Double-Edged Dwarven Axes!

[Durin's Heir]

This is the deck I use for Fellowship Dailies, it's a fun deck really but has been quite successful too. It's a Dwarf / Moria deck, but with unusual approaches in both sides...

Frodo, Reluctant Adventurer
The One Ring, Isildur's Bane

Free Peoples deck (42 cards):

1x Gimli, Son of Gloin (starting)
1x Farin, Dwarven Emissary (possible starting)
1x Fror, Gimli's Kinsman (possible starting)
2x Gloin, Friend to Thorin
3x Gandalf, The Grey Pilgrim

1x Grimir, Dwarven Elder
1x Thrarin, Dwarven Smith
3x Elrond, Herald to Gil-galad
1x Albert Dreary, Entertainer From Bree
1x Barliman Butterbur, Prancing Pony Proprietor

2x Book of Mazarbul
2x Dwarven Axe
2x Dwarven Bracers
1x Gimli's Battle Axe
1x Gimli's Helm
3x Hand Axe
1x Glamdring
1x Wizard Staff
1x Sting
1x Narya
1x Mithril-coat

4x Flurry of Blows
1x A Wizard Is Never Late
1x Servant of the Secret Fire
3x Sleep Caradhras
2x Hobbit Stealth

Shadow deck (42 cards):

3x Cave Troll of Moria, Scourge of the Black Pit
3x Goblin Flankers
3x Goblin Patrol Troop
4x Goblin Runner
3x Goblin Scavengers
2x Goblin Scrabbler
1x Goblin Warrior
1x The Balrog, Flame of Udun
2x Troll's Keyward

1x Cave Troll's Hammer
4x Goblin Scimitar
3x Moria Axe

1x Host of Thousands
2x Such a Little Thing

4x Goblin Armory
2x Goblin Swarms
2x Relics of Moria
3x They Are Coming

Sitepath:

Hobbiton Woods
Trollshaw Forest
Rivendell Terrace
Mithril Mine
The Bridge of Khazad-dum
Dimrill Dale
Anduin Confluence
Shores of Nen Hithoel
Emyn Muil


Free Peoples: Khazad-Dum. Dwarves have a bunch of critical weak points, but Gandalf can counter those with ease while taking advantage of their strong side. So I like to call this fellowship 'Old Man & Short People': everyone is either aged or short, but looks are deceiving as they can be surprisingly brutal! Dwarves by themselves have very little healing tools (Dwarven Heart, Still Draws Breath and A Royal Welcome) and no serious condition removal (Make Light of Burdens and Song of Durin), thus they are very susceptible to lose against grind or condition dependant shadows. Their strong conditions are easily negated by Saruman's Power, so they shouldn't rely on them. Therefore, Sleep Caradhras comes as the natural solution. And Elrond, HtGG is there for healing (though Dwarven Heart can be a cheaper replacement).

The starting fellowship must be Gimli and one of the 'F' dwarves (not Gloin as his text gives him strength +1 max). If your opponent plays a deck of 74 cards or more, start Farin; otherwise start Fror. Play a Dwarven Axe on Fror and most Uruks will regret to show up early. Nazgul are the main threat, Hobbiton Woods + Trollshaw Forest can relieve the peril of site 2 (and give you a lot of early drawing), but by site 3 Attea Keeper of Dol Guldur and Lord of Angmar have good chances of killing key companions... so keep there the twilight as low as you can (playing Elrond at site 2 can be good anyway, as he'll fight those wraiths).

1x Gimli's Battle Axe, 2x Dwarven Axe, 3x Hand Axe and 2x Dwarven Bracers give those small guys power over most of the minions, and 4x Flurry of Blows are there when items aren't enough. Grimir shuffles those events back, and Elrond heals Grimir. Wizard Staff is a nice surprise in desperate situations, while Narya and Elrond make it's cost much more accessible.

Mithril-coat saves them from Moria Archery, as Elrond alone isn't enough.

After setting up it's extremely solid: they draw plenty with Book of Mazarbul and the Grey Pilgrim (that combo draws 3 cards only at fellowship, which allows to use Barliman before reaching the Rule of 4) while the Shadow side unclogs the hand; they have awesome condition control, mean and skilled skirmishers (Cave Trolls and Balrogs die often in battle), some swarm prevention (Gimli's Axe, Thrarin, Wizard Staff, SotSF and Hobbit Intuition) and some burden and wound reduction.


Warriors of Erebor in glory and majesty... and a Maia Wizard to expel The Balrog from their sacred halls.
"The Axes of the Dwarves are upon you!"


Shadow: Moria. Scavenged dwarven axes in sharp service to other masters... Not the common Swarm one, but Beatdown Goblins. Goblin Patrols or Troll's Keyward become big Uruks when they wield a dwarf-steel Moria Axe and can overwhelm/wound to death with ease, and prevent double moves (Flankers' frightening text contributes to that). The Keyward and Goblin Runner allow the Cave Troll to join the party, as those big goblins are very expensive... Goblin Swarms is often the target of condition removal, because these minions win by mere inertia.

Non-directed archery can reduce the power of this shadow, but often won't kill those muscular Goblins due to their high vitality. If you expect to face strong archery, you can pack 2x Goblin Archer to preserve the valuable vitality of your minions, and even give them Moria Axes to become competitive fighters!

There are 3x They Are Coming and no Host of Thousands, as the deck is huge and both sides draw plenty. It's always good to play TAC soon, but don't discard the other copies unless you are sure there won't be condition removal.

2x Such A Little Thing is there to nullify one of the top threats: Boromir in any form causes severe headaches, Defender of Minas Tirith + Horn being the worst... Goblin Scrabbler discards annoying elven conditions (TLAoEaM, White Arrows, TSoTB, Far-Seeing Eyes...), sometimes kills an exhausted Legolas by removing The Tale of Gil-Galad. Goblin Warrior can ditch dwarven conditions (Greatest Kingdom of My People, Till Durin Wakes Again and Song of Durin), and once in a while will discard Thrarin, DS in front of your opponent's paled face.

There is some risk of decking out, and then Grimir can help a little. But by then you should have many Goblin-Uruks stacked on Goblin Swarms...

Site 4 (Moria Stairway) can wreak havoc if you are lucky (Troll's Keyward with 10 str and dmg +2 is an ugly surprise), and Site 9 (Emyn Muil) allows for a swarm if you couldn't harvest your beatdown work in previous sites... Goblin-shaped big Uruks with Damage +1 and 13 strength or more, repeating the beatdown.

And finally, don't forget this is a Moria deck: it's designed to Beatdown as big Uruks, but will often swarm too... The evil condition machinery of Goblin Armory + weapons works even better here than in a common Swarm build, as this deck packs 3x Moria Axe and a Cave Troll's Hammer besides the usual 4x Goblin Scimitar... If you see a chance of overwhelming Gandalf prior to his condition control tricks, take the risk and ditch your whole hand to do so because he's your main foe.

Please comment, and feel free to use it.

EDIT: Replaced site 4 Moria Stairway with Mithril Mine, as the first looks good in theory but directed archery or skirmish cancelling (or Armor) negates almost always the benfit. +1 twilight at site 4 is good too.


EDIT: Removed some typos.

[Legion]

Nice!  I do like Moria Beatdown-it's a lot better than people will give it credit.  However, do you ever actually play the Goblin Patrol Troop?  He's twilight cost 6.  My version goes for Guard Commander (and Cave Troll's Chain).  Have you considered Unfamiliar Territory?  That pump is lethal, often scoring a kill against Aragorn or Arwen carrying a bow.

I do like the addition of Such a Little Thing.  I might try to work it into my deck, as Boromir can be hard to take down.  The dwarves look cool, too!  Have you considered Shoulder To Shoulder.  That makes Elrond twice as effective and allows you to run Deep in Thought should you wish.  That said you have no conditions (always cool), so I can see that Sleep would be more reliable.  Why Wizard's Staff over Gandalf's Staff?

[dmaz]

Moria beatdown is a great sleeper strategy!

It really thrives on getting Cave Troll with his hammer out. Without his hammer, you run the risk of a beefed out Aragorn taking him down with the assistance of Merry, Friend to Sam.

With his hammer, you will quite often get those stops you need, even if he doesn't have the chain.

I'm very torn about the use of Such a Little Thing. All of the times its been used on me, I've been able to easily throw away two possessions, and my deck isn't even reliant on Boromir. A horn deck runs a lot more possessions, and they can just toss them away easily. I second Legion's suggestion of Unfamiliar Territory, and think having a couple of those might be better.

It's not like many allies are going to survive to fight again if they go up against Cave Troll with the Hammer. Most commonly, I see horn decks being effective against swarm or nazgul, where even an Elrond with a wound on him can help you double easily. Not so with that troll

[Durin's Heir]

Nice!  I do like Moria Beatdown-it's a lot better than people will give it credit.  However, do you ever actually play the Goblin Patrol Troop?  He's twilight cost 6.  My version goes for Guard Commander (and Cave Troll's Chain).  Have you considered Unfamiliar Territory?  That pump is lethal, often scoring a kill against Aragorn or Arwen carrying a bow.

I do like the addition of Such a Little Thing.  I might try to work it into my deck, as Boromir can be hard to take down.  The dwarves look cool, too!  Have you considered Shoulder To Shoulder.  That makes Elrond twice as effective and allows you to run Deep in Thought should you wish.  That said you have no conditions (always cool), so I can see that Sleep would be more reliable.  Why Wizard's Staff over Gandalf's Staff?

Legion: Wizard Staff is a fighting and group protection tool, in contrast to Gandhi's pacifist stick. The Grey Pilgrim isn't a good fighter by nature, so Wizard Staff (with Glamdring) allows him to beat 9 strength Uruks without any pump. Wizard Staff's text is much better against swarm shadows, and can give Gimli the needed push to kill a Balrog, Troll or Lord of Angmar. If I need to cancel a skirmish, is against Nazgul most of the times (Black Breath, Blade Tip) but against Moria or Stupid Swarm it's ability is really valuable. To counter Trolls, Balrogs or Lurtz I have Gimli's Helm (or even better, Gimli's Axe ).

Shoulder to Shoulder is very fragile, even Goblin Scrabbler can nullify it; Deep in Thought is better than Sleep Caradhras against Black Breath / Blade Tip, but against Sauron Grind or Moria Armory (Swarm or Beatdown) I need to sweep those conditions earlier than maneuver phase. Elrond heals Gandalf often, and sometimes even Frodo (Twilight Nazgul or Worry), so in those cases Shoulder wouldn't duplicate the healing...

Your point with Goblin Patrol Troop is good, I play it often but allows little more to be played. With an Axe it's 15 to 19 strength dmg+1, thus have more overwhelming chances than 13 to 17 strength dmg+1 Goblin Flankers. Actually the same 2 strength delta happens with The Balrog in comparison to Cave Troll, but the Troll isn't discarded when moving to site 6, so I can ditch The Balrog itself without much problem.

I need 3-vitality goblins to reap bigger proftis from the Axe, so I'll add the 4th copy of Goblin Flankers. Your idea of Unfamiliar Territory is interesting by itself, and can also counter the drawback of removing the Patrol Troop... I'll try these changes:

-2 Goblin Patrol Troop
-1 The Balrog, Flame of Udun
-2 Such A Little Thing

+1 Goblin Flankers
+2 Guard Commander
+2 Unfamiliar Territory

Moria beatdown is a great sleeper strategy!

It really thrives on getting Cave Troll with his hammer out. Without his hammer, you run the risk of a beefed out Aragorn taking him down with the assistance of Merry, Friend to Sam.

With his hammer, you will quite often get those stops you need, even if he doesn't have the chain.

I'm very torn about the use of Such a Little Thing. All of the times its been used on me, I've been able to easily throw away two possessions, and my deck isn't even reliant on Boromir. A horn deck runs a lot more possessions, and they can just toss them away easily. I second Legion's suggestion of Unfamiliar Territory, and think having a couple of those might be better.

It's not like many allies are going to survive to fight again if they go up against Cave Troll with the Hammer. Most commonly, I see horn decks being effective against swarm or nazgul, where even an Elrond with a wound on him can help you double easily. Not so with that troll

Dmaz: The Troll is the most bitter minion here, but it isn't the centerpiece of the deck. Moria Axe is the main card, due to it's power to turn one-wound-delivering big goblins into Damage+1 overwhelming monsters. It also triggers the Goblin Armory evil machinery...

Aragorn won't remain beefed out for long time since Goblin Scrabbler will remove The Last Alliance of Elves and Men quickly (that's the reason I have 2 copies of it). Rarely I see Aragorn winning a fight against The Balrog or Cave Troll, even with Merry aiding him; Armor is cheaper than 2 exertions anyway.

As I will remove Such A Little Thing, your idea of Cave Troll's Hammer to counter allies seems a sufficient replacement.

Thanks folks for the inputs!

EDIT: Removed some typos.

[Valtor]

Great article, Durin's Heir! There should be more like this.

I have now tried this deck (as amended) in some casuals. My input (for what it is worth):

I am not convinced about Unfamiliar Territory. When drawn it usually did not make any difference to the skirmish outcome. I felt I would be better to have an extra (cheap) minion.

Such A Little Thing is only useful against one Companion, and then usually amounts to discard 2 possessions of the FP's choice. If there is no Boromir to target when drawn it either clogs hand or has to be discarded. Better imho to have an extra 2 minions.

2x Guard Commander is one too many imho. He is not often useful, as hopefully all twilight is spent on getting monsters onto the table, I'd cut one. Two increase the possibility of clog (already present with 3 Cave Trolls and 2 Keywards).

Personally I like to see the twilight producers max'd out in my Moria decks, so I'd go with 4th Goblin Runner and Goblin Scavengers

So my amendment to the deck first posted would be:

-2 Goblin Patrol Troop
-1 The Balrog, Flame of Udun
-2 Such A Little Thing

+1 Goblin Flankers
+1 Guard Commander
+1 Goblin Runner
+1 Goblin Scavengers
+1 Unfamiliar Territory  or Cave Troll's Chain or other cranky card of choice

At your service!

For Heirs of Durin, see http://thorinoakenshield.net/

Btw, The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies release dates http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2310332/releaseinfo#releases:

UK 12 December
USA 17 December
Chile 18 December
Bulgaria 19 December

But Germany: 10 December - say what?

[Ringbearer]

I find only 20 minions in a 80 card deck a little bit on the low side.

[Legion]

Oh yeah.  Where are Host of Thousands?  They give you the perfect minion for the current situation and aren't affected by Sting.

[Durin's Heir]

Ringbearer & Legion: This deck is a Beatdown build of Moria, and those big Goblins strike harder than Uruks when wielding a Moria Axe... it just doesn't work as the common Moria Swarm. 20 minions in 80 cards (1 of each 4) is enough as the deck cycles as nothing else (TAC + Relics + Scimitar / The Grey Pilgrim + Book of Mazarbul) and those muscular Goblins work well being 2 or 3 only on the board, killing with only 1 minion per skirmish, or at least stopping the fellowship. And they get replayed often with 3x TAC and 2x Goblin Swarms...

Anyway, with a couple more Goblins it might work better. Goblin Runner can be very useful here, Valtor's suggestion of adding a 4th is quite good as it's quite frequent to have a Cave Troll and only 6 twilight at site 4 (Moria Stairway gives little twilight but often changes the later course by killing a key companion), or 7 twilight and both Cave Troll and Troll's Keyward. Copies of Goblin Runner shouldn't be played/discarded at sites 1-3, but preserved instead for that key site 4... Goblin Scavengers is a good addition too.

In respect of Host of Thousands, it's a good card but I prefer They Are Coming for cycling and permanence; it works wonders with Goblin Scimitar and Scavengers. It also helps distracting the focus of condition discard away from Goblin Swarms and Goblin Armory. While 3x They Are Coming work well and I won't replace them, Host of Thousands looks as a nice addition to consider.

To stop Sting there is another option: Throw Yourself In Next Time. And it can stop Merry, FtS too, which is much better...

Thanks folks for your attention. You might try it by yourselves and see what I mean...

Valtor: My good friend Valtor, I'm glad you liked this deck proposal. Your reasonings are quite good, it's very true what you say about Cave Troll and Troll's Keyward clogging the hand (and is more annoying with the Troll as you can't play it from discard and therefore must hold it as long as you can)... We don't want to increase that clogging effect with Guard Commander. He's a good minion but can't harvest the full potential of Moria Axe, and is often target of archery or skirmish direct wounding (PATHS and Blade of Gondor). He may be removed completely.

Unfamiliar Territory can turn a lost skirmish into a killing, but shares the hand-clogging problem...

Goblin Runner can save the day if you lack twilight, while Goblin Scavengers allows for more cycling. Given those additions, larger twilight pool (and hand size) allows for bigger minions: Goblin Patrol Troop can be back again to swarm and stop.

Another powerful card is Plundered Armories. It can accelerate the cycling/twilight adding with Goblin Scimitar (very funny with meat shields vs archery) and allow you to influence in FP player's skirmish order.

I will try the following changes, they are close to what you suggested:

-2 Guard Commander
-2 Unfamiliar Territory
-1 Goblin Flankers

+1 Goblin Runner
+1 Goblin Scavengers
+2 Goblin Patrol Troop
+1 Plundered Armories (The cranky card of choice!)

More twilight addition, more muscle power, more cycling... Total minions is +1.

Thanks Valtor for your advice. And for your input about The Battle of the Five Armies, I hadn't done my homework about it... I've been waiting since childhood!

Thanks to you all guys! I'd really love to see more suggestions and experiences with this deck.

EDIT: Removed some typos.

[Hobbiton250]

This actually will help me in the right direction to build my own Dwarven deck. Thanks for posting it.

[Durin's Heir]

In the recent months I've played this deck and made some important changes. The current decklist is the following:

Free Peoples deck (45 cards; +4):

1x Farin, Dwarven Emissary (possible starting)
1x Fror, Gimli's Kinsman (possible starting)
1x Gimli, Son of Gloin (starting)
2x Gloin, Friend to Thorin
4x Gandalf, The Grey Pilgrim (+1)

1x Grimir, Dwarven Elder
1x Thrarin, Dwarven Smith
2x Elrond, Herald to Gil-galad
1x Albert Dreary, Entertainer From Bree
1x Barliman Butterbur, Prancing Pony Proprietor
+1x Ottar, Man of Laketown (+1)

2x Book of Mazarbul
2x Dwarven Axe
3x Dwarven Bracers (+1)
1x Gimli's Battle Axe
1x Gimli's Helm
3x Hand Axe
1x Glamdring
1x Wizard Staff
1x Sting
1x Narya
1x Mithril-coat

4x Flurry of Blows
+1x Storm of Argument (+1) (awesome with Grimir)
2x A Wizard Is Never Late (+1)
1x Servant of the Secret Fire
3x Sleep Caradhras
2x Hobbit Intuition


Shadow deck (45 cards: +4):
3x Cave Troll of Moria, Scourge of the Black Pit
3x Goblin Flankers
2x Goblin Patrol Troop
4x Goblin Runner
4x Goblin Scavengers (+1)
2x Goblin Scrabbler
2x Goblin Warrior (+1)
1x The Balrog, Flame of Udun
2x Troll's Keyward
+1x Tower Assassin (+1)

1x Cave Troll's Hammer
4x Goblin Scimitar
3x Moria Axe

1x Host of Thousands
2x Such a Little Thing
+1x Frenzy (+1)

4x Goblin Armory
2x Goblin Swarms
+2x Plundered Armories (+2)
1x Relics of Moria (-1)
4x They Are Coming (+1)


Khazad-Dum: The main change is the inclusion of +2 slots for Gandalf/AWINL; getting Gandy too late was the main reason of most FP loses. Gandalf gets another copy, which is good as he exerts a lot. Another important addition is Ottar, he allows you to draw more cards if the Book of Mazarbul isn't present (or working), and in case you lost a character like Gandalf or Gimli, you can unclog your hand of their equipment and tricks; Elrond often heals Ottar instead of himself or Grimir due to such usefulness.

+1 Dwarven Bracers gives you better chances against Nazgul and Uruks. Storm of Argument allows you to recover cards you ditched with They Are Coming or Ottar (and those Bracers and Hand Axes you were forced to use); also helps a lot with Flurry of Blows (which works wonders at the late game) and against Discard Shadows. Albert Dreary was removed due to his lack of use (with 3x Sleep Caradhras he's often overkill, and does nothing against grind and the main menace, beatdown Nazgûl).

Believe it or not, this 90-cards versions cycles much better than the original 82-cards one. Playing Gandalf at site 1 or 2 was the key to achieve that.


Moria: The main changes are the cycling additions. They Are Coming is now in full set, that allows you to ditch things you don't need right now, not only Shadow cards but also small cards (Grimir and Storm of Argument will recover them). So you'll filter much faster. 2x Plundered Armories were included to help you maintain the Axes and Scimitars on the board (vs directed archery), and helps in both twilight addition and card drawing; most of the times there won't be a double move, but drawing at archery/skirmish helps to reconcile a lot better. Relics of Moria was reduced to only 1 copy, using that slot for another Goblin Scavengers and thus get more presence of minions.

Added another Goblin Warrior, to prevent Thrarin and fellowships from ruining the party. The rest may be subject of change:

Exchanged 2x Such A Little Thing for 1x Tower Assassin (killing key allies is often better than discarding 2 possessions) and 1x Frenzy (a self-exhausted Boromir/Greenleaf can't survive a self-assigned big Goblin ). So Frenzy allows you to bring down a guy by surprise. And Boromir will pay a high cost for using his Horn!

Removed Host of Thousands, it isn't necessary if you have 4x TAC. Removed the Cave Troll's Hammer, it doesn't do a thing against Armor and only Relics of Moria can replay it. Goblin Spear would be much better (though there's no room): can be played on the Balrog or a goblin, can be replayed by the Scavengers and then you can switch it to the Cave Troll/Balrog with Plundered Armories if its bearer is killed; adds instant burdens with Frenzy ...

That's all.

EDIT: Removed some typos.

[met]

i will try this deck, i have a couple of thought for a moria deck in an other unsual direction so i empathized.   my major doubt is about site 7. why discarding you own allies?

[evergrey84]

This Deck seems cool, i will try this deck with my own touch. Thx. Let the Axes rule...

[evergrey84]

Gloin gains +1 strength for every tale. In your deck only book of mazarbul there are more dwarven tales.
I will try the deck a little different.

[Durin's Heir]

my major doubt is about site 7. why discarding you own allies?

Because by site 7 your own fellowship is often assembled and doesn't need much support. But Moria decks have a bad time countering allies. Elven allies, the worst! For such a big deck, you'd need 2x or 3x Tower Assassin to get him soon enough, but that's a lot of card slots and a lot of twilight ( or , these big Goblins are expensive) for... 2 wounds? Galadriel and Elrond often survive that, and even if killed your opponent has Rumil, Orophin or other Lórien allies to use Secret Sentinels.

Hobbit allies don't give too much trouble. You have huge strength AND good damage, so healing + Bounder give fight but are often surpased. But Anduin Confluence makes things easier! Nonetheless, Secret Sentinels is your worse threat.

Gloin gains +1 strength for every tale. In your deck only book of mazarbul there are more dwarven tales.

Yes, but you're using Sleep Caradhras and any other tale is a condition. Almost all Shadows in FOTR block are condition-intensive (which forces you to use Sleep Caradhras), except Uruk Beatdown. But decks almost always pack Saruman's Power (moreover Beatdown Uruks), so then the role of Sleep Caradhras is done by your opponent.

Is very cool to watch Glóin (fully-equipped) with Stairs of Khazad-dum and other tales defeating the Cave Troll, but here Dwarves use events to beat big monsters instead.

[evergrey84]

Yeah thats right with Sleep Caradhras, i changed the deck for me a little bit.
But you have a great deck , thank you. its fun to play with the dwarves.