I gave it a three, but it was an accident; I meant to click four. [Mumble]Stupid batteries in wireless mouse...[/mumble]
I didn't give it a 5 because I have been playtesting this deck for the last 3-4 days and I have found that the fellowship needs work. The dwarves lose way too many skirmishes because there aren't enough pumps/posessions (minion wound prevention is frustrating with
Preparations),
Ever My Heart Rises is inefficient with the swarm because key minions (
Host of Moria, Goblin Scavenger) often get stacked on it and if I don't have
Rest By Blind Night handy, it can screw up my Shadow phase.
Dwarven Heart has proven absolutely useless unless I have
RbBN in the same hand, because often 2 turns go by before I get it (thus exerting the companion who bears it twice and defeating the point altogether) and causes clogging if I'm waiting for one or the other. Maybe I'm just getting unlucky, but it's not really working out for me. The fellowship needs more possessions and more skirmish-phase pumps that can be stacked on conditions so
Sindri, DL is actually useful.
I will say however that
Slaked Thirsts has proven very effective both for cycling and direct exerting, and
Gimli's Battle Axe, Trusted Weapon is beautiful on
Durin III if threats are out. I'd toss 1
Axe of Erebor for 1
Trusted Weapon instead. Also, Aragorn and Faramir have been lifesavers as fellowship fodder, especially at the higher sites or while attempting a two-move win to site 9.
As for the Shadow... Wow. I've always really liked Moria Swarm because they're so efficient and simple to play, but this shadow side is working especially well for me.
The Balrog, ToFaS tossed into a swarm of 5-6 minions along with
Host of Moria has worked great, and I almost always have the twilight for it because of Goblin Armories.
They Are Coming is VITAL for this deck and for cycling!!! I've never been a particularly big fan of that card but I've definitely been proven wrong here. Surprisingly, while most of the minions are fairly weak, it works out well at later sites because when they get discarded
They Are Coming brings the important ones back (
Goblin Runner) that add that last extra twilight to bring out HoM or use
Guard Commander's skirmish ability.
Overall I like the Shadow, and the FP side is good, the cycling is good... it just needs some adjustments.