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| CarpeGuitarrem |
![]() Posted: Wed Apr 19, 2006 11:53 pm |
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Joined: 07 Apr 2006
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Location: Franciscan University of Steubenville
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--- description ---
With the pending release of the Hunter’s block, we will see the introduction of the hunter keyword. Here’s what it means for the future of the LOTR TCG.
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“‘With hope or without hope we will follow the trail of our enemies. And woe to them, if we prove the swifter! We will make such a chase as shall be accounted a marvel among the Three Kindreds: Elves, Dwarves, and Men. Forth the Three Hunters!’”
When Gimli first appeared in the Fellowship block, as Gimli, Dwarf of Erebor and Gimli, Son of Gloin, he was-in my opinion-nowhere near the bruiser that he should have been. True, he was damage+1, but Gimli had only 6 strength, as opposed to companions such as Aragorn and Gandalf, with around 8 strength each. He did have a couple strength bonuses, but nothing substantial. This continued through the rest of the blocks, with Gimli eventually taking on big guys like Uruk Chaser at only 7 or 8 strength...that is, until the Hunters block and the hunter keyword. This new mechanic promises to make not only Gimli, but also many other companions, forces to be reckoned with!
For those of you who don’t realize that Decipher made sets after King block, or who simply haven’t been reading all of the Hunter pre-release stuff out there, here’s a brief summary of the new rule. Some companions and minions have the keyword hunter, followed by a number. All cards with this keyword are designated "hunters". Simple enough, right? Here’s where the number kicks in: if a hunter is skirmishing a non-hunter, then the hunter gains a strength bonus equal to the number. So if Gimli, Eager Hunter (who is hunter 3 and strength 6) is skirmishing Savage Southron (a non-hunter, with strength 8 )he gains a strength bonus of +3. This makes him strength 9, and so now he can win the skirmish! Gimli the bruiser is here, folks!
So with that done, let’s look at how this new mechanic actually impacts the game. First, the bad news. When Hunters is released, all of your old cards will be non-hunters-even the equivalents of cards that are hunters in the new block (for example, Aragorn and the rangers of Gondor). So, you’re going to have to start practically from scratch to rebuild your fellowship, unless you think you can weather the hunter minions like Ugluk, Ugly Fellow. The good news, however, is that gameplay for non-companions is practically the same, except for the handful of conditions and events that use the hunter keyword. So, you don’t have to rehaul your entire deck. By the time that more come out in sets like The Rise of Saruman, you’ll be recovered enough (hopefully) from the shock to have already found enough hunter cards to fill up your arsenal. But what specific cards does a successful hunter strategy center around? Most of the hunter ploys are for the Free Peoples, due to a woeful lack of Shadow cards with the keyword-although there are a few good ones for the  and  cultures.
One of the coolest hunter tactics is one that comes directly from the events of The Two Towers: the Three Hunters. Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli all benefit as hunters from a card called Forth the Three Hunters! Each of them can exert and spot one of the other Hunters to take a special action, and two of those special actions involve bonuses for having hunter companions. In addition, Legolas, Fleet-Footed Hunter has an ability that allows you to draw cards for exerting hunter companions, and the card Focus is able to heal a  and  hunter. Who might those companions be? (Here’s a broad hint: shorty and guy with a big sword.) Overall, the combination of the Three Hunters is a good mix because their special abilities, particularly centering around this new keyword, all work together to help Frodo finish his quest.
Of course, there are those culture-shock enthusiasts (myself included!) who insist that your Free Peoples deck must be one culture only. Many players applaud this strategy for the amount of inter-card support to be found among cards of the same culture. If that’s your fancy, then there are a couple of splendid cultures that utilize the hunter keyword. The first one is , with its hunter 1 rangers. The second is  , with some very good hunter combinations and mostly hunter companions. Of course, it only makes sense that the roaming warriors of Ithilien and the swift horseriders of Rohan are the ones who will hunt down the minons of Sauron and Saruman!
The culture has always been a staple in many decks. It is versatile, powerful, dependable, and its fortifications are one of the best uses of conditions in the entire game! The hunter mechanic begins to alter this culture permanently, gearing it towards the sub-culture that is often overlooked in favor of the powerhouse knights: the Rangers of Ithilien. Most of the new rangers in the Hunters block are lower strength than their Towers and King counterparts, who were strength 6. However, these new strength 5 rangers house an excellent upside: they are all hunter 1. This counters for their strength deficit, and also entitles them to special conditions and events that spot hunters, such as Aragorn, Swift Hunter, who exerts to give strength bonuses to hunters. In addition, this culture has several anti-hunter strategies, used against minions like Ugluk, Ugly One. One of the chief anti-hunter cards is No Travellers in This Land, which is basically a modification of the Tower block card Defend It and Hope. But the Gondorians aren’t the only men to get in on the chase.
The culture comes into the Hunter block with a running start. Gamling, The Old and Eomer, Horsemaster are both hunters, and the deck gives fitting bonuses to them. Not only is Eowyn, Willing Fighter’s ability geared towards healing hunter companions, but a Simbelmyne look-alike, Last Days of My House, actually allows you to use it when you can spot only one hunter. It’s ideal for getting your fellowship up and running when it’s tiny and needs companions. Grim Trophy is another great example of the hunter bonuses the culture gets. Spot both hunters of Rohan, and there’s an easy +2 strength. This culture is also one of the best players of the anti-hunter game. Two of its companions (Rohirrim Warrior and Rohirrim Soldier) are specifically geared towards fighting hunter minions. This new keyword promises to be a key point in changing the fortunes of the sometimes-spurned culture.
Alas, the Shadow side seems to be grievously lacking in hunter minions. The best culture for these nasties is the culture, not surprisingly. They’ve got monsters like Ugluk, Ugly Fellow and Pursuing Uruk that get awesome hunter 4 bonuses, which prove to be useful when trying to prey upon the hunter-free cultures like  and  . I was a bit startled to see that Lurtz, Now Perfected was not a hunter…but then he’s so powerful I suppose he shouldn’t get any more bonuses. After the culture comes the culture, because of the event Later Than You Think. This powerhouse will likely be a staple in soon-to-come Nazgul hunter swarm decks…yikes! And you thought that the Witch-King was bad.
You might be wondering…how could all of these strategies work in one deck? I’ll leave you with a little goodbye gift. Here’s a Three Hunters Free Peoples dream deck, to show you what you can really do for your fellowship with the new mechanic. Have fun!
Sites:
Anduin River
Breeding Pit of Isengard
City Gates
East Wall of Rohan
Gate of Mordor
Isengard Ruined
Mount Doom
Westfold Village
Ringbearer:
Frodo, Weary from the Journey
The One Ring, the Ring of Doom
Free Peoples:
Companions:
Gimli, Eager Hunter (Starting)
Legolas, of the Woodland Realm (Starting)
Aragorn, Thorongil 3x
Damrod, Dunadan of Gondor
Unyielding Ranger
Gloin, Son of Groin 2x
Conditions:
Chamber of Records 2x
The Fortunes of Balin’s Folk
Forth the Three Hunters! 3x
No Quicker Path 2x
Whatever End 2x
Focus 2x
Decorated Barricade 2x
Possessions:
Heavy Axe 2x
Aragorn’s Bow, Ranger’s Longbow 2x
Ithilien Blade 4x
Ranger’s Cloak 2x
Events:
Sturdy Stock 2x
No Travellers in This Land 3x |
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| donimator |
![]() Posted: Thu Apr 20, 2006 8:21 am |
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Joined: 23 Mar 2006
Posts: 67
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Nice article CarpeGuitarrem. You really delved into the depths of the new mechanic and described its advantages in detail across all of the cultures.
Personally, I’m underwhelmed by Hunter. It’s not as great a block-defining change as we have seen in the past - Two Towers got site control (and Smeagol/Gollum), RotK introduced threats, War of the Ring changed the site path mechanics and realigned minion cultures, Hunters got a minor built-in pump that works against older cards.
Your description is very good and thorough, but I think the overall effect of the Hunter keyword may not be as meta-shattering as one might think. The online game has seen only a smattering of Hunter use, though that might change if it is supported in later sets. Overall a solid article! |
| A good friend will bail you out of jail. A really good friend will be sitting beside you saying, "Man, we screwed up!" |
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| CarpeGuitarrem |
![]() Posted: Thu Apr 20, 2006 7:28 pm |
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Joined: 07 Apr 2006
Posts: 3361
Location: Franciscan University of Steubenville
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Thanks. I tend to get excited about a lot of things. And I think that Decipher is really going to try hard to get hunter a better place in decks overall. I suspect that Rise of Saruman will feature a huge amount of hunters.
Hopefully nobody was looking for a Shadow side to the deck-I just felt that the hunter mechanic is really underplayed, even in the culture.
BTW...does anyone know how to fix that formatting in the description? "hunter" is supposed to be in bold, but it’s surrounded by a pair of messed-up "bold" tags. |
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| bobtheorc |
![]() Posted: Fri Apr 21, 2006 7:39 am |
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Joined: 19 Mar 2006
Posts: 1218
Location: Wow, its hot in Iowa
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Nice article.
However I must agree that Hunters may not be all that game changing.
Also Decipher lately seems to like to abandon concepts soon after they develop them. Think Token strategies in Bloodlines or roaming minions in Mount Doom. But decipher does need to really help out the culture! Isengard was my favorite but the Uruk-hai culture stinks. |
 Ban the Overpowered Orcs
"Don't panic, I have paper!" - Taipan 
Is that Grima, Grief Counselor? - legolamb
Bobtheorcs Uruk-Hai Dcs
Bob’s wonderful !! updated !! Trade list |
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| ingold55 |
![]() Posted: Mon Apr 24, 2006 8:08 pm |
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Joined: 10 Oct 2005
Posts: 1199
Location: Out on the front line
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i liked the article, it kept my attention, and was helpful in explaining the hunters.  (which i don’t keep up on.)  |
There is a power in this world beyond any of us, and Jesus is that power and The Savior.
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Trade list (Want Balrogs and Aragorns) |
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| CarpeGuitarrem |
![]() Posted: Tue Apr 25, 2006 5:44 pm |
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Joined: 07 Apr 2006
Posts: 3361
Location: Franciscan University of Steubenville
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| Thanks. I appreciate the feedback, too. It’ll come in handy when I polish up the keyboard for an article next month! I’m thinking of tackling another loaded keyword... |
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| Beyo |
![]() Posted: Wed Apr 26, 2006 7:38 am |
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Joined: 22 Nov 2005
Posts: 60
Location: Poland
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| I think "Hunter" keyword shoould be X-Listed |
| Time in the universe may be eternal..our patience is not |
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| CarpeGuitarrem |
![]() Posted: Wed Apr 26, 2006 6:33 pm |
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Joined: 07 Apr 2006
Posts: 3361
Location: Franciscan University of Steubenville
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It’s not even released, and you’re X-listing it? You’re worse than Decipher.  |
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| Anonymous Prodigy |
![]() Posted: Wed Apr 26, 2006 9:09 pm |
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Joined: 10 Jan 2006
Posts: 4197
Location: United States
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Great article, CG. You really did a good job on going in-depth with the decklists and how to use the hunter keyword in practically all cultures. I’ll give it a  . |
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| Cobra |
![]() Posted: Mon May 01, 2006 2:17 am |
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Joined: 12 Jul 2005
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Location: Austin, TX, USA
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