Troll`s Wisdom

[Tubulario]

Hi everyone, Im new to The Last Homely House, so decided to introduce my self posting a deck that begun as a alternative to: on the fellowship side  "Trust me as you once did Gandalf skirmish" decks, and on the shadow side Moria swarm decks.
On fellowship came up with a Gandalf "choke" deck, and on the other side a Troll`s based Moria.
So lets go to the list...

Fellowship:

Starting:
.The One Ring, Isildur's Bane
.Frodo, Reluctant Adventurer
·Gandalf, The Grey Wizard

Free peoples:

Gandalf (10)
3 Gandalf's Wisdom
3 Servant of the Secret Fire
1 Sleep, Caradhras
1 ·Barliman Butterbur, Prancing Pony Proprietor
1 ·Gandalf's Staff
1 ·Glamdring

Gondor (17)
3 ·Aragorn, Ranger of the North
3 ·Boromir, Defender of Minas Tirith
1 Flaming Brand
1 ·Ranger's Sword
1 ·Blade of Gondor
1 Armor
1 ·Shield of Boromir
2 Gondor's Vengeance
2 Might of Numenor
2 No Stranger to the Shadows

Shire (5)
1 Power According to His Stature
1 ·Bill the Pony
1 ·Filibert Bolger, Wily Rascal
1 ·Sam, Proper Poet
1 ·Sting

Shadow

Moria (33)
2 Dark Places
4 Goblin Armory
1 Goblin Patrol Troop
3 Goblin Runner
1 Goblin Scimitar
2 Host of Thousands
2 Moria Axe
3 Moria Scout
2 Relics of Moria
2 They Are Coming
4 ·Cave Troll of Moria, Scourge of the Black Pit
1 ·Cave Troll's Chain
2 ·Cave Troll's Hammer
1 ·The Balrog, Flame of Udun
3 ·Troll's Keyward

Sites
The Prancing Pony*
Trollshaw Forest*
Rivendell Waterfall
Great Chasm
The Bridge of Khazad-dum*
Dimrill Dale
Anduin Confluence*
Shores of Nen Hithoel*
Emyn Muil*


Deck Strategy:
Fellowship: 3x ·Aragorn, Ranger of the North, Is there to actually not go first since you`ll be relying on the troll to stop opponent from massive double moving. Choke as much as you can with ·Gandalf, The Grey Wizard and if Gorn doesent show up grab him from the site. Gandalf's Wisdom should give you the token deny and strength advantage of weapons(only ·Gandalf's Staff and .Glamdring will be adding to the pool but only if one or none wisdom are drawn). With little pool given you might be able to double move 1-3, but only if the oponent did and you feel confident about it.... Doubling latter depends on ....match up?
·Sam, Proper Poet is there for the nice combo on his text and Might of Numenor, always try playing him with no twilight cost(only if Gandalf can afford the exertion). The problem is he`s the 5^th companion but he burns quikly so be wise deciding playing him or not, sting and Glamdring can have a peek here
Armor there for Uruk and sauron wound prevention, and maybe a safer walk through the bridge.
Gondor's Vengeance works nice against Isengard Orcs, but its main role its helping in the decision to double move.
The rest its pretty much Gandalf`s known tricks:  Servant of the Secret Fire,  Sleep, Caradhras and their recursion with Barliman. Always have in mind that Sleep, Caradhras srews your Wisdom and No Stranger, so Caradhras timing is important specialy against Moria Or Sauron.

Shadow: Play the troll, thats it. Well it has its tricks like vitality minions packing Moria Axe, lets say Troll's Keyward or Goblin Patrol Troop.
A single Dark Places (DP) gives the Balrog 18 str, and 16 str for the troll, dont forget that the keyward is also unique so if he gets the second DP and a Moria Axe, also potentially hits 16 Dmg+1(this happens more often that initialy thought). Don`t for get the nice cost reduction DP can give to Troll supposing you had to move first to site 4.
The hardest part is token counting since Relics and armory combo needs a good timing. Any way at underground trolls cost 7, virtually 6 with Runner, speaking of which, he is the main bearer of Goblin Scimitar that helps with token and cards for They Are Coming. Keep in mind that Keyward`s cost is pretty much deduced from troll`s so if you get a weapon and armory things get cheap soon...

Well hope you like it, i posted it just as it is, Goblin Flankers maybe do better job than Goblin Patrol Troop(Credits on Tempest here ), but Shield of Boromir is there just because of meta, maybe extra healing or PATHS instead?
Oh before i forget, can`t seem to find a better site 3 for this one...

[ket_the_jet]

Welcome to the boards!

A few thoughts on the deck:
I like the idea of a Gandalf-based choke deck; however, I would still run a copy or two of Trust Me As You Once Did. I know that Sleep, Caradhras will discard your conditions as well, but an extra copy is very helpful.

I like Frodo, Old Bilbo's Heir and a copy or two of Bounder. Fellowship block or not, skirmishes involving the Ring-Bearer cannot be canceled, so Filibert Bolger, Wily Rascal loses a bit of his punch. Especially since the only card you are playing on Frodo is Sting, I mean, that's just over the course of the game.

Aragorn's Bow over Shield of Boromir. Enough said.

Gondor's Vengeance is a nice card, but Pursuit Just Behind might do what you want a little better. Or at least prevent a few of those wounds from Orcs.

A fellowship Troll deck is not a commonly played deck, but it has its merits. I think that four copies of Goblin Runner are necessary (that's one added) and I actually wouldn't run Goblin Patrol Troop. If you want a bigger minion that fits as a nice splash in your deck, Troop of Uruk-Hai can make the opponent's Fellowship assignments quite difficult. Four of them and a few Hate and Anger can really get your minions killing. You might want to squeeze two of those in place of Hosts of Thousands.

Again, welcome to the boards!
-wtk

[ket_the_jet]

After taking another look...it's too bad you didn't play this in Movie block. A few minor alterations, like Saved From the Fire and Sent Back to replace Gandalf with a more powerful version would be a really cool idea in a TMAYOD deck.
-wtk

[Cw0rk]

You have to fit Trust me as you once did in your fellowship. I would also recommend using Sam, Son of Hamfast instead of Proper Poet because you have no corruption protection.

[legolas3333]

you might want to add another bill the pony since he is automatically discarded at sites 4 and 5
Also with barlimin butterbur and filbert bolger you probably want to change your site 7

[Tubulario]

Thanks for the suggestions.
Definitely agree on  Aragorn's Bow, its a far better chioce than Shield of Boromir.
TMAYOD is known as a great condition, but actually got tired rellying on it, thats why tried coming up with this Gandalf in particular, lets say it has to exert already to play companions, so that would leave a narrow TMAYOD use... in the early "build phase" it was included, but after a few games decided to drop it, any way its a great card. Cant remember what was included for the 2 I took away so now maybe Gondor's Vengeance should make the space. At this point Frodo, Old Bilbo's Heir its a must
Sam`s chioce was based on the little token he gives (lets say when he moves)and the amount of minions he takes(2 or 3 with non 0 Might of Numenor), on the other side, Ive already exerienced Son of Hamfast winning a game or two... So its a hard choice.
By site 7 Barliman has done his job(or we force him to on site 6),The hobbit ally would go away, but on the actual meta(I play a lot in real life) that site its devastating for my opponents, so it ends up being a good deal. maybe Silverlode Banks? wishing the troll killed his rangers...
4<sup>th</sup> Goblin Runner was included instead of the chain, which i got tired to clog my hand a few times.
Hate and Anger could have its try, never actually came up with a nice build including it, but lets say it`s a totally different shadow, seems promising...
Thanks again for the comments and suggestions, its nice to be part of an active community!

[ket_the_jet]

No problem. I know that you don't want to include Trust Me As You Once Did because it is common in Gandalf signet decks, but the reason it is so common in Gandalf signet decks is because it is a staple! It is like saying that Servant of the Secret Fire shouldn't be in there because it is too good...

...now that you have Frodo, Old Bilbo's Heir, a Bounder or two to keep him protected would be a good idea.

The Great River is a good idea for site seven, because it looks like any of your cards are "draw a card" as opposed to "play from your draw deck/discard pile" and that can really hamper other players.
-wtk

[Cw0rk]

The Great River is a good idea for site seven, because it looks like any of your cards are "draw a card" as opposed to "play from your draw deck/discard pile" and that can really hamper other players.
-wtk

Relics of Moria, Host of thousands... don't use this site. If you add Bounder, use the one that exerts when there is no ranger.

[Kralik]

I like Frodo, Old Bilbo's Heir and a copy or two of Bounder. Fellowship block or not, skirmishes involving the Ring-Bearer cannot be canceled, so Filibert Bolger, Wily Rascal loses a bit of his punch. Especially since the only card you are playing on Frodo is Sting, I mean, that's just over the course of the game.

Everyone I know who plays Fellowship Block on GCCG plays with the original rules allowing RB cancel.

Tubulario, I like your plan to avoid a clone TMAYOD deck. Probably best keeping it to Moria as well... you cannot afford the card loss of throwing in and .

[legolas3333]

A ranger's versatility to help rid you of the harder minions and you would up the deck size a bit and addelrond, lord of rivendell and ottar man of laketown

[Kralik]

Don't forget the erratum on A Ranger's Versatility.

[Ulfmane]

Its a nice deck. I know it very well since I´ve played it. Only low point is that it has no burden removal, but it can be easily corrected including Sam, son of Hamfast. Anyway, as tubulario, I prefer Proper Poet.