menace64, I'm taking this as "what cards could be added to King Standard without taking anything away from it." So a lot of your cards I would move to veto
Why use
Flame of the West when you've got
Sword That Was Broken, for example? In my opinion, the game is best when no card or strategy is made useless by another and King Standard does the best job of that.
Of all King Block cards,
Orc Armor is perhaps the one I most wish was in set 7 (and
Relics of Moria definitely shouldn't be x'd). Swarm strategies should've been more than just "throw a bunch of minions on the table and try to overwhelm Frodo every few sites," I want my other companions to mean something.
How much am I allowed to argue over certain choices?
The one I'm most against is
Brave Decoy, interested to hear why you think it's worth including. Obviously, I encourage lively discussion against any of my picks
For Enduring, I think it's already a scarce keyword so it's not the worst thing to lose, and yet it'd be a shame to exclude some cards just because of it. Properly managed, I think Shelob and
Wraiths would be meaningful additions.
So, just looking at 8-10 for now, here are some additional cards that I'd want to see. There are other cards in those sets I wouldn't mind seeing, and plenty of cards just didn't seem useful enough to bother with (would you use
Scroll of Isildur without an alternate Ring-bearer?), but these are the cards that stood out the most:
Honed - Rohan took away one of the Dwarves' core competencies: obliterating minions. This at least makes the damage bonus worthwhile again
More Yet to Come - Same vein as the above, yet I wasn't so interested in
Unheard of. Am I splitting hairs?
Linnar,
Sindri,
Uri - I'm torn because I'm not a fan of including any of the Reflections companions (I could be pursuaded for alternate RBs I guess), but Dwarves could really use some fresh blood.
Reckless We Rode - Seems useful, what's the harm?
Elven Rope,
Merry's Dagger,
Pippin's Dagger,
Knife of the Galadhrim,
Nenya, Ring of Adamant,
Vilya, Ring of Air - I'm most hesitant about
Knife of the Galadhrim being used with Knight or Ring-bound Ranger wounding, but honestly none of these items seem to break anything too much
A Fool - Might go into that "useless event" territory, but I'm a fan of how this ties up the "At sites 1 to 4/5 ..." series of cards
Leader of Men - He's not gonna outclass any other Gandalf, right? Just saves some deck space and opens up other possibilities in deckbuilding
Every Little is a Gain - Mainly for discarding
Gorgoroth PillagerBoromir, Steward's Heir - This guy always comes to mind and I couldn't help but include him, even though he's outside of 8-10. Forego the usual game text to get a swiss army knife of keywords and access to just about every
tool you might want.
As I said before I wouldn't mind seeing the
wraiths, but without
Swept Away or at least without
Stronger and More Terrible. It should have always been a hazard to lose initiative, not a benefit to retain it. Another dropped ball in sets 8 and 10.
Charged Headlong - Useful and well costed
Eowyn's Shield - Niche, but worthwhile for
Easterling Polearm and
The Pale BladeHorn of the Mark - Speaking of signets, right?
Sting, Bane of the Eight Legs - Again super niche, I wouldn't mind dropping this if Shelob doesn't make the grade
Merry, Noble Warrior and
Pippin, Guard of Minas Tirith - they're 9 strength when decked out with culturally-appropriate garb, but so is
Merry, From O'er the Brandywine. Those abilities are awfully costly too, I don't see them pushing anything over the edge
[gollum]
Hidden Even From Her,
Slippery as Fishes - Niche, but I think there's room in KS for a Gollum-centric deck
Last Child of Ungoliant - The only version of Shelob I'm comfortable with, I think. Anybody wanna sell me on the others?
Shelob, Menace is the next most palatable one for me.
Web &
Larder - Dependent on
Last Child of UngoliantGollum, Dark as Darkness - He's most potent for Lost to the Darkness bombs, but I don't necessarily consider that a bad thing. While useful for burden strategies
Unabated in Malice - The most dangerous part of this condition is fully in hands of the FP
Library of Orthanc,
Sack of the Shire,
Suffered Much Loss - Just to keep Isengard interesting
Host of Moria - This minion adds something to Moria that they didn't previously have. I wish he weren't strong enough to get to 20 strength with
Moria Axe alone, but can't do anything about that
Haradwaith - Throw those little initiative wounders a bone, it's just one site
Heavy Axeman - Not certain that Easterlings need him, but he seems nice enough
Mumakil - Expands Southrons a bit, no harm that I can tell
Called Away - I think this card has potential, but is it just too weird? Decipher probably had the same discussion
Gorgoroth Agitator,
Gorgoroth Breaker,
Gorgoroth Looter,
Gorgoroth Patrol,
Gorgoroth Stormer - Not really needed, but I think they each add something without taking anything away. I don't play besiegers, thoughts?
Their Marching Companies - Doesn't do anything new, just in a different way
Siege Troop - Strong, sure, but so is
Host of Udun. Engines offer a cheaper way to get sites anyway, right?
Advance Captain,
Advance Marauder,
Advance Regular,
Advance Scout - I appreciate the direction they're going
Barren Land - I wish
Hollowing of Isengard were more useable, and this does that for me
Orc Ravager - Seems reasonable enough, right?
Rank and File - Even without
Uruk-hai, it's good for the Advance fellows and maybe some bi-culturalism
The Ring is Mine! - Doesn't feel too strong, even if it's just going to be used with
corruption and
Morgul SkulkerBlack Flail - It'll be a conscious choice to use this over
The Pale Blade, so I say throw it in
Morgul Squealer - I know I've seen him used, but he seems too expensive to be of much harm
Streaming to the Field - Without
Morgul Lurker, I don't see this being abusive
Unhindered - It's just a usable version of
Feel His Blade, though there's still not much point
Winged Mount - Again, conscious choice to pick this over
Black Steed, especially with all the plains going around
Ring of Asperity,
Ring of Ire,
Ring of Rancor - Eh.
Ring of Rancor I'm a fan of for enabling
Shotgun Enquea to do his job. Can't think up a real reason to exclude the others, especially since Nazgul already have to deal with hand clog
Black Marshal - Without enduring Nazgul I don't see the trouble
The set 10
Orcs,
Gorbag's Sword - Nothing too powerful, but I'd try them out in my
Orc decks
Stooping to the Kill - Should this be mutually exclusive with
Streaming to the Field? Nazgul have some interesting ways of grabbing initiative, I'd want there to be a reward somewhere along the way
[groups]
At His Command,
Straining Towards Us,
No Living Man - If you're gonna include
Let Us Not Tarry, may as well throw these in too.
I really want to bring in the set 13 Free Peoples mounts for Free Peoples cultures (mainly
Arod, Rohirrim Steed and
Bill the Pony, Dearly-loved, since those cultures don't have access to mounts already) for some Rohan decks, but with the token manipulation they don't really fit in. Thoughts?
On a related note, what about set 8's tri-cultural token conditions (
A Path Appointed,
Not the First Halfling, etc)?