I love the game, but it desperately needs some changes. By far the most popular format is FOTR, and there is only a handful of meta decks that are competitive, the rest is just for fun. And it is not a lot of fun to play a silly deck against hardcore meta.
So my suggestions are, update the X / R list plus make some erratas to the cards.
Problems:
Horn of boromir, now that card is just stupid and broken beyond belief. Especially in the combination with Boromir Defender of Minas Tirith. This is just a broken combo.
Suggestions for the Horn:
- Ban the horn, the LOTR TCG world will be a much better place without it
- Errata, exert Boromir twice to allow make an ally participate in archery and skirmish.
Suggestions for the Boromir Defender of Minas Tirith:
Add in ''at the beginning of the fellowship phase'' so it can only heal one would. If you have him with the saga, he can soak in 3 archery every round, that is just stupid.
Would it be a worthy effort to try changing what the Horn even does? My gut feeling has always been to change it so that it functions similar to its legacy:
(F) (This is a Fourth Age card.) •Horn of Boromir Artifact • Horn
Resistance: +1
Bearer must be Boromir.
Skirmish: Spot an unbound Hobbit assigned to a skirmish and exert Boromir to have him replace an unbound Hobbit in a skirmish.
"On a baldric he wore a great horn tipped with silver..."I realize this version is
completely different from the original
Horn of Boromir, not an errata but a rewrite. If the card's a problem, it's been a problem for years at this point, so change it. Doesn't have to be as extreme an alteration as the dream card I just whipped up, but at least it'll be different.
Of course, any reworked card's identity as a "Fourth Age" card (or whatever we would decide to call the new changes) should prohibit it in any format restricted to "Legacy" cards. No overlap.
Aragorn Heir to the White city - Ban this #$&*@! thing. Gondor is the strongest culture in FOTR, combines well with elves, it should not be a choke option by default. At minimum errata like, every time fellowship move exert Aragorn. Let him work for the two tokens he removes every round. I mean that is 18 pool in total he will remove, that is HUGE!!!! For no drawbacks.
What about this:
(F) (This is a Fourth Age card.) •Aragorn, Heir to the White City Companion • Man
Strength: 8
Vitality: 4
Signet: Frodo
Ranger.Each time the fellowship moves during the fellowship phase, if you can spot 4 races in the fellowship, remove
.
"'...his hood was cast back, and his dark hair was blowing in the wind, a light was in his eyes: a king returning from exile in his own land.'"Provides the same effect to the Free Peoples player now willing to take the risk of building the legit-fellowship. Adding this spotting requirement would also add some endurance to his value in alternative decks of a similar multicultural play-style.
Flaming Brand. Extremely powerful against Nazgul, especially if you put two of them on. If you combine with last aliance aragorn gets at stupid range like 17 by default. That is just not right, and nazgul have no liable condition removal option. I would say make it unique, and that would still make is strong, but with some limitations.
(F) (This is a Fourth Age card.) Flaming Brand Possession • Hand Weapon
Strength +1
Bearer must be a Man. This weapon may be borne in addition to 1 other hand weapon.
Skirmish: Discard this possession to make bearer strength +4 and
damage +1 while skirmishing a Nazgûl (or a Warg) until the regroup phase.
"...a glimpse of Strider leaping out of the darkness with a flaming brand of wood in either hand."Aragorn should be able to double-wield brands, but not indefinitely. The latent +1 strength boost is piddly but still valuable to have on you (like a good ranger) since it's just a stick. But if you get jumped by Nazgûl you can set this puppy on fire and it's good at keeping-back monsters until the night is over. The net-gain of the card is also given a +1 boost to compensate slightly for losing it to use it. It still keeps the pressure on the Nazgul player to have a pump or something tricky prepared without perpetuating the sensation for six or seven sites at a time.
Dwarfs - Simply too weak for a skirmish culture. I would, by default, add +1 to strength to all the little dwarfs. They rely on their possessions, and then Cantea comes and just annihilates them.
Song of Durin. Errata, from discard two goblin conditions, make it to discard a condition or two goblin conditions. This will give them some (limited, but some) condition discarding capability
Your
Song of Durin suggestion is solid. That's probably the perfect version of the card.
I love the idea of starting Dwarves off with +1 strength - Gimli would certainly show up more often!
------
I think it would also be a good idea to write a handful of cards that hurt Dwarven resistance, maybe even starting them 1 average-deviation lower than, say, Elves. Possible examples:
(F) Dwarven Heart Condition
Bearer must be a Dwarf.
When you play this condition, heal bearer up to 2 times. At the start of each of your turns, bearer is resistance -1 until the start of the regroup phase.
"'...a Dwarf goes on, be the burden twice his own weight....'"(F) The End Comes Event
Assignment: Spot 5
minions to make the Free Peoples player assign 3 of them to a Dwarf companion with resistance 2 or less.
"'They have taken the Bridge and the second hall; we have barred the gates - but cannot hold them for long....'"(F) Goblin Domain Condition • Support Area
Search. To play, spot a
minion.
Each time an unbound companion moves to or is played at an underground site, that companion is resistance -1 until the fellowship moves again.
The once beautiful kingdom of Khazad-dûm has become Moria, the black pit.(F) Disquiet of Our People Event
Maneuver: Exert a Dwarf to make that Dwarf resistance +1 (or resistance +2 if you spot an Orc) until the regroup phase.
"'Ah, alas!... When will the day come of our revenge?'"------
Sauron orcs. The only viable option for Saurun is ''wound deck''' with all other options being in the silly territory.
Ugh yeah the non-native keyword still drives me crazy. What if we used the keyword for some new mechanic, and due to a quirk of wording suddenly
is the only culture in Fellowship block to manipulate it in some way? That's like... meta-flavor. I mean, the keyword itself would be non-native to its format..
What I would change is, errata all ''exert to'' conditions to ''spot to'' as they are extremely vulnerable to archery. (Desperate Defense of the Ring, Thin and Stretched, The Irresistible Shadow,)
Those would feel more like
cards then, and somewhat-less like
. I think
players should even be rewarded for losing their Orcs before a skirmish. It might also be necessary to increase some exertion-demands on
conditions to 2 per card in some cases (
The Irresistible Shadow, chief among them).
lol what about something crazy like:
(F) Massing in the East Event
Regroup: Discard a
Orc to play a different
Orc from your discard pile for each of these races you can spot in the fellowship: Dwarf, Elf, Man, and Wizard.
"'The power of the Black Land grows...'"It'd be fun to slip something like that onto a RotEL card. Now all those well-exerted
Orcs who survived the whole turn can still be useful - as fodder for the war effort!
Weight of a Legacy - completely useless card no one will ever play, errata to unique, and -3 strength would make it more desirable (or at least -1 strength -1 body)
Or invert it!
(F) The Weight of a Legacy Condition
Resistance -1
To play, exert a
Orc. Bearer must be a
Man.
Each time bearer loses a skirmish, each other companion is strength -1 until the end of the turn.
"'It is because of Men, the Ring survives.... I was there the day the strength of Men failed.'"Now it can go onto any Gondorian, and issues a permanent hit to resistance instead of strength so he can still do his fancy fightin' stuff. But if he ever loses... ouch, especially in duplicate.
One to think about - change the roaming site number from 6 to 5, at least for the big fat ones. Trackers can stay at 6.
What if the Big Fat Ones cost
less but stayed roaming until site 7? That gives Trackers an added incentive and value but make
just a teensy-bit slower into their big meanies without the little ones around.
(F) Dagorlad Hunter (Formerly Morgul Hunter)Minion • Orc
Strength: 9
Vitality: 4
Site Number: 7
For each companion you can spot, this minion is strength +1.
Sauron's hatred lives in the hearts of his minions.Balrog Durin's Bane
Balrog should not be discarded if not underground. It enables everyone to just run to site 6! that is not good for diversity of the game. If you want to run at site 6, make sure you kill that balrog, or deal with him again.
As a first-option-response I'd be leery to altering
Durin's Bane, since every card in Fellowship block already cares about him. Tamper with that noodle and you might get stir-fry.