Realm of Dwarrowdelf TOWERS STANDARD

[sgtdraino]

This is a work-in-progress deck, still very much in the testing phases. It's an upgraded version of the Fellowship deck found here:

http://lotrtcgwiki.com/forums/index.php/topic,9323.0.html

This one is legal for Towers Standard, the 4th-most-popular format on Gemp:

Realm of Dwarrowdelf TS Mk 5

Starting cards:
Ring-bearer: Frodo, Reluctant Adventurer
Ring: The One Ring, Answer To All Riddles
1x Legolas, Greenleaf
1x Gimli, Son of Gloin

Adventure deck:
Eastemnet Gullies
Plains of Rohan Camp
Barrows of Edoras
White Rocks
Helm's Gate
Caves of Aglarond
Hornburg Wall
Nan Curunir
Palantir Chamber

Free Peoples Draw Deck:
4x Fror, Gimli's Kinsman
1x Gimli, Son of Gloin
4x Gloin, Friend to Thorin
1x Legolas, Greenleaf
4x Gandalf, The White Wizard
1x Smeagol, Poor Creature
4x Sam, Son of Hamfast
4x Thrarin, Dwarven Smith
4x Elrond, Herald to Gil-galad
3x Galadriel, Lady of the Golden Wood
3x Axe of Erebor
3x Dwarven Axe
4x Dwarven Bracers
3x Gimli's Helm
4x Hand Axe
1x Hobbit Sword
1x Sting, Baggins Heirloom
4x Delving
4x Foul Creation
4x The Council of Elrond
4x A Wizard Is Never Late
4x Deep in Thought
4x Roll of Thunder
4x Power According to His Stature
4x Beneath the Mountains
4x Ever My Heart Rises
4x Realm of Dwarrowdelf
4x Shoulder to Shoulder

Shadow Draw Deck:
4x Gollum, Old Villain
2x Grima, Chief Counselor
2x Grima, Wormtongue
4x Isengard Warrior
4x Orc Overseer
4x Cave Troll of Moria, Scourge of the Black Pit
4x Goblin Runner
3x Goblin Scavengers
3x Goblin Scrabbler
3x Goblin Warrior
4x Band of the Eye
4x Tower Assassin
4x Úlairë Cantëa, Lieutenant of Dol Guldur
4x Úlairë Enquëa, Lieutenant of Morgul
1x Úlairë Nelya, Lieutenant of Morgul
1x Úlairë Otsëa, Lieutenant of Morgul
3x Goblin Scimitar
4x The Palantir of Orthanc
3x We Must Have It
4x Saruman's Power
4x Hate
4x Relentless Charge
4x Their Power Is in Terror
4x Too Great and Terrible
4x Evil-smelling Fens
4x Goblin Armory
4x They Are Coming

Total Cards: 186!

Bid 2 to start, that is usually enough to get you the front seat. If you win the bid, start Gimli and Gloin, and pull Greenleaf. If you lose the bid, start Gimli and Greenleaf. As before, the name of the game is to cycle as quickly as you can until you get what you need, primarily Realm of Dwarrowdelf and Shoulder to Shoulder. No Book of Mazarbul in this format, so instead you'll be using Delving and Ever My Heart Rises to cycle, which works in conjunction with Axe of Erebor. Gandalf is there for condition and possession discard, and he's always 10 thanks to Shoulder to Shoulder. Uruks are still plenty strong in TS, so Fror and Foul Creation have a strong presence.

The Shadow is just a beefed up version of the Fellowship Shadow, adding some Grima and Gollum, dropping the trackers in favor of stronger Sauron guys (since there's no Tol Brandir this time around). This half could probably use more work, I don't quite have a handle on the meta of TS yet. Suggestions appreciated!

[Dictionary]

Cool to see a variant of this for Towers Standard, which is a really underrated format in my opinion.

- I think Plains of Rohan would be a better site 1 than Eastemnet Gullies, as it benefits your opponent less (Legolas being more popular), and you can just pull Gimli instead of Legolas. That being said, it would leave you with an exerted Legolas at site 2, instead of Gimli, so it depends on how strong you are early game.

- Have you considered Skilled Defender for Gimli? He's good at crippling or killing minions with otherwise troubling abilities (Orthanc Champion, Low-vitality minions, Orc Scouting Band and similar), and your Gimli will be quite strong with Realm of Dwarrowdelf and Axe of Erebor.

- Although there's no Tol Brandir for site 9, Orthanc Balcony + Black Traitor + Saruman's Staff is a nice combo.

- Perhaps you disagree, but there seems to be a lot of ally hate in there? I think allies are less of a threat in TS than Fellowship, though some decks can still be annoying.

- For the Nazgul, I'm not sure about the Nelya and Otsea? Nelya, LoM's ability has no effect in TS and Otsea can only make himself fierce. Wouldn't Nelya, RiT; Nertea, WH or Toldea, WS be better options?

- I usually only have one Chief Counselor and three Wormtongues, as I don't see >4 cultures very often. Orc Insurgent is a nice alternative.

- Some other splash minions I like are Dunlending Robber (Low cost, relatively good at winning skirmishes), Uruk Rear Guard (Tough and discourages double moves), Orthanc Champion (Assassinates) and Desert Lord (Wounding). Desert Lord + Orthanc Champion is a lethal combo, and Evil Smelling Fens could help facilitate it.

I hope some of my suggestions may be of use to you

[sgtdraino]

- I think Plains of Rohan would be a better site 1 than Eastemnet Gullies, as it benefits your opponent less (Legolas being more popular), and you can just pull Gimli instead of Legolas. That being said, it would leave you with an exerted Legolas at site 2, instead of Gimli, so it depends on how strong you are early game.

I think that's a fantastic suggestion!

- Have you considered Skilled Defender for Gimli? He's good at crippling or killing minions with otherwise troubling abilities (Orthanc Champion, Low-vitality minions, Orc Scouting Band and similar), and your Gimli will be quite strong with Realm of Dwarrowdelf and Axe of Erebor.

That's another great point, and would allow me to basically have the equivalent of Gimli's Battle Axe in conjunction with Axe of Erebor.

- Although there's no Tol Brandir for site 9, Orthanc Balcony + Black Traitor + Saruman's Staff is a nice combo.

Maaaaybe. The thing is, with Palantir Chamber, I can potentially get more than one minion. Hmm, maybe I should increase the Shadow's burdening potential!

- Perhaps you disagree, but there seems to be a lot of ally hate in there? I think allies are less of a threat in TS than Fellowship, though some decks can still be annoying.

I'm sure you're more familiar with the TS Meta than I am, I'm still getting a feel for it. I feel like I do see a fair few Rohan allies, though. Still, worth thinking about.

- For the Nazgul, I'm not sure about the Nelya and Otsea? Nelya, LoM's ability has no effect in TS and Otsea can only make himself fierce.

I think you must be wrong about LoM, I'm pretty sure it should work in TS. Otsea is just a cheap Nazgul who doesn't completely suck, mostly used for spotting purposes with the various events.

Wouldn't Nelya, RiT; Nertea, WH or Toldea, WS be better options?

Maybe, maybe not. Like I said, I'm moreso after cheap ones for spotting purposes than expensive powerhouses. Nelya, RiT is all well and good IF he's strong enough to beat everyone. If he's not, then he just fierces himself to death against a more powerful guy, with nothing much to show for it. Toldea is a bit on the expensive side. Nertea's not bad though, that might be worth thinking about. Not crazy about having to spot another Nazgul to make his ability work, though; not terribly likely to have more than one Nazgul in hand at a time.

- I usually only have one Chief Counselor and three Wormtongues, as I don't see >4 cultures very often. Orc Insurgent is a nice alternative.

Insurgent's not a bad idea. The idea with Grima is to maximize your chances of getting one of each into discard, and then pulling the magic bullet with a Fens.

- Some other splash minions I like are Dunlending Robber (Low cost, relatively good at winning skirmishes), Uruk Rear Guard (Tough and discourages double moves), Orthanc Champion (Assassinates) and Desert Lord (Wounding). Desert Lord + Orthanc Champion is a lethal combo, and Evil Smelling Fens could help facilitate it.

Good point about Desert Lord and Orthanc Champion, that could be pretty cool. Expensive, but cool!

I hope some of my suggestions may be of use to you

Yes, thanks!

[Inspire]

Interesting deck idea.

I'd prefer Moria Scout over Goblin Warrior (not sure conditions see substantial use in TS, whereas Scout's text is going to trigger quite frequently). I don't see any reason not to use 4x Scavengers and Scimitars; that engine is consistently terrific.  

As far as cost minions go, I personally prefer Grishnakh, Orc Patrol and Orc Insurgent (majority of TS fellowships use at least 3 cultures) over either of the two you currently have. Grishnakh could help in adding burdens, which you mentioned.

I'd agree with Dictionary that the ally hate may be a little much compared to their impact in this format. Elrond HttG is widely used, but overall allies aren't the concern that they are in Fellowship.

Nelya RiT is fantastic. He can be devastating at sites 2 and 3.

Opinions may vary on this one, but, unlike Relentless Charge, I've never been able to find much use for Too Great and Terrible in TS. Gandalf simply isn't played enough in TS (and often isn't a critical component to a deck's success when he is). While it can be played at no cost if that needed, that becomes a little trickier against DH (and is always reliant on having one of only 10 minions in play just to be able to get rid of it).

On the other hand, I really like Fell Beast, given the cost and ability to serve as a secondary cycling option (plus it helps with the concern about winning skirmishes you mentioned above). It's also not affected by DH. I don't play without it.

I could see cutting the (aside from Enquea) altogether. Relentless Charge has its uses, but I'm not sure how effective the stuff will be compared to how much space you have dedicated to it. That's probably a question to be answered by playtesting.  

As Dictionary mentioned, Desert Lord seems like a perfect fit for this deck.

They Stole It can be difficult to play effectively in TS. I wonder if this deck might be able to pull it off?

Overall, the Shadow feels a little unfocused (which I suppose is expected to an extent with 93 cards). The clearest path to success might be something based around Desert Lord/Hate/Orthanc Champion to pick off key companions with Gollum/ESF setting things up. The Orcs and Cave Troll could be serviceable in a supporting role as cycling/twilight generation/stopping power.

I don't have many comments for the fellowship, but if you need another splash companion I've always liked Lindenroot in that role. 10 strength, free cycling, and the ability to stomp out an Ugluk or Lurtz if needed. What's not to like?

[sgtdraino]

Now at Mk 6:

Realm of Dwarrowdelf TS Mk 6

Starting cards:
Ring-bearer: Frodo, Reluctant Adventurer
Ring: The One Ring, Answer To All Riddles
1x Gimli, Skilled Defender
1x Legolas, Greenleaf

Adventure deck:
Plains of Rohan
Plains of Rohan Camp
Barrows of Edoras
White Rocks
Helm's Gate
Caves of Aglarond
Hornburg Wall
Nan Curunir
Palantir Chamber

Free Peoples Draw Deck:
4x Fror, Gimli's Kinsman
4x Gloin, Friend to Thorin
4x Gandalf, The White Wizard
1x Smeagol, Poor Creature
4x Sam, Son of Hamfast
4x Thrarin, Dwarven Smith
4x Elrond, Herald to Gil-galad
3x Galadriel, Lady of the Golden Wood
3x Axe of Erebor
3x Dwarven Axe
4x Dwarven Bracers
3x Gimli's Helm
4x Hand Axe
1x Hobbit Sword
1x Sting, Baggins Heirloom
4x Delving
4x Foul Creation
4x The Council of Elrond
4x A Wizard Is Never Late
4x Deep in Thought
4x Roll of Thunder
4x Power According to His Stature
4x Beneath the Mountains
4x Ever My Heart Rises
4x Realm of Dwarrowdelf
4x Shoulder to Shoulder

Shadow Draw Deck:
4x Gollum, Old Villain
2x Grima, Chief Counselor
2x Grima, Wormtongue
4x Isengard Warrior
4x Orc Overseer
4x Cave Troll of Moria, Scourge of the Black Pit
4x Goblin Runner
3x Goblin Scavengers
3x Goblin Scrabbler
3x Goblin Warrior
4x Desert Lord
1x Desert Stalker
4x Easterling Guard
4x Easterling Lieutenant
4x Southron Invaders
3x Band of the Eye
2x Orc Insurgent
4x Tower Assassin
4x Úlairë Enquëa, Lieutenant of Morgul
3x Goblin Scimitar
4x The Palantir of Orthanc
3x We Must Have It
4x Saruman's Power
4x Hate
4x Evil-smelling Fens
4x Goblin Armory
4x They Are Coming

A few minor changes, mostly based on you guys's suggestions. Switched the site 1, if you go first, start Greenleaf and Gloin, and pull Gimli. Switched Son of Gloin for Skilled Defender, really liking that. Took out all the Nazgul stuff except for Shotgun as suggested. Added Desert Lord. Added 4x Easterling Guard and 4x Easterling Lieutenant for some easy burdening in preparation for site 9, and possibly pulling a couple of extra cheap minions. Added a couple Orc Insurgent. Feels like it's coming along, but testing is slow since TS games don't happen that often. I really need a TS league to try this deck out on!

[sgtdraino]

This deck has finally become viable in Towers Standard, thanks to some pretty major changes to adapt to the meta of that format. We are now on Mk 10!

Starting cards:
Ring-bearer: Frodo, Old Bilbo's Heir
Ring: The One Ring, Answer To All Riddles
1x Gimli, Skilled Defender
1x Legolas, Greenleaf

Adventure deck:
Plains of Rohan
Plains of Rohan Camp
Barrows of Edoras
White Rocks
Helm's Gate
Caves of Aglarond
Hornburg Wall
Nan Curunir
Palantir Chamber

Free Peoples Draw Deck:
4x Farin, Dwarven Emissary
4x Fror, Gimli's Kinsman
4x Gloin, Friend to Thorin
1x Smeagol, Poor Creature
4x Sam, Son of Hamfast
3x Thrarin, Dwarven Smith
4x Elrond, Herald to Gil-galad
3x Galadriel, Lady of the Golden Wood
4x Bilbo, Well-spoken Gentlehobbit
2x Axe of Erebor
2x Dwarven Axe
4x Dwarven Bracers
2x Gimli's Helm
4x Hand Axe
4x Elven Sword
1x Hobbit Sword
2x Sting, Baggins Heirloom
4x Thror's Map
4x Delving
4x Foul Creation
4x The Council of Elrond
3x Power According to His Stature
4x Beneath the Mountains
4x Ever My Heart Rises
3x Make Light of Burdens
4x Realm of Dwarrowdelf
2x Song of Durin
4x Shoulder to Shoulder
2x The Tale of Gil-galad
1x The White Arrows of Lorien
3x There and Back Again

Shadow Draw Deck:
4x Gollum, Old Villain
2x Grima, Chief Counselor
2x Grima, Wormtongue
3x Isengard Warrior
3x Orc Overseer
2x Uruk Captain
2x Uruk Raider
4x Cave Troll of Moria, Scourge of the Black Pit
3x Goblin Bowman
4x Goblin Runner
4x Goblin Scavengers
3x Goblin Scrabbler
3x Goblin Warrior
4x Desert Lord
3x Band of the Eye
2x Orc Insurgent
4x Tower Assassin
4x Úlairë Attëa, Keeper of Dol Guldur
4x Úlairë Enquëa, Lieutenant of Morgul
4x Goblin Scimitar
4x The Palantir of Orthanc
4x We Must Have It
4x Saruman's Power
4x Bitter Hatred
4x Hate
4x Relentless Charge
4x Evil-smelling Fens
4x Goblin Armory
4x They Are Coming

200 cards total!

-Added 4x Farin, Dwarven Emissary. Another dwarf companion is helpful, particularly since he is replacing...
-Gandalf is OUT. All Gandalf culture is out, I concluded in TS doing 4 cultures is simply too dangerous. It was either take out Gandalf, or take out Elves. For the Expanded version of this deck, Elves got the axe. But for TS, It's Gandalf.
-Added 4x Bilbo, Well-spoken Gentlehobbit. He's basically replacing Gandalf for support area condition removal. This turns out to work pretty well, as this deck uses a LOT of tales.
-Added 4x Elven Sword. This is so I can ditch Smeagol early on to get down to 3 cultures, but still be able to cycle cards out of my hand.
-Added 4x Thror's Map, to counter Site 5 Cavern Entrance swarm.
-Dumped all Gandalf events (obviously).
-Added 4x Make Light of Burdens, replacing Gandalf for discarding conditions from characters.
-Added 2x Song of Durin, for more tales Bilbo can use, and Moria counter.
-Added 2x The Tale of Gil-galad, another tale for Bilbo, and a bonus for Legolas.
-Added 1x The White Arrows of Lorien, another tale, and can be brutal with Shoulder to Shoulder. Very intimidating.
-Added 3x There and Back Again, again a swarm Cavern Entrance counter, and another tale.

On the Shadow side...
-Added 2x Uruk Captain and 2x Uruk Raider, more isengard spotting, more anti-ally.
-Added 3x Goblin Bowman and 4x Bitter Hatred. Archery and DH are popular in TS, and this helps counter.
-Removed all the Raider stuff except for 4x Desert Lord. Just wasn't working.
-Nazgul are back, in the form of 4x Úlairë Attëa, Keeper of Dol Guldur, 4x Úlairë Enquëa, Lieutenant of Morgul, and 4x Relentless Charge. Again, archery and DH are popular in TS, and these are good counters.

Both sides seem to really be coming together. Bilbo works great with Ever My Heart Rises, ditching it to ditch a Shadow condition, allowing me to play another. He also works well for using Thror's Map.

[Enabran]

uff, this is a huge deck. All my decks have 70 cards and I never run out of cards

[sgtdraino]

It's huge because it mills with Realm of Dwarrowdelf. Believe it or not, it really does work!

[Nowhereman]

Do you keep a detailed track of what Realm of D. discards?

[Enabran]

so, you need one of your 4 Realm cards out of 200 cards?
The chances to get one are not high...

[sgtdraino]

Do you keep a detailed track of what Realm of D. discards?

Only when I'm looking to mill something specific, which doesn't happen as much with TS. Normally if I suddenly need something from discard, I'll just look at my discard to see if it's in there, and if it isn't, mill until it is!

so, you need one of your 4 Realm cards out of 200 cards?
The chances to get one are not high...

I get one more often than I don't. Not very often right away, of course, but at some point during the game. The deck tends to be strong enough that it does pretty well without it. Obviously much better with it, of course.

[sgtdraino]

Testing out Mk 11 of this deck, with some major changes to the FP side:

Starting cards:
Ring-bearer: Frodo, Old Bilbo's Heir
Ring: The One Ring, Answer To All Riddles
1x Legolas, Greenleaf
1x Gimli, Skilled Defender
1x Smeagol, Poor Creature

Adventure deck:
Plains of Rohan
Plains of Rohan Camp
Barrows of Edoras
White Rocks
Helm's Gate
Caves of Aglarond
Hornburg Wall
Nan Curunir
Palantir Chamber

Free Peoples Draw Deck:
2x Farin, Dwarven Emissary
3x Fror, Gimli's Kinsman
3x Gloin, Friend to Thorin
4x Gandalf, Greyhame
4x Sam, Son of Hamfast
3x Thrarin, Dwarven Smith
3x Elrond, Herald to Gil-galad
2x Galadriel, Lady of the Golden Wood
1x Albert Dreary, Entertainer From Bree
4x Barliman Butterbur, Prancing Pony Proprietor
1x Hugin, Emissary from Laketown
1x Treebeard, Oldest Living Thing
1x Bounder
2x Axe of Erebor
2x Dwarven Axe
2x Dwarven Bracers
2x Gimli's Helm
4x Hand Axe
4x Elven Sword
2x Sting, Baggins Heirloom
4x Delving
4x Foul Creation
4x A Wizard Is Never Late
4x Deep in Thought
2x Durin's Secret
4x Fury of the White Raider
4x Roll of Thunder
2x Speak "Friend" and Enter
3x Power According to His Stature
4x Beneath the Mountains
4x Ever My Heart Rises
4x Realm of Dwarrowdelf
4x Shoulder to Shoulder

Shadow Draw Deck:
4x Gollum, Old Villain
2x Grima, Chief Counselor
2x Grima, Wormtongue
3x Isengard Warrior
3x Orc Overseer
2x Uruk Captain
2x Uruk Raider
4x Cave Troll of Moria, Scourge of the Black Pit
3x Goblin Bowman
4x Goblin Runner
4x Goblin Scavengers
3x Goblin Scrabbler
3x Goblin Warrior
4x Desert Lord
3x Band of the Eye
2x Orc Insurgent
4x Tower Assassin
4x Úlairë Attëa, Keeper of Dol Guldur
4x Úlairë Enquëa, Lieutenant of Morgul
4x Goblin Scimitar
4x The Palantir of Orthanc
4x We Must Have It
4x Saruman's Power
4x Bitter Hatred
4x Hate
4x Relentless Charge
4x Evil-smelling Fens
4x Goblin Armory
4x They Are Coming

Basically, got my butt repeatedly handed to me by warg-riders, and with the Bilbo set-up, there's no way to get rid of Shadow possessions. So Gandalf is back in! I figure I will counter Grima with events. Since there is no Terrible and Evil or Slaked Thirsts in TS, I'm trying out Fury of the White Rider. This got me looking into Gandalf, Grayhame, and realizing that he pulls any character from discard, not just companions! This has some interesting possibilities when a main strategy of the deck is to mill cards into discard. So, the new strategy is built around that:

-Copies of companions and allies have been reduced, and a few extra allies added, with the reasoning that Gandalf can play them from discard as needed.
-Bilbo and most of the tales are out, replaced by Gandalf, Grayhame and a bunch of events.

Shadow is mostly the same.

[Shelobplayer]

nvm that. delete pls if a mod sees it