Yes, it was Glorfindel and not that banner-weaver elven muse!
I really like the idea of expanding the Fellowship Block format in a lore-oriented way. However, it's obvious here the Free Peoples side would be much more aided than the Shadow one: Set 14 (and 9 if is included) has very little Shadow cards, and none of them are mixable with the present Shadow cultures. Fortunately, that can be equilibrated very easily without getting out from lore; therefore I propose the inclusion of additional Shadow ones than those mentioned by Dmaz:
The Mouth of Sauron, Lieutenant of Barad-Dur
Grishnakh, Orc Captain
Orc Patrol
Saruman's Staff, Wizard's Device
Saruman, Of Many Colours
Throne of Isengard
Watcher in the Water, Many-Tentacled Creature
Reaching Tentacle
Strong Tentacle
Sauron: The Mouth of Sauron would discourage the use of a single tank companion, dividing the strength between many fighters. Actually, that was the role he took when was sent to talk to Kings Dain Ironfoot and Brand, both present here, forcing them to muster their armies for war at home and unabling them to aid the forces in Minas Tirith. His only possible pump would be Bill Ferny, SSF, to a maximum of 13 strength.
Grishnakh and Orc Patrol were actually present but unnamed in the FotR movie/book plot, as important part of the Trackers of Lugbúrz. They would add much needed strength to those weak Sauron Trackers, as the strength of FP would grow too much.
Isengard: Saruman's Staff would allow him to be a fighter, as should have always had the chance in Fellowship Block, picking off exhasuted little ones like Greenleaf or Son of Hamfast with ease. That would encourage a more often use of Servant of the Eye, as Keeper of Isengard would risk too much being assigned to a tank fighter or directed archery. Please note it is a 2-card combo Shadow combo, much worse than a 2-card FP combo in respect of hand clogging.
Of Many Colours might be a nice addition to widen the possibilities with Saruman, and would be a great splash minion in other cultures. Besides Gimli, BoG in Enhanced TS being the sole card to play with threats, Of Many Colours would be the only card using a game dynamic of further sets (Lurker).
Throne of Isengard isn't really necessary, but would add to the lore flavor and to the use of Saruman as a fighter (13 strength, damage +2 or +3 and fierce, for 3 cards and 6 to 8 twilight... as Lurtz more or less), and would have the big counter of aiding Gandalf too much (and Radagast if he alone or Set 9 are present). Could be used to turn any minion Fierce (Terror of Flame and Shadow, The Mouth of Sauron, Bill Ferny, Morgul Hunter... or even Lord of the Nazgul with News of Mordor!), and would make the FP player exert companions at any cost instead of assigning them to Saruman, SotE + Saruman's Staff (except they bear an Armor or Gimli's Helm), thus turning that 3-card combo into a "Grind Saruman".
Moria: I couldn't agree more with the addition of those 2 Balrogs (and the exclusion of Demon of Might); Power and Terror would be a big card in Fellowship sitepath.
Watcher In The Water and its tentacles might add different flavors to the mix... maybe Evil-Smelling Fens can be added to complete the Tentacle theme.
Just some thoughts. Those FP possible strategies must have serious opposition.
A last Thought! Include Horn of Boromir in the X-List, moreover if Reflections (ahem, Tom Bombadil) is included.
I agree that the shadow will definitely need a boost to handle stronger Fellowship strategies.
Regarding Glorfindel, I don't necessarily find him as destroying this proposed format. He IS strong, but he's not invincible, and there are many strategies that don't necessarily need to win every skirmish. Also remember that since we aren't including any other elven support like
elven sword, his only possible possession is
Asfaloth, which will be discarded at 4 or 5, and comes at a cost of 2.
Basically, we wouldn't be trying to preserve the exact
feel of the fellowship block format. The idea is to warp and twist it a little, to fit the lore possibly. If the Fellowship ends up looking a little too strong, we can add Shadow support.
Grishnakh and
Orc Patrol were two cards that I thought of as well
Fellowship block, as it stands now, sees only a few Shadows that compete
really competitively and consistently, with Uruk beatdown first, and possibly one of the Moria variations in second.
Sauron gets a lot of wins, but it can get crippled easily by a strong utility fellowship, and definitely by Last Alliance decks featuring
Secret Sentinels. Grishnakh and
Orc Patrol will help you cycle to get more tracker conditions out, and also have the capacity for them to take down a key fellowship condition. I was also thinking about Grond, but maybe he would be unnecessary.
That's a really interesting notion on
Saruman's Staff...my first instinct was that it would just push Isengard from the already number 1 Shadow to ridiculously overpowered...but as you mentioned, if you played it on
Keeper of Isengard, he would 1. be able to be targeted by archery and 2. be assigned to a stronger companion to lose, as he doesn't have pumps....Uruk's strength in FotR almost always comes from being fierce and being able to absorb 3 wounds, because of
KoI.
I'm still a little squeamish about how it would play out with him, but in the end there's always Betrayal at Isengard as well. Beefing Saruman up might just be an enormous waste of twilight as two exertions could take him down. The only thing I don't think would be completely necessary is Of Many Colors.
I'm worried about Watcher a little bit, more just because its a set 19 card. Some set 19 cards were pretty harmless, but some were made in light of the fact that you already have an enormous pool of cards to handle the substantial strategies that are thrown at you from them. There's a wide range of cards that handles swarm in Expanded or Standard, but in Fellowship you are a little limited.
Of course, in Fellowship you have Moria Swarm, but to get them to keep playing cards from discard, you need a combination of conditions and minions to work together. With this Watcher, you can gather a formidable force at each site with just him. Something to think about though for sure as he IS a card from the FotR book.
All in all, I think the goal should be to twofold
1. Incorporate some cards that are found in the lore
2. Include some key support cards for certain fellowship strategies that more often than not lose in Fellowship block format.
It was a fun thought to be able to use the Horn with Tomb Bombadil, but a strength 18 fighter at the cost of 1 exert might be too brutal.
Also remember that Fellowship does have a decent amount of Ally control.
Anduin Confluence will probably get played a LOT more. Also, Nazgul have
Fear, which might make Nazgul a more attractive option than before...usually they aren't that good.
Still the abilities of
Tom Bombadil and
Goldberry are pretty considerable. At least it would make
Demands of the Sackville-Bagginses a useful card for once!