Let Us Go Through the Mines:
A Tour of the Mines of Moria Design

By Michael Reynolds
TCG Studio Designer

In October 2001, before The Lord of the Rings™ TCG premiere set was even printed, Justin Pakes and I began work on the Mines of Moria (or Mines) expansion. Mines is the first 122 card "small" expansion in The Lord of the Rings TCG. We had three missions for the set: (1) to introduce new, undiscovered strategies to the LOTR TCG environment, (2) to breathe life into existing strategies and cards currently not seeing a lot of play, and (3) to infuse cards into the environment such that multiple options would be available to counter any given deck archetype or strong card. Here's a little secret – we try to design cards such that you are never totally comfortable with your deck. If you think your Greenleaf/Aragorn's Bow/Ranger's Versatility combination is the best option, you should expect the next expansion to change that.

There are several new strategies in Mines. The headliner is The Balrog and his myriad of support cards. Any deck can include a single copy of the common Balrog (the preview one), which virtually guarantees a serious threat at site 5. However, decks can also include multiple copies of Balrog support cards for a strategic punch. These include cards that discard bows, add burdens, discard armor, reduce Gandalf to a sniffling little worm, and add multiple wounds during The Balrog's skirmish, even if it is canceled.

Also in the Moria culture is the Watcher in the Water strategy. This creature is represented in the game as various tentacle cards that play at Moria Lake, such as Huge Tentacle. To make this work, you have to include, along with multiple tentacles, cards that convert site 4 to Moria Lake. Luckily, playing a tentacle allows you to play another tentacle from your draw deck. If your opponent gives you a mass of pool at site 4, you will probably kill Frodo or at least decimate the fellowship.

A major new strategy is forcing the Ring-bearer to put on The One Ring with Nazgûl and corrupting him. Several new twilight Nazgûl are the principal denizens, along with cards that prevent their wounds and add wounds to the Ring-bearer when they win skirmishes.

If Hobbits are your thing, Mines of Moria allows your Hobbits to fight. This strategy is usually safe when Hobbits make their first move in a turn, but disproportionally costly for the second move because Hobbits lose the benefit of low pool.

As for adding to existing strategies, the four major strategic thrusts of the Dwarves all receive a boost. There are new skirmish actions and help against Saruman's Snows, there are new weapons and permanent enhancement, there is a new card for deck destruction, and there is new healing, wound prevention, and vitality enhancement. Dwarves can even throw axes during the archery phase. With Mines, Dwarves thrive, choosing any combination of the strategic focuses described above.

For Hobbits, Bilbo Baggins becomes a major player in Mines. He is now a master behind-the-scenes manipulator who can discard conditions, remove pool, and draw cards when tales are played. Bilbo really likes telling stories, so any deck that uses lots of tales should consider him. There is a new uncommon version of Bilbo whose home is site 1.

If you've been trying to get your minion archers off their feet, Mines introduces three new Moria archers who don't automatically lose skirmishes. If you are trying to add a little something more to deck destruction, Lurtz's Sword is an efficient boost. Try the new site 6 river and make a Gift of Boats deck.

One of my favorite challenges when designing new cards is removing the comfort level of existing decks. But one cannot simply slap some hammer text on a card that "destroys all Nazgûl," for example, or "deals 3 wounds to an archer." You have to be subtle and give the "victim" card or strategy a chance to defend itself. You want story to be strong too. Justin and I took particular delight in devising a trio of options against Nazgûl. The fact that Nazgûl are weakened by sunlight, running water, and fire are represented in a Hobbit card that lowers their strength in sunlight, an Elf card that wounds all Nazgûl at a river, and their ultimate bane, a stick (on fire and in the hands of a Gondorian).

Like many players, we are tired of the free ride Legolas Greenleaf and Aragorn's Bow give the fellowship. So the Cave Troll gets a chain with which he specifically goes after archers, and The Balrog causes such fear that archers drop their bows, like in the book. And since A Ranger's Versatility complements archery too well, there are two new trackers, one for Sauron Orcs and one for Uruk-hai, that each cancel ranger actions.

This is a sampling of cards and concepts that come out of the Mines of Moria design. It was a labor of love, to be sure, for both of us. Working with me was so rewarding that Justin took a "promotion" to a different department. You did a great job here, and we'll miss working with you, Juz.

February 14, 2002