With the increasing lifespan of this game, the amount of new players that have to catch up on 10000 adventure packs and deluxe expansions increases as well. Most players go and catch up in the so-called “Progression Style”, buying and playing everything in order of release.
Some people choose their own path. For example, the deck that will be spotlighted today does not draw from a full card pool nor from a progression-style card pool. Gnarly Nyarly adds cards from a certain AP or DE to his card pool every week. Not even all cards from an AP or DE, but just a couple to increase his enjoyment and to learn the card pool better.

This gave me a sort RPG-like feeling, earning/unlocking cards while progressing through levels and beating all the enemies, upgrading your arsenal to beat the next one.

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As an unapologetic Caldara fan, I was absolutely giddy when the spirit ally version of Prince Imrahil was released. While this has spurred discussion on whether Caldara is overpowered, I think that Prince Imrahil’s release has been healthy for the game, as it has opened up the Caldara metagame to far more deckbuilding options; specifically, the wealth of options we now have frees us from the constraint of having three spirit heroes.

While I think that we are still at the tip of the iceberg in terms of unlocking Caldara’s potential, there have been some notable contributions: Sappidus proved the viability of a two-hero Caldara deck in You can only hope to contain her, and Deck Tech author chrsjxn made a splash with his dual-sphere Caldara deck: Galdara.

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Let’s talk about rules. Rules can be useful tools to govern human interaction in a way that is acceptable to all involved. Some might go so far as to tell you that rules are the thread that holds together the fabric of a civil society. Hopefully, we can all agree that they have their place. But the question I want to ask is “what is that place in Lord of the Rings: the Card Game”?

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I’m using this week’s spotlight to highlight a pair of deckbuilders that newer players (or those with a limited card pool) will especially appreciate. Mitch “The Hive Tyrant” and Matthew from The Grey Company have revamped their Progression Series and with the advent of RingsDB, they can now easily post there decks for all to see and use.

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Today we continue our foray into decks designed for saga quests, this time focusing on a two-player fellowship that was built to take on The Black Riders and The Road Darkens.

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One of the things that I love best about this game is the unlikely bedfellows it makes. Elrohir and Elladan are not unlikely bedfellows– there are 58 decks on RingsDB featuring the twins, making it one of the most popular hero pairings around, (for obvious reasons). But the problem with building a Twins deck is one of economy. How do you afford to use their expensive abilities while still paying for the cards you need to get on the table?

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When browsing the forums or the CotR Discord channels, I often see Rossiel placed into specific deck archetypes: secrecy  and victory display control. Whole decks are formed around one or both of these concepts. A common frustration is that it takes time for Rossiel and her control cards to take effect and hard to make consistent use of her boosted stats. You know… it’s all valid. Rossiel can be very tricky to use effectively.

What if I told you that it didn’t need to be this way…

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In these spotlight articles, we strive to cover as many deck and fellowship types as possible. One area we haven’t covered yet is saga play, so today we rectify that!

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I’m a fan of fast starts. I’m generally of the opinion that the first planning phase is pretty much the only point all game where you’re free to do what you want without any interference from the encounter deck, (barring a particularly disastrous setup). So when I build a deck, I usually want to make the most of that opportunity.

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