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| CarpeGuitarrem |
![]() Posted: Thu Jun 15, 2006 5:52 pm |
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Joined: 07 Apr 2006
Posts: 3361
Location: Franciscan University of Steubenville
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--- description ---
An incredibly unorthodox use of Saved From the Fire. The question is: is it even possible?
--- end description ---
"What are you doing? Put it out, fools! Put it out!" (Frodo, stomping out the fire on Weathertop, Fellowship of the Ring, 2001)
The idea came to me a couple hours after I had read an article on Decipher’s web site. It was an article about burning Gandalf, Leader of Men to play the Hunters Gandalf, who requires the spotting of two hobbits, with Sent Back. Apparently, my mind was already working on an idea, because in the middle of my daily life, the idea hit me. It was scary. It was ridiculous. It was brilliant. The idea: burn Frodo!
Immediately after this thought came the next: "Umm...doesn’t that mean I lose the game?" Usually, it does. However, there’s a very helpful, somewhat overweight hobbit who can aid this dilemma-that’s right, Sam! The gametext for the latest Sam (Sam, Innocent Traveller) states that Sam becomes the ringbearer "if Frodo is killed". Everyone knows that. What you may have never thought about, though, is that this can be in the Fellowship Phase, because the action’s a Response: action! I know that some might wonder about whether Frodo is really considered to be killed, because there wasn’t a wound involved. The answer is very clear-cut. According to the Comprehensive Rulebook, Version 4.0, "When game text instructs you to place a character in the dead pile, that character has been killed." So, Sam can take the Ring. Now that we’ve got that out of the way...
Why burn Frodo? There’s a couple of reasons for this. The first reason is bidding. We all agree that nobody in their right mind would blindly bid five burdens. With this deck, however, we’re burning Frodo and giving the Ring to Sam. This means that Sam doesn’t get any burdens placed on him at all! True, you run the risk of a lousy first draw, and not getting any Saved From the Fire at all, so if you want you can reduce the bid to four, or even three, you can. However, the lower the bid, the higher the risk of losing it, and losing it puts you at a big disadvantage, because much of your setup stems from the site Green Dragon Inn. The second reason for burning Frodo is setup, which I’ve already mentioned. Instead of dumping a companion whose text you might use, dump a Frodo with game text you won’t use...or a Frodo with no game text. Frodo, Resolute Hobbit is a good choice, because gives you a safety cushion against those burdens. So, in the end, you end up with a bunch of hobbits, a handy wizard, and some helpful cards to support them.
So, let’s take a look at this setup. Your starting fellowship should include Frodo, Resolute Hobbit, Sam, Innocent Traveler, and Gandalf, Leader of Men. Frodo has the resistance boost, as I’ve mentioned. Innocent Traveler has a nice healing function, and it works with followers-which form a big part of this deck. Gandalf, well, he’s the only Gandalf that can fit in along with Sam, and Saved From the Fire spots him. Taking this starting fellowship, you can set up an enviable fellowship right at Site 1! Before burning Frodo, use the Green Dragon Inn to pull Pippin, the Short One from your deck. He’ll help you get those followers played for almost nothing. Now, play your Saved From the Fire, transfer the Ring, and pull these cards from the deck: Home and Hearth, Salt From the Shire, and Sting, Weapon of Heritage.
After you do this, play Salt and Sting on Sam. He’ll need that resistance boost, since he’s an Alternate Ring-Bearer, and the burden removal of Sting will be much-needed. Then, exert Sam and Pippin to Play Merry, the Tall One. Using Home and Hearth’s Ability, heal Sam. Exert Merry and Sam to play Hobbit Farmer, Lover of Pipeweed, from your draw deck, and transfer him to Sam. Heal Sam again. Finally, exert Merry and Sam to grab the Gaffer, Master Gardener. Heal Sam with Home and Hearth, and heal Merry with the Gaffer. If you have any Hobbits in your hand, play them now to get those burdens away and heal Pippin and Merry! Once you get to the Maneuver Phase, you can exert Sam twice to heal them anyway.
So, you’ve got your nice Fellowship all set up, and you’re ready to head down the Adventure Path. There’s a few different things that you need to remember to keep those nice hobbits alive. The first is resistance. Hobbit Farmer, Lover of Pipeweed and Daddy Twofoot, Next-Door Neighbor both add resistance to our friend Sam. The only downside: they both add burdens. So, you need burden removal. The very first bit of burden removal you get is Home and Hearth. This comes into play to tone down the burden costs of Hobbit Farmer and the Gaffer. After this card, there are some cards which help to take away those burdens. Two themed along winning skirmishes (just like Sting, Weapon of Heritage) are Hope is Kindled and Watch and Wait. Another helpful burden removal event is Ease the Burden, especially because your Adventure Deck features many dwellings. So, there’s plenty of ways to keep Sam uncorrupted, especially because he’s got The One Ring, the Ring of Rings.
Now, the second thing you need is to win these skirmishes, especially Sam’s, to keep the burdens and wounds away. The first card up is something dependable: Everything But My Bones. Play it once, then pull it whenever you need it, as long as you’ve got four  cards discarded. Noble Intentions makes for a good combo with Gandalf, A Marvel does the same, but with Hobbits, and then there’s...Sudden Fury. This could be the best one of the bunch. As long as you can keep those Hobbits alive, they can lose skirmishes. You’ll be sure to have the last laugh in the end. Besides these temporary bonuses, you’ll need some permanent strength. The obvious answer, besides The Gaffer, is...Hobbit Sword! For Gandalf, you have Glamdring, Foe-Hammer (more burden removal!) and Wizard Staff.
Speaking of Gandalf, that old wizard needs a few tricks up his sleeve. The very first nice trick is The Art of Gandalf. It’s a good way of reserving those  spells, and-although it plays to your support area-it’s a possession, not a condition! One of the crucial spells, one that was so good that it got reprinted, is Intimidate. It can save your bacon countless times over, by protecting exhausted hobbits. To get Gandalf some strength, use Mysterious Wizard. You’re getting burdens off, so that +4 strength should be no problem, right?
So, there you have it. A great setup, a strong fellowship, and some side Gandalf action to wrap it up. To play this fellowship through, I will advise losing the lead to the other player. The only reason that you got the lead was Green Dragon Inn, and now you want to play dwellings and forests. The only site manipulation for hobbits is Pressing On, which has a cost on the slightly heavy side, so you don’t want to rely on it. Play conservative, and keep those hobbits alive! If you get another Saved from the Fire, consider burning Pippin, the Short One to grab more cards from your draw deck.
Here’s an example, then, of a 34-card Free Peoples deck that uses this strategy (tweak at will!):
Ringbearer and Ring
Frodo, Resolute Hobbit
The One Ring, the Ring of Rings
Starting Fellowship
Gandalf, Leader of Men
Sam, Innocent Traveller
Companions
Pippin, the Short One
Merry, the Tall One
Followers
Daddy Twofoot, Next-door Neighbor
Hobbiton Farmer, Lover of Pipeweed
The Gaffer, Master Gardener
Conditions
Home and Hearth
Sudden Fury 2x
Events
Mysterious Wizard 2x
Intimidate 3x
Everything But My Bones
Hope is Kindled 2x
Noble Intentions 2x
A Marvel 2x
Saved From the Fire 4x
Possessions
Sting, Weapon of Heritage
Hobbit Sword 2x
Salt From the Shire
Glamdring, Foe-Hammer 2x
The Art of Gandalf 2x
Sites
Anduin River 
Woody-End
Ettenmoors 
Caras Galadhon 
Hobbiton Market
Westemnet Village
Caves of Aglarond 
Green Dragon Inn
The Prancing Pony
So, there you have it. You can call this idea idiotic, you can call it crazy, you can call it brilliant...just don’t call it late to dinner! Speaking of dinner...anyone up for some BBQ? |
| "ok, change of plans. the Cobracards christmas party is coming to my house, and we’re gunna teach FM how to hunt." (mm) |
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| Chang |
![]() Posted: Thu Jun 15, 2006 6:40 pm |
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Joined: 12 Jun 2006
Posts: 85
Location: Oregon
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| I use a simular deck myself. I got the idea from a deck that defeat me that was built by Bib. I use Arwen and Aragorn. Kill Frodo, then run to site 9 with those two and sam. its quick and easy. when I play my friends and i don’t follow X-lists and such, so my deck isn’t tourny legal. but it still is a great idea. I give you a 4 for somewhat original thinking! hehe, and a good artical. |
Chang
MSN: ensigndan@hotmail.com
I'm a Pirate...I sail the seas of Music... |
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| Lord of the Shire |
![]() Posted: Thu Jun 15, 2006 8:10 pm |
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Joined: 20 Dec 2005
Posts: 62
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| This deck doesn’t work at all! The main strategy of "burning" Frodo doesn’t work. Saved from the fire cannot kill the Ring-Bearer. So you still have Frodo out and you get no shire cards. Good idea, but I’m afraid that it just doesn’t work. I will vote later |
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| AnxiousChieftain |
![]() Posted: Thu Jun 15, 2006 9:30 pm |
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Joined: 15 Jul 2005
Posts: 3947
Location: Maryland
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Yikes, nice point LotS. Good article besides the fact that the deck won’t work. 
By the way, Green Dragon Inn can’t grab The Gaffer, Master Gardener because he is not a Hobbit. He’s just a follower.  |
| MODS RULE. - lem0nhead |
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| CarpeGuitarrem |
![]() Posted: Thu Jun 15, 2006 11:03 pm |
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Joined: 07 Apr 2006
Posts: 3361
Location: Franciscan University of Steubenville
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Lord of the Shire wrote: This deck doesn’t work at all! The main strategy of "burning" Frodo doesn’t work. Saved from the fire cannot kill the Ring-Bearer. So you still have Frodo out and you get no shire cards. Good idea, but I’m afraid that it just doesn’t work. I will vote later
Oh, dangit! I see what you mean. Apparently Decipher had nuts like me in mind when designing the card.  |
| "ok, change of plans. the Cobracards christmas party is coming to my house, and we’re gunna teach FM how to hunt." (mm) |
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| CarpeGuitarrem |
![]() Posted: Fri Jun 16, 2006 1:13 am |
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Joined: 07 Apr 2006
Posts: 3361
Location: Franciscan University of Steubenville
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| I just figured out how to make it work, by using Frodo, Frenzied Fighter and Gandalf, Bearer of Obligation as my RB. Nobody vote until I’ve revamped the article accordingly. I’ll make the changes suggested as well. |
| "ok, change of plans. the Cobracards christmas party is coming to my house, and we’re gunna teach FM how to hunt." (mm) |
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| Chang |
![]() Posted: Fri Jun 16, 2006 1:58 am |
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Joined: 12 Jun 2006
Posts: 85
Location: Oregon
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| AdultLink |
![]() Posted: Fri Jun 16, 2006 10:56 am |
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Joined: 15 Dec 2005
Posts: 253
Location: Hyrule
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| yeah, it doesn’t work, and also, I don’t think it’s much better to kill Frodo than to just kill Pippin, hobbit of some intelligence. |
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| CarpeGuitarrem |
![]() Posted: Fri Jun 16, 2006 12:12 pm |
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Joined: 07 Apr 2006
Posts: 3361
Location: Franciscan University of Steubenville
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Chang wrote: why not make a new article?
Hmm...not a bad idea... |
| "ok, change of plans. the Cobracards christmas party is coming to my house, and we’re gunna teach FM how to hunt." (mm) |
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| CarpeGuitarrem |
![]() Posted: Fri Jun 16, 2006 12:49 pm |
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Joined: 07 Apr 2006
Posts: 3361
Location: Franciscan University of Steubenville
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| Okay, I’ve rewritten the article, and I’m resubmitting it. I’d prefer it if this nobody else voted on this article. Go to the other one, read it through, and then vote. |
| "ok, change of plans. the Cobracards christmas party is coming to my house, and we’re gunna teach FM how to hunt." (mm) |
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