Welcome to Fill in the Blank Season 1: Lairs!Each week I'll post the collector's information for one of the cards in the set's card-list.
Contestants are free to create whatever card they see fit for that slot in the card-list, keeping in mind the surrounding cards. As the contest progresses, the card-list will become more and more defined, guiding the contestants' choices.
The theme of our set is Lairs! You're free to interpret this however you want.
Not every card has to fit the theme, of course, but it's something to keep in mind when coming up with entries.
Each week a poll will go up for the previous week's entries. Simply vote for one you like the most. In the event of a tie, I'll let a random result generator make the decision - but each of the tied cards will appear in the final set card list.
On to Stuff!
Last week's winner...The die was cast to break our tie:
Shelob's Lair by Inspire takes the win! (Let me know if you'd be interested in having this portion of the contest spited up a bit in season two. Pageantry can be arranged.) (Also, we know where Cw0rk's
Dwimorberg is headed!)
Last week's entries to pick from for Card #13... Ill-fated Quest
Event • Maneuver
Spot X Orcs to suspend this phase. Begin a skirmish phase between a Orc and an unbound companion with twilight cost X or less; that Orc gains hunter X. When it ends, resume the maneuver phase.
"'Yestreday... Balin lord of Moria fell in Dimrill Dale. He went alone to look in Mirror-mere...'"
Designer's notes: An event to set an ambush with a Orc to try and kill a key/annoying companion of your choice... and before archery takes place! Such ambush will favor a Goblin with damage bonuses or overwhelming strength, so the Moria Axe will shine there. But surprisingly will also favor good old Goblin Spearman, who can finally dust himself off from oblivion and have his day removing Greenleaf, Boromir SoD or Eowyn LoI from the equation. (The card title and lore text are in allusion to Durin's Axe's subtitle and lore.)
A More Dangerous Road
Condition • Support Area
To play, spot a weather condition. Any site 4 or 5 gains marsh and underground.
Shadow: If the fellowship is at an underground site, discard an card (from hand or from play) and play a minion to add a threat.
"And if that fails, where then will you go?"
Designer's notes: This card is my attempt to open up a threat-generating subculture in Fellowship block, a card written to encourage the swirling of and (specifically, weather). The goal is to get at least one of these down before site 4, since that's the earliest access you have to underground sites in Fellowship block - although in other formats this card can be useful much sooner, and much later. Beyond all that, I wanted this card to represent the turning of the fellowship's course into danger. The weather-spotting requirement is cute (imo), but adding both marsh and underground to any site 4 or 5 is my way of interpreting a malevolent power forcing the fellowship into 2 turns' worth of absolute garbage.
•Watcher in the Water, Scourge of Westgate
Minion - Creature
Strength - 9
Vitality - 4
Site - 4
Game Text: Discard all other minions (except tentacles).
The current site gains marsh.
All minions are strength +2 and damage +1.
Shadow: Play a tentacle from your draw deck, discard pile or hand; its twilight cost is -2.
Designer's notes: My problem with the other watchers in the waters are that they never let you get your minions out. MTC lets you do it from discard, but first there has to be some in there, this one should give tentacles more of a chance.
•Goblin Horn
Possession • Support Area
Each time a Orc is killed (except in the skirmish phase), you may place it beneath your draw deck.
Regroup: Discard Goblin Horn to discard the top 4 cards of your draw deck.
"...a great horn was blown in the hall, and answering horns and harsh cries were heard further off. There was a sound of many hurrying feet."
Designer's notes: Swarm attacks are usually all-or-nothing. Against archer or direct wounding fellowships, it's all too often nothing. This card won't save your orcs from dying, but it can make an otherwise futile attack still count for something, setting up a strong hand at the end of the game. The regroup action is there to help dig down to the Orcs at the bottom of your deck if you haven't cycled quite as much as planned. Note: This possession can be played from your discard pile with Relics of Moria but will not trigger Goblin Armory.
•Lord Gothmog, Servant of Morgoth
Minion • Balrog
Strength: 21
Vitality: 5
S/N: 4
Damage +2. Fierce.
Lord Gothmog's twilight cost is -1 for each Balrog in your discard pile.
When you play Lord Gothmog, you may take a event into hand from your discard pile.
"He fought with Gothmog, until another Balrog came behind..."
Designer's notes: Lord Gothmog was the Lord of Balrogs. Made it so it can take full advantage of the "From Morgoth's Lair They Came" event which make "Balrogs are twilight cost -3 for each other Balrog you can spot and are not unique until the end of the turn".
Goblin Sentinel
Minion • Orc
Strength: 6
Vitality: 2
Site: 4
Archer.
Each time a Free Peoples player reveals this card from your hand, he or she must exert a companion.
"For an instant the wizard looked out. Arrows whined and whistled down the corridor as he sprang back."
This week's contest is...Card #25!It seems the fates wanted the last round of this first season to be the last card slot in the original card list. Neat.
So it's either a Site or a "Premium-Level" card of some type. Take a look at how your submission from two weeks ago fared in the polls - let that response guide your design this week!
Season One Closing date: October 24th! Lairs Card List Number - Name - (Culture • Type) -
Contestant - Week It Won
1. Burned Village (
• Condition) -
Dictionary - 12
2. •Stronghold of the Adorn River (
• Possession) -
Durin's Heir - 3
3. •Balin, Lord of Moria (
• Ally) -
menace64 - 8
4. •Mithril Gates (
• Condition) -
azogsbane - 18
5. Sméagol Lied (
• Event) -
SGollum - 4
6. Worse Than Orcs (
• Event) -
menace64 - 9
7. Commandeered Vessel (
• Possession) -
azogsbane - 16
8. Sheltered Hollow (
• Condition) -
TelTura - 6
9. Cold and Perilous (
• Condition) -
Durin's Heir - 17
10. Isengard Test Subject (
• Minion) -
Cw0rk - 22
11. Smoke From Isengard (
• Condition) -
menace64 - 13
12. From Morgoth's Lair They Came (
• Event) -
Cw0rk - 21
13. SUBJECT OF THIS WEEK'S VOTE
14. •Wrested Kingdom (
• Condition) -
menace64 - 1
15. Primitive Cave Paintings (
• Event) -
Cw0rk - 19
16. •Úlairë Attëa, Khamûl (
• Minion) -
SGollum - 7
17. Angmar Haunts Us Still (
• Condition) -
TelTura - 15
18. Southern Stranger (
• Minion) -
Inspire - 10
19. Dark Communion (
• Event) -
menace64 - 20
20. •Bag End Hearth (
• Condition) -
Inspire - 2
21. •Merry, Conspirator (
• Companion) -
Inspire - 5
22. •Pippin, Out of the Bog and Briar (
• Companion) -
Inspire - 14
23. The Black Gate (S Site) -
SGollum - 11
24. Shelob's Lair (K8 Site) -
Inspire - 23
25. IN CREATION THIS WEEK
The Misadventure Deck (cards that lost due to coin-flip [or a menace64 blunder] but will appear in the final cardlist! Maybe?)
26+. •Durin's Axe, Omen of Fortune (
• Artifact) -
Durin's Heir - 4
26+. From Lowest Dungeon to Highest Peak (
• Event) -
menace64 - 4
26+. Oath of Cirion (
• Condition) -
Cw0rk - 16
26+. Distant Howl (
• Event) -
azogsbane - 22
26+. Key of Orthanc (
• Artifact) -
Cw0rk - 17
26+. Host of the Upper Hall (
• Minion) -
menace64 - 21
26+. Orkish Whip (
• Possession) -
Durin's Heir - 7
26+. •Alliance (
• Condition) -
azogsbane - 19
26+*. •Mountains of Shadow (
• Condition) -
menace64 - 2
26+. Dwimorberg (K4 Site) -
Cw0rk - 23[/list]