Gloin and Pippin Tale Madness! (FP only...for now, at least)

[DáinIronfoot]

Easily one of my favorite cards from Age's End (and from ANY set, really) is Pippin, Steadfast Friend. His UNCAPPED text allows you to pump him up like no Hobbit has been pumped up before. This deck does just that...but it centers around Dwarves, and one particular, similar Dwarf....

FREE PEOPLES (37 cards):

Gimli, Bearer of Grudges w/ The One Ring, The Ring of Rings

Gloin, Friend to Thorin (starting)
Pippin, Steadfast Friend (starting)
Aragorn, Strider (starting)

Bilbo Baggins, Well-spoken Gentlehobbit

Anduril, Sword That Was Broken
Scroll of Isildur
Axe of Khazad-dum x2
Red Book of Westmarch

Thorin's Harp x4
Till Durin Wakes Again x4
Mountain Homestead x4
Mines of Khazad-dum x2
A Dragon's Tale x4
Hornblower Leaf x4
The Saga of Elendil x2
Gondor Bowmen x2

Nine-fingered Frodo and the Ring of Doom x2


The point of this deck is to turn Gloin and Pippin into absolute monsters. With all your tales and Mountain Homesteads and Axes out, Gloin has strength 19 and Pippin is a whopping 20. Unlikely they'll actually get that high, but even something close means they shouldn't be losing too many skirmishes. Anything that survives can be discarded with your Hornblower Leaf...unless you need to turn it into threat removal to cover Gimli's rear.

Thorin's Harp not only gives you tale power, but ensures the current site is always a mountain to make sure Gloin is a beast (and Gimli is strength 16 himself). Since using the Harp requires exerting, there is TONS of healing included here from Till Durin Wakes Again (which, again, serves the dual purpose of boosting tales) and Mines of Khazad-dum. That should free up any sanctuary healing to be concentrated on Pippin and Aragorn.

Speaking of whom, Aragorn is mostly here to fill up the left in the starting fellowship, but with Anduril and the Scroll, makes a nice +2 resistance for Gimli, and can usually mop up any smaller minions that Gloin or Pippin can't be bothered with. He also lets you churn out some archery in a pinch by way of Gondor Bowmen (though if you can leave them, their tale status is probably more useful for Pippin).

Bilbo is here mostly for his ability to throw some excess tales away to get rid of pesky Shadow conditions, but he combos nicely with the Red Book of Westmarch (yet another tale) to help you cycle through the deck.

As there are only two events here (which can really cover Gimli in a pinch), I thought about possibly making this deck even a little bigger with more Gondor Bowmen, Pippin's Sword, Scouring of the Shire, and/or Everyone Knows. What do you think?

And what do you think in general? I know this is weak against corruption (though a potential 10-resistance Gimli with a little threat removal thrown in to the deck ain't TOO shabby), but I think it would stand at least a fighting chance against anything else. Is it alright, and if not, how can I make it better?

And what would be a good Shadow pairing? I was thinking Gollum (thanks to mountains) and/or or thanks to a decent number of (probable) underground sites. Any good suggestions?

[NappyKorn]

I see you are starting back into deck construction. Does this mean the time is growing near when you will be playing again? If so I want to be included in a few of this future games .

On to a few suggestions for the shadow you should think of. I would go with something that cycles well seeing as you have a large deck going. Maybe something with a lot of nazgul and Moving this way. I have a fun deck that does just that but it has a possibility of producing a win. I will post it here as well. Another idea would be tentacles with a Gollum/They Stole It engine. I will post it as well.

Nazgul with Moving This Way

Shadow (36) 
2x In Twilight (19P34) 
4x Moving This Way (11S213) 
2x Shapes Slowly Advancing (11R217) 
2x Return to Its Master (1R224) 
3x Riders in Black (11S215) 
4x *The Witch-king, Black Lord (12R183) 
4x *Ulaire Attea, Black Predator (12R173) 
3x *Ulaire Nelya, Third of the Nine Riders (11S222) 
4x *Ulaire Nertea, Dark Horseman (19P38) 
4x *Ulaire Otsea, Seventh of the Nine Riders (11R224) 
4x *Ulaire Toldea, Black Shadow (12U180) 

Ok point of this deck is to get a Moving this way out them play a nazgul. Keep putting a nazgul from hand beneath your draw deck to draw a card. Chances are you will get another nazgul to repeat or a Freeps card to help set them up. There is a twist to the deck. It is rather difficult to pull off but can be done for a quick kill. Each time a companion is played you can reveal The Witch-king from hand to exert the RB (the more Wikkies in hand the better). When he gets exhausted play Nertea and a cheaper Wikkie. Assign Nertea to the RB if possible if he wins they are forced to wear the ring to prevent the killing wound. You then play Return to it's master to assign a nazgul to the RB and nullify the one rings game text. If that nazgul beats the RB they can't add a burden for the wound. I packed a few Riders in Black for a nice pump since you can always have a good number of nazgul in hand. Shapes Slowly Advancing can almost always ensure a comp is played for the Wikkie. Anyway just a thought and here is the tentacle deck.


Tentacle/Gollum
Shadow (36) 
4x Evil-smelling Fens (5U22) 
2x They Stole It (6R46) 
3x Captured by the Ring (7C53) 
3x Foul Things (2U59) 
3x Led Astray (11U45) 
1x *Gollum, Dark as Darkness (9R+28) 
4x *Watcher in the Water, Many-Tentacled Creature (19P21) 
4x Foul Tentacle (2C58) 
4x Huge Tentacle (2R66) 
4x Reaching Tentacle (19P19) 
4x Strong Tentacle (19P20) 

Point is to swarm with tentacles. Everyone knows how this works, but to fill in the extra spaces for your larger freeps I packed a gollum engine. Led Astray can net extra twilight and if he shows up early you can use They Stole It to toss the extra tentacles from hand to wound some companions up. Discarding as many of those as you can each turn will help your freeps get the cards they need next turn. Evil-Smelling Fens and Foul Things grab those Watchers but out of your discard pile then his text grabs the rest. Foul Tentacle helps by playing tentacles straight out of you draw deck leaving a better chance at getting you freeps going earlier.

[DáinIronfoot]

I see you are starting back into deck construction. Does this mean the time is growing near when you will be playing again? If so I want to be included in a few of this future games .

Yes, my friend. My schooling is almost complete, and I may be back on SdA as soon as this coming week!

Nazgul with Moving This Way

I like it...the Shapes/Return/Black Lord combo is particularly cool. I'll keep it firmly in mind, but I have tons of Nazzie decks already. So let's take a look at the other....

Tentacle/Gollum
Shadow (36) 
4x Evil-smelling Fens (5U22) 
2x They Stole It (6R46) 
3x Captured by the Ring (7C53) 
3x Foul Things (2U59) 
3x Led Astray (11U45) 
1x *Gollum, Dark as Darkness (9R+28) 
4x *Watcher in the Water, Many-Tentacled Creature (19P21) 
4x Foul Tentacle (2C58) 
4x Huge Tentacle (2R66) 
4x Reaching Tentacle (19P19) 
4x Strong Tentacle (19P20) 

Point is to swarm with tentacles. Everyone knows how this works, but to fill in the extra spaces for your larger freeps I packed a gollum engine. Led Astray can net extra twilight and if he shows up early you can use They Stole It to toss the extra tentacles from hand to wound some companions up. Discarding as many of those as you can each turn will help your freeps get the cards they need next turn. Evil-Smelling Fens and Foul Things grab those Watchers but out of your discard pile then his text grabs the rest. Foul Tentacle helps by playing tentacles straight out of you draw deck leaving a better chance at getting you freeps going earlier.

Cool. I've always wanted to use a tentacle deck...this might not be a bad time to do so.

I think tossing in Strange and Terrible would do me well, since I plan on running with several mountains anyway (and it would save on spending for Foul Things). No End of Wickedness couldn't hurt either if Gollum's out with a bunch of tentacles. From Deep in Shadow could do what Led Astray does in a roundabout way with all those conditions out. Hmmm....

How about this?

SHADOW (37 cards):

Gollum, Dark as Darkness
Watcher in the Water, Many-Tentacled Creature x3
Watcher in the Water, Keeper of Westgate
Foul Tentacle x4
Huge Tentacle x4
Reaching Tentacle x4
Strong Tentacle x4

Evil-smelling Fens x4

Captured by the Ring x4
Strange and Terrible x2
From Deep In Shadow
Led Astray x3
Foul Things x2


And if I decide I can make the deck even a little bigger (I know you can get away with that with a well-built tentacle swarm), I might toss in Fat One Wants It to generate more threats and then some So Polite to generate even more twilight. Then I could go back to some Not This Time! and possibly throw in a copy of Gollum, Threatening Guide as well.

But again, only if this cycles well enough to allow it....

EDIT: I also decided to toss a Keeper of Westgate in, since I have pretty solid means of pulling the Watcher back from discard. If I get him at the right time, he could turn even a couple tentacles into a BIG threat, and if I don't...well, there should still be enough copies of Many-tentacled Creature to work with.

[NappyKorn]

Good idea with From deep in shadow and strange and terrible, but They stole it is an excellent way of getting extra (or unplayable) tentacles in to discard pile to free up hand space for the reconcile . I would go with that over the threat engine and Not This Time especially in this deck. Another good idea would be Gollum, Old Villain as he can toss card from hand to pump making even more room for reconcile . I might actually replace Dark as Darkness in my build for Old Villain just to see how it works.

edit: If you think about it though playing Gollum for cost of is about the same as paying for Foul Things especially if you grab a watcher that discards all minions except tentacles. Anyway if you are planning on going with gollum with Evil-smelling fens in your support area then playing other tentacles if might just be worth a shot . I also added in one of the older Watcher to see how it would play out, but didn't put it in this deck for the fact many would question its playability  .

[SomeRandomDude]

I'd cut NFFatRoD. It doesn't really help.

Doesn't the Bilbo RB do something with tales?

Here's an idea for a deck. Surrounded by Wraiths + Comp bouncing (via SSA).

[DáinIronfoot]

Doesn't the Bilbo RB do something with tales?

Yes...he can add a burden to play a tale during the regroup phase. But that's not incredibly useful here, and it would also necessitate plugging in another Dwarf somewhere so that I could use Mountain Homestead. Not worth it.

Here's an idea for a deck. Surrounded by Wraiths + Comp bouncing (via SSA).

Funny you should mention that. NK's suggestion gave me the same idea, and I ran with it: http://lotrtcgwiki.com/forums/index.php?topic=365.0

[Gil-Estel]

have you considered Gimli as a companion instead as the ringbearer? Because with the Feared Axeman, you would have some tale protection....

[Thranduil]

Contining GE's point, Bilbo makes an amazing Ring-bearer for a tale deck because of the Red Book of Westmarch means that you'll be drawing 4 cards a turn - basically guaranteed. I have a tale deck that starts Gimli, Glóin and Bilbo Ring-bearer, but unfortunately that puts Pippin in the deck instead of the starting fellowship.

Thranduil

[SomeRandomDude]

But...you could then pack that Gimli that prevents your cards from getting tossed.

[Gil-Estel]

dude Thran and I workerd that scenario out...