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Author Topic: King Sealed League Strategies on Gemp  (Read 6896 times)

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April 03, 2015, 04:24:20 PM
Reply #30

ramolnar

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Re: King Sealed League Strategies on Gemp
« Reply #30 on: April 03, 2015, 04:24:20 PM »
This year I decided to take the Aragorn starter then Pippin to see what happens. In Series 1, I went 5-5 and I'm not sure how I won that many games. As with most GEMP sealed formats, the game seems to be mostly about crowd control. Orc Savage is better than anything Aragorn gets. So I get 8 threats? Whee, they can just become burdens after site 4. Meanwhile, Orc Officer means an Aragorn deck can't take as many threats as burdens.

On the other hand, in Series 2 I just finished going 10-0, with only one close game (I killed at site 9 off an archery from Raider Bow and a wound from Desert Runner). In Series 1 I had to play bad cards like Second Level; now I don't. I'm running two cards that didn't come from a starter. One is Site 4, really just to get the twilight. Okay, Sam, Needer of Vittles was helpful in Series 1, earning me two wins, but in Series 2 I could just run another Gondor body.

I bid 1, went first when I could (which was most of the time), and ran a lot. Lots of pumps cycle quickly and prevent overwhelming, while 3 Dagger Strike made me feel pretty safe late game. I could judiciously use them to get damage+1. So Enquea kills Denethor or Faramir? Big deal. On my shadow side, my big people will occasionally kill someone, but most importantly they often stay alive. As long as I go first and get one stop at site 4 or 6 and prevent four doubles things look pretty good.

In Series 3 I foresee more Ring protection with Tale of the Great Ring, Noble Intentions, and more Sams. Am I missing something, or is this just a running event?

-----

Ring-bearer: Frodo, Hope of Free Peoples
Ring: The One Ring, The Ruling Ring

Adventure deck:
Steps of Edoras
King's Tent
Hall of the Kings
City of the Dead
City Gates
Minas Tirith Sixth Circle
Osgiliath Channel
Morgulduin
Haunted Pass

Free Peoples Draw Deck:
3x Aragorn, Driven by Need
1x Denethor, Wizened Steward
1x Faramir, Defender of Osgiliath
4x Gondorian Captain
1x Ingold
1x Sam, Needer of Vittles
1x Knight's Mount
4x Knight's Spear
2x Hobbit Sword
3x City of Men
3x Dagger Strike
3x Great Gate
3x Fourth Level

Shadow Draw Deck:
4x Desert Fighter
3x Desert Runner
2x Desert Villain
2x Haradrim Marksman
4x Southron Captain
3x Troop of Haradrim
1x Úlairë Enquëa, Lieutenant of Morgul
3x Mumakil
2x Raider Bow
2x New Strength Came Now
2x Red Wrath
2x War Towers
« Last Edit: April 03, 2015, 04:31:23 PM by ramolnar »

April 03, 2015, 04:49:40 PM
Reply #31

BigRedMF

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Re: King Sealed League Strategies on Gemp
« Reply #31 on: April 03, 2015, 04:49:40 PM »
I'm kind of surprised to hear you were able to run so much. Generally it is more difficult to clear the board of minions in King Sealed to make an easy double move. With only 1 copy of Knight's mount I wonder what your opponents were doing that allowed you to double so often? I'm also curious how many opponents you had in Serie 2 that were playing Morcs and/or Sauron? Every win I have so far in sealed is from swarming my opponent that double moves. And a good number of my losses are from my opponent swarming me.

April 04, 2015, 02:40:23 PM
Reply #32

ramolnar

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Re: King Sealed League Strategies on Gemp
« Reply #32 on: April 04, 2015, 02:40:23 PM »
It's enlightening to rewatch my games. Here are short game summaries:

1. Bid 1-1 [I won], Opponent played Big Minions which don't overwhelm anybody.
2. Bid 1-0, Opponent played Sauron. At site 5, Opponent took a threat instead of keeping a minion alive, while one more minion would have killed me at site 6. Likely I would have stopped and opponent might have been able to seize the lead.
3. Bid 1-1 [Opponent won], Opponent played Raiders. This was the Raider Bow - Desert Runner game at site 9. I drew well to win off my opponent double.
4. Bid 1-0, Opponent played Morcs. I could have lost to a built swarm at site 5, but my Raiders were applying pressure and the opponent needed cards. I killed at site 6 with Haradrim Marksman archery setting off 4 threats.
5. Bid 1-1 [Opponent won], Opponent played Morcs. Opponent made a mistake stopping at site 2, but then doubled 2-4. I got a city gates stop at site 5, and then forced another stop at site 8. I doubled to 9 for the win.
6. Bid 1-0, Opponent played 78 card Sauron. A forced double through 7 with Osgiliath Channel might have swarmed me, but Fourth Level killed a key minion. I could have sacrificed down to 5 companions, though, so this wasn't an opponent mistake.
7. Bid 1-1 [Opponent won], Opponent started Legolas (very good) and played Morcs. Opponent made a mistake stopping at 2, because I would have needed a very good swarm to win off a mulligan and 12 twilight. That let me seize the lead, and a Legolas pump-kill at site 4 let me keep it.
8. Bid 1-1 [Opponent won], Opponent played Raiders. I got a stop at 4 and doubled to 5, losing 2 people. Opponent had a tough decision at 5, because Haradrim Marksman would have won me the game in archery. I didn't have it. Under optimal play he would have lost 1 of 4 people. He made a small error and would have lost 2. After that stop, we both held at 6 but I won easily.
9. Bid 1-1 [I won], Opponent played Morcs. Opponent played Enquea at site 2 against 5 companions. After that point, I could dump and go. I made a mistake at site 4 to lose a minion, but opponent made a bigger mistake and stopped anyway. Leaving site 6 I had 9 companions, so even with a Ruined Capitol stop I was winning.
10. Bid 1-0, Opponent played 80 card Raiders. He got a site 4 stop, but so did I. City Gates stopped me at site 5. He should have doubled because he would have lost no more than 2 people moving to 6, but didn't. Maybe he thought 1 more minion in a swarm would have won, but he was wrong - he needed 2.

Let's see, what did I learn?

- Four times I lost the random roll and went second.
- I had two kills, one from a double move, one on a single. Eight times I survived site 9.
- Opponent Shadows were 4 Morcs, 3 Raiders, 2 Sauron, 1 Big Minions.
- I made one play error (#9) which would have lost the game if the opponent capitalized.
- In at least three games (#5, #7, #9), the opponent made a play mistake that lost the game. There were opponent errors in other games (#2, #8, #10) but I don't think they directly lost the game. Interestingly, my closest game (#3) had no opponent errors that I saw; I just drew well.

To answer your question, there were fewer double moves than I remembered. I built my deck with big 3 vitality minions to get stops at site 4, which I generally did. My opponents needed to double more aggressively - losing 2 people is usually fine against Raiders. I still believe Sauron is a better shadow, with Orc Savage and more swarm potential.