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| hawkeyespf |
![]() Posted: Wed Jul 25, 2007 10:30 pm |
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Joined: 25 Oct 2006
Posts: 198
Location: Round Lake IL
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--- description ---
This deck uses an AMAZING 12 companions, and NO fortifications! Just some really big dudes who can move 3 sites a turn and beat down anything in their path.
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RB: Isildur, Bearer of Heirlooms
ToR: The One Ring, The Ring of Rings
Sites:
Morannon Plains
Cavern Entrance
Neekerbreekers’ Bog
Moria Stairway
Wold Battlefield
Pinnacle of Zirakzigil
The Prancing Pony
Falls of Rauros
Sirannon Ruins
Companions:
Gandalf, Leader of Men (starting)
Gondorian Prowler (starting)
Pippin, Wearer of Black and Silver (starting)
Gandalf, Returned
Radagast, The Brown
Aragorn, Thorongil
Denethor, Lord of Minas Tirith
Elendil, High-king of Gondor
Imrahil, Prince of Dol Amroth
Garrison of Gondor
Eomer, Eored Captain
Followers:
Pallando, Far-travelling One
Artifacts:
Anduril, Flame of the West
Narsil, Blade of the Faithful
Throne of Minas Tirith
Possessions:
Glamdring, Foe-hammer
Armor of the White City
Gondorian Steed
Spear of the Mark
Rohirrim Mount
Conditions:
G for Grand x4
Watch and Wait
Storied Homestead
Events:
Saved From the Fire x4
Borne Far Away
Well-traveled
Minions:
Castamir of Umbar x4
Corsair Marauder x4
Corsair Boatswain x2
Corsair Plunderer x2
Corsair Ruffian x2
Corsair Freebooter x2
Southron Leader x2
Corsair Brute
Black Numenorean
Possessions:
Raider Halberd x4
Ships of Great Draught x2
Black Sails of Umbar x2
Corsair War Galley
Events:
Red Wrath
Fierce in Despair
Stampeded
Free Peoples’ Strategy:
Well, unfortunately you’ve gotta start off slow with this deck, but at least you’ve got a shadow to stop your opponent with - more on that later. It’s best to go first with this deck, but you also don’t want to bid too high, so consider what is popular in your meta before you bid.
Your best bet is to play The Prancing Pony as Site 1 and hope you get at least one Saved From the Fire in your opening hand - mulligan if you have to, it’s very important to get one by the start of your second turn, at site 2.
Anyway, use the site’s text to play Aragorn - keep that burden in mind when bidding! Assuming you’ve got a SFtF, burn the Prowler and grab (then play) Anduril, FotW, Denethor LoMT, and Elendil HkOG. You want to stop here, but don’t forget to play the Pinnacle as your site 3! You probably used Pippin’s text to kill off some minion skirmishing Gandalf, so go ahead and toss him now that his usefullness has been outlived.
Hopefully you’ve reconciled into a second SFtF in the inbetween, so use that to burn Gandalf LoM and grab Radagast TB, Gandalf Returned, and Borne Far Away. Play Radagast and use Borne Far Away to switch the Gandalf in hand with the one in your dead pile. Continue your turn as normal, stopping at the sanctuary of course - you can toss that extra Gandalf now.
Starting turn 3....heal your sanctuary wounds of course, then use the site’s text to play Gandalf from your dead pile and use his text to play Glamdring from your draw deck. Next use Denethor’s text to play Narsil BotF on him, Well-traveled (exerting Aragorn to play Falls of Rauros as site 4 and really whatever you want to use as site 5. Use Denethor’s last exertion to play Garrison of Gondor. Transfer Narsil over to Elendil, killing Denethor, then go ahead and move on. Don’t forget to toss Denethor out of play using the site’s text!
Past that it’s pretty much just beat-down city baby. Below are listed the max strengths of each companion (assuming 4 G for Grand and resistance 6+):
Isildur: 11 (14 with Narsil)
Gandalf: 13 (removes a burden every time he wins)
Aragorn: 17 damage +2 (plus hunter 2!) (removes a burden every time he wins)
Elendil: 13 (16 with Narsil)
Imrahil: 12 (don’t forget he can exert two minions when he wins, making it even easier for Eomer)
Garrison of Gondor: 13
Radagast: 12
Eomer: 12 (+2 for each wound on each minion he’s skirmishing, possibility of defender +2!)
And of course the roaming Pallando bonus, but I’d stick with Gandalf or Radagast just to avoid the hefty price of 2 exertions. I would have gone with Boromir Hero of Osgiliath instead of Garrison of Gondor for the healing ability except for his lower resistance. To be sure I could get the G4G bonus I would have wanted to add one more Gondorian Steed or take it from Aragorn, and I didn’t really want to do either.
To sum up: You’ve got the ability to move 3 sites every turn, you’ve got condition removal, burden removal, some early site control, and a whole bunch of beefy companions all set to hunt some orc!
Shadow Strategy:
Corsairs are corsairs are corsairs. That’s really all there is to it. I kept the deck size small for the benefit of both the Freeps and the Shadow. There are 4 Castamir and 4 Halberds in there, so a fairly decent chance to draw one of each by your opponent’s first turn, and just in case they’re running a choke fellowship, you’ve got Sirannon Ruins for 4 of the 9 required twilight to kill a companion or two on the first turn. I always did hate being 1 twilight short of the first turn kill.
As the game goes on, your free peoples cards will be filtered out of your deck, giving you a better chance to swarm your opponent, or just toss extra Raider cards to feed Ships of Great Draught to reuse Castamir and Halberd (maybe even Marauder) over and over again. Either way, they’re in for a rough ride - just run them through Moria Stairway and watch ’em cry! |
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| lem0nhead |
![]() Posted: Thu Jul 26, 2007 3:43 am |
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Joined: 02 Apr 2007
Posts: 2981
Location: Blood Island
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A better way than playing borne far away to swap gandalfs is to fetch and play sent back then play gandy anyway. And its advantage is that extra bit of gametext if gandy or rada are going to die take the minions with them.  |
Ban shampoo, demand real poo.
 My Trade List and CC References
"Smart guy, especially considering his head is filled with lemon juice and seeds. That boy’s juicy brain is FULL of good stuff" ~ DainIronfoot
"No fair! And all I got was an oily unconscious steward!" ~ Pippin.
"Okay, stop me if you've heard this one. An elf, a man, and a dwarf walk into the Riddermark..." ~ Eomer |
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| hawkeyespf |
![]() Posted: Thu Jul 26, 2007 10:55 am |
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Joined: 25 Oct 2006
Posts: 198
Location: Round Lake IL
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I had that originally, but this way I get to play an extra companion.
Rule of 9 be damned! |
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| LeoKula |
![]() Posted: Thu Jul 26, 2007 11:02 am |
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Joined: 31 Oct 2005
Posts: 479
Location: SP, Brazil
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G for Grand is so destructive with companions that are big by nature... great deck  |
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