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| NBarden |
![]() Posted: Sat Jan 13, 2007 2:41 am |
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Joined: 28 Dec 2006
Posts: 5468
Location: I don't know...
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--- description ---
A deck spanning LotR TCG history to bring you, the Ithilien Blade
--- end description ---
The Deck
Starting:
Boromir, Bearer of Council (Reflections)
The One Ring, The Ring of Rings (Shadows)
Faramir, Captain of Gondor (TT)
Aragorn, Strider (Shadows)
Duilin, Ranger from Blackroot Vale (Middle Earth)
Madril, Defender of Osgiliath (Hunters)
Decklist (31 + 4):
What are they x 4 (FotR)
Natural Cover (MoM)
Citadel of Minas Tirith x 2 (RotEL)
Faramir’s Bow (TT)
These are my People (BoHD)
Ring of Barahir (EoF)
Knight’s Spear (RotK)
Stand to Arms x 2 (RotK)
Sixth Level x 2 (SoG)
Seeing Stone of Orthanc (Reflections)
End of the Game x 4 (MD)
Houses of Healing (Shadows)
Invigorated x 2 (Black Rider)
Stewards’ Legacy (Bloodlines)
Aragorn’s Bow, Ranger’s Longbow (Hunters)
Ithilien Blade x 4 (Hunters)
Soldiers Cache x 2 (RoS)
Adventure Deck:
Forests for Duilin and Natural Cover.
Strategy
All right, you all know how the Ithilien Blade works, right?
Well...this isn’t how the Ithilien Blade works (well, kinda). This is a twist on the IB. For one, it has to comply with Cobra’s challenge, which makes it tougher, but this IB deck is designed to filter at both the maneuver and skirmish phase. The Ithilien Blade knocks out most minions at the maneuver phase, but gives a nice strength +3 bonus for the skirmish, and allows you to wound at the skirmish phase. Of course, with all the threats being thrown out, the minions will be discarded easily, but maybe, just maybe, you can fight some in the skirmish phase. Anyway, enough rambling, let’s analyze the deck’s mechanics.
Starting fellowship. Yep. It starts 8 twilight worth of companions. But don’t call the LotR cops yet. Faramir has a nice text that makes everyone twilight -1, and Madril is free if you spot 2 rangers. So...
Faramir- 
Aragorn- Now 
Duilin- Now 
Madril- Now
Total- 
Oh, and the ring-bearer. Boromir, of course. And End of the Game will definitely help if he has to fight. The Ring of Rings is the best, IMO for alternate ring-bearers, so of course I throw it on him.
Now, for the mechanisms of the deck.
1. Making minions roaming.
Well...obviously Madril does that. Aragorn’s Bow, Ranger’s Longbow adds threats, as does the Seeing Stone of Orthanc. Since we have 5 companions, we can’t have an Ithilien Blade on all of them. So, let’s give Boromir a Knight’s spear, and add threats to make Boromir strength +1 for no reason except Madril’s text (I love doing pointless things, as long as they have a point). Finally, lest this is not enough, Soldier’s Cache also does the trick, and Sixth Level gets it back.
2. Getting rid of Roaming Minions.
Maneuver: Drum roll please….The Ithilien Blade! (how did you guess?). The Ithilien Blade is the primary minion killer (or discarder, if that’s a word). However, the IB does something we don’t like. It exerts a companion twice. So, What are they, the pre-Ithilien Blade Ithilien Blade, aids the Ithilien Blade (say that 5 times fast). Okay, so I’m not that good at tongue twisters but you get the point. These two cards will drop most, if not all, of our opponents minions, but you may want to let some through so Aragorn can have some fun. (And to help your end-game, and stop your guys from being exhausted, and for numerous other possible reasons.)
Archery: Aragorn’s Bow, Ranger’s Longbow drops minions like crazy, roaming or not. And it adds threats which Madril needs. And then there are two archers. So, now your opponents minions are pretty much toast, but some may still survive at this point.
Skirmish: There are two ways to drop minions in the skirmish phase. One, wound them to death. Faramir’s Bow and Stand to Arms are quite good at this. Two, win skirmishes! This is pretty easy, as you have End of the Game, and the Ithilien Blade easily gives you a strength +3 pump.
3. Healing
All right, we’ve dropped all the minions. But…now we need to heal, so that we can use our Ithilien Blades again. There are several mechanisms for healing in this deck. First, Citadel of Minas Tirith. Notice that its text triggers for every copy in play. We don’t need four however, because of our other healing mechanisms. The Ring of Barahir is a guaranteed healing once every turn. End of the Game is worth playing, because the IB exhausts most of your companions, so using this pump heals them. If you are facing a tough fierce minion, you can always use make your guy damage +1. Invigorated also heals during the skirmish phase, and actually heals two companions if you spot a roaming minion, which you should be able to do. Finally, Houses of Healing is also a good healing card.
4. Miscellaneous Cards And Why They’re In The Deck
Because cobra says use one card from every set. Actually, they do serve a purpose, kinda. The extra cards are.
-Natural Cover- Minion archery -2, helpful if you’re trying to get to a skirmish.
-These are my People- Plays possessions from discard pile on Faramir...Okay, you’ll probably never use this card, but hey, it goes well with Stand to Arms!
-Stewards’ Legacy- Well…since your running Boromir and Faramir, it’s a nice card to have. Faramir will be exerting a lot due to Ithilien Blade and his bow, and canceling a minion’s special is pretty nice.
Posible Changes:
1. Replace Duilin with Ranger of Minas Tirith
2. Add Pippin, Wearer of Black and Silver.
3. Incorporate Denethor, Lord of Minas Tirith into your starting fellowhip to insure you draw the IBs/Aragorn’s Bow early on.
Well...happy playing, and good luck in cobra’s contest! |
Last edited by NBarden on Mon Jan 15, 2007 11:19 pm; edited 2 times in total -Trade With Me
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| sperzdechly |
![]() Posted: Sun Jan 14, 2007 9:41 am |
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Joined: 05 May 2006
Posts: 131
Location: Warsaw (Poland)
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Very good deck. I’d made only some cosmetic corrections (like to Longbows instead of knight’s spear), but I do like general idea ot it.
I’d probably use new Faramir form RoS as ring bearer and play Gondorian Prowler, Aragorn, Strider, Denethor, Lord of Minas Tirith and Madril in starting, but that would end up with different deck I supose. |
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| NBarden |
![]() Posted: Sun Jan 14, 2007 7:22 pm |
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Joined: 28 Dec 2006
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Well....Boromir needs a weapon, so why not give him one that adds threats? (Is that what you mean by Knight’s Spear vs Longbows?)
With your starting fellowship, its good, but I like Faramir, Captain of Gondor. And you need to have a companions from block 15, and I want to start all my companions in my starting fellowship. Oh, and with the Faramir ring-bearer, it would be impossible to find any use for these are my people.
BTW, I like the Denethor idea  . |
-Trade With Me
Add the popcorn smiley to your sig, help it achieve world domination.
What if the hokey pokey really IS what its all about?
As I lay in bed staring at the stars last night, I thought to myself, "where the heck is the ceiling?"
Spotlight on....Sense of Obligation. |
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| sperzdechly |
![]() Posted: Mon Jan 15, 2007 4:50 am |
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Joined: 05 May 2006
Posts: 131
Location: Warsaw (Poland)
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If boromir needs a weapon, why don’t you give him Ithilien Blade?
The best way to add threats is Longbow. It think that he’s one of the most important cards in this deck, so I always play with two. Firstly, because the sooner I draw it, the better and secondly, because it can be discarded, so it is good to have repleacement. |
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| NBarden |
![]() Posted: Mon Jan 15, 2007 11:56 am |
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Joined: 28 Dec 2006
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| Ninja Gimli |
![]() Posted: Mon Jan 29, 2007 4:48 pm |
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Joined: 26 Jan 2007
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| Good Job on the deck I never have enough time to do the give-away contest I like the alterations you could do. I would suggest putting a few more possessions in the deck. |
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| NBarden |
![]() Posted: Mon Jan 29, 2007 6:15 pm |
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| Mythdracon |
![]() Posted: Wed Jan 31, 2007 2:12 pm |
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Joined: 03 Jan 2007
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| How will you deal with Nazgul though? It’s hard to get them roaming, and with a fellowship that large, there’s sure to be a few doing damage to the Gondorians. |
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| sickofpalantirs |
![]() Posted: Wed Jan 31, 2007 2:58 pm |
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Joined: 23 Mar 2006
Posts: 7750
Location: somwhere, over the rainbow way up high. There's a land that I heard of once in a lullaby.
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| What are they I am assuming. but he is right you have 3 cards I believe that can add threats. if it wasn’t for the contest there are a gajillion ways to make it better. but with the what are they I think you are OK. |
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| NBarden |
![]() Posted: Mon Feb 05, 2007 3:10 pm |
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Joined: 28 Dec 2006
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Worst case scenario, site 2 nazzies. With threat manipulation. Ouch. Anyway, the plan would be to throw out as many threats as possible, over and over. Maybe it’ll bump their site number up by one or two. Then drop a Soldier’s Cahce, exhaust them, IB ’em or What Are They. Soldier’s Cache comes back with sixth level.
If you are able to get 5 threats out, then you got site 10 Nazgul, piece of cake. |
-Trade With Me
Add the popcorn smiley to your sig, help it achieve world domination.
What if the hokey pokey really IS what its all about?
As I lay in bed staring at the stars last night, I thought to myself, "where the heck is the ceiling?"
Spotlight on....Sense of Obligation. |
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