Fill in the Blank Season 1: Lairs #20

[menace64]

Welcome to Fill in the Blank Season 1: Lairs!

Each week I'll post the collector's information for one of the cards in the set's card-list.

Contestants are free to create whatever card they see fit for that slot in the card-list, keeping in mind the surrounding cards. As the contest progresses, the card-list will become more and more defined, guiding the contestants' choices.

The theme of our set is Lairs! You're free to interpret this however you want.

Not every card has to fit the theme, of course, but it's something to keep in mind when coming up with entries.

Each week a poll will go up for the previous week's entries. Simply vote for one you like the most. In the event of a tie, I'll let a random result generator make the decision - but each of the tied cards will appear in the final set card list.


On to Stuff!


Before we announce last week's winner...
I'm back home for the next few days but may be going out into the field again soon. If all of us regulars get our cards in by Saturday, I'll post the next round on Sunday so that we can get back onto our regular schedule.


Last week's winner...

The Dwarven culture has taken the card slot from Elves and Gandalf! Congrats to azogsbane on his second win! He and I have been talking the last few days concerning his victorious card, Mithril Gates, since the voted-on game text breaks the 7-Line Limit. We back-and-forthed some possible alternatives before landing on this slightly-different-from-what-was-voted-on version: Mithril Gates, Version Deux!

Since this situation is unprecedented in this contest, if you have any opinions on this outcome and/or have some cents to toss in, please feel free to do so. This was a learning experience for me as well, and I've been taking notes for Contest #2.


Last week's entries to pick from for Card #15...

•Alliance
Condition • Support Area
If a burden is added by a minion's game text, you may spot a Southron to add .
If a mounted minion wins a skirmish, you may spot an Easterling to add a burden.
"The Men of Rhun and of Harad, Easterling and Southron, saw the ruin of their war..."

•Rampaging Mûmakil
Minion • Mûmakil
Strength: 14
Vitality: 4
Site: 4
Fierce. To play, spot a Southron.
Maneuver: Make this minion strength -2 until the regroup phase to make it damage +1 until the regroup phase.
Skirmish: Discard a card at random from hand to make this minion strength +1. If it is a Free Peoples card, discard this minion.
"On he came, straight towards the watchers, and then swerved aside in the nick of time, passing only a few yards away, rocking the ground beneath their feet…"

•Throne of the Pirate King
Artifact
Plays on your support area possession that has a token on it.
Shadow: Stack a Corsair here. (Limit 1)
Skirmish: Remove to make a Corsair strength +X, where X is the printed vitality of a minion stacked here.
Regroup: Play a Corsair stacked here.

Designer's notes: Get your boat out, stack your Corsair on the Throne, then enjoy the luxury of a constantly-available strength pump.

•Zirakzigil
Condition • Support Area
Each mountain site on the adventure path is underground.
Response: If The Balrog is killed, spot a token or discard this condition to return a companion (except the Ring-bearer) to the Free Peoples player's hand.
"From the lowest dungeon to the highest peak it climbed...I threw down my enemy...Then darkness took me."

Designer's notes: This card rightly plays off of Wrested Kingdom since Zirakzigil (another name for Durin's Tower) was a part of the lost Dwarven realm. This will make the Free Peoples player think twice before sic-ing Lady of Ithilien on the Balrog. They will have to decide whether just taking the skirmish damage is a better option. It might also make Flame of Udun more playable in later formats.

Primitive Cave Paintings
Event • Shadow or Skirmish
Play a mount from your discard pile on a minion with ambush.
If you control an underground site, you may play this event from your discard pile.
"'Strange are the ways of Men... Caves, they say! Caves!'"

Designer's notes: The set is called Lairs. I envision paintings of mumaks, horses, fell beasts on cave walls (good luck finding or making such image menace64 ).  By making it "minions with ambush", it works with some of the old Southrons, some of the Men and the new Úlairë Attëa, Khamûl from this set. Lots of possibilities. I made it an event because I felt that there are too few of them so far in the set. The second effect is similar to Gollum, Plotting Deceiver or Let Her Deal With Them. I felt that Southron site control is too weak and needed such a boost.

Fingers of the Black Hand
Condition • Support Area
For each unloaded game text keyword over 1 you can spot on or minions, each or minion is strength +1.
Shadow: Play a minion with a race or keyword you cannot spot to add .
"...Easterlings with axes, and Variags of Khand, Southrons in scarlet, and out of Far Harad black men..."

Designer's notes: The game never gave you anything for mixing 2+ subcultures of Men or trackers/besiegers... until now. If you have a Southron, a Corsair and a Besieger on the board, each of them will be str+2 per copy of this condition: a good compensation for the almost absolute absence of game text and support card synergies. The special ability is meant to encourage the use of multiple keywords (unloaded or not) or races in the same deck. Originally was going to help , and only, but what the heck, Minas Tirith's fall was Sauron big bet so all his servants (like Misty Mountains Orcs, and his servants' servants like Saruman's Dunlendings and Orcs) should be deployed, sparing not a single one.

This week's contest is...

Card #19!

What feels like an open field of four cultures is screaming only one.

• A card (after Southern Stranger)
• A card
• A card
• A card (before Bag End Hearth)

Closing date: September 12th/16th.


Lairs Card List 
Number - Name - (Culture • Type) - Contestant - Week it won
1. Burned Village ( • Condition) - Dictionary - 12
2. •Stronghold of the Adorn River ( • Possession) - Durin's Heir - 3
3. •Balin, Lord of Moria ( • Ally) - menace64 - 8
4. •Mithril Gates ( • Condition) - azogsbane - 18
5. Sméagol Lied ( • Event) - SGollum - 4
6. Worse Than Orcs ( • Event) - menace64 - 9
7. Commandeered Vessel ( • Possession) - azogsbane - 16
8. Sheltered Hollow ( • Condition) - TelTura - 6
9. Cold and Perilous ( • Condition) - Durin's Heir - 17
10.
11. Smoke From Isengard ( • Condition) - menace64 - 13
12.
13.
14. •Wrested Kingdom ( • Condition) - menace64 - 1
15. SUBJECT OF THIS WEEK'S VOTE
16. •Úlairë Attëa, Khamûl ( • Minion) - SGollum - 7
17. Angmar Haunts Us Still ( • Condition) - TelTura - 15
18. Southern Stranger ( • Minion) - Inspire - 10
19. IN CREATION THIS WEEK
20. •Bag End Hearth ( • Condition) - Inspire - 2
21. •Merry, Conspirator ( • Companion) - Inspire - 5
22. •Pippin, Out of the Bog and Briar ( • Companion) - Inspire - 14
23. The Black Gate (Site) - SGollum - 11
24.
25.


The Misadventure Deck (cards that lost due to coin-flip but will appear in the final cardlist! Maybe?)
26. •Durin's Axe, Omen of Fortune ( • Artifact) - Durin's Heir - 4
27. From Lowest Dungeon to Highest Peak ( • Event) - menace64 - 4
28. Oath of Cirion ( • Condition) - cw0rk - 16
29. Key of Orthanc ( • Artifact) - cw0rk - 17
30. Orkish Whip ( • Possession) - Durin's Heir - 7[/list]

[Durin's Heir]

Here's a totally new 1-card subculture:

•Helm, Hammerhand
Companion • Man
Strength 8  Vitality 4  Resistance 7
Valiant. Damage +1. Defender +1.
Discard Théoden, Éomer and Éowyn. 
While bearing no weapon or mount, Helm is strength +2 and each time he exerts, you may spot 3 cards to wound a minion.
"He would go out by himself, clad in white, and stalk like a snow-troll... and slay many men with his hands."

This guy killed Freca with a single punch, and when Hornburg was besieged by the Dunlendings during the Long Winter, out of grief and rage he raided their camps and killed them with his bare hands! So he should be the opposite of the usual walking armories. Cards like HIDAN, For Death and Glory and Mustering for Battle will allow him to exert to wound at will, while companions like Rider of Rohan, Rohirrim Guard and Riders of the Mark can help him and soften his targets.

Looks almost too mighty, but compare him to Eomer Northman for stats (easily base str 10 dmg+1) or to Eowyn LoI for wounding (who delivers wounds in big chunks). The real cost of Helm's power is in denying Théoden and his sister-children, and surrounding himself with generic Rohirrim.

[Durin's Heir]

About Mithril Gates, it's text can be compacted a bit to free 1 line:
- "Each minion is strength -1" can be shortened to "Minions are strength -1" (and be placed in continuity after "Fortification."), and
- "knight" can be replaced with "Man" in the 2 passive skills (but not in the Regroup special one) if more room is necessary.

That should allow you to free 1 line for a short lore text; I suggest these:
- "'But men are better than gates...'"     (#$&*@! Bill Gates, btw!)
- "...to replace those broken by the Witch-king."

[menace64]

Dark Communion
Event • Response
Search.
If a Shadow player plays a unique minion, reveal Sauron from your hand to play a minion; its twilight cost is -3.
"...he learned great sorcery, and knew much of the mind of Sauron..."

This event works in a 1-on-1 and in multiplayer, effectively functioning as a floating -3 modifier for any minion in your hand, pending you also have Sauron. Some decks build around Sauron as cheaply as possible - and of course Dark Communion works on Sauron himself - but the idea here is to increase his splashability. Merely holding onto Sauron lets you bring any unique minion into play on the cheap.

Mechanically I wanted this card to feel like Morgul Gates, "but better". In a multiplayer game, Dark Communion allows its owner to play a unique minion during another Shadow player's shadow phase. This can be seen as helping or as thievery, depending entirely upon the circumstances.

[menace64]

About Mithril Gates, it's text can be compacted a bit to free 1 line:
- "Each minion is strength -1" can be shortened to "Minions are strength -1" (and be placed in continuity after "Fortification."), and
- "knight" can be replaced with "Man" in the 2 passive skills (but not in the Regroup special one) if more room is necessary.

The card image posted is the rewritten version. Applying your suggestions to the voted-on version yields 9 lines of text: https://i.imgur.com/BRyctXy.png

[Cw0rk]

Since this situation is unprecedented in this contest, if you have any opinions on this outcome and/or have some cents to toss in, please feel free to do so.

I think the card should be disqualified and the winner should be the one with the second most votes. Just kidding. Great card! Very creative! On amore serious note, how many characters can you fit in 7 lines? It would be easier to just tell people to not go over that amount of characters.

[Durin's Heir]

The card image posted is the rewritten version. Applying your suggestions to the voted-on version yields 9 lines of text: https://i.imgur.com/BRyctXy.png

Your image above has 2 small errors: 1) lacks an "s" in "Minions", and 2) you applied the exchange of knight to Man to the Regroup skill (should be only to the passive skills).

To be honest, I prefer the new version to the original, it's much clearer and more straightforward with 2 effects than with 3. If was up to me, I'd keep it with 2 effects and use the extra line to either expand on one effect or add a lore text.

Dark Communion
Event • Response
Search.
If a Shadow player plays a unique minion, reveal Sauron from your hand to play a unique minion; its twilight cost is -2.
"...he learned great sorcery, and knew much of the mind of Sauron..."

How do you want this to work? Use-once-and-destroy like Morgul Gates, or something repeatable as far as you hold it in hand like the Witch-king Black Lord? Because the way it's worded, it's used as a Response event and thus must be spent and go to discard pile afterwards; then it'd be just a harder-to-play version of Morgul Gates (needing not only the event and the minion in hand for the effect, but also Sauron and another unique minion for the cost).

If you want a Black Lord approach, word it like Black Lord: "Each time a unique minion is played, you may reveal Sauron and this card from hand to play a unique minion at twilight cost -2." Then it might be any kind of Shadow card, not necessarily an event, and have another skill also. Like this, for instance:

Dark Communion
Event • Skirmish
Search. Spot X unique minions to make a minion strength +X.
Each time a unique minion is played, you may reveal Sauron and this card from hand to play a unique minion and add .
"...he learned great sorcery, and knew much of the mind of Sauron..."

Had to replace "play a unique minion at twilight cost -2" with "play a unique minion and add " to keep the game text under 6 lines and preserve the lore text (though it's not exactly the same effect).

You can also turn it into a support area Condition with an "each time" triggered action: "Each time a unique minion is played, you may reveal Sauron from hand to play a unique minion at twilight cost -2."

[Cw0rk]

Move to the Caves!
Event • Maneuver
Spot a villager and stack all other villagers on him or her. That villager gains their strength and vitality.
If at an underground site, that villager may participate in archery fires and skimishes.
"'Caves! Holes to fly to in time of war, to store fodder in!'"

Move to the Caves!
Event • Fellowship
Stack any number of villagers on a ally. Until the end of the game, that ally gains their strength and vitality.
"'Caves! Holes to fly to in time of war, to store fodder in!'"

Designer's notes: More Lairs related stuff. All villagers are piled up together in the caves behind Helm's Deep. How about a Aldor Archery deck, a Guma Hospital deck or a Hlafwine Beatdown deck? One Whom Men Would Follow? Why not? I chose to make a Free Peoples card and an event because I feel that the set has too few of them.

[Durin's Heir]

Move to the Caves!
Event • Maneuver
Spot a villager and stack all other villagers on him or her. That villager gains their strength and vitality.
If at an underground site, that villager may participate in archery fires and skimishes.
"'Caves! Holes to fly to in time of war, to store fodder in!'"

Since the effect of events / triggered actions / special abilities last only during the phase they are used (unless otherwise stated), you need to add "until the regroup phase / end of the turn" to both lines. Or turn it into a condition borne by the villager (which might very well be played during the maneuver phase, like Great Heart in skirmish).

Also, I'd specify " villager" in order to allow villagers of other cultures (Bree, Shire, Gondor) to be developed in this/subsequent Sets with a clearer separation (the lack of which created the need of a whole separate "engine" keyword to differentiate them from "machines", whose associated cards lamentably never specified the Isengard culture when interacting with "machines").

Details aside, great card sir!

[Cw0rk]

Move to the Caves!
Event • Maneuver
Spot a villager and stack all other villagers on him or her. That villager gains their strength and vitality.
If at an underground site, that villager may participate in archery fires and skimishes.
"'Caves! Holes to fly to in time of war, to store fodder in!'"

Since the effect of events / triggered actions / special abilities last only during the phase they are used (unless otherwise stated), you need to add "until the regroup phase / end of the turn" to both lines. Or turn it into a condition borne by the villager (which might very well be played during the maneuver phase, like Great Heart in skirmish).

Also, I'd specify " villager" in order to allow villagers of other cultures (Bree, Shire, Gondor) to be developed in this/subsequent Sets with a clearer separation (the lack of which created the need of a whole separate "engine" keyword to differentiate them from "machines", whose associated cards lamentably never specified the Isengard culture when interacting with "machines").

Details aside, great card sir!

Thanks for the advices. I've changed it to "until the end of the game" which was used in LOTR Online cards Goblet of the White City, Rohirrim Stein and Green Dragon Mug. That wording is also used with Mount Doom.

[Durin's Heir]

You convinced me about "until the end of the game", but it still needs an "until the end of the game/turn/regroup phase" in the "may participate" line.

Or place it as a bonus when at an underground in parentheses, so it becomes part of the effect that will last "until the end of the game", like this: "He or she gains their strength and vitality (and may participate in archery fire and skimishes at underground sites) until the end of the game."

[azogsbane]

Horseshoes
Possession • Support Area
When you play this possession, you may draw a card.
Response: If a mount is about to be discarded, add to prevent that or to transfer it to another companion instead.
"May he bear you well and to better fortune than Garulf, his late master!"

Rohan's answer to Hides.

[Cw0rk]

You convinced me about "until the end of the game", but it still needs an "until the end of the game/turn/regroup phase" in the "may participate" line.

Or place it as a bonus when at an underground in parentheses, so it becomes part of the effect that will last "until the end of the game", like this: "He or she gains their strength and vitality (and may participate in archery fire and skimishes at underground sites) until the end of the game."

Changed it again! Sometimes, less is more.

Horseshoes
Possession • Support Area
When you play this possession, you may draw a card.
Response: If a mount is about to be discarded, add to prevent that or to transfer it to another companion instead.
"May he bear you well and to better fortune than Garulf, his late master!"

Rohan's answer to Hides.

With a name like that, I hope you can have a lucky draw!