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| LunaticFringe |
![]() Posted: Thu Oct 06, 2005 2:33 am |
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Joined: 03 Sep 2005
Posts: 60
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*Enter ’flair for the dramatics’, stage left*
"Men of Gondor, hear now the Steward of this Realm! Behold! One has come to claim the kingship again at last. Here is Aragorn son of Arathorn, chieftain of the Dunedain of Arnor, Captain of the Host of the West, bearer of the Star of the North, wielder of the Sword Reforged, victorious in battle, whose hands bring healing, the Elfstone, Elessar of the line of Valandil, Isildur’s son, Elendil’s son of Numenor. Shall he be king and enter into the City and dwell there?"
’And all the host and all the people cried yea with one voice.’
*Exit ’flair’, stage right*
Since the first preview of Bloodlines showing Aragorn, Isildur’s Heir, I’ve desparately wanted to break it (Conor can vouch for that, given that I’ve taken two Masterworks off his hands  ). Considering the fact that it’s a companion, and his text is dependent on conditions, this is no mean feat- those two issues don’t exactly make building him up a walk in the park. What follows is a breakdown as to where my attempts have gone thus far:
Isildur, Bearer of Heirlooms
The One Ring, The Ring of Rings
Aragorn, Isildur’s Heir x2
Elendil, High-King of Gondor
Boromir, Hero of Osgiliath
Denethor, Lord of Minas Tirith (s)
Faramir, Captain of Gondor (s)
Anduril, Flame of the West
Narsil, Blade of the Faithful
Gondorian Blade
Ring of Barahir
Scroll of Isildur
Sapling of the White Tree x3
Brego, Loyal Steed
Pallando, Far-Travelling One
Kingsfoil
Steward’s Legacy
King’s Legacy
Garrison of Osgiliath
Noble Leaders x2
Storied Homestead
Houses of Healing
Heirs of Gondor
Support of the City x3
Last Throw
The Highest Quality x2
Guarded City x2
Well-Traveled
Teh Skinny:
Support of the City is proof positive that R&D goes back multiple sets to find excuses for a card to get made. This deck has a fairly rote Gondor/Noble Leaders style setup- Denethor at sanctuary, pull Houses, then pull two Supports, Aragorn, and Well-Traveled (naturally for Caras Galadhan, unless the opponent is Nazgul, and if that’s the case, you should be behind anyways). The redundancy on the two primary targets, Support and Aragorn, all but guarantee you’ll have one of the affected cards in your hand at site 3. I’m currently pairing this with a Nazgul shadow for Moving This Way/Ithil Stone to certify the hand. With purely what exerting Denethor can provide, he’s an immediate 11 stregnth tank for 4 twilight. Like the man said, "’And all the host and all the people cried yea with one voice.’" Flair for the dramatics indeed.
Free Denny exertions should go for Boromir and Steward’s Legacy (not necessarially in that order). Boromir with Brego and the SL in play- "I exert Boromir to activate Brego, SL exerts your TOTO, and now My Little Pony (TM Hasbro) tramples him". Greatest thing since sliced bread. Pallando? You don’t even need to kill conditions with him. Make him follow Boromir just for the fun of watching the other guy’s face turn sour. "What? You can’t BNAP for your Sense? Oh DAMN, poor you". SL is just too fun.
Now, what doesn’t this deck do? Well, I should really get another Pallando in there. And this deck simply doesn’t remove burdens. Bid one. Tops. Go second. If forced to go first, look for either a Gondor hand, or Moving This Way and a cheap Nazzie (I’ll share the shadow tomorrow). Mulligan if you don’t have it, and either way stop at two and let the other guy walk to 3 with token resistance. Gondor doesn’t set up fast enough to suit anybody, and you need to work the deck like the pimp that you are for winning’s sake.
The stack used to have Ithilien Trap in there, which is way too conditional, and Storied Homestead is looking to follow it’s footsteps and give way for another Support. Storied is great in a standing 6 member fellowship since it can block a lot of stupid things that target 6’s. Well, maybe just Cantea, but he’s stupid enough to make up for the rest of the allusion I’m missing. And those dumb Orcs, but those don’t require 6 members, so I digress. But the 6 number is good for the tokens too, and, well, Denethor’s got hisself a big red bullseye on his back after site 3.
Anyways, I think that’s enough for now. Questions? Comments? Critiques? Concerns (for my mental stability)? |
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| LunaticFringe |
![]() Posted: Thu Oct 06, 2005 6:23 pm |
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Joined: 03 Sep 2005
Posts: 60
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Sauron, Dark Lord of Mordor x2
The Witch-King, Captain of the Nine Riders x3
Ulaire Enquea, Thrall of the One x3
Ulaire Enquea, Sixth of the Nine Riders
Ulaire Cantea, Thrall of the One x3
Ulaire Cantea, Black Assassin
Ulaire Otsea, Thrall of the One x3
Ulaire Toldea, Black Shadow x2
Sceptre of the Dark Lord x2
Ithil Stone x2
Moving This Way x3
Winged and Ominous x2
Hatred Stirred
Flung into the Fray
Out of Sight and Shot
Minas Morgul Answers x2
Between Nazgul and Prey
Too Much Spiel:
Common Nazgul shadow. Meant to be flexible with the choice of minions and evens, while being able to both stop and kill. The volume of enduring minions natually help set up both the Witch-King and Sauron.
Basically, this shadow looks for heavy throughput of cards getting cycled
out, while being able to deal with a number of strategies. Meant mainly to be both a setup excuse for the Gondor fellowship and to get out the two heavy hitters anumber of times during the game, it’s nothing you haven’t seen before.
And yes, I know the halves don’t match numerically. I’m mixing and matching currently to try out different numbers. |
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