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Author Topic: Faramir Ent and Discard Dunland  (Read 5404 times)

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August 27, 2016, 12:46:13 PM
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fenix

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Faramir Ent and Discard Dunland
« on: August 27, 2016, 12:46:13 PM »
Ring-bearer: Frodo, Tired Traveller
Ring: The One Ring, Answer To All Riddles

Adventure deck:
The Riddermark
Fangorn Forest
Golden Hall
White Rocks
Hornburg Courtyard
Hornburg Armory
Hornburg Wall
Ring of Isengard
Palantir Chamber

Free Peoples Draw Deck: (32 cards)
2x Ent Horde
1x Forest Guardian (starting)
1x Host of Fangorn
2x Lindenroot, Elder Shepherd
2x Quickbeam, Bregalad
2x Skinbark, Fladrif
1x Aragorn, Heir of Elendil
1x Faramir, Ithilien Ranger (starting)
1x Sam, Samwise the Brave
1x Ranger's Sword, Blade of Aragorn
2x Hobbit Sword
2x Crack Into Rubble
4x Defend It and Hope
1x Pathfinder
3x Severed His Bonds
4x Enraged
1x Ruins of Osgiliath
1x Cliffs of Emyn Muil

Shadow Draw Deck: (32 cards)
3x Dunlending Elder
3x Dunlending Headman
3x Dunlending Rampager
3x Dunlending Ransacker
3x Dunlending Ravager
3x Dunlending Renegade
1x Hillman Horde
3x Hillman Tribe
4x Hides
2x War Club
3x Constantly Threatening
1x Ready to Fall

This is an ent deck I made for Towers block. With 122 games played, it has a win record of 85.4%. Bid 3 to go first, and start with faramir and the forest guardian. If you go first, mulligan to get Lindenroot, Quickbeam, or Skinbark. This will let you play Aragorn. Unless it would result in the death of forest guardian, double move to site 3. This will give you a pretty substantial lead that is hard for the opponent to come back from as most people do not double move against dunland when constantly threatening is on the table.

I cannot overstate how important it is to keep forest guardian alive until you play Ent Horde or Host of Fangorn. You need 2 ents to play these companions, so if you let forest guardian die, you will need to draw 2 of your 6 ents without play restrictions to play these two guys. Without the cycling that forest guardian affords you, this will be difficult and likely result in a loss.

Aside from really strong companions, the deck is basically all tech cards. Defend it and Hope prevents swarm, easterling corruption, Dunland (always use on Saruman) and uruk-hai. Faramir prevents easterlings and allows you to use pathfinder. Pathfinder is key since site 7 is the deadliest site in Towers Block. Crack into Rubble and going first are your best defences against Dunland. At some point in the game, you will need to decide whether you want to play Sam or an ent. That will largely depend on the way the game is going and what you need. Obviously play sam against Easterlings or swarm.

Ruins of Osgiliath is in the deck to prevent against swarm at site 7 and also to stop easterlings. Note that this card only needs to spot a ring-bound man to wound an opponents man. That man does not need to be skirmishing your ring-bound companion. That means that you can throw an exhausted Easterling Captain or Easterling Army on Frodo and then kill them off with this condition. It can also stop a Southron Commander if you have two defend it and hope in your hand or one defend it and hope and cliffs of emyn muil.

I chose discard dunland instead of the conventional dunland strategy for two reasons. First, this deck is designed to win by the free peoples. The FP strategy is to play really big companions and run. Discard dunland shines here because it forces the opponent to fight a swarm of cheap dunland minions or discard their shadow cards. If they fight my minions, it is going to be hard for them to double move. If they discard their shadow cards, it will be easy for me to double move. The cheap dunland minions also synergize with constantly threatening.

You want to cycle through your deck quickly, so feel free to discard your dunland minions with forest guardian and Lindenroot. Even if you don't have any minions in your shadow phase, your opponent will not double move when constantly threatening is on the table or potentially in your hand. In fact, a good shadow phase often consists of not playing any minions. Remember that you will have a discard deck full of 1 and 2 cost minions, so constantly threatening can swarm a small fellowship fairly easily if they double move with a lot of residual twilight.

Dump everything you don't need until you get pathfinder. Your ents are strong enough to withstand most shadows, so the opponent will likely try to save up some sort of bomb at site 7, or blow you up with archery.  Using pathfinder at site 7 neuters most shadow's win condition.  Archery decks, Berserker decks, and swarm decks depend on site 7 to win them the game. Dunland decks often depend on site 8, so that will be another judgement call. If they are playing RBR or Rohan, you probably still want to replace their site 7 to avoid the damage.

« Last Edit: August 27, 2016, 01:06:48 PM by fenix »

August 27, 2016, 10:53:18 PM
Reply #1

ramolnar

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Re: Faramir Ent and Discard Dunland
« Reply #1 on: August 27, 2016, 10:53:18 PM »
The most important statement about this deck is "Bid 3 to go first." Towers Block greatly rewards going first, as you've discovered.
That said, there are other nice choices here. You've inserted a lot of the good cards - Defend it and Hope; Ruins and Cliffs; Crack into Rubble. I would consider 1 Citadel of the Stars. Getting something to the table is often worth it. Also, Citadel kills a Hillman Tribe through Hides; Defend It does not. I think the weakest card in your FP is Aragorn's Sword, because I don't see a lot of Uruks and it runs into your own Golden Hall. You're also playing with fire against Easterlings, as my testing says 1 Sam is not enough when bidding 3. But there's no unassailable deck in Towers Block, which is why I enjoy it a lot. I will also say that Towers block swarm does not require Cavern Entrance - I make plenty of swarm kills elsewhere. None of the site 7s are good for you, so I guess the wall is safest if you're doubling through 6 as you prefer. But if you stop at 6, the Wall is not best.

On the shadow side, 4 Hillman Tribe and 2 Dunlending Ransacker seems obvious - 1 twilight is rarely the issue, but 9 is way better than 7. You need sites. There are other little tweaks I could suggest, but I'd have to play a bit to make informed choices.

I applaud you for finding a fairly new decktype in the block - I haven't seen it much.

October 02, 2016, 02:42:06 PM
Reply #2

fenix

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Re: Faramir Ent and Discard Dunland
« Reply #2 on: October 02, 2016, 02:42:06 PM »
Thanks for the advice