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| Mordor Madness |
![]() Posted: Tue Mar 06, 2007 1:39 pm |
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Joined: 06 Mar 2007
Posts: 27
Location: Las Vegas, NV
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--- description ---
A Hobbit deck that incorporates stealth, swarms of Hobbit allies, and big, beefy Hobbit tanks.
--- end description ---
Hello there! I’m new here. Nice to meet you all!
When you are reading this, keep in mind, my fiancée and I play in a fairly straight Movie Block format at this point (save for Unharmed, of which we just had a couple copies from an eBay win, and which can be replaced with many other fine cards for Block purists out there), and we just began playing about two years ago.
Ring-Bearer
1R289 Frodo, Old Bilbo’s Heir – Part of the integral ally healing machine.
Ring
1C2 The One Ring, The Ruling Ring
Starting Fellowship
10P122 Sam, Great Elf Warrior – Sam starts as a 7 strength? Enough said.
1C303 Merry, From O’er the Brandywine – Becomes a strength 7 with a weapon.
7R324 Pippin, Wearer of Black and Silver – Doesn’t like to fight. Don’t waste a sword on him. The great advantage of Pippin is that even if he is unable to return to your hand to wound a roaming minion twice, you can load him up with archery or other non-directed wounds and then discard him during skirmish for no effect as long as he is not assigned to a skirmish. Comes back clean as a whistle. This is very helpful when your other three skirmishers can’t afford to take those wounds, and his absence makes moving on to the next site 1 twilight easier.
Free Peoples
1R284 Bilbo, Retired Adventurer – Bilbo is great for recycling things into your deck, such as favorite pumps, lost possessions or conditions, etc. Also, with his 3 vitality, he can be made to do various forms of dirty work a la A Marvel. Of course, as a Site 3 ally, he cannot be healed by the Party Guests and must be healed by Frodo, so exert him wisely.
1C286 Bounder x3 – An obvious necessity. Not only do Bounders prevent overwhelming, but the presence of multiple Bounders helps bulk up Chance Observation.
1R288 Farmer Maggot, Chaser of Rascals – Provides healing for Merry and Pippin.
1R291 The Gaffer, Sam’s Father – Ditto for Sam and Frodo.
1C297 Hobbit Party Guest x2 – Another vital cog in the ally-healing machine, Party Guests heal themselves each turn. Have them exert for various tasks (such as A Marvel or Nine-Fingered Frodo) or pay it forward to other Site 1 Hobbit allies.
1C299 Hobbit Sword x2
1R308 Power According to His Stature – Just the one copy, but it can be recycled easily. Great for most Dunlendings, already-exhausted minions, etc.
1U309 Rosie Cotton, Hobbiton Lass – Pumps Sam even more and heals him too.
1C317 There and Back Again x2 – This is a great condition to have around early, when you may not have swords for Merry and Frodo yet, or should Pippin have to participate in skirmishing (gulp). Use them early and have them start bulking up that discard pile. Later, you can recycle them with Bilbo when your discard pile is nice and full.
2R112 A Promise x2 – More pumping for Sam and Frodo. If you want to change / remove any cards listed in this deck, I would recommend filling those spots with more copies of A Promise, especially when Shadow players decide to start discarding Free Peoples conditions. Again, enter Bilbo to return them to your draw deck.
3U106 Bill the Pony – Reduces the twilight cost of each site by 1, thus aiding in the choking.
3C109 Meant to Be Alone x2 – Use these during fellowship phases when you have spent an ungodly amount of twilight, and aim for high-priced minions in the opposing player’s hand(s). Can be recycled either with Bilbo or get it back as a Birthday Present.
4C298 Brace of Coneys x2 – This card and Impatient and Angry are great ways to counteract the costs of PATHS and Birthday Present. Recycle as needed with Bilbo and, ironically, Birthday Present. Use it as soon as you play it and bulk up the discard pile.
4R307 Impatient and Angry – Pump Sam (maybe in conjunction with Chance Observation) and remove those pesky burdens.
8R113 Sting, Bane of the Eight Legs – Frodo gets first dibs, as Sam is naturally buff without a sword and can be given a Hobbit Sword once Merry has one. Consider transferring Sting to Sam if he is weaponless and Frodo appears to be on his last legs.
10R104 Birthday Present – Allows you to put some of your most useful events (Make Haste, Chance Observation, Meant to Be Alone, Impatient and Angry, A Marvel, Nine-Fingered Frodo, Unharmed, Narrow Escape, etc) back into your hand at the discretion of your opponent. Then, remove the burdens with Brace of Coneys or Impatient and Angry. Chances are, though, that your opponent isn’t just going to hand you back your Chance Observation, no questions asked, so be sure to pair your two most coveted events, because they have to give you one of them!
10C106 Chance Observation x3 – In this deck, a possible +13 strength pump. As long as there are 4 or more Shire cards in your discard pile, it gives a Hobbit companion +1 strength for each Hobbit you can spot. Let’s see… let’s pump Sam, who has a base 7 strength. Count your Hobbits. Sam, Frodo, Merry, Pippin, Farmer Maggot, the Gaffer, 3 Bounders, Rosie Cotton, Bilbo, and 2 Party Guests… Assuming they are all out there, with 2 copies of A Promise, Sam is looking at a 23 strength before picking up a sword. Pair this with Impatient and Angry and watch those burdens melt away! Also a fantastic card to have around if someone is in danger of being overwhelmed.
10C109 Make Haste x2 – Go ahead, use every last bit of twilight on the Balrog. Pippin is very skilled at jumping back into my hand. This card is great at making the Shadow player either risk losing a minion or choose to leave at least 2 twilight in the pool, which might make the vital difference in forcing them not to play 1 (or more) minions, possessions, conditions, etc.
10C110 A Marvel – Great, general use +3 pump, plus you can exert any Hobbit (say, a Party Guest who heals himself) to do it.
10U111 Narrow Escape x2 – Use this (if possible) in conjunction with Unharmed. First regroup action: drain the life from minions to heal Hobbits. Second regroup action: discard 1 or 2 minions with Narrow Escape. But, if you think there is a chance of your opponent discarding minions to feed Grond, stack on sites or swarm cards, etc., you may need to forego the Unharmed healing and just discard those minions first chance you get! Narrow Escape not only foils any discarding / stacking plans, but it makes it much easier to move on to the next site.
10C112 Nine-Fingered Frodo and the Ring of Doom x2 – Again, a great use for allies – exert one to remove a burden or 2 threats.
11S176 Unharmed x2 – See Narrow Escape.
Other cards I have considered integrating are 1U301 (Master Proudfoot, Distant Relative of Bilbo) and 2U111 (Practically Everyone was Invited). Both can help ensure that you get your important events and allies out early. These are nice options if you are a Block purist and cannot use Unharmed. You may also want to consider more copies of A Promise or A Marvel, or a fourth Chance Observation.
I know, a lot of people feel that a 40-card deck is excessive, but multiple copies of cards are not only good for getting important events and allies out early, but of course an extra copy of a unique ally heals the one who’s out, and you also want to get an early start on getting four or more Shire cards into your discard pile to fulfill the requirements of Chance Observation.
This deck seems to work well against a variety of Shadow decks, because it can usually hold its own strength-wise. You’ll get your biggest challenge from these Shadow decks:
• Swarms can be sticky, but it’s likely to be hard to overwhelm both Frodo and Sam, if they have swords, Bounders, and Chance Observations. One might have to bite it, but the other one plows ahead with the Ring.
• Minions with high vitalities and who stop roaming early can confound Pippin.
• Minions / cultures that prey on allies.
• Minions who like taking possessions (like Merry’s sword), such as Corsairs and Dunlendings.
Happily, it’s often feasible to work around the specific challenges posed by your Shadow opponent either by denying them twilight, having companions slink out of sight, or just beating them up in skirmishes.
Well, hope you like it. Any feedback for improvements would be much appreciated! 
EDITS (3/7/07)
A lot of people indicated that they would like a plain card list, so here it is:
1R289 Frodo, Old Bilbo’s Heir
1C2 The One Ring, The Ruling Ring
10P122 Sam, Great Elf Warrior
1C303 Merry, From O’er the Brandywine
7R324 Pippin, Wearer of Black and Silver
1R284 Bilbo, Retired Adventurer
1C286 Bounder x3
1R288 Farmer Maggot, Chaser of Rascals
1R291 The Gaffer, Sam’s Father
1C297 Hobbit Party Guest x2
1C299 Hobbit Sword x2
1R308 Power According to His Stature
1U309 Rosie Cotton, Hobbiton Lass
1C317 There and Back Again x2
2R112 A Promise x2
3U106 Bill the Pony
3C109 Meant to Be Alone x2
4C298 Brace of Coneys x2
4R307 Impatient and Angry
8R113 Sting, Bane of the Eight Legs
10R104 Birthday Present
10C106 Chance Observation x3
10C109 Make Haste x2
10C110 A Marvel
10U111 Narrow Escape x2
10C112 Nine-Fingered Frodo and the Ring of Doom x2
11S176 Unharmed x2 |
| Last edited by Mordor Madness on Wed Mar 07, 2007 11:15 am; edited 1 time in total |
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| NBarden |
![]() Posted: Tue Mar 06, 2007 2:12 pm |
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Joined: 28 Dec 2006
Posts: 5468
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Nice to see you on the forums.
Good article. However, as is the problem with most ally decks, I would hate to see what Their Power is in Terror would do to you. Or tower Assassin. Anduin Confluence would throw a curve at you to...so aside all the weaknesses of ally hate, also including Crooked Townsman (the opposite of Chance Observation) and other character spotting cards...its a decent deck.
You said you were concerned with burdens, so you may consider including Sting, Weapon of Heritage for Sam. Its an awesome card!
Also, consider trying to get a hold of 4x Habits of Home. Its a great card and would choke the twilight pool a lot.
Also, you play back Pippin a lot, so consider Home and Hearth. Also a great card, its burden removal abilities are awesome.
All in all, the deck-type in and of itself is rather weak considering the popularity of ally hate, which prevents me from giving it a 5, but with some work, you could quite easily get a 4. Right now, around a 3.
Include a match-up section, and though the card descriptions are good, give an uncommented on decklist at the end.
And a match-up section is necessary for me to consider giving this article a 4.
A matchup section looks like this:
Ally Hate: Against ally killing decks, this deck stinks. I will continue explaining how to play against a deck like this and hopefully not die.
Swarm: This deck kills swarms dead. Moria is toast because as soon as minions get thrown on the ring-bearer, Power according to his stature kills, or at the very least, Chance Observation and Bounder keeps Frodo alive.
Forestguls: Well...maybe this deck doesn’t kill swarms dead. All the nine riders out with Lost in the Woods stuck on Frodo doesn’t look pretty.
etc. for all the viable strategies. |
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| Mordor Madness |
![]() Posted: Tue Mar 06, 2007 2:31 pm |
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Joined: 06 Mar 2007
Posts: 27
Location: Las Vegas, NV
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| Thanks for the feedback! Most of those cards you mentioned I don’t know about, since I have only been playing with cards through Set 10 / Mount Doom (except for Unharmed), as I explained. I am sure the deck will take some tweaking as I explore further sets. I know, the ally portion is the biggest stumbling block. Maybe some Nice Imitations would help me out, as they work for any Hobbit. Thanks again! |
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| sickofpalantirs |
![]() Posted: Tue Mar 06, 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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Nice to see a new face! Cobra’s new advertising must be working! anyway, the article was fairly good,
I didn’t think about that marvel thing. Cool!
anyway a fairly good article, but i would use the advanced search engine, new shire cards!
to check out some new shire stuff, and edit the deck accordingly. |
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| NBarden |
![]() Posted: Tue Mar 06, 2007 6:20 pm |
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Joined: 28 Dec 2006
Posts: 5468
Location: I don't know...
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Yeah, like the Bilbo RB and the new Merry and Pippin! Maybe you can incorporate some worthless Ents! Or those Pipeweed conditions
Old is good. There are some good new cards, but the old cards are the best. I’m a fan of expanded, block, and open  Open rules!
Don’t upgrade to much, but some of the followers might be worth looking at. A Promise with Bilbo, Aged Ring-bearer and Daddy Twofoot, Next-Door Neighbor peels off burdens and lets Sam fight EVERY skirmish, for maximum burden removal with Sting, Weapon of Heritage. And then No Visitors is good for when you come up against Sauron.
One other thing I noticed was lacking was Mithril-Coat, Dwarf-Mail, or even the old Mithril-Coat. You might consider adding that. |
-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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| Mordor Madness |
![]() Posted: Tue Mar 06, 2007 6:28 pm |
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Joined: 06 Mar 2007
Posts: 27
Location: Las Vegas, NV
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| Those are some NICE cards, and nice replacements for Brace of Coneys, etc, as they are better burden removal. This is going to cost me, isn’t it? Got to get all the sets from 11 on! Well, now I have a grand project ahead of me... |
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| NBarden |
![]() Posted: Tue Mar 06, 2007 6:29 pm |
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Joined: 28 Dec 2006
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| Pipeweed |
![]() Posted: Tue Mar 06, 2007 6:38 pm |
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Joined: 14 Jun 2006
Posts: 1010
Location: Earth (I think)
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| macheteman |
![]() Posted: Tue Mar 06, 2007 7:52 pm |
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Joined: 07 Dec 2006
Posts: 1200
Location: The Jungle
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a very nice deck, i like the way it functions, and the synergy it seems to have. Anduin confluence is your biggest fear. but that goes without saying with ally-based decks. but, allies are still a powerful force, as you have demonstrated. a solid article, and a 4 from me.
-macheteman |
Check out my best article The Utterly Corrupt Corruption,
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| Mad Baggins |
![]() Posted: Tue Mar 06, 2007 8:41 pm |
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Joined: 06 Mar 2007
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I like your deck. If other people kept in mind what you said at the begining of your article: that you only have cards up to set 10, they might have a better appreciation as well.
Although I would have liked to see a plain card list for quicker reference, your article is very thorough and informative. I like to see explanations for each card.
I see a lot of previous posters pointing out that certain sites and/or minions that prey on allies would slaughter you. While this is likely true, every fellowship has a weakness, and you seem to be aware of this threat. Maybe pointing out some defenses would be a good choice, much like you did in one of your later posts.
Considering that it is, basically, a deck only using cards through King Block, this is a very strong fellowship. The article is very well-written and informative. I give you a 5 on those merits.
I look forward to seeing what you come up with as you explore the other sets. |
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