The Free Peoples/Shadow Connection: Part I
by Ted Vessenes (vessenes@earthlink.net)
At first glance, it may seem like The Lord of the
Rings™ trading card game makes you design two
different decks – one Free Peoples and another
Shadow. These two decks seem to have no connection with
each other. In reality, there are three important connections
between the Free Peoples and Shadow decks. The most
obvious connection is that of sites. Both your Free
Peoples and Shadow decks compete for sites, and some
strategies just don't work well together because of
overcompetition for good sites.
For example, consider the following Free Peoples and
Shadow decks: An Elf deck with Elf allies, Asfaloth,
Elven Bows, and a Moria orc deck with all the inexpensive
Moria orcs, designed to overwhelm the Ring-bearer. So
what's the problem? Sites 4, 6, and 7.
The Moria orc deck wants site 4 to be an underground
site, since this will make Goblin Wallcrawler larger
(and make the Cave Troll cheaper, if the deck plays
him). But the Elf deck wants site 4 to be above ground
so Asfaloth lasts another turn. Come site 6, the Elf
allies obviously want Lothlórien Woods, giving
each ally +3 strength. But Moria Orcs prefer Dimrill
Dale, reducing the twilight cost of the first Moria
Orc played by 2. And for site 7, Moria Orcs prefer Anduin
Wilderland because the archery phase gets skipped. Since
the Orcs mostly have 1 vitality, skipping the archery
phase makes them far more dangerous. But the last thing
an Elf archery deck wants to do is skip the archery
phase.
There is another connection between the Free Peoples
and Shadow decks. It is subtle and obvious at the same
time. Both Free Peoples and Shadow cards are drawn from
the same deck. "So what?" Well, consider the above Elf/Orc
deck. It is much easier to play the Shadow cards than
the Free Peoples cards. The Shadow cards will be 1,
2, or 3 cost orcs (or 0 cost Scimitars). Dropping your
entire Shadow hand will be no problem. But the Elf cards
will be more situational cards which can't always be
played (such as combat pump effects which might not
be needed). If you play 6 Shadow cards per turn but
only 2-3 Free Peoples cards per turn, your hand will
eventually glut itself with Free Peoples cards. Your
deck will be unable to effectively attack the opponent,
meaning your opponent will race ahead and you will be
unable to stop him or her. When mixing a Free Peoples
and Shadow deck together, it's important that both decks
play a similar number of cards each turn. If your Moria
Orc deck plays 6-8 cards per turn, mix it with a Free
Peoples strategy that does the same.
The final Free Peoples/Shadow connection stems from
another subtle yet obvious fact. Each turn, you must
play either Free Peoples or Shadow cards. You are in
trouble if you neither want to move forward (play Free
Peoples cards) nor let your opponent move forward (play
Shadow cards). Suppose your Free Peoples deck can take
a while to set up, as with an Elf archery deck. Towards
the end of the game, the Elves have no problem moving
two sites per turn. But in the beginning, they must
move slowly to avoid losing companions. The Elf deck
is a "late game" deck. If your Shadow deck uses Uruk-hai
(a Shadow strategy that only kicks in at site 5), you
will find yourself in quite a bind. In the early game,
your opponent can race forward and you won't be able
to punish him or her. You will be unable to move more
than once per turn. To avoid this problem, mix early
game Free Peoples decks with late game Shadow decks
and vice versa.
A Free Peoples deck is "early game" if it gets set
up relatively quickly and "late game" if it takes a
while for your fellowship to become relatively safe.
Early decks tend to use lots of replacable events (e.g.,
Hobbit Stealth) while late decks rely on items and combos
with those items (e.g., Aragorn's Bow, Strength of Spirit).
A Shadow deck is "early game" if it punishes the opponent
more at early sites and "late game" if it hits hard
at later sites.
Deck Archetypes
Mixing Free Peoples and Shadow decks together is a
tricky business. Finding an optimal fit requires a perfect
matching between the sites, the card rate, and the time
nature of the decks. Let's start with a brief description
of all (currently) viable Free Peoples and Shadow archetypes.
Free Peoples
Elf:
Starts Legolas and Arwen. Plays many Lorien Elves, Elven
bows, Haldir, and Elf allies.
Sites:
2: Trollshaw Forest
3: Rivendell Valley
4: Moria Lake
6: Lothlorien Woods
7: Silverlode Banks
Card rate: 2-4 cards per turn
Time nature: Late game
Dwarf:
Starts Gimli and Farin. Consists almost entirely of
Dwarf combat pumpage, plus 4 Dwarf Guards.
Sites:
4: Dwarrowdelf Chamber
7: Anduin Wilderland or Anduin Confluence
Card rate: 3-4 cards per turn
Time nature: Early game
Hobbit:
Four Hobbit companions, There and Back Again, and a
lot of Hobbit support cards. Starting company is flexible
but includes at least 1 Hobbit. Usually plays Boromir
to pump Hobbits in combat. Might play Legolas, Greenleaf
in conjunction with Power According to His Stature.
Sites:
1: Farmer Maggot's Fields, Green Hill Country, or Green
Dragon Inn (variant dependent)
2: Buckleberry Ferry (for some variants)
3: Frodo's Bedroom (for some variants)
4: Balin's Tomb
7: Anduin Wilderland or Anduin Confluence (variant dependent)
Card rate: 3-4 cards per turn
Time nature: Early game
Archer:
Starts Legolas and Arwen and includes Aragorn with Aragorn's
Bow. Instead of Elf support cards like the Elf deck,
this deck plays more Man support cards such as Athelas
and No Stranger to the Shadow. Last Alliance of Elves
and Men makes Aragorn a force to be reckoned with. Also
plays A Ranger's Versatility to exhaust minions (and
thereafter shoot them with archery).
Sites:
1: The Prancing Pony
2: Trollshaw Forest
3: Ford of Bruinen or Rivendell Waterfall
6: Lothlorien Woods
7: Silverlode Banks
Card rate: 2-3 cards per turn
Time nature: Late game
Ranger:
Starts Boromir, Lord of Gondor, and Merry and includes
Aragorn. The deck focuses on reducing Shadow number
for moving (which in turn causes the opponent Shadow
card glut, leaving them without enough Free Peoples
cards to defend). Includes multiple copies of No Stranger
to the Shadow and A Talent for Not Being Seen, as well
as other man support cards like Athelas. Uses 8 stealth
cards to thwart most early attacks.
Sites:
1: The Prancing Pony
2: Trollshaw Forest
3: Council Courtyard
7: Silverlode Banks
Card rate: 2-4 cards per turn
Time nature: Early game
Gandalf:
Starts Legolas Greenleaf and Arwen, Legolas Greenleaf
and Gimli, or just Gandalf. Uses Strength of Spirit
to "reload" Legolas' bow as much as possible. May also
include Aragorn for Aragorn's Bow. Designed to shoot
down the toughest enemy minions and then kill the remainder
with a powerful Gandalf and Gimli, Arwen, and/or Aragorn.
Sites:
1: The Prancing Pony, Shire Lookout Point (variant dependent)
2: Trollshaw Forest (some variants)
4: Dwarrowdelf Chamber (some variants)
7: Anduin Confluence
Card rate: 2-3 cards per turn
Time nature: Late game
Pipeweed:
Starts Gandalf. Plays Gandalf's Cart as soon as possible
with a large number of Free Peoples items. In the early
game, it resists adding points to the Shadow pool until
enough items are stored on the cart. When needed (and
the fellowship looks strong enough to withstand an assault),
it plays all the items off the card and takes one painful
attack. For the rest of the game, any damage done by
attacking enemies is done by removing 3-4 wounds by
Aragorn's Pipe, leaving the opponent hard pressed to
deal any damage. Might play Bilbo to shuffle in extra
pipeweed.
Sites:
1: Shire Lookout Point
2: Trollshaw Forest
7: Anduin Wilderland
Card rate: 5-8 cards per turn
Time nature: Late game
Shadow
Nazgûl:
Plays as many fierce Nazgûl as possible. Since
Nazgûl are expensive, it's difficult to kill companions
with Nazgûl. Instead, the Nazgûl deck focuses
on stopping the fellowship from moving more than one
site per turn. Vulnerable to Free Peoples strategies
using No Stranger to the Shadow, so it plays The Pale
Blade and The Witch King to remove powerful Free Peoples
conditions.
Sites:
2: Bree Streets or Weatherhills (variant dependent)
3: Ford of Bruinen
9: Summit of Amon Hen
Card rate: 2-3 cards per turn
Time nature: Early game
Moria Swarm:
Plays as many Moria Orcs as possible. No combat pumpage
cards are played (except Goblin Scimitar) in favor of
more cheap Goblins. Since the deck wins through overwhelming,
it's better to spend 1 point for a 5 power Orc than
spend 0 points for a 2 power pump card. Can easily play
6 to 8 cards per turn. Goblin Swarms and Goblin Armory
provide a steady source of Goblins and twilight tokens.
Sites:
4: Any underground site
6: Dimrill Dale
7: Anduin Wilderland
8: Shores of Nen Hithoel
9: Summit of Amon Hen
Card rate: 5-8 cards per turn
Time nature: Early game
Cave Troll:
The antithesis of a Moria Swarm deck, it is designed
to play the Cave Troll of Moria as often as possible.
Overwhelming the opponent is not a realistic option,
so the deck focuses on making the Cave Troll less expensive
and more powerful.
Sites:
4: Any underground site
6: Dimrill Dale
8: Shores of Nen Hithoel
9: Emyn Muil or Summit of Amon Hen
Card rate: 3-4 cards per turn
Time nature: Late game
Uruk-hai:
Designed around playing the most damage-efficient minions
possible. Uses Worry in the mid- to late-game to create
an alternate win condition: "Win the game if your Uruk-hai
win ten Skirmishes". Tends to have few early game plays
but can easily play three to five Uruk-hai per turn
at sites 5, 7, 8, and 9.
Sites:
7: Silverlode Banks or Anduin Confluence
9: Slopes of Amon Hen
Card rate: 2-4 cards per turn
Time nature: Late game
Mordor:
Like the Uruk-hai deck, the Mordor Orc deck is designed
around causing as much damage as possible. In this case,
it involves 4 Orc Bowmen to cause early pain with 4
Hate to finish off important Free Peoples characters.
The minions include 12-16 Mordor orcs with "Exert to
wound defending companion" text.
Sites:
7: Silverlode Banks or Anduin Confluence
8: Shores of Nen Hithoel
9: Tol Brandir
Card rate: 2-4 cards per turn
Time nature: Late game
Whew, that's a lot of information! In Part
II, we'll try to make some sense of it and find
some good Free Peoples/Shadow fits.
January 14, 2002
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