Towers Standard Sealed Deck Lists and Replays

[BigRedMF]

Replay of Merrick_H vs bigredmf, Rohan/Sauron vs Gandwarf/Archery:

http://www.gempukku.com/gemp-lotr/game.html?replayId=bigredmf$9wh10l8v1ui5jhaq

Rohan had no problems winning skirmishes, and handled the archery fairly well with healing. Only a couple extra archery at the last 3 sites would have been enough to stop Rohan though. Gandwarf handled Sauron pretty decently, but failed to draw Barliman to clear the conditions near the end.

Suggestion: since FP/shadow pairings are being made based on what each FP is strong against, why shouldn't the Gandwarf deck keep the Sauron trackers and the Rohan deck take the archery shadow? Gandwarf is the only deck that can discard conditions.

[Merrick_H]

Free Peoples Draw Deck:
1x Eomer, Sister-son of Theoden
1x Eowyn, Lady of Rohan
2x Theoden, Lord of the Mark
2x Rider of Rohan
1x Guma, Plains Farmer
1x Hlafwine, Village Farmhand
1x Weland, Smith of the Riddermark
1x Armor
1x Brego
3x Rider's Mount
2x Rider's Spear (-1)
1x Herugrim
1x Eomer's Spear
2x Hobbit Sword
2x Well Stored
2x Severed His Bonds
1x Noble Intentions
2x Fight for the Villagers
2x Work for the Sword
+2x An Honorable Charge

I'm thinking that the Rohan deck skirmishes just a little too well.  I think that the weapons are the main issue.  I think that it would be best to remove weapons, likely Eomer's Spear and a rider's spear.  I'd replace them with 2 "An Honorable Charge"  That still gives them some skirmishing power, but not the permanent that the two additional weapons give.

Also, bigredmf and I thought that we might want to swap the shadow pairings and do:
Rohan Allies/Archery
Gandwarf/Sauron

Thoughts?

[BigRedMF]

Free Peoples Draw Deck:
1x Eomer, Sister-son of Theoden
1x Eowyn, Lady of Rohan
2x Theoden, Lord of the Mark
2x Rider of Rohan
1x Guma, Plains Farmer
1x Hlafwine, Village Farmhand
1x Weland, Smith of the Riddermark
1x Armor
1x Brego
3x Rider's Mount
2x Rider's Spear (-1)
1x Herugrim
1x Eomer's Spear
2x Hobbit Sword
2x Well Stored
2x Severed His Bonds
1x Noble Intentions
2x Fight for the Villagers
2x Work for the Sword
+2x An Honorable Charge

I'm thinking that the Rohan deck skirmishes just a little too well.  I think that the weapons are the main issue.  I think that it would be best to remove weapons, likely Eomer's Spear and a rider's spear.  I'd replace them with 2 "An Honorable Charge"  That still gives them some skirmishing power, but not the permanent that the two additional weapons give.

Also, bigredmf and I thought that we might want to swap the shadow pairings and do:
Rohan Allies/Archery
Gandwarf/Sauron

Thoughts?

It may also be worth swapping Stables out for Throne Room. This would slow down the horses a tad.

[dmaz]

Good point bigred...Throne Room would be a better option since this is first serie..don't want them to set up the horses too fast.

Do you think only 3 weapons is too little? Maybe just dropping Eomer's spear would be sufficient.

Of course...even if they aren't winning every skirmish they can still heal a couple guys the next turn so there is that too...

[Eukalyptus]

I like the suggestions!

[Eukalyptus]

Proposed Pairings by Series
Serie 1:
Ringbound Companions/Easterlings & Gollum
Three Hunters/Uruk Trackers
Gandalf & Dwarves/Moria & Isengard Archery
Rohan Allies/Sauron Trackers (Grind)

Serie 2:
Knights/Dunland Discard
Unbound Rangers/Twilight Nazgul
Gandalf & Rohan/Berserkers

Serie 3:
Shoulder to Shoulder/Southrons
Hobbits & Smeagol/Rohirrim Traitors
Hard Choice OR Last Alliance OR Ents OR?/Moria OR Stupid Swarm OR ?

I also suggest limiting the deck choices to 3 per series. So pushing one deck from series 1 to series 3 should do the trick. The format isn't that rich to ensure originality within the decks and have a high number of them available.

I'm also against any kind of swarm in this meta. Stupid Swarm is too easy to do with RotEL and EoF and no Pan available. Also, not a deck that should be possible in Sealed. The Sauron swarm in TT Sealed is bad enough as it is. Stupid Swarm would be no different. I think we have a good variety of decks already and should now work on the schedule. I'd be for either Rohan or Easterlings to move to S3.

[BigRedMF]

Moving Easterlings might make the most sense. Gollum cards don't show up until Serie 2, so would at least give some booster pulls to aid decision making rather than pulling a Gollum after you've already passed on him in Serie 1.

[dmaz]

UBRangers and Twilight Nazgul

Frodo, SoD
Arwen, Elven Rider x2
Aragorn, Wingfoot x2
Boromir, Defender of Minas Tirith x2
Faramir, SoD x2
Merry, From O'er the Brandywine x2
Bounder
Asfaloth
Athelas x2
Boromir's Gauntlets
Ranger's Sword
Sword of Gondor x2
Hobbit Sword x2 (cut x1 Frying pan for the other sword)
Defiance
Dagger Strike
Gondor's Vengeance
Might of Numenor
Swordsman of the Northern Kingdom x3
Severed His Bonds
No Stranger to the Shadows (stand-in card of answering the cries for testing)

Morgul Skulker x2
Wisp of Pale Sheen x3
The Witch King, Deathless Lord x2
Ulaire Attea, The Easterling x3
Ulaire Enquea, Ringwraith in Twilight x3
Ulaire Nertea, Winged Hunter x2
Ulaire Otsea, Ringwraith in Twilight x3
Fell Beast x2
Nazgul Sword x2
It Wants to Be Found x3
Threshold of Shadow x3
Blade Tip x2

Site Path:
Rocks of Emyn Muil
Plains of Rohan Camp
Barrows of Edoras
White Rocks
Hornburg Courtyard
Hornburg Armory
Hornburg Causeway
Nan Curunir
Caverns of Isengard

I spent probably the most time tweaking this deck, and looking several times at all of the options.
Things I know could be debated would be the including of Asfaloth (figured since it was serie 2, only 1 copy, and arwen doesn't get a sword, it could be OK. This card appears in the Movie Sealed and it was fine), and also a possible issue with It Wants to Be Found. While we can test-play this, it might create a VERY easy burden adding deck if simply combined with the exert to add easterlings. If it looks too powerful these can always be swapped for Resistance Becomes Unbearable, as it facilitates eventual burdens on the Ringbearer.

I originally had Faramir, Ithilien Ranger so that you could have two starting fellowship options (Boromir-Merry or Faramir-Arwen) but he's been provided in Serie 1 already.

DurinsHeir - the reason you originally were pushing for all of those ranger cards in the Knights deck was for coupling of the Serie 1 Ringbound deck and the Knight deck, i.e. there needs to be rangers so that it fits well. However, it fits well just as a Knight deck...and like we've been mentioning, we don't want their to be an obvious choice. Having Knights be Knights and Rangers be Rangers goes along with the spirit of Starter Decks much more. We can let people choose, then customize them the way they want.

I'm not suggesting too many changes to the current Knight deck, just to have it make more sense.  Faramir could be switched for Dervorin or another generic non-knight Gondor companion, New Errand should be switched with Take Cover, and Gondor's Vengeance can be easily switched for another regroup event (Reckless Counter). In any case a Knight deck should thrive on fortifications. 1 Citadel of the Stars, but you can have up to 4 City Wall.

I'm trying to imagine what it would look like in Sealed and I feel like people would be less enchanted with a weird hybrid deck. I know I would.

[Eukalyptus]

Answering the Cries is pretty useless with only one Tale to discard. That NSTTS is way better.

[dmaz]

Answering the Cries is pretty useless with only one Tale to discard. That NSTTS is way better.

It's just a stand-in for No Stranger to the Shadows, not actually going to use it.

[dmaz]

@BigredMF

I liked the idea of dropping a Servant of the Eye for Wizard Storm in the Rohirrim Traitor deck

[Eukalyptus]

Answering the Cries is pretty useless with only one Tale to discard. That NSTTS is way better.

It's just a stand-in for No Stranger to the Shadows, not actually going to use it.

You wrote it the other way around ^^

[dmaz]

Answering the Cries is pretty useless with only one Tale to discard. That NSTTS is way better.

It's just a stand-in for No Stranger to the Shadows, not actually going to use it.

You wrote it the other way around ^^

 

hehe...ignore the first one. Meant to be NSTTS like in the Movie Sealed deck

[Eukalyptus]

Well, Bill covers NSTTS. And if you don't have a Ranger, don't play it.

[dmaz]

true, that would work more or less..you could put it on Merry instead of Frodo so that it kept its more temporal aspect.