By Factor

Another first-time major LOTRO tournament winner, but this one's a familiar face. Pawel "Walther13" Sobczak has been around the Lord of the Rings TCG tournament scene for a long time and has been a fixture in Lord of the Rings Online TCG tournaments for months.

Bill Ferny, Agent of Saruman has been tearing up the LOTRO tournament scene lately, and it was only a matter of time before a version of the deck rose to the top. Walther13 paired a Ferny/Evil Men Site Control half with an original take on the Ranger/Ithilien Blade deck - this one using Shadowplay for extra direct damage.

The other decks in the top 8 were quite interesting. Several different variations on the Ranger/Ithilien Blade made an appearance, all of them strikingly different from one another, only sharing loosely the theme of direct damage. One variation had two copies of Aragorn, Thorongil as the only Rangers. That would be Sting's deck, based around a little-used version of Denethor, Last Ruling Steward. You can bet that more players will be seeking out this Denethor now.

On the shadow side, there was also a ton of variation. Three totally different Evil Men decks, two differently-themed Corsair decks and a single Forest Nazgűl deck made up the top 8 along with a pair of familiar Orc Swarm decks. The metagame truly is wide open.

Here's a link to the top 8. Check back later for an interview with April WCQ winner Walther13!

April 2006 WCQ Top Eight Decklists:

1. Walther13 – Free Peoples: Rangers (Shadowplay). Shadow: Evil Men (Bll Ferny + Site Control).
2. Sting – Free Peoples: Denethor Direct Damage. Shadow: Corsairs (Under Foot).
3. JR1 – Free Peoples: Dwarves. Shadow: Orc Swarm (Massing Strength).
4. youfie62 – Free Peoples: Rangers (Gondor). Shadow: Corsairs.
5. Daniel-San – Free Peoples:Gandalf/Ents. Shadow: Evil Men (Archery).
6. Staszek – Free Peoples: Hobbits. Shadow: Forest Nazgűl.
7. hawttlykewasabi – Free Peoples: Dwarves. Shadow: Orc Swarm (Massing Strength).
8. Marto – Free Peoples: Rangers (Gimli). Shadow: Evil Men (Tokens).

-Factor