Quest 52: The Drowned Ruins

Victory on the First Attempt!

The Deck

The idea of taking on a modern quest with just the core set (and a single core at that) has intrigued me ever since I heard of Xanalor's deck. I tried this deck out towards the end of the Angmar Awakened cycle and was stomped by the encounter deck. This time around I stomped back.

This deck is a great reminder of how many cards in the core set are still relevant in decks today. Guard of the Citadel is really the only card I would not consider putting in a modern deck, and even that may have a place in a dedicated Gondor build (which I have not experimented with much).

It was funny to be expecting additional copies of cards, having owned two cores since the first month of the game and three since last year. I had three Gandalf's in my hand near the end of the game and was waiting for my "final" Sneak Attack to come up, forgetting that I had already played the only two in the deck.

Back to Basics - A Killer Deck Using Cards From 1 Core Set
by Xanalor

Heroes
Beravor
Eowyn (Core)
Theodred

Allies
Erebor Hammersmith x2
Gelowine x2
Henamarth Riversong x1
Miner of the Iron Hills x2
Eowyn x2
Faramir (Core) x2
Guard of the Citadel x3
Beorn (Core) x1
Gandalf (Core) x3
 
Attachments
Forest Snare x2
Unexpected Courage x1
Steward of Gondor x2

Events 
Lore of Imladris x3
A Test of Will x2
Dwarven Tomb x1
Hasty Stroke x2
Stand and Fight x3
The Galadhrim's Greeting x2
Will of the West x2
For Gondor! x1
Sneak Attack x2

Check Xanalor's notes on the deck at RingsDB
RingsDB Link


The Journey

Round 1

Thought I was toast right away and almost scooped. First quest phase had an Ancient Depths revealed, causing a Twisting Hollow to enter the staging area. Loosing one ally each turn seemed unbeatable, but then I realized I could keep in the staging area and quest around the threat. Location lock was a real thing (especially now that I had three double sided locations) and I hoped I could start building up some serious forces.

Round 2
I had taken a hand full of two-drops and no Steward. Pretty risky for a deck I had not had success with before. The pay off came this round when I was able to drop Gleowine, Unexpected Courage, Sneaky Gandalf (for card draw), and put a resource on Captain Sahir. I was able to get over the initial threat of location lock and Beravor began filling up my hand with sweet cards.

Round 3
Steward finally makes it to the table, as well as a few more allies (another Guard and a Northern Tracker). Another resource on the Captain. I'm still keeping locations on their Grotto side with the hopes of building up an ally army before progressing to stage 2.

Round 4
More allies, another resource on the Captain, but this time I decide to flip the active location over and reveal a Sunken Temple.

Round 5
Sneaky Gandalf comes in to drop my threat and help my team quest for 21, moving the Sunken Temple to the victory display!


Round 6
Gandalf is gone, but Faramir drops in so willpower has basically become a non-issue and location lock is not a threat hovering over me. My first enemy, Throngs of the Unfaithful, comes out and surges into a Curse of the Downfallen that does some damage to most of my allies (and kills off Riversong). Na'asiyah easily defends the Throngs (This is a great enemy for a Dunadain deck to go against, btw).

Round 7
Another Curse of the Downfallen decimates my ally forces, but Faramir (and the very high willpower Captain Sahir) comes through for me. Two locations in the victory display!


Round 8
The third location gets added to the victory display and Captain Sahir, my questing all-star and steady resource sink, shows his true colors and takes out Faramir. A Drowned Dead comes out to cause trouble as well.

Round 9
Faramir #2 hits the table and Gandalf shows up to one-shot the Drowned Dead (Modal Gandalf should be the name of this play-through). Shrine to Morgoth gets 15 progress on it.

Round 10
It's just a matter of seeing if a nasty surprise comes off the encounter deck at this point. No surprise and victory is mine!

Final Scoring
9 Completed Rounds x10: 90
Ending Threat: 41
Total Damage on Heroes: 3 (Eowyn)
Threat of Defeated Heroes: 0
Victory Display: -11
(Sunken Temple: 2, Sunken Temple: 2, Twisting Hollow: 2, Shrine to Morgoth: 5)
Total Score: 123


The Recap

Like Temple of the Deceived before it, The Drowned Ruins keeps you on your questing toes. And, also like the preceding quest, choices are given to how you proceed through the quest. Yet both quests feel very distinct and thematically separate in spite of that. I'm a fan of variety, including having the encounter deck hamper me in creative ways, so this was an enjoyable one to tackle. Definitely one for the questing decks, at least based on my play through.

Saga Quest 14: Helm's Deep

Victory on the first attempt!

The Deck


Building a brand new deck for a quest usually gives me pause: Will the basic fabric of this quest and the deck I'm building even be compatible? Fortunately I went with a three four hunters build that did not include Tactics Legolas (who would have gone to waste here). Still a very tactical build, even if there is a rainbow of spheres present. A big goal here is to get two additional races out (Ents being a one) and play The Free People's for value. Only one trick, but a fun one to pull off.


Emo Helm

Heroes
Boromir (The Dead Marshes)
Gimli (The Sands of Harad)
Legolas (The Sands of Harad)
Aragorn (The Treason of Saruman)

Allies
Bofur (Over Hill and Under Hill) x1
Derndingle Warrior x2
Skinbark x1
Arwen Undomiel (Watcher in the Wather) x1
Warden of Healing x1
Envoy of Pelargir x3
Gandalf (Core) x3
Treebeard (The Antlered Crown) x2

Attachments
Captain of Gondor x1
Gondorian Shield x3
Rivendell Blade x2
Narvi's Belt x2
Steward of Gondor x3
Light of Valinor x1
Unexpected Courage x2
A Burning Brand x1
Banner of Elendil x1

Events
Foe-hammer x3
Hands Upon the Bow x3
Captain's Wisdom x2
Sneak Attack x3
Unlikely Friendship x3
A Test of Will x3
The Free Peoples x3


Sets Used
Core
Conflict at the Carrock
The Dead Marshes
Khazad-dum
Road to Rivendell
The Watcher in the Water
The Long Dark
Foundations of Stone
Shadow and Flame
Over Hill and Under Hill
Heirs of Numenor
The Steward's Fear
TheAntlered Crown
Escape from Mount Gram
The Land of Shadow
The Thing in the Depths
The Flame of the West
The Sands of Harad
Beneath the Sands

RingsDB Link



The Journey

Note: I thought I had kept my OCTGN notes on this one somewhere, but apparently I was wrong...

This was a good example of reaping rewards for persevering just a little bit more even when the game seems over. Due to being a bit over-eager with my Boromir use, I came super close to threatening out. I was about to fold & start over, when Gandalf poked his little grey head out. He gave me just enough threat reduction to make it through one more quest stage, get the last progress on The Defense of Helm's Deep, and see those sweet words for a Boromir deck: "If there are no enemies in play, the players win the game." While Boromir won the day, the general victory felt thematic with Ents + The Free Peoples pulling some serious weight.


Final Score
8 Completed Rounds x10: 80
Ending Threat: 49
Total Damage on Heroes: 4 (Aragorn: 3, Boromir: 1)
Threat of Defeated Heroes: 0
Victory Display: 0
Total Score: 133





The Recap

Changes in the basic mentality of the game are always welcome to me, so reversing who is trying to advance the quest (you or the encounter deck) was a neat twist. Definitely not a quest for decks trying to win by speeding through!

First Impressions: The Black Serpent

There are two write ups in the queue waiting to be finished, but I just got my grubby hands on The Black Serpent and I wanted to finally do something that has been on my mind for a while: A first impression player card review.

This is right out of the gate. The box is sitting to my left with the seal remove and the clamshell just cracked. Here we go!

Fastred
Alright, so I saw this guy on someone's Facebook post yesterday (which is how I knew the pack was out, since my FLGS had their shipment delayed). Spirit Rohan is great, but the stats are not crazy impressive to me 1 willpower, 2 attack, 3 defense, 3hp. Bounce to the staging area and reduce my threat. I'm thinking of combos with Spirit Merry to lower that threat. Or what about lore Faramir, who would get an attack boost? Still, enemies are often going to have 3+ attack, plus whatever is hiding in their shadow card. Three hit points does not give me a lot of confidence in defending those attacks. Ally Arwen can help. Other than that, I'm struggling thinking of consistent Spirit defense boosters right now. I did see Tales from the Cards used this guy, Tactics Eowyn, and someone else (Dunhere?) for some success. I'm not salivating over Fastred, but he's not Spirit Pippin either.

Song of Hope
Resources = Willpower. Nice. Being Leadership and requiring consistent resources makes me think of Leadership Denethor bringing this with him to slap on the designated quester. Heck, the existence of Steward of Gondor will likely make this a staple for me in any deck with Leadership.

Bursting into Song
Why yes I am. Ready heroes with songs? Into the Elfhelm horse deck you go. Any other applications would probably only happen if I look down at my decklist and realize I have a good handful of songs.

Defender of Cair Andros
A 4 cost situational Tactics ally? First glance says "Pass." But let's think about this. The 1 willpower and 1 attacks gives him some utility early on. At 30+ threat, he can defend decently (I'm much more of a fan when an ally has three defense and three hit points, vs a hero). At 40+ he's a great defender with a Spear of the Citadel tacked on. We'll change that "Pass" to a "Maybe."

Oath of Erol
Full of good attackers and short on defenders? Well, then hopefully you drew this card! When this was spoiled a bit ago I thought of using it in a Hama deck as a back up in case Thicket of Spears didn't make it into my hand. May still try that one out.

Fearless Scout
Cantrip + Scout trait. Not really exciting to me. I remember a card that cares about Scouts questing. Would work well there. I would need to look at the ally pool to see if this has implications for Tactics Prince Imrahil.

Rally in the West
Hello multi-player all-star! A whole table getting +1 willpower? Worth including that hero that fetches a side quest just for this guy. Even solo I wouldn't mind this type of consistent, untouchable willpower increase.

Dunedain Pipe
Oooh, I like this one. You still get to "keep" the unwanted card in your deck (because it shouldn't be fully unwanted if it's in your deck) and you're not risking shuffling the temporarily unwanted card away only to have it be what you draw (at least not risking drawing that exact copy).

Old Toby
...is more flexible than I am. This picture makes me uncomfortable. The card itself is fine. I haven't done a fully dedicated pipe deck, but now with four pipes and two cards that care directly about them, I may have to give this a spin.

Southron Refugee
The full Harad deck is another one I haven't tried yet. Stackable reduction is good incentive to try! Auto-include with that archetype.

Well that is a nice pack of player cards. With the exception of  Defender of Cair Andros, everything strikes me as having a clear place and I look forward to seeing them there.

Redo: Temple of the Deceived

Victory on the second attempt!
Victory on the third attempt!

The Journey & Recap

My first time around beating Temple of the Deceived came with the realization that I had missplayed Jungle Path and traveled to a location I should not have been allowed to. While it looked like my victory would not have been affected, I felt it was worth a shot redoing this one. Plus, I love the unique layout of this quest.

This attempt was pretty uneventful and quick (if fighting off the Temple  Guardian three times can be uneventful). I started off at a Drowned Graves, moved to a Winding Caverns, and hopped right over to a Cursed Temple. After that I moved to a Temple Halls, then down to The Grotto's Entrance. No Jagged Cliff/Jungle Path shenanigans to worry about.

A fun moment was being at the Cursed Temple, with it's downside of keeping everyone but Eowyn tapped down, and having a ready Eomund to block with, die, and ready his friends. Then, just a few rounds later, the quest ended with a very Rohanesque casting of Astonishing Speed as our heroes and allies galloped off to victory!


Final Scoring
8 Completed Rounds x10: 80
Ending Threat: 38
Total Damage on Heroes: 0
Threat of Defeated Heroes: 0
Victory Display: -4 (Temple Guardian)
Total Score: 114

The Deck

My Rohan horse deck was a blast to play the fist time I journeyed around the island. I did want to add a few more mounts, such as A-Rod and Winfola. Songs were also conspicuously missing from the deck the first time around (I did not think of the implications of those with Elfelm's ability). Perfectly refined? Not yet. Fun? Yup. It doesn't spam the allies, like my usual preferred plan, but gives you just the right number while watching Eowyn & Eomer do their respective things.

You Get a Horse v.2

Heroes 
Elfhelm (Temple of the Deceived)
Eomer
Eowyn (Core)

Allies
Ceorl x1
Errand-rider x3
Deorwine x1
Westfold Outrider x3
Eomund x2
Gamling x2
Hama (The Treason of Saruman) x2
Westfold Horse-breeder x3
Gandalf (Core) x2

Attachments
Armored Destrier x2
Steward of Gondor x2
Arod x1
Firefoot x1
Rohan Warhorse x2
Herugrim x1
Snowmane x1
Steed of the Mark x1
Winfola x1
Song of Battle x1
Song of Kings x1

Events
A Very Good Tale x2
Captain's Wisdom x2
Sneak Attack x2
Charge of the Rohirrim x2
A Test of Will x2
Astonishing Speed x2
Elven-light x3


Sets Used
Core
The Hunt for Gollum
Conflict at the Carrock
The Dead Marshes
Return to Mirkwood
Over Hill and Under Hill
Heirs of Numenor
The Steward's Fear
The Morgul Vale
The Voice of Isengard
The Dunland Trap
Celebrimbor's Secret
The Treason of Saruman
The Land of Shadow
The Dread Realm
The Thing in the Depths
Temple of the Deceived
A Storm on Corbas Haven

RingsDB Link

Quest 50: The Thing in the Depths

Victory on the Fourth Attempt!

The Deck 

Knowing this was going to be more of a tactical quest, I was looking for a Dunedain deck to try out. I kind of found one. The Eagles Comeback Album has a few Dunedain in the line up but is, as the title hints, primarily an Eagles deck. It developed a nice board state rather quickly, but the questing power wasn't quite what I needed (or at least what I was able to use effectively). A.C.E. was up to the willpower challenge, but not the tactical aspect. Ally swarm had my focus. Quad Sphere Dwarf Swarm caught my eye...until I realized it had done so last month. Then I came across a deck I had heard mentioned several times: Seastan's Everything* Costs 2. Exactly what I was wanting!

Everything* Costs 2

Heroes
Arwen Undomiel (The Dread Realm)
Beregond (Heirs of Numenor)
Galdor of the Havens (The Grey Havens)

Allies
Bilbo Baggins (The Road Darkens) x1
Ethir Swordsman x3
Galadriels' Handmaiden x2
Zigil Miner x3
Galadhon Archer x3
Honour Guard x3
Mithlond Sea-watcher x2
Erebor Hammersmith x2
Ered Nimrais Prospector x2
Gleowine x1
Quickbeam x1
Warden of Healing x3
Envoy of Pelargir x3

Attachments
Unexpected Courage x3
Raven-winged Helm x2
Spear of the Citadel x2
Protector of Lorien x2
Ranger Spikes x2

Events
Elven-light x2
Will of the West x2
The Evening Star x3
Hidden Cache x3

Sets Used
Core Set
Khazad-dum
The Long Dark
Heirs of Numenor
The Steward's Fear
The Morgul Vale
The Road Darkens
The Nin-in-Eilph
Celebrimbor's Secret
The Treason of Saruman
The Wastes of Eriador
The Dread Realm
The Grey Havens


RingsDB Link

The Journey

Attempt 1 was a reminder of how brutal location lock can be. I let a few slip past me and then, largely due to Quarter Deck, found myself in a hole there was no digging out of. At least combat went well!

Attempt 2 was death by tentacles. Learning (part of) my lesson on location lock for this quest, I dashed into battle with the beast. Things were looking like they might work out after all, until the following quest phase occurred - Reveal: Eye of the Beast. Surge. Reveal: Crushing Arm. Surge. Reveal: Lashing Tentacles.

Attempt 3 was a lesson in learning the wrong lessons. So wary of location lock, I forgot that this deck has more of a tactical weakness and rushed passed the first stage. While A.C.E. can start spitting out the allies, The Thing in the Depths can spin up tentacles much faster. As with attempt 2, there was a slight glimmer of hope that was quickly crushed.

Attempt 4 was a return to my Attempt 1 strategy, with the exception that this time I kept the locations moving. And my threat! I spent so much time building my army that I let myself get into the low 40's before moving on. Even then that first battle vs the tentacles was tense. I had five ungrapple from a Quarter Deck and enter the staging area at once. Two were Crushing Arms which attacked immediately (and one attacked an additional time) and two were Grasping Arms that tapped down two of my allies. I was able to take the eight attacks and take down two of the Grasping Arms. After that, it was more a matter of watching my threat climb each round and hoping I could get to 11 damage on the Thing before I reached 50. Revealing a From the Depths and not hitting a single enemy was a bummer. Then a Thrashing Arm came out and victory was mine!


Final Scoring
12 Completed Rounds x10: 120
Ending Threat: 45
Total Damage on Heroes: 0
Threat of Defeated Heroes: 0
Victory Display: -15 (Helm of the Stormcaller: 5, The Thing in the Depths: 10)
Total Score: 84


The Recap

The Thing in the Depths really brings out the puzzle aspect this game can have to it. Exactly how much willpower should you bring to the table? How much attack & defense? How many allies? You can answer all of those by bringing a deck that excels in all three areas (the route I took) or try to find a deck that hits that balance just right. Might be a fun challenge some day.

Quest 49: Flight of the Stormcaller

Victory on the Second Attempt!

The Deck

After taking a break for a little over a month, my return via Flight of the Stormcaller started off rough last night. The netdeck I was trying out was based around a combo that never showed. Then the encounter deck decided to throw out just about every stop possible. I had all three copies of Sahir's Escort in play by the time I advanced to stage 3 and I was fully off course. Not an enjoyable experience.

While I do want to stretch my deck-building muscles again soon, my highest priority was getting my excitement for the game started. A.C.E. was such a fun deck for me during The Grey Havens box that I decided to make a few minor tweeks (switching out Song of Wisdom for a second copy of Elrond's Council) and give it another run.



The Journey

With Gandalf in my starting hand, the start was explosive. I prioritized staying on course, then blew past the first stage. I decided to go off-course during Round 2 when Sudden Storms arose, but committed four characters + the Dream-chaser turned up three positive results for the sailing test and got me back to calm seas.

The Stormcaller just crawled along the whole time. During both Round 1 & 2, the discarded encounter card was a treachery. A far different play than attempt #1!

Final Scoring
2 Completed Rounds x10: 20
Ending Threat: 29
Total Damage on Heroes: 3 (Arwen: 1, Cirdan: 1, Erestor: 1)
Threat of Defeated Heroes: 0
Victory Display:0
Total Score: 62



The Recap

Flight of the Stormcaller really helps show me how much a certain play experience can color my overall opinion of a quest. After attempt #1, I felt this quest had too many moving parts and was frustrating to crack. After attempt #2, I felt it was an enjoyable challenge for a quest-heavy deck with an optional path to try a deck that can quest well and fight very well (a path I would not mine exploring one day in the future).

This quest hit a lot of points for me: Strong theme overall and in key card,s (Jagged Reef is amazing), different victory paths the player can choose, and a moderate level of difficulty. I'm not going to mark this one down as a favorite yet, mainly due to the trauma of last night's attempt, but look forward to making more of a martial attempt in the future as well as seeing if my questing-focused decks can get the job done faster than the Stormcaller.