TLHH DC Project: The Great Eye - Sauron

[Thranduil]

Perhaps too many free people companions.

I think that there is too many companion cards. I do not think that we need to have 50% of characters for FP cards. If we really stick to 50%, there should be allies and/or followers.

I think for Free Peoples it's more like 40% and for Shadow it's more like 60%. I think I may have made those proportions with drafting in mind (I love drafting MTG and always wish I can do the same with LotR) but that might be too much for this project. So I will probably cut them down. But I would say that companions are by far the coolest FP cards, and you can have so much variety that you might not notice nearly 50% of FP cards being them.

I didn't put in followers/allies basically because I didn't want to have the argument! And because that is one way Standard and Movie block differ greatly, and we're trying to put them together. But I can fit them in if we want.

There will be FP search cards? Did you get the idea from me or is it your original idea ?

I did indeed use this a long time ago (see QtNA (V)) but my general policy is to put any keywords where they make flavour sense, and sometimes it makes sense for FP cards to be looking for something (and Shadow cards to be hiding from something - Breelanders, for example?).

I said I'd start off with an idea. Here's one:

SAR02

•Sauron, The Great Eye
Minion • Maia
Strength: 9
Vitality: 5
Site Number: 2
Twilight. To play, spot a twilight card.
Response: If the Ring-bearer puts on The One Ring, play Sauron from your hand to suspend the current phase and immediately begin a skirmish phase between Sauron and the Ring-bearer.
Companions skirmishing Sauron use their resistance instead of their strength to resolve that skirmish.
"'I see you!'"
G R

[Sam, Great Elf Warrior]

SAR02

•Sauron, The Great Eye
Minion • Maia
Strength: 9
Vitality: 5
Site Number: 2
Twilight. To play, spot a twilight card.
Response: If the Ring-bearer puts on The One Ring, play Sauron from your hand to suspend the current phase and immediately begin a skirmish phase between Sauron and the Ring-bearer.
Companions skirmishing Sauron use their resistance instead of their strength to resolve that skirmish.
"'I see you!'"
G R

Seems like too easy an overwhelm for cost , except against Elves who can still use their events against him. Maybe make it:
•Sauron, The Great Eye
Minion • Maia
Resistance: 9
Vitality: 5
Site Number: 2
Twilight. To play, spot a twilight card.
Response: If the Ring-bearer puts on The One Ring, play this card from your hand to suspend the current phase and begin a skirmish phase involving Sauron and the Ring-bearer.
Skirmishes involving Sauron are resolved using resistance rather than strength; companions skirmishing Sauron (except the Ring-bearer) do not have their resistances reduced by burdens. The Free Peoples player cannot assign Sauron to skirmish the same character as another minion.
"'I see you!'"
G R

This also edits the response action to make it more comparable to A Dark Shape Sprang.

By the way, how about this for a Pathfinder-like event:
Hidden Paths
Event • Regroup
Stealth. Exert a ranger (or spot 3 rangers) to play the Fellowship's next site (except a dwelling or battleground site). If that site is a forest or river site, its shadow number is -2.
"'Strider will take them on paths seldom trodden.'"
COU07

This would also be useful in a joint - deck.

[Sam, Great Elf Warrior]

•Sauron, The Great Eye
Minion • Maia
Resistance: 9
Vitality: 5
Site Number: 2
Twilight. To play, spot a twilight card.
Response: If the Ring-bearer puts on The One Ring, play this card from your hand to suspend the current phase and begin a skirmish phase involving Sauron and the Ring-bearer.
Skirmishes involving Sauron are resolved using resistance rather than strength; companions skirmishing Sauron (except the Ring-bearer) do not have their resistances reduced by burdens. The Free Peoples player cannot assign Sauron to skirmish the same character as another minion.
"'I see you!'"
G R

Hmm... That fix is wordy. I'd rather find an easier fix. Also, if it was just against printed resistance (which would perhaps be a succinct way to word it), then it would be useless as it always loses to Frodo (Res 10). Also, not sure you need the ending clause - I know what you mean, but by suspending the current phase, I kind of assumed that other minions would not be involved. Maybe it does need to be there but could be worded as: "If the Ring-bearer puts on The One Ring and is unassigned..." that might make it better anyway.

He could be in the same skirmish as another minion if played as a normal card rather than with the response (if you play him and Corpse Lights, Aragorn, HoE can fight them both). Also, he can still beat Frodo because Frodo's resistance is still reduced by burdens (note the "except the Ring-bearer" phrase). If you wanted the resistance to be only when the response action is used, you could make it:
•Sauron, The Great Eye
Minion • Maia
Strength: 9
Vitality: 5
Site Number: 2
Twilight. To play, spot a twilight card.
Response: If the Ring-bearer puts on The One Ring, play Sauron from your hand to suspend the current phase and immediately begin a skirmish phase involving Sauron and the Ring-bearer. This skirmish is resolved using the Ring-bearer's resistance rather than his or her strength.
"'I see you!'"
G R

Hidden Paths
Event • Regroup
Stealth. Exert a ranger (or spot 3 rangers) to play the Fellowship's next site (except a dwelling or battleground site). If that site is a forest or river site, its shadow number is -2.
"'Strider will take them on paths seldom trodden.'"
GOU07

Couple of things: 1) in a culture matters set, I think we'd rather have it key off companions instead of rangers (it could be "Exert a companion (or spot a ranger)" for example). Then I'm not sure we need the parentheses. And you could even make it more explicit: "Then, if you can spot an companion, that site's Shadow number is -2 until the regroup phase."

You could make it "Exert a Man (or spot 3 rangers) to..." I'd rather have cultures support each other mechanically (i.e. by having it affect forest and river sites, which elves like) than explicitly, because it makes the decks feel smoother and more ingenious.