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December 06, 2014, 07:59:27 AM
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sgtdraino

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Boromoria
« on: December 06, 2014, 07:59:27 AM »
By popular demand, here's a deck I've been playing with lately that seems to be doing pretty well. It's actually one I made a long time ago, but I recently dug it out, tweeked it a bit, and it seems pretty solid. I called it "Boromoria," since it's centric elements are Boromir and Moria:

Starting cards:
Ring-bearer: Frodo, Old Bilbo's Heir
Ring: The One Ring, The Ruling Ring
1x Merry, Friend to Sam
1x Boromir, Son of Denethor

Adventure deck:
The Prancing Pony
Trollshaw Forest
Council Courtyard
Great Chasm
The Bridge of Khazad-dum
Caras Galadhon
Anduin Confluence
Shores of Nen Hithoel
Tol Brandir

Free Peoples Draw Deck:
4x Gandalf, The Grey Pilgrim
1x Aragorn, Heir to the White City
1x Elrond, Herald to Gil-galad
1x Barliman Butterbur, Prancing Pony Proprietor
2x Farmer Maggot, Chaser of Rascals
1x Gandalf's Pipe
1x Glamdring
1x Aragorn's Bow
1x Aragorn's Pipe
1x Armor
2x Blade of Gondor
2x Flaming Brand
1x Horn of Boromir
1x Ranger's Sword
1x Shield of Boromir
1x Frodo's Pipe
1x Hobbit Sword
4x Old Toby
1x Sting
1x The Gaffer's Pipe
1x Gandalf's Staff
1x Narya
2x A Wizard Is Never Late
3x Sleep Caradhras
3x Might of Numenor
4x Stout and Sturdy

Shadow Draw Deck:
4x Cave Troll of Moria, Scourge of the Black Pit
4x Goblin Runner
3x Goblin Scavengers
1x Goblin Scrabbler
1x Goblin Warrior
1x The Balrog, Flame of Udun
3x Troll's Keyward
3x Orc Ambusher
2x Úlairë Cantëa, Lieutenant of Dol Guldur
1x Úlairë Enquëa, Lieutenant of Morgul
1x Úlairë Nertëa, Messenger of Dol Guldur
4x Goblin Scimitar
1x Goblin Spear
2x Foul Things
4x Host of Thousands
4x Goblin Armory
2x Goblin Swarms
2x Relics of Moria
2x They Are Coming

Bid 1, and go first if you can. Most of the time bidding 1 is enough to go first, and about half the time that you DON'T go first, the opponent will still start with Prancing Pony, so no biggie. Even if he doesn't, the deck can still do pretty well without Aragorn, and it's a pretty good drawer, so there's a fair chance you'll still draw him. If you somehow don't have Aragorn out but draw his gear (Ranger's Sword, Aragorn's Bow), I suggest you go ahead and discard them. They're nice to have, but not essential.

You should get Gandalf pretty early, 4x Gandalf, 2x AWINL. He helps with card drawing.

Boromir and Merry are the Batman and Robin of this deck, Boromir can pump Merry, Merry can pump anybody. Stout and Sturdy becomes a powerup so that you can use Merry multiple times, or just heal him. Farmer Maggot for healing Merry, Elrond for healing anybody and/or using with Horn of Boromir. Incidentally, can't remember if I knew this before or not, but Boromir can fire that Horn at the same Ally more than once, making that Ally +3 each time! Might of Numenor is great for doubling, recharging Boromir, and Shotgun Enquea protection if you somehow have 5 burdens.

This deck uses NO CONDITIONS on the Free Peoples side, so you are immune to condition bombs and may use Sleep, Caradhras with impunity.

As I mentioned, this deck is a good drawer. Gandalf gets you an extra card each turn, 4x Old Toby will get you cards, and the Shadow side will be drawing you cards as well. The other advantage is, while you will dump a fair bit of twilight early in the game, once you're set up, there's not much twilight generation, so he'll probably be limited in how much he can throw at you. Especially since you are well prepared to bomb out his conditions. Thanks to Barliman Butterbur, you don't have to hold a Sleep in hand, you can just discard them and get one back when you need it. Just make sure you have one when you move to Site 7, in case it's Anduin Confluence.

I think this FP side is pretty well prepared to deal with any Shadow strategy. You're immune to condition bombs, you can destroy any conditions they have out, you have 2x Flaming Brand vs Nazgul, you have Armor and Sword of Gondor vs Uruk-hai, as well as the ability to pump anyone you need, call in Allies to help, or just use Gandalf's Staff to cancel skirmishes. You have burden removal and don't play more than 5 companions, so most of the time you'll be safe from Shotgun Enquea as well. You've got pipes and 4x Old Toby, so when you need to, you have the option to take off burdens, heal important guys, heal everybody, or take out twilight... all depending on what Shadow strategy you're facing.

And now for the Shadow side: Generally this looks like a typical Goblin Armory Shadow, but with a few important differences. Yes, you can swarm with this if he doesn't bomb your conditions. But on top of the swarm potential, you have a very real chance to play Cave Troll of Moria at every site after Site 3, and a fair chance of topping him off with Goblin Spear... even if he gets rid of your 4x Goblin Armory. There's not too many opponents who are going to be willing to double with that out there, and even if they do, there's a fair chance they'll get swarmed and/or lose a guy. If he puts in enough twilight, you may even be able to get both Cave Troll of Moria and The Balrog out at the same time, especially if he doubles from Site 4 to Site 5 with Troll's Keyward still on table. Then you only need 11 twilight!

Feel free to play or discard the 3x Orc Ambusher as you draw them. The main objective there is to get them into your discard pile, so if the opponent does somehow make it to Site 9, you can play those 3 trackers once you're done playing all the other minions you can.

Additionally, if the opponent is slightly ahead of you, there's a pretty good chance you can stop him from doubling to Site 9 with Shores of Nen Hithoel. And since by that point you should be generating very little twilight, and he should have no conditions on the table, there's a pretty good chance he won't be able to play 5 Orcs to stop you from doubling to 9 past him.

Goblin Warrior and Goblin Scrabbler are there for obvious reasons, and the Nazgul are icing on the cake for crowd control and getting rid of weapons. Ulaire Cantea, Lieutenant of Dol Guldur is especially good for either getting Greenleaf to shoot at him, getting a couple of hits on guys (because he doesn't want his stronger guys to lose their stuff), and/or preventing a double. A problem you won't have, btw, since you are still able to beat him with guys who don't have weapons!

This deck does run Anduin Confluence to counter the various Ally-heavy decks out there, especially the archery ones. You are not as dependent on your Allies as they are, especially since you should be well set up by Site 6. If you're playing against an Ally-heavy deck, encourage them to get in front of you, because it's really helpful to dump all their allies.

...and that's about it, I think! Looking forward to feedback.
"I would have followed you, my brother... my captain... my king." - Boromir

December 06, 2014, 08:24:56 AM
Reply #1

Hobbiton250

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Re: Boromoria
« Reply #1 on: December 06, 2014, 08:24:56 AM »
¨Boromir and Merry are the Batman and Robin of this deck¨ lol Priceless. I love the build! Seems interesting.
Three Rings for the Elven-kings under the sky, Seven for the Dwarf-lords in their halls of stone, Nine for Mortal Men doomed to die, One for the Dark Lord on his dark throne,In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie. One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them.In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie

December 07, 2014, 12:53:43 AM
Reply #2

FYNO

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Re: Boromoria
« Reply #2 on: December 07, 2014, 12:53:43 AM »
I don't like Stout and Sturdy very much. Unless you really need to use Merry twice in a site, it's decidedly mediocre as a form of healing.

No Moria Axe? It's great on a Troll's Keyward.
I don't really see the point of Goblin Spear when only your single Enquea has any way of taking advantage of burdens, and you're not running Cave Troll's Hammer.


December 07, 2014, 06:09:55 AM
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sgtdraino

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Re: Boromoria
« Reply #3 on: December 07, 2014, 06:09:55 AM »
I don't like Stout and Sturdy very much. Unless you really need to use Merry twice in a site, it's decidedly mediocre as a form of healing.

That's exactly what it's for. As I said in the description, Stout and Sturdy becomes a powerup that works on anyone, making any companion anywhere from +3 to +11.

No Moria Axe? It's great on a Troll's Keyward.

Deck is already a little on the big side. Priority is to draw cards and play the Cave Troll. Troll's Keyward is mainly there just to get the Troll out as cheaply as possible.

I don't really see the point of Goblin Spear when only your single Enquea has any way of taking advantage of burdens, and you're not running Cave Troll's Hammer.

Originally the point was to have a weapon that could play on either an Orc or a Troll, but on balance I think you're right about this. It's very rare I play that Spear on anyone but the Cave Troll, so if it's a Cave Troll-only weapon, then I might as well give him the biggest advantage I can. I think I'll also add Cave Troll's Chain, since Archery can be a problem.
"I would have followed you, my brother... my captain... my king." - Boromir

December 07, 2014, 05:27:41 PM
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FYNO

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Re: Boromoria
« Reply #4 on: December 07, 2014, 05:27:41 PM »
I don't like Stout and Sturdy very much. Unless you really need to use Merry twice in a site, it's decidedly mediocre as a form of healing.

That's exactly what it's for. As I said in the description, Stout and Sturdy becomes a powerup that works on anyone, making any companion anywhere from +3 to +11.

It's really only sort of a half-powerup though - even if it allows you to use Merry twice, he's still got another wound to heal, and a second copy isn't going to let you use him three times.

In my experience with Merry, it's uncommon that you gain a lot from using him lots of times, or trying to make him stronger. Occasionally you can do funny stuff like have Frodo overwhelm the Balrog, but much of the time you're spending a lot of cards on improving something that's only half as efficient as Trust Me as You Once Did.

If you do want to stick with it, I think you need more ways of increasing your damage bonuses (Dagger Strike, perhaps?) It seems a pity to be able to beat the Cave Troll in a skirmish, but he survives to the fierce skirmish phase and you've got to do your pumps all over again.

Quote
No Moria Axe? It's great on a Troll's Keyward.

Deck is already a little on the big side. Priority is to draw cards and play the Cave Troll. Troll's Keyward is mainly there just to get the Troll out as cheaply as possible.

He doesn't really "help" the Troll so much as the Troll helps him. An 8/3 for 1 is nice but not really amazing - Moria Scout and Goblin Scavengers are often competitive with that. (For that reason I think 3 copies is too many especially without Moria Axe - his uniqueness causes issues that aren't justifiable for a relatively vanilla minion). However, with the Axe he is potentially 14 strength and damage +1 - a mini Cave Troll for a fraction of the price, and very potent when you already have a Troll out.

December 08, 2014, 09:18:20 AM
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sgtdraino

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Re: Boromoria
« Reply #5 on: December 08, 2014, 09:18:20 AM »
It's really only sort of a half-powerup though - even if it allows you to use Merry twice, he's still got another wound to heal, and a second copy isn't going to let you use him three times.

Usually I can pick up an extra heal between turns or moves with Might of Numenor, Elrond, or Farmer Maggot. And since Frodo only heals one point off of Maggot per turn, Maggot is often picking up that one extra wound.

In my experience with Merry, it's uncommon that you gain a lot from using him lots of times, or trying to make him stronger. Occasionally you can do funny stuff like have Frodo overwhelm the Balrog, but much of the time you're spending a lot of cards on improving something that's only half as efficient as Trust Me as You Once Did.

In my experience, it's quite useful... and not vulnerable to getting Saruman's Powered like Trust Me is.

If you do want to stick with it, I think you need more ways of increasing your damage bonuses (Dagger Strike, perhaps?) It seems a pity to be able to beat the Cave Troll in a skirmish, but he survives to the fierce skirmish phase and you've got to do your pumps all over again.

Generally I haven't had much trouble with Cave Troll. Get some armor out, or cancel it with Gandalf.

He doesn't really "help" the Troll so much as the Troll helps him. An 8/3 for 1 is nice but not really amazing - Moria Scout and Goblin Scavengers are often competitive with that. (For that reason I think 3 copies is too many especially without Moria Axe - his uniqueness causes issues that aren't justifiable for a relatively vanilla minion). However, with the Axe he is potentially 14 strength and damage +1 - a mini Cave Troll for a fraction of the price, and very potent when you already have a Troll out.

As a matter of fact, I've decided to remove Keyward completely. For some reason I thought he made the Troll -3, not just -2. For my deck, that makes him no better than a 1-cost guy, and there's a number of 1-cost guys who could be considerably more useful.
"I would have followed you, my brother... my captain... my king." - Boromir

December 23, 2014, 05:26:12 AM
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Shelobplayer

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Re: Boromoria
« Reply #6 on: December 23, 2014, 05:26:12 AM »
I think some Stout and Sturdy could be replaced with Strength of Spirit. Pretty much same function, bit more versatility. Say 2-2.

January 01, 2015, 05:16:55 AM
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sgtdraino

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Re: Boromoria
« Reply #7 on: January 01, 2015, 05:16:55 AM »
I think some Stout and Sturdy could be replaced with Strength of Spirit. Pretty much same function, bit more versatility. Say 2-2.

You're probably right... but I've pretty much given up on this deck at this point. The Moria side is still way too vulnerable to condition bombs, the FP side just doesn't set up quickly enough and fails to all manner of things, and in general the deck just isn't cycling quickly enough for my tastes. I do like big decks, and it would seem that Fellowship Block is no exception to this. But if you're going to have a big deck, then you need fast setup and excellent cycling. At this point I've modified this deck so much, it's pretty much a completely different deck. Maybe I'll post a thread for it!
"I would have followed you, my brother... my captain... my king." - Boromir