Fill in the Blank Season 1: Lairs #26

[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...
Congrats to Inspire for submitting Goblin Sentinel, an Orc so neat it won against the likes of Gothmog!


FINAL ROUND OF VOTING!*** Last week's entries to pick from for Card #25...

•Gandalf, Tharkûn
Companion • Wizard
Strength 7  Vitality 4  Gandalf signet
While all other unbound companions have the same culture (except ), each unbound companion is strength +1.
Fellowship: Play a non-spell event from your draw deck (limit once).
"'You are quite right. If I had no other purposes, I should not be helping you at all.'"

Designer's notes: Just Uncle Gandalf spending some time with a group of somewhat clueless fellows that are all trying to get something specific done. That is, as a support companion: an Istar doing his job in guiding a Free People to preserve and increase its freedom. The passive skill shows that: when he joins 1 or more Unbound companions, all with the same culture (but not Gandalf's), he turns them into a solid all-for-one Company focused on achieving their common goal.

The Special Ability makes easier for Gandalf to bring his Swiss-army knife of Fellowship phase tricks to the Company he is joining: cards like Speak Friend and Enter to choose your own sites, Have Patience / Citadel to Gate to heal, On Your Doorstep / Borne Far Away to recover resources / companions lost in the fray... not depending anymore on lucky draws (and thus, not forcing you to pack 3x or 4x of said event to increase chances). But limited to one per turn, and not spells (so anti-condition nukes are out of the question).

Like an event-oriented cousin of Gandalf Returned.

9K The Crack of Doom
Site
Mountain. Underground. The Ring-bearer is strength +3. Each other companion is strength -2.

8K Wastes of Gorgoroth
Site
At the start of the maneuver phase, the Free Peoples player must discard their hand or discard a number of their cards with a total twilight cost at least equal to the number of cards in hand.

Designer's notes: The intent is that if the freeps player has 7 cards in hand, then they can either discard a single freeps card costing ; or three cards costing and another costing ; or four , a , and a cost card.  Since there is no limitation on what card types are selected, one could potentially use this as a risky tactic to throw away exhausted companions just to bring them back, or to redistribute freeps conditions or something, but most of the time it's really just Frodo and Sam stripping either their hopes for the future or the packs on their back.

•Gimli, Stout Companion
Companion • Dwarf
Strength - 6
Vitality - 3
Signet - Frodo
or
Resistance - 4
For each other companion you can spot, Gimli is strength +1 and damage +1.

•This Foe is Beyond Any of You (FP/SH)
Moria Quest • Support Area
To play, spot The Balrog bearing a artifact and exert him twice.
When played, suspend the current phase. Begin a skirmish phase involving The Balrog and an unbound companion with strength 10 or more (or any Wizard). Each player discards the top card of their draw deck and adds that card's twilight cost to their involved character's strength. If The Balrog loses, place him (and all copies of him in your draw deck) out of play. If the companion loses, place it out of play.

Designer's notes: This is a 12-line Quest card. Quest Type is not a new concept, but one long-tinkered-with inside the Council and deep into the history of Cobra Cards. Quests are both Free Peoples and Shadow (front/back diffraction), and thus count for both when slotted-in during deck construction. When you play it, simply play it on its active side and then carry on as usual. Note that TFiBAoY is a "Moria Quest" and not a " Quest", denoting a particular region instead of the culture. Quests don't have cultures.

As for TFiBAoY itself, it's fairly straightforward. I've aimed for something reminiscent of the earliest of SWCCG's Epic Event cards, where the end-goal is to induce an involuntary random-assisted battle between two well-armed opponents (or any Wizard!) - the fact that I managed to sneak a destiny draw into a LotR card makes me giddy. The stakes are simple: whoever loses, disappears... mostly.

•Beorn, Founder of the Beornings
Companion • Man
Strength: 4
Vitality: 5
Signet: Gandalf
When you play Beorn, discard cards from the top of your draw deck until you discard a minion. Add , where is that minion's twilight cost, then stack it on Beorn.
While stacked on him, Beorn gains that minion's strength and vitality.
"He came alone, and in bear's shape."

Designer's notes: I thought it made sense to have a shapeshifting man/werebear as a premium character in a set called Lairs. Gave him a similar statline to Grimbeorn but an higher cost as his ability is more permanent, although it forces you to play certain kinds of deck to take full advantage of it.

9[K] Carchost
Site
Skirmishes are resolved in an order determined by the first Shadow player.
--->

(Site-5F) Moria Abyss
Marsh. Underground. Minions may not be discarded by another minion's game text. The Balrog's twilight cost is -6.
<---

Designer's notes: Finally, the possibility of attacking your opponent with Durin's Bane and Keeper of Westgate at the same time! Also the ability to keep your creature and tentacles around when your opponent moves from Moria Lake in the regroup phase.

In case it's not clear, the place I have in mind is the underground lake where Gandalf fought the Balrog after they fell from the bridge. I've always imagined there were probably numberless foul, Watcher-like creatures living down there in the darkness, time out of mind.

In making a Site-5F alternative to Bridge of Khazad-dum, I thought it important to retain part of the text of that site simply because the certainty of the Balrog's cost reduction at site 5 is essential, not only to the functioning of any Balrog-centric deck type that uses Fellowship sites, but also the flavor of the entire FotR site path.

This week's contest is...

FEEDBACK TIME!

Please leave a comment with a few (or many) words regarding your feelings on Season One. Also, if you have any opinions on what you'd like to see in Season Two - well, we've got all week to talk about it!

Season Two Opening date: November 1st!


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. Goblin Sentinel ( • Minion) - Inspire - 24
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 (S Site) - SGollum - 11
24. Shelob's Lair (K8 Site) - Inspire - 23
25. SUBJECT OF THIS WEEK'S VOTE


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
26+. Dwimorberg (K4 Site) - Cw0rk - 23[/list]

[JamesCB]

Well, as I said on a previous post, I like the idea of the collector's information being part of it (just for the fun of it, not because it has any legitimate meaning). But I also think we should consider a type of set number like 53 companions, 41 possessions, 70 events/condition, 32 minions... something like that.

[menace64]

•Gandalf, Tharkûn
Companion • Wizard
Strength 7  Vitality 4  Gandalf signet
While all other unbound companions have the same culture (except ), each unbound companion is strength +1.
Fellowship: Play a non-spell event from your draw deck (limit once).
"'You are quite right. If I had no other purposes, I should not be helping you at all.'"

I like Tharkun, but I think I'd like him even more if he was one or the other: either a strength +1 for monoculture fellowships, or a free fellowship phase event puller. Combined, this Gandalf feels like he's doing too much, especially when compared to other Gandalf personas. For instance, Gandalf, The Grey Pilgrim also provides a turnly stream of free card ramp, but in this case it's from the top of the draw deck and therefore essentially random (unless you're ). Tharkun does that but better, and on top of that he has the aforementioned universal +1.

9K The Crack of Doom
Site
Mountain. Underground. The Ring-bearer is strength +3. Each other companion is strength -2.

It's hard to weigh without playtesting. My intuition speculates that this site would actually make a FP win more likely. I'm not saying that's a bad thing, but it's a strange outcome for a site conveying the inner chamber of absolute evil in Middle-earth.

8K Wastes of Gorgoroth
Site
At the start of the maneuver phase, the Free Peoples player must discard their hand or discard a number of their cards with a total twilight cost at least equal to the number of cards in hand.

I adore this site. In King environment, this site is really asking the FP player, "How badly do you want to keep initiative right now?" This site is emblematic of core themes, reaching deep (and dark) into the every-choice-sucks mechanic.

But I can't possibly vote for this site, since it doesn't have an arrow! -4,000 points!

•Gimli, Stout Companion
Companion • Dwarf
Strength - 6
Vitality - 3
Signet - Frodo
or
Resistance - 4
For each other companion you can spot, Gimli is strength +1 and damage +1.

I don't feel that this card fits the slot for 25/25. If this Gimli were themed around the Grey Company episode and he somehow incorporated a Lairs-y mechanic, I could see it working.

Not a bad card though! In fact, I could see this Gimli getting a LOT of attention under other voting circumstances.

•This Foe is Beyond Any of You (FP/SH)
Moria Quest • Support Area
To play, spot The Balrog bearing a artifact and exert him twice.
When played, suspend the current phase. Begin a skirmish phase involving The Balrog and an unbound companion with strength 10 or more (or any Wizard). Each player discards the top card of their draw deck and adds that card's twilight cost to their involved character's strength. If The Balrog loses, place him (and all copies of him in your draw deck) out of play. If the companion loses, place it out of play.

It's almost definitely broken. "Play a Balrog deck to kill any strong companion that you want, whenever you want. PS if the Balrog loses you lose the game." Yeah that sounds fun, you loon.

In conclusion: Quest cards are hard to write since they don't exist.

•Beorn, Founder of the Beornings
Companion • Man
Strength: 4
Vitality: 5
Signet: Gandalf
When you play Beorn, discard cards from the top of your draw deck until you discard a minion. Add , where is that minion's twilight cost, then stack it on Beorn.
While stacked on him, Beorn gains that minion's strength and vitality.
"He came alone, and in bear's shape."

I'm torn! I love this card. Everything about it is pretty and right... but does Beorn make sense as the 25/25 card? Now I suppose there's a rational argument to be made that card number doesn't matter at this stage (I myself recently said as much), so maybe I shouldn't think in those terms? Hmm.

9[K] Carchost
Site
Skirmishes are resolved in an order determined by the first Shadow player.
--->

Long have I waited for a Carchost in the card pool. This site is sick. 

(Site-5F) Moria Abyss
Marsh. Underground. Minions may not be discarded by another minion's game text. The Balrog's twilight cost is -6.
<---

AN ALTERNATE SITE 5F!?!? BURN THE HERETIC!!!!!

...ahem.

This site may be the silver-bulletiest site I've ever seen. It's such a -flavored slap in the face to every player in the game, regardless of culture, race, or keyword. It's like, "Yeah, you thought you could just cancel the Balrog's skirmish and walk away, didya? Well, no, eff you, I brought tentacles too."

But, like an onion, this site has many layers. You get the same Balrog discount, but you lose the ability to summon him. In exchange, Durin's Bane can now take his right and proper place among literally every other Balrog card in the game (as well as smoothing out the one wrinkle of From Morgoth's Lair They Came).

Also, tentacles.

I would recommend a slight change in wording. "may not be" -> "are not"

---

Okay. Lemme collect my thoughts here. 8 entries might be a record for this season!

• Gandalf, Tharkun. It probably needs to be 2 different cards.
• Crack of Doom. Giving +3 strength to the RB might induce more FP wins, even with the -2 to other companions.
• Wastes of Gorgoroth. Ignoring the flagrant disregard for arrows, this site interacts directly with initiative through a -themed bad-choice-to-make.
• Gimli. Needs stouter theming.
• A broken Quest card. It's a fun idea though, so keep working on it.
• Beorn, FotB. A phenomenal pass at writing Beorn into the game, but sticks out a bit!
• Bride of Narchost. Reverses skirmish order at the last site.
• Black Hole. Commits heresy and perverts an entire virtual format to the glee of a single subset of shadow players.

Aw heck. It's down to Wastes and Abyss.

Come on, me. I know what I want to vote for.

My vote's just gotta be the Underdeeps site. Nails the theme (not that Wastes didn't), but I'm all about flipping tables and this is the tableflippiest site I've seen in quite some time. Yay heresy!

[JamesCB]

Menace, I totally agree with you on Moria Abyss. The Balrog and the Watcher together sounds awesome. We need to get whoever's in charge of Gemp to add that site right away.

[menace64]

We need to get whoever's in charge of Gemp to add that site right away.

Moria Abyss has been added to the to-be-written-into-Gemp queue. It's number is 64,301. 

[JamesCB]

Great. Should be in the game by the year 3030.

[Cw0rk]

FEEDBACK TIME!

Please leave a comment with a few (or many) words regarding your feelings on Season One. Also, if you have any opinions on what you'd like to see in Season Two - well, we've got all week to talk about it!

Season Two Opening date: November 1st!

Thanks for hosting these contest. They are great fun.

If you wish to make bigger sets, would a formula that may allow more than 1 entry per round to be selected work? Ex. In case of ties or in cases when there are many submissions

[azogsbane]

Thanks for hosting these contest. They are great fun.

Hear, hear!