The Last Homely House
Middle-Earth => Lothlórien => Fellowship => Topic started by: BigRedMF on June 08, 2014, 05:11:26 PM
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I am planning to teach a few friends how to play LOTR TCG and wanted some advice on decks. I want to stick to Fellowship block to keep it simple, and I figured I'd make 4 decks to sort of show off the various cultures' abilities.
For shadow sides I obviously would use each shadow culture, but Freeps can't quite do that the same way. There are many flavors of Freeps and it's hard to just pick 4. I don't think I want to make a choke deck or a discard deck, since both seemingly make the game less fun for people trying to learn. Anyway, this is the setup I was thinking about and I'd really appreciate any suggestions.
Deck 1: Dwarves paired with Moria swarm (starting Gimli & Gloin, showcasing beefy Dwarves and the awesome swarm of Moria)
Deck 2: Hobbit hospital paired with Black Breath/Blade Tip Nazgul (showcasing stealthy Hobbits w/their allies and the terror that is fierce Nazgul with their nasty conditions)
Deck 3: Gandalf trust paired with Uruk-hai (showcasing Gandalf support for the fellowship and beastly Uruk-hai & Saurman)
Deck 4: Gondor/Elf archery paired with Sauron grind (showcasing the power of FP archery and nasty Sauron conditions)
Have I covered the more popular fellowships? Are there any that might fit better? Are my FP/Shadow pairings appropriate? I know the Gandalf deck seems like it should crush the rest (condition removal, skirmish abilities, and a very reliable Shadow side). I guess I'm not really in need of making them all balanced though, just want them to show off some of the strategies the game has to offer.
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Looks good to me. I've taught several people how to play, and honestly they're not going to realize which decks are the best for a while, so showcasing like this (even if one of your decks is seemingly better than the others) won't be a problem, at least for a while.
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I like it. The only advice I'd give (and I'm not saying you need it) is if they haven't played another card game, you may have to dumb things WAY down. The people I taught that play MTG were able to play semi quickly, but the poor sap I tried to teach who hadn't -- I made him a deck where every single card can be played immediately, against all decks and situations, but no matter how many times I tried, I couldn't get him there.
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The starter decks are good for those sorts of people; slightly simplified rules since you don't usually have to worry about archery, maneuver, or regroup shenanigans, smaller decks, and extremely straightforward playstyles.
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The starter decks are good for those sorts of people; slightly simplified rules since you don't usually have to worry about archery, maneuver, or regroup shenanigans, smaller decks, and extremely straightforward playstyles.
Haha. No joke, this was the decklist:
Ring-bearer: Frodo, Old Bilbo's Heir
Ring: The One Ring, Isildur's Bane
Adventure deck:
Bag End
Breeland Forest
Frodo's Bedroom
Mithril Mine
The Bridge of Khazad-dum
Dimrill Dale
Anduin Wilderland
Shores of Nen Hithoel
Summit of Amon Hen
Free Peoples Draw Deck:
1x Gimli, Son of Gloin (starting)
3x Aragorn, Heir to the White City
3x Boromir, Son of Denethor
1x Sam, Son of Hamfast (starting)
2x Bounder
1x Rosie Cotton, Hobbiton Lass
1x The Gaffer, Sam's Father
1x Dwarven Bracers
1x Gimli's Battle Axe
1x Hand Axe
4x Flaming Brand
2x Hobbit Sword
4x Endurance of Dwarves
4x A Promise
1x O Elbereth! Gilthoniel!
Shadow Draw Deck:
4x Goblin Runner
3x Goblin Scavengers
4x Goblin Sneak
4x Goblin Wallcrawler
4x Moria Scout
1x The Balrog, Flame of Udun
4x Goblin Scimitar
4x Goblin Armory
2x They Are Coming
I feel like this makes the starter decks look like they're expert level, but maybe not. He was the only one I used Gemp to teach, since he lives in a different state, and that's probably part of the problem. He'd click on everything lit up no matter how many times I told him not to, haha. If I didn't know better, I'd think he was trolling me.
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That deck is pretty simple, heh.
But yeah, I've only ever taught someone in an electronic setting once, and it sucked. I always teach IRL first; having the physical cards there and no punishing automatic system helps a lot (being able for the student to pass you a card and say "what does this do" is also a bonus). Gemp's interface being the worst ever doesn't help in the slightest.
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The decks I always used to teach with were identical decks and with open hands on the table. And since Mount Doom Sam starters were $1.99 at local K-Marts and I had literally 15 of them, it was easiest that way. We played a game, went over the basics, and then I told him to look through my collection and just ask questions about cards that he came across. Still needs to work on assignment and deck building, but it went smoothly that way. At least starting with King block for us (since we all play movie) had all the rules encompassed.
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I always played a game with the Fellowship starters, and then another with the King starters, myself. I always forget that the Gandalf starter is more newbie-friendly than the Aragorn starter, though, and as soon as I let them choose (and everyone always springs for Aragorn), I proceed to wreck them without trying. Goblin Scimitar OP.
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Thanks for the feedback. My friends are very familiar with CCGs (have played Magic, SWCCG for a number of years) so they are very familiar with card types and how they function. I didn't want to use Towers or King block simply to cut down on the number of mechanics to keep track of (site control, initiative, threats, ring-bound, etc).