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Author Topic: Fill in the Blank Season 1: Lairs #2  (Read 2760 times)

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May 03, 2020, 12:25:08 PM
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menace64

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Fill in the Blank Season 1: Lairs #2
« on: May 03, 2020, 12:25:08 PM »
Welcome to Fill in the Blank Season 1: Lairs!

Inspired by the successful contests over on the TrekCC boards, I'd like to try something very similar here.

Each week I'll post the collector's information for one of the cards in the set's card-list.

Contestants are free to create whatever card they see fit for that slot in the card-list, keeping in mind the surrounding cards. As the contest progresses, the card-list will become more and more defined, guiding the contestants' choices.

The theme of our set is Lairs! You're free to interpret this however you want.

Not every card has to fit the theme, of course, but it's something to keep in mind when coming up with entries.

Each week a poll will go up for the previous week's entries. Simply vote for one you like the most. In the event of a tie, I'll let a random result generator make the decision.

Last week's entries to pick from for Card #14...

Quote from: Entry #1
[2] •Saruman's Deception [Isengard]
Condition • Support Area
To play, spot Saruman.
Each [Gandalf] event gains this effect: "exert an ally."
Each time a Free Peoples card exerts a companion or ally, you may exert Saruman or discard an [Isengard] minion to exert that character again.

Quote from: Entry #2
[3] •Treasure Trove [Raider]
Artifact • Support Area
While you can spot 4 twilight tokens, each Southron is strength +1.
While you can spot 8 twilight tokens, each Southron is damage +1.
Vast riches hidden in the deserts financed superior weapons for warriors from the South.

Quote from: Entry #3
[1] It Waits For You Still [Moria]
Condition • Support Area
Spell. While you can spot a Dwarf, The Balrog is twilight cost -3.
Shadow: If the fellowship has moved more than once this turn, play The Balrog from your draw deck or discard pile.
"'The world must change and some other power than ours must come before Durin's Folk walk again in Moria.'"

Quote from: Entry #4
(0) •Wrested Kingdom [Moria]
Image: (11R11)
Condition • Support Area
When you play this condition, place a [Moria] token here for each token or stacked card on Free Peoples conditions.
Regroup: Discard a [Moria] Orc to play a [Moria] condition from your discard pile. Remove a [Moria] token from here or discard this condition.
"'The first clear word is sorrow, but the rest of the line is lost...'"

Quote from: Entry #5
[3] Isengard Insurrectionist [Isengard]
Minion • Man
Strength: 8
Vitality: 2
Site: 3
To play, spot an [Isengard] man.
Maneuver: If you cannot spot 3 Free Peoples cultures, you may add 1 to the number of Free Peoples cultures that any player can spot until the end of the turn to play an [Isengard] condition from your discard pile.
"'It is not to be wondered at: webs of deceit were ever woven in Dwimordene.'"

Designer's notes:
I always thought the multi-cultural hate introduced in BoHD and continued in EoF was an extremely short-sighted design decision by Decipher. The "rainbow fellowships" seen in the FotR and early TTT metas were largely a function of the limited card pools available at the time. The game was always destined to shift to more homogeneous fellowships as the card pool expanded, since fellowships with fewer cultures tend to be inherently superior due to the ability to use the full supporting card pool (possessions, conditions, and events) on a greater number of eligible companions. If anything, the design philosophy should have encouraged decks with greater cross-cultural diversity, rather than less.

Isengard Insurrection is intended to still work within the existing [Isengard] man framework of targeting Free Peoples cultures but with a twist: instead of punishing the Free Peoples players for using more cultures, it instead only activates against fellowships with fewer cultures - with the added bonus of making the largest [Isengard] man (Agents of Orthanc) viable against these fellowships.


Quote from: Entry #6
[5] •Azog, The Defiler [Orc]
Minion • Orc
Strength: 13
Vitality: 3
Site: 4
When you play Azog, if the fellowship is at an underground site, add [3].
"Your grandfather Thrór was killed, you remember, in the mines of Moria by Azog the Goblin."

This week's contest is...

Card #20!

As voting has just opened for Round 1, technically the field is still completely open for Card #20. However, chronologically-speaking the "last" entry for Card #14 is a [Raider] card, which makes it safe to make the following claims about what this week's card can be:

  • A [Raider] card (after Treasure Trove)
  • A [Rohan] card
  • A [Sauron] card
  • A [Shire] card
  • A [Wraith] card
  • A site

Closing date: May 9th.

Good luck!

Note: This'll be a 25 card set.

Lairs Card List
Number - Name - Type - Contestant - Week it won
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14. SUBJECT OF THIS WEEK'S VOTE
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20. IN CREATION THIS WEEK
21.
22.
23.
24.
25.
« Last Edit: May 03, 2020, 12:26:40 PM by menace64 »

May 03, 2020, 01:03:46 PM
Reply #1

Legion

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Re: Fill in the Blank Season 1: Lairs #2
« Reply #1 on: May 03, 2020, 01:03:46 PM »

Quote from: Entry #1
[2] •Saruman's Deception [Isengard]
Condition • Support Area
To play, spot Saruman.
Each [Gandalf] event gains this effect: "exert an ally."
Each time a Free Peoples card exerts a companion or ally, you may exert Saruman or discard an [Isengard] minion to exert that character again.
I quite like the card, but it has nothing to do with lairs and Isengard is too high up for #14.

Quote from: Entry #3
[1] It Waits For You Still [Moria]
Condition • Support Area
Spell. While you can spot a Dwarf, The Balrog is twilight cost -3.
Shadow: If the fellowship has moved more than once this turn, play The Balrog from your draw deck or discard pile.
"'The world must change and some other power than ours must come before Durin's Folk walk again in Moria.'"
I'd like this more if Demon of Might want so splashable. But it is, and I think it's a pain for the expanded metagame. The first ability makes it too cheap at the Bridge. Maybe if it discarded itself on the second ability I'd like it a little more.

Quote from: Entry #4
(0) •Wrested Kingdom [Moria]
Image: (11R11)
Condition • Support Area
When you play this condition, place a [Moria] token here for each token or stacked card on Free Peoples conditions.
Regroup: Discard a [Moria] Orc to play a [Moria] condition from your discard pile. Remove a [Moria] token from here or discard this condition.
"'The first clear word is sorrow, but the rest of the line is lost...'"
I like this one. You now have to balance out whether you want goblins on Swarms or to recur the conditions. But how playable is it? Formats with tokens normally make the goblins struggle.

Quote from: Entry #5
[3] Isengard Insurrectionist [Isengard]
Minion • Man
Strength: 8
Vitality: 2
Site: 3
To play, spot an [Isengard] man.
Maneuver: If you cannot spot 3 Free Peoples cultures, you may add 1 to the number of Free Peoples cultures that any player can spot until the end of the turn to play an [Isengard] condition from your discard pile.
"'It is not to be wondered at: webs of deceit were ever woven in Dwimordene.'"
This is my favourite card, but Isengard is too high up for number 14. I'll almost certainly vote for it when it's up at number 7 or so.

Quote from: Entry #6
[5] •Azog, The Defiler [Orc]
Minion • Orc
Strength: 13
Vitality: 3
Site: 4
When you play Azog, if the fellowship is at an underground site, add [3].
"Your grandfather Thrór was killed, you remember, in the mines of Moria by Azog the Goblin."
Putting aside my dislike for the new cultures and 'The Hobbit', it's fine. Would have got my vote, but for Wrested Kingdom. I feel Azog can get a damage bonus.

So I'm voting #4. But a good start! Looking forward to seeing the rest.
« Last Edit: May 03, 2020, 01:05:45 PM by Legion »

May 03, 2020, 01:40:29 PM
Reply #2

Phallen Cassidy

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Re: Fill in the Blank Season 1: Lairs #2
« Reply #2 on: May 03, 2020, 01:40:29 PM »
Quote from: Entry #1
[2] •Saruman's Deception [Isengard]
Condition • Support Area
To play, spot Saruman.
Each [Gandalf] event gains this effect: "exert an ally."
Each time a Free Peoples card exerts a companion or ally, you may exert Saruman or discard an [Isengard] minion to exert that character again.
I quite like the card, but it has nothing to do with lairs and Isengard is too high up for #14.

Hahaha, but it has an awful lot to do with liars! Which seemed to leave more room for the preceding cultures than lairs does. Double whammy.
« Last Edit: May 03, 2020, 01:43:50 PM by Phallen Cassidy »

May 03, 2020, 02:20:13 PM
Reply #3

menace64

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Re: Fill in the Blank Season 1: Lairs #2
« Reply #3 on: May 03, 2020, 02:20:13 PM »
Hahaha, but it has an awful lot to do with liars! Which seemed to leave more room for the preceding cultures than lairs does. Double whammy.

 :P now I wanna change the name of the set to "Lairs and Liars".

May 03, 2020, 03:37:47 PM
Reply #4

Legion

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Re: Fill in the Blank Season 1: Lairs #2
« Reply #4 on: May 03, 2020, 03:37:47 PM »
I was planning a very lairy Gollum when the collector's info allowed. Good stuff!

May 04, 2020, 07:37:00 PM
Reply #5

Inspire

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Re: Fill in the Blank Season 1: Lairs #2
« Reply #5 on: May 04, 2020, 07:37:00 PM »
(0) •Wrested Kingdom [Moria]
Image: (11R11)
Condition • Support Area
When you play this condition, place a [Moria] token here for each token or stacked card on Free Peoples conditions.
Regroup: Discard a [Moria] Orc to play a [Moria] condition from your discard pile. Remove a [Moria] token from here or discard this condition.
"'The first clear word is sorrow, but the rest of the line is lost...'"

This was my choice. I quite like the flavor of building the Shadow support area from the progress of the Free Peoples' player. 

Mechanically, I'm not sure how much play it would see given the conditions needed to be relevant (need a [Moria] orc to survive to the regroup phase without being stacked on Goblins Swarms, a [Moria] condition in the discard pile, and an opponent using tokens/card stacking if you want more than one use), but it clearly fills a void in the [Moria] card pool in a thematically satisfying way. I've always thought a great quality in card design was to provide interesting options without superseding the existing card pool (I certainly struggle with this) - and I think Wrested Kingdom does just that.   

May 04, 2020, 09:55:18 PM
Reply #6

menace64

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Re: Fill in the Blank Season 1: Lairs #2
« Reply #6 on: May 04, 2020, 09:55:18 PM »
(0) •Mountains of Shadow [Sauron]
(Image: 12C181)
Condition • Support Area
While the fellowship is at site 4K or 5K, Ring-bound companions (except Sméagol) are strength -1 for each Shadow culture in your support area (limit -2).
Maneuver or Regroup: Exert a [Sauron] or [Gollum] minion to discard a card at random from the Free Peoples player's hand for each Shadow culture you spot. Discard this condition.
« Last Edit: May 05, 2020, 09:43:57 AM by menace64 »

May 06, 2020, 04:35:36 PM
Reply #7

menace64

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Re: Fill in the Blank Season 1: Lairs #2
« Reply #7 on: May 06, 2020, 04:35:36 PM »
We've got 6 votes and 1 entry - if anybody would like an extension on this round just lemme know.

May 06, 2020, 06:18:06 PM
Reply #8

Inspire

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Re: Fill in the Blank Season 1: Lairs #2
« Reply #8 on: May 06, 2020, 06:18:06 PM »
[1] Bag End Hearth [Shire]
Condition • Support Area
Each time you discard a pipeweed possession, you may spot a companion and choose one of the following signets: Frodo or Gandalf. The spotted companion gains the chosen signet until the end of the turn.
Fellowship: Discard this condition to play a [Shire] or [Gandalf] pipe from your draw deck.  
‘"Among the Wise I am the only one that goes in for hobbit-lore: an obscure branch of knowledge, but full of surprises."'


Edit: Revised the fellowship action to only play pipes.
« Last Edit: May 06, 2020, 10:12:29 PM by Inspire »

May 07, 2020, 02:30:17 PM
Reply #9

Durin's Heir

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Re: Fill in the Blank Season 1: Lairs #2
« Reply #9 on: May 07, 2020, 02:30:17 PM »
[2] Tookishness [Shire]
Condition
Strength +1  Vitality +1  Resistance +1
Tale. Bearer must be Bilbo, Merry or Pippin (or a Took). Limit 1 per bearer.
Skirmish: If bearer is not assigned to a skirmish, play a [Shire] event to have bearer replace an unbound companion in a skirmish.
"Then something Tookish woke up inside him, and he wished to go and see the great mountains, and hear the pine-trees..."


Expensive like Stone Trolls, it's meant to be an opposite of Escape (engaging them in more peril instead of fleeing from it). "Took" is obviously an unloaded keyword to allow the inclusion of Gerontius, Bandobras and other celebrated Tooks in a shorter way. Merry can bear it too as nephew of Paladin Took, 31th Thain of the Shire (Pippin's father); Frodo too had Took blood, but his adventurous ancestry was clearly dead inside him.
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