Hey,
I made some dream cards the other day. Disclaimer - I'm not a very experienced player of this game, so these cards may be wildly unbalanced or miscosted (either way). Also, I haven't read very many dream cards on these forums, so if I unintentionally overlapped anyone's ideas, I apologize.
The theme of these cards is 'cards to have a high impact on Fellowship Block format.'
The first is a new Watcher in the Water, inspired by discussions in ket_the_jet's thread and with my brother.
•Watcher in the Water (Moria)
Seething Thing
Minion • Creature
11 / 4 / 4 Damage +1.
Shadow: Exert Watcher in the Water twice to play a tentacle from your discard pile.
Each tentacle is Strength +2 and damage +1. This minion may not bear possessions and is discarded if not at a marsh or river.
Dropping 'discard all other minions' was ket_the_jet's idea and adding 'or river' was my brother's. As this Watcher is playable at substantially more sites (all but site 5), I increased its cost to bring it in line with other minions, like
Orthanc Berserker. The activated ability reduces the burden running tentacles places on your deck by allowing you to replay them and the card retains the original Watcher buff. Unfortunately, extending the river text to your other tentacles would require deleting one of the other abilities to remain within the text box.
{4} •Westgate (3)
Marsh. Shadow: Play Watcher in the Water from your draw deck or discard pile.
An alternate (or additional) fix for the Watcher. I don't need the tentacle swarm to feel like I'm adequately representing the Watcher; I just want to enjoy playing this iconic and efficient minion on its own.
•Saruman (Isengard)
Many Coloured
Minion • Wizard
8 / 4 / 4Saruman may not take wounds during the archery phase and may not be assigned to a skirmish.
Maneuver: Exert Saruman twice to make the Free Peoples player exert a companion for each culture among minions you spot.
The subtitle 'Of Many Colors' is already taken. Multicolour is my favourite 'mechanic' in card games. This Saruman is intended to give some help to multicultural minion strategies. Is he too strong (or too weak)? I really have no idea. If so, what could I do to improve the design?
{5} •Pass of Rohan (6)
Plains. When the fellowship moves to Pass of Rohan, the Free Peoples player must exert a Dwarf, an Elf, a Man, and a Wizard.
Oh, spicy, an alternate site 5. I know many won't appreciate such an idea as breaking one of the keystones of the Fellowship format (and its flavour), but hey, it's a dream card. I knew the effect would have to be strong to compete with downloading the Balrog. Hopefully this represents the
peril the Fellowship knew it would face if it ventured near Saruman's fences and also would add an interesting consideration in deckbuilding for those typically multicultured Fellowships. (As far as I can estimate, any less-clunky way of phrasing that, like 'a companion of each culture he or she can spot,' wouldn't fit in the frame.)
{2} •Barrow-downs (3)
Regroup: Discard your minion to add a burden.
I haven't found corruption strategies to be particularly strong in Fellowship (maybe I just haven't faced them enough). This is intended to assist while representing a famous location and hopefully providing an interesting choice - do you discard your minion(S) to further your strategy or keep them in place to discourage a move to the sanctuary?
Thanks for reading and for any comments you provide.