Fill in the Blank Season 1: Lairs #24

[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!


Last week's winner...
Cw0rk takes it two weeks in a row with Isengard Test Subject! Perhaps the single most unconventional design proposal for buffing tentacle decks that I've ever seen, and an unsettling insight into the dark ambitions of Saruman the Breeder.

Now, I don't know how many of y'all saw my snafu during the last round. I posted without representing all of the submissions (an inevitable blunder on my side, I assure you) and this led to a foreshortened voting cycle in which azogsbane's Distant Howl had a clear and early lead. For this reason, I've added Distant Howl to the misadventure deck!


Last week's entries to pick from for Card #24...

•Balin, Leader of the Whisperers
Companion • Dwarf
Strength 6  Vitality 4  Resistance 7
While Balin bears a artifact, each Dwarf is resistance +1 and damage +1.
Each time a Dwarf wins a skirmish, you may discard a card from hand to heal another Dwarf or to remove a threat.
"'At last, however, Balin listened to the whispers, and resolved to go... though Dáin did not give leave willingly...'"

Designer's notes: Instead of another bearded terminator, Balin comes as a wise leader who helps the culture in two aspects in which Decipher made them unfairly deficient: healing and threat remotion. But does it in a limited way, needing hand extension to work consistently (thus synergizing with Delving and Calculated Risk, whose costs can be cleared by Balin). The threat remotion opens the doors for site liberation, if he manages to seize back Durin's Axe. After succeeding in recovering a relic, he behaves like a mixture of Elendil HKoG and, well, Lord of Moria. 

8[K] Shelob's Lair
Site
The first Shadow player may take the first action during each phase.
-->

2 Barrow-downs
When the fellowship moves to and from this site, each companion must exert.
-->

Designer's notes: A brutal site for Dwarves and Elves (but mostly Elves), this place half-kills the best, and exhausts the rest. (That rhyme was not intentional.)

Dark Lair
Event • Shadow
If there are at least 80 cards in your draw deck, discard the top ten to play a site. Stack a minion from your draw deck there. Until the end of the game, that site may not be replaced and you may play a minion stacked there as if from hand.
"The deep places of the world! And thither we are going against my wish."

Designer's notes: I would contend that the title and the unique ability of this card justify granting it Premium status for the Lairs set. This event adds a new dimension to gameplay, allowing a powerful attack to be set up ahead of time, but also giving your opponent a warning of what is inevitably coming (hence the lore). It also does something no other card (that I know of) does, which is to play a site that may not be the fellowship's current or next site, but one further down the path. This event is available for use with any shadow culture, but with a severe playing requirement/cost that will make it usable only to decks specifically designed for it. The other functions of the high cost are to make it extremely difficult to play more than one, or at most two, copies of this event in a single game, and to deter people from abusing it just to manipulate the site path. The culture symbol is not completely arbitrary since it fits the flavor, and in my experience is particularly well-suited to over-size decks.

4[K] Dwimorberg
Mountain.
Regroup: Spot your minion and remove 2 burdens to take control of a site.

Designer's notes: It is the mountain range under which lies the Path of the Dead (which is also at site 4K) were mountain-people similar to the Dunlendings used to live in, hence site control. This site follows the pattern of other King Block's site 4K in regard to removing burdens to do a specific action.

Rhovanion Expanse
Battleground. Dwelling. Forest. Marsh. Mountain. Plains.
Your adventure deck may include up to 2 copies of this site.
<--->

Designer's notes: My interpretation of "Lairs" as a site landed on the entire region of Rhovanion: the great lands to the east of Middle-earth, full of its own distant stories and cultures. Knowing that I was dealing with a rather large lair, I looked at what we know of Wilderland, of its outlying and scabbed easternmost countries, ultimately filling the top line of the text box with applicable terrain keywords, then reinforcing the theme of a "region"-sized lair by making the site, well, half-unique? This site can be pretty much anything you want it to be. Left, right, festering marshland or embattled city. While I personally enjoy the idea of allowing players to run 3 or 4 of these at a time, I think less is more on a site like this - just a sprinkling of modularity in terrain keyword interactions is the goal here, not automating the site path. For that reason, I've limited it to 2 slots in your adventure deck.

This week's contest is...

Card #13!

• A card (after From Morgoth's Lair They Came and before Wrested Kingdom).

Closing date: October 17th!


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. Isengard Test Subject ( • Minion) - Cw0rk - 22
11. Smoke From Isengard ( • Condition) - menace64 - 13
12. From Morgoth's Lair They Came ( • Event) - Cw0rk - 21
13. IN CREATION THIS WEEK
14. •Wrested Kingdom ( • Condition) - menace64 - 1
15. Primitive Cave Paintings ( • Event) - Cw0rk - 19
16. •Úlairë Attëa, Khamûl ( • Minion) - SGollum - 7
17. Angmar Haunts Us Still ( • Condition) - TelTura - 15
18. Southern Stranger ( • Minion) - Inspire - 10
19. Dark Communion ( • Event) - menace64 - 20
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. SUBJECT OF THIS WEEK'S VOTE
25.


The Misadventure Deck (cards that lost due to coin-flip [or a menace64 blunder] but will appear in the final cardlist! Maybe?)
26+. •Durin's Axe, Omen of Fortune ( • Artifact) - Durin's Heir - 4
26+. From Lowest Dungeon to Highest Peak ( • Event) - menace64 - 4
26+. Oath of Cirion ( • Condition) - Cw0rk - 16
26+. Distant Howl ( • Event) - azogsbane - 22
26+. Key of Orthanc ( • Artifact) - Cw0rk - 17
26+. Host of the Upper Hall ( • Minion) -menace64 - 21
26+. Orkish Whip ( • Possession) - Durin's Heir - 7
26+. •Alliance ( • Condition) - azogsbane - 19
26+*. •Mountains of Shadow ( • Condition) - menace64 - 2[/list]

[Durin's Heir]

Ill-fated Quest
Event • Maneuver
Spot X Orcs to suspend this phase. Begin a skirmish phase between a Orc and an unbound companion with twilight cost X or less; that Orc gains hunter X. When it ends, resume the maneuver phase.
"'Yestreday... Balin lord of Moria fell in Dimrill Dale. He went alone to look in Mirror-mere...'"

An event to set an ambush with a Orc to try and kill a key/annoying companion of your choice... and before archery takes place! Such ambush will favor a Goblin with damage bonuses or overwhelming strength, so the Moria Axe will shine there. But surprisingly will also favor good old Goblin Spearman, who can finally dust himself off from oblivion and have his day removing Greenleaf, Boromir SoD or Eowyn LoI from the equation.

(The card title and lore text are in allusion to Durin's Axe's subtitle and lore.)

[menace64]

I haven't given an overview of my voting selection process at all this contest - and not without intentionality, since for the most part I want these contests to be each person's vision and I feel generally-icky to pre-talk with contestants beyond known necessities. I've had no problems whatsoever with talking about or helping each other out but I've tried to limit my own input to 7-line limits since that's a practical and objective canvas. Consider this my trial run of what me making public reviews of submissions prior to casting my vote would look like.

•Balin, Leader of the Whisperers
Companion • Dwarf
Strength 6  Vitality 4  Resistance 7
While Balin bears a artifact, each Dwarf is resistance +1 and damage +1.
Each time a Dwarf wins a skirmish, you may discard a card from hand to heal another Dwarf or to remove a threat.
"'At last, however, Balin listened to the whispers, and resolved to go... though Dáin did not give leave willingly...'"

Designer's notes: Instead of another bearded terminator, Balin comes as a wise leader who helps the culture in two aspects in which Decipher made them unfairly deficient: healing and threat remotion. But does it in a limited way, needing hand extension to work consistently (thus synergizing with Delving and Calculated Risk, whose costs can be cleared by Balin). The threat remotion opens the doors for site liberation, if he manages to seize back Durin's Axe. After succeeding in recovering a relic, he behaves like a mixture of Elendil HKoG and, well, Lord of Moria. 

I accept responsibility for divorcing Durin's Axe from this Balin, and I attribute having submitted a Balin of my own as a way of demonstrating - even in failure (despite having actually gotten my Balin through) - that there is no reserving of card slots. Part of the design submission for Durin's Axe included a bit about "this will make more sense with my Balin, coming soon," which implies a sort-of "vote now, vote again later" deal that I respond to, well, menacingly. 

It's a neat Balin, and it's got a particular overlay onto Durin's Axe which yields a real and venerable dwarven king. But I don't think Lairs should have 2 Balins in it, so I can't vote for this card at this time. Since I think I have a good idea what we all want to do for a second season, I have a feeling this Balin will be in the running again!

8[K] Shelob's Lair
Site
The first Shadow player may take the first action during each phase.
-->

I see nothing wrong with this card, except for noting that I would have included underground at least, and maybe even mountain if it would fit. Such nitpicks I think might be ironed out in the next few weeks were this card to win the week's vote; but I also see a potential mechanical reason for intentionally withholding terrain keywords, which makes this a triviality in my book (but apparently also worth comment).

My thought on the card itself is that it will rarely be of consequence, but when it does matter, it'll be because the Shadow player has specifically arranged for it to matter. You know, like a trap. Chances are low that it'll matter more than once at site 8 - but there are situations where it'll matter twice or thrice or frice and that is a prospect I think players are naturally attracted to.

Hard-Maybe. It feels fine, but it might be broken or an NPE due some one-to-one card interaction, an event borne out only by playtesting.

2 Barrow-downs
When the fellowship moves to and from this site, each companion must exert.
-->

Designer's notes: A brutal site for Dwarves and Elves (but mostly Elves), this place half-kills the best, and exhausts the rest. (That rhyme was not intentional.)

Too powerful. If we're talking realistically, this card should have a shadow number of , since outright-damaging sites tend to skew lower-end of the costing gradient.

If balanced appropriately, it's still too good for site-2F. That's absolute-minimum 2 exertions; 4 for a dumb fellowship; 6 for an average fellowship; 8 for a fun fellowship; 10 for a crazy fellowship; 12 for Flaming Brand players; 14 for some kind of Suicide Squadquea; 16 for a little bit of everything; and 18 exertions for players attempting to play an accurate representation of the entire fellowship.

Too good!

Dark Lair
Event • Shadow
If there are at least 80 cards in your draw deck, discard the top ten to play a site. Stack a minion from your draw deck there. Until the end of the game, that site may not be replaced and you may play a minion stacked there as if from hand.
"The deep places of the world! And thither we are going against my wish."

Designer's notes: I would contend that the title and the unique ability of this card justify granting it Premium status for the Lairs set. This event adds a new dimension to gameplay, allowing a powerful attack to be set up ahead of time, but also giving your opponent a warning of what is inevitably coming (hence the lore). It also does something no other card (that I know of) does, which is to play a site that may not be the fellowship's current or next site, but one further down the path. This event is available for use with any shadow culture, but with a severe playing requirement/cost that will make it usable only to decks specifically designed for it. The other functions of the high cost are to make it extremely difficult to play more than one, or at most two, copies of this event in a single game, and to deter people from abusing it just to manipulate the site path. The culture symbol is not completely arbitrary since it fits the flavor, and in my experience is particularly well-suited to over-size decks.

I don't like that this card introduces a floating new-rules zone. It's too weird as an event. But! I think this mechanic has applicable potential: the idea of using your deck size to utilize certain early- or late-game effects is rich in fresh potential but, unfortunately, this mechanic ignores the limitations of physical game interactions. Any time a player would need to check the deck size in front of them on the table, they would need to count those cards; then shuffle them; then allow a cut; then replace; then discard 10 cards; then search their deck for the card; then play it; then shuffle; etc.

Yes, yes, it's a no-brainer in a digital setting, but when writing a card it's important to consider both avenues for players to potentially interact with it.

Having a second floating new-rules zone by playing "a site" (btw, this is not a clear indicator of how the card is intended to function; more than half of players would assume it meant "play the fellowship's next site") makes the card compoundingly problematic. It almost needs to be its own card type, since it works so unlike any other event.

I can't put my vote here right now. If you want to work on this idea and chisel it into something a little less floaty, start a thread!

4[K] Dwimorberg
Mountain.
Regroup: Spot your minion and remove 2 burdens to take control of a site.

Designer's notes: It is the mountain range under which lies the Path of the Dead (which is also at site 4K) were mountain-people similar to the Dunlendings used to live in, hence site control. This site follows the pattern of other King Block's site 4K in regard to removing burdens to do a specific action.

I'm not sure how is supposed to tie into this site, since a greater majority of players running it would undoubtedly be .

That being said, this card absolutely passes the "feels like a site-4[K]" test. Nailed that aspect. I like the flavor too: Aragorn tarries in the White Mountains, meanwhile there's a host of minions elsewhere laying siege to #$&*@!. A shadow number of sets this beside Osgiliath Fallen, and here's where a comparison can be made. On one side, a damage bonus is less valuable than a controlled site; on the other hand, the regroup phase is later than the skirmish phase, thus more avoidable. The problem persists that any additional burdens can also be converted into sites, which makes this card able to exchange 4 burdens for 2 controlled sites... and that's understandably difficult to justify.

Vote uncertain.

Rhovanion Expanse
Battleground. Dwelling. Forest. Marsh. Mountain. Plains.
Your adventure deck may include up to 2 copies of this site.
<--->

Designer's notes: My interpretation of "Lairs" as a site landed on the entire region of Rhovanion: the great lands to the east of Middle-earth, full of its own distant stories and cultures. Knowing that I was dealing with a rather large lair, I looked at what we know of Wilderland, of its outlying and scabbed easternmost countries, ultimately filling the top line of the text box with applicable terrain keywords, then reinforcing the theme of a "region"-sized lair by making the site, well, half-unique? This site can be pretty much anything you want it to be. Left, right, festering marshland or embattled city. While I personally enjoy the idea of allowing players to run 3 or 4 of these at a time, I think less is more on a site like this - just a sprinkling of modularity in terrain keyword interactions is the goal here, not automating the site path. For that reason, I've limited it to 2 slots in your adventure deck.

I feel icky voting for my own submission. I lack detachment, and cannot see whatever faults persist into my submission. I like doing weird #$&*@! and the weird #$&*@! isn't always good #$&*@!, sometimes it's ba(d/t) #$&*@!, and that's okay too. I like throwing card-darts at the wall and it's honestly just fun making it through this first season with all of you. Watching the card list slowly fill has been a treasure to behold during the outright inanity of our present times.

My original name for this card was "Expanse of Wilderland" but was changed to what I felt to be a more accurate titling. I figure it's open to interpretation either way.

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Okay lemme look at what I thought.

It's between Shelob's Lair (with my strongest leaning); Dwimorberg (with hesitation); and Rohvanion Expanse (with revulsion).

My vote is for Shelob's Lair.

Also: strong benefit due to having the word Lair in the title.

[menace64]

A More Dangerous Road
Condition • Support Area
To play, spot a weather condition. Any site 4 or 5 gains marsh and underground.
Shadow: If the fellowship is at an underground site, discard an card (from hand or from play) and play a minion to add a threat.
"And if that fails, where then will you go?"

This card is my attempt to open up a threat-generating subculture in Fellowship block, a card written to encourage the swirling of and (specifically, weather). The goal is to get at least one of these down before site 4, since that's the earliest access you have to underground sites in Fellowship block - although in other formats this card can be useful much sooner, and much later.

Beyond all that, I wanted this card to represent the turning of the fellowship's course into danger. The weather-spotting requirement is cute (imo), but adding both marsh and underground to any site 4 or 5 is my way of interpreting a malevolent power forcing the fellowship into 2 turns' worth of absolute garbage.

[JamesCB]

Watcher in the Water, Scourge of Westgate
Strength - 9
Vitality - 4
Site - 4
Game Text: Discard all other minions (except tentacles).
The current site gains marsh.
All minions are strength +2 and damage +1.
Shadow: Play a tentacle from your draw deck, discard pile or hand, its twilight cost is -2.

My problem with the other watchers in the waters are that they never let you get your minions out. MTC lets you do it from discard, but first there has to be some in there, this one should give tentacles more of a chance.

[azogsbane]

• Goblin Horn
Possession • Support Area
Each time a Orc is killed (except in the skirmish phase), you may place it beneath your draw deck.
Regroup: Discard Goblin Horn to discard the top 4 cards of your draw deck.
"...a great horn was blown in the hall, and answering horns and harsh cries were heard further off. There was a sound of many hurrying feet."

Swarm attacks are usually all-or-nothing. Against archer or direct wounding fellowships, it's all too often nothing. This card won't save your orcs from dying, but it can make an otherwise futile attack still count for something, setting up a strong hand at the end of the game. The regroup action is there to help dig down to the Orcs at the bottom of your deck if you haven't cycled quite as much as planned. Note: This possession can be played from your discard pile with Relics of Moria but will not trigger Goblin Armory.

[JamesCB]

Swarm attacks are usually all-or-nothing. Against archer or direct wounding fellowships, it's all too often nothing. This card won't save your orcs from dying, but it can make an otherwise futile attack still count for something, setting up a strong hand at the end of the game. The regroup action is there to help dig down to the Orcs at the bottom of your deck if you haven't cycled quite as much as planned. Note: This possession can be played from your discard pile with Relics of Moria but will not trigger Goblin Armory.

I have an archer deck, and, although it isn't amazing at what it does, it decimates Moria. I'm happy to see a fix to this problem (even though it isn't legal.)

[Cw0rk]

[16] •Lord Gothmog, Servant of Morgoth
Minion • Balrog
Strength: 21
Vitality: 5
S/N: 4
Damage +2. Fierce.
Lord Gothmog's twilight cost is -1 for each Balrog in your discard pile.
When you play Lord Gothmog, you may take a event into hand from your discard pile.
"He fought with Gothmog, until another Balrog came behind..."

Designer's notes: Lord Gothmog was the Lord of Balrogs. Made it so it can take full advantage of the "From Morgoth's Lair They Came" event which make "Balrogs are twilight cost -3 for each other Balrog you can spot and are not unique until the end of the turn".

[Inspire]

Goblin Sentinel
Minion • Orc
Strength: 6
Vitality: 2
Site: 4
Archer.
Each time a Free Peoples player reveals this card from your hand, he or she must exert a companion.
"For an instant the wizard looked out. Arrows whined and whistled down the corridor as he sprang back."

[Inspire]

4[K] Dwimorberg
Mountain.
Regroup: Spot your minion and remove 2 burdens to take control of a site.

Designer's notes: It is the mountain range under which lies the Path of the Dead (which is also at site 4K) were mountain-people similar to the Dunlendings used to live in, hence site control. This site follows the pattern of other King Block's site 4K in regard to removing burdens to do a specific action.

This one got my vote. I don't particularly care for the homogeneous site design in the King block (as evidenced by my entry), but this card would fit seamlessly into the current card pool. Well done.