The Last Homely House

Middle-Earth => Lothlórien => Towers => Topic started by: jmabry on May 07, 2019, 07:51:31 PM

Title: TTT Constructed Evolution deck
Post by: jmabry on May 07, 2019, 07:51:31 PM
Having never really looked outside of the fellowship format, I want to try the TTT constructed evolution league that begins on the 9th(2 days from now). Other than "This list is really bad", does anyone have advice for what else to play in this list? on both sides

Ring-bearer: Frodo, Courteous Halfling
Ring: The One Ring, Answer To All Riddles

Adventure deck:
The Riddermark
Fangorn Forest
Throne Room
White Mountains
Deeping Wall
Hornburg Armory
King's Room
Wizard's Vale
Orthanc Balcony

Free Peoples Draw Deck:
1x Aragorn, Wingfoot
1x Théoden, Son of Thengel
1x Merry, Unquenchable Hobbit
1x Pippin, Just a Nuisance
1x Sam, Frodo's Gardener
1x Treebeard, Earthborn
1x Guma, Plains Farmer
1x Hlafwine, Village Farmhand
1x Leod, Westfold Herdsman
1x Weland, Smith of the Riddermark
2x Ranger's Sword, Blade of Aragorn
2x Herugrim
3x Horse of Rohan
1x King's Mail
1x Rider's Mount
1x Sam's Pack

Shadow Draw Deck:
1x Saruman, Black Traitor
1x Saruman's Staff, Wizard's Device
Title: Re: TTT Constructed Evolution deck
Post by: ket_the_jet on May 08, 2019, 04:13:45 PM
Well, the deck does look pretty bad. What exactly are you going for? What are you trying to do?

If you are building a Wingfoot deck, what are you getting out of Theoden, Son of Thengal and the [Rohan] guys? Why not look into Legolas, Dauntless Hunter or Gimli, Lockbearer as more traditional fits? Or you could just fill in with stalwarts like Faramir, Son of Denethor.

There's a lot you can build from because this seems to be three different decks trying to go three different directions. Best of luck!
-wtk
Title: Re: TTT Constructed Evolution deck
Post by: jmabry on May 08, 2019, 08:24:16 PM
Because I didn't have a clue what I was doing when I built the deck. I know the deck does look pretty bad. I just don't really know what direction to go. I don't see what you mean about being 3 decks, but that's because I don't really know what the decks normally look like

edit: I like hobbits. This is what I've decided. And I have no idea what to do on the shadow side.
Title: Re: TTT Constructed Evolution deck
Post by: ket_the_jet on May 09, 2019, 04:43:08 PM
So good news if you like Hobbits...they do interesting things! Bad news...they don't do as many interesting things in Towers Block.

What is it exactly that you are trying to do with the deck? With only access to set 4, Merry, Unquenchable Hobbit is mostly worthless--there are not any [Sauron] minions in set 4.

When I say I see three decks, I mean that I see:
 - Rohan Allies (Theoden, Son of Thengal, his stuff, and the allies)
 - Bouncing Hobbits/Wingfoot (Aragorn, Wingfoot and the unbound Hobbits)
 - A weird Theoden focus without much Rohan support

How do you expect to win skirmishes? You have a few pumps for Theoden via the allies, but nothing to heal the allies (besides other allies). In fact, you have no real way to win any skirmishes with that deck.

Let's focus on one thing at a time. Knowing you like the Hobbits, let's try to start there.

Frodo, Courteous Halfling
The One Ring, Answer to All Riddles

Starting:
Legolas, Dauntless Hunter
Merry, Learned Guide
Pippin, Woolly-Footed Rascal

Draw Deck:
Aragorn, Wingfoot x4
Gimli, Lockbearer
Sam, Samwise the Brave

Hobbit Sword x3
Ranger's Sword, Blade of Aragorn x2
Elven Sword

Cliffs of Emyn Muil

Defend It and Hope x2
Hard Choice x2
Knocked on the Head x4
Severed His Bonds x3
Swiftly and Softly x3

This deck isn't perfect, by any means, but I just whipped it together in five minutes. What does it do:
- Legolas spots two unbound Hobbits (Merry and Pippin) to ensure that your opponent's conditions and events both cost an additional 2 twilight. This means you are less likely to be surprised by We Are the Fighting Uruk-Hai or On the March.
- Merry and Pippin mostly do not fight. For the first four/five sites, you can cancel skirmishes with Severed His Bonds and Swiftly and Softly. In later sites, you can actually use their game text to discard them and then replay in regroup phase with Knocked in the Head.
- The deck is not particularly possession-heavy, but Aragorn is sturdy against Uruk-Hai when carrying his sword and Legolas can help cycle unwanted events with Elven Sword's game text. Truth is, you don't want Legolas fighting if you can help it.
- This deck chokes the twilight pool well and can double move as Aragorn can wound remaining minions if Merry and Pippin are in play.
- Hard Choice is a good healing card that is helpful for Aragorn and Legolas.

What this deck does not do well:
- There is no burden removal. Brace of Coneys could be interesting.
- Gimli, Lockbearer and Sam, Samwise the Brave are splash companions. Best case scenario, you never have to play them. That said, there is no Shotgun Enquea, so you could play Gimli and discard him (or a Hobbit) if your opponent plays Southron Commander (the best crowd control option in Towers Block).
- The deck is event-heavy. If you have a clogged hand, you could be out of luck. You want a Shadow side that can cycle well. Elven Sword will help cycle on the free people's side.
- This deck is not swarm-proof. Deep of Helm is a problem, and Cavern Entrance can be as well. Those are fairly universal issues in Towers Block though.

Do these decisions make sense? Does this strategy make sense? Again, these aren't the perfect solutions and this is not the perfect deck. But you'll probably see a lot of Dauntless Hunter and this deck is sturdy.

Cheers,
-wtk
Title: Re: TTT Constructed Evolution deck
Post by: jmabry on May 09, 2019, 10:06:52 PM
I can work with that. The decisions you've made on fellowship side make sense, as does the strategy.

Since this event starts yesterday, any chance you can just spot me a minion side list, and I'll just work with it, and hopefully learn from this event so as to NOT be so dependant on someone providing me a list next time it comes around?
Title: Re: TTT Constructed Evolution deck
Post by: ket_the_jet on May 10, 2019, 06:05:51 AM
Sure, but I suppose it depends on what you want. Probably the most common Shadow strategy is [Isengard] Archery, which can be incredibly potent.

Grima, Wormtongue x2
Saruman, Black Traitor x1
Band of Uruk Bowmen x1
Elite Crossbowman x2
Ranged Commander x2
Uruk Crossbowman x4
Uruk Crossbow Troop x4
Uruk Vanguard x1
Southron Bowman x4
Southron Commander x2

Uruk Spear x1

Cloud of Arrows x2

Weapons of Isengard x4

Something like that should work, but again, I am going largely off of memory. Your goal is to get Weapons of Isengard in play as quickly as possible. Don't use them once you have two tokens on the cards...wait until you have at least three copies with tokens so you can drop 6-8 archery on top of your other minion's archery.

Uruk Vanguard can be a nasty surprise--play him at Deep of Helm or Hornburg Causeway to ensure he is fierce. Keep in mind you'll need to spot another Uruk, so playing him will require at least [1][3] (or [1](0) at Deep of Helm).

Southron Commander is there for crowd control. The best strategy to get past the archery is to play a huge fellowship. This is where Hornburg Causeway does the most damage. In theory, you should probably have a copy of On the March in there too (in case they assign to Frodo with a Hobbit Sword) but hey, I'm not here to make sure the deck is perfect.

Grima, Wormtongue and the one copy of Uruk Spear are there to assist against Rohan. In theory, you want to play the Spear on Band of Uruk Bowmen or Uruk Vanguard to ensure you can discard Firefoot, Brego, and any other steed you might run into.

Your biggest problems with this Shadow would probably be your own free peoples, if you see someone else playing it. They can just put the archery points on Merry and Pippin then discard them and replay to effectively "heal" the characters.

Grown Suddenly Tall will hurt, if played against you, but at least it comes with a lot of twilight. I don't know how that league is being played, but if they add set 5, you'll want two copies of Siege Engine in there to protect your Weapons of Isengard.

Your minions won't win many skirmishes. Remember...that's not the point, so don't worry about it! Good luck.
-wtk