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Cobra
Posted: Wed Aug 10, 2005 3:22 pm
Joined: 12 Jul 2005 Posts: 1202 Location: Austin, TX, USA
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Discussion of Elven cards from the new LOTR TCG: Bloodlines set, with tips for Elven event and archery decks.
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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!

With the Bloodlines release fast approaching, I thought it would be worthwhile to take a look at a few of the cultures that will gain the most from the new set. It didn’t take long to choose the culture for my first Spotlight article: Elves.

During LOTR TCG’s first two years, Free Peoples skirmish events almost always took a backseat to more permanent cards like conditions and possessions. With the King Block, Decipher seemed to decide that skirmish events deserved to see more play. (An excellent idea, in my opinion; events add an element of surprise that can make games much more exciting.) Decipher took a few small steps toward popularizing events, and then a big one: Galadriel, Lady Redeemed. Suddenly event-based Elf decks were one of the most powerful decktypes available. Elven events could either be used for their printed text, or to quickly kill any Shadow condition or possession; and after a few events hit the discard pile, Cirdan became a powerhouse. Decipher eventually admitted they had gone too far, adding Lady Redeemed to the Standard Format X-list. But they have not given up their quest to increase the use of events, and if Bloodlines is any guide, they still have a soft spot for the famous "Elvent" deck. Luckily, this time they got it right.

The main downside to playing with skirmish events is that they are one-time-use cards; to keep your companions winning skirmishes, you have to keep drawing more events. Several new Bloodlines cards address this problem. City of the Trees lets you draw a card each time you skirmish a wounded minion, a common scenario with the wide variety of archery options available to Elves. Wells of Deep Memory allows for up to three card draws during each regroup-phase move. With a Shrouded Elf or two in play, you can stack just-played events on top of your deck so you can immediately draw them again. And with Celeborn, The Wise, you can pull events from your discard pile directly back into your hand. These cards make it possible to draw more skirmish events AND to recycle the ones you’ve already played.

Of course, the cards mentioned above are not very effective unless you move twice each turn. This is the "catch" that prevents the new Elvent deck from being overpowered -- but it’s not as big a catch as you might think. Elves have always been good runners, and Bloodlines helps them out a bit more with a great new event called Final Shot.

If you’re still skeptical, consider how all this card-drawing and event-playing will affect your hand size. For example, imagine that City of the Trees is in play and you have three cards in hand. Your Shrouded Elf begins a skirmish against a wounded minion (four cards in hand). You play a skirmish event (three cards in hand) and stack it on top of your deck. Celeborn begins a skirmish against another wounded minion (four cards), and you play the event you just drew (three cards). You double-move, using Celeborn’s text to pull the event back into your hand (four cards) for use during the next skirmish (three cards).

Now, imagine doing this with Glimpse of Fate on the table!

Archery fans will also benefit from two powerful new Bloodlines cards. The first is Let Fly, which can cause numerous wounds under the right circumstances. (For example, spot the Cave Troll and wound all the Orcs surrounding him.) The second is Take Up the Bow, which solves many of the problems normally faced by archery fellowships. The new Balrog doesn’t take archery wounds; neither does the feared Easterling Captain when equipped with his trusty Polearm. And arrows only make "enduring" minions angry. Take Up the Bow goes a long way toward fixing these weak points by allowing you to simply discard the minions. It’s true that the card is expensive, but a few toil exertions are a small price to pay considering the Elves’ legendary healing skill. Players who like big, beefy minions would be well-advised to start packing a little more condition removal!
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