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CarpeGuitarrem

Posted: Fri May 19, 2006 10:55 pm

Joined: 07 Apr 2006 Posts: 3361 Location: Franciscan University of Steubenville

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What does the upcoming Aragorn Starter Deck for Hunters hold in store for LOTR TCG players? The results aren’t exactly cheery. Part 1 of 2 in a Hunters Starter Deck series.
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(Note: The decklist in this article is based on the existing starter decklists for the LOTR Online Card Game, since Decipher hasn’t released the official decklists, and is speculative)

Ring-bearer (2 cards)
Frodo, Weary From the Journey
The One Ring, The Ruling Ring

Adventure Deck (9 cards)

Gate of Mordor
[0]Anduin Banks
[1]Slopes of Orodruin
[1]Shores of Nen Hithoel
[1]City Gates
[2]Westfold Village
[2]Helm’s Gate
[3]Green Dragon Inn
[3]Trollshaw Forest

Free Peoples (30 cards)
Aragorn, Swift Hunter x 4
Gimli, Eager Hunter x 2
Legolas, Fleet-Footed Hunter x 2
Elven Warrior x 3
Haldir, Sentry of the Golden Wood x 2
No Quicker Path x 3
Whatever End x 2
Focus x 4
Hobbit Sword x 2
Sword of the Fallen x 4
Point Blank Range x 2

Shadow (30 cards)
Black Land Spy x 4
Black Gate Sentry x 2
Battlefield Veteran x 4
Orkish Camp x 3
Veteran War Chief x 4
Battlefield Recruit x 4
Scouting Orc x 4
Orkish Hunting Spear x 3
Desolation Orc x 2

"Let’s hunt some orc!" ~Aragorn, "The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)

Aragorn is one of the coolest characters in The Lord of the Rings. He’s got the sword, he can use it...and plus, he’s got the girl. Beyond that, he’s one of the most impressive warriors in LOTR. He’s not relying on his pure strength, like Gimli, nor his sweet moves, like Legolas. Instead, he settles for a good combination of the two, and Andúril sure helps a lot. Not only that, but there has been an Aragorn Starter deck to kick off every single block, including Hunters. So, what’s up with the Aragorn Starter?

Decipher focuses this deck around the Three Hunters: Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli. Besides the individual hunter abilities and actions that these three companions possess, this deck includes No Quicker Path, Whatever End, and Focus-the three conditions, each geared towards one of the Hunters, that provide a means for each of the three to support one of the others. By using all three of them, you can combine the special cultural abilities of each Hunter to make an unstoppable combo! However, this is actually the only appearance of Three Hunters tactics in the entire deck.

Not only is this deck skimpy on Three Hunters cards, however. It also has a serious lack of cards for its title companion. Except for No Quicker Path and Aragorn, Swift Hunter, the Aragorn deck has no Aragorn cards! In their place, the deck chooses to focus on the Elves. Haldir, Sentry of the Golden Wood, and Elven Warrior are the other two companions to be found in this deck. Sword of the Fallen provides a nice Free Peoples effect akin to that of Berserk Butcher, and Point Blank Range is useful in combination with the archers that this deck can scrounge together, but aside from that there is actually no coherent strategy to be found. Decipher should just scrap the Elf and Three Hunter theme in favor of a fuller deck focused on only one of those concepts. But enough about the Free Peoples’ side. Let’s take a look at the minions.

For this deck, the chosen Shadow theme is Mordor, with its nasty orc scum. One of the major themes of this deck is wounding, with cards like Black Gate Sentry, Scouting Orc, and Veteran War Chief. Unless the Free Peoples employ the exerting mounts of Rohan (which isn’t unlikely), these nasties can turn a normal losing skirmish for a companion into one that could prove fatal. A second theme, found with minions such as Battlefield Veteran and Battlefield Recruit, is that of discarding unneeded minions-such as those with finished skirmishes-to pump other orcs in strength. There are also cards (Orkish Hunting Spear, Desolation Orc, Gates of Mordor) that aid in deterring Rainbow Fellowships (fellowships that feature multiple cultures-usually about 4), but this is also limited.

This deck, while it looks very good for the minions, suffers from an acute lack of non-minion cards. In the entire deck, there are only six cards that aren’t minions. There are three copies of the condition Orkish Camp, and three copies of Orkish Hunting Spear. Only Orkish Hunting Spear actually boosts the Orcs, and that only has a hunter boost against Rainbow Fellowships. Orkish Camp, while it is good against site path manipulation, is hardly a deck staple. Overall, the minion side of the deck is also seriously in need of an overhaul-I’d appreciate strength bonuses. Coordinated Effort or Unmistakable Omen would not be amiss, either. I’m afraid that Decipher has made a fairly underwhelming Shadow deck this time.

But what about the Adventure Deck? Surely that didn’t turn out too badly? Well, Westfold Village provides a nice, simple +1 strength boost to all the hunters...however, this can turn out to be a double-edged sword, especially because the Orcs have no specialization in hunters. Helm’s Gate, though, helps out both the elves who bear Sword of the Fallen, and the Orcs with their Orkish Hunting Spear. The minion side also benefits from cards such as Gate of Mordor (Anti-Rainbow), Anduin Banks, and City Gates. However, there is one card that I can’t understand, no matter how hard I try: Green Dragon Inn. It requires you to spot 2 hobbits to play a hobbit...there’s only one hobbit to be found in the whole deck-Frodo! So, I suppose the only good that this site does is to serve as a twilight source. Altogether, the Adventure deck is also a mixed bundle.

If you do get an Aragorn starter at a Sealed tournament, however, all is not lost. You just have to pay attention to what you draft. Basically, you want to cut down the deck’s theme to either Three Hunters or Elven. Take out all cards that don’t apply. For each theme, the amounts of cards are about equal, but Elven is much more balanced. It has cards of every type, while Three Hunters has only a condition and companions. Personally, I’d lean towards Elven, simply because of the card distribution, but unfortunately the Adventure Deck leans towards hunters here.

If you’re going for Elven, there’s some cards that you’ll not want to miss drafting. First and foremost is Elven Bow, which has been reprinted yet again. It’s a Common, so you should be able to find it in three booster packs. After that, it gets harder. Mighty Shot kills swarms, but it’s an Uncommon. Uruviel, Woodland Maid is also Uncommon, but her ability makes Haldir, Sentry of the Golden Wood an archer. A third Uncommon, which requires spotting an Elf follower, is Lorien’s Blessing, which cuts down on minion archery. Finally, there is a Rare: Dinendal, Mirkwood Archer. He drastically improves the elven archery total, without any effort at all! Alas, the odds of getting him are dicey, since there’s only six rares in a sealed tournament.

For the Three Hunters, there are still cards you can draft. Forth the Three Hunters! is a must-have for this deck, even more so than the included Three Hunters cards (Focus and Co.). Another card that is a staple in this deck is No Travellers In This Land, which serves as a Defend It and Hope aimed at hunter minions. The best news is that the first card is a Common, and the second is an Uncommon! No rares to dig for! Besides this, you need bonusing cards for your Three Hunters. For Aragorn, seek out Ranger’s Cloak (C) and Ithilien Blade (C). Gimli benefits from Chamber of Records (U), The Fortunes of Balin’s Folk (U), Well-Crafted Armor (R), and Heavy Axe (U). The third hunter, Legolas, can benefit from Sword of the Fallen (C) and the followers that I mentioned above.

One final detail to take note of while drafting is the Adventure Deck. Be sure to look for a site that can replace Green Dragon Inn. One site that would be very helpful, if you’re going with the Big Three, is East Wall of Rohan. It plays perfectly into a Three Hunters strategy. Finally, you might want to get Anduin River, unless you’re going to an Elf strategy. It slaughters Fellowship archery.

Decipher didn’t totally flop when they made the Aragorn Starter Deck for this upcoming block. It’s not a total loss, as there are good foundations for solid decks. However, as a starter, it just doesn’t stand on its own two feet, which is hardly a legacy befitting Aragorn. Does Mauhúr also receive similar treatment? We shall see...

Last edited by CarpeGuitarrem on Sat May 20, 2006 9:54 pm; edited 5 times in total

Cobra

Posted: Fri May 19, 2006 11:28 pm

Joined: 12 Jul 2005 Posts: 1202 Location: Austin, TX, USA

Good idea for an article, CarpeGuitarrem. Smile

I think it’s a pretty accurate assessment too. The "Three Hunters" deck has some real potential in constructed play (check out this article), and completely dominates the constructed Hunters-block format, but the starter version is missing key cards like Forth the Three Hunters! to bring that power across.

If you have the time, I’d love to see a companion article on the Mauhur starter (which seems pretty strong as LOTR TCG starter decks go), and then maybe bring some more depth to each article by describing the decks’ matchups. What is the best strategy for playing the Aragorn starter against the Mauhur starter (and vice versa)? What is the best strategy for playing either starter deck against itself? Rolling Eyes

Maybe also bump the decklist up before the analysis so we’re better-informed as we read.

Last edited by Cobra on Sat May 20, 2006 1:02 am; edited 1 time in totalhttp://cobracards.com -- Web's best deals on Trading Card Games.

CarpeGuitarrem

Posted: Fri May 19, 2006 11:35 pm

Joined: 07 Apr 2006 Posts: 3361 Location: Franciscan University of Steubenville

Notice in the description: this deck is Part 1 in a two-part series. Take a guess what Part 2 is! Very Happy

I basically panned the Aragorn deck (I wish D had really put more thought into it), but I like the Mauhúr deck. That doesn’t mean that it couldn’t have been improved, of course... Wink

As I noted, though, the Aragorn deck serves as a very nice springboard for constructing Three Hunters decks. Also, if you’re in the mood for a nice Hobbit deck, it included Hobbit Sword and Green Dragon Inn, which become handy.

I’m glad you like the article idea. I may be able to get the Mauhúr article written up next week, even!

ingold55

Posted: Fri May 19, 2006 11:37 pm

Joined: 10 Oct 2005 Posts: 1199 Location: Out on the front line

i like it, but it got kind of boring. IMO. hunters is awsome, and i like how you used the aragorn hunters. Aragorn rocks. Cheers

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Cobra

Posted: Sat May 20, 2006 12:41 am

Joined: 12 Jul 2005 Posts: 1202 Location: Austin, TX, USA

CarpeGuitarrem wrote:

Notice in the description: this deck is Part 1 in a two-part series. Take a guess what Part 2 is! Very Happy

All right, you’re a step ahead of me. Very Happy

Would still personally like to see some matchup advice, though!

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sperzdechly

Posted: Sat May 20, 2006 10:02 am

Joined: 05 May 2006 Posts: 131 Location: Warsaw (Poland)

Interesting article, it was really fun to read and learn somthing about incoming Starter.
Main thing I seek in this kind of articles is knowlegde which I can use in Sealed Deck Release Events. So I would appreciate something about strategy vs mirror deck and mauhur deck. Also, a good idea is to write a short list of cards which are must-be-drafted while playing this deck - cards which will strongly improve this deck or cover its weak points, and you have to pay special atention to them while drafting from boosters.
I assume that you will ad these things to your article and give you 5. Well done!

AdultLink

Posted: Sat May 20, 2006 11:47 am

Joined: 15 Dec 2005 Posts: 253 Location: Hyrule

Nice article Carpe. The quote is slightly wrong though: it should be "Let’s hunt some orc!" rather than "Let’s go hunt some orc."

That’s my perfectionist side smacking me again d'oh!

Good article though, I especially liked how you focused it toward players unfamiliar with the starter deck.

Haves/Wants

CarpeGuitarrem

Posted: Sat May 20, 2006 5:23 pm

Joined: 07 Apr 2006 Posts: 3361 Location: Franciscan University of Steubenville

Thanks!
The basic purpose of this article, and the Mauhúr article that’s coming, is to give an overview of the promenient tactics that can be used in each Starter Deck. I will add in a paragraph on drafting. I’m going to be writing an article on Aragorn vs. Mauhúr a little later...and it’s going to be fun. I’ll consider doing mirror articles, but that’s a lot of work, to do five whole articles.

bobtheorc

Posted: Wed May 24, 2006 4:05 pm

Joined: 19 Mar 2006 Posts: 1218 Location: Wow, its hot in Iowa

Good article. I do think that the Aragorn starter isn’t the best.
I await your next article.