Category: Spirit

Eowyn (Spirit)

Matt Kell (kattattack22)Leave a comment
  • Player Card Categories
    • Willpower Bonus
    • Discard from Hand
    • Group Effect

The Core Set’s premiere questing hero.

Background

Éowyn and Éomer were orphaned and raised by Théoden. During the Battle of the Pelennor Fields, she disguised herself as a man and fought beside King Théoden. She killed the Witch-king with the help of Merry. She was presumed dead after the battle, but was later treated by Aragorn and met Faramir, with whom she fell in love. They were married and settled in Ithilien, where she became known as the Lady of Ithilien.

Card Theme

There’s not really a thematic link for her action. The real thematic link is her strong willpower stat. She achieved her “wish to face peril and battle.” This despite the orders of her king and uncle by disguising herself and riding to war.

Card Synergies and Interactions

Put into Play from Discard

Eowyn’s action costs the player a card from their hand. That cost can be a benefit with the right cards to bring that card back into play. The Core Set included Stand and Fight that could put a non-neutral ally from the discard pile into play. This enabled even core set decks to discard an ally from hand and put it into play later. Even if they were from a sphere that the player didn’t have a resource match for. Beorn ally is a great example because he was expensive but powerful. A single copy was easy to include in decks without Tactics. If drawn, he could be a temporary +1 willpower until he could be put into play with Stand and Fight. To me! O my kinsfolk!, Caldara, and Beorning Skin-changer have much similar effects although more limited by sphere or trait. Much later in the game, Eowyn’s ability could set up Reforged to put an attachment into play.

Play from Discard

There are a few cards that can be played right from the discard pile. Elven-light has a lot of synergy with Eowyn’s ability because it can only be played from the discard pile and doing so returns it to the player’s hand. It gives the player even an additional card for the trouble. Given enough resources, Elven-light enables the player to give Eowyn +1 willpower every turn. Lords of the Eldar is similar in the playing from the discard pile restriction but has little synergy unless the player has Noldor characters in play. Plus it returns to the bottom of the deck and not easily reused with Eowyn’s ability. Glorfindel doesn’t mind being discarded to Eowyn’s ability although like Lords of the Eldar it isn’t going to help give multiple willpower boosts.

Silver Harp

Silver Harp can return any discarded card to hand. This basically gives Eowyn an additional willpower every turn. It also is a restricted attachment which is useful when playing Eowyn in a Forth, the Three Hunters contract deck.

Effects based on top card in Discard Pile

The Grey Havens introduced a few Noldor allies that gain stat bonuses based on the top card of the discard pile. Eowyn can discard the appropriate card to give the ally the needed bonus.

Willpower Substitution

Herugrim, Goldend Shield, and Against the Shadow all bring Eowyn’s willpower to bear in combat. Herugrim is the safest one to use considering there is little change of Eowyn taking damage. Golden Shield and Against the Shadow are a little riskier since Eowyn only has 3 hit points if 4 defense isn’t enough to block the entire enemy attack. Against the shadow isn’t limited to just defending, but could be used for quests with the siege keyword.

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 give her 2 rings. Most quests require significant willpower on turn 1 to quest successfully. Questing unsuccessfully can often spiral into a game losing board state as players gain threat and have to engage more enemies than they can handle. Staging area threat can also build up quickly if not clearing out the active location regularly leading to location lock. Eowyn gives players a strong quester right away for a reasonable 9 threat cost. The ability to adjust willpower after staging by discarding a card can also make the difference between clearing the active location, avoiding threat gain, or advancing to the next stage.

The main reason I rate Spirit Eowyn at 2 rings instead of 1 is Tactics Eowyn. Tactics Eowyn has the same printed willpower for 3 less threat cost plus an amazing ability that is a boss killer. There are many scenarios where the Tactics version is a better choice than the Spirit one. A corollary to that is more viable alternatives questing heroes with Cirdan, Galadriel, Arwen, and Lothriel all offering great willpower and abilities.

Spirit Eowyn is still an excellent choice. Especially in multiplayer as each player can use her ability to gain +4 willpower in 1 turn. She’s just no longer the must have choice for questing.

  • Dave – 4
  • Grant – 3
  • Ted – TBR
  • Matt – 2
  • Average – 3

External Links

Sample Deck

Doomed Rohan – To Catch An Orc – Minimum Purchase by kattattack22

Deck for To Catch an Orc using only Core Set and Voice of Isengard player cards. The deck uses Doomed cards for resource acceleration with Grima and Keys of Orthanc. It is reliant on chump blocking for defense.

Doomed Rohan – To Catch An Orc – Minimum Purchase

Main Deck

Hero (3)
Éomer (The Voice of Isengard)
Éowyn (Core Set)
Gríma (The Voice of Isengard)

Ally (27)
2x Erebor Hammersmith (Core Set)
3x Gandalf (Core Set)
1x Gléowine (Core Set)
3x Gondorian Spearman (Core Set)
1x Henamarth Riversong (Core Set)
3x Isengard Messenger (The Voice of Isengard)
3x Lórien Guide (Core Set)
2x Northern Tracker (Core Set)
3x Veteran Axehand (Core Set)
3x Westfold Horse-breeder (The Voice of Isengard)
3x Westfold Outrider (The Voice of Isengard)

Attachment (6)
2x Blade of Gondolin (Core Set)
2x Keys of Orthanc (The Voice of Isengard)
2x Rohan Warhorse (The Voice of Isengard)

Event (17)
2x A Test of Will (Core Set)
2x Deep Knowledge (The Voice of Isengard)
1x Dwarven Tomb (Core Set)
2x Feint (Core Set)
2x Secret Paths (Core Set)
3x Stand and Fight (Core Set)
2x The Galadhrim’s Greeting (Core Set)
3x The Wizards’s Voice (The Voice of Isengard)

3 Heroes, 50 Cards
Cards up to The Voice of Isengard

Decklist built and published on RingsDB.

Glorfindel (Spirit Hero)

Matt Kell (kattattack22)Leave a comment
  • Cycle
    • Darrowdelf
  • Set
    • Foundations of Stone 

The Glorfindel hero you want to play.

Background

Glorfindel we meet in the Lord of the Rings trilogy after Frodo is stabbed by the Morgul blade. He finds Strider and the Hobbits on their way to Rivendell. He takes Frodo from them and carries him swiftly to Rivendell. When confronted by the ringwraiths at the ford, he reveals his spiritual presence to drive the wraiths into the river. Then they are swept away in the ensuing flood. Those unfamiliar with books will note this part is filled by Arwen in the Peter Jackson film adaption.

Glorfindel, however, has a much more extensive story than his cameo in Lord of the Rings. In the First Age, he is one of the captains of Gondolin, the hidden elf city. He is most well known for slaying a Blarog in single combat covering the elves’ flight from the city after it fell. After the fatal blow, the Balrog began to fall into an abyss and dragged Glorfindel down with him. Glorfindel died, but the Valar brought him back from the Halls of Waiting.

He lived in Valinor after his resurrection until coming back to Middle Earth in the Second Age. Glorfindel most likely returned to Middle Earth with the Blue Wizards. He was sent to aid King Gil-galad and Elrond in fighting Sauron. Not much is known of his deeds during the end of the second age and early third age. He did fight Sauron’s forces in Eriador. There, most notably, he gave the prophecy that the Witch-King would not fall by the hand of a man.

Card Theme

Glorfindel is obviously a powerful Nolder as a First Age Elf that took down a Balrog single handedly. His strong stat line is well justified there. The low threat then is a reflection of his involvement in the War of the Ring. Hero threat is explained as the attention the hero draws from Sauron. Powerful leaders like Elrond or Gandalf have high threat because they’re high profile and powerful threats to Sauron. Hobbits have low threat because they generally below his notice. Glorfindel only returning shortly after the forging of The One Ring and believed to not openly display his unseen presence much if at all, likely was not well known. Later as previously mentioned he helped Frodo get to Rivendell, but was rejected from The Fellowship as his power would draw too much attention. This brings us to his Forced effect. Glorfindel’s power is hidden because it stems from his strong presence in the unseen world. He could reveal and unleash it as he did with the Nazghul. Doing so more often would eventually draw Sauron’s attention represented by the Forced effect raising a player’s threat.

Card Synergies and Interactions

Does Not Exhaust to Quest

The drawback to Glorfindel’s low threat cost is the Forced effect on his card. Every time he exhausts to quest, the player has to raise their threat by 1. The work around to this is either not to quest or use Light of Valinor that came in the same pack to quest without exhausting. Strider can also provide the a way around exhausting to quest, but the player can only control 2 or less heroes. If using the Grey Wanderer contract, either one of these could be put into play right at the start of the game.

Secrecy

Glorfindel’s low threat cost is great to enable Secrecy decks. Prior to Smeagol and Messenger of the King, his 5 threat cost was the lowest threat (tied with Mirlonde in Mono-Lore). On top of that, he had 3’s in two stats. Most low threat heroes in the first few cycles had 2’s with Sam Gamgee as the notable exception. Secrecy cards can provide tremendous value in a game. Resourceful and Timely Aid each only one cost can provide tremendous resource acceleration. Out of the Wild and Risk Some Light can control the encounter deck. Allies with Secrecy like Celduin Traveler, Ithilien Lookout, Dunedain Wander, and Rivendell Scout are great values for their Secrecy cost with each having at least a 2 stat.

Asfaloth

Asfaloth, the location control card that because it could put 2 progress on any location resulted in locations getting many more quest points. It is easy to forget that it normally only places 1 progress when used with any other Noldor or Silvan hero because it almost always played with Glorfindel. The 2 progress per round is huge in clearing locations and avoiding location lock. In early cycles it will clear many locations in a single turn. Later cycles it might take a few turns but still it will eventually clear many locations and avoid nasty travel effects.

Attack Boosts

Glorfindel is often going to attack to utilize his robust attack stat. Attacking additionally avoids triggering his Forced effect. His attack easily can be better considering his traits qualify him for some of the best attack boosting attachments. Furthermore, his low threat works well with Dagger Westernesse extra bonus attack when players engage enemies with greater engagement cost higher than their threat.

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 Spirit Glorfindel hero at 1 ring. His very low threat, great stats, Spirit access, Asfaloth, and easy way to avoid his drawback make him fit into numerous decks. The 5 threat cost gives players lots of room to include high threat cost heroes. If they use lower threat cost heroes as well, it can be easy to avoid many engagements and avoid being overwhelmed early in the game. Not to mention enabling using the Secrecy discount when kept under 20 threat. While other heroes have low threat cost, none have double 3’s and the bevy of hit points that Glorfindel does. Then Light of Valinor in addition to negating his drawback, lets him use both stats every round. It is incredibly efficient. If he wasn’t powerful enough, he makes one of the best location control cards better. It can’t be understated how that 2 progress from Asfaloth changed location design in the game because it was so powerful with Glorfindel.

The real downside to Glorfindel is that he can become a crutch. When making a hero line up, he can help round out many of them. Need more willpower to start off with a lot of threat in the staging area or need to progress quickly, Spirit Glorfindel can help the questing hero do it. Need more attack power to deal with an big enemy early, Spirit Glorfindel can help with a more dedicated attacking hero. Facing a lot of archery, direct damage, or undefended attacks, His big pool of hit points can help. Need to keep starting threat low, to avoid engagements, Spirit Glorfindel can help. He just brings a lot to the table.

  • Dave – 2
  • Grant – 1.5
  • Ted – TBR
  • Matt – 1

External Links

Sample Decks

Gandalf’s Noble Hunters by kattattack22

A Three Hunters deck featuring Spirit Glorfindel.

Main Deck

Hero (3)
Denethor (Flight of the Stormcaller)
Gandalf (The Road Darkens)
Glorfindel (Foundations of Stone)

Contract (0)
1x Forth, The Three Hunters! (The City of Ulfast)

Attachment (41)
3x Ancestral Armor (Roam Across Rhovanion)
3x Armored Destrier (Temple of the Deceived)
1x Celebrían’s Stone (Core Set)
3x Gandalf’s Staff (The Road Darkens)
3x Golden Belt (Challenge of the Wainriders)
2x Gondorian Shield (The Steward’s Fear)
2x Heir of Mardil (Celebrimbor’s Secret)
3x Light of Valinor (Foundations of Stone)
2x Livery of the Tower (The Flame of the West)
2x Shadowfax (The Treason of Saruman)
3x Shining Shield (The Fortress of Nurn)
3x Silver Circlet (Wrath and Ruin)
2x Staff of Lebethron (The Land of Shadow)
3x Unexpected Courage (Core Set)
3x Valiant Sword (Under the Ash Mountains)
3x Wizard Pipe (The Road Darkens)

Event (9)
3x A Test of Will (Core Set)
3x Campfire Tales (The Hunt for Gollum)
3x Open the Armory (The Dungeons of Cirith Gurat)

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

Sideboard

Attachment (10)
3x Expert Treasure-hunter (On the Doorstep)
1x Staff of Lebethron (The Land of Shadow)
3x Steed of Imladris (Across the Ettenmoors)
3x Sword of Númenor (The Dread Realm)

Event (9)
3x Daeron’s Runes (Foundations of Stone)
3x Elrond’s Counsel (The Watcher in the Water)
3x Power of Orthanc (The Voice of Isengard)

Decklist built and published on RingsDB.

Victory-a Secret by stokesbook

A Secrecy enabled victory display encounter control deck.

Main Deck

Hero (3)
Glorfindel (Foundations of Stone)
Mirlonde (The Drúadan Forest)
Rossiel (Escape from Mount Gram)

Ally (8)
2x Celduin Traveler (The Nîn-in-Eilph)
3x Galadhrim Minstrel (Trouble in Tharbad)
1x Gildor Inglorion (The Hills of Emyn Muil)
2x Ithilien Lookout (The Dunland Trap)

Attachment (13)
2x A Burning Brand (Conflict at the Carrock)
2x Asfaloth (Foundations of Stone)
1x Cloak of Lórien (Celebrimbor’s Secret)
2x Lembas (Trouble in Tharbad)
3x Light of Valinor (Foundations of Stone)
3x Resourceful (The Watcher in the Water)

Event (29)
3x A Test of Will (Core Set)
3x Daeron’s Runes (Foundations of Stone)
3x Elrond’s Counsel (The Watcher in the Water)
2x Fair and Perilous (Across the Ettenmoors)
3x Keen as Lances (Escape from Mount Gram)
3x Leave No Trace (Escape from Mount Gram)
3x Mithrandir’s Advice (The Steward’s Fear)
3x None Return (Across the Ettenmoors)
3x Out of the Wild (Road to Rivendell)
3x The Door is Closed! (The Treachery of Rhudaur)

Player Side Quest (1)
1x Scout Ahead (The Wastes of Eriador)

3 Heroes, 51 Cards
Cards up to The Treachery of Rhudaur

Sideboard

Hero (2)
Galdor of the Havens (The Grey Havens)
Pippin (The Black Riders)

Ally (5)
3x Galadhrim Weaver (The Treachery of Rhudaur)
2x Henamarth Riversong (Core Set)

Attachment (5)
2x Leaf Brooch (The Three Trials)
3x The Long Defeat (The Battle of Carn Dûm)

Event (11)
3x A Elbereth! Gilthoniel! (Shadow and Flame)
3x Hasty Stroke (Core Set)
2x Lórien’s Wealth (Core Set)
3x Risk Some Light (Shadow and Flame)

Decklist built and published on RingsDB.

Frodo Baggins (Spirit)

Matt Kell (kattattack22)Leave a comment
  • Player Card Categories
    • Damage Cancelation

Background

The nephew of Bilbo Baggins and his designated heir. The One Ring was left to Frodo along with Bag End when Bilbo disappeared after his 111th birthday. This all lead to Frodo carrying The Ring first to Rivendell and eventually all the way to Mount Doom where it was destroyed.

Card Theme

Frodo’s ability to cancel damage once per phase appears to represent him as the ring bearer. It makes sense that Frodo can avoid danger using The One Ring to turn invisible much like his uncle did many years before. In the books, we see Frodo do this to escape Boromir when he tried to take The Ring. Earlier he tried to do this as well to escape the Ringwraiths although they could see him as they were also bound to the Ring. The Ring also draws the attention of its master hence why its use raises the player’s threat.

Card Synergies and Interactions

Threat Reduction

Threat reduction offsets the threat gained by using Frodo’s ability. A deck packed with threat reduction can utilize it with little risk of losing due to threat. Hobbits have access to a couple nice threat reduction events, The Shirefolk and Elvenses that provide a nice amount of threat reduction for a reduced cost compared to the Core Set staple, The Galadhrim’s Greeting. Elrond’s Counsel also works well for cheap threat reduction as long as the player(s) control a Noldor. Galadriel can fulfill that requirement and provide repeatable threat reduction. The classic hero pairing with Spirit Frodo is Lore Aragorn because Aragorn can reset threat back to the starting level once per game.

Another way to lower threat in a large chunk after using Frodo’s ability several times is Vanish from Sight + A Elbereth! Glithoniel!. The basic setup is engage a lower engagement cost enemy but higher than 20. Let’s say 25 for illustrative purposes. The player uses Vanish from Sight so threat is treated as 20 and plays A Elbereth! Glithoniel! The player gets to treat their threat as 20 for A Elbereth, put the enemy on the bottom of the deck, and set their threat to 25.

Hobbit Pipe

Players will want threat reduction to make the most use of Frodo’s ability and most of it is available from events. Hobbit Pipe allows the player to also draw cards as well from this dynamic.

Sam Gamgee Ally

Sam Gamgee similar to Hobbit Pipe will have plenty of triggers to use his ability. Any time Frodo cancels damage Sam can ready and get +1 to all stats for 1 resource. Most times this will make him into an attacker with 2 attack. Two defense while reasonable in the first cycle, won’t be enough to help him survive an enemy attack in later cycles.

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 Frodo at 3 rings. He’s a very solid defensive hero with a very useful ability. It is not difficult at all to include enough threat reduction to avoid threating out despite using it heavily. Often just pairing him with Lore Aragorn is enough. His 2 willpower can even help out in questing if need be because the damage cancelation also works on an undefended attack. The only real downside is the ability is limit once per phase. This can be problematic in later scenarios when boss enemies can get multiple attacks or multiple enemies can build up. Then other defenders with higher defense and hit points that can turn into a “super defender” like Spirit Beregond or Messanger of the King Jubayr are going to be a better choice.

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

External Links

Sample Decks

Smoke Yourself Thin by NoSoup4you

A threat reduction focused deck using Hobbit Pipe as a card draw engine.

Main Deck

Hero (3)
Frodo Baggins (Conflict at the Carrock)
Gandalf (The Road Darkens)
Sam Gamgee (The Black Riders)

Ally (19)
3x Bilbo Baggins (The Road Darkens)
2x Bill the Pony (The Black Riders)
2x Errand-rider (Heirs of Númenor)
3x Galadhrim Weaver (The Treachery of Rhudaur)
1x Pelargir Ship Captain (The Morgul Vale)
2x Skinbark (The Land of Shadow)
2x Treebeard (The Antlered Crown)
2x Warden of Helm’s Deep (The Antlered Crown)
2x Wellinghall Preserver (Across the Ettenmoors)

Attachment (16)
2x Dagger of Westernesse (The Black Riders)
2x Expert Treasure-hunter (On the Doorstep)
2x Gandalf’s Staff (The Road Darkens)
3x Hobbit Pipe (The Black Riders)
1x Shadowfax (The Treason of Saruman)
2x Steward of Gondor (Core Set)
3x Unexpected Courage (Core Set)
1x Wizard Pipe (The Road Darkens)

Event (15)
3x Daeron’s Runes (Foundations of Stone)
2x Hidden Cache (The Morgul Vale)
3x Island Amid Perils (The Nîn-in-Eilph)
3x Smoke Rings (The Black Riders)
3x The Galadhrim’s Greeting (Core Set)
1x Will of the West (Core Set)

3 Heroes, 50 Cards
Cards up to The Land of Shadow

Sideboard

Event (1)
1x Flame of Anor (The Road Darkens)

Decklist built and published on RingsDB.

Dwarven Tomb

Matt Kell (kattattack22)Leave a comment
  • Player Card Categories 
    • Recursion
    • Discard Pile

Almost like having an extra copy of any Spirit card.

Background

There are 2 possible tombs from the books this card can be based on. It could be Thorin Oakenshield’s tomb where he was buried with the Arkenstone after The Battle of Five Armies. The other is tomb of Balin in Moria. The Fellowship of the Ring found Balin’s tomb in the Chamber of Mazarbul when passing through Moria and ambushed there by orcs.

The flavor text is an except from Far Over the Misty Mountains Cold. It is not version the Dwarves sing after the unexpected party at Bag End, but one they sang after Smaug was defeated. The main difference in the excerpt is the first line, “The dwarves no more shall suffer wrong,” instead of “To seek the pale enchanted gold”. This could refer to either Thorin or Balin since both were part of that company. It is possible FFG kept it intentionally ambiguous, but the art favors the description of Balin’s tomb with the shaft of light falling upon it.

The chamber was lit by a wide shaft high in the further eastern wall; it slanted upwards and, far above, a small square patch of blue sky could be seen. The light of the shaft fell directly on a table in the middle of the room: a single oblong block, about two feet high, upon which was laid a great slab of white stone.

The Fellowship of the Ring, Chapter 4: A Journey in the Dark

Card Theme

I know from a couple designer interviews that LOTR LCG is inspired by Magic the Gathering. The discard pile in Magic is called the graveyard. The thematic tie of a tomb to the discard pile recursion mechanic is well known to veteran Magic players. It still makes sense in this game as destroyed allies and heroes are put in the discard pile as well. The brining a card back out of the discard pile doesn’t fit that well with finality of the tomb. If it had been a reference to the Valar sending Gandalf back to Middle Earth then it would have been more thematic.

Card Synergies and Interactions

Powerful Spirit Events

Spirit has some of the most powerful and widely useful event cards in the game. A Test of Will of can neutralize many treachery encounter cards which can account for about a third of a scenario’s encounter cards. Additionally there are some enemies with When Revealed effects that it can cancel. Hasty Stroke can be a game saver against nasty shadows. Elrond’s Counsel and Galadhim’s Greeting are staples in threat reduction.

Dwarven Tomb can act as like an additional 3 copies of each of those events. Events are a more common target because events go right into the discard pile after being played making them easier to recur. Also allies and attachments have their own specific events, Stand and Fight and Reforged. Those 2 are generally better than Dwarven Tomb for allies and attachments because they put the card into play. Players want to keep allies and attachments in play usually as well. Still the flexibility to get any spirit card can be more advantageous in some decks.

Caldara, Dwarven Mining, and Noldor Discard

Caldara, Dwarven Mining, and Noldor Discard decks can all benefit from that flexibility due to each has a similar game plan. Put cards into the discard pile. Caldara decks want to fill it with powerful allies and when Caldara is discarded they get 2, 3, or even 4 allies for the price of an 8 threat cost hero. Dwarven Mining will put cards directly from its deck into the discard to power the abilities of its heroes and allies or possibly get free attachments via Well-Equipped or Ring of Thror. Noldor discard will discard cards from hand for abilities or to play allies with To the Sea, to the Sea! There is always the risk in these decks of either blindly or forced to discard a necessary card. Dwarven Tomb is a great insurance to get that card. Dwarven Tomb also turns the mining effects into pseudo card draw. As the Dwarves put more cards into the discard pile, the potential targets of the tomb expand.

Other Discard Recursion Cards

Dwarven Tomb and Map of Earnil fill similar roles but together can be ridiculous. The map can target the tomb to bring back another card then put the tomb on the bottom of the deck for another possible use. This can lead to an infinite loop with an empty deck as the tomb can target Map of Earnil to return to hand. Play Tomb again with the returned Map to return another Spirit card. A little card draw with Elven-light and this loop can occur every turn. Dwarven Tomb retrieving Knight of Belfalas, especially if somehow all copies ended in the discard, allows for another chain of discard recursion. The Knight can retrieve each other copy since they’re all Gondor allies. Chump block while one is in hand and just get back after replaying it.

Quest Specific

There are a few quests that will force players to discard cards from their deck. Deadman’s Dike from The Lost Realm, Dungeons of Cirth Gurat in the Haradrim cycle, and Under the Ash Mountains. There are also many cards scattered across various quests that force players to discard cards from their hand or their entire hand. Dwarven Tomb can help mitigate the downsides of these quests aside from just getting a key card back. Many of them have effects that additional effects if another copy of card is in your discard. Deadman’s Dike and Under the Ash Mountains both have a player lose if they run out of cards in their deck. Dwarven Tomb can help find a way to get some cards shuffled back into the deck.

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 this card at 4 rings. It has a pretty flexible and useful effect considering it can get any Spirit card out of the discard pile. I’ve used it fairly often even back when I had only 2 copies from my 2 old core sets. I’ve used it in discard recursion focused decks as insurance and added to decks with Spirit as potential extra copy of Test of Will. In my experience, I usually would rather just have the regular card drawn and it can cut from the deck list pretty easily if extra room is needed. It also be helpful in trimming a deck since I’ll drop a 3rd copy of A Test of Will and another generally useful Spirit event like Hasty Stroke. Dwarven Tomb then I’ll count on as the 3rd copy for both. Still I find I’ll hold on to Dwarven Tomb just in case or won’t have the spare resource to play it and the card I pull out. Discard recursion, I’ll find myself trimming Dwarven Tomb if I’m just using it as insurance. One copy sometimes is all that is needed to tilt the odds to seeing it late game when it might be needed. It’s that “just in case role” it fills that while a generally useful card when playing Spirit, that it moves more towards a niche card rather than a powerful will always include card.

  • Dave – 2
  • Grant – 2
  • Ted – TBR
  • Matt – 4
  • Average – 2.67

External Links

Sample Decks

Doomed Rohan – To Catch An Orc – Minimum Purchase by kattattack22

Rohan themed deck for To Catch an Orc using only Voice of Isengard and 1 old core set. Dwarven Tomb doesn’t feature necessarily in this deck but it serves as a possible 3rd copy of A Test of Will.

Main Deck

Hero (3)
Éomer (The Voice of Isengard)
Éowyn (Core Set)
Gríma (The Voice of Isengard)

Ally (27)
2x Erebor Hammersmith (Core Set)
3x Gandalf (Core Set)
1x Gléowine (Core Set)
3x Gondorian Spearman (Core Set)
1x Henamarth Riversong (Core Set)
3x Isengard Messenger (The Voice of Isengard)
3x Lórien Guide (Core Set)
2x Northern Tracker (Core Set)
3x Veteran Axehand (Core Set)
3x Westfold Horse-breeder (The Voice of Isengard)
3x Westfold Outrider (The Voice of Isengard)

Attachment (6)
2x Blade of Gondolin (Core Set)
2x Keys of Orthanc (The Voice of Isengard)
2x Rohan Warhorse (The Voice of Isengard)

Event (17)
2x A Test of Will (Core Set)
2x Deep Knowledge (The Voice of Isengard)
1x Dwarven Tomb (Core Set)
2x Feint (Core Set)
2x Secret Paths (Core Set)
3x Stand and Fight (Core Set)
2x The Galadhrim’s Greeting (Core Set)
3x The Wizards’s Voice (The Voice of Isengard)

3 Heroes, 50 Cards
Cards up to The Voice of Isengard

Decklist built and published on RingsDB.

Burglar’s Turn to Side Quest by kattattack22

Multiplayer questing and support deck that uses some Noldor discard effects and dwarven mining. Dwarven Tomb here is an insurance policy if forced to discard something important or turn Zigil Miner into pseudo card search.

Burglar’s Turn to Side Quest

Main Deck

Hero (3)
Arwen Undómiel (The Dread Realm)
Círdan the Shipwright (The Grey Havens)
Thurindir (Race Across Harad)

Contract (0)
1x The Burglar’s Turn (Wrath and Ruin)

Ally (25)
1x Bilbo Baggins (The Road Darkens)
3x East Road Ranger (The Wastes of Eriador)
1x Faramir (Core Set)
1x Firyal (The Mûmakil)
1x Glorfindel (Flight of the Stormcaller)
3x Lórien Guide (Core Set)
3x Mirkwood Explorer (The Thing in the Depths)
3x Northern Tracker (Core Set)
3x Rider of Rohan (Beneath the Sands)
1x Súlien (The City of Corsairs)
2x Thalion (Fire in the Night)
3x Zigil Miner (Khazad-dûm)

Event (20)
3x A Test of Will (Core Set)
3x Dwarven Tomb (Core Set)
3x Elven-light (The Dread Realm)
3x Hidden Cache (The Morgul Vale)
3x Stand and Fight (Core Set)
3x The Galadhrim’s Greeting (Core Set)
2x Will of the West (Core Set)

Player Side Quest (6)
1x Double Back (Escape from Mount Gram)
1x Explore Secret Ways (Race Across Harad)
1x Gather Information (The Lost Realm)
1x Rally the West (The Black Serpent)
1x Scout Ahead (The Wastes of Eriador)
1x The Storm Comes (The Sands of Harad)

3 Heroes, 51 Cards
Cards up to Wrath and Ruin

Sideboard

Attachment (14)
1x Ancestral Armor (Roam Across Rhovanion)
1x Celebrían’s Stone (Core Set)
1x Citadel Plate (Core Set)
1x Durin’s Axe (Wrath and Ruin)
1x Glamdring (Roam Across Rhovanion)
1x Gondorian Shield (The Steward’s Fear)
1x Legacy Blade (The Dungeons of Cirith Gurat)
1x Magic Ring (The Crossings of Poros)
1x Mithril Shirt (The Fate of Wilderland)
1x Narya (The Grey Havens)
1x Necklace of Girion (The Wilds of Rhovanion)
1x Orcrist (Fire in the Night)
1x Stone of Elostirion (Under the Ash Mountains)
1x The Arkenstone (The Withered Heath)

Decklist built and published on RingsDB.

Rhovanion Outrider – Community Review

Card Talk: An LOTR LCG PodcastLeave a comment

by Nathan Ferraro

  • Player Card Categories 
    • Location Control
    • Willpower Bonus

Background

Honestly, my Dale lore isn’t great.

Editor’s Note: There’s not much to about the men of Dale that isn’t in The Hobbit. They are Northmen that came from the southern part of Rhovanion and built Dale when Thror re-established the Kingdom Under the Mountain. The city prospered with Erebor until Smaug attacked and destroyed Dale. After the events in the The Hobbit, Bard and his son Brand ruled the lands around Dale. During the War of the Ring, forces of Mordor invaded overrunning Dale. The men joined the Dwarves of Erebor and remained there under siege until news came of Sauron’s defeat.

Card Theme

The theme is quite nice. The scout helps to eliminate threat of locations in the distance. When needed for combat, he is mounted and ready.

Card Synergies and Interactions

He works great by himself. He is even better in a dale deck when having his willpower boosted or with other location-control cards.

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.

Rhovanion Outrider is often overlooked for Northern Tracker, but he is often superior. The ability to target a single location with his ability can get around exploring many locations that have “forced: when it leaves play” abilities. He is cheaper than Northern Tracker and often times actually provides even more willpower than the Tracker. He is very affordable in many spirit decks, not just Dale or Vilya decks. In solo or two-handed play, there often aren’t that many locations in the staging area anyhow. The outrider is my go-to location control these days.

  • Nathan – 2
  • Dave – TBR
  • Grant – TBR
  • Ted – TBR
  • Matt – TBR
  • Average – 2

Sample Deck

Love of the Halfling’s Leaf without circlets

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 (16)
1x Ancestral Armor (Roam Across Rhovanion)
1x Armor of Erebor (Mount Gundabad)
3x Dwarf Pipe (The Mûmakil)
1x Expert Treasure-hunter (On the Doorstep)
2x Gandalf’s Staff (The Road Darkens)
1x Hobbit Pipe (The Black Riders)
1x Shadowfax (The Treason of Saruman)
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, 54 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 (2)
1x Inner Strength (Wrath and Ruin)
1x The One Ring (A Shadow in the East)

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

Deck built on RingsDB.

Windfola – Community Review

Card Talk: An LOTR LCG PodcastLeave a comment

by John McClellan

  • Player Card Categories 
    • Quest Control
    • Willpower Bonus

Background

I tried to pick a card that perhaps falls somewhere in the 6 – 8 Rings range. 1 Ring cards are easy to discuss, based on their versatility and lore, and 10s challenge the reviewer to come up with some possible use and to otherwise complain. Easy pickins! Anyhow, I tried to think of a card I have included sporadically and what it’s possible utilization could be.

Here comes Windfola. The reason I have placed this in the lower tier range of rings is due to the cons outweighing the pros. Let us explore:

Windfola is the steed Eowyn took to battle secretly in the ride of the Rohirrim to save Gondor at Pelennor Fields. It carried Eowyn and Merry up until encountering the Witch-King, whose screech made the horse go wild. The horse abandoned the pair, and as far as I can tell is not seen in the text again.

Card Theme

Now, let’s review how Windfola works in practice. First, he can only be attached to a spirit hero or to tactics Eowyn. Very appropriate so far. Now, it does exclude tactics Merry, which in gameplay is fine because it does not sync well with him. It also cannot be attached to ally Merry, which is just as well, as he works best if he can pop into play multiple times. Let’s examine, then, how well Windfola syncs with the three heroes most associated with him: Spirit Eowyn, Tactics Eowyn, and Spirit Merry.

Spirit Eowyn syncs very well with Windfola. First, Eowyn’s ability specifically targets her willpower,and she, in the vast majority of cases, will be questing. Windfola first gives a boost to her willpower and prevents her from being taken out of the quest. Further, Eowyn is hardly ever the target of restricted attachments beyond willpower boosts or quest specific items, so she is happy to take this cheap attachment as one of her two given restricted slots.

Tactics Eowyn is a bit of a different story. At this point, Windfola is out of sphere, so either another spirit hero is needed (precluding some other cross-sphere combo) , or some help is needed across the table. Tactics Eowyn definitely wants Golden Shield and isn’t necessarily the dedicated quester her spirit counterpart is. Sure, to bring her to solid combat readiness, you might need to bring Unexpected Courage or Herugrim, both of which are blue cards, but it might take a while on the list of cards before you get to Windfola. Worse yet, Windfola takes up that one restricted slot, and unless you are running Eowyn in a three hunters deck, you can pretty much kiss her usefulness outside the quest phase (save once per game) goodbye … which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, if you are setting her up as splash red hero who can quest. Still, Windfola doesn’t seem to mesh nearly as well with this version of Eowyn.

Spirit Merry is perhaps the worst candidate of the three. Spirit Merry thrives when he has his Hobbit Pony, as you would like to decide in the moment whether you would like a threat drop or need a little extra push in the quest phase. Windfola assumes you are going to quest with this hero without a shadow of a doubt. In fact, you are in such need of this hero to quest, you are willing to take a restricted slot in order to guarantee that hero stays committed, encounter cards be damned. Now, I should point out that if you are running an all-hobbit lineup, Windfola on Merry with Elevenses is a fairly decent combo.(Still, the action windows and card text prevent you from being able to trigger Merry in addition to Elevenses and Windfola at the same time). Still, reading the card text on Merry, Hobbit Pony, and Windfola shows that while it isn’t the worst combo in the world, you will be better off in all cases without one of the attachments.

Since Spirit Eowyn is the only efficient candidate of the five character choices associated with the lore of the card, I rate it low in this category.

One final note. I think Windfola is missing one clause that could bump it into 5 or even 4 ring territory. Right at the end, include the text, “Then, you may discard Windfola to ready the attached hero.” This line improves all of the four cons I’ve held against it: One, it is right in line with the lore: the steed abandons them right in time for battle, for which they are now ready. It sits well with a Tactics Eowyn with a Golden Shield or a Spirit Merry now ready to jump on the next enemy that flips from the encounter deck. The ability allows for an easy restriction removal, when appropriate, while giving the added benefit of a second action. Players would actually bring 3 copies of Windfola, hoping to trigger it multiple times to recommit and ready with a back up in hand. It behaves as a willpower boost and a conditional ready, improving its versatility. It had potential to be solid, albeit with a specific trigger in mind.

Card Synergies and Interactions

I’ve mentioned it already, but unless you are running a Forth! The Three Hunters contract or the Golden Belt, you are only working with two restricted attachments per hero. There are certainly restricted attachments that see less play than Windfola, but according to the Hall of Beorn, this is the 6th ranked restricted steed out of the 9 (I should note that the last place, Tireless Thoroughbred, is probably ranked lowest due to release date). These restricted slots are precious, and give way to some of the most powerful boosts in the game. The restricted guarded take an extra element to get into play but (1) cost the same as Windfola (2) usually give a bigger boost and (3) have an ability that is generally useful and not quest specific. Armored Destrier essentially gives two defenses, one for free, and two defenses are needed much more often than two quests from the same character. Most see some kind of conditional, secondary boosts that would have been great to see here (“+2 willpower if attached hero is Merry or Eowyn”).

I will admit later that the cost of 1-for-1 willpower is enough to convince individuals it’s worth including in decks. Addressing the issue of uniqueness, how many copies do you dare bring? I know this is a constant battle for unique cards but some uniques you don’t even question (Steward of Gondor, Gandalf’s Staff in a Gandalf deck, you get the drill). Once you play Windfola, what do you do with the next one you draw? Well, if you are playing with Spirit Eowyn, great, more willpower. That’s about it. You would love to see a 1-for-1 boost that could be stacked. This would be one of the best willpower attachments in the game. For now, you might sprinkle in a single copy, MAYBE two into a deck featuring a Spirit, questing hero.

Now it does have some good economic value. How often will you win a quest by one willpower? Perhaps more than you might think. “Just one more point… one more to clear that location… one more to clear that quest card. Come on, where can we find one more willpower? Anything??” Yes I think we have all said it. Said it enough times that when you are running a spirit quester, you glance at Windfola and it gives you pause. Should you just throw it in? Sure. One copy. Go. I know there are plenty of deckbuilders who cringe at that idea, who like to squeeze every last deck thinning card in. I am not one of those deckbuilders. I like to include some generic boosts. That being said, I usually will opt for 2-for-2 instead of 1-for-1 for no real reason. I find myself including 2 cost 2 willpower allies instead of Windfola.

How niche is it? Well, okay, in a Forth! The Three Hunters deck that includes a Spirit hero, Windfola is in auto-include. Why? Either its a 0-for-1 (and soon 2) deal, or it’s a 1-for-2 deal if the contract is flipped. That spirit hero is going to be questing for you, I am sure (unless…you brought Beregond?) and you don’t have the luxury of including 2-for-2 allies any more. You also cannot remove that hero from the quest… it would be devastating. Windfola keeps you Spirit Hunter dedicated to it.
Particular quests can devastate you with quest removal. Notice that Windfola doesn’t PREVENT quest removal, but allows it and then triggers a request. This nuance is important because if an encounter card allows you to remove a questing character as an option, take it! I am looking at Inner Flame and Inner Shadow from the Shadow and Flame quest, Stars in Sky from Druadan Forest, and I am sure there’s more.


Is someone bringing Elfhelm? And you have a spirit hero? Windfola without a question.
In a combo I’d like to see, other commit triggers also are re-established. Let’s just assume we can get Song of Travel on the appropriate heroes. Tactics Bilbo gets a massive willpower boost and can lay some serious damage in the staging area. Leadership Frodo can ready two heroes and lower your threat by two. Theodred can give more money, Lotheriel can get another ally into play, Eomer can strike again, and Legolas can ready another. It takes some finagling but for one cost, who wouldn’t want to try?

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.

In the end, you are not running this card without a spirit hero, and that has to earn it some rings out the gate. You ARE running this card if you are running a spirit questing hero in a three hunters deck, or against a scenario that has devastating hero removal from quests. It loses some rings from the bottom 10 for that. The economics allow for some splashing in spirit hero decks, and when you come back to Core Eowyn, you get a nod of approval from fellow players when they see you play Windfola on his rider.

  • John – 7
  • Dave – TBR
  • Grant – TBR
  • Ted – TBR
  • Matt – TBR
  • Average – 7

Curious Brandybuck

Matt Kell (kattattack22)Leave a comment
  • Cycle  
    • Angmar Awakened
  • Set
    • Wastes of Eriador

Efficient quester for a limited time.

Background

The Brandybucks are descendents of the first Thains of The Shire. Originally called the Oldbucks, they ruled The Shire until the twelveth Thain, Gordenhad Oldbuck, moved to Buckland. He began to turn it into a settlement and renamed himself Brandybuck. The only member of the Brandybuck family from the main story is Meriadoc “Merry” Brandybuck.

Card Theme

This card appears to be modeled after Gordenhad as the exmplar of the Brandybuck family. The ally comes into play for traveling to a new location. Then once that location is known, the ally goes away much like how Gordenhad left his nominal leadership position to establish a new Hobbit settlement.

Card Synergies and Interactions

Hobbit Character Boosts

Curious Brandybuck particularly benefits from any Hobbit character boost that doesn’t require an attachment to be placed on it. Fortunately Hobbits have a few options here. Tom Cotton boosts its attack to 2 for the round. This could be triggered multiple times in a game if the Brandybuck is put back on the bottom and later drawn again. Redbook of Westmarch will boost its willpower by 1 each time it can quest. Lastly, Bill the Pony provides an extra hit point that can help soak some damage, especially archery. This is a good play since any damage put on it will disappear when it is placed on the bottom of the deck.

Merry + Horn of the Mark

Hobbits don’t have many ways to bounce in and out of play like Rohan. Curious Brandybuck, however, provides one of the more reliable triggers for Horn of the Mark. The card draw from it helps offset the loss of the card when Brandybuck leaves play.

Westroad Traveler

West Road Traveler provides a way to avoid the Forced effect to put the Curious Brandybuck on the bottom of the deck. It still can only be temporary since there is an active location providing a buffer to the main quest. Still if a player wants to keep the Curious Brandybuck around for another round to chump block then West Road Traveller

Erestor

Curious Brandybuck gives an Erestor deck a free ally it can play. This is important when Erestor decks have a 10 card starting hand but only 3 resources to play them. Mid to late game, the card being put back on the bottom is not an issue as a player can expect to draw it eventually with 4 cards being drawn a turn.

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 Curious Brandybuck at 7 rings. This is recognizing that getting a free ally even temporarily is a good deal. Tom Cotton can give it low but helpful attack when it comes into play. It also can be used to get a free chump block in an emergency. Using its cost reduction ability, however, results in it having to leave play eventually. Horn of the Mark, Valiant Sacrifice, or other card draw can offset the loss of the card. Still there are other 2 cost 2 willpower Spirit allies that won’t have to leave play if the active location is explored. The availability of these solid alternatives make this more of a niche card.

  • Dave – 4
  • Grant – TBR
  • Ted – 5
  • Matt – 7
  • Average 5.33

External Links

Sample Decks

Hobbit swarm by Fleone

A Bond of Friendship deck that aims to swarm the board with Hobbits.

Main Deck

Hero (4)
Merry (The Wastes of Eriador)
Pippin (The Black Riders)
Sam Gamgee (The Black Riders)
Tom Cotton (The Mountain of Fire)

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

Ally (27)
1x Bilbo Baggins (The Road Darkens)
2x Bill the Pony (The Black Riders)
2x Bywater Shirriff (The Fate of Wilderland)
2x Cautious Halfling (Wrath and Ruin)
2x Curious Brandybuck (The Wastes of Eriador)
2x Farmer Maggot (The Black Riders)
2x Gaffer Gamgee (Mount Gundabad)
2x Gandalf (Core Set)
2x Halfling Bounder (The Sands of Harad)
2x Hobbit Archer (The Land of Sorrow)
2x Odo Proudfoot (Under the Ash Mountains)
2x Robin Smallburrow (The Drowned Ruins)
2x Rosie Cotton (The Mountain of Fire)
2x Wandering Took (Core Set)

Attachment (11)
2x Horn of Gondor (Core Set)
2x Horn of the Mark (The City of Ulfast)
1x Inner Strength (Wrath and Ruin)
1x Magic Ring (The Crossings of Poros)
2x Red Book of Westmarch (The Land of Sorrow)
1x Sword-thain (The Dread Realm)
1x The One Ring (A Shadow in the East)
1x Thorongil (The Fortress of Nurn)

Event (12)
2x A Good Harvest (The Steward’s Fear)
2x Drinking Song (Mount Gundabad)
2x Knife-work (A Storm on Cobas Haven)
2x Raise the Shire (The Mountain of Fire)
2x The Shirefolk (Mount Gundabad)
2x Tighten Our Belts (The Nîn-in-Eilph)

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

Sideboard

Hero (1)
Frodo Baggins (A Shadow in the East)

Ally (4)
2x Halfast Gamgee (The Crossings of Poros)
2x Keen-eyed Took (The Hills of Emyn Muil)

Attachment (6)
2x Dagger of Westernesse (The Black Riders)
2x Fast Hitch (The Dead Marshes)
2x Hobbit Cloak (The Black Riders)

Event (8)
2x A Very Good Tale (Over Hill and Under Hill)
2x Halfling Determination (The Black Riders)
2x Hobbit-sense (Encounter at Amon Dîn)
2x Keen as Lances (Escape from Mount Gram)

Decklist built and published on RingsDB.

Beregond’s amazing discount sale! by Steinwell

A multiplayer gift deck that uses Beregond’s armor and weapon discount combined with Battering or Long Lake Trader to pass out attachments to other players.

Main Deck

Hero (3)
Beregond (Heirs of Númenor)
Erestor (The Treachery of Rhudaur)
Thurindir (Race Across Harad)

Ally (13)
3x Curious Brandybuck (The Wastes of Eriador)
2x Elven Jeweler (Escape from Mount Gram)
3x Guardian of Rivendell (Flight of the Stormcaller)
2x Ioreth (A Storm on Cobas Haven)
3x Long Lake Trader (The Wilds of Rhovanion)

Attachment (29)
1x Black Arrow (On the Doorstep)
3x Citadel Plate (Core Set)
3x Explorer’s Almanac (The Grey Havens)
2x Gondorian Shield (The Steward’s Fear)
3x Keeping Count (The Redhorn Gate)
3x Legacy Blade (The Dungeons of Cirith Gurat)
2x Mighty Warrior (Race Across Harad)
3x Raiment of War (The Thing in the Depths)
3x Raven-winged Helm (The Wastes of Eriador)
1x Spear of the Citadel (Heirs of Númenor)
3x The Long Defeat (The Battle of Carn Dûm)
1x Weather-stained Cloak (The Dread Realm)
1x Wingfoot (The Nîn-in-Eilph)

Event (6)
3x Bartering (The Wilds of Rhovanion)
3x The Evening Star (The Grey Havens)

Player Side Quest (2)
1x Gather Information (The Lost Realm)
1x The Storm Comes (The Sands of Harad)

3 Heroes, 50 Cards
Cards up to The Wilds of Rhovanion

Decklist built and published on RingsDB.

Eleanor

Matt Kell (kattattack22)Leave a comment

Extra treachery cancelation hero that shines in multiplayer.

Background

Eleanor is a FFG created character with the Gondor and Noble traits. If the traits weren’t enough of a clue, her art shows her wearing a diadem. It even looks reminiscent of the Aragorn’s crown in Peter Jackson’s Return of the King.

Card Theme

Eleanor’s ability to cancel a treachery and reveal a new encounter card doesn’t match the abilities of most Gondorian heroes. Heirs of Numenor really started to establish the Gondor trait being linked to resources and resource acceleration with Leadership Borormir giving an attack bonus when he has a resource in his pool and Tactics Beregond discounting Armor and Weapon attachments. Other Gondor cards expanded on this theme with more resource acceleration like Wealth of Gondor, Mablung hero, Captain’s Wisdom and Leadership Denethor

.

Denethor - Gondor. Noble. Steward. Setup: Add 2 resources to Denethor's resource pool. Action: Move 1 resource from Denethor's resource pool to another Gondor hero's resource pool. (Limit once per round.)

Eleanor’s ability is similar to Lore Denethor‘s ability to look at the top card of the encounter deck and either put it on the top or bottom. There weren’t any more Gondor themed encounter control cards until the Gondorian Rangers and Traps in Against the Shadow and then it was limited to Lore. Eleanor’s ability is more aligned with the Spirit sphere’s encounter cancellation cards like A Test of Will and Hasty Stroke. I think this is largely a result of the initial design not being as centered around traits as what eventually developed in larger expansions.

Card Synergies and Interactions

Defense Bonus

Defense is Eleanor’s only stat besides hit points greater than 1. At 2, it is sufficient for the Core Set scenarios where many enemies have 2 attack and there is even 1 attack enemies. Gondorian Shield since it gives +2 defense to Gondorian heroes turns her into a decent defender. Blood of Numenor is a solid option in the Spirit sphere and works well with all the resource acceleration options for a Gondor deck. Eleanor’s low threat of 7 also makes it possible to pair it with Resourceful. Still even with these significant defense boosts, Eleanor’s 3 hit points keeps her from being a great primary defender.

Readying

Readying is good if a player wants to use Eleanor as a defender in addition to her ability. Unexpected Courage, of course is the quintessential readying card. Miruvor also is a decent option to ready Eleanor after using her ability. It can even add a resource to Eleanor for use with Blood of Numenor.

More Encounter Control

Eleanor can become an adequate defender, but it is really her ability that is most useful considering how much build up she needs. Utilizing it alongside more encounter control, can shut down the worst the encounter has to offer. This strategy is usually limited to multiplayer since it leaves little room in a deck for cards to aid in questing and combat. In Spirit, there’s A Test of Will and Hasty Stroke. A Watchful Peace can also control the encounters by recurring an innocuous locations. Lore, however, will need to be added for more direct encounter manipulation and cancelation. Lore Denethor, Risk Some Light, Out of the Wild, and Scout Ahead can either move or outright remove the worst cards from the encounter deck. Lore also has Leave No Trace and None Return like Out of the Wild that can add cards to the victory display but only after dealing with them at least once. This, however, opens the possibility of canceling another copy of that encounter card with The Door is Closed!

Quest Specific

Eleanor can be useful in many quests considering all of them have treacheries. The first two cycles more so than later cycles. Shadows of Mirkwood included many that dealt direct damage to heroes and allies that could lay waste to a players board state. Massing at Night in multiplayer especially at 3 and 4 players can be overwhelming. Roasted Slowly and Gollum’s Bite are outright hero killers.

The Darrowdelf cycle, however, it is almost a requirement to bring Test of Will. The Hazards of the Pit set that is part of many of the scenarios includes the notorious Sudden Pitfall that can easily take out a hero if there are no other questing characters to discard. Crumbling Ruin in the same set can also often result in the loss of an ally and even a hero if they don’t have an ally instead. Watchful Eyes also in one of the deluxe sets means many additional encounter cards or not being able to use a hero. Then there’s Road to Rivendell with not 1 but 2 terrible treacheries to watch out for. The infamous Sleeping Sentry that has ended many a game when A Test of Will is not available to cancel it. Then there’s Orc Ambush that as Ted pointed out in Superlative February covering the best and worst encounter cards not only can give bring a ton of enemies into play late game, but surges on top of it.

These cancel or lose type treacheries are part of why the first few cycles can be very “swingy” for new players. If you don’t see them in your game, the scenario can seem very easy. If you get one or two at the wrong time, it can be very difficult if they don’t end the game outright.

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 Eleanor at 6 rings. I think she’s dropped off in importance as the card pool has grown and scenario design moved away from treacheries having such a large effects. In the first couple of cycles, I would have rated her a 3 especially in multiplayer. She doesn’t do a lot for a player turn to turn without significant investment in building her up. She’s got it covered, however, when you really need to cancel Massing at Night or Crumbling Ruins. The more players you add, the more likely that a treachery will show up to wreck havoc on the players. Later cycles treacheries are less prevalent and the effects are more manageable. Part of that is just having more options in deckbuilding. More allies have more than 1 hit point to absorb direct damage. Threat reduction options expanded even beyond Spirit. Lore encounter control options have grown in number. There are even more ways to return heroes to play.

  • Dave – 6
  • Grant – 5
  • Ted – TBR
  • Matt – 6
  • Average – 5.33

External Links

Sample Decks

The Nope Deck by Qwaz

This deck is entirely devoted to controlling the encounter deck. Eleanor cancels treacheries, Balin cancels shadows, and Damrod helps trap enemies. On top of that, victory display cards remove the nastier encounters.

The Nope Deck

Main Deck

Hero (3)
Balin (On the Doorstep)
Damrod (The Land of Shadow)
Eleanor (Core Set)

Ally (3)
3x Errand-rider (Heirs of Númenor)

Attachment (14)
3x Forest Snare (Core Set)
3x King Under the Mountain (On the Doorstep)
3x Ranger Spikes (Heirs of Númenor)
3x Steward of Gondor (Core Set)
2x Thrór’s Map (Over Hill and Under Hill)

Event (31)
3x A Test of Will (Core Set)
3x Daeron’s Runes (Foundations of Stone)
3x Deep Knowledge (The Voice of Isengard)
3x Gildor’s Counsel (The Hills of Emyn Muil)
3x Hasty Stroke (Core Set)
3x None Return (Across the Ettenmoors)
3x Out of the Wild (Road to Rivendell)
3x Power of Orthanc (The Voice of Isengard)
3x The Door is Closed! (The Treachery of Rhudaur)
3x We Are Not Idle (Shadow and Flame)
1x Will of the West (Core Set)

Player Side Quest (2)
1x Gather Information (The Lost Realm)
1x Scout Ahead (The Wastes of Eriador)

3 Heroes, 50 Cards
Cards up to The Land of Shadow

Sideboard

Ally (6)
3x Miner of the Iron Hills (Core Set)
3x Warden of Healing (The Long Dark)

Attachment (13)
3x A Burning Brand (Conflict at the Carrock)
3x Entangling Nets (Temple of the Deceived)
3x Song of Wisdom (Conflict at the Carrock)
3x Thrór’s Key (On the Doorstep)
1x Thrór’s Map (Over Hill and Under Hill)

Event (9)
3x A Good Harvest (The Steward’s Fear)
3x Dwarven Tomb (Core Set)
3x Heed the Dream (Flight of the Stormcaller)

Decklist built and published on RingsDB.

Unexpected Courage

Matt Kell (kattattack22)Leave a comment
  • Player Card Categories
    • Readying

The quintessential readying card.

Background

This card takes inspiration from Bilbo luring the spiders in Mirkwood away from the captured members of Thorin’s Company based on the flavor text. Bilbo started off afraid.

Suddenly he saw, too, that there were spiders huge and horrible sitting in the branches above him, and ring or no ring he trembled with fear lest they should discover him.

The Hobbit, Chapter 8: Flies and Spiders

He soon finds the courage to antagonize the spiders and get them to chase him.

Bilbo saw that the moment had come when he must do something. He could not get up at the brutes and he had nothing to shoot with; but looking about he saw that in this place there were many stones lying in what appeared to be a now dry little watercourse. Bilbo was a pretty fair shot with a stone, and it did not take him long to find a nice smooth egg-shaped one that fitted his hand cosily

The Hobbit, Chapter 8: Flies and Spiders

After getting their attention, he taunts and teases the spiders to lure them away. Then he is able to circle back to free the Dwarves. The art encompasses the Dwarves battling the spiders after Bilbo rescues them. It is from here on out that Bilbo takes a more active role in the story and no longer is just the gentle Hobbit of the Shire.

Card Theme

It is fitting then that the card allows for extra uses of hero. It fits really well for representing the extra reservoir of courage they didn’t know they had.

Card Synergies and Interactions

Strong Stat Heroes

The most obvious synergy is with heroes with multiple strong stats. Unexpected Courage let’s them use those stats in multiple phases of the game as appropriate. Gwaihir in particular benefits additionally from having another way to ready besides playing an Eagle ally.

Heroes with Exhaust Abilities

Some heroes like Beravor, Denethor, and Eleanor from the Core set have an ability that requires you exhaust them to use. Most like Beravor are limited to once per phase or round. Still Unexpected Courage on let’s you their stats for questing, attacking, or defending as well as their ability. There are also a few where an attachment can give a hero an exhaust ability like the Palantir or the Elven rings.

Vengeance of Mordor increased the number of heroes this is good for with the Messenger of the King contract.

Leadership Faramir ally is an excellent example where having easier access to readying helps since his ability is not limited. Messenger of the King limits the readying of the ally turned hero to once per phase, but still triggering an additional willpower per questing character twice can be a huge boost. Especially as repeatable ally readying typically requires multiple cards to pull off.

Ted is fond of saying with powerful cards like Unexpected Courage, the downside is you have to draw it. Card draw and search effects can help you find it sooner. In Spirit, Ancient Mathom, Elven-light, and Cirdan for card draw. Imladris Stargazer and Long Lake Fisher offer some in sphere card search options. Lore offers even more of both with Daeron’s Runes, Deep Knowledge, Master of the Forge, Heed the Dream, and more. There are even a couple neutral cards that can help like core set Gandalf, Gather Information, and Steward of Orthanc.

A round about way available Spirit is to utilize the Dwarf mining effects. Zigil Miner, Spirit Dain, Erebor Guard can fill your discard pile with several cards a round. This combined with attachment recursion very prevalent in Spirit functions like card draw/search. Dwarven Tomb, Reforged, Erebor Hammersmith, and Second Breakfast can get Unexpected Courage into your hard or play from the discard pile.

Quest Specific

Many quests have encounter car effects that exhaust a character either as a when revealed or shadow effect. This goes all the way back even to the core set. Caught in a Web is the most notorious example since it makes you pay 2 resources to ready the attached hero during the refresh phase. Unexpected Courage let’s you play around this condition attachment by giving you a way to ready. Similarly in Darrowdelf you can use Unexpected Courage to avoid the negative effects of Watchful Eyes.

Aside from the encounter deck trying impede your ability to quest, attack, or defend, there are many other times the quest will require you exhaust a hero. Sometimes it is simply to claim an unguarded objective. Many other times it is required for a test to represent the heroes attempting to do something outside the normal questing. Shadow of Mirkwood introduced this idea with Escape tests in The Dead Marshes and Return to Mirkwood. These tests have to commit character’s willpower to exceed escape value on the encounter cards. Unexpected Courage on a high willpower hero like Eowyn can help tremendously to pass these tests. The Lord of the Rings Saga had similar Hide tests in A Shadow of the Past. A variation that was based solely on number of characters exhausted rather than willpower used in the Dream-Chaser cycle and Mount Doom scenario for Sailing and Fortitude test, respectively.

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 Unexpected Courage at 1. It is the kind of basic yet amazing card that needed to be in the core set to keep it relevant through the entire life of the game. Heroes tend to have better stats than allies and getting 2 or better willpower, attack, or defense typically is going to cost the same or more than Unexpected Courage’s 2 resources. That’s not even considering heroes that have abilities that are activated by exhausting them. Scenarios that feature encounter card effects that exhaust heroes or have test in them gives it even more utility. Forth, The Three Hunters and Grey Wanderer contracts only made action advantage even more valuable.

  • Dave – 1
  • Grant – TBR
  • Ted – 1
  • Matt – 1
  • Average – 1

Sample Decks

Bilbo Super Quester

Basic idea was to use Galadriel’s, Theoden’s, and the contract’s willpower boosting to turn Bilbo into super quester especially with his ability on top.

Main Deck

Hero (3)
Bilbo Baggins (Mount Gundabad)
Galadriel (Celebrimbor’s Secret)
Théoden (The Morgul Vale)

Contract (0)
1x Forth, The Three Hunters! (The City of Ulfast)

Attachment (44)
3x Expert Treasure-hunter (On the Doorstep)
3x Golden Belt (Challenge of the Wainriders)
3x Golden Shield (The Flame of the West)
3x Gondorian Shield (The Steward’s Fear)
3x Herugrim (The Treason of Saruman)
2x Hobbit Pony (The Wastes of Eriador)
1x Magic Ring (The Crossings of Poros)
3x Mirror of Galadriel (Celebrimbor’s Secret)
3x Nenya (Celebrimbor’s Secret)
1x Ring Mail (The Long Dark)
3x Round Shield (Mount Gundabad)
3x Silver Circlet (Wrath and Ruin)
2x Silver Harp (The Treachery of Rhudaur)
2x Snowmane (The Land of Shadow)
3x Song of Travel (The Hills of Emyn Muil)
3x Unexpected Courage (Core Set)
3x War Axe (The City of Ulfast)

Event (6)
3x A Test of Will (Core Set)
3x Open the Armory (The Dungeons of Cirith Gurat)

3 Heroes, 50 Cards
Cards up to Challenge of the Wainriders

Sideboard

Attachment (9)
3x Fast Hitch (The Dead Marshes)
3x Song of Wisdom (Conflict at the Carrock)
3x Warrior Sword (The Ghost of Framsburg)

Decklist built and published on RingsDB.

Smoke and Think

Matt Kell (kattattack22)Leave a comment
  • Player Card Categories 
    • Cost Reduction

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

Many of the resource acceleration cards in the game represent Middle Earth’s material wealth. These include cards like Steward of Gondor, Zigil Miner, Traffic from Dale. Many of the cost reduction cards are thematically tied to knowledge and thought. Master of Lore and Erebor Toymaker are prime examples.

The Song attachments of To the Sea, To the Sea and O Lorien! also arguably can be tied to this theme. The record attachments since they reduce their own cost represent this as well.

It is also fun to think about the characters all being drawn together to sit around and smoke a pipe. Granted this card can help play other cards besides allies. The high cost unique allies like Gandalf and Gimli as we see them do so in the books.

Card Synergies and Interactions

Pipes

Obviously the more pipes you have the better this card is. Spare Pipe, Hobbit Pipe, and Dunedain Pipe all help draw Smoke and Think to get it into play. Wizard Pipe plus Gandalf hero has great synergy with Smoke and Think. The Wizard Pipe can set up Gandalf to play it from the top of the deck even if you don’t have a Spirit hero. Gandalf can also make use of the cost reduction in any phase with his ability which can be great to play some high cost yet powerful events like Galadhrim’s Greeting or Grim Resolve. Dwarf Pipe doesn’t have much synergy other than it being in the same sphere and keeping Smoke and Think in the deck if a mined away by a Zigil Miner or Spirit Dain.

High Cost allies

Once two or three pipes are play, Smoke and Think accelerate resources at rate similar to Steward of Gondor. Gandalf hero with his resource smoothing and strong stats works well with Hobbits, Dwarves, and/or Dunedain to make it possible to get 5 or 6 pipes in play that can make even the most expensive cards like Beorn ally and Brok Ironfist cost 0. This burst of resource acceleration is fantastic with high cost unique allies like Firyal, Jubayr, Legolas, or Treebeard. These allies have hero level stats and strong abilities that can make a huge difference if played early. Even a 2 or 3 cost discount can help to play them without having to save up for multiple turns.

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 Smoke and Think at 4 rings. It can have a pretty big effect. It takes a good amount of setup to get there however. It is also is limited because it is an event. Repeatable resource acceleration like Steward of Gondor, Zigil Miner, and O Lorien! will provide more value over the course of the game. If used to bring in a high cost yet strong ally like Treebread, Beorn, or Glorfindel then it is worth the effort. It can also be hard to count on with only 3 copies in the deck. Fortunately, card draw and search cards like Spare Pipe and Heed the Dream can help a player find it when they have a high cost card in hand.

  • Dave – 4
  • Grant – 2
  • Ted – 3
  • Matt – 4
  • Average – 3.25

Sample Decks

Smokin’ Sidequest Gandalf! by Matt Kell (kattattack22)

Pipe deck also featuring dwarf mining and side quests with underground location tech for Beneath the Sands.

Main Deck

Hero (3)
Dáin Ironfoot (The Ghost of Framsburg)
Gandalf (The Road Darkens)
Thurindir (Race Across Harad)

Ally (13)
1x Bilbo Baggins (The Road Darkens)
2x Bombur (Road to Rivendell)
3x Ered Luin Miner (Temple of the Deceived)
1x Glorfindel (Flight of the Stormcaller)
3x Northern Tracker (Core Set)
3x Warden of Healing (The Long Dark)

Attachment (23)
2x Dúnedain Pipe (The Black Serpent)
2x Dwarf Pipe (The Mûmakil)
3x Ever My Heart Rises (The Long Dark)
2x Gandalf’s Staff (The Road Darkens)
1x Narya (The Grey Havens)
2x Ring of Thrór (The Ghost of Framsburg)
2x Shadowfax (The Treason of Saruman)
1x Silver Lamp (The Voice of Isengard)
3x Spare Pipe (The Land of Sorrow)
3x Unexpected Courage (Core Set)
2x Wizard Pipe (The Road Darkens)

Event (15)
3x Hidden Cache (The Morgul Vale)
3x Old Toby (The Black Serpent)
3x Smoke and Think (The Land of Sorrow)
3x Smoke Rings (The Black Riders)
3x Will of the West (Core Set)

Player Side Quest (4)
1x Double Back (Escape from Mount Gram)
1x Gather Information (The Lost Realm)
1x Rally the West (The Black Serpent)
1x Scout Ahead (The Wastes of Eriador)

3 Heroes, 55 Cards
Cards up to The Land of Sorrow

Sideboard

Ally (9)
3x East Road Ranger (The Wastes of Eriador)
3x Ethir Swordsman (The Steward’s Fear)
3x Rhovanion Outrider (Temple of the Deceived)

Attachment (1)
1x Ring of Thrór (The Ghost of Framsburg)

Event (9)
3x The Galadhrim’s Greeting (Core Set)
3x Well-Equipped (The Blood of Gondor)
3x Word of Command (The Long Dark)

Decklist built and published on RingsDB.

Master Baggins by TheChad

Hobbit Pipe deck that pumps out strong unique allies with Smoke and Think.

Main Deck

Hero (3)
(MotK) Bilbo Baggins (Messenger of the King Allies)
Frodo Baggins (Conflict at the Carrock)
Sam Gamgee (The Black Riders)

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

Ally (20)
1x Arwen Undómiel (The Watcher in the Water)
1x Bill the Pony (The Black Riders)
3x Celduin Traveler (The Nîn-in-Eilph)
1x Erebor Toymaker (Mount Gundabad)
1x Erestor (The Long Dark)
1x Faramir (Core Set)
3x Gandalf (Over Hill and Under Hill)
1x Gimli (The Treason of Saruman)
1x Glorfindel (Flight of the Stormcaller)
1x Jubayr (The Mûmakil)
1x Prince Imrahil (The Flame of the West)
1x Rosie Cotton (The Mountain of Fire)
1x Súlien (The City of Corsairs)
1x Treebeard (The Antlered Crown)
2x Wild Stallion (Roam Across Rhovanion)

Attachment (14)
1x Gandalf’s Staff (The Road Darkens)
3x Hobbit Pipe (The Black Riders)
2x Narya (The Grey Havens)
1x Red Book of Westmarch (The Land of Sorrow)
1x Resourceful (The Watcher in the Water)
2x Shadowfax (The Treason of Saruman)
3x Spare Pipe (The Land of Sorrow)
1x Wizard Pipe (The Road Darkens)

Event (17)
2x A Test of Will (Core Set)
2x Dwarven Tomb (Core Set)
1x Free to Choose (Trouble in Tharbad)
3x Smoke and Think (The Land of Sorrow)
2x Smoke Rings (The Black Riders)
3x The Shirefolk (Mount Gundabad)
3x Timely Aid (The Redhorn Gate)
1x To Arms! (The Wilds of Rhovanion)

3 Heroes, 51 Cards
Cards up to The Land of Sorrow

Decklist built and published on RingsDB.