Westfarthing Businessmen / You tell me what this Shadow side is.

[menace64]

Expanded isn't what I remember, and to make this feeling more pronounced the last time I had a physical version of this deck, Bloodlines had just come out and I hadn't yet experienced the mindless frustration of pretty much every OP card made after that. (Can we just ban everything from The Hunters on?)

So I've tried this deck a few times on gemp and for reasons hopefully more obvious to you than to me, I've lost and died a lot. Companions can't skirmish. Minions can't kill. At 43 cards per side I know this deck is fat and needs trimming, but when none of the cards are working I can't quite make heads or tails of what needs to go!

Ring-bearer: Frodo, Little Master
Ring: The One Ring, The Great Ring

Adventure deck:
Anduin River
Fangorn Glade
Gate of Mordor
Doorway to Doom
Isengard Ruined
Mere of Dead Faces
Caves of Aglarond
Green Dragon Inn
Valley of the Silverlode

Free Peoples Draw Deck:
1x Gimli, Lockbearer
1x Sam, Great Elf Warrior
4x Westfarthing Businessman
1x Bill the Pony, Dearly-loved
1x Golden Perch Ale
4x Hobbit Sword
4x Delving
4x Make a Run For It
4x Escape
4x Everyone Knows
2x Faith in Friendship
2x Fates Entwined
2x Good Work
2x Kept Safe
3x Scouring of the Shire
4x Sudden Fury

Add a bunch of tokens for the Businessmen. That's all I'm doing here, but I can't even make it that far in this format. Right now I'm starting Gimli and Sam because I can't figure anything more sensible, with Delving to make some use of the Dwarf before I sacrifice him. Sam is also useless here, because so far he dies before I can get anything set up. Back in the day I could get the Businessmen up to competitive strength - whatever I did then I've forgotten about now.

Shadow Draw Deck:
4x Gollum, Old Villain
4x Shelob, Her Ladyship
2x Gorgoroth Servitor
2x Orc Ambusher
4x Orc Assassin
4x Orc Scouting Band
2x The Mouth of Sauron, Lieutenant of Barad-dur
4x Troll of Cirith Gorgor
4x Larder
4x Web
4x Hides
1x Ithil Stone
4x Sudden Strike

This deck is about singling-out companions for Troll consumption. I feel like there's some potential here if I can get some of the card interactions optimized.

Please send help!

[Dictionary]

It's a Troll of Cirith Gorgor shadow! I love these

I would add at least 1 Grond. Ships of Great Draught is a possession and keeps those pesky Ithilien Blades off your back. Covetous Uruk is a baby Troll. Add some more cultures (Scaffolding, Ceremonial Armor) to boost Gate of Mordor.

Expanded's learning curve on Gemp does seem to have jumped off a cliff over the past 10 years, much more so than earlier formats. It took me forever to get used to it, but I hadn't even done WOTR before. You mention dislike of the Hunters, any idea why nobody plays WOTR standard? Was it played in the past? It ought to be the next logical step after Movie...

So the freeps needs some time to build up I'm guessing. Maybe swap Sam for a Merry and WoBaS? Not sure which Merry. Loyal Companion, perhaps? Or FtS?

Halfling Leaf can help early survival (Perhaps replacing Make a Run for it). Splashing a Fladrif could be nice. Prized Lagan makes Fierce minions easier.

Is it strength that's the problem with the Hobbits? Wounding? Or loss of stuff?