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Total Votes : 8
DáinIronfoot
Posted: Tue Jul 24, 2007 10:58 am
Joined: 12 Jan 2007 Posts: 4594 Location: Beltsville, MD, USA
--- description ---
Gandalf is the ultimate magician: with a little sleight of hand, he can make himself and those pesky minions disappear! And then he comes back to do it again...and again...and again....
--- end description ---

So the other day, I’m putting together my first big order of LOTR TCG cards from the dwindling supply at the now-closed Cobra Cards shop. (*sniff, sniff*) I’m looking for several things: Three Hunters stuff, pipes and pipeweeds, Dwarven pumps, threat manipulation, and any useful Gandalf cards I can get my hands on. I’m a little surprised to see over 30 copies of what I consider a very powerful card--and it’s cheap, too!--so I scoop up four copies and move on, not thinking much more of it.

So then my order arrives, and I come across my quartet of this card. I’d almost forgotten about it. As I sit there examining my new acquisitions, I have an epiphany, one that I could easily build a whole deck around.

The card I’m talking about? Sent Back.

By my count, there are only five cards that let the Free Peoples player pull cards back from Davy Jones’ Locker...er, from the dead pile. Razz Two of them are sites:

Meduseld (which is unfortunately useless unless playing Towers block) and Pinnacle of Zirakzigil. The other three are all Gandalf cards:

- Well Met Indeed is limited to Gandalf himself, and requires a lot of twilight and a very blended fellowship to play. It’s also available only in non-Standard play.

- Borne Far Away is pretty simple to pull off, but you really have to plan for it and have some extra companions in your hand. Not too shabby, though.

- Sent Back is my favorite of the bunch. It’s much more splashable, as you don’t have to have a certain type of fellowship built around your Wizard or have extra companions in your hand (aside from extra copies of that Wizard, of course). Perhaps the best part about it, though, is that you get to choose when that Wizard is killed in the first place, and he can take a minion or two with him!

You can understand why I was so happy to get four copies so easily. Very Happy

So, what can we do with this card? The answer: LOTS.

The big advantage to this card is that you can take out any and ALL minions your Wizard is assigned to in one shot. So obviously, that means that pairing it with some defender bonuses is a very good idea. There are several to choose from:

- Wielder of the Flame is probably the easiest of the bunch, and certainly the cheapest, but it comes with a relatively simple buy-out for the Shadow player. Chances are you’ll only be able to pull this stunt once (MAYBE twice) before the Shadow player figures things out and starts eating the twilight. That’s not a bad thing, of course, but it wreaks your plans for sure.

- Down From the Hills has pros and cons. One big pro is that the 3 exertions for Gandalf won’t matter, since unless the Shadow player finds a way to wound him before you can spring your Sent Back trap, the fact that he’s then likely exhausted means nothing: you’re getting rid of him anyway! However, this is limited to versions of Gandalf with his own signet, and it’s very costly, too. The strength and damage bonuses are a waste in this case. With OTHER companions, though.... Twisted Evil You’ll see what I mean soon enough.

- If you can afford the 3 threats it requires, Numenor’s Pride is probably your safest bet. Not only is it a guaranteed way of making Gandalf defender +1, but it prevents him from taking wounds and thus being killed off somehow before you can trigger Sent Back. Plus it’s the only one of the three that’s Standard-legal. The BIG downside is that with the 3 threats it adds, you could end up dishing out some unwanted wounds when you kill Gandalf off.

Make Gandalf defender + whatever to assign extra minions to him, then kill him with Sent Back to discard them all. Talk about a swarm-stopper!

Of course, you don’t need any defender bonuses at all for this to have a big impact. Sauron just hit the table? No problem: Gandalf can wipe him out in one shot. Same for other big boys like Trolls, Host of Udun, Black Land Shrieker, and most appropriately, The Balrog. Very Happy

So, let’s take a look at a simple deck using these strategies:

Free Peoples (38 cards):

Frodo, Hope of Free Peoples
The One Ring, The Ring of Doom

Gandalf, Leader of Men (starting)
Dasron, Merchant from Dorwinion (starting)

Gandalf, Returned x3
Glamdring
Shadowfax, Roaring Wind
Erland, Dale Counselor x2
Treebeard, Keeper of the Watchwood x2

Sent Back x4

Numenor’s Pride x2
Wielder of the Flame x2
The Terror of His Coming x2
Traveled Leader x2
Not the First Halfling x2
Traveler’s Homestead
Ent Draught
A Wizard Is Never Late x2
Have Patience x2
Citadel to Gate
The Nine Walkers
Saved From the Fire

Song of the Shire
Kept Safe
Nine-fingered Frodo and the Ring of Doom x2

Lots going on with this deck, so let’s break it down some.

As mentioned before, the key here is Sent Back, killing Gandalf to discard minions and then playing a new version of Gandalf and rinsing and repeating. Since Gandalf doesn’t really have to do much fighting and his abilities thus aren’t incredibly important, we can start with the cheaper Gandalf, Leader of Men. To fill the space open in the starting fellowship, I’ve plugged in Dasron, Merchant from Dorwinion, and you’ll see that he ends up being a key piece of everything. For Frodo, I chose Hope of Free Peoples to help remove those threats that Numenor’s Pride can pile on, and The One Ring, the Ring of Doom to give him some extra vitality and hunter 3 for extra fighting prowess. (He may need both, as you’ll see.)

Again, the basic strategy is rather simple: Gandalf is a mere pin cushion and decoy. As long as you leave him enough vitality to live long enough to use Sent Back, the rest doesn’t matter much. You can use him to soak up some archery, or exert him to pile some tokens onto Not the First Halfling and Song of the Shire. Just leave him 2 vitality (preferrably, lest the opponent find a way to wound him if you exhaust him and wreck your strategy). Use Numenor’s Pride and/or Wielder of the Flame to get Gandalf some defender bonuses, and take out multiple minions in one pop...especially useful if you get swarmed.

The rest of the companions are there for various reasons. Dasron is nice for pulling Gandalf events like Wielder of the Flame, Traveled Leader, and Depart Silently back, feeding off the token conditions. Erland is there for a similar reason, though being limited to skirmish events, he can only grab one of your events back, though it’s arguably the best of all: The Terror of His Coming. This nifty little event is not only a strength boost for any companion in this fellowship that needs it (besides Frodo), but at battleground sites, you can also pull any of your Gandalf conditions back into hand too! So basically, you exert Erland to play The Terror of His Coming from your discard pile and, making sure you’re at a battleground site (the reason Traveled Leader is in here), you get to take a condition into hand as well; you get a strength boost and a condition back for an exertion and 2 twilight. Not too shabby, eh? This obviously pairs beautifully with the continually-discarded Sent Back. Very Happy

Then we have Treebeard, who can ALSO get your conditions back, with the added bonus of discarding Shadow conditions at the same time. He also allows us to use Ent Draught, which I’ve thrown in for use by whoever needs it most, probably Erland or Treebeard himself for extra exerting potential.

Now, back to our chief companion: Gandalf himself. Why, you might be asking, did I choose Gandalf, Returned out of all the versions out there? Because his text is AWESOME in this deck. Each time you play him, you get to play a Gandalf possession on him from your draw deck or discard pile. So even if you have Gandalf with a possession and kill him off with Sent Back (and thus discard the possession), when you get Gandalf back, you can pull his possession back too! Glamdring is a nice way to beef up Gandalf for when he actually fights and also potentially remove some twilight and choke. Shadowfax, Roaring Wind is an AWESOME choice, as it allows you to beef up your tokens; every time you play it (whether from hand OR your discard pile), you get to reinforce one of your Gandalf tokens! And should you NOT kill off Gandalf and let him win a skirmish or two (which will make sense on some turns, depending on the situation) his other ability will trigger and reinforce one of your tokens for either culture. Smile

Speaking of which, the token conditions in this deck (Not the First Halfling, Traveler’s Homestead, Song of the Shire, and Kept Safe) are mostly there simply to give Dasron tokens to play with, but all of them (except Kept Safe) are helpful if you need them for their actual text.

NBarden made the brilliant suggestion of adding one of his favorite cards: Saved From The Fire. You can use it for whatever you want, of course, but I suggest using it to burn Gandalf and pull Treebeard, another Gandalf, and a Sent Back...assuming you don’t have them already, of course. Then just use Sent Back to get Gandalf back when you can. How’s THAT for cycling?

As for the rest, Traveled Leader, as I have said, is included to ensure you have battlegrounds when you need them for the text of The Terror of His Coming. Nine-fingered Frodo and the Ring of Doom and Citadel to Gate are here for one reason: removing the threats added by Numenor’s Pride. Citadel to Gate can also heal Frodo, but unfortunately no one else in this deck. Sad Have Patience is included for some more badly-needed healing. The Nine Walkers can help make Treebeard less expensive, and is a very sneaky way to reduce Gandalf’s own twilight cost once you start playing him from your discard pile. Twisted Evil And A Wizard Is Never Late is, of course, to help you pull Erland and Treebeard from a rather bulky deck, though Saved From The Fire can help make this feel like less than 38 cards too.

There...that’s one version, just my first pass at a deck revolving around this strategy. But one major lament I have is that Citadel to Gate is just an okay card in this deck, since all it does it remove threats, whereas with a bunch of non-Gandalf companions around, it could be HUGE since it would heal them all, too.

So, while that first deck should work just fine, let’s see if we can get the most of the Numenor’s Pride/Citadel to Gate thing by tossing Gandalf in with a bunch of non-Gandalf guys. You might be surprised by which culture I end up going with....

Free Peoples (37 cards):

Frodo, Resolute Hobbit
The One Ring, The Ring of Doom

Eowyn, Daughter of Eomund (starting)
Theoden, Rekindled King (starting)

Gandalf, Mithrandir x3
Gandalf, Defender of the West
Eomer, Keeper of Oaths x3

Firefoot, Eomer’s Steed
Herugrim, Sword of the Mark
Snowmane
Coif x2
Erkenbrand’s Shield

Sent Back x3

Down From the Hills x2
Numenor’s Pride x3
Wielder of the Flame
The Terror of His Coming x2
Traveled Leader x2
Gandalf’s Wisdom x2
Citadel to Gate x2
King’s Advisor x3
Saved From The Fire
Hearken to Me

Still 37 cards, so it might still be difficult to get through everything. Or will it? Very Happy We’ll see it may not be quite so tough in a second.

Run your Gandalf discarding as you did before, though note that Gandalf, Returned does not appear here. Instead, we now have the little-used Mithrandir, which is ALSO a beast in a deck like this. Who cares if he gets wounded when we move...we’re planning to kill him anyway! Razz So when you don’t need to kill off Gandalf, let him fight and beat minions up with his 10 strength and damage +1. Twisted Evil Heck, even if you have to wound him to death when you move on, just use Sent Back to play him again as you normally would.

That leaves one other companion: Eomer. Why’s he in there? Note that both Theoden and Eowyn happen to have text that heals when you play possessions on them. Eomer just happens to pull Rohan possessions out of your deck when you play him. See where I’m going with this? Razz As Jack Sparrow would say, wait for the most opportune moment, then play Eomer, and then play all the possessions you find on Theoden and Eowyn for mass healing. It’s like having your own sanctuary wherever you want it. Very Happy Several of the possessions will offer some nice vitality boosts after that, so you shouldn’t have to worry about your now-all-healed-up companions taking wounds too much from there on out. Oh, and if you’re able to get Gandalf’s Wisdom out by then, you can play those possessions cheaply or even for free!

And we haven’t even gotten to two of the best new additions yet! Smile King’s Advisor is a card I’ve always wanted to use in a deck, and in THIS deck, it’s perfect. With two exertions to Gandalf (and again, the exertions mean practically nothing in a deck like this) and 2 twilight, you can dish out as many as 3 exertions in one pop. That will really help soften those minions up before they ever reach skirmishes. And if you go one step further and exhaust Gandalf, you can play Down From the Hills to make anyone but Frodo a strength +5, damage +2, defender +1 monster!

Yeah...not many minions should scare you with Gandalf discarding many, exertions going out in maneuver, and your other companions getting pumps like that. Twisted Evil

Most of the rest you’ve already seen. The Terror Of His Coming is more for getting conditions back then the strength pump (though it’s a nice bonus should you actually intend for Gandalf to fight), and Traveled Leader helps ensure you have battlegrounds to combo with The Terror Of His Coming. Saved From The Fire is once again awesome for cycling and making this deck feel smaller by killing Gandalf (temporarily Very Happy) to pull more Gandalf cards when you need them.

And Citadel to Gate is much bigger now, because not only does it remove the threats added by Numenor’s Pride (and now Herugrim, Sword of the Mark, too), it can heal all your Rohan guys at the same time. Nifty, eh?

As for Frodo...well, he’s pretty much on his own here. But with 12 resistance, 6 vitality, a potential strength +3 boost, and your other companions capably handling all but the most concentrated swarms, he should be alright.


To this point, however, we’ve excluded another major player, because Gandalf, of course, is NOT the only Wizard we can use.

Enter Radagast. Very Happy

Free Peoples (37 cards):

Frodo, Resolute Hobbit
The One Ring, The Ring of Doom

Gandalf, Leader of Men (starting)
Merry, Rohirrim Squire (starting)
Pippin, Sworn to Service (starting)

Gandalf, Powerful Guide x2
Gandalf, Returned
Radagast, The Brown x4
Sam, Great Elf Warrior

Glamdring x2
Bill the Pony, Dearly-loved x2

Sent Back x4
Borne Far Away

Down From the Hills x3
Numenor’s Pride x2
Wielder of the Flame x2
Citadel to Gate x2
A Wizard Is Never Late
Saved From The Fire

Faith in Friendship x2
Sudden Fury x2
Song of the Shire
Good Work

Gandalf, Leader of Men is back, and he starts alongside a couple Hobbits with complimentary gametext; you can add a couple threats with Merry’s ability to make him strength 7 and Pippin strength 5. Not bad at all for swarm purposes. Also, right from the get-go, start with Green Dragon Inn and use its text to exert Merry and Pippin and play Sam from your draw deck. That leaves only one other companion: Radagast, another Wizard to fight or discard minions with Sent Back.

Note the addition of yet another version of our favorite Wizard: Gandalf, Powerful Guide. He’s got above-average strength, and while the spell text likely won’t come into play (except, potentially, with Wielder of the Flame or Down From The Hills), his deck cycling ability could turn out to be very useful with this again-large deck. And Radagast can help you race down the sitepath when you’re not busy killing him off to discard minions.

The biggest additions here are all Shire cards, with LOTS of tokens. Faith in Friendship should be able to keep everyone healed up, and we all know how nice Sudden Fury can be. Song of the Shire works decently to keep your Hobbits from getting overwhelmed, and Good Work will come in VERY handy once your Hobbits start to actually win some skirmishes. Bill the Pony, Dearly-loved will help out with your tokens, and can turn them into a nice help against swarms as well.

Down From The Hills gets an extra copy here, as it can help out most of your companions in a big way (and Hobbits could always use help like THAT). Borne Far Away can use Radagast to exchange one version of Gandalf (in the dead pile) with another from your hand, so you can sort of pick and choose between Returned and Powerful Guide depending on the situation. Saved From The Fire is back, and can be used for one of your Wizards or, if you’re desperate, to burn one of your Hobbits, allowing you to pull cards from whichever culture you need the most. The rest should be pretty standard to you by now.

Another option I considered is starting with Merry, Horticulturalist and exerting him to pull Farmer Maggot, Hobbit of the Marish for another Hobbit companion; if you go this route, I’d recommend throwing in a couple copies of Traveled Leader again--possibly with The Terror of His Coming, which you should know is a good combo by now--to ensure you have dwellings to keep Maggot at 7 strength. (And The Terror of His Coming works with dwellings anyway, so there you go.) This makes Pippin kinda useless though, since you won’t be adding threats readily, so possibly consider Pippin, Brave Decoy as just that: a pin cushion decoy. Razz


So now we’ve got Gandalf, Rohan, and Shire decks. How about another?

Free Peoples (38 cards):

Boromir, Bearer of Council
The One Ring, The Ring of Rings

Denethor, Wizened Steward (starting)
Faramir, Prince of Ithilien (starting)
Gondorian Prowler (starting)

Gandalf, Returned x3
Gandalf, Mithrandir
Aragorn, Isildur’s Heir x4

Radagast’s Herb Bag x2
Shadowfax, Unequaled Steed
Aragorn’s Bow x2
Anduril, Sword That Was Broken x2
Ranger’s Cloak x3
Ithilien Blade x2

Sent Back x3

Numenor’s Pride
Wielder of the Flame
Saved From The Fire
Have Patience
G For Grand x2
Watch and Wait x2

Noble Leaders x2
Houses of Healing x2

Notice that there’s less of our staple defender-adding cards, Numenor’s Pride and Wielder of the Flame. The reason is simple: Aragorn, Isildur’s Heir can get Gandalf defender fairly easily, especially once you get Shadowfax and/or Radagast’s Herb Bag on Gandalf and get him 9 resistance.

Your Gondorians can admirably handle themselves if you find yourself lacking Gandalf for a little while, which is why I felt more comfortable leaving him out of the starting fellowship this time. Once Aragorn is played, Denethor will be an impressive 9 strength, so a bit unusually for him, he’ll be a main fighter here. Faramir is rather easily a defender +1 companion as well once you get a Ranger’s Cloak on him, and Aragorn can ALWAYS take care of himself, but his bow, Anduril, and another Ranger’s Cloak make him just beastly. The Ithilien Blades are good staple swords for any Man NOT named Aragorn, and can have their abilities tirggered using an unlikely source (explained below).

The Gondorians also benefit greatly from the token conditions. Noble Leaders is an awesome pump and gets full token benefits here with all four of the "leaders" out. Houses of Healing is just that: a hospital that works pretty well here. The Gondorian Prowler not only fills up the space left in the starting fellowship, but he can turn those tokens into opportunities to make those with Ithilien Blades very, very powerful.

Gandalf helps out in some new ways too. G for Grand could be a big factor here with all those Ranger Cloaks out, and since you can expect to win several skirmishes, Watch and Wait can help peel burdens off of Boromir...and feed into making G For Grand more effective, too. But Gandalf’s biggest contribution is, once again, getting defender bonuses and discarding several minions at once, which should help keep Boromir from ever being assigned at all. Between Aragorn and the other defender-adding cards, you may find him being able to get rid of even more minions than normal with Sent Back.


Most of these decks are large, though, and have a little trouble cycling. So here’s an idea from NBarden for a mega-filtering deck.

Free Peoples (35 cards):

Frodo, Weary from the Journey
The One Ring, The Ring of Doom

Brand, King of Dale (starting)
Gandalf, Leader of Men (starting)

Erland, Dale Counselor x2
Librarian, Keeper of Ancient Texts x2
Ghan-buri-Ghan, Chieftain of the Woses x2
Gandalf, Returned x3

Shadowfax, Roaring Wind x2
Glamdring, Foe-hammer

Sent Back x4
Guidance of the Istari x4
Saved From the Fire x3
Last Stand x4
Beorning Axe x4

Alatar, Final Envoy
Pallando, Far-travelling One

The strategy can be summed up in NBarden’s own words: "Fry Gandalf with Saved from the Fire, play back with Sent Back, repeat as needed to filter your deck like crazy." Looks pretty effective to me. Thumbs Up


EDIT: After posting the article, I recieved yet another deck idea from Aragorn, King in Exile. I found it very interesting, as it opens up a whole new method of using and abusing Sent Back. Check this out....

Frodo, Weary from the Journey
The One Ring, The Ring of Doom

Aragorn, Strider (starting)
Faramir, Prince of Ithilien (starting)

Gandalf, The White Rider x4
Radagast, The Brown x4
Aragorn’s Bow, Ranger’s Longbow x2
Ithilien Blade x3
I Will Go x2
Elendil’s Valor x4
Sent Back x4
Hearts Raised x3
The Terror in His Coming x4

AKiE: "Okay, so the general idea of this deck was very similiar to the other Gandalf decks you had listed, but instead of making Gandalf defender +1 (which is very hard to do, IMHO) I make Faramir defender +1 using his game text, I Will Go, and Elendil’s Valor. This allows Faramir to reach very high defender levels. Then I assign all the minions to Faramir. If there are any left over (which there shouldn’t, as you are trying to choke with this deck, plus you have Aragorn’s Bow to cut them down in the archery phase), assign them to Aragorn who can easily fight off most minions. Then, start the skirmish with Faramir, replace Faramir with Gandalf using Gandalf’s built-in ability, then use Sent Back to discard all the minions. Use Hearts Raised to remove threats from Gorn’s bow. Use The Terror of His Coming to grab your Sent Backs from the discard pile."

Awesome ideas, AKiE! Applause I KNEW someone could find a way to abuse Gandalf, The White Rider with this strategy. Bravo!


I could go on and on with this, with all sorts of other decks. Throw in Gandalf, Sent Back, Saved From The Fire, and a few copies of Well Met Indeed into a Three Hunters deck to really frustrate your opponents. Toss Gandalf, Sent Back, and Saved From The Fire in with a bunch of Ents (like the classic 7 companion starting fellowship: Merry, In the Bloom of Health, Pippin, In the Bloom of Health, Farmer Maggot, Hobbit of the Marish, Quickbeam, Bregalad, Skinbark, Fladrif, Host of Fangorn, AND Ent Horde). Try him with Dwarves, or a Dwarf/Gandalf Man mix with Brand and Dáin Ironfoot. You can fit him and the necessary cards for a proper Sent Back cycle into nearly ANY deck type if you work at it a little bit, and it can make your opponent nuts to have Gandalf swooping in and out of play and taking several minions with him.

A few other things. I didn’t take the time to come up with Shadow sides for these, but since most are rather large, you probably want to use a Shadow side that can also be big and cycles well, like Moria Orcs, Dunland Men, or Nazgul (especially with Moving This Way). As for sites, I didn’t really take the time for those either, but make sure include plenty of battlegrounds and/or dwellings for those decks that rely on them. You may want to consider others like The Prancing Pony, East Wall of Rohan, Green Dragon Inn, Barazinbar, and Stables to help you get set up and cut down on the size of your deck. Pinnacle of Zirakzigil is an interesting option as well. Smile

Now, to wrap things up, let’s go through each version of Gandalf and see how they might fit in this strategy, in order of release.

Gandalf, Friend of the Shirefolk is a good, all-around fighter if you use a blended fellowship. He can easily be 8 or 9 strength, and in the right fellowship as high as 10. If you intend to fight and win some skirmishes in such a deck, he’s not a bad option, but probably overshadowed by Mithrandir.

Gandalf, The Grey Wizard isn’t a bad option in a deck full of Gandalf signets, like the Rohan or Shire decks listed above. He can help choke, obviously, playing many eligible companions for free, or at least very cheaply, including his fellow Wizard Radagast. In such decks, consider the other Gandalf signet cards: Gandalf’s Wisdom (which we saw in the Rohan deck), Down From the Hills (AWESOME in these decks for reasons we’ve already covered), Keep Your Forked Tongue, and the nice pumps Trust Me as You Once Did and Let Us Not Tarry. You could easily build a very powerful deck focused around Gandalf, The Grey Wizard, Sent Back, and a combo of these other signet-centered cards.

Gandalf, The Grey Pilgrim probably isn’t a good option for this strategy, since you won’t always have him at the start of your turn. But he can help cycle if you’re desperate.

Gandalf, Greyhame might have potential if paired with some discarding Hobbits or the like, but chances are you won’t have room to fit that kind of strategy into a deck with all the Sent Back stuff. Probably not a good option.

Gandalf, The White Wizard is, again, a decent fighter when you need one, with 10 strength in the right circumstances, but is again probably overshadowed by Mithrandir.

Speaking of whom, Gandalf, Mithrandir is, nine and a half times out of ten, your best fighting option with this strategy. His drawback, which is normally huge, is meaningless here, so you can reap the full benefits of his 10 strength and damage +1 goodness. Very Happy

Gandalf, Defender of the West is one of my favorite versions, but is overshadowed by others here. The only time I think he’d be recommended is if you had him splashed in with a bunch of companions of the same culture and only had one or two methods of getting Gandalf back once he’s dead. THEN you might want to consider that Mithrandir may die before you’re ready, and go with an option like this.

Gandalf, Manager of Wizards is decent for cycling, but little else. Pass.

Gandalf, Leader of Men is your best starting option. Period. Smile

Gandalf, Leader of the Company is NEVER a bad option, and if you have him and not some other versions listed here, like Mithrandir and Returned, then by all means use him. But there’s no bigger advantage to using him than normal, and with him sometimes leaving the fellowship for a while, he will probably end up being a little weaker than normal.

Gandalf, The White Rider is an intriguing option. I couldn’t find a place to really use him, but there is certainly potential there. (EDIT: AKiE found an AWESOME way to abuse him...check his deck above if you missed it.) He might be best with weak companions like Hobbits, for obvious reasons.

Gandalf, Bearer of Obligation is worthless since you can’t kill the Ring-bearer, and thus can’t use any of his text.

Gandalf, Powerful Guide is a good all-around option for Hobbit decks, especially with his card drawing that works even when you end up killing Gandalf off in his skirmish. I could see someone throwing in more spells and turning him into an awesome pick.

Gandalf, Returned has been covered enough. If you don’t know why he’s great in this strategy, you haven’t been reading. Razz But note again that his token reinforcement works for ANY Free Peoples culture, and that his ability to pull any Gandalf possession with him works with any version of Glamdring or Shadowfax (as we’ve covered), but ALSO works with a Wizard Staff (which lets Gandalf reduce the strength of minions skirmishing OTHER companions), Gandalf’s Hat (which isn’t great here, but has some potential in the right deck), Radagast’s Herb Bag (which gives him more vitality to exert with--never a bad thing--and more pre-Sent Back wounding potential), and Gandalf’s Pipe (which could create some great burden removal, something to really consider with alternate Ring-bearers).

And finally, Gandalf, Wise Guide makes a decent option, since the exerting you have to do for his ability is pretty much moot, and preventing events could be a lifesaver. If you have him (especially if you do NOT have Mithrandir or Returned or the like), it’s probably worth it to use him.


Hopefully, this has helped you see the advantages to the seemingly little-used card Sent Back, as well as some uses for forgotten and cast aside versions of Gandalf. Combined, they can confound your opponents and leave them wondering what sort of rabbit you might pull out of your hat next time you play them. Wink

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Special thanks to CarpeGuitarrem, Anonymous Prodigy, AnxiousChieftain, NBarden, and elf lvr for reviewing stages of this article via PM and to Thranduil and macheteman for ideas they indirectly donated. Very Happy You guys are the best! Thumbs Up

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I may still make changes to this article, especially based on initial reviews. But I wanted to get it up since I’ve been working on it for a week and couldn’t wait to share it.
Last edited by DáinIronfoot on Tue Jul 24, 2007 1:12 pm; edited 4 times in totalBest regards, Dáin, Vice Aftokrator of the Chosen Ones

Check out Lasting Alliances, The Road Ahead, and Ages of Middle-earth, three of my five dream card sets that make up Wars of the Ring. Oh, and I have a trade list now!

Also, if you're into DCs or RPGs (or even if you're not!), check out Realms of Middle-earth, the sequel to CG's "DC Adventure", Realms of the North!
NBarden
Posted: Tue Jul 24, 2007 12:05 pm
Joined: 28 Dec 2006 Posts: 5468 Location: I don't know...
*mutter*

You used one of my decks, how can I give anything but a 5. Kiss up...

5. Wink
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DáinIronfoot
Posted: Tue Jul 24, 2007 12:16 pm
Joined: 12 Jan 2007 Posts: 4594 Location: Beltsville, MD, USA
NBarden wrote:
*mutter*

You used one of my decks, how can I give anything but a 5. Kiss up...

5. Wink

Eh, I tweaked it a little, if you noticed. But I liked it in general, so I figured...why not include it? Very Happy

Thanks for the vote. Thumbs Up
Best regards, Dáin, Vice Aftokrator of the Chosen Ones

Check out Lasting Alliances, The Road Ahead, and Ages of Middle-earth, three of my five dream card sets that make up Wars of the Ring. Oh, and I have a trade list now!

Also, if you're into DCs or RPGs (or even if you're not!), check out Realms of Middle-earth, the sequel to CG's "DC Adventure", Realms of the North!
sickofpalantirs
Posted: Tue Jul 24, 2007 12:40 pm
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.
fix all the s. I read half of it. said OK unless the next half was co authored by H13 and you hadn’t looked it over there was no way I could give you less then a 5. do you have ways to replay sent back in your decks?
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DáinIronfoot
Posted: Tue Jul 24, 2007 1:01 pm
Joined: 12 Jan 2007 Posts: 4594 Location: Beltsville, MD, USA
sickofpalantirs wrote:
fix all the s. I read half of it. said OK unless the next half was co authored by H13 and you hadn’t looked it over there was no way I could give you less then a 5. do you have ways to replay sent back in your decks?

In the first deck, there are several ways to get back a Gandalf condition like Sent Back from the discard pile: Treebeard, Keeper of the Watchwood does well, and The Terror of His Coming (which I included in most of these decks) works great at battlegrounds and dwellings (which is why I usually have it paired with Traveled Leader to control the sitepath). If, in practice, that’s not enough, then consider Fireworks (shuffle 2 Gandalf or Shire cards from your discard pile into your deck), On Your Doorstep (spot Gandalf and exert a companion to place a card of that companion’s culture on top of your deck), Grimbeorn with a Beorning Axe (each time he wins a skirmish, you may take a Gandalf card into hand from your discard pile), and/or Final Account (exert a Gandalf Wizard and discard 2 cards from hand to take a FP card and a Shadow card into hand from your discard pile). However, I still think that, with the possible exception of Fireworks, the event The Terror of His Coming is best, since it provides a strength pump at the same time. Up to you, though.

Thanks for the review! And don’t worry, I wrote the second half the same way I wrote the first half. No outside help (aside from NB’s and AKiE’s decks Razz).

I’ll work on the link-less cards, but it’s so hard to do it now! Sad Most of the ones that aren’t linked are that way only because they’re linked in an earlier deck. I’ll try, though, when I have the time.
Last edited by DáinIronfoot on Tue Jul 24, 2007 1:24 pm; edited 2 times in totalBest regards, Dáin, Vice Aftokrator of the Chosen Ones

Check out Lasting Alliances, The Road Ahead, and Ages of Middle-earth, three of my five dream card sets that make up Wars of the Ring. Oh, and I have a trade list now!

Also, if you're into DCs or RPGs (or even if you're not!), check out Realms of Middle-earth, the sequel to CG's "DC Adventure", Realms of the North!
DáinIronfoot
Posted: Tue Jul 24, 2007 1:14 pm
Joined: 12 Jan 2007 Posts: 4594 Location: Beltsville, MD, USA
Aragorn, King in Exile submitted an AWESOME deck via PM after reading the article. I’ve gone back and added it into the article. Thanks, AKiE! GP
Best regards, Dáin, Vice Aftokrator of the Chosen Ones

Check out Lasting Alliances, The Road Ahead, and Ages of Middle-earth, three of my five dream card sets that make up Wars of the Ring. Oh, and I have a trade list now!

Also, if you're into DCs or RPGs (or even if you're not!), check out Realms of Middle-earth, the sequel to CG's "DC Adventure", Realms of the North!
Celebrimbor
Posted: Thu Jul 26, 2007 2:07 pm
Joined: 12 Sep 2006 Posts: 953 Location: UNKNOWN
Dude, this is sweet! Very unique article.
Decks abusing Sent back I have to admit, I’ve never seen before. I’ll take a close look at the decklists for further evaluation.

So far I’m considering a 5 for this article.
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sickofpalantirs
Posted: Fri Jul 27, 2007 12:12 pm
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.
finally got around to voting 5!
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(mm)"SoP: you will always be the Official CC Spammer in my heart"
"DáinIronfoot"
Spammers really are amazing creatures. You can learn all there is to know about their ways in a month. And yet, after a hundred years, they can still surprise you. Razz
Celebrimbor
Posted: Fri Jul 27, 2007 3:04 pm
Joined: 12 Sep 2006 Posts: 953 Location: UNKNOWN
Does everyone agree with me that Dain and Nbarden are going to end up with a tie? We only have a couple days left in July, and no 4’s or 3’s have been given yet.
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Popcorn is not gooey like fat, and also not crunchy like potato chips, but crispy like lettuce which makes it a healthy snack. Popcorn
DáinIronfoot
Posted: Fri Jul 27, 2007 3:07 pm
Joined: 12 Jan 2007 Posts: 4594 Location: Beltsville, MD, USA
Heheh. I wasn’t even thinking about the competition. Razz

But yeah, now that we have one, let’s get some more votes for NBarden and me, folks! Cool
Best regards, Dáin, Vice Aftokrator of the Chosen Ones

Check out Lasting Alliances, The Road Ahead, and Ages of Middle-earth, three of my five dream card sets that make up Wars of the Ring. Oh, and I have a trade list now!

Also, if you're into DCs or RPGs (or even if you're not!), check out Realms of Middle-earth, the sequel to CG's "DC Adventure", Realms of the North!

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