Input Needed: The Fellowship of the Pipeweed / Saruman & Friends

[Galdor420]

Clearly I've been misinformed

Flaming Brand = The Saga of Elendil
Sting = Hobbit Sword

Saruman, Keeper of Isengard = Saruman, Servant of the Eye
The Palantir of Orthanc = Saruman's Staff, Wizard's Device

There, happy? Now I will gladly GTFO and stay there. Clearly this board is the wrong place to get constructive critism. This may be the last house but its deffinately not homely...

[Zurcamos]

Clearly I've been misinformed

Flaming Brand = The Saga of Elendil
Sting = Hobbit Sword

Saruman, Keeper of Isengard = Saruman, Servant of the Eye
The Palantir of Orthanc = Saruman's Staff, Wizard's Device

There, happy? Now I will gladly GTFO and stay there. Clearly this board is the wrong place to get constructive critism. This may be the last house but its deffinately not homely...

I can't even figure out what you're trying to say here.  This place is pleasant for pleasant people.  Ask sgtdraino; he/she showed up around the same time, I think.  I don't hold grudges; I'll give you all the constructive criticism you want when you stop being defensive and arguing when you are clearly wrong.  Making a mistake isn't a problem.  Temper tantrums are.

[Galdor420]

I'd like to point out, not 5 posts down from mine neopium posted a thread called "Pipeweed, need advice" and at the very start of his OP there is a site list from all 10 sets just like mine and theres not 1 mention of it in his thread. Yet I posted the same type of thing and all I got was "OMG, L2P" from pretty much every poster with little to no valueble disscussion on the deck. Why you guys decided to waste my time and not his is beyond me.

[Pepi]

Let me try getting this back on track. If you feel you should be running some condition removal, wouldn't it be better to use 2x Saruman's Power in place of Burning of Westfold and Down to the Last Child? Or you could perhaps consider Saruman, Black Traitor (maybe insted of banned Keeper of Isengard), which would also fit with Saruman's Staff, Wizard's Device quite nicely. If you don't want to lose your own shadow conditions, that is. Also, I think 36 cards on each side is too many. Especially considered you're running a lot of single cards (no duplicates).

[Galdor420]

Thanks Pepi! I think Saruman's Power would hurt my shadow more than the enemy since > 30% is conditions on the shadow side. I have used Burning of Westfold and Down to the Last Child to great effect in the past, and they only hit the free peoples so they are my isenguard go-to cards when it comes to condition removal (plus that inadvertantly helps Band of Uruk Bowmen to boot). Unfortuantely they take a long time to set up and usually by the time that combo is working the game is almost over. I love Saruman's Power and I think it would work great to comtribute to the feel and a fully saruman focused shadow but I'll need to wean that deck off it's reliance on conditions before I can use it safely. Any suggestions on how to have less conditions while still keeping the Saruman theme?

I think Saruman, Black Traitor is in every way inferior to Saruman, Servant of the Eye and I already plan to remove the last keeper of isenguard for a 4th of him. Saruman, Servant of the Eye has the potential to cause so many wounds which works well with the archers, and the archers are the only uruks that seem to complement a decent version of Saruman. I agree 36 cards is alot, but that was the lowest I could get the fellowship side and keep all the same themes. If the fellowship side shrank a bit, the shadow easily could too (which would balance out the minion - condition ratio better too).

[Pepi]

I doubt you have used Burning of Westfold and Down to the Last Child very often, due to the fact that you only run one copy each. Also; they are conditions and can therefore be easily discarded, while waiting for the other half of the pair (for instance). And lastly, sites can be liberated. So it's not a very reliable way to remove opponent's conditions, while Saruman's Power, on the other hand, is. It can hurt you, sure, but that's why use it only when you're sure, it'll hurt your opponent more. If you insist, tho, you should reinforce the strategy a bit. Maybe add another Burning of Westfold ... and I dunno ... due to the fact, your minions are relatively weak in skirmish, I would consider Attack on Helm's Deep in place of Burning of Westfold. Or both, maybe.

I disagree ... Black Traitor is in some cases inferior to Servant of the Eye, yes, but your case is, you only run one staff and also a condition A Fell Voice in the Air, which hurts Servant of the Eye more than it hurts Black Traitor. Well ... come to think of it, maybe you should ditch Saruman strategy alltogether, and just focus on the archers (if you want to keep it Movie, that is).

[Galdor420]

I doubt you have used Burning of Westfold and Down to the Last Child very often

<-- I was refering to previous decks. I agree Saruman's power is superior in nearly every way to that combo, it's just a matter of changing the deck to still be effective while also being immune to the side effects of that card. After seeing how deadly servent of the eye is with the staff I'm inclined to include more copies of the staff. Thing about Black traitor is his at best he discards a condition and is a fierce damage +1 10 strength minion. Servent of the eye wearing the staff is "all that and a bag of chips" lol (minus the condition removal but plus a very useful gametext that can add an additional 3 wounds OR help you win skirmishes [even more wounds]). Black traitor's usefulness ends in the shadow phase.

Ditching Saruman is the last thing I want to do with that shadow because that shadow is supposed to be based around him. The trick is making a Saruman focused shadow viable in movie block (which I am gonna stick with). If that means ditching the archery aspect for something more viable (which still containing the Saruman theme) then that is the path I'd rather take.