LotR TCG Wiki → Card Sets:  All 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 → Forums:  TLHH CC

 
Cobra Cards Player Community Forum Index
 Forum index » Lord of the Rings TCG » LOTR TCG Strategy Article Contest
Author Message
Rate this article!

5 (Best)  
8%
  [ 1 ]  8%
 
4  
25%
  [ 3 ]  25%
 
3  
58%
  [ 7 ]  58%
 
2  
8%
  [ 1 ]  8%
 
1 (Worst)  
0%
  [ 0 ]  0%
 

Total Votes : 12
AnxiousChieftain
Posted: Thu Oct 06, 2005 9:05 pm
Joined: 15 Jul 2005 Posts: 3947 Location: Maryland
--- description ---
Step-by-step construction of a new Dwarf / Orc deck.
--- end description ---

Note: if you do not know what a card in this article does, it’s a good idea to use the Cobra Cards search engine to find it.

Free Peoples Strategy

While I was rummaging through my extras, looking for a new deck idea, I found a cool card that isn’t used much: Preparations. Although a little bit expensive, this card can be extremely powerful. I knew that there must be some type of combo that can be used with Preparations, and after searching some more, I found it: Slaked Thirsts. The perfect complement to these two cards is Quick As May Be, a cheap way to kill minions. After looking at these three cards, it is plain to see that the deck is going to be exerting and then wounding minions.

We’ll start off with companions. Frodo will be the Ring-bearer, so that we don’t need to include any burden-removal, and most of the time Frodo won’t have to fight. He also can muster away unwanted cards. Gimli, Feared Axeman allows you to keep Preparations and Till Durin Wakes Again on the table. Legolas, Greenleaf is an easy way to wound minions, and more importantly, he allows you to play Quick As May Be. Sindri is a nice Dwarf who works well with Preparations.

Next, we’ll need possessions and artifacts. Two Dwarven Axes will be included as cheap weapons for the Dwarves. Two Hand Axes will add strength, and can be used to finish off minions. Two Ring of Guile allow you to grab Quick As May Be, or in an odd occasion, you may want to grab Slaked Thirsts and use it’s other ability to draw a card. One copy of Dwarven Bracers will prevent Red Wrath and other wounds. To finish it off, two copies of Hobbit Sword are included to protect Frodo.

For conditions, we’ll include three Preparations, to ensure that you get it early. Two Dark Ways will heal a Dwarf twice, allowing you to stack more cards on Preparations, and it will also grab a skirmish event. Three Till Durin Wakes Again means that you can stack Slaked Thirsts every single site, as long as you are going second.

Many events are contained in this deck. Four Slaked Thirsts will exhaust minions. Four Quick As May Be will then finish them off. Three Battle Tested will help your Dwarves win their skirmishes, and you can stack it on Preparations and then play it with Sindri. Two Seclusion will get rid of pesky conditions.

Shadow Strategy

On the Shadow side, we’ll go with an under-used strategy: Orc corruption. The idea is very simple: Goblin Hordes retrieves Isengard Underlings who retrieve Bound to its Fate, which adds burdens. Retribution will let some of your bigger minions add more burdens as well.

For minions, we definitely want four Isengard Underling to grab Bound to its Fate. Three copies of Orkish Smith will retrieve Goblin Hordes. Another use for Orkish Smith is to discard Retribution to play a hand weapon, and then play Orkish Smith to get back Retribution. Three Mocking Goblins add burdens in a way very similar to Bound to its Fate. Two Orc Raid Commanders make sure that decks using cards like Sudden Fury and G for Grand will crumble. Three Porter Trolls can add burdens when you play them, and can easily win skirmishes, triggering Retribution. Two Watchful Orcs will make sure your underground sites stay on the adventure path.

The only events in this deck are four Bound to its Fate. This card is amazingly good against many decks. If they don’t use many events, they can easily be corrupted.

For possessions, four Orc Spears will be fine. They are cheap, and can be replayed via the Orkish Smith / Retribution combo.

Next up: conditions. Definitely include four Goblin Hordes. The ability to retrieve any minions you want is very powerful in this deck. Four Retribution will add burdens, as described previously.

With this deck, the site path is important, so bid enough to go second. Stay behind most of the game, and if your Free Peoples side is doing well, shoot forward at the later sites. Otherwise, continue letting your Shadow side work.

Strengths and Weaknesses

The Free Peoples side is very strong against decks that has bigger minions that are big and fairly expensive. It can just exhaust them and then give them the final wound. It’s main weakness is Beasterlings, which cannot take wounds if they use the Easterling Polearm. However, if the only burden-adding card they have is Small Hope, you may be able to exhaust their minions with Slaked Thirsts before they can use Small Hope.

The Shadow side works well against many types of decks. It’s main weakness is decks that include lots of burden removal. However, this deck can add a super large amount of burdens if it gets set up early, so it can still defeat decks that include a lot of burden removal. If their deck doesn’t include much or any burden removal, there’s a good chance they will be corrupted.

Finally, here is the completed deck list:

Ring-bearer and One Ring
Frodo, Protected by Many
The One Ring, Such a Weight to Carry

Adventure Path
(0) Courtyard Parapet
(0) Abandoned Mine Shaft
(1) Cavern Entrance
(1) Pelennor Flat
(2) West Gate of Moria
(2) Chamber of Mazarbul
(2) Moria Stairway
(3) Caves of Aglarond
(3) Moria Guardroom

Free Peoples (33)
Gimli, Feared Axeman x1 (starting)
Legolas, Greenleaf x1 (starting)
Sindri, Dwarven Lord x1
Dwarven Axe x2
Hand Axe x2
Ring of Guile x2
Dwarven Bracers x1
Hobbit Sword x2
Preparations x3
Dark Ways x2
Till Durin Wakes Again x3
Seclusion x2
Quick as May Be x4
Slaked Thirsts x4
Battle Tested x3

Shadow (33)
Isengard Underling x4
Orkish Smith x3
Mocking Goblin x3
Orc Raid Commander x2
Porter Troll x3
Watchful Orc x2
Bound to its Fate x4
Orc Spear x4
Goblin Hordes x4
Retribution x4

As always, after playing with this deck, you can change the deck to fit your local meta more. Are Beasterlings are big in your area? Add in Gandalf and Roll of Thunder. Do choke decks dominate the tournaments you go to? Add in more cycling cards. Most importantly, have fun with the deck!

Please comment on this article. Also, if you vote low, please tell me what you did not like about this article, so I can do better next time. Thanks!
MODS RULE. - lem0nhead
Cleston
Posted: Fri Oct 14, 2005 11:15 am
Joined: 10 Aug 2005 Posts: 110 Location: Brasil
you´ll probably want to run more companions than 4... a popular build in my area back when king block was just released included aragorn ranger of the north (or the defender +1 one) with bow, and 4 gondor bowmen, along with gandalf friend of the shirefolk to back nasty things up. the deck was probably somethign around this:

frodo resolute + answer to all the riddles
gimli feared axeman
legolas greenleaf
sméagol slinker (totally tech)

aragorn ranger of the north x4
gandalf friend of the shirefolk x2
uri
sam son of hamfast (but he´s banned, so use samwise the brave or great elf warrior, who is 5 strenght this deck)

aragorn´s bow x2
tale of gil-galad
aiglos
ring of retribution
sting, bane of the 8 legs
preparations x3
slaked thirsts x4
quick as may be x4
gondor bowmen x4
power according to his stature x2
TOTAL: 34

some card choices:

uri - tech dude, has 4 vitality, can back up those lost slaked during region 2 so you can have a safe path to region 3 (remember you won´t really need sanctuary on site 6 if this dude can back you up).

sting - this one can eb held by sam, so you have 2 ring-bearers, one can hold 12 burdens and the other is himself 7 strenght. not too shabby.

ring of retribution - could be any other vitality adder for dwarves. i guess it´s the only one.

sméagol - tech. as soon as your base isn´t settled, use this guy. you don´t care about burdens early game, so you can hold that castamir you won´t be able to deal in the first assignment, then kill the nasty dude on fierce skirmish.

i guess that´s a good notion on this deck, i hope it has helped you dude.
- "If I die, your deck will crumble!"
Gandalf (any of them)
AnxiousChieftain
Posted: Sat Oct 22, 2005 10:06 am
Joined: 15 Jul 2005 Posts: 3947 Location: Maryland
Sorry I didn't reply to your post, Cleston; I forgot that anyone had commented on this article.

While it would be interesting to include Aragorn, I'm not sure if it's needed. I've tested out this deck against a multitude of decks, and what it doesn't kill before the skirmish phase, Gimli and Sindri can kill in the skirmish phase.

If I can get the new Aragorn from Bloodlines (Thorongil), I might try putting him in along with Aragorn's Bow, and see how he does. Also, with The Prancing Pony, you can grab him early, so you don't need to include 4 copies of him to get him fast.
MODS RULE. - lem0nhead
Cleston
Posted: Sat Oct 22, 2005 3:02 pm
Joined: 10 Aug 2005 Posts: 110 Location: Brasil
AnxiousChieftain wrote:
Sorry I didn't reply to your post, Cleston; I forgot that anyone had commented on this article.

While it would be interesting to include Aragorn, I'm not sure if it's needed. I've tested out this deck against a multitude of decks, and what it doesn't kill before the skirmish phase, Gimli and Sindri can kill in the skirmish phase.

If I can get the new Aragorn from Bloodlines (Thorongil), I might try putting him in along with Aragorn's Bow, and see how he does. Also, with The Prancing Pony, you can grab him early, so you don't need to include 4 copies of him to get him fast.


yeah, that's much true.

you see, this was a deck running around here during ROTK block release... i didn't try to make it worth for today's site path.

i just feel that your fellow could be more solid to face things that are rpepared to take lots of wounds. besides, the new site path mechanich pratically avoid choke decks from being that effective. seeing your deck, i believe you'd found lots of troubles in region 3, hadn't you?

another question, is your shadow corrupting nicely? my burden orcs just seem to never work... you know, sometimes i get the bound to its fate working, some other times it seems the preparations wok alone... it just never sinergies all by itself.
- "If I die, your deck will crumble!"
Gandalf (any of them)
AnxiousChieftain
Posted: Sat Oct 22, 2005 4:19 pm
Joined: 15 Jul 2005 Posts: 3947 Location: Maryland
Cleston wrote:
seeing your deck, i believe you'd found lots of troubles in region 3, hadn't you?

Actually, region 3 is one of the easiest regions. By then, Preparations is out with several Slaked Thirsts on it, and there are a couple Till Durin Wakes Again in play, so every turn I can use all my Slaked Thirsts and stack them in the regroup phase.
Quote:
another question, is your shadow corrupting nicely? my burden orcs just seem to never work... you know, sometimes i get the bound to its fate working, some other times it seems the preparations wok alone... it just never sinergies all by itself.

To tell you the truth, I've never tried this exact build of Orc Corruption. I don't have all the cards for it, so in real life I use an Orc swarm deck instead. Smile
MODS RULE. - lem0nhead

Display posts from previous:  

 Forum index » Lord of the Rings TCG » LOTR TCG Strategy Article Contest
All times are UTC - 4
Page 1 of 1 [5 Posts]  
View previous topic   View next topic