The Way Into Mordor - Sméagol (5/13: Pitifully Anxious To Please)

[sickofpalantirs]

Is It Tasty?
Event • Fellowship or Regroup
Exert Sméagol to reveal the top X cards of your draw deck, where X is Sméagol's vitality. Take into hand each revealed card and each revealed card of the Ring-bearer's culture. Place each other card revealed beneath your draw deck.
"‘We are famisshed, yes famisshed we are, precious. What is it they eats? Have they nice fisshes?'"
that could be interesting with a gollum shadow.

•So Juicy Sweet
Condition • Support Area
Fellowship: Spot Sméagol and exert a Ring-bound companion to place a card of that companion's culture from hand beneath your draw deck.
"‘The rock and pool, / is nice and cool, / so juicy sweet. / Our only wish, / to catch a fish, / so juicy sweet!'"
I'd say limit once per phase.

Stewed Rabbits
Possession
To play, spot 3 Ring-bound companions (or a Ring-bound Hobbit). Bearer must be Sméagol.
Regroup: Discard this possession to heal a Ring-bound companion.
"‘They are young, they are tender, they are nice. Eat them, eat them!'"

fine.

[DáinIronfoot]

Wow...one day short of two months since the last update. That has to be a record...and one I'm not proud of.

I was kind of hoping to bust back into the DCing scene with a big update, but I think I'll just dip my toes in and eeeeeeeease my way back into things instead. So, let's just pick up right where we left off. Actually, picking up more like TWO updates ago, because we're going back to some discard pile fun for the time being. Enjoy!

So Secret and So Sly
Event • Regroup
Stealth. Play Sméagol from your discard pile to heal each Ring-bound companion. If the fellowship does not move again this turn, add 2 burdens.
"‘...I think he is allured here by a mastering desire, stronger than his caution.'"

As I went back and tried to catch up on where I'd left things before, I discovered that I have several more cards that actually discard Sméagol than cards that bring him back, so here's one more of the latter. Yes, it's similar to You Must Help Us, but I think the fact that it can cover non-Hobbits (like Ring-bound rangers, who are big again in this set) and that it can work before moving again makes it plenty useful too...without completely overshadowing YMHU, since this one has obvious drawbacks that one lacks.

Marvellous Agility
Event • Skirmish
Stealth. Name a card in your discard pile and remove that card from the game to cancel a skirmish involving Sméagol. If the discarded card was a companion, you may take this event back into hand.
"‘...he gave us the slip by some fox-trick.'"

And here's a fun way to turn a discarded Sméagol into an entirely different kind of benefit. Obviously this is especially awesome with a Shadow side as well.

Speaking of which, I'm going to kick off the Shadow cards in another thread after I post this, so keep an eye out for that as well.

Aaaaaah...it's good to be back.

[lem0nhead]

Wow...one day short of two months since the last update. That has to be a record...and one I'm not proud of.

About time!

So Secret and So Sly
Event • Regroup
Play Sméagol from your discard pile to heal each Ring-bound companion. If the fellowship does not move again this turn, add 2 burdens.
"‘...I think he is allured here by a mastering desire, stronger than his caution.'"

Awesomeness.

Marvellous Agility
Event • Skirmish
Name a card in your discard pile and remove that card from the game to cancel a skirmish involving Sméagol. If the discarded card was a companion, you may take this event back into hand.
"‘...he gave us the slip by some fox-trick.'"

Sound enough.

[Thranduil]

So Secret and So Sly
Event • Regroup
Play Sméagol from your discard pile to heal each Ring-bound companion. If the fellowship does not move again this turn, add 2 burdens.
"‘...I think he is allured here by a mastering desire, stronger than his caution.'"

Yeah, seems fair enough. I like this build for a Sméagol card: do something good, but with a possible disadvantage. I'd like to see more of that, and perhaps some Gollum cards that do the opposite.

Marvellous Agility
Event • Skirmish
Name a card in your discard pile and remove that card from the game to cancel a skirmish involving Sméagol. If the discarded card was a companion, you may take this event back into hand.
"‘...he gave us the slip by some fox-trick.'"

The wording is a little off, isn't it? Surely it should be "Remove a card in your discard pile from the game to cancel a skirmish involving Sméagol. If the removed card was a companion, you may take this event back into hand."

Both very interesting cards, though. Have a for being here!

Thranduil

[sickofpalantirs]

I seem to remember seeing a card like so secret and shy before...I wonder where...

[DáinIronfoot]

Yeah, your wording is probably better, Thran. I'll tweak it later tonight.

For now, two items of good news. 1.) I have found that I am able to get access (albeit limited) to the forums while at my new office! That means you might see me around during the daytime sometimes after all, which will be a big help in getting me quality TLHH time. 2.) I have a few more cards to post! So here we go....

Don't Let Him Have It!
Event • Response
You may add 2 burdens to play this card from your discard pile as if played from hand.
If an opponent plays or replaces a site, exert Sméagol to replace that site with a site from your adventure deck.
"‘No use! Don't take the Precious to Him! He'll eat us all, if He gets it, eat all the world. Keep it, nice master, and be kind to Sméagol.'"

He's already good at controlling the sitepath, so why not help keep the Shadow player from interfering, eh?

Guided Well and Truthfully
Event • Fellowship
Stealth.
Spot Sméagol and add a burden to reveal X random cards from an opponent's adventure deck, where X is Sméagol's vitality. For each revealed battleground, discard a card from the top of your draw deck. For each other revealed site, draw a card.
"‘But when we gets closer, we'll see perhaps we'll see then. It won't look nice at all. O no! O no!'"

I wanted to emphasize the stealthy nature of Sméagol's guidance. With the small party of him and two Hobbits, confrontation is best avoided. It's when they end up in the middle of battles (like when they run into Faramir's rangers skirmishing the Men of Harad) that they run into trouble...hence the battleground hate. Other than that, though, it's all good.

To The Gate
Condition • Support Area
Stealth. To play, spot 2 Ring-bound companions.
Each time the fellowship moves to a marsh or mountain site, spot Sméagol to add a token here.
Each time the fellowship moves to a battleground, remove a token from one of your conditions.
Regroup: Remove a token from here to remove .
"The marshes and the desert were behind them. Before them, darkling against a pallid sky, the great mountains reared their threatening heads."

Again, stealthy maneuvering helps keep Sméagol's band safe: stick to certain sites where you're less likely to be followed and/or spotted (mountain passes and misty marshes), and your chances of avoiding confrontation get better and better. This obviously helps small fellowships best, but I didn't want it to be something you could toss into solo Sméagol decks and further frustrate the opponent, so it requires another Ring-bound companion be along for the ride. In most decks (ANY deck where Sméagol isn't the Ring-bearer, in fact), this is still no problem.

Now that I've started it, I think I'm going to try and do a little more with tokens next time...as well as some more Shadow cards.

[Gerontius]

Don't Let Him Have It!
Event • Response
You may add 2 burdens to play this card from your discard pile as if played from hand.
If an opponent plays a site, exert Sméagol to replace that site with a site from your adventure deck.
"‘No use! Don't take the Precious to Him! He'll eat us all, if He gets it, eat all the world. Keep it, nice master, and be kind to Sméagol.'"

Good.

Guided Well and Truthfully
Event • Fellowship
Stealth.
Spot Sméagol and add a burden to randomly reveal X cards from an opponent's adventure deck, where X is Sméagol's vitality. For each revealed battleground, discard a card from the top of your draw deck. For each other revealed site, draw a card.
"‘But when we gets closer, we'll see perhaps we'll see then. It won't look nice at all. O no! O no!'"

Awesome idea, might be a little crazy at early sites. and never really had much card drawing, but maybe theirs a good reason for it. Maybe some other bonus?

To The Gate
Condition • Support Area
Stealth. To play, spot 2 Ring-bound companions.
Each time the fellowship moves to a marsh or mountain site, spot Sméagol to add a token here.
Each time the fellowship moves to a battleground, remove a token from one of your conditions.
Regroup: Remove a token from here to remove .
"The marshes and the desert were behind them. Before them, darkling against a pallid sky, the great mountains reared their threatening heads."

Cool!

[Thranduil]

Don't Let Him Have It!
Event • Response
You may add 2 burdens to play this card from your discard pile as if played from hand.
If an opponent plays a site, exert Sméagol to replace that site with a site from your adventure deck.
"‘No use! Don't take the Precious to Him! He'll eat us all, if He gets it, eat all the world. Keep it, nice master, and be kind to Sméagol.'"

I think this card seems generally unnecessarily. Given the parameters for this card, I'd make something more like Caravan from the South and that cycle. I don't think anyone would play this.

Guided Well and Truthfully
Event • Fellowship
Stealth.
Spot Sméagol and add a burden to randomly reveal X cards from an opponent's adventure deck, where X is Sméagol's vitality. For each revealed battleground, discard a card from the top of your draw deck. For each other revealed site, draw a card.
"‘But when we gets closer, we'll see perhaps we'll see then. It won't look nice at all. O no! O no!'"

You surely mean "to reveal X random cards..."? "Randomly reveal" seems not to make sense, like you are just doing it for fun! A fair enough card, but The Old Took might have a point - healing might sit better.

To The Gate
Condition • Support Area
Stealth. To play, spot 2 Ring-bound companions.
Each time the fellowship moves to a marsh or mountain site, spot Sméagol to add a token here.
Each time the fellowship moves to a battleground, remove a token from one of your conditions.
Regroup: Remove a token from here to remove .
"The marshes and the desert were behind them. Before them, darkling against a pallid sky, the great mountains reared their threatening heads."

Nice. I might prefer it as unique and removing per token.

Thranduil

[lem0nhead]

Don't Let Him Have It!
Event • Response
You may add 2 burdens to play this card from your discard pile as if played from hand.
If an opponent plays a site, exert Sméagol to replace that site with a site from your adventure deck.
"‘No use! Don't take the Precious to Him! He'll eat us all, if He gets it, eat all the world. Keep it, nice master, and be kind to Sméagol.'"

Id prefer it if it also worked if an opponent replaced a site as well as just playing one.. That would be really funny

Guided Well and Truthfully
Event • Fellowship
Stealth.
Spot Sméagol and add a burden to randomly reveal X cards from an opponent's adventure deck, where X is Sméagol's vitality. For each revealed battleground, discard a card from the top of your draw deck. For each other revealed site, draw a card.
"‘But when we gets closer, we'll see perhaps we'll see then. It won't look nice at all. O no! O no!'"

Interesting, not sure whether youd wanna use it though.

To The Gate
Condition • Support Area
Stealth. To play, spot 2 Ring-bound companions.
Each time the fellowship moves to a marsh or mountain site, spot Sméagol to add a token here.
Each time the fellowship moves to a battleground, remove a token from one of your conditions.
Regroup: Remove a token from here to remove .
"The marshes and the desert were behind them. Before them, darkling against a pallid sky, the great mountains reared their threatening heads."

Underpowered as it is DI I think.

[sickofpalantirs]

Don't Let Him Have It!
Event • Response
You may add 2 burdens to play this card from your discard pile as if played from hand.
If an opponent plays a site, exert Sméagol to replace that site with a site from your adventure deck.
"‘No use! Don't take the Precious to Him! He'll eat us all, if He gets it, eat all the world. Keep it, nice master, and be kind to Sméagol.'"
coolio.

Guided Well and Truthfully
Event • Fellowship
Stealth.
Spot Sméagol and add a burden to randomly reveal X cards from an opponent's adventure deck, where X is Sméagol's vitality. For each revealed battleground, discard a card from the top of your draw deck. For each other revealed site, draw a card.
"‘But when we gets closer, we'll see perhaps we'll see then. It won't look nice at all. O no! O no!'"
fine. can be powerful, especially late (site 5-6) so you know what to expect in the crucial last region.  I think it would have uses.

To The Gate
Condition • Support Area
Stealth. To play, spot 2 Ring-bound companions.
Each time the fellowship moves to a marsh or mountain site, spot Sméagol to add a token here.
Each time the fellowship moves to a battleground, remove a token from one of your conditions.
Regroup: Remove a token from here to remove .
"The marshes and the desert were behind them. Before them, darkling against a pallid sky, the great mountains reared their threatening heads."

fine.

[DáinIronfoot]

Hmmm...a mixed bag of comments. I'll have to think on these a bit more, and when I decide which way to go (AKA by the next time I have new cards ready to post), I'll make some tweaks.

Thanks, boys. for all!

[DáinIronfoot]

Okay, after much deliberation, I decided to leave Guided Well and Truthfully alone and made one small tweak to Don't Let Him Have It!. If you still think there's a good case for further changes, let me know and I promise I'll consider them. I am open to further changes if you think they're necessary, so speak out!

Here's a trio of token-related cards, as promised last time. Some are kind of specific in their usage, but hopefully okay anyway. You tell me!

•On The Precious
Condition • Support Area
Each time a burden is added, you may exert Sméagol to add a token here.
Skirmish: Remove a token from here to make a Ring-bound companion strength +1.
Regroup: Remove a token from here to reinforce another token.
"‘We swears to serve the master of the Preciousss. We swears on... on the Precious!'"

This is the one that is NOT specific. In fact, I think it's pretty versatile and likely would be worth tossing in most decks with Sméagol if you have extra room, even if just for the moderate strength pump. One question: would you be able to use the first line with the burden added for playing Sméagol? Wasn't sure of the order there, but can you play him, add the burden, and then exert him to add a token to this?

Master Looks After Us Now
Condition
Resistance +1
To play, spot a non-[Gollum] Ring-bearer. Bearer must be Sméagol.
Response: If Sméagol wins a skirmish, discard this condition to heal a Ring-bound companion and reinforce a token of that companion's culture.
"‘We...we told him to go away! And away he goes, Preciousss!'"

I considered giving this an ability to fetch itself from the discard pile (since one of Sméagol's big themes in this set is discarding and replaying himself), but I'm worried that may be bordering on OP. Thoughts?

Go Away
Event • Maneuver
Maneuver: Spot Sméagol and remove a Shadow culture token (or add a threat) to reinforce a token.
Response: If a Shadow card is played, discard that card.
"‘Leave now and never come back!'"

Versatile, but unfortunately both abilities rely on proper action by the opponent (tokens and/or Shadow cards), so really, it's pretty restrictive. Too much so?

[sickofpalantirs]

Whatever floats your boats I guess...

•On The Precious
Condition • Support Area
Each time a burden is added, you may exert Sméagol to add a token here.
Skirmish: Remove a token from here to make a Ring-bound companion strength +1.
Regroup: Remove a token from here to reinforce another token.
"‘We swears to serve the master of the Preciousss. We swears on... on the Precious!'"
sure.

Master Looks After Us Now
Condition
Resistance +1
To play, spot a non-[Gollum] Ring-bearer. Bearer must be Sméagol.
Each time Sméagol is played from the discard pile, you may play this condition on him from your hand or discard pile.
Response: If Sméagol wins a skirmish, discard this condition to heal a Ring-bound companion and reinforce a token of that companion's culture.
"‘We...we told him to go away! And away he goes, Preciousss!'"
I'd say make it unique

Go Away
Event • Maneuver
Maneuver: Spot Sméagol (or exert Gollum) and remove a Shadow culture token to reinforce a token.
Response: If a Shadow card is played, discard that card.
"‘Leave now and never come back!'"

why not/

[Thranduil]

•On The Precious
Condition • Support Area
Each time a burden is added, you may exert Sméagol to add a token here.
Skirmish: Remove a token from here to make a Ring-bound companion strength +1.
Regroup: Remove a token from here to reinforce another token.
"‘We swears to serve the master of the Preciousss. We swears on... on the Precious!'"

Interesting. I reckon it could cost or , but this is pretty darn good with BoS (after all, his regroup ability adds burdens).

This is the one that is NOT specific. In fact, I think it's pretty versatile and likely would be worth tossing in most decks with Sméagol if you have extra room, even if just for the moderate strength pump. One question: would you be able to use the first line with the burden added for playing Sméagol? Wasn't sure of the order there, but can you play him, add the burden, and then exert him to add a token to this?

I doubt that there's a ruling on this - LotR is very loose on timing. I would say no because you have to meet all extra costs before playing a card, and adding a burden is an extra cost to play Sméagol, and therefore by the time Sméagol hits play, the burden has already been added and it's too late.

Master Looks After Us Now
Condition
Resistance +1
To play, spot a non-[Gollum] Ring-bearer. Bearer must be Sméagol.
Each time Sméagol is played from the discard pile, you may play this condition on him from your hand or discard pile.
Response: If Sméagol wins a skirmish, discard this condition to heal a Ring-bound companion and reinforce a token of that companion's culture.
"‘We...we told him to go away! And away he goes, Preciousss!'"

I think you should just go all the way and say " Ring-bearer". I think the recursion becomes too good because it's non-unique and you can play all copies in your discard pile on him. Unique or without that line, the card would be fine.

Go Away
Event • Maneuver
Maneuver: Spot Sméagol (or exert Gollum) and remove a Shadow culture token to reinforce a token.
Response: If a Shadow card is played, discard that card.
"‘Leave now and never come back!'"

Yeah, seems a bit too restrictive to me. I think if the maneuver ability was pretty general and the response was as it is then it would be fine, but to have 2 abilities specific on different things seems to be a bit much.

Thranduil

[DáinIronfoot]

Alright, tweaked all three. Better now?