Bilbo´s Damned Forest and Isengard Flood

[Pepin The Breve]

  Hello people, i was trying to do some no rare extensive shadow deck and Isengard came into my mind, but i would need some crazy filtering freeps to pair with it and make sure my minions will hit the table in large numbers... then i read some topics here talking about the Bilbo RB and i start to look for some deck idea with him, outside of the "play a ton of tales and draw all your deck at regroup phase" and i came up with this weird but potentially fun idea.

   Here it goes!

RB and Ring:
*The One Ring, Such a Weight to Carry (7R2)
*Bilbo, Bearer of Things Burgled (RB)(9R+49)

Sites
(1R)Isengard Ruined (7U331)
(2R)King's Tent (7U335)
(3R)Hall of the Kings (7U339)
(4R)Anduin Banks (7U341)
(5R)Pelennor Flat (7U345)
(6R)Minas Tirith Fifth Circle (7U346)
(7R)Pelennor Grassland (7U354)
(8R)Watchers of Cirith Ungol (10U120)
(9R)Dagorlad (7U360)

Fellowship (46)
1x *Gandalf, Defender of the West (7C36) (starting)
1x *Ent Horde (6R28)
1x *Lindenroot, Elder Shepherd (5R19)
1x *Quickbeam, Bregalad (6C33)
1x *Treebeard, Keeper of the Watchwood (10R18)
2x Ent Avenger (6C27)
1x Huorn (9R25)

1x *Albert Dreary, Entertainer From Bree (1R69)
3x *Barliman Butterbur, Prancing Pony Proprietor (1U70)
1x *Melilot Brandybuck, Merry Dancer (3R110)
1x *Old Noakes, Purveyor Of Wisdoms (3C111)
2x Bounder (1C286)
2x Hobbit Party Guest (1C297)

1x *Gandalf's Staff (2R22)
1x *Narya (3R34)

1X Hobbit Sword (1C299)

1x *Brooding On Tomorrow (10U15)
1x *O Elbereth! Gilthoniel!(2R108)
1x *The Tale of the Great Ring (10U116)
1x *There and Back Again (1C317)
1x Consorting With Wizards (2R97)
1x Stone Trolls (1R314)

4x A Wizard Is Never Late (1R87)
2X Terrible and Evil (7R50)
2x Crack Into Rubble (6U25)
2x Have Patience (4C93)
4x Nine-fingered Frodo and the Ring of Doom (10C112)
3x Practically Everyone Was Invited (2U111)
2x Roll of Thunder (4U99)

    Strategy: Make your Jungle grew up as fast as you can and run for the victory (or death)! This Freeps will not be a problem for Bilbo´s text since it will be very unlike that you don´t flood the pool every turn. They can set up pretty fast using A Wizard Is Never Late (that can be recovered from discard and played again with Barliman Butterbur, Prancing Pony Proprietor) and Practically Everyone Was Invited bring your hobbit allies to the party while filtering your deck for the swarm guys. Bounder is the main hobbit ally but Old Noakes can be helpful. Hobbit Party Guess is there to exert him with Nine-fingered Frodo and the Ring of Doom / Three Monstrous Trolls and to have more hobbits to filter with Practically Everyone Was Invited (but i gues he can be changed for something else more useful...).
     If you have played all the companions and still have AWINL you can use it to play the Allies. The good thing of this card is that it allows you to get the character you most need in that time (for example Albert Dreary, Entertainer From Bree (1R69) can be a good one against  or decks). Then i toss other cards that need Bilbo Spotting, like Consorting With Wizards (2R97) and Stone Trolls (1R314)... Fool's Hope + Lindenroot, Elder Shepherd + Brooding On Tomorrow can be a nice way to dicard conditions and Roll of Thunder is there to not be surprised by corsair, Hides or Grond, HotU, etc.  Since giving that amount of twilight will be dangerous i put Have Patience to keep my Ents alive most of the way (otherwise enquea would shut them all). Enquea + Not Easily Destroyed  would be a seriuos problem to this freeps so i´m considering toss some Terrible and Evil to counter it with Gandy 

Shadow (46)
2x *Orc Commander (3R64)
4x *Ulaire Enquea, Lieutenant of Morgul (1U231)
4x Isengard Forger (3C56)
3x Isengard Journeyman (6C67)
3x Isengard Plodder (6C69)
4x Isengard Servant (3U58)
4x Isengard Shaman (3C59)
3x Isengard Smith (3U60)
4x Isengard Tender (6U70)
4x Isengard Tinker (6C71)
4x Isengard Warrior (3U61)
4x Isengard Worker (3C62)

3x Saruman's Power (1U136)

   Strategy is the obvious: play as many minions you can and wound everyone to death!!! 
  Well, Isengard don´t like conditions so Saruman's Power them all! Isengard Mechanics helps against crowding and Orc Commander keep your minions alive until regroup. But the spice of the deck is the great ciclying card  Abandoning Reason For Madness. Since you have tons and tons of cards will not hurt have some of them discard to help ciclying even more. You have about 42 43 minions in this deck so it´s very unlikely you don´t have a lot of them to play (especially in the last sites when your draw deck is already filtered with less freep cards).

   So that´s it! Any suggestion to improve it will be welcome! 

[Pepin The Breve]

  Changed it a little...

[Gil-Estel]

I like it, though I must say: it is huge....A light in his mind is useless I guess with just 1 Shire companion. Maybe go with a pipeweed twist? They are possessions, the cycle, and with Gandalf smoke-unit you can get rid of burdens....

[Pepin The Breve]

 

I like it, though I must say: it is huge....A light in his mind is useless I guess with just 1 Shire companion. Maybe go with a pipeweed twist? They are possessions, the cycle, and with Gandalf smoke-unit you can get rid of burdens....

  Yes, it was made to be my huge deck (since the other are 35 or lees each side)...with endeless minions at it...hehehe.

  I will remove A Light in His Mind right now!

  I think the only pipe i could use that would be effective is gandy´s but i fear that he would be easy prey to Grima, Wormtongue with 3 cards attached to him (but if i have Terrible and Evil at hand the problem is solved)... But the Gandy pipe + Old Toby are really an interesting ciclying engine with some burden peeling hability (specially if i toos Bilbo´s Pipe togheter).

   I will think of something and update as soon as possible.

   Thanks for the comments 

[Gil-Estel]

you're most welcome my light-hearted and crazy deckbuilding halfling friend....

[Pepin The Breve]

   I have made some changes in the deck. First of all i tried to reduce it a little bit, but keeping the original idea of a big deck full of minions with filtering free people side.

   In the freeps i throw some Crack Into Rubble in to have some more direct condition discarding and liberate sites (not as good as Let Us Be Swift but should do the trick). Replace one Bounder for Melilot Brandybuck, Merry Dancer since she + Hobbit Party Guest can be a nice protection against corruption and two Bounders seems more than ok to keep Bilbo breathing... Also removed some non-essential cards.

   For the shadows i take out Abandoning Reason For Madness since it only helps in the begining of the game. Later on i will probably have more minions than freep cards in the deck and the event will be like one minion less at hand. The biggest probelm of the isengard swarm are large fellowships with ton of vitality like Ents. Nine companions overwhelming my poor orcs and leting no one alive until regroup is just too frustrating 

   I´m trying to think some way to counter it (or at least prevent them from doubling every time).  First thing to come in mi mind was Isengard Mechanics, but with few orcs standing until the regroup phase it wasn´t that effective. Then i think about tossing some cheap uruk-hais and put the mass destruction Greed, but i just realize that Albert Dreary, Entertainer From Bree (1R69) keeps it out of the table and my orcs have no ways of geting rid of him. For now i´m going with the classic: Ulaire Enquea, Lieutenant of Morgul, but if you have some suggestion that you think will do better i will apreciate to read it 

[Gil-Estel]

But Greed is a shadow ability, so before they get rid of it, you might be able to deal a punch. I would certainly pack Greed, for it fits the theme of the deck best

Oh and I don't want to spoil the fun, but Ent Avenger isn't really movieblock 

And how about a Isengard Axe? It would add some twilight and strength....

[TheJord]

Ent Avenger* is 

[King89]

*of topic*

the older one looks better, for sure! 

[Gil-Estel]

  oops

[Pepin The Breve]

But Greed is a shadow ability, so before they get rid of it, you might be able to deal a punch. I would certainly pack Greed, for it fits the theme of the deck best

Oh and I don't want to spoil the fun, but Ent Avenger isn't really movieblock 

And how about a Isengard Axe? It would add some twilight and strength....

  I have to say that Greed is a Manuever hability, exactly when Albert kicks in (first of course).

  Maybe some big fierce damage +1 minion can do the trick (at least from prevent doubles)

[Gil-Estel]

Man....what has happened to me? Excuse me for all the inconvenience caused by my suggestions....

[Pepin The Breve]

Man....what has happened to me? Excuse me for all the inconvenience caused by my suggestions....

  No problem my Jedi-frog fellow, your comments are always welcome! 

[FM]

Does that HUGE Uruk from Two Towers have spotting requirements? Uruk Vanguard, I think?

EDIT: Yep, that's the name, and it has a spotting requirement. How about a Balrog?

[Pepin The Breve]

Does that HUGE Uruk from Two Towers have spotting requirements? Uruk Vanguard, I think?

EDIT: Yep, that's the name, and it has a spotting requirement. How about a Balrog?

  Balrog is a little expensive (since i´m not running  ) i taught that maybe Southron Archer Legion could do the trick against ents (5 archery plus one possible wound in skirmish) but i guess Enquea is cheaper, don´t need to spot 9 companions to do his best and gives me the oportunity to benefit from the 5 burdens mark as well (to punish the freeps if they put the ring too often or run some burden adding engine to do something). Pelennor Flat (7U345) can help me with that as well...So i think i will stick with the classic...but let me know if anyone finds out a better way!

[daisukeman]

Hello everyone!
I'm a great fan of this game and years ago used to play tournaments here in Colombia (South America) with no more than 12 people. Back then we only played until mount doom came up. No new gameplay.
Sigh.. those times are gone now but i still game now and then a little with some friends here and with a friend in the US through lackey.
I've been reading your site posts and i've been wondering where are you from, or where do you play your lotr tournaments...

[Gil-Estel]

Maybe the mods can replace this somewhere more 'appropriate', but I will answer nonetheless. Hi! Welcome to the forums. We are from all around the world. Some of us met at another site, Cobracards, but since that was gone a new forum has been established and since last year: here we are. Some of us come from a small gaming community, just like yours. Some of us are fortunate enough to have enough players around to organise a small tournement, like the one in Amsterdam in just a few weeks. Other than that we play online, about which you can find plenty info in the Green Dragon Inn.
Again, welcome and hope to see a lot of you around here!

[daisukeman]

Thanks, I've been reading your posts and consider to know a lot about lotr tcg, so I will be glad to help out with deck suggestions and inquiries (doesn't mean I don't have my own questions too).
I sure remember Gil-Estel being right all the time in past discussions.
I don't feel like browsing the whole site to find the right topic now, but concerning Galadriel Lady Redeemed, she IS banned in expanded format.
I have a ruling document (pdf) saved released back in shadows where it was stated she was banned (whereas should be).

[Gil-Estel]

Wow...thanks for the credits, but I guess I'm not always right...I try to be, but there are others who are more 'informed' when it comes to rules and such. Hope you will be an active member, as we can use active members a lot, and especially when it comes to decks and reviewing them!

[Pepin The Breve]

  Man, and i was thinking that someone had a great idea to solve my shadow deck problem... 

  Well, anyway... welcome to TLHH daisukeman! Hope you find some of your answers regarding lotr tcg here. Like you i´m south american (from Brazil) and play most movie block, nice to have more people from around who still play it. If you have cards to trade don´t forget to post at Esgaroth Marketplace 

   See ya!

[Kralik]

Movie Block is coming back! Ringbearer and Manuel play it a lot as well.

[Ringbearer]

On topic: greed needs an uruk hai IIRC, so that wont work with only orcs.

I would stongly suggest putting 4 Abandoning REason to madness in the deck. It cycles so well. MAybe add a few Orc Insurgent against rainbow fellowships.

[Pepin The Breve]

 

On topic: greed needs an uruk hai IIRC, so that wont work with only orcs.

I would stongly suggest putting 4 Abandoning REason to madness in the deck. It cycles so well. MAybe add a few Orc Insurgent against rainbow fellowships.

   Yes RB, usually when people pack Greed in Isen Swarm deck they use cheap uruks like Uruk-hai Foot Soldier. But Greed is to vunerable to conditioon discard and cards like Albert Dreary, Entertainer From Bree. No fun if you find him in an ent deck 

   I tried abandoning Reason For Madness at my first build but it just seems doesn´t work. It´s only good to cicle extra cards at the first sites. After that i just will be likely to play most of the cards i draw and it can be one minion less when i most need it. Orc Insurget is nice, i can consider adding some, but i will have to see what i can take out to replace with it (if there is something).

    Thanks for the comments!

[daisukeman]

Hey Pepin, try adding:
3 x Scaffolding ---check out it's a possesion and has no problem with Saruman's Power (1U136)

that way you can certainly have it your way with those orcs' habilities without worrying about them losing in skirmishes.
I see your deck will bomb the heck out of small fellowships and ones not so centered around strength; but then again my guess is you are gonna find yourself un-using a lot of twilight at some moment and against many decks that arm strongly enough to win and/or heal. Remember there's no regroup at site 9 which gives you some disadvantage.
It may be fine, since in that case you can always speed our ents and run.
It feels 4 x U Enquea are too much.

[Pepin The Breve]

   Thanks for the comments Daisuke!

    I know that Enquea X4 is a little bit too much. But i will need him stiking the table often if i want to stop fellowship like ents, that just slaughther my shadows. I´m already considering some Scaffolding, but i fear that i would lost some of the swarm power if i add many copies of it.