The Twilight World - COMPLETE LIST

[Thranduil]

Erestor = POWERFUL. I hope this set has some serious resistance reduction, otherwise Elf decks packing lots of events will be unstoppable. With the forsee cards, you can pack the top cards of your deck with elven events, use them all to cripple the Shadow player, and then (thanks to Erestor), pick up a new bunch of events when you move.

He's supposed to be powerful, which is one of the reasons he costs and therefore makes starting fellowships awkward. There is quite a number of resistance reductions, but you could be right that he's too powerful.

And I personally don't associate the word "teleporno" with anything LotR related.

Well, Teleporno is a form of Celeborn's name in another Elven language (I think Sindarin) and I was really scrounging for subtitles, seeing as most of the good ones have already been taken... I will change him though - I don't know why he says "and".

Thranduil

[DáinIronfoot]

I am woefully behind on reviews...and new cards of my own. New DCs from me tomorrow. New reviews...right now!

I think you can safely remove "you play" from the text, and it actually works better without it.

I'm probably being very tired and very slow, but what's the difference?

I suppose there really isn't a difference, but that's why I recommended removing it...I always try to chop out unnecessary text.

Ancient Struggle
Event • Skirmish
Make a minion skirmishing an companion strength -2 (or -4 if it is a or minion).
T C 5

Fair enough.

Power of Foresight
Event • Maneuver
Spell.
Spot an companion to foresee 3 (look at the top 3 cards of your draw deck; place any number of those cards on top of or beneath your draw deck in any order).
T C 13

Okay. In any other culture I'd probably say was too much...but for Elves, it's probably a necessary evil.

Always liked the idea of a few spells, by the way.

Faith in the Valar
Event • Skirmish
Spell. Tale.
Toil 2.
Reveal the top card of your draw deck. Prevent all wounds to a skirmishing companion if that card is a Free Peoples card.
T U 11

Odd wording, but it makes sense.

•Dínendal, Silent Sentinel
Companion • Elf
Str: 6
Vit: 3
Res: 6
Archer. Ranger.
Each time you play a maneuver or archery event, you may foresee 1 (look at the top 1 card of your draw deck; place it on top of or beneath your draw deck).
T C 8

Archers shouldn't be quite so easy to come by, even for Elves. Make that conditional or lower his strength to 5. I'd also limit the events being played to ones for triggering that ability.

•Calaglin, Silent Sentinel
Companion • Elf
Str: 6
Vit: 3
Res: 6
Archer. Ranger.
Each time you play a maneuver or archery event, you may reveal the top card of your draw deck. If it is an card, you may exert a minion.
T C 6

Ditto here.

•Erestor, Wise Councillor
Companion • Elf
Str: 7
Vit: 3
Res: 7
Unyielding (Erestor's resistance is not reduced by the number of burdens).
At the start of the regroup phase, if Erestor has resistance 7 or more, you may reconcile your hand.
T U 10

I'm on the fence here. I'd be happier if that triggered with 8 resistance, so you have to work a little to get him there. But I suppose that depends on if you have any resistance boosters in the set. If not, then perhaps put another trigger on it, like "...if Erestor has resistance 7 or more and is not exhausted..." or something.

•Celeborn, Teleporno
Companion • Elf
Str: 6
Vit: 3
Res: 7
At the start of the maneuver phase, you may reveal the top card of your draw deck to discard a Shadow condition with twilight cost less than the twilight cost of the card revealed.
T R 7

I'm actually familiar with that subtitle for Celeborn...I'm such a Tolkien dweeb. He seems okay to me.

[Thranduil]

You make very good points, DI, and I've changed basically everything you told me to! Dínendal and Calaglin have simply lost archer and trigger off events of any phase, and Erestor now has to be not exhausted. Thanks!

Now to finish the culture, we first have a rejigged version of Elven Cloak, because it's a real shame that there is no Elven Cloak worth playing.

Lórien Cloak
Possession • Cloak
To play, spot an card.
Bearer must be a companion.
The minion archery total is -1.
Response: If a minion uses a special ability, discard this possession to cancel that ability unless that minion's owner removes .
T U 9

And now this is a splash card. I do sometimes throw in rares that really have not much to do with the set but could have some funky interactions with other sets. In this case, I'm thinking of Refuge and Taking the High Ground.

Silent Watchers
Condition • Support Area
Stealth.
Response: If a minion is played, discard an character from hand to wound that minion.
Response: If a Shadow condition is played, discard an character from hand and discard this condition to discard that condition.
T R 14

Now I'm not sure about this next card. I will tell you, however, first what I think of burden removal: it is very important to be there! The reason is for the same reason as MTG had to start spreading abilities around to different colours. Some abilities have got so embedded in a particular culture that no other culture can really do it. does burden removal and hardly any other cultures do it at all, for example. So I've made a point of spreading things like burden removal across different cultures, because there should be some and burden removal cards. This will continue in the next set.

And so with my mandate of fitting some burden removal somewhere and making a card for the Highest Quality cycle, I ended up on this one. Is it good? I'm not sure - you tell me!

Ghosts of Men
Event • Maneuver
Twilight.
To play, spot an companion.
Exert any number of companions with total resistance 15 or more to foresee the same number of cards. For each Free Peoples card you foresee, you may reveal it to remove a burden or wound a minion in twilight. (to foresee X, look at the top X cards of your draw deck; place any number of those cards on top of or beneath your draw deck in any order).
‘"I do not fear them."'
T R 12

[ket_the_jet]

Elven Garb
Possession • Cloak
To play, spot an card.
Bearer must be a companion.
The minion archery total is -1.
Response: If a minion uses a special ability, discard this possession to cancel that ability unless that minion's owner removes .
T U 9

Would it be:
Response: If a minion uses a special ability, discard this possession to cancel that ability; that minion's owner may remove to prevent that.
Or something along those lines? I could be wrong. But it is a cool card...Elven cloaks should be better...I might make it "To play, spot an Elf" because it is a great splash card (just add Strands of Elven Hair to every dwarf deck and Dwarves get even more invincible!) but it's your call.

Silent Watchers
Condition • Support Area
Stealth.
Response: If a minion is played, discard an character from hand to wound that minion.
Response: If a Shadow condition is played, spot an character and discard this condition to discard that condition.
T R 14

Wow. I really hate seeing Elves get better.

Ghosts of Men
Event • Maneuver
Twilight.
To play, spot an companion.
Exert any number of companions with resistance 15 or more to foresee the same number of cards. For each Free Peoples card you foresee, you may reveal it to remove a burden or wound a twilight minion.
‘"I do not fear them."'
T R 12

I don't really know the forsee mechanic well enough to comment on this one.
-wtk

[Thranduil]

Sorry, I've included the rules helper text now.

Thranduil

[Thranduil]

Come on guys - where is everyone?

Thranduil

[DáinIronfoot]

Oops. Sorry there, chief. Missed this somehow.

Elven Garb
Possession • Cloak
To play, spot an card.
Bearer must be a companion.
The minion archery total is -1.
Response: If a minion uses a special ability, discard this possession to cancel that ability unless that minion's owner removes .
T U 9

Seems alright to me. "Garb" isn't a very Elvish word, though.

Silent Watchers
Condition • Support Area
Stealth.
Response: If a minion is played, discard an character from hand to wound that minion.
Response: If a Shadow condition is played, spot an character and discard this condition to discard that condition.
T R 14

I think I'd make the condition one discard an character from hand, too. Helps tie the card up neatly and is also more balanced, methinks.

Ghosts of Men
Event • Maneuver
Twilight.
To play, spot an companion.
Exert any number of companions with resistance 15 or more to foresee the same number of cards. For each Free Peoples card you foresee, you may reveal it to remove a burden or wound a twilight minion. (to foresee X, look at the top X cards of your draw deck; place any number of those cards on top of or beneath your draw deck in any order).
‘"I do not fear them."'
T R 12

Um...hmmm. I THINK it's balanced, since removing burdens would mean you're likely having to exert more to use it in the first place.

[lem0nhead]

Elven Garb
Possession • Cloak
To play, spot an card.
Bearer must be a companion.
The minion archery total is -1.
Response: If a minion uses a special ability, discard this possession to cancel that ability unless that minion's owner removes .
T U 9

Three seems a hefty cost to prevent 1 archery action being cancelled, maybe 2?

Silent Watchers
Condition • Support Area
Stealth.
Response: If a minion is played, discard an character from hand to wound that minion.
Response: If a Shadow condition is played, spot an character and discard this condition to discard that condition.
T R 14

Looks good to me.

Ghosts of Men
Event • Maneuver
Twilight.
To play, spot an companion.
Exert any number of companions with resistance 15 or more to foresee the same number of cards. For each Free Peoples card you foresee, you may reveal it to remove a burden or wound a twilight minion. (to foresee X, look at the top X cards of your draw deck; place any number of those cards on top of or beneath your draw deck in any order).
‘"I do not fear them."'
T R 12

"The same number" isnt clear whether it means 15 or the number of people you exerted even though its obvious. You probably should phrase it Exert X. And also add the word 'total' before resistance 15. Similar to the highest quality. But i must add this is quite a potential powerful burden remover, elves arent exactly crap at telepathy are they? And they arent the best burden removers, or at least shouldnt be this good.

[Thranduil]

Seems alright to me. "Garb" isn't a very Elvish word, though.

No I know, but I couldn't think of anything better. Putting "cloak" into a thesaurus isn't very enlightening.

I think I'd make the condition one discard an character from hand, too. Helps tie the card up neatly and is also more balanced, methinks.

Yep, fair enough. Done.

"The same number" isnt clear whether it means 15 or the number of people you exerted even though its obvious. You probably should phrase it Exert X. And also add the word 'total' before resistance 15. Similar to the highest quality. But i must add this is quite a potential powerful burden remover, elves arent exactly crap at telepathy are they? And they arent the best burden removers, or at least shouldnt be this good.

Firstly it's fantastic to hear from you! Secondly, I think it is clear because it explicitly says "any number" and then "the same number" and I'm not sure if there's a better way to phrase it. "Exert X companions with total resistance 15 or more..." Does that work? Thirdly, I reckon that should be the 3rd best culture at dealing with burdens (after and ) and so I think it's important for them to have at least some good burden removal - this card still doesn't compare to Foe-hammer or the version of this cycle in that respect. Nevertheless, I've raised the cost, fixed the wording and tried out a different wording for twilight cards which I'm sure no one is going to notice!

Moving on, we seem to be onto cards. So, I'm first going to start with the components of cycles we've already seen before. First, the culture-hate-pump cycle:

Root Out the Shadow
Event • Skirmish
Search.
Make a companion strength +2 (and discard an or [Sauron condition).
T C 20

Now the toil without cultural enforcement cycle:

Valor of the West
Event • Skirmish
Tale. Toil 3.
Make a companion strength +5.
T U 23

And now the totalling resistance cycle:

United in Bravery
Event • Skirmish
Spell.
To play, spot a Wizard.
Exert any number of companions to discard a minion with strength less than the total resistance of those companions.
T R 22

[ket_the_jet]

Root Out the Shadow
Event • Skirmish
Search.
Make a companion strength +2 (and discard a condition if you can spot an or minion).
T C 20

This card is pretty good. I would just as quickly use Gandalf, Manager of Wizards and Brooding On Tomorrow so that it didn't matter what race the condition was. But obviously meta-specific.

Valor of the West
Event • Skirmish
Tale. Toil 3.
Make a companion strength +5.
T U 23

I see the use of this card, but it would never be in any of my decks. At , even if I did "Toil it down" a little bit, you are still leaving some twilight for a skirmish event or ability to be played. Again, I see the use and the card is balanced enough, I would just personally never use it.

United in Bravery
Event • Skirmish
Spell.
To play, spot a Wizard.
Exert any number of companions to discard a minion with strength less than the total resistance of those companions.
T R 22

Yes! This is what I've been waiting for. This is the greatest card ever! Kind of takes away the fun of a fighting Balrog and with your "unyielding" it can be very powerful. But this card is great and I am in full support of this.

Keep them coming.
-wtk

Edit: Elven Cloak, Lorien Cape.
Elven Cloak, Lorien Shawl.
Elven Cloak, Elven Veil.

I don't know. Just ideas.
-wtk

[lem0nhead]

Firstly it's fantastic to hear from you!

Thank you! I have been around as normal but have either been too tired from lack of sleep to review, or have lacked the enthusiasm to review LOTR cards as I'm embarking on a MTG journey!

Root Out the Shadow
Event • Skirmish
Search.
Make a companion strength +2 (and discard a condition if you can spot an or minion).
T C 20

Nice but if youre targetting those 2 cultures, id make the conditionbe one of those cultures as well. Seems harsh to spot an uruk and get rid of a nazgul condition.

Valor of the West
Event • Skirmish
Tale. Toil 3.
Make a companion strength +5.
T U 23

But id make it 6. 2 exertions is worth a free cost +5 strength, in fact maybe even then its not worth doing!

United in Bravery
Event • Skirmish
Spell.
To play, spot a Wizard.
Exert any number of companions to discard a minion with strength less than the total resistance of those companions.
T R 22

Wow the power potential is vast, id love get my hads on this as Ket said.

[Thranduil]

You're obviously right about Root Out the Shadow and so it's changed. And thank you ket for giving me a good retitle of Elven Garb - I realised that I was trying to change the wrong word!

About Valor of the West, I think it's a draft card and I don't think I'd ever use it in constructed. But in the context of a draft, think of it this way: it saves your Ring-bearer and requires no cultural enforcement. This would be an obvious pick for me in any sort of limited format, which is why it's here!

I'm embarking on a MTG journey!

Oh? Do tell...

Thranduil

[ket_the_jet]

And thank you ket for giving me a good retitle of Elven Garb - I realised that I was trying to change the wrong word!

No problem at all! You've been helpful in my few tries at DC's and obviously take a lot of inspiration from what you and Dain and others do.
-wtk

[lem0nhead]

I'm embarking on a MTG journey!

Oh? Do tell...

Thranduil

Purchased 2 boxes of m10 (that are coming from the states), and as yet have never played the game or completely know the rules! I have a play circle of 5 immediate friends and a local shop with an active community and tournaments. Im still too busy with baby to attend those yet but I wanted to give magic a try so I am doing! If you wanna trade or give me any advice hit me up!

[Thranduil]

One of the problems with the culture (among others) is that there are very few companions that actually make sense, and the coolest are Wizards, of which there are only 2. So, the first set Light & Shadow had Gandalf and Radagast, but in order to make an appealing culture to draft, it needs more companions at common/uncommon, and hence these 2 guys. When I designed these 2, I was thinking how to represent that these Men had come to the council from far away, and in the end I got the idea of trade, that they can get stuff which you would otherwise not be able to get, hence their texts (though I was actually thinking about it and I couldn't come up with a convincing flavour reason why the Dale-men and Lake-men are in the culture, but never mind ).

•Hugin, Lake-town Ambassador
Companion • Man
Str: 5
Vit: 3
Res: 6
Each event gains toil 1.
T C 18

•Ottar, Lake-town Ambassador
Companion • Man
Str: 5
Vit: 3
Res: 6
Fellowship: Exert Ottar to foresee 2; reveal and take into hand each card you foresee.
T C 19

Another response to the problem of the lack of companions was this sort of card (signets are not a theme of this set, but I thought I would throw it on there for the benefit of any expanded players who would love it - TMAYOD ):

Friend to Gandalf
Condition • Companion
To play, spot Gandalf.
Bearer gains the culture and the Gandalf signet.
Regroup: Discard this condition to heal Gandalf.
T U 15