What do I buy? Mirkwood Runner Buying Guide

It doesn't matter what forum you frequent, any where that discusses LOTR, the same question comes up.  "What should I buy next?"  Ian, over at Tales from the Cards, has done at great job keeping up with the new expansions in his buying guide.  What my intention is to not give as much of an in depth look at each individual expansion, but to look at them at a higher level and give you advice as to what to buy next.

Not all players are created equally, and as such, I do not expect one buying guide to handle all.  To that end, I have come up with a few player types, and in each, axioms which I will use to build their guide.  My hope is that you will find a player type that fits your interest in The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game and will be helpful when making your purchasing decisions.

Slave to Theme

The Slave to Theme players are fans of the books, first and foremost.  They are looking to recreate the events of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings through the card game.  Because of this, the majority of quests will be those which come in the saga expansions, but other expansions are purchased for the cards which fit thematically.  Not only does Ian make a great buying guide, but I also recommend his custom expansion, First Age, to be able to play through the events of The Silmarillion.

Axioms

• Gameplay must be focused on the events from the books.
• Utilizes cards that are thematically accurate to the books.

Purchasing Order

In this list, I took care to focus on the saga expansions, and also add in other expansions to add characters that were central to the part of the books represented by that particular saga expansion.  All these expansions are optional, as their quests do not tie into the events of the books, but the player cards included do.

• Core Set
• The Hobbit: Over Hill and Under Hill Saga Expansion
• Khazad-Dum Deluxe Expansion
• Across the Ettenmoors Adventure Pack
• The Hobbit: On the Doorstep Saga Expansion
• Return to Mirkwood Adventure Pack
• The Battle of Lake-town Print on Demand Expansion
• The Black Riders Saga Expansion
• The Wastes of Eriador Adventure Pack
• The Old Forest Saga Expansion
• Fog on the Barrow-downs Saga Expansion
• The Road Darkens Saga Expansion
• The Dead Marshes Adventure Pack
• The Watcher in the Water Adventure Pack
• The Treason of Saruman Saga Expansion
• The Voice of Isengard Deluxe Expansion
• The Land of Shadow Saga Expansion

LCG Enthusiast

With the variety of living card games, such as Android Netrunner and Warhammer Conquest, and even non-FFG games which follow a similar game model, such as AEG's Doomtown Reloaded or Plaid Hat Games' Ashes, some people will find their whole gaming life consumed by them.  Lord of the Rings is a great addition to the LCG collector, as it fits a specific niche not held by others.  To the best of my knowledge, LOTR is the only LCG that is cooperative.  Because of this, it's easy to fit into the collection, without having to worry about keeping up with the meta like you have to in competitive LCG's.  This type of player is personified in The Tenth Nazgul's Progression Series.  Unfortunately, Mitch has moved on to cover Conquest, but another member of the community has taken up the task in the form of The Warden of Arnor's Line Unbroken Series.

Axioms

• Buys multiple LCGs
• Interested in deck building and how the game has evolved

Purchasing Order

This is the simplest purchasing order of the group.  For the player interested in experiencing how the game has changed since its inception, simply buy it in the order of release.  Ian's buying guide is organized by order in which things were released.  I would also recommend Nightmare decks as you feel comfortable with the respective quest, and are ready to kick up the difficulty.  Extra core sets can also be added as you see the need for extra copies of the 1-of and 2-of cards.

Deck Builder

The deck builder player is similar to the LCG enthusiast, and may also collect other LCG's, but this player is interested in building the strongest decks first.

Axioms

• Wants the best decks as quickly as possible.
• Quest variety is secondary to getting the best cards.

Purchasing Order

• Core Set x3
• The Dunland Trap Adventure Pack
• Trouble in Tharbad Adventure Pack
• The Antlered Crown Adventure Pack
• Celebrimbor's Secret Adventure Pack
• The Black Riders Saga Expansion
• The Road Darkens Saga Expansion
• Return to Mirkwood Adventure Pack
• Khazad-Dum Deluxe Expansion
• The Hobbit: Over Hill and Under Hill Saga Expansion
• The Hobbit: On the Doorstep Saga Expansion
• Foundations of Stone Adventure Pack
• The Watcher in the Water Adventure Pack
• Shadow and Flame Adventure Pack
• Heirs of Numenor Deluxe Expansion

Cost Conscious

I try not to think about how much money I've spent on this one game.  Between three core sets, every expansion, sleeves, etc, the total is high at this point.  For someone just getting into the game, this can be fairly daunting, regardless of their gaming budget.  This list is intended to help get the player in and maximize the utility of their purchases.

Axioms

• Get the most "bang for their buck"
• If you can't fully utilize the expansion, save it for later.

Purchasing Order

• Core Set
• Return to Mirkwood Adventure Pack
• Khazad-Dum Deluxe Expansion
• The Hobbit: Over Hill and Under Hill Saga Expansion
• The Hobbit: On the Doorstep Saga Expansion
• The Watcher in the Water Adventure Pack
• Foundations of Stone Adventure Pack
• Heirs of Numenor Deluxe Expansion
• The Steward's Fear Adventure Pack
• The Voice of Isengard Deluxe Expansion
• The Lost Realm Deluxe Expansion
• The Grey Havens Deluxe Expansion
• The Black Riders Saga Expansion
• The Road Darkens Saga Expansion
• The Treason of Saruman Saga Expansion
• The Land of Shadow Saga Expansion

In this list, you are given two main archetypes to play with: Dwarves and Outland.  Both are very strong, and give you good decks with minimum investment.  The deluxe expansions give  you a  view into the various types of decks you can build.  If a certain trait catches your eye, I recommend Ian's guide to find the adventure packs that are associated with those traits.

This is by no means an exhaustive list of player types, but a start.  Do you have other ideas for player types?  Feel free to let me know your thoughts and look forward to new player types, and decks to fit the types.

Taking Back the Questing Crown - Community Deck Contruction

When we bought our core sets, we were handed four decks of 30 cards, and had to figure out what to do with them.  When I got to that blue deck, I looked at the four willpower of Eowyn, plus her discard ability, I assumed that Spirit was deck for questing.  As time has gone on, looking at cards such as Sword that was Broken, Visionary Leadership, and the ability to get a bunch of allies on the board, Leadership has become the superior choice in many cases.

My intention is to build a strong questing deck with only Spirit heroes.  I started added all the cards I wanted, and got up to over 90 cards!  I started to think how I could trim it down, but instead, I thought I'd throw it out to community to take over from here.

My thought in putting this together is that this deck will handle the majority of questing, but also be able to handle a bit of combat.  Defense is handled either by Gandalf or using White Tower Watchmen to tank undefended attacks.  Attacking back can be handled a variety of ways.  I have Herugrim to bolster Eowyn's attack, or Fair and Perilous to make Cirdan a threat.  If all the pieces fell together, I'd love to Eowyn, with Herugrim and Elf-friend attached, use her discard ability, then using Fair and Perilous and/or Nenya to boost her attack to ridiculous levels.  This combo could be expanded.  Protector of Lorien and Lay of Nimrodel are both included to help with questing or continue to boost the aforementioned Eowyn or Cirdan combos.  I take advantage of Nenya and Narya giving their wielders Lore and Leadership, respectively, by including various attachments and events, such as Steward of Gondor, which I would expect to best go on Galadriel, 

With that said, I hand this over to the Lord of the Rings LCG community.  What are your thoughts on the deck?  The first thing I'd like to do is see what we feel needs to be trimmed off.  Because of Cirdan cycling through cards, and the other card draw opportunities, I don't think it's necessary to get down to exactly 50, but the deck size is a little silly right now.  Feel free to reply on Twitter, leave a comment on Facebook, or any other way you wish to respond.  I want to start more of a conversation between myself and the greater LOTR crew, so I encourage anyone who wants, to respond in their own blogs, or record a video or an audio clip.  If you do, I will share it so everyone can check it out.

Total Cards: (96)

Hero: (3)

Círdan the Shipwright (The Grey Havens)

Eowyn (Core Set)

Galadriel (Celebrimbor's Secret)

Ally: (28)

3x Arwen Undomiel (The Watcher in the Water)

3x Curious Brandybuck (The Wastes of Eriador)

3x Escort from Edoras (A Journey to Rhosgobel)

3x Ethir Swordsman (The Steward's Fear)

3x Galadriel’s Handmaiden (Celebrimbor's Secret)

3x Pelargir Shipwright (Assault on Osgiliath)

2x Gandalf (Over Hill and Under Hill)

2x Treebeard (The Antlered Crown)

3x White Tower Watchman (The Drúadan Forest)

3x Envoy of Pelargir (Heirs of Numenor)

Attachment: (37)

3x Herugrim (The Treason of Saruman)

3x Light of Valinor (Foundations of Stone)

3x Map of Earnil (Assault on Osgiliath)

3x Mirror of Galadriel (Celebrimbor's Secret)

3x Snowmane (The Land of Shadow)

3x Silver Harp (The Treachery of Rhudaur)

3x The Favor of the Lady (Core Set)

1x Elf-friend (The Treachery of Rhudaur)

3x Narya (The Grey Havens)

3x Nenya (Celebrimbor's Secret)

1x Celebrian's Stone (Core Set)

3x Protector of Lorien (Core Set)

2x Steward of Gondor (Core Set)

3x Unexpected Courage (Core Set)

Event: (31)

3x A Test of Will (Core Set)

3x Elrond's Counsel (The Watcher in the Water)

3x Lay of Nimrodel (The Morgul Vale)

3x The Galadhrim's Greeting (Core Set)

1x Will of the West (Core Set)

3x Fair and Perilous (Across the Ettenmoors)

3x Daeron's Runes (Foundations of Stone)

3x Deep Knowledge (The Voice of Isengard)

3x Word of Command (The Long Dark)

3x Elwing’s Flight (The Grey Havens)

3x Dwarven Tomb (Core Set)

My Newest Hobbit

My first blog post was made from a hospital room, so I figured this would be appropriate. Meet Matthew Oliver. Born 2/16 at 12:35 pm. He has two other hobbits waiting for him at home, ready to make mischief.

Nightmare Run Episode 13 - Return to Mirkwood (2p)

Matt and I attempt to return Gollum to King Thranduil.