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Joined: 12 Jul 2005
Posts: 1202
Location: Austin, TX, USA
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Cobra’s picks for the ten best cards of Bloodlines, with stats, gametext, analysis, and a suggested combo for each card.
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This is one of my old feature articles, which is being added to the forum database to help us keep our strategy section more organized. This article is NOT eligible for the contest, but feel free to rate and review it!
This article will hopefully give LOTR TCG players a few new ideas on using the just-released Bloodlines cards, but let me start by stating the obvious: "best card" lists are always highly subjective. I expect many readers may feel I’ve chosen the wrong cards, or put them in the wrong order. I encourage you to use the link at the bottom of the article to post your own comments -- in fact, I’d consider it a failure if an article like this didn’t spark a little debate! Now, without further ado:
#10: Ordnance Grunt
(6), Minion - Troll, 12/3/5, Damage +1, Fierce. To play, spot an Orc minion.
Shadow: Discard an Orc condition from play to play this minion from your discard pile.
The simple fact that the Ordnance Grunt is a troll with good stats is enough to make it a decent card, especially with the new Troll’s Keyward serving to make Orc-culture trolls significantly cheaper. But what makes this card really good is the ability to play it from your discard pile at almost any time. You won’t always want to do that, since it requires discarding one of your valuable Orc conditions, but just having the option can make a deck that much more solid. And when you’re considering how best to play a Site 9 Shadow phase, an extra fierce, damage +1 troll is a lot more useful than a condition that’s already served its purpose.
Card combo: Rallying Orc + Demoralized + Ordnance Grunt. Lurkers with Demoralized is a standard Orc trick for generating twilight, and an Ordnance Grunt or two in your discard pile will make sure you can put all of it to good use.
#9: Grima, Footman of Saruman
(2), Minion - Man, 4/3/3, Lurker.
Each time a Free Peoples character is killed, you may spot another Men minion to exert each companion.
As usual, Grima is pretty much useless on his own, but can be quite good as part of a combo. Evil Men have quite a few cards that give significant strength or damage bonuses, and several that cause direct wounds as well. Use any of these options to kill any companion, and Grima will exert the entire Fellowship. Kill more than one companion, and you might exhaust the entire Fellowship! Just make sure to play him at the right time -- if you don’t kill any companions the turn you play him, he’s wasted.
Card combo: Grima, Footman of Saruman + Bloodthirsty. After Grima exhausts a companion, Bloodthirsty scores another kill -- and then, if Grima survived his skirmish, he exerts everyone again.
#8: Sauron, Dark Lord of Mordor
(16), Minion - Maia, 24/5/6, Damage +1, Fierce.
When you play Sauron, you may exert any number of minions. For each minion you exert, Sauron is twilight cost -X, where X is the current region number.
Without the "enduring" keyword and the extra damage +1, this Sauron isn’t quite as powerful as the old one. But with gametext that makes him significantly cheaper to play, the new version will hit the table a lot more often. With an Orc (or Morgul Orc) swarm, it would often be possible to play a full hand of cheap minions as you normally would, and then really bring the pain with a cheap (or even free) Sauron.
Card combo: Sauron, Dark Lord of Mordor + Sceptre of the Dark Lord. An obvious combo, but still a deadly one -- either your opponent willingly sacrifices two companions, or the Lord of the Rings gets to choose his own victims.
#7: Elendil, High-king of Gondor
(5), Companion - Man, 8/5/6, Knight. To play, spot 2 Gondor knights or exert 2 Gondor Men.
Each of your Gondor companions is resistance +1.
Maneuver: Remove a Gondor token to make an unbound companion resistance +1 until the regroup phase.
Unless you see a lot of resistance-hate Uruks, you’re not likely to get much use out of Elendil’s maneuver ability. But even considering only the "permanent" parts of his text, High-king of Gondor is a great character. Five vitality is always solid, especially in a Knight deck where vitality is sometimes more important than strength. And since the continuous resistance +1 bonus is not limited to unbound companions, it can apply to a Ring-bearing Boromir or Isildur as well, helping guard against Gondor’s major weakness.
Card combo: Elendil, High-King of Gondor + Gondor Bow. Five vitality makes Elendil an ideal knight bowman -- if necessary he can use almost any fortification to kill almost any minion.
#6: Forced March
(1), Condition - Support Area. To play, spot 2 Orc minions.
Regroup: Make the Free Peoples player spot another Orc condition, discard it from play, and remove 3 to make the Free Peoples player choose to move again this turn (if the move limit allows). Discard this condition.
I’ve been on the wrong end of No Retreat a few times, and this new forced-movement card gives me the creeps. In an Orc deck, conditions and twilight tokens are easy to spot, and any kind of Orc deck can take advantage of a bad double-move to create a game-ending situation. The only real downside is that your opponent gets to discard one of your conditions, but if the double-move will end the game it’s a moot point.
Card combo: Rallying Orc + Demoralized + Forced March. The lurkers are likely to give you enough twilight to activate Forced March and be able to play whatever minions you draw -- and if you force your opponent to skip a sanctuary, those exertion tokens will start to really limit the fellowship’s options.
#5: Celeborn, The Wise
(2), Companion - Elf, 6/3/7.
While the fellowship is at a forest site, each Elf who has resistance 7 or more gains muster.
Each time the fellowship moves during the regroup phase, you may take an Elven event into hand from your discard pile.
The new Celeborn will be a valuable addition to any Elf deck that focuses on events. His text allows you to pick the best event for the situation, whether that means a strength pump, an archery booster, a condition-removal card, or anything else, which makes him extremely versatile. Celeborn’s "muster" text can be quite useful as well, especially if you’re in control of the site path and are using Galadriel, Bearer of Wisdom as the Ring-bearer.
Card combo: Celeborn, The Wise + Glimpse of Fate. Lose initiative at the first site, then regain it with Celeborn and lose it again at the second site. With an event like Final Shot, you’ll have a huge strength boost up your sleeve going into the second round of skirmishes.
#4: Howdah
(0), Condition - Support Area.
When you play this, add a Men token for each Men archer you spot.
At the start of the archery phase, you may discard this condition from play or remove 2 tokens from here to make the minion archery total +1.
Howdah is simply the most efficient minion archery card ever printed. With four Men archers in play, you get +3 archery (spread over 3 sites) for zero twilight. With two Men archers, +2 archery for zero twilight. Even with no archers to spot, Howdah provides +1 archery at no cost, like a Shadow player’s Double Shot. Evil Men Archery decks will certainly include 4x Howdah from now on, adding 8-10 archery over the course of the game without putting any strain on twilight resources.
Card combo: Voice of the Desert, Southron Troop + Howdah. Play a swarm of cheap Men minions, use Voice of the Desert to make them all archers, and then play Howdah to pile the wounds on the opposing fellowship.
#3: Aragorn, Isildur’s Heir
(4), Companion - Man, 8/4/8.
Aragorn is strength +1 for each Gondor card that has a culture token on it.
At the start of each assignment phase, you may exert Aragorn to make an unbound companion that has resistance 7 or more defender +1 until the regroup phase.
With two Gondor token cards already seeing regular play and two more being added in Bloodlines, the new Aragorn can easily have 11 or 12 strength even while unarmed. If you prefer not to leave all those Gondor tokens lying around, you can still get quite a bit of use out of Aragorn’s text simply by resolving his skirmish first, then using the tokens in other skirmishes. Aragorn’s defender +1 ability is excellent as well -- he can take on two minions himself, or allow another strong Gondor companion to fight two minions. And if you ever need to let a companion die a skirmish, a defender +1 bonus from Aragorn can make that companion’s sacrifice even more beneficial to the rest of your fellowship.
Card combo: Aragorn, Isildur’s Heir + Anduril, Flame of the West. With a few token-based conditions in play, an armed Isildur’s Heir takes his place among the strongest companions in the game.
#2: Take Up the Bow
(6), Condition - Support Area, Toil 2.
Archery: Discard this from play and spot 3 Elf archers to discard a minion from play. Each of those archers loses archer and cannot gain archer.
This is a huge card because it directly addresses archery decks’ greatest weakness: strong minions that can’t be killed during the archery phase. With Take Up the Bow, you can simply discard those minions and move on. The twilight cost is high, but you can choose between twilight and toil exertions based on what you’re facing, and since the Elves have plenty of healing power they won’t mind the exertions too much. The only real downside to this card is the risk that your opponent will manage to discard it before you can use it.
Card combo: Take Up the Bow + Legolas’ Bow. Legolas’ Bow essentially allows you to place two toil exertions instead of three, reducing the cost (and risk) of playing Take Up the Bow.
#1: Pallando, Far-traveling One
(2), Follower, Strength +1, Aid - 2.
Each time you transfer this to a companion, except a Gandalf companion, exert bearer twice.
Each time bearer wins a skirmish, you may discard a condition from play.
Pallando provides the Gandalf culture with an even better way to discard single conditions. For two twilight, you can make Gandalf, an Ent, or any other Gandalf-culture companion strength +1, and when that companion wins a skirmish you get to discard a Shadow condition of your choice. Since Pallando is a follower, he’s nearly impossible to discard; and since twilight for "aid" is added during the maneuver phrase, the Shadow player might not even be able to use it. But what really makes Pallando a great card is the fact that you can also use him with any non-Gandalf companion, if you’re willing to exert that companion twice. For example, two exertions would be well worth it if you’re playing straight Gondor and have no other defense against Sense of Obligation.
Card combo: Pallando, Far-traveling One + any fierce minion. Although you don’t have much control over this, it’s worth mentioning that against fierce minions you can discard two conditions for the price of one. |
| Last edited by Cobra on Sun Feb 05, 2006 4:49 pm; edited 1 time in totalhttp://cobracards.com -- Web's best deals on Trading Card Games. |
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