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Author Topic: Fixing Towers Sealed  (Read 4901 times)

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March 12, 2016, 08:04:52 AM
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shadow13

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Fixing Towers Sealed
« on: March 12, 2016, 08:04:52 AM »
Towers Sealed is a boring format with nothing but trap choices that devolves into swarm vs swarm and huge fellowships. I think that half of this is due to the sealed decks being terribly balanced vs each other (Wingfoot is always the correct choice week 1, etc), and the other half is due to the format in general having very few ringbearer-protection cards (the only frodo "pump" is the tripler severed his bonds).

So how do we fix it so that the sealed format is actually fun? Dream cards would be one way (and the point of this forum), but can it be done by re-jiggering the sealed decks and adding fixed cards to each player's pool?

March 12, 2016, 08:58:04 AM
Reply #1

shadow13

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Re: Fixing Towers Sealed
« Reply #1 on: March 12, 2016, 08:58:04 AM »
i think it starts with strengthening the Theoden starter and weakening the Aragorn starter, to give players a better choice of starter decks in week 1. Make this change:

Theoden starter:
3x Heavy Chain --> 2x Rider's Spear 1x Severed His Bonds
1x Work for the Sword --> 1x Severed His Bonds
Aragorn starter:
3x Dunlending Pillager --> 3x Dunlending Ransacker

This allows the rohan deck to actually build up some 8 str companions, so they have a chance at winning some skirmishes vs dunlendings, plus they get just as many Severed's as Aragorn. Meanwhile the dunlendings trade down from a 9 str possession discarder to a 7 str site controller.

March 12, 2016, 09:07:48 AM
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shadow13

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Re: Fixing Towers Sealed
« Reply #2 on: March 12, 2016, 09:07:48 AM »
Next up, I would give every player 2x Halfling Deftness from Fellowship. I would choose this over Noble Intentions or Hobbit Intuition because the discarding Merry and minion archery make it a conscious choice to keep wounds off of Frodo so you can pump him with it. Anyway, you give players a pump like this, and swarm becomes a lot more difficult to pull off because you risk facing Halfling Deftness + Severed His Bonds, meaning you need 21 str on Frodo without sword, 27 with sword, much more difficult than the current 12/18. That could be enough to force Shadows to focus on actually winning skirmishes vs companions instead of just baiting doubles and swarming.

Maybe even give each player 2 more Halfling Deftness in week 6, when the swarm shadows really take off thanks to sauron orc card draw.
« Last Edit: March 12, 2016, 10:27:46 AM by shadow13 »

March 12, 2016, 09:12:59 AM
Reply #3

shadow13

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Re: Fixing Towers Sealed
« Reply #3 on: March 12, 2016, 09:12:59 AM »
Lastly, in the Witch-King starter:

2x Orc Insurgent --> 2x Gate Sentry or 2x Orc Fighter

Remove the best card draw from a starter, and you make starter choice here an actual choice instead of a trap. Without that card, the Faramir starter might actually be better since it contains a Sam.
« Last Edit: March 12, 2016, 09:15:21 AM by shadow13 »

March 12, 2016, 10:08:42 AM
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shadow13

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Re: Fixing Towers Sealed
« Reply #4 on: March 12, 2016, 10:08:42 AM »
The problem with all of these changes is that they significantly weaken Southron Commander's ability to keep fellowships down to a reasonable number of companions. When you can more effectively protect Frodo, you don't fear the Commander (and FPs already rarely fear him, because they can discard their wounded non-unique companions to play more copies later). That's where dream cards come into it. I don't want to just sub in 2x Ulaire Enquea, because that seems like a cop out. I'm confident we can design a better minion to keep FP's down to size.

I really like Southron Troop as a starting point. Maybe something like this:

[5] •Easterling Assassin [Raider]
Minion • Man
Strength: 10
Vitality: 3
Site Number: 4
Easterling.
While you can spot 4 companions, this minion is strength +3.
While you can spot 5 companions, this minion is fierce and damage +1.
Assignment: Spot 6 companions to assign this minion to a companion (except the Ring-bearer).

then replace 2x Southron Commander with 2x this guy in everybody's starting pool.
« Last Edit: March 12, 2016, 10:14:16 AM by shadow13 »

March 12, 2016, 09:33:43 PM
Reply #5

ramolnar

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Re: Fixing Towers Sealed
« Reply #5 on: March 12, 2016, 09:33:43 PM »
Shadow13, I agree with your diagnosis of problems but not the solutions.

First, Theoden vs Aragorn - I think you don't go far enough.

Theoden:
Remove 2x Well Stored for 2x Severed His Bonds : Eomer already heals 1 villager per turn; there's no need for more healing for 2 villagers.
Remove 2x Heavy Chain for 2x Rider's Spear : I agree with you on the need for permanent pump.
Remove 1x Rider of Rohan for 1x Elite Rider: Much better companion. I debated swapping 2.

Note that I'm still keeping 1 Heavy Chain and 2 Rider of Rohan to let people make decisions. Those are cards I would shave for booster cards, but I want to give options.

Aragorn:
I debated removing Aragorn's Sword, but without Damage +1 it doesn't do that much to Uruks. It's acceptable - and it helps in the mirror.
The Shadow side does need a little weakening. In real life, there were 3, not 4, of each of the mid-priced Dunland minions. I do like the counterplay with the Pillager, so I'm going to go to 2, not just 1. And if we're going to open site control, let's show off the strategy a bit more.
Remove 2x Dunlending Pillager for 2x Dunlending Ransacker
Remove 1x Dunlending Robber for 1x Hillman Band
Remove 1x Dunlending Savage for 1x Hillman Band
Remove 2x Dark Fury for 2x Burn Every Village

March 12, 2016, 10:10:05 PM
Reply #6

ramolnar

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Re: Fixing Towers Sealed
« Reply #6 on: March 12, 2016, 10:10:05 PM »
On the later problem - later series becoming dump and go - I think that's true of most of our sealed formats. King Block is worse - there are two Nazgul plus two site support cards, and Enquea is better than Southron Commander. There's not many anti-companion cards in Shadows block either.

I think knowing how to play Southron Commander is the most skill-intensive part of this format - and why I win a lot of games in Series 3 and 4. I see so many play errors, like playing out both Commanders at the same time, or not leaving 2 pool to at least bluff a pump card. I don't want to remove one of the few skill decisions in the format.

Your proposed minion is overpowered. 13/3 for 5 against 4 companions is too much. So is 13/3 fierce D+1 against 5 companions. I would move the +3 to 5 companions, and the fierce D+1 to 6 companions. And I'll give it a new name.

Easterling Shadow
Minion * Man * Raider
Strength: 10
Vitality: 3
Site Number: 4
Easterling.
While you can spot 5 companions, this minion is strength +3.
While you can spot 6 companions, this minion is fierce and damage +1.
Assignment: Spot 6 companions to assign this minion to a companion (except the Ring-bearer).

I don't think this solves the problem, though - it just changes it from going to the Ring-bearer to killing other companions. And it's worse in the late game. Southron Commander can stop a fellowship at site 8 and kill at Palantir Chamber - Easterling Shadow is not going to do that. It increases luck, because I need the Easterling Shadow to do damage earlier.

March 12, 2016, 10:50:39 PM
Reply #7

ramolnar

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Re: Fixing Towers Sealed
« Reply #7 on: March 12, 2016, 10:50:39 PM »
Finally, your changes still wouldn't cause me to take the Faramir starter. 1 Sam is nice but Gate Veteran is great: 7/1 draw a card for 2. Orc Runner lets me dump cards. Orc Pursuer gives me card draws against flood. Orc Insurgent does restrict certain types of Fellowships, but the Fellowship is too strong already in Towers Sealed! I'd still prefer Sauron card draws even if you replaced all 3 Orc Insurgent with Kill Them Now.

Plus the Ents are just so good - 8/4 and 10/4 plus Ent Moot and Boomed and Trumpeted (one of the few ways to get damage +1 or +2). If you remove the Orc Insurgent, unbound hobbits / Ents / Aragorn Wingfoot looks really good - and only fear of the Insurgent keeps Wingfoot out of my deck.

Maybe you should just give the Faramir deck 3 Orc Insurgent as well.

March 13, 2016, 01:57:17 PM
Reply #8

shadow13

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Re: Fixing Towers Sealed
« Reply #8 on: March 13, 2016, 01:57:17 PM »
i have no doubt that my changes wouldn't go far enough--i wanted to set up a starting point for playtesting the matchup and wanted to go with the smallest changes possible (to encourage buy in). and the easterling was just me thinking out loud--i wanted a minion that would kill the best companion if a player tries going over 5-6 companions, kind of like enquea does in formats where he's legal. but i didn't want to just put enquea in the format, because that seems too lazy.

March 13, 2016, 02:10:39 PM
Reply #9

shadow13

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Re: Fixing Towers Sealed
« Reply #9 on: March 13, 2016, 02:10:39 PM »
ah i hadn't seen this thread with the GEMP starter contents: http://lotrtcgwiki.com/forums/index.php/topic,9119.0/topicseen.html

March 13, 2016, 02:14:53 PM
Reply #10

shadow13

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Re: Fixing Towers Sealed
« Reply #10 on: March 13, 2016, 02:14:53 PM »
[6] •Easterling Assassin [Raider]
Minion • Man
Strength: 13
Vitality: 3
Site Number: 4
Easterling.
While you can spot 4 companions, this minion is fierce.
While you can spot 5 companions, this minion is damage +1.
Assignment: Spot 6 companions to assign this minion to a companion (except the Ring-bearer).