Marching into Mordor
Volume 4, May 4th, 2005.
Fun with Filtering
If there's one thing I hate, it's getting screwed.
Everyone's had those instances where they needed one more minion to make the difference between a killer army and a pitiful one; similarly, there are also times where all we wanted was to draw a single Shadow card during that crucial reconcile, only to be denied by a stroke of bad luck. These are both primary examples of the #1 cause of anger, frustration, and mental illness in The Lord Of The Rings Online TCG today: Draw-screw.
As fearsome a beast as Draw-screw may be, there are still ways to overcome it. Card-drawing helps, as does the ability to discard at will (with cards like Elven Sword). Muster is a combination of these two tactics, and as such, has proven to be most useful. But, as with most facets of this wonderful game, there is always another option to be had. In this case, that option is filtering.
The concept of filtering is simple: thin one type of cards out of your deck to give you a better chance of drawing into the other type. More specifically, this refers to pulling either the Free Peoples or Shadow cards from your deck in an attempt to assist the opposite half.
Filtering is something that can come in small doses and still be effective. For a perfect example, take a look at Chris "CaptainClownshoe" Tubman's PSQ-winning deck from April 2005. Every time he used Saved From the Fire (one of the best filtering cards out there), he was able to pull three Free Peoples cards from his deck. Not only did this help set up his fellowship, but later on in the game, it left his deck as being very Shadow-heavy – just what one needs when they're trying to stop an opponent from making a crucial double-move in the late game.
However, filtering can also come in large doses, and this is what I'll be discussing today. Often times the filter strategy is used to completely abandon one half of the deck in order to give the other half a better chance of winning. Either the Free Peoples or Shadow side can be sacrificed in favor of assisting the other, so let's take a look at the pros and cons of each strategy.
FILTERING FOR THE FREE PEOPLES
The idea here is to go through as many cards during your Shadow turns as possible. Be it card-drawing with Strange Device or pulling Shadow cards out with The Mouth of Sauron, Messenger of Mordor, what's important is setting up a good Free Peoples hand.
Now, this may sound like a good idea, but there are a few inherent flaws in filtering for the Free Peoples side.
Firstly, if you plan on totally abandoning your Shadow side for your Free Peoples half, that means you're going for a Free Peoples victory – you have to beat your opponent to site nine. If you're using your Shadow only as a Free Peoples aid rather than a fighting force, then your opponent will be able to move without resistance. The flaw here is that you can lose simply by your opponent winning the bid or upping the move limit at just the right time (with a card like Radagast, The Brown). Also, no matter how much you set up your fellowship, there's no guarantee that the opponent won't have a great Shadow hand that gets you to stop. If you leave your Shadow behind, you're leaving the door open for your opponent to waltz on down the site path.
Secondly, there aren't a whole lot of "filtering" Shadow cards out there. Yes, there are plenty that draw cards, but that's not the basis of this strategy. The idea here is to clean cards of one type out, so that when you do make draws throughout the game, you can be pretty sure of what will be coming.
Die-hard filtering for the Free Peoples side is like any explosive substance – don't mess with it unless you know exactly what you're doing, and realize that it's likely to blow up in your face.
FILTERING FOR THE SHADOW SIDE
Ah, now this is more like it. In abandoning your Free Peoples side to help your Shadow, you don't have the same weaknesses that you would by trying the opposite. If you're planning on a Shadow kill, it will usually happen some time before site nine, if it's going to happen at all (and, quite often, it will occur even earlier). This means that your fellowship doesn't have to be particularly strong, as it only has to survive for so long (and will almost undoubtedly single-move for the entire game).
So what do we use to build the ultimate filtering Free Peoples side? It's a fairly well-known fact that Saved From the Fire is one of the best filtering cards today (if not the very best), but it's still only one card. If we want more deck-thinning madness, Rohan is the culture to go with.
Between Simbelmyne, Gamling, Defender of the Hornburg and Eomer, Keeper of Oaths, Rohan has all sorts of ways to pull cards from the draw deck. Combine this with the aforementioned Saved From the Fire and we've got a great means of filtering. With that in mind, a mix of Rohan and Gandalf seems to be the way to go for this particular strategy.
The following is a Free Peoples half of a deck that I designed not to survive the run to site nine, but rather to thin out as much as possible, leaving a Shadow-heavy draw deck. Following the decklist, of course, will be strategy notes, so make sure not to be stingy with your scroll button.
Ring-bearer and One Ring
Frodo, Protected by Many
The One Ring, The Ring of Rings (or The One Ring, Such a Weight to Carry – see notes for details)
Free Peoples (30)
1 Gandalf, Leader of Men (Starting)
1 Eowyn, Lady of Rohan (Starting)
1 Smeagol, Poor Creature (Starting)
1 Eomer, Keeper of Oaths
1 Theoden, Tall and Proud
1 Haethen, Veteran Fighter
1 Hrethel, Rider of Rohan
1 Gamling, Defender of the Hornburg
4 Simbelmyne
4 Saved From the Fire
1 Eomer's Spear
1 Firefoot
2 Riddermark Javelin
2 Rohirrim Shield
2 Rohirrim Helm
2 Riding Armor
1 Brego
2 Rider's Spear
1 Rider's Mount
For starters, the choice of Rings depends on your bid – if you want to bid high to go second (common in Shadow-kill decks) and start Smeagol, Poor Creature (who adds a burden upon being played), then you'll want the added resistance from The One Ring, The Ring of Rings. If you're not the bidding type (or if you just don't think you can get corrupted quickly enough), go with The One Ring, Such a Weight to Carry – extra strength on your Ring-bearer is never bad when it comes to surviving.
This half of a deck weighs in at a thin thirty cards (with three starting in play) to increase the chances of drawing a Saved From the Fire and a Simbelmyne in your opening hand. If you do get both of these cards, the proper first-turn procedure goes a little something like this:
- Use Simbelmyne (spotting Eowyn, Lady of Rohan as your Valiant Man) to play Theoden, Tall and Proud from your draw deck.
- Use Saved From the Fire to kill Theoden.
- Respond to Theoden's death with his own game text, playing Gamling, Defender of the Hornburg from your draw deck.
- Pull three Simbelmynes with the Saved From the Fire you just used.
- Use those Simbelmynes to play Haethen, Veteran Fighter, Hrethel, Rider of Rohan, and Eomer, Keeper of Oaths.
- Respond to Eomer, Keeper of Oaths coming into play by revealing the top ten cards of your draw deck and playing all Rohan possessions revealed.
So, how many cards have we pulled out of the deck so far? Let's see:
At least eight cards have been filtered from the deck, in addition to the Saved From the Fire that was played, the first Simbelmyne, and the three starting companions. This means that if you draw a Simbelmyne and Saved From the Fire in your opening draw, you have at most seventeen Free Peoples cards left in your deck – almost half of what you started with.
And that's just at site one.
Every turn thereafter, Gamling, Defender of the Hornburg will play a possession from your draw deck. Saved From the Fire can pull three more. If you're in a position where you don't want to kill a companion off with Saved From the Fire, discard it to Smeagol, Poor Creature during the skirmish phase, or muster it away with Frodo, Protected by Many.
Including such a variety of possessions in this deck was no random act – it was all carefully thought out. You don't want to be drawing cards that you can't play, and you want to make full use of Eomer, Keeper of Oaths, so there are several different possession types. Armor, Hand Weapons, Ranged Weapons, Shields and Helms all make appearances.
Of course the fellowship isn't intended to go running to site nine, but by growing to eight companions very early and playing lots of strength-boosting possessions, it has a decent chance of surviving long enough to let the Shadow do its job.
So, what group of minions should be paired with this Free Peoples? That's your call. Be it corruption, swarm, or whatever else you like, a deck like this can greatly assist any player that loves the thrill and challenge of the Shadow victory. The one thing to keep in mind though: your Shadow side will have to be something that is capable of killing an opponent that single-moves all game - you simply won't be able to put pressure on their fellowship by doubling with yours. Just experiment, modify, and above all else – have fun.
-Zach Shephard
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