So what, in your opinion, counts as broken?
I've been testing a new deck on GCCG that is fairly fragile for the first few sites. Some of you may have seen it. I don't want to give it away yet, but it runs 9 companions and is usually completely set up by site 4. It kept losing until I switched up the Shadow and got better at strategy. Now it is winning.
Once it is rolling at site 3/4, here's what it can do each turn:
-Take 7 Freeps cards of your choice from the deck into hand (yes, I know Rule of 4... but I do it a different way)
-Remove essentially unlimited burdens (20+ I suppose, with
Sam SoH and next point)
-Heal up to 32 wounds (20 Fellowship and 12 Regroup, or 16F/4Sk/12R)
-Deal 14 wounds of direct damage (8 from
Slaked Thirsts, 6 from Directed Archery,
1 Normal Arch)
before using
Eowyn, LoI. With regroup healing of 12 Slaked is reusable and
Eowyn LoI and co are healed.
-Make any surviving minions up to strength -20 or so in increments of -2 (thanks for the tip Pepin).
-Triple
, Quadruple, or... you name it! Up to six moves a turn. Realistically doesn't need to do more than Triple often.And then I have a bunch of Freeps cards that I can take out if needed such as
Deep in Thought. I find that if I can survive the setup, and if I'm not facing one of its few weaknesses (such as hand discard) I'm pretty much invincible.
So... what do you think? Clever
or broken?
I think this may even rival Broken Tokens from Standard.
Sites:Site 1:
Dunharrow PlateauSite 2:
King's TentSite 3:
Beacon of Minas TirithSite 4:
Osgiliath FallenSite 5:
City GatesSite 6:
Minas Tirith First CircleSite 7:
Osgiliath CrossingSite 8:
Northern Ithilien (kinda random)
Site 9:
DagorladFreeps (35):Ringbearer:
Frodo, Master of the PreciousRing:
Answer to All Riddles1x
Smeagol, Poor Creature (starting)
1x
Gimli, Feared Axeman (starting)
1x
Sam, Son of Hamfast (starting)
1x
Legolas, Greenleaf (P)1x
Eowyn, Lady of Ithilien1x
Gandalf, Greyhame1x
Aragorn, Ranger of the North (P)1x
Durin III, Dwarven Lord4x
Birthday Present3x
Dear Friends1x
No Help for It1x
A Light In His Mind4x
The Shire Countryside1x
Pathfinder*1x
Durin's Secret1x
Deep in Thought1x
Roll of Thunder1x
Aragorn's Bow1x
Gandalf's Staff1x
Aiglos1x
Ever My Heart Rises1x
Not the First Halfling1x
Preparations4x
Slaked ThirstsShadow (35):Shadow has a few options. This deck originally started as a
LttG setup deck, with multiple
Preparations and Dwaves for the Freeps instead of
Durin's Secret. It worked well as such. My current Shadow is:
2x
Gollum, Old Villain1x
Gollum, Plotting Deceiver4x
Evil-smelling Fens2x
Let Her Deal With Them4x
Captured by the Ring4x
Constantly Threatening4x
Dunlending Rampager4x
Dunlending Renegade3x
Wild Men of the Hills3x
Hides1x
Mumak Chieftain1x
Mumakil1x
Shelob, Last Child of Ungoliant (P)1x
Sauron, The Lord of the Rings (P)Freeps Strategy:Bid high to start. You want one of 9 Freeps cards in hand:
Birthday Present (best),
Dear Friends or
Bilbo, Retired Adventurer. If not,
perhaps mulligan. However, it can pay off to wait until site 2 for the action if you can get your opponent to stop there with Shadow. Sometimes I get
Birthday Present in first draw but don't use it until site 2. Play
Beneath the Mountains Ever My Heart Rises from
Dunharrow Plateau. When ready...
Discard *most* of your draw deck! If you have
Birthday Present, you might discard all... if you have
Dear Friends or Bilbo, leave some cards and stick
Birthday Present and
A Light In His Mind in the deck. Now for each Freeps turn:
-Bring back Smeagol with Frodo or
Greyhame, then use
Birthday Present to draw 1x
No Help for It and 3x
Dear Friends. Do this one card at a time and manipulate initiative by playing other cards from your hand (NOT
Dear Friends unless your opponent let you have
No Help for It already). Remember Rule of 4 with
Birthday Present.
-Stick 6 Freeps cards of your choice under your draw deck by exerting Smeagol or Legolas. Heal exerts with
the Shire Countryside and
A Light in His Mind. Prioritize which ones to get first...
Preparations FOR SURE,
The Shire Countryside, and Legolas are usually my first choices. However,
Greyhame lets you play a companion each turn, giving you essentially 7 cards, so you might want him.
-Remove all burdens and add them again with
Answer to All Riddles the turn you use
No Help for It. Any extra exerts are for
Not the First Halfling, but make sure to start every turn with a fully healed Fellowship.
-Get your stuff ready to run! Massive healing with
No Help for It in regroup gives you exerts for
Preparations and
Slaked Thirsts.
Shadow strategy:Use
Old Villain to cycle if you need it to get your Freeps cards.
Try to see if you can play stuff like
Constantly Threatening or
Evil-smelling Fens before decking yourself.
Constantly Threatening lets you play the cheap Dunland minions and might discourage your opponent from doubling. If they lose initiative by discarding cards, you can play
Gollum, Plotting Deceiver, use
Evil-smelling Fens to grab a minion of choice, and maybe even
Let Her Deal With Them. With lots of twilight, play Sauron (dmg+3), with less, play
Mumak Chieftain (Str. 14, Fierce, Dmg+2). Quite often your opponent will not have initiative because they cleared out their Freeps cards from hand to try to cycle for their upcoming Shadow.
Or... if your Freeps is in good shape, play nothing so their hand will clog and give you an easier run.
Choosing which cards to grab with
Dear Friends is the key strategy here... It's not a bad idea to grab a
Durin's Secret early in case you suddenly have to use it. Or an extra
Birthday Present to keep in hand in case the first one is discarded. If your opponent is
forewarned, they may start by running immediately from site 1-3, 3-5, etc. However, many will pause because for fear of Dunland at site 3. Be careful in your initial sites, and keep key Shadow cards in hand before decking yourself if possible.
Update: Slimmed the deck down to 35/35 to help with starting draws.