Towers Standard Sealed League

[Durin's Heir]

I too would be against 4 choices in series 1.  Too much development and too many choices for so limited a card pool.  The Movie Block Sealed format has 3 decks per series and they don't cover all the themes (there is no real besieger theme, no corsair theme, no Sauron Orc theme... etc.) Here is the breakdown of movie block sealed decks:

http://lotrtcgwiki.com/wiki/sealed-movie

I think we are giving more variety in the types of decks with a more limited pool as is.  I don't think we need 10 decks to provide the variety that you are looking for.

I don't try to include 1 more deck for simple variety, but for coupling purposes. It needs to be at 1st Serie, is of little use at 2nd or 3rd...

Also there's little space left for Hard Choice, Ents and Shoulder to Shoulder, so wasting 2 deck choices with Rohan decks that can naturally merge into 1 is pointless. Depending on which Gondor deck will be in the 3rd Serie, Hard Choice can be merged with UB Rangers, or Smeagol with RB Rangers...

We have demonstrated it's actually very easy to make an efficient Sauron deck, even without Forces of Mordor... and our decks are better in flavor and representativeness than those of Revised Movie Sealed. Anarion? Dwarves and Gondor? Gandalf with Elven Archery? Old lame Blade Tip + Black Breath? Revised Movie Sealed is my favorite sealed league... But we can achieve much higher goals with the drafts we have right now.

I think we make a great team, each with his own skills and traits... and MADNESS!!

[Durin's Heir]

I've been building an Ents deck. But first I want to mention an idea about choking cards...

As Shadow decks are weaker at first series, choking can be too powerful there. If we go in Serie 3 with 'Ents + UB Hobbits', 'Smeagol + RB Hobbits' and 'Rangers' (RB or UB), would be a natural way of focusing choke cards like No Stranger to the Shadows, Bill the Pony and A Talent for Not Being Seen in this last choice, when previous decks and booster pulls make much stronger shadows...
My point is: we shouldn't include cards like No Stranger To The Shadows or A Talent for Not Being Seen until Serie 3. Previous decks should lack those choking mechansims...

Here is the Ents draft:

(33 cards)
1x Birchseed, Tall Statesman
2x Ent Avenger
1x Host of Fangorn
1x Quickbeam, Bregalad
2x Treebeard, Guardian of the Forest
1x Merry, From O'er the Brandywine
1x Pippin, Friend to Frodo
3x Hobbit Sword
3x Boomed and Trumpeted
2x Crack Into Rubble
2x Roused
2x Hobbit Intuition
2x Long Slow Wrath
2x Meant to Be Alone
1x Seek and Hide
3x Ent Moot
1x A Talent for Not Being Seen
1x Good Work
1x Kept Safe
1x There and Back Again

I know, it should be 3 cards less... just discount those 3x Hobbit Sword.

8 companions, that's huge, but Ents can't work well with only 5 or 6... besides at this point everyone should have good crowd control cards.

5 skirimish events for Ents, and 4 for UB Hobbits... Meant To Be Alone is a gamble to allow swifter moves: to play an Ent and try to remove the twilight it gives. Birchseed heals wounds from UB Hobbits and Kept Safe prevents them.
Seek and Hide is a crazy thought to prevent multiple wounds to an Ent.

Can't find room for Hobbit Appetite...

Any thought?

"'Cause I'm as Tree as a Beard now
And this Beard you cannot change"

[Durin's Heir]

There are some outsider cards that look like very interesting additions: Skinbark, Elder Ent; Momentous Gathering; The Terror of His Coming; Be Gone!; The Flame of Anor (nice replacement for Roused); Vapour and Steam (for double moves).

I won't add more than 2 of those titles. The Flame of Anor and Vapour and Steam are my favourites, as this deck will need respectively better and less exerting pumps, and more ways of clearing the table for double moves than just Treebeard (Good Work can get rid of burdens added this way)...

"Won't you fly high Treebeard yeah!"

[Eukalyptus]

There already is an Ent starter, do we really need another version of it? Plus, its getting too much outside TS for my taste.

[Merrick_H]

I agree with Euk.

[Durin's Heir]

There already is an Ent starter, do we really need another version of it? Plus, its getting too much outside TS for my taste.

Those outsider cards are just ideas, they aren't yet included in the draft. Actually the draft is 100% TS.

As for the Ents starter: there is already one, but there is too a RB Rangers starter (Faramir's), a Valiant Rohan starter (Eowyn's), a Three Hunters starter (Two Towers Aragorn's)... And YES, we need other versions of all them: to make them more competitive, versatile, representative, to merge more than 1 theme into only 1 deck, and to be able to create new themes and strategies by combination of decks from different Series.

Ents aren't less important than Smeagol. They have 17 cards in Towers Block while Smeagol has only 11 (and Gollum 9). Ents were the ones who ended Saruman's threat; by the way I think this deck should be paired with Isengard Traitors.

I know my decklist seems somewhat similar to Decipher's, but it's the best I could do with the format's restriction: 1-6 sets and poorman resources. Anyway look by yourself and notice the differences:

(24 cards)
3x Ent Avenger
1x Host of Fangorn
1x Quickbeam, Bregalad
1x Skinbark, Fladrif (AI R)
1x Merry, Learned Guide
1x Pippin, Woolly-footed Rascal
2x Hobbit Sword
2x Boomed and Trumpeted
3x Roused
2x Knocked on the Head
2x Long Slow Wrath
2x Severed His Bonds
1x Enraged (AI R)
2x Ent Moot

Those UB Hobbits are the discardable ones (Merry, FOtB is way better). It lacks Treebeard, Birchseed, Crack Into Rubble, burden removal (Good Work), twilight reducing cards (Meant To Be Alone, ATfNBS), Seek and Hide (damage nullification), has less hobbit pumps (Hobbit Intuition and TABA)...

Also, the starter deck has 2 rare cards...

[Merrick_H]

On the subject of the Hobbit Hospital deck, I'm going to respond a little out of order:

Anyway, as Merrick said before we shouldn't provide 4 copies of a same card to give more utility to booster pulls (Great idea! ), and adding 2x SHB would reach that number (given the ones from Serie 1); the same goes for 4x Poor Wretch. Cutting off 1 of each would allow 2 empty card slots for free disposal.

We need to decide if this deck will be in Serie 2 or 3, as in the first case it should have 2x Hobbit Sword... I'd leave it in the 2nd due to, IMO, to saturate the 2nd Serie with 2 Gondor decks would be a big mistake; Knight cards are available only on Set 5, so UB Rangers should be moved to the 3rd.

Yeah, let's pull a poor wretch, even though it is a pretty important Smeagol card.  If this is in series 3, which is where the experimental decks are, and where this is currently placed, I think we should get rid of the 2x SHB and the Hobbit Sword as people will have access to those from series 1 and 2.  That gives us 4 slots to work with.

Some additional ideas:
Boromir, Son of Denethor can replace some events to turn hobbits into fighting machines (and has the Frodo signet for MYOA). Good Work can be more efficient for burden removal than Brace of Coneys (especially if Boromir, SoD is added). Wingfoot for doubles. Hobbit Appetite for healing; Meant to Be Alone for choking...

As was said earlier, no Boromir, SoD.  He is too powerful in a sealed environment.  I could see adding a Wingfoot or two, a Kept Safe and 2x Swiftly and Softly to give just that little extra bit of hobbit protection.  If we don't add Wingfoot though, that does make this deck a semi-natural pairing with the Three Hunters deck that is now in Series 1.  I think this deck will be a popular choice due to the strength pumps for hobbits and the fact that there is a guaranteed Sam.  Do not under estimate the power of direct Frodo protection.

With that said, this is the new proposed list:

1x Smeagol, Poor Creature
1x Merry, From O'er the Brandywine
1x Pippin, Friend to Frodo
1x Sam, Nice Sensible Hobbit
1x Bounder
1x Rosie Cotton, Hobbiton Lass
2x Brace of Coneys
2x Don't Follow the Lights
2x Not Listening
3x Hobbit Intuition
2x Stout and Sturdy
1x It Burns Us OR Aragorn, Wingfoot
2x Mind Your Own Affairs
3x Poor Wretch
1x A Talent for Not Being Seen
1x Rare Good Ballast
1x There and Back Again
2x Swiftly and Softly
1x Kept Safe
1x Frying Pan

[dmaz]

On the subject of the Hobbit Hospital deck, I'm going to respond a little out of order:

Anyway, as Merrick said before we shouldn't provide 4 copies of a same card to give more utility to booster pulls (Great idea! ), and adding 2x SHB would reach that number (given the ones from Serie 1); the same goes for 4x Poor Wretch. Cutting off 1 of each would allow 2 empty card slots for free disposal.

We need to decide if this deck will be in Serie 2 or 3, as in the first case it should have 2x Hobbit Sword... I'd leave it in the 2nd due to, IMO, to saturate the 2nd Serie with 2 Gondor decks would be a big mistake; Knight cards are available only on Set 5, so UB Rangers should be moved to the 3rd.

Yeah, let's pull a poor wretch, even though it is a pretty important Smeagol card.  If this is in series 3, which is where the experimental decks are, and where this is currently placed, I think we should get rid of the 2x SHB and the Hobbit Sword as people will have access to those from series 1 and 2.  That gives us 4 slots to work with.

Some additional ideas:
Boromir, Son of Denethor can replace some events to turn hobbits into fighting machines (and has the Frodo signet for MYOA). Good Work can be more efficient for burden removal than Brace of Coneys (especially if Boromir, SoD is added). Wingfoot for doubles. Hobbit Appetite for healing; Meant to Be Alone for choking...

As was said earlier, no Boromir, SoD.  He is too powerful in a sealed environment.  I could see adding a Wingfoot or two, a Kept Safe and 2x Swiftly and Softly to give just that little extra bit of hobbit protection.  If we don't add Wingfoot though, that does make this deck a semi-natural pairing with the Three Hunters deck that is now in Series 1.  I think this deck will be a popular choice due to the strength pumps for hobbits and the fact that there is a guaranteed Sam.  Do not under estimate the power of direct Frodo protection.

With that said, this is the new proposed list:

1x Smeagol, Poor Creature
1x Merry, From O'er the Brandywine
1x Pippin, Friend to Frodo
1x Sam, Nice Sensible Hobbit
1x Bounder
1x Rosie Cotton, Hobbiton Lass
2x Brace of Coneys
2x Don't Follow the Lights
2x Not Listening
3x Hobbit Intuition
2x Stout and Sturdy
1x It Burns Us OR Aragorn, Wingfoot
2x Mind Your Own Affairs
3x Poor Wretch
1x A Talent for Not Being Seen
1x Rare Good Ballast
1x There and Back Again
2x Swiftly and Softly
1x Kept Safe
1x Frying Pan

I think it would be OK to have the Frodo stay as Master of the Precious. Even though we're not building anything substantial on the regroup Isengard Orcs, there is the still the off-chance that Rare Good Ballast may come in handy, in which case Frodo could pull Smeagol again

As there are a lot of advantages to choosing this deck already (Frodo pump support and Sam, as you mentioned). I think It Burns Us is an OK option instead of Wingfoot. Since it IS going to be combined with other decks, I don't think we need to worry that we would be crippling it necessarily.

I like where the deck is settling into. The addition of Brace of Coneys was a good idea from my original draft...they deck just had so many burden adding cards and not a lot of take away other than Not Listening. Even though its experimental, I think it does stand to have a chance at being picked just for strong hobbit dynamics

[Merrick_H]

I'm going to post this in the decklists thread.

2x Gimli, Unbidden Guest
2x Farin, Dwarven Emissary
2x Fror, Gimli's Kinsman
2x Legolas, Archer of Mirkwood
2x Haldir, Emissary of the Galadhrim
1x Grimir, Dwarven Elder
1x Thrarin, Dwarven Smith
1x Golradir, Councilor of Imladris
1x Saelbeth, Elven Councilor
2x Dwarven Axe
2x Dwarven Bracers
2x Elven Sword
2x Shoulder to Shoulder
2x Khazad Ai-menu
2x Valor
2x Feathered
2x Ancient Enmity

Here is my rationale on the cards that I chose from the original proposed list:
2x Dwarven Axe
2x Dwarven Bracers
2x Hand Axe
We already have 2 of each in the Dwarf/Gandalf deck.  I'd like to limit the number of hand axes if possible partially because they are free and can play with a second weapon as well as being a free archery.  If this deck is combined with the Dwarves of series 1, then they will have 4x Dwarven Axes, 4x Dwarven Bracers and 4 dwarf companions.

2x Khazad Ai-menu
2x Axe Strike
There are 3 Axe Strike in the Dwarf deck and Khazad Ai-menu fits better with the Dwarves and elves theme.

2x Valor
2x Feathered
2x Ancient Enmity
I don't want the discarding to get too out of hand.  The others are pretty solid pumps.

As this is a series 3 deck, I dropped the Hobbit Swords as people will have access to 3-4 from series 1 & 2.

[Durin's Heir]

I know no one wants to see an Ents deck, but I'll post it anyway:

Ents + Gandalf

Ring-bearer: Frodo, Mr. Underhill or Tired Traveller

(30 cards)
1x Birchseed, Tall Statesman
3x Gandalf, The White Wizard
1x Host of Fangorn
1x Quickbeam, Bregalad
2x Treebeard, Guardian of the Forest
1x Merry, Horticulturalist
1x Pippin, Friend to Frodo
1x Barliman Butterbur, Prancing Pony Proprietor
1x Wizard Staff
2x Hobbit Sword
1x Crack Into Rubble
1x Have Patience
1x Introspection (outsider card)
1x Roll of Thunder
2x The Terror of His Coming (outsider card)
1x Wielder of the Flame
2x Hobbit Intuition
2x Ent Moot
2x Trust Me as You Once Did
1x Good Work
1x Kept Safe
1x There and Back Again

Key Sites:

2 Fangorn Forest (to get Treebeard ASAP)
3 Golden Hall (it can't touch Ents nor Gandalf)


This deck counts with the common 6-cards Gandalf-coupling-kit: 3x Gandalf, 2x TMAYOD and 1x Wizard Staff. Have Patience and Roll of Thunder are interesting options too...

7 companions besides Frodo, but 2 are weak UB Hobbits. Might even cut the Ent Avenger. This deck needs at least 4 companions: Gandalf, Merry, Treebeard and another Ent...
That Merry seems useless... but completes the 3 Gandalf signets for TMAYOD. And that's as strong as we know. If he gets killed, things will start to fall...

Ents are weak to crowd control... if we include enough crowd control cards at Series 1 and 2, this deck will have huge natural cons. Enquea can kill Gandalf or Merry easily, and cripple the fellowship heavily...

Given the previous point, there's an alternate starting fellowship than the old Merry + Pippin + Quickbeam one... Start Merry for the Gandalf signet, and Birchseed. He can heal Merry's exertions, so you have a fresh UB Hobbit for Ent Moot or Treebeard's assignment. That way we reduce the companion count by 1, the other 2 to get 5 can be Gandalf and Treebeard...

Wizard event tricks are 2 generic pumps, 1x Have Patience, 1x Wielder of the Flame, 1x Roll of Thunder for possession control and 1x Introspection for condition control (and 1x Crack Into Rubble, but it's not for Gandalf but Ents).

Introspection is an outsider, as the only non-rare TS options for condition control are Deep in Thought and Sleep Caradhras, those would be OP. Other outsider options are: Fool's Hope, No Colour Now, New-Awakened... Crack Into Rubble fulfills the purpose, althought it's not for couplings without Ents. Introspection is better for Gandalf.

The other outsider card is The Terror of His Coming, a generic pump for companions that can bring back to hand TMAYOD or Ent Moot in battleground sites... may be replaced with a TS or outsider card, but it's the best generic pump I could find. There aren't generic pumps for companions besides TMAYOD (SotSF is rare), maybe Strength of Spirit with TMAYOD can do the work instead, wouldn't be bad really. Other outsider pump options are: The Flame of Anor (not usable in Gandalf coupled decks), For A While Less Dark (+2 strength and nothing more), Look to my Coming (OP), Inspiration (OP and out of place), Be Gone!, The Sap Is In The Bough...

Kept Safe is here for protection, and Good Work for burden control...

You all have my permission to tear this draft apart... But with logical argumentats and counterarguments if possible.

[dmaz]

My photoshop skills aren't what they used to be, but here's a mock-up of what the artwork for the starters will looks like. Between now and January I'll be able to do them all.

Underneath the logo, we can name each starter.
Should we just call this one, Rohan & Gandalf, or make fancy names like "Look to My Coming" or "Down from the Hills"?
Then of course we would have to make silly fancy names for them all

I was planning on just using the FP as the outside artwork for the deck, which is more common in starter decks.

Anyway, hopefully this will make it a little more exciting when people are picking their starters

Thanks for all of the work and support thus far!

[Durin's Heir]

I have some spare silliness to share! Just can't run out of it...

But if we give fancy names to the decks, there's a risk we won't have space to give explicative hints about the content... I mean, something plain like 'Gandalf + Hobbits' (in Revised Movie Sealed) gives more crucial information than 'That Old Conjuror of Cheap Tricks'...

If the explicative name is shown with the 3 deck choices, and after you choose one the corresponding fancy name pops out, that would be very amusing!

[Merrick_H]

I have to agree with Durin's Heir here.  The artwork will help people know what is in the starter, however I believe that having a simple descriptive name will be beneficial.  Once decks are finalized, I'll make sure to have a page on the wiki that details the format just like what was done for the Revised Movie format.

[dmaz]

Straightforward deck names it is.

Rather than surfing google, I am going to try to take screenshots directly from the movies for all of them, so that the image quality is better and I can get exactly which image we want.

That being said, I'm welcoming everyone's input for any particular scene that they know about that would provide a good image for this. I realize some of them will probably require photoshopping, rather than just a straight screenshot, which is fine.

Here's what we have for deck names and corresponding images.

Serie 1
Dwarves & Gandalf - image: Gandalf and Gimli together
Rohan - image: mounted Rohirrim (MANY options for this one I'm sure)
The Three Hunters - image: Aragorn, Gimli and Legolas together

Serie 2
Gondor Knights - image: Knights together, maybe with Boromir as the focal point (Towers extended has this scene I think...again lots of options here).
Unbound Rangers - image: Aragorn and Arwen together? Aragorn and Boromir? Still up in the air about this one, could use some input
Ringbound Rangers - image: Rangers of Ithilien together

Serie 3
Dwarves & Elves or Shoulder to Shoulder - image: Gimli and Legolas together
Hobbits & Smeagol - image: something that has Frodo, Sam and Smeagol all together, that shot at the end of TT in the Osgiliath ruins came to mind
Rohan & Gandalf - image: already done! up for your critique

I wonder if we can just call Dwarves and Elves "shoulder to shoulder", as with the deck image it should be self explanatory.

[BigRedMF]

As much as some might not want to hear, I actually think there is some good rationale with what DurinsHeir is saying. I honestly think making a nerfed Trust fellowship available in Serie 2 makes a lot of sense. You could include a couple Ents (Unhasty ones), and a couple Gandalf signet folks, a few Wizard tricks, and 2 x Trust. I would pair the it with the Twilight Nazgul, as it could fight decently and would have Gandalf to remove conditions. I would move the Unbound Rangers to Serie 3. You could either pair the UB Rangers with berserkers (in place of the Trust/Rohan) or with Southron and swap Shoulder to berserkers. And finally I would revamp the Serie 1 Rohan deck to DurinsHeir's suggested Valiant & Allies deck.

I agree that having 3 Gondor decks in Serie 2 is not appealing, despite the fact that they are all very different. The Serie 1 Rohan deck would be all Gandalf signets. The Serie 1 Hunters deck has Gandalf signets. The Serie 1 Dwarf deck has Gandalf. All 3 decks could couple very nicely with a Serie 2 Trust deck. It's possible it could be too popular due to these reasons.

It won't hurt my feelings if nobody is interested but I wanted to lend some support to DurinsHeir. I can't quite tell if it is too badly nerfed, but as DurinsHeir suggested, playtesting a couple games should tell you pretty quickly.

Here is my stab:

2x Gandalf The White Wizard
2x Legolas Prince of Mirkwood
1x Birchseed
1x Forest Guardian
1x Merry From O'er the Brandywine
1x Pippin Mr. Took
1x Barliman Butterbur
2x Hobbit Sword
1x Wizard Staff
1x Elven Sword
1x Good Work
1x Behold the White Rider
2x Trust Me As You Once Did
2x Boomed and Trumpeted
1x Severed His Bonds
2x Defiance
2x Intimidate
2x Mysterious Wizard
1x Sleep Caradhras
1x Task Was Not Done
1x Roll of Thunder
1x Wielder of the Flame

The point is to have many Gandalf tricks, choose what you like. This deck only provides 3 Gandalf signets, partly to make it less powerful but also because every Serie 1 deck has at least 1 Gandalf signet. Included a little bit of anti-Nazgul with PoM and Defiance, plus Good Work for some burden help so the deck can stand up to Twilight Nazgul.