Beat down decks focus on making one or two minions very powerful, with the intention of destroying all of the companions one by one; eventually getting to the ring-bearer once all the companions are gone. Swarm decks have an opposite strategy: their goal is to play as many minions as possible as cheaply as possible. While one swarm minion might not be very powerful by itself, each minion is very cheap which allows many to be played, easily outnumbering the companions. While they did exist since the first sets, bomb decks have been gradually gaining popularity and have, in some ways, replaced beat-down decks. They combine strategies of both beat-down decks and swarm decks: instead of focusing on one or two powerful minions, they play several minions of medium strength. The goal of a bomb deck is to destroy the weaker companions, and then swarm the Free Peoples player out.

For Free Peoples side, the most common strategies are Tank, Choke, and Minion Wounding.

Tank- Tank decks try to play as much as possible and build up as many companions to combat the opponents Shadow side with force.

Choke- Choke decks, the opposite of tank decks, try to put out as little twilight as possible, denying the opponent resources.

Archery/Minion Wounding- Minion wounding decks try to use "archery fire" and direct wounding to destroy the minions (Shadow characters) before they even have a chance to attack.

Throughout a game, a player will play companions (or Free People characters) to help defend the ring-bearer. When it is his turn to play as the Shadow player, he then can play minions (or Shadow characters) to attack the opponents companions. The Free People’s player (the defender) has the opportunity to choose which of his companions will fight in one-to-one duels (skirmishes) with the opponents minions. This is called assignment. Since the Free Peoples player wants to defend his ring-bearer, the only way a Shadow player can attack the Free Peoples player is by playing more minions than the Free Peoples player has companions. This forces the Free Peoples player to assign to his ring-bearer.

You know, I think the article could benefit from a section about the Design-a-Card contest and its winners.


...just sayin’...

Yeah....good idea...it needs a little rephrasing, like maybe...

"However, the ring-bearer does not only face minions on his journey to destroy the ring. The ring-bearer has to resist the temptation of the ring. In the trading card game, each time the ring-bearer succumbs to the temptation of the ring, a burden is added. If the number of burdens is equivalent to the ring-bearer’s resistance, the ring-bearer is corrupted and loses the game."

How’s that sound?