Rate This Deck: Dwarves/Moria Swarm

[ket_the_jet]

Wait...are you the one star or the four stars? (I am not offended either way).

If you don't end up with Ring of Fury from the start, give Durin III another ring and then transfer it once Ring of Fury comes up. I recently switched to The One Ring, The Binding Ring for a few games to test out...I would say that is a preference thing...one extra strength against Frodo or the ability to grab Ring of Fury if you use it to heal a group of Dwarves.

Ring of Fury by no means is the key to this deck at all. It is a really nice card, but this deck would probably be fine with just one of them.
-wtk

[Gil-Estel]

4 stars, cause I like the idea. I'm not saying that ring of fury is key, but with healing as the only real 'catch' in this deck you could be in trouble vs condition/possession based decks. And to at least discard some shadowcards effectively, you need the damage....

[ket_the_jet]

Fair enough. I don't want to sound like I am beating a dead horse, but many of my fellowships are built to cater to the Shadow side, with some ability to run late in the game if necessary.

Edit: To put a little more thought into it, think beyond Lord of the Rings TCG...maybe at a game like Magic: The Gathering or Versus System. In these games, "stall" decks are completely viable options. In the case of Versus, I might stall until turn six, seven, eight, or even later to get out a character that could then wipe out the rest of the board. Same goes for Magic, the Gathering. So I guess the actual purpose of these Dwarves is to stall for my side to get into shape enough to slay my enemies. This often is done at site five (four if really lucky), but if it happens at seven, eight, or even nine I am still prepared and my free peoples can survive out the turns.

To whomever rated this deck a 1, could you explain why?
-wtk

[Calam]

I still think this shadow side is the best version of a moria swarm I have ever seen/played with.  If I had the cards, I'd build this deck in real life.

Dwarf side still needs a lot of work though, IMHO...  After a few more games I've realized the incredible value of Dwarven Heart and AoE, however one is far less effective without the other (for obvious reasons).  I've found myself discarding DH out of desperation to draw a good shadow hand only to draw AoE in the next hand... So I might recommend adding more of one or the other.

Another method of "stalling" as you put it is to get your dwarves to survive more skirmishes!!  They lose way too often.  I find myself burning through companions just to survive long enough to overwhelm my opponent with orcs.  I've played about 20 games with this deck now and these dwarves lose about 2/3rds of all their skirmishes, with the exception of a few wipeouts against certain shadow sides (i.e. discard-to-wound Isengard orcs get crushed by dwarves).

The alternative to this (and an alternative that still promotes cycling) is to go with the pump-up route as opposed to using all these conditions and regroup events... Throw in a ton more skirmish pumps and I guarantee your dwarves will survive longer.  Maybe it's just the way I'm playing them, but it's frustrating to have such a nice shadow side become useless because the fellowship just doesn't last.  And if you're discarding 2 skirmish events every turn and the re-stacking them on Preparations (which I would recommending adding 1 more of, by the way), you'll be cycling well enough to not have to use EMHR at all.

[ket_the_jet]

The alternative to this (and an alternative that still promotes cycling) is to go with the pump-up route as opposed to using all these conditions and regroup events... Throw in a ton more skirmish pumps and I guarantee your dwarves will survive longer.  Maybe it's just the way I'm playing them, but it's frustrating to have such a nice shadow side become useless because the fellowship just doesn't last.  And if you're discarding 2 skirmish events every turn and the re-stacking them on Preparations (which I would recommending adding 1 more of, by the way), you'll be cycling well enough to not have to use EMHR at all.

To be honest, skirmish events stifle this deck because then you are holding those as opposed to Orcs.

Ever My Heart Rises is there for a quick fellowship set up (assuming you get the start). Nothing better than not drawing #$&*@!, then using EMHR and ending up with Durin III, Axe of Erebor, etc...

I don't know. I'd love to play against you with my deck and you can use whichever deck you want.
-wtk

[Calam]

To be honest, skirmish events stifle this deck because then you are holding those as opposed to Moria Orcs.

Not with Preparations; that's the cool thing about the way you have this set up.  If you can get a bunch of events stacked on Preparations early, you don't have to hold the cards in your hand... More than that, this deck calls for very aggressive cycling during the regroup phase, so it's rare for me to hold onto fellowship cards if my shadow is coming up.

[ket_the_jet]

Well, the beautiful thing about this game is that people can all have different decks. I think I am happy with the balance I have created with my deck but would be interested in seeing how yours turns out. Hopefully you aren't adding many cards because the Shadow side is on a careful balance, but if you figure out cards that can be taken out, more power to you.

I find the easiest way to kill a larger minion (Easterling Army, Balrog, Witch-King, etc.) is a combination of Slaked Thirsts (when stacked) and Preparations. But if you prefer the pumps side, go ahead. I would just hope that you don't get stuck in a Shadow phase with six pumps and companions and no helpful minions.
-wtk

[Calam]

I find the easiest way to kill a larger minion (Easterling Army, Balrog, Witch-King, etc.) is a combination of Slaked Thirsts (when stacked) and Preparations. But if you prefer the pumps side, go ahead. I would just hope that you don't get stuck in a Shadow phase with six pumps and companions and no helpful minions.

That's already happened twice with this deck as it is, and that's a risk no matter what, so I'm not as concerned about that...

[MuadDib85]

I built and used this (a little differently), it is fun deck to play and very strong.

For the fellowship the only change I made was -1 Rest By Blind Night, +1 Slaked Thirsts.

Shadow -3 Goblin Scrabbler, -1 Guard Commander, +3 Moria Scout, +1 Host of Moria, LOTU.

I won a very close game against Pepin using Gandalf Dwarves / Saruman's Snows Berserkers.

Very nice deck.

[TheHobbit13]

I like the deck, I give it a five but I have one question. Why Guard Commander? The pump isn't that could, plus it uses a lot of twilight. I would go with Ancient Chieftain or Host of Moria LUTU. Also I like to use the underdeeps of moria in combination with Goblin Sneak, it is a pretty nice combo but I dunno. In the past it has helped me set up my swarm nicely.

Also I don't understand why shotgun enquea is a staple in most swarm decks... Could someone clear that up for me? Personally  I think he to high of twilight cost, and most people are paranoid about running six comps anyways so they don't even put extras in their deck. And it is a really has a high twilight cost... It seems to me that this card would mostly be waisted and would only help in certain situations... Backstabber+ Hosts of Moria seems to kill their extra companion, then I just stack on swarms for l8ter. Also I use underdeeps wich benefits greatly from the huge twilight big freeps tend to dish out.

[legolas3333]

enquea insures that they will have about 5 companions, and 5 companions are a lot easier to swarm then 6-9

[TheHobbit13]

enquea insures that they will have about 5 companions, and 5 companions are a lot easier to swarm then 6-9

Right, I see the logic but I don't know if it is so good to pack Enquea. Most people don't play with a lot of companions do they? I was always taught not to break the rule of five (bbbad, bad things happen). Thanks.

[ket_the_jet]

Guard Commander is cheaper than Ancient Chieftain and the pump is fantastic. I can regularly play every single minion in the deck at one site and generate 15 or so extra twilight. So he's pretty helpful.

The Underdeeps of Moria wouldn't work with this deck, because it is shuffled so regularly with Rest By Blind Night. If a simple swarm at site four isn't enough to beat your opponent, then you stack all of the minions on Preparations and shuffle them back into your deck with Rest By Blind Night. You can easily swarm someone at five or seven or eight.

Ulaire Enquea, Lieutenant of Morgul is fantastic for keeping the amount of companions low. The easiest solution to beating swarm is to play nine companions. Shotgun Enquea removes that from the possibility.

I appreciate you all reviving this topic from the dead, but this deck is pro. I can honestly say there is nothing that could be done to make this deck better.
-wtk

[Cw0rk]

I'd like to see a Goblin Warrior in there, 2 Goblin Scrabbler should be enough.

[ket_the_jet]

Elven conditions, particularly The Splendor of Their Banners and Glimpse of Fate are much more obnoxious than even the -targeting conditions.

Anyways, with the exception of directed wounding decks with Gimli, Bearer of Grudges, most decks use Gimli, Feared Axeman.
-wtk