By Factor

Once again, the metagame remains wildly unstable, and that's just how Lord of the Rings Online TCG players like it!

There are eight different decks in the June WCQ top 8, and only a pair of Forest Nazgūl shadow sides prevent all eight decks from avoiding duplication altogether. There are a few new favorites that haven't made an appearance for awhile, as well as some old standbys.

First up is the winner: Orian takes a WCQ for the second straight time. He continues the discard theme, but uses some different cards to do it, as his Gondor/Gandalf half uses cards like Drawing His Eye to pick off minions from the opponent's hand and force them to draw cards. His Shadow half is also capable of discarding thanks to Gorbag, Filthy Rebel and Dread and Despair, but it also corrupts with Bound to its Fate and Orc Tormentor.

The second and third place decks are both Hobbits, but one uses all Ring-bound hobbits, Smeagol and the follower Deagol, while the other is the more mainstream hobbit deck with Rosie Cotton and Farmer Maggot. Ellington's second-place deck pairs Hobbits with his old favorite, Orc/Corsair swarm, better known as Firebomb, while wuzek chose a Forest Nazgūl half.

The fifth-place deck played by draft wizard Melpomene, is an unusual hybrid of Dwarves and Rohan. The Rohan half is used for heavy possession discard, which is a good metagame call against a variety of Shadow halves. She's paired it with an old-school Corsair variant that uses Under Foot for repeated hand reconciling.

The seventh place deck brings back Corruption Nazgūl, which ruled real-life high-level LOTR TCG play (especially in the Midwest) a couple of years back.

And the eighth-place deck is a straightforward Uruk-hai deck, but it's worth mentioning because the Uruks haven't made a top 8 by themselves in quite some time.

Here's a list of the top 8. Check back later for an interview with June WCQ winner orian!

June 2006 WCQ Top Eight Decklists:

1. orian – Free Peoples: Gondor/Gandalf Discard. Shadow: Orc Discard/Corruption.
2. Ellington – Free Peoples: Smeagol/Ring-bound Hobbits. Shadow: Orcs/Corsair Swarm (Firebomb).
3. wuzek – Free Peoples: Hobbits. Shadow: Forest Nazgūl.
4. Inger – Free Peoples: Gondor/Gandalf. Shadow: Forest Nazgūl.
5. Melpomene – Free Peoples:Dwarves/Rohan. Shadow: Corsairs (Under Foot).
6. silver – Free Peoples: Elves. Shadow: Evil Men (Archery).
7. Master_LOTR – Free Peoples: Gimli/Rangers Direct Damage. Shadow: Corruption Nazgūl.
8. Circus_Maximus – Free Peoples: Gandalf/Ents. Shadow: Uruk-hai.

-Factor