Enhanced Towers Standard Format

[dmaz]

Many of you might have participated in the two Enhanced Towers Standard leagues that we had on GEMP.

For those who didn't, here is the breakdown.

1. All Towers Standard rules and X-lists apply, with the exception that Ringbearer skirmish cannot be cancelled.
2. Additional valid sets are 9, 14 and 16. While the lists for these special "expansions" are low in count, they certainly add a lot to the game!

I'd like to open it up to discussion on the format, as well as posting your deck lists that you used for the leagues and your overall thoughts on it.

I know I saw a lot of Dwarves paired with Dunland!

[dmaz]

Here's my deck that I used. I was excited with the format to try something new and (relatively) fresh. I had never gotten twilight nazgul to work before, so this was a way for me to make them somewhat usable, since I had Grimbeorn to make double use of the extras.

It went 21-2, so I was really surprised with its performance. Grimbeorn played a key role for about 50% of the games. The other half were definitely attributed to high vitality in Elendil, Gandalf and Aragorn in conjunction with just how incredibly strong and versatile Sapling of the White Tree is.

I did have one loss to Dunland, which was more attributed to pilot error, clicking pass without reading all of the cards, and instead using a citadel. I did beat a total of 6 or 7 Dunland decks though...mostly centering on the combination of Freca and Over the Isen (a really brutal combo).

Overal the deck comes running out of the gate really strong. I think only 2 games I didn't have Gandalf out within the first 3 sites. If I can get him out at site 1, which happens often, then I can almost always double to put the pressure on them.

What I like about the deck is its ability to absorb a lot of damage. With Gandalf out, you have a lot of utility to stop some of their strategies that involve possessions or conditions. The opponent tends to invest a lot in killing him, in fact I've lost him before site 8 more than a few times. However, the base strength comes from the beefy knights. I really like Elendil.

Even though I use a ton of weapons, I still play Golden Hall just because it's so good. For me, losing one sword is not a big deal in the long run, so really the only thing I would hold onto is Narsil or Gorn's Bow. In the off-chance that I don't go first (I bid 2 to start, so it's happened a few times), my opponent will usually assume that I don't play Golden Hall because I'm showing Knights. A few times I've gotten them to dump some key weapons only to lose them.

Site Path:
The Riddermark
Wold of Rohan
Golden Hall
White Mountains
Hornburg Courtyard
Hornburg Hall
Cavern Entrance
Valley of Saruman
Palantir Chamber

FP:
Isildur, Bearer of Heirlooms
The One Ring, Answer to All Riddles

Alcarin, Warrior of Lamedon
Turgon, Man of Belfalas

Gandalf, The White Wizard x4
Grimbeorn
Radagast, The Brown
Aragorn, Ranger of the North
Elendil, The Tall x2
Gondorian Knight
Sam, Son of Hamfast, x3
Albert Dreary
Aragorn's Bow
Sword of Gondor x4
Gandalf's Staff
Narya
Narsil, Blade of the Faithful
Sapling of the White Tree x4
Scroll of Isildur
A Wizard is Never Late x4
Grown Suddenly Tall x2
Roll of Thunder x2
Citadel of the Stars x3

Shadow:
Gollum, Old Villain
Bill Ferny, Swarthy Sneering Fellow x2
The Witch King, LoA
The Witch King, LotN x3
Ulaire Attea, KoDG x3
Ulaire Cantea, LoDG x3
Ulaire Enquea, LoM x2
Ulaire Enquea, RiT x2
Ulaire Nelya RiT x3
Ulaire Otsea, LoM x2
Ulaire Toldea, WS x2
Fell Beast x3
The Pale Blade
We Must Have It x4
All Blades Perish x3
Relentless Charge x2
Evil-smelling Fens x3


In the league I was using Radagast as a use-if-need card, as you'll notice he would be a 10th companion.  I got some advice to swap him for a Barliman, which is definitely too good of a utility card to not use. This is because Elendil can function like Radagast is played right.

For Shadow, I was more or less happy with its performance. Probably about 30% of my wins were from Shadow slamming them at either site 5 or 7. However, a couple games they performed less than stellar, and I was happy that my fellowship was strong enough to be running for the early sites, so I was ahead of them.

I really don't like using the card Relentless Charge, and think it's one of the more overrated cards for Nazgul, and essentially just garbage most of the time. Out of all of these games, only once did it get a win for me...and that was because they played an Elven Bow on Galadriel, Bearer of Wisdom...kind of silly.
For the most part, those All Blades Perish and Relentless Charge are there so that in case I don't have Gollum out, I have some cards that will cycle out of my hand fast to make room for more FP cards. Even though the deck is 40/40 it cycles faster than you'd think between the Gollum and Fell Beasts.

While I'm overall really happy with where the FP is at, I think I can improve the shadow more...