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| elf lvr |
![]() Posted: Mon Feb 19, 2007 8:47 pm |
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Joined: 13 Jun 2006
Posts: 3065
Location: Rivendell
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--- description ---
Here’s a look at the emerging Rohan assign-the-ring-bearer-to-skirmish strategy... This deck is fun, and perhaps even tourney-worthy!
--- end description ---
Okay, here’s some links to the cards I go over that don’t have auto-links...
Eowyn, Northwoman
Theoden, Northman, King of Rohan
Hama, Northman
Aragorn, Defender of Rohan
Eomer, Northman
Anduril, Sword That Was Broken
Where Now The Horse
Throne of the Golden Hall
Introduction:
"Run, Frodo! Run!"
"Oh, shut up, Aragorn. I’ve got a sword too, ya know."
Okay, so, obvously, the point of this strategy is to get the Ring-Bearer assigned, and get crazy bounuses from it. The one downside: you have to keep the Ring-Bearer safe! But, as you will see, there are many ways to do this with ease.
This article is for Standard format. Keep that in mind while reviewing.
Sorry if this article seems rushed, my first one got messed up... stupid internet... 
The Cards:
To make a deck, you might need some cards (maybe, just maybe...), so here’s all the cards that get bonuses from the Ring-Bearer being assigned:
Hama, Northman
This guy stops strength and damage bonuses from possessions. A really neat effect, considering the emerging Warg decktype. And with Saruman, Coldly Still going on his rampage, this guy could really help.
Eomer, Northman
Pretty much a beast. He starts with Damage +1 (No complaints on that). He can get strength +3. And, with an exertion, he can be Defender +1 (or more) as well! All around, a great companion.
Theoden, Northman, King of Rohan
Okay, besides having two subtitles, this is a cool card. He gives each  companion strength +1, and his second ability can liberate sites! See ya, new Uruks! All it takes is a couple followers.
Aragorn, Defender of Rohan
Being a Ranger of the North, the Northman subtitle COULD make sense. But, of course, it isn’t used. Fun. However, he IS valiant (and I couldn’t care less), as well as being able to make each man a hunter (about which I care a lot)!
Eowyn, Northwoman
I hope they don’t make a card that keys off the Northman subtitle.  But, like, Oh My Gawsh, this gurl is SHWEET! No wounds?  Damage +1 and Fierce minions, goodbye! Also, the ability to protect the Ring-Bearer is invaluable! Heck, you can even make a minion lose Hunter!
Well, those are all the North-thing cards (well, and Aragorn, but you get the point). Here’s a few others that will help the deck:
Anduril, Sword That Was Broken
This is a cool weapon, maybe the best Anduril yet! Extra vitality is cool, and the damage bonus is nice. But the real power is in the second ability: you can liberate sites or discard conditions with a simple exertion. Bye-bye, Nazgul and Besiegers!
Where Now the Horse
This card is super-cool. A +5 bonus for the Ring-Bearer, in a deck like this? That could be a life-saver, potentially enough to win a skirmish. And if you don’t win, well, we have ways around the downside...
Throne of the Golden Hall
May not look amazing at first, but this has potential! Soak up wounds and then use WNtH to discard!
Frodo, Weary From the Journey
This is a great Frodo for this deck. He can survive easily against a strength 8 or less minion.
The One Ring, The Ring of Doom
This can give the Ring-Bearer Hunter. That’s perfect with Eowyn, by the way. The extra vitality doesn’t hurt, either.
Riders of the Mark / Second Breakfast
These two are great as a combo, so I had to mention them together. You exhaust a minion with Riders, and kill it with Second Breakfast. Load up Riders with wounds with Throne of the Golden Hall, then discard him with WNtH... lather, rinse, repeat...
Sam, Innocent Traveller
A Sam is extra protection if Frodo dies. Also, if you’re using followers for Theoden anyway, you can use this Sam to heal Frodo.
Rohan Stable Master / Rohirrim Doorwarden
These are the two followers we’ll use for Theoden and Sam. They can be transfered to any companion, which is always a plus. The Stable Master can also make Eomer mounted, if you haven’t drawn a horse yet.
The Tale of the Great Ring
This stopps your Frodo from being overwhelmed. Need I say more? It is vulnerable to condition removal and skirmish events, however.
Other Stuff
Of course, that’s just how I run my version of the deck. Some stuff, I didn’t include. There are other ways to protect your R-B, and here’s some of them:
Gandalf, Greyhame / Riddermark Soldier / WNtH
Play the soldier, get the boost, use WNtH, play back with Gandalf. Easy extra strenth. A bit costly twilight-wise, but it does give every companion (except Gandalf) some kind of boost.
Rohirrim Warrior / WNtH
Have the Warrior take on two minions, and discard him before he dies. A nice way to take care of two things at once.
Archery / PATHS
Get a minion exhausted with Rohirrim Bow and Riddermark Javelin, then use Power According to His Stature. Boom.
Sam, Needer of Vittles / Merry, Swordthain / PATHS / Eomer’s Spear, Trusty Weapon
Add a burden to use PATHS, discard Eomer’s Spear to do a wound, return Merry to play back the spear, and remove the burden when you play Merry, thanks to the power of Sam.
Aragorn’s Bow, Ranger’s Longbow
If you use Second Breakfast, this card doesn’t help. If you use PATHS, you can use this without worry.
Long Live the Halflings
Just another way to get strength from assigning the Ring-Bearer. You’ll need to use Measure of Comfort or something similar to get the bonus, though.
The Decklist:
Lets put together all this wonderful stuff into a deck, then!
Ring-Bearer and Ring
Frodo, Weary From the Journey w/
The One Ring, The Ring of Doom
Starting Companions:
Sam, Innocent Traveller
Eowyn, Northwoman
Companions:
Aragorn, Defender of Rohan x2
Eomer, Northman x2
Theoden, Northman, King of Rohan x2
Riders of the Mark x4
Possessions/Artifacts:
Hobbit Sword x2
Anduril, Sword That Was Broken
Herugrim, Sword of the Mark
Eomer’s Spear, Trusty Weapon
Throne of the Golden Hall
Rider’s Spear x2
Rider’s Mount x3
Conditions:
The Tale of the Great Ring x2
Followers
Rohan Stable Master
Rohirrim Doorwarden
Events:
Where Now the Horse x4
Second Breakfast x4
The strategy of the deck is basically explained in my reviews of the cards. But just as an overview:
1) Assign the Ring-Bearer to skirmish, and reap the benefits! You get tons of cool stuff, just by assigning a companion who can win, maybe kill minions!
2) Protect the Ring-Bearer! There are so many ways to do this, I can hardly count! Second Breakfast, Where Now the Horse, Eowyn, The Tale of the Great Ring... and if all that fails, you have...
3) Prepare for the worst! In case you find yourself in a dangerous situation, you have Sam, and a (potentially) defender +2 Eomer.
4) Run for the win! You can kill minions with Frodo (sometimes), and many of your companions can get damage bonuses. If you kill all the minions, just keep running!
You may also want some events for your companions (it could help, just maybe...). You could increase the deck size, or take out less useful cards. Here’s a few events I’d recommend:
Ride With Me (Strength +5 and damage+1 is nothing to sneeze at)
Hamstrung (If you’re the type to double-move)
Brilliant Light (Since Aragorn can make most of your companions hunters)
Match-Ups:
Swarms:
This is one of the easiest match-ups. They prettty much accomplish your goals for you. Your deck is built around protecting your Ring-Bearer, so you shouldn’t have many problems. You have 7 companions, and Eomer can get defender bounuses fairly easily. Not to mention having Sam as well...
Forestguls:
A pretty tough matchup, but I think it is winnable. Your ability to do away with a nazgul a turn to your Ring-Bearer will be invaluable, and Anduril will help get rid of stuff like Lost in the Woods. Once those are gone, companions like Eomer can simply be stronger than the Nazgul.
Hunters:
Eowyn can make a minion lose hunter, then dump it off to the Ring-Bearer. It’ll be hard for them to swarm you, and your companions can easily be stronger than the average uruk. Just be wary of cards like Violent Hurl, they can wreck you! Assign big beasties like Ugluk to Eowyn, who can’t take wounds.
Corruption:
You’ve got no burden removal, so this is tough. However, once you get enough burdens on Frodo, you can sac him to let the ring go to Sam. Then they need 5 more burdens. Not tough for a good corruption deck, but it’s all the hope you have. Oh, and Anduril gets rid of Sense of Obligation. Don’t you love that sword?
Ferny:
Fairly easy, actually. Sure, they can assign to your Ring-Bearer. So what? You have enough ways to protect him, and Sam if things go totally wrong.
Archery:
Another toughie. You don’t have many ways to heal, so you’ll just have to grim and bear it. You do have a high-vitality Ring-Bearer, as well as Aragorn and Theoden with their respective swords. And you can still drop those Riders with Where Now the Horse after exhausting them.
Uruk Site Control / Besiegers:
Theoden can liberate sites, and so can Anduril. No problems here.
Ninja Gollum:
A really tough match-up. You have high vitality companions, and lots of them, but it may not be enough to stand up to that little Toad. Assigning Gollum to your 6 vitality Ring-Bearer will be pretty cool, though. Although, Shelob, Her Ladyship can actually stop you from assigning to Frodo! Yikes.
Corsairs:
Another fairly tough one. You can probably take Castamir, and swarming is less of an issue, but Corsair Marauder can still be a serious pain.
Conclusion:
I hope I’ve convinced you that this is a deck worth using! Now, I know this isn’t the way everyone would play it, and if you have a different take, go ahead and write about it! I’d love to see what you come up with! Maybe this decktype won’t end up being tournament quality (although we’ll just have to wait and see) but at the very least, it will be fun!
Thank-you’s and the Like:
Now, I’d like to go ahead and thank:
J.R.R. Tolkien: Great book, great writer. Thanks for starting this whole thing!
Decipher: For making this wonderful game! Even if you have been slacking lately.
Conor: For creating this site, my escape from all things mundane.
Carpe Guitarrem and NBarden: For commenting on the strategy in general, and helping me out with some of the ideas.
You: For reading this article. I hope you enjoyed it and will vote!
Thanks for reading!
Happy Hunting! Elf Lvr (TM)  |
Last edited by elf lvr on Mon Feb 26, 2007 9:20 pm; edited 2 times in totalHappy Hunting! Elf Lvr
Winner of Best Personality in the FPCA. Thanks!
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| Anonymous Prodigy |
![]() Posted: Mon Feb 19, 2007 9:34 pm |
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Joined: 10 Jan 2006
Posts: 4197
Location: United States
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I would remove 2 copies of Riders of the Mark and include 1 extra copy of Anduril, Sword That Was Broken. Plus, the article was a little short and choppy. Otherwise, the strategy seems fairly solid; it looks susceptible to Ninja Gollum or swarm decks, but definitely looks like it would put up a heck of a fight against almost anything else. Good article! I give it a 4.  |
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| shieldelf |
![]() Posted: Mon Feb 19, 2007 11:19 pm |
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Joined: 06 Jan 2007
Posts: 351
Location: Mirkwood
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| Nice, I like it, Since I have decided to add more to my posts ( ) I like how you say how to use the cards (but I like that about all articles...) and Seems like a good idea, no ideas on how to improve cept that I think Conor spells his name with one "n". |
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| NBarden |
![]() Posted: Tue Feb 20, 2007 12:07 am |
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Joined: 28 Dec 2006
Posts: 5468
Location: I don't know...
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Hm...nice article. Long Live the Halflings would be a good card to have, especially in a combo with Measure of Comfort.
Second Breakfast is a good combo. Nice use of it.
It is standard legal, but I won’t hold that against you. In expanded, you’d need 2-3 copies of Bounder and use Frodo, Old Bilbo’s Heir.
It is kinda rushed, so you need to work on it some more. I like the conciseness. It also needs a match-up section, completely hypothetical, of course, but any strategy article for a deck needs a match-up section.
Overall, a three. Nice for being written in two hours, and a decent deck, but it needed a lot more to make it good. |
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| Turin06 |
![]() Posted: Tue Feb 20, 2007 5:36 am |
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Joined: 24 Oct 2006
Posts: 197
Location: Good Question
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| I think 3 was a bit harsh. I’m going to go for 4 myself |
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| sickofpalantirs |
![]() Posted: Tue Feb 20, 2007 2:40 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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| good article, there might be more comin out though, I would have waited a week, I will wait until then to vote, right now you are getting a 4. |
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| elf lvr |
![]() Posted: Tue Feb 20, 2007 4:13 pm |
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Joined: 13 Jun 2006
Posts: 3065
Location: Rivendell
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I’ll add a section of matchups, add the Old Bilbo’s Heir / Bounder thing to the other options.
Thanks for the votes, everyone. |
Happy Hunting! Elf Lvr
Winner of Best Personality in the FPCA. Thanks!
Archduke Elf Lvr - Archidoux of the Chosen Ones
AMV Maker In-Training! Check out my newest production, Katsu!- A Diedara Tribute!
And behold, EL declared it good. And there was morning, and there was evening, the first (new) day. ~ DainIronfoot |
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| yerkamig |
![]() Posted: Fri Feb 23, 2007 7:09 am |
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Joined: 25 Jan 2007
Posts: 240
Location: Corvallis, OR
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| I’ve never played Rohan, always Hobbits. Other than Merry this alway kept me far away from this (pretty much) stand alone culture. So I wanted a brief rundown of this new ringbearer stuff..and you gave it to me! Thanks! It was pretty good and I could easily skip around and not lose my place in it. 4! |
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| AnxiousChieftain |
![]() Posted: Fri Feb 23, 2007 9:27 am |
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Joined: 15 Jul 2005
Posts: 3947
Location: Maryland
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I really liked the idea, but the article did seem a bit rushed. It’d be cool if you just looked over it again and tried to maybe smooth it out, maybe adding a couple more bits of strategy.
Another thing I noticed is that you have multiple copies of the companions. While that can be good with Where Now the Horse, I think it might be smarter to include a bunch of copies of Last Days of My House, so that you can grab whichever companion or follower you need.
I’ll wait to vote. Right now, it’s a 4, but with a bit of editing I could pretty easily give it a 5.
Good job!
- AC |
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| yerkamig |
![]() Posted: Fri Feb 23, 2007 10:21 am |
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Joined: 25 Jan 2007
Posts: 240
Location: Corvallis, OR
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AnxiousChieftain wrote: I really liked the idea, but the article did seem a bit rushed. It’d be cool if you just looked over it again and tried to maybe smooth it out, maybe adding a couple more bits of strategy.
Another thing I noticed is that you have multiple copies of the companions. While that can be good with Where Now the Horse, I think it might be smarter to include a bunch of copies of Last Days of My House, so that you can grab whichever companion or follower you need.
I’ll wait to vote. Right now, it’s a 4, but with a bit of editing I could pretty easily give it a 5.
Good job!
- AC
How come the link to Last Days of My House pictures Our Inspiration? |
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