I thought it was about time to give this deck it's own thread!
This deck is a variant of a deck called "
Durin's Secret Society of
Dear Friends," that
Kralik invented, here:
http://lotrtcgwiki.com/forums/index.php/topic,4077.0.htmlI added a massive possession element to it, via the use of
These Are My People. Here's the deck:
These Are My
Dear Friends' Birthday Presents
Starting Fellowship:
Ring-bearer:
Frodo, Reluctant AdventurerRing:
The One Ring, Answer To All Riddles1x
Gimli, Feared Axeman1x
Sam, Son of Hamfast1x
Smeagol, SlinkerAdventure deck:
Dunharrow PlateauKing's TentBase of MindolluinOsgiliath FallenCity GatesMinas Tirith First CircleOsgiliath CrossingNorthern IthilienDagorladFree Peoples Draw Deck:
1x
Arwen, Daughter of Elrond1x
Legolas, Greenleaf1x
Radagast, The Brown1x
Aragorn, King in Exile1x
Derufin1x
Elrond, Keeper of Vilya4x
Bilbo, Retired Adventurer1x
Master Proudfoot, Distant Relative of Bilbo1x
Dwarven Armor1x
Dwarven Bracers1x
Gimli's Battle Axe, Trusted Weapon1x
Gimli's Helm1x
Hand Axe1x
Asfaloth, Elven Steed1x
Elven Bow1x
Elven Rope1x
Gwemegil1x
Knife of the Galadhrim3x
Lembas1x
Phial of Galadriel1x
Aragorn's Bow1x
Armor4x
Athelas1x
Ranger's Sword, Blade of Aragorn4x
Brace of Coneys1x
Frodo's Cloak1x
Hobbit Sword1x
Sting, Baggins Heirloom1x
Aiglos1x
Vilya1x
Rest by Blind Night4x
Slaked Thirsts1x
Secret Sentinels1x
Stand Against Darkness4x
Not Listening4x
Might of Numenor1x
These Are My People4x
Dear Friends1x
Ever My Heart Rises2x
Preparations1x
Shoulder to Shoulder1x
Citadel of the Stars1x
Sixth Level1x
A Light in His Mind4x
Birthday Present4x
The Shire CountrysideShadow Draw Deck:
3x
Gollum, Old Villain1x
Gollum, Plotting Deceiver3x
Dunlending Brigand4x
Dunlending Elder1x
Dunlending Looter2x
Dunlending Madman1x
Dunlending Pillager4x
Dunlending Rampager1x
Dunlending Ransacker4x
Dunlending Ravager4x
Dunlending Renegade1x
Dunlending Warrior1x
Freca, Hungry Savage1x
Hillman Tribe4x
Wild Men of the Hills1x
Wulf, Dunlending Chieftain4x
Isengard Tinker1x
Cave Troll of Moria, Scourge of the Black Pit4x
Goblin Runner4x
Host of Moria, Legion of the Underdeeps4x
Desert Sneak1x
Sauron, The Lord of the Rings2x
Bill Ferny, Swarthy Sneering Fellow1x Úlairë Enquëa, Lieutenant of Morgul
4x
Hides4x
Captured by the Ring4x
Evil-smelling Fens2x
Let Her Deal With Them4x
Constantly Threatening4x
Goblin SwarmsLike Kralik's deck, the primary theme is to deck yourself out in order to give yourself a strong Free Peoples setup, and then run to site 9. The Shadow side is mainly there just to slow the opponent down, you will normally use very little of it. Here's the general procedure:
Going First: You need to go first, so bid pretty high. At least 3 burdens, but don't overdo it. You don't want to get Enquea-ed on site 2!
Starting Hand: You need at least one copy of one of the following:
Dear Friends,
Birthday Present, or
Bilbo, Retired Adventurer. If you don't draw one of those, mulligan. If you STILL didn't draw one of those, start to get worried.
Turn 1: Use
Dunharrow Plateau to play
Ever My Heart Rises. If you didn't draw what you needed before, hopefully this will get it now! If it doesn't, you'll have to creep along regrouping as much as possible until you get one of those three cards. BUT let's assume that you DO now have one of those three vital cards. Use
Ever My Heart Rises to discard your draw deck down to about 6 cards (discard down low enough so you'll be sure to draw whatever it is you are retrieving this turn). If you were lucky enough to get
Birthday Present on your first turn, you can go ahead and start your setup by retrieving
Dear Friends and using it to put your high priority cards in your draw deck. Start with
A Light In His Mind, and continue with the cards listed in Turn 2, in the order that they are listed. Keep in mind the Rule of 4. If you DIDN'T get
Birthday Present on your first turn, then use
Bilbo, Retired Adventurer and/or
Dear Friends to retrieve cards, starting with
Birthday Present and
A Light In His Mind. Play what you can, and use
Sam, Son Of Hamfast to get your burdens down to 4 (so Enquea can't get you). Finally, move to Site 2 and STOP. This usually puts about 11 twilight in the pool.
Turn 2: If you haven't already, play
Birthday Present and
A Light In His Mind. Use
Birthday Present to Pull 4x
Dear Friends. Use
Dear Friends to retrieve eight cards:
Preparations2x
The Shire CountrysideAragorn, King In ExileThese Are My PeopleElrond, Keeper Of VilyaRadagast, The BrownShoulder to ShoulderIf you were lucky enough to already have
The Shire Countryside in play, play and retrieve
Dear Friends one at a time to manipulate initiative, to heal your guys and take off burdens. Move to Site 3, and STOP. This should generate very little twilight. If you are lucky enough to have
Preparations in play by now, use Gimli in Regroup to stack 2x
Slaked Thirsts on it.
Turn 3: Play cards from your hand, until you get down to 3 (so you can manipulate initiative with
Birthday Present/A Light In His Mind). Make sure
Aragorn, King In Exile and
Elrond, Keeper Of Vilya are in play. Use
Birthday Present to pull one
Dear Friends, use it to retrieve
Legolas, Greenleaf and
Arwen, Daughter of Elrond. Heal guys with
A Light In His Mind/The
Shire Countryside. Next use
Elrond, Keeper of Vilya to draw
Legolas, Greenleaf into hand. Play him, heal. Next use
Elrond, Keeper of Vilya to draw
Arwen, Daughter of Elrond into hand. Play her, heal. Use
Birthday Present to pull a
Dear Friends (you are now at your Rule of 4 limit). Now, play
These Are My People to play ALL of your possessions on your companions. Put as many possessions on
Frodo, Reluctant Adventurer as possible. Heal (from
A Light In His Mind). Use your last
Dear Friends to retrieve 2x
Not Listening, and play whatever cards you have left in your hand. If anyone is still wounded, heal remaining wounds with
Athelas. Use the site text to add threats, hopefully (if you're at
Base of Mindolluin) playing
Citadel Of The Stars and
Sixth Level. And you're ready to go! There should be somewhere around 50 twilight in the pool! Your objective is to triple-move to Site 6.
Shoulder To Shoulder and
Slaked Thirsts should help keep you safe from Enquea. Finish guys off with your Archery and powerful companions. In the Skirmish phase, as your last guy is fighting, use
Frodo's Cloak to take off a burden and heal your guys up again. This should get you at least two heals, heal Aragorn first (because you can move wounds on Legolas around with
Shoulder To Shoulder). In Regroup, use
Lembas to draw your 2x
Not Listening. You can use
Gimli, Feared Axeman to stack more
Slaked Thirsts on
Preparations BUT DO NOT EXHAUST HIM. Site 5 may be
Steward's Tomb (no wound prevention), and you don't want Enquea or
Hate to snipe him. Move again (to site 5)! Same procedure as before, except this time you want
Smeagol, Slinker to fight a minion and win (unless, of course, you're at
Steward's Tomb). This should be easy. Have Smeagol fight last, and once he wins, use your 2x
Not Listening to remove 4 burdens and heal at least 8 wounds. In Regroup, you can have Gimli stack
Slaked Thirsts on
Preparations again. Move Again (to site 6). Same procedure as before.
Turn 4: Use
Birthday Present to pull 4x
Dear Friends. Use
Dear Friends to get 4x
Not Listening and 4x
Might Of Numenor, OR possibly 4x
Not Listening, 2x
Might Of Numenor,
Rest By Blind Night, and a countermeasure of your choice. Heal everyone completely using the sanctuary,
Athelas, and
Brace Of Coneys. Triple to Site 9, using
Lembas to take the cards into hand during your first Regroup phase. Feel free to kill off
Radagast, so your opponent can't keep drawing cards. Stack
Slaked Thirsts on
Preparations as you go, healing as needed.
Additional Notes:
Sixth Level/Citadel Of The Stars is mainly an
Easterling Captain counter. Exhaust him with
Slaked Thirsts, finish him with
Citadel Of The Stars. If it looks like you're going to be fighting Easterlings,
Sixth Level becomes a high priority card to get out early.
If you're fighting Corsairs, you may want to go ahead and retrieve
These Are My People as soon as you play it on Turn 3, since they're most likely going to get rid of your best possessions. You'll want to play those things out again on Turn 4. You also might want to get
Derufin out, to take out their fleet of ships.
If you got a good draw and have the opportunity, grab
Rest By Blind Night as early as you can. Play it to put
Ever My Heart Rises (and Shadow cards on it) back in your draw deck. This gives you more to play during Shadow, and if you have
Ever My Heart Rises back in your hand at the start of Turn 4, you can
Dear Friends 2-4
Slaked Thirsts, and instantly stack them on
Ever My Heart Rises. Also, if it looks like your opponent is in danger of outrunning you to the end, you can have Gimli put
Constantly Threatening,
Evil-Smelling Fens, and/or
Host of Moria, Legion of the Underdeeps on
Preparations, and use
Rest By Blind Night to put that back in your deck.
Elven Rope is a great counter to Grima, but make sure you get some
Slaked Thirsts ready, because you'll definitely be seeing him again next move!
Aiglos and
Vilya are great to grab with
Dear Friends if you have opportunity. If you draw Legolas and/or Arwen normally, then you could grab
Aiglos and/or
Vilya instead, and immediately play them with Elrond. Just watch out for the Rule of 4!
Bilbo, Retired Adventurer also acts as a countermeasure to condition discard. If you have a feeling your opponent is gunning for your conditions, you're going to want Bilbo out, and not exhausted.
Master Proudfoot, Distant Relative of Bilbo, enables you to play your conditions right back out again as soon as Bilbo retrieves them.
Some game links:
Versus
macevedo:
http://www.gempukku.com/gemp-lotr/game.html?replayId=sgtdraino$blmczn76hj8wm28bVersus
Kralik:
http://www.gempukku.com/gemp-lotr/game.html?replayId=sgtdraino$lcs2le45l7eepvdmI lost this game, primarily because I FORGOT to use
Lembas in regroup to get my healing cards into my hand before I moved! Due to that, I wasn't able to triple on my third turn.
Versus
Drako:
http://www.gempukku.com/gemp-lotr/game.html?replayId=sgtdraino$zjuvwb382eu6nkvdI won this one, but got a nasty surprise on my 4th move: Shelob came out and made it so Smeagol couldn't skirmish the whole turn!
Versus an anonymous player:
http://www.gempukku.com/gemp-lotr/game.html?replayId=sgtdraino$hfsf4g1lvx3yag9tAnother win, but alas Gimli fell prey to Enquea at site 5! I'd forgotten that King Block has that no-heal site, and I exhausted Gimli loading
Preparations before I moved there. And so, he was killed, and no more
Slaked Thirsts for the rest of the game! Tell you what, that is when
Might of Numenor saved my butt from another Enquea!
Versus
picnic:
http://www.gempukku.com/gemp-lotr/game.html?replayId=sgtdraino$vq2voj9suwpkq4c8I won, but this one was very tough! Got a bad first draw, and was not able to start the build until turn 2/site 2, when I finally drew a bilbo on turn 1 Regroup. My opponent was playing Sauron/Enquea, with some pretty good condition discard. He never got rid of
Birthday Present, but he quickly murdered Aragorn, Gimli, and Legolas! Somehow I still managed to beat him to the end, with
Not Listening and 2x
The Shire Countryside keeping a few guys alive.
Versus
NeMa:
http://www.gempukku.com/gemp-lotr/game.html?replayId=sgtdraino$lweudczzyiu0measNear-perfect run, with a great first draw (got
Birthday Present AND Bilbo). The only problem was my own fault, when I used
These Are My People before I had played out Elrond, and so I couldn't play any of my
Lembas! Thankfully I was able to just play Elrond, use a
Dear Friends to get a
Lembas, and use Elrond to put it in my hand.