest is completed. He automatically gets to search for one at the start of the game. Dunedain Message can help find more side quests to complete and power him up. This is especially helpful as many of the side quests are limited to 1 copy per deck.

Thurindir is not the only player card to get better as players complete or attempt to complete side quests. East Road Ranger in particular is helpful because they can quest for 3 when the active quest is a side quest. The others like Thalion, Vigilant Dunadan, Rider of Rohan, Halfast Gamgee, and Legacy Blade require the quest to be completed. Thalion and Legacy Blade like Thurindir are better the more side quests are completed. Thalion can become a hero if 3 or more are completed. Legacy Blade gives +1 attack per side quest completed to max of 3.

Weather Hills Watchman

The Weather Hills Watchman can search the top 5 cards of the deck for a card with the Signal trait. This includes the Dunedain Message helping to make Dunedain side quest bonus a little more consistent.

Quest Specific

Running player side quests is very scenario dependent. Some scenarios purposely get harder the longer players take to complete them.

  • The Ringmaker cycle with the Time mechanism is the prime example. Every few turns, an encounter card will trigger a nasty effect the player(s) will have to deal with or survive.
  • Journey in the Dark from the LOTR Saga players gives players only so many turns before the Balrog arrives.
  • The first stage in the Over the Misty Mountains Grim, has very strong and tough Giant enemies and bouncing boulders that are are hero killers. It is best in that quest to hurry to the second stage.
  • Flight of the Stormcaller and Race Across Harad, the players are chasing the enemies and being chased, respectively. Delays in questing means letting the enemies escape or catch up and it is game over.
  • Deadman’s Dike and Under the Ash Mountains the scenario is trying to mine the player(s) deck(s). Each turn whittles away a little more at the deck. If deck(s) run out, it is game over.

On the flip side, there are quests where it is helpful to not advance too quickly or even stay on a particular stage for awhile.

  • Journey Along the Anduin in the Core Set, staying on stage 1 even after defeating the Hill Troll is a good idea. Stage 2 forces the players to reveal an additional encounter card so questing through it quickly to avoid location lock or having too many enemies is ideal. Then the last stage could introduce up to 4 enemies in true solo for a player to fight. Both of these stages are much easier with a large board of allies.
  • Conflict at the Carrock and We Must Away ‘Ere Break of Day it helps to stall on Stage 1. Once the player(s) have a strong board state, then advance to Stage 2 to take on the strong trolls that ambush them.
  • There are quests with no quest points like The Steward’s Fear or The Morgul Vale because advancing the quest is dependent some other trigger. In those scenarios a player might as well quest against a side quest and get a benefit beside not just raising their threat.

These are by no means exhaustive lists. The Vision of the Palantir’s scenario analyses, however, indicate at the start of each if a quest is good to use side quests in or not.

Ring Rating

Card Talk uses the highly scientific yet arbitrary scale of 1 ring for the card to rule them all to 10 to be cast back into the fiery chasm from whence it came.

I rate Dunedain Message at 8 rings. There is some utility to the card considering that the side quests from the Angmar Awakened cycle are limited to one copy per deck. The card can act like an additional copy of a side quest to increase the chances of finding it. Unfortunately, it is in Leadership which doesn’t have many side quest centric cards. Lore has more of the side quest bonus cards including Thurindir that can search for a side quest at set up anyway. On top of that, Lore has more card search cards like Word of Command and Heed the Dream that can find side quests or whatever card a player needs. Dunedain Message just is a very limited use case card that is easily overshadowed by better alternatives.

  • Dave – 9
  • Grant – TBR
  • Ted – 8
  • Matt – 8

External Links

Sample Decks

The Storm Comes! by ksym77

Deck uses Kahliel hero and The Storm Comes side quest to play many powerful unique allies.

Main Deck

Hero (3)
Faramir (The Land of Shadow)
Kahliel (The Mûmakil)
Théodred (Core Set)

Ally (28)
1x Beorn (Core Set)
1x Déorwine (Temple of the Deceived)
3x Dwarven Sellsword (The Drowned Ruins)
1x Elfhelm (The Dead Marshes)
2x Elrond (The Road Darkens)
3x Elven Jeweler (Escape from Mount Gram)
3x Errand-rider (Heirs of Númenor)
3x Firyal (The Mûmakil)
3x Gandalf (Core Set)
1x Gildor Inglorion (The Hills of Emyn Muil)
1x Glorfindel (Flight of the Stormcaller)
3x Jubayr (The Mûmakil)
3x Yazan (The Mûmakil)

Attachment (6)
2x Kahliel’s Headdress (The Mûmakil)
3x Lord of Morthond (Encounter at Amon Dîn)
1x Tome of Atanatar (The Blood of Gondor)

Event (13)
3x Captain’s Wisdom (The Thing in the Depths)
3x Dúnedain Message (Across the Ettenmoors)
2x Reinforcements (The Treachery of Rhudaur)
2x Sneak Attack (Core Set)
3x Strength of Arms (The Drúadan Forest)

Player Side Quest (3)
1x Prepare for Battle (The Mûmakil)
1x Send for Aid (The Treachery of Rhudaur)
1x The Storm Comes (The Sands of Harad)

3 Heroes, 50 Cards
Cards up to The Mûmakil

Decklist built and published on RingsDB.

Bilbo Baggins (Baggins Hero OtD)

Matt Kell (kattattack22)Leave a comment
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The mandatory hero for The Hobbit: On the Doorstep Saga expansion.

Background

Bilbo once a respectable Hobbit from a respectable family that didn’t go off having adventures, went on an adventure to burgle treasure from a dragon. Along the way, he won or found a magic ring (depending on the telling) that would change the course of Middle-Earth. That however is another story. Bilbo aided by the magic ring, verbally sparred with a dragon in trying to burgle some treasures. In so doing provoked the dragon to attack a nearby town leading to its demise and liberation of a Dwarven ancestral home and its treasures. Elves, Men, and Dwarves afterwards nearly came to war over the liberated treasures until the host of goblins, orcs, and wargs arrived. Bilbo was soon knocked out in the fighting but survived to take a nice stash of treasure home to retire on.

Card Theme

This version of Bilbo is meant to represent him in the second half of The Hobbit. He has to be included for those 3 The Hobbit: On the Doorstep quests. The theme comes in a couple of ways. The low willpower, attack, and defense represents his lack of experience at this point. Then there is his ability to pull out a treasure card from the player’s deck. It is a very burglar ability to just suddenly come up with this valuable object. It could also represent him just pulling his magic ring out of his pocket when needed.

Card Synergies and Interactions

Burglar Baggins and The Lucky Number

There are only 2 non-hero Baggins sphere cards. Burglar Baggins could boost Bilbo’s stats. The Lucky Number could boost another character’s stats. There used to be an infinite willpower combo with The Lucky Number and Galadriel hero. The Lucky Number being able to boost another character’s stats by Bilbo’s could feed into Nenya adding Galadriel’s willpower to another character. When targeting Bilbo, it used to create an infinite loop because Bilbo’s willpower would update and that would recalculate Galadriel’s and so on.

FAQ 1.55 on lasting effects killed the loop. Basically, 1.55 said the effect for player cards that last until the phase or round has to be calculated when triggered. Before 1.55 and still true for encounter cards, you would recalculate if something else in the game would affect the total. Now for player cards, it doesn’t update if there is a change. Under 1.55 Bilbo adds his 1 willpower to Galadriel. Then with Nenya, she adds her 5 willpower Bilbo. It doesn’t update to add Bilbo’s 6 willpower to Galadriel.

Treasure Cards

The treasure cards that can be earned in The Hobbit Saga all have useful effects. Sting, Glamdring, and Orcrist earned in Over Hill and Under Hill more so than The Lonely Mountain ones. Bilbo can help find them and get them into play. Bilbo’s Magic Ring in particular should be the first one found to gain more Baggins resources and cancel attacks.

Neutral Cards

The lack of Baggins sphere cards doesn’t mean that Bilbo’s resource are useless. Neutral cards don’t need any specific sphere resources to be played. Thematically, that let’s Bilbo get Gandalf into play. This also can help open up more possibilities with Bilbo’s resources with the songs that can grant Bilbo additional sphere icons. A Good Harvest can also change Baggins resources to another sphere for a phase.

Resource Transfer

Bilbo can’t gain resources from player effects eliminating Steward of Gondor, Legacy of Numenor, etc. Moving resources to him is still allowed. Errand-rider and Parting Gifts are great ways to take advantage of Steward to build up more Baggins resources.

Quest Specific

Something to keep in mind with Baggins sphere Bilbo is that you will need his resources for encounter effects as well. Most commonly in On the Doorstep, is paying to travel to different locations. In The Lonely Mountain scenario, they are very important. The Lonely Mountain location lets Baggins resources be spent to help succeed a Burgle attempt. If the player discards a card from their deck they don’t have a match for in their hand, then the resources let the player have a redo and draw card. Baggins resource sin The Battle of Five Armies can get the players are an Eagle ally with hero level stats.

Ring Rating

Card Talk uses the highly scientific yet arbitrary scale of 1 ring for the card to rule them all to 10 to be cast back into the fiery chasm from whence it came.

I have to rate this version of Bilbo a 9. It really isn’t fair to rate this hero like a regular player card given the massive restriction on his play. He can’t be put into a deck outside On the Doorstep per the rules. He’s then limited to 3 scenarios and is more akin to an objective hero or ally. He also has a sphere with only 2 non-hero player cards in it. He’s fine in the scenarios he’s allowed to play in. That is because he’s a free hero, Baggins resources are required to mitigate encounter effects, and he’ll get the powerful Treasures out of the deck. Otherwise, the 1/1/1 stat line adds about as much as a low cost ally. Overall, he doesn’t do much without Baggins resources and extremely niche given the few scenarios he’s playable in.

  • Dave – 3
  • Grant – 3
  • Ted – TBR
  • Matt – 9

External Links

Sample Decks

It’s Not a Sphere! by kattattack22

An April Fools joke deck using On the Doorstep Bilbo with the Grey Wanderer contract.

It’s Not a Sphere!

Main Deck

Hero (1)
Bilbo Baggins (On the Doorstep)

Contract (0)
1x The Grey Wanderer (Challenge of the Wainriders)

Ally (16)
1x Bill the Pony (The Black Riders)
1x Boromir (The Road Darkens)
1x Farmer Maggot (The Black Riders)
1x Gaffer Gamgee (Mount Gundabad)
3x Gandalf (Over Hill and Under Hill)
1x Halfast Gamgee (The Crossings of Poros)
3x Halfling Bounder (The Sands of Harad)
3x Keen-eyed Took (The Hills of Emyn Muil)
1x Rosie Cotton (The Mountain of Fire)
1x Sam Gamgee (The Thing in the Depths)

Attachment (13)
1x Dagger of Westernesse (The Black Riders)
3x Fast Hitch (The Dead Marshes)
1x Hobbit Cloak (The Black Riders)
3x Resourceful (The Watcher in the Water)
1x Song of Battle (The Dead Marshes)
1x Song of Kings (The Hunt for Gollum)
1x Sting (Mount Gundabad)
1x Strider (The Drowned Ruins)
1x Sword-thain (The Dread Realm)

Event (18)
3x Burglar Baggins (Over Hill and Under Hill)
3x Dúnedain Message (Across the Ettenmoors)
3x Halfling Determination (The Black Riders)
3x The Lucky Number (On the Doorstep)
3x The Shirefolk (Mount Gundabad)
3x Timely Aid (The Redhorn Gate)

Player Side Quest (3)
1x Gather Information (The Lost Realm)
1x Send for Aid (The Treachery of Rhudaur)
1x The Storm Comes (The Sands of Harad)

1 Hero, 50 Cards
Cards up to Challenge of the Wainriders

Decklist built and published on RingsDB.

Galadriel (Ally)

Matt Kell (kattattack22)Leave a comment
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Leader of Lothlórien, Giver of Gifts

Background

Galadriel is the co-ruler of Lothlórien, Lady of the Galadhrim, founder of the White Council, and bearer of Nenya, one of the three Elven Rings. She came to Middle Earth from Valinor when most of the Noldor followed Fëanor to war against Melkor and retrieve the Silmarils. Galadriel came however seeking a place to rule as her own. She married to Celeborn near the end of The First Age and had one daughter, Celebrian who would wed Elrond. It is in the Third Age, Galadriel that became the Lady of Lothlórien. Growing darkness in Mirkwood and Dol Guldur caused her to found the White Council.

Card Theme

The Galadriel ally fits pretty well with what we see of Galadriel in the books. She only has willpower as a leader of the Free Peoples but she doesn’t directly engage with Sauron or other forces of darkness. She finds an attachment and puts into play essentially gifting it to the players’ heroes or allies as she gifted the Fellowship Lembas, Elven Cloaks, Three Golden Hairs to Gimli, Elven rope to Sam, Bow of the Galadhrim to Legolas, Elf-stone to Aragorn, a Golden Belt to Boromir, and the Phial of Galadriel to Frodo. The ally version only sticks around for a round considering she only provides some limited aid to the main characters before they leave her lands.

Card Synergies and Interactions

Key Attachments

Galadriel’s ability can help find any attachment that costs 3 or less that is vital to a player’s deck functioning well. Steward of Gondor one of the the best resource acceleration cards is a valid target. Getting an early Vilya also can be a huge boon that Galadriel can pull out. Trait based support attachments like Heir of Valandil, O Lorien, The Elvenking, or King of Dale can all found and put right into play. Galadriel’s ability can help make those decks more consistent by getting whichever attachment is needed right out into play.

Player Guarded X

Galadrial ally’s ability unfortunately doesn’t work with these cards very well and is a bit of a nonbo. This is due to what is affectionally referred to as the “hot second” ruling.

You cannot “cheat” guarded attachments. The guarded keyword triggers after it enters play; so no matter what you do, you will have to attach it to an enemy or location. In the case of Well-equipped, it would attach to the Dwarf for a hot second before forcing you to mill for an enemy or location and attach it to that encounter card.

Caleb Grace’s Hot Second Ruling

A player could at least pull out a Guarded X attachment from their deck. Then once it was attached to a hero, the guarded keyword would trigger putting it in the staging area.

Put Ally into Play

Unfortunately, these cards are largely another nonbo. The ability specifies that Galadriel has to be played from hand to trigger putting an attachment into play. Born Aloft can let a plyer use the same copy of Galadriel for multiple triggers. Although the player has to pay full cost again. To the Sea, To the Sea does work to get a discounted Galadriel into play. There is a is a little bit of a combo with Timely Aid and Send for Aid. Galadriel puts the other cards not put into play with her ability back in any order instead of shuffling. Any desired ally she finds can put into play later with either card.

Dwarf Mining and Vilya

As just mentioned, Galadriel’s ability allows the player to put cards back on top of their deck in any order. This can set up Zigil Miner to generate 2 resources, put another attachment in play with Well-Equipped, or even draw a card with Expert Treasure Hunter. Even better is to put any ally or attachment into play with Vilya.

Quest Specific

Galadriel usually will only quest with her 3 willpower, but she has a good number of hit points for an ally and leaves play at the end of the round. This makes her a great target for archery. The Against the Shadow, Haradhrim, and Vengeance of Mordor cycles have quite a bit of archery. The Lord of the Rings saga quests starting in Treason of Saruman features Archery quite heavily as well.

Ring Rating

Card Talk uses the highly scientific yet arbitrary scale of 1 ring for the card to rule them all to 10 to be cast back into the fiery chasm from whence it came.

I rate Galadriel at 5 rings. A willpower boost for a turn and getting to fetch an attachment from the top 5 are pretty useful. The deck does need a fair number of attachments to make sure it doesn’t whiff. While she is generally useful, 3 resources for only a temporary boost to questing seems steep even in Leadership. It is just enough that early game it can be difficult to get and play her to help set up a player’s board state with 3 or less cost attachment. Also the opportunity cost of only putting in a temporary ally when ramping up willpower might be necessary can be a big ask. Late game her usefulness really drops off as typically willpower will be sorted out and key attachments already out in play. The limitation on her ability that she has to be played hurts her usefulness and fun factor. The fun factor loss seems worse as she is in the same sphere as many of the put an ally in to play cards. All these drawbacks, it often is just better to run more card draw to find a key attachment than Galadriel ally.

  • Dave – 7
  • Grant – TBR
  • Ted – 4
  • Matt – 5

External Links

Sample Decks

All That is Gold Does not Glitter by Gizlivadi

A solo Dunedain deck with a fair number of non-trap attachments

Main Deck

Hero (3)
Amarthiúl (The Battle of Carn Dûm)
Aragorn (The Watcher in the Water)
Halbarad (The Lost Realm)

Ally (20)
2x Errand-rider (Heirs of Númenor)
1x Fornost Bowman (The Dread Realm)
2x Galadriel (The Road Darkens)
3x Gandalf (Core Set)
3x Guardian of Arnor (The Battle of Carn Dûm)
3x Master of the Forge (Shadow and Flame)
2x Ranger of Cardolan (The Wastes of Eriador)
2x Sarn Ford Sentry (The Lost Realm)
2x Weather Hills Watchman (The Lost Realm)

Attachment (17)
2x Armored Destrier (Temple of the Deceived)
1x Celebrían’s Stone (Core Set)
1x Dúnedain Remedy (The Drowned Ruins)
3x Dúnedain Warning (Conflict at the Carrock)
3x Forest Snare (Core Set)
1x Gondorian Shield (The Steward’s Fear)
1x Heir of Valandil (The Lost Realm)
3x Steward of Gondor (Core Set)
2x Sword that was Broken (The Watcher in the Water)

Event (14)
3x Deep Knowledge (The Voice of Isengard)
1x Descendants of Kings (Escape from Mount Gram)
3x Feint (Core Set)
3x Heed the Dream (Flight of the Stormcaller)
2x Legacy of Númenor (The Voice of Isengard)
2x Sneak Attack (Core Set)

3 Heroes, 51 Cards
Cards up to The Drowned Ruins

Decklist built and published on RingsDB.

Finally, a Feasible Fellowship by Priate Brahm

A solo Dunedain deck with a fair number of non-trap attachments

Main Deck

Hero (3)
Amarthiúl (The Battle of Carn Dûm)
Aragorn (The Watcher in the Water)
Halbarad (The Lost Realm)

Ally (20)
2x Errand-rider (Heirs of Númenor)
1x Fornost Bowman (The Dread Realm)
2x Galadriel (The Road Darkens)
3x Gandalf (Core Set)
3x Guardian of Arnor (The Battle of Carn Dûm)
3x Master of the Forge (Shadow and Flame)
2x Ranger of Cardolan (The Wastes of Eriador)
2x Sarn Ford Sentry (The Lost Realm)
2x Weather Hills Watchman (The Lost Realm)

Attachment (17)
2x Armored Destrier (Temple of the Deceived)
1x Celebrían’s Stone (Core Set)
1x Dúnedain Remedy (The Drowned Ruins)
3x Dúnedain Warning (Conflict at the Carrock)
3x Forest Snare (Core Set)
1x Gondorian Shield (The Steward’s Fear)
1x Heir of Valandil (The Lost Realm)
3x Steward of Gondor (Core Set)
2x Sword that was Broken (The Watcher in the Water)

Event (14)
3x Deep Knowledge (The Voice of Isengard)
1x Descendants of Kings (Escape from Mount Gram)
3x Feint (Core Set)
3x Heed the Dream (Flight of the Stormcaller)
2x Legacy of Númenor (The Voice of Isengard)
2x Sneak Attack (Core Set)

3 Heroes, 51 Cards
Cards up to The Drowned Ruins

Decklist built and published on RingsDB.

Spare Pipe

Matt Kell (kattattack22)1 Comment
  • Player Card Categories 
    • Ally Attachment
    • Burglar Treasure
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    • Hit Point Bonus
    • Played from Hand

Fantastic card in the pipe deck, but otherwise just a filler.

Background

Pipe-weed originally grew in Numenor. The Numenorians brought it to Middle Earth. It was the Hobbits though that domesticated and started smoking it in pipes. The practice spread via Bree because it was a crossroads town.

Card Theme

The first part of the card is a huge thematic miss. While Tolkien indicated pipe-weed isn’t exactly tobacco it is related. The US Surgeon General has warned people for decades that smoking can lead to lung cancer. Gaining a hit point implying the character is healthier is completely backwards to what we know about smoking. The second part at least makes sense given Smoke Rings, Smoke and Think, and Old Toby are events. Once a character has a pipe, they’re going to want some leaf for it and start smoking it right away.

Card Synergies and Interactions

Smoke and Think

This is the card Spare Pipe was made for. It came in the same adventure pack. All the other pipes are trait restricted. Having a pipe for any character, in sphere, provides a universally good bonus, and helps you find Smoke and Think is everything a player wants to maximize the cost reduction. Between Hobbit Pipe, Wizard Pipe, Dunedain Pipe, and Dwarf Pipe that’s 12 cards to help maximize its effect. Fifteen cards adding in Spare Pipe. It can be difficult to fit four different traits into a single deck. Spare Pipe makes Smoke and Think possible to run in deck with just one of the associated traits. It is pretty efficient in one that can run 2.

A great example is a Dwarf Mining deck with Hero Gandalf. He already worked well with Dwarf mining decks. This is because Gandalf would let the player know at least of the cards to be minded. Then he can set up mining cards with Wizard Pipe. Dwarf Pipe being able to put one of those mined on the bottom of the deck fits right into this deck type too. Already that is 4-6 pipes in the deck to help get a decent cost reduction with Smoke and Think. Spare Pipe’s bonus hit point also won’t be amiss another great Dwarf Mining hero, Spirit Dain.

Hobbit Pipe

Spare Pipe enables the Hobbit Pipe threat reduction engine created by this card. Spare Pipe can help find a threat reduction event like the aforementioned Smoke Rings, Galadhrim’s Greeting, or The Shirefolk to draw additional cards. Smoke and Think added in gives it the additional resource acceleration component to play powerful allies like Glorfindel and Beorn to make up for their generally lower stats.

Old Toby

Old Toby like Smoke and Think became much better with Spare Pipe. It became a lot easier to have heal 1 damage on a wider range of heroes. Then to draw multiple cards. Especially at 2 cost it needs to draw 2 cards to have the same cost benefit as Lórien Wealth. It has to draw in the range of 4-6 cards to match the likes of Mithrandir’s Advice. It can however reach that level with some Spare Pipes among the other trait based ones.

Gloin

Gloin hero can turn into a monster resource engine and “defender” the more hit points he has. I say defender loosely in that usually he will be soaking undefended attacks. Spare Pipe provides another means of boosting those hit points besides the usual includes of Citadel Plate and Ent Draught. It can be a good early game option especially if paired with card draw events. Then it can help Gloin resource generation and near invincibility combos.

Dale

Spare Pipe could easily slot into a Dale deck. Dale is usually going to run some Spirit to utilize King of Dale. It doesn’t provide much for the Dale deck than an additional attachment for Guardian of Esgaroth. Many of the Dale allies have 2 or more hit points. Most Dale decks want to maximize the number of allies and attachments to draw cards from Brand son of Bain. There usually isn’t much room for events for Spare Pipe to pull out of the top 5.

Ring Rating

Card Talk uses the highly scientific yet arbitrary scale of 1 ring for the card to rule them all to 10 to be cast back into the fiery chasm from whence it came.

I rate Spare Pipe at 6 rings. It is a fine card. The +1 hit point is always useful. It is very flexible since it can go on any character. It likely will replace itself when played searching the top 5 cards for an event. It really enables the pipe engine with Hobbit Pipe and Smoke and Think. Outside of Pipe focused and maybe Gloin decks it is pretty marginal. Especially in Spirit that is overloaded with good cards.

  • Dave – 3
  • Grant – 3
  • Ted – 3
  • Matt – 6
  • Average – 3.75

Sample Decks

Deck Bond of Hobbitship by Dave Walsh

A Hobbit good stuff Bond of Friendship deck.

Main Deck

Hero (4)
Frodo Baggins (Conflict at the Carrock)
Merry (The Black Riders)
Pippin (The Black Riders)
Sam Gamgee (The Black Riders)

Contract (0)
1x Bond of Friendship (The Fortress of Nurn)

Ally (20)
2x Bilbo Baggins (The Road Darkens)
2x Bill the Pony (The Black Riders)
2x Boromir (The Road Darkens)
2x Farmer Maggot (The Black Riders)
2x Gaffer Gamgee (Mount Gundabad)
2x Gandalf (Core Set)
2x Quickbeam (The Treason of Saruman)
2x Rosie Cotton (The Mountain of Fire)
2x Treebeard (The Antlered Crown)
2x Warden of Healing (The Long Dark)

Attachment (18)
2x Boots from Erebor (Khazad-dûm)
2x Dagger of Westernesse (The Black Riders)
2x Fast Hitch (The Dead Marshes)
2x Hobbit Cloak (The Black Riders)
2x Red Book of Westmarch (The Land of Sorrow)
2x Ring Mail (The Long Dark)
2x Spare Pipe (The Land of Sorrow)
2x The Arkenstone (The Withered Heath)
2x Unexpected Courage (Core Set)

Event (12)
2x A Test of Will (Core Set)
2x Hasty Stroke (Core Set)
2x Peace, and Thought (Shadow and Flame)
2x Raise the Shire (The Mountain of Fire)
2x Sneak Attack (Core Set)
2x The Shirefolk (Mount Gundabad)

4 Heroes, 50 Cards
Cards up to The Fortress of Nurn

Decklist built and published on RingsDB.

Love of the Halfling’s Leaf by MrSpaceBear

Selection from the Ringsdb deck description:

This deck makes fantastic use of Smoke and Think along with the pipes for hobbits, dwarves, and wizards. In total, there are 7 pipes in the deck. The Spare Pipe can go on just about anyone, but Dáin Ironfoot is typically the first target for extra hit points. The pipes are all functional in this deck. Wizard Pipe is key to swap the top card that you want onto the top of your deck (to then Discard with Dáin Ironfoot, play with Gandalf’s ability, or mill with a Zigil Miner/Well-Equipped). The Hobbit Pipe helps to empower Smoke and Think as well as draw some cards when Smoke Rings is played later in the game. Dwarf Pipe is amazing in this deck. It should be churning through the deck quickly. Use the Dwarf Pipe to put the key pieces back on the bottom to find again. This can be key allies like Faramir in quests where high willpower is needed. It can be A Test of Will in multiplayer games where extra cancels may be needed. The Spare Pipe is a tutor for an event and helps to fuel Smoke and Think.

Main Deck

Hero (3)
(MotK) Bilbo Baggins (Messenger of the King Allies)
Dáin Ironfoot (The Ghost of Framsburg)
Gandalf (The Road Darkens)

Contract (0)
1x Messenger of the King (The Land of Sorrow)

Ally (19)
1x Arwen Undómiel (The Watcher in the Water)
3x Ered Luin Miner (Temple of the Deceived)
1x Faramir (Core Set)
1x Firyal (The Mûmakil)
1x Gimli (The Treason of Saruman)
1x Glorfindel (Flight of the Stormcaller)
1x Legolas (The Treason of Saruman)
2x Northern Tracker (Core Set)
3x Rhovanion Outrider (Temple of the Deceived)
1x Súlien (The City of Corsairs)
1x Thalion (Fire in the Night)
3x Zigil Miner (Khazad-dûm)

Attachment (18)
1x Ancestral Armor (Roam Across Rhovanion)
1x Armor of Erebor (Mount Gundabad)
3x Dwarf Pipe (The Mûmakil)
1x Expert Treasure-hunter (On the Doorstep)
1x Gandalf’s Staff (The Road Darkens)
1x Hobbit Pipe (The Black Riders)
1x Inner Strength (Wrath and Ruin)
1x Shadowfax (The Treason of Saruman)
2x Silver Circlet (Wrath and Ruin)
2x Spare Pipe (The Land of Sorrow)
3x Unexpected Courage (Core Set)
1x Wizard Pipe (The Road Darkens)

Event (18)
3x A Test of Will (Core Set)
3x Hidden Cache (The Morgul Vale)
3x Old Toby (The Black Serpent)
3x Smoke and Think (The Land of Sorrow)
2x Smoke Rings (The Black Riders)
2x Well-Equipped (The Blood of Gondor)
2x Will of the West (Core Set)

Player Side Quest (1)
1x Double Back (Escape from Mount Gram)

3 Heroes, 56 Cards
Cards up to The Land of Sorrow

Sideboard

Ally (3)
1x Lórien Guide (Core Set)
1x Northern Tracker (Core Set)
1x Treebeard (The Antlered Crown)

Attachment (1)
1x The One Ring (A Shadow in the East)

Event (1)
1x Well-Equipped (The Blood of Gondor)

Decklist built and published on RingsDB.