DECIPHER.com > The Lord of the Rings > Expansions > Shadows

Hobbits Unite!

by Richard Peiper

20 days, 3 hours, 27 minutes, and 17 seconds until the Shadows release date! I sit here and wonder what to do until then when the phone rings.

"Hey, wanna write a deck for Decipher.com using the new Shadows cards?" utters Trevor McGregor (from DGMA) across the phone line.

I spew back at Trevor, "Well heck yeah I do! Can I spoil a bunch of cards? Can I write on anything I want? Can I get the spoiler list?" My mind is racing with questions, maybe a bit overly excited about a card game? Naw.

"No, you can't spoil anything, you have to write on Hobbits and Evil Men, and we will think about the spoiler thing," he fires back at me.

"Well maybe just a little hint? And how about some Gandalf... can I get some Gandalf as well?" I plead. "After all, you're asking me to write an article for YOU."

"Fine! Just get it done now, and make sure it doesn't suck like most of your decks before I fix them," he says as he slams me back into reality.

"Hey! I am the two-time Austin Powers World Champion! You can't talk to me like that!" I proclaim, but the line was dead, and time was ticking... I had work to do! Holy Hobbit Sword, Sam! To the Hobbit Hole!

Reality has now descended and I realized I am making a deck with HOBBITS! Not just a Hobbit Ring-bearer (which we all know is rare these days), but an entire deck built around the Hobbits. I couldn't get something really cool like Strider or recursive Orcs... or even Gandalf?! I had to write about Hobbits! Stinking Hobbits! BAH! Well, let's take a look at the Hobbits and see what we have here.

All the Hobbits have high resistance, high vitality, and low strength. We need to address these strengths and weaknesses one at a time. Low strength is the easiest, since we can use Sam, Great Elf Warrior, from the Mount Doom expansion, some weapons, the new Merry from the Shadows set, and Promise from the Mines of Moria set. Now we have 3 solid fighters, Sam, Frodo, and Merry, Loyal Companion, who gets a bonus for each companion assigned to an unresolved skirmish. Pippin, Brave Decoy can jump in and take one for the team wherever he is needed and then be replaced by the ever versatile Farmer Maggot.

High resistance is much more important in Shadows now and we can pick up a generic condition that gives everyone a bonus to their strength based off of resistance, like G for Grand. Sam, Great Elf Warrior suffers because he only has a five resistance, so he needs a boost with Salt from the Shire to get his resistance up. Sting, Weapon of Heritage will also help boost resistances when we need it.

Hobbits have a lot of vitality and, as such, are perfect candidates for toil cards like Habits of Home, which also helps with our twilight denial when combined with Reluctant Adventurer. Gandalf adds a final touch to the deck giving us condition removal, burden removal, pumps, and recursion of important cards on both the Shadow and fellowship side (Erland, Dale Counselor and Final Account). Aragorn, Ranger of the North and Radagast round out our nine companions with their generic usefulness and one-off uses such as tripling to site nine or taking on five minions at site nine.

The Shadow side for this deck is the new Evil Men culture. It uses the larger minions who can win fights and help pump up the Rampaging Easterling. Easterling Host and Column of Easterlings use their Lurker keyword to pump other minions around them, thereby helping to overwhelm companions. The next great wounding card, Whistling Death, will get a few surprise kills and Lathspell (aka Troop of Uruk-hai on a stick) will keep your minions around until the regroup phase to stop the double moves. Your Hobbits can then dance through the minions and get to site nine ahead of your opponent.

The Adventure Deck construction has become much more challenging now. You have to balance the Shadow sites with the Fellowship sites and find just the right combination of the two. I picked Green Dragon Inn to get Sam out at site one (or site three if I go second – I just play it as the sanctuary at three) and have my primary fellowship setup right out of the gate. Anduin Confluence is a must have in every deck. Valley of the Silverlode heals my Hobbits and Pinnacle of Zirakzigil helps me recover from a Gandalf disaster and rounds out my three cost sites. West Gate of Moria keeps the twilight lower, and Caras Galadhon prevents the swarm so they were obvious additions. Helm's Gate is good since I have weapons on both sides and Ettenmoors with the Hobbits high vitality made perfect sense. Neekerbreeker's Bog just sounds SOOOO cool I had to add it, plus it heals the Hobbits some more. Farmer Maggot can take advantage of the two Dwellings and one Forest as well as Habits of Home removing some twilight.

In conclusion, let me emphasize the potential strength of my fellowship. I have Merry who can be a base strength of nine and as high as 17 if everyone else is fighting. Sam boasts a maximum strength of 19, while Frodo is a weakling at only strength 10 and Gandalf brings up the rear of the fighting group at strength 9 with Glamdring. Overall, the fellowship side of the deck has just about everything you need: two Ring-bearers, powerful pumps, and a solid group of companions. I think I would put these Hobbits up against just about any Gondor deck foot for foot – they really are pretty good now. I don't think anyone will be saying "Hobbits stink" anymore, certainly not me.

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

Adventure Deck
(1) Anduin Confluence
(1) Ettenmoors
(1) Neekerbreeker's Bog
(2) Helm's Gate
(2) West Gate of Moria
(2) Caras Galadhon
(3) Green Dragon Inn
(3) Valley of the Silverlode
(3) Pinnacle of Zirakzigil

Free Peoples (33 cards)
1 Merry, Loyal Companion (starting)
1 Pippin, Brave Decoy (starting)
1 Gandalf, Leader of Men (starting)
1 Sam, Great Elf Warrior
2 Sting, Weapon of Heritage
3 Hobbit Sword
2 Salt from the Shire
1 Erland, Dale Counselor
1 Farmer Maggot, Hobbit of the Marish
1 Aragorn, Ranger of the North
1 Radagast, The Brown
2 Final Account
4 G for Grand
4 A Promise
1 Glamdring, Foe-Hammer
2 Habits of Home
3 Servant of the Secret Fire
1 Deep in Thought
1 There and Back Again

Shadow (33 cards)
2 Armored Easterlings
3 Easterling Host
4 Column of Easterlings
2 Ferocious Haradrim
4 Force of Harad
2 Legion of Harad
2 Harad Standard bearer
3 Rampaging Easterling
2 Lathspell
2 Pavise
3 Poleaxe
4 Whistling Death

October 15, 2004