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Are Ents Tough Enough? [LotR]
Earl's Guide to EoF
by Earl "Sparky" Prusak
Since Ents of Fangorn came out people ask themselves, did EoF change the meta? Like its counterpart Realms of the Elf Lords, the set was made up of rather forgettable cards with a few power rares. Unlike Realms where the power rares were easy to see (Aragorn, Saruman, Bowman, Elrond etc.), the Ent set had less cards that make you go "wow". That doesn't mean great cards weren't released, you just have to sift though the crap.
So without further ado, here is my list of the top ten cards of the Ents of Fargorn expansion.
Honourable Mention) Toss Me - Before you scoff this choice, listen up; this card is a perfect addition to any deck that uses any kind of Dwarven stacking conditions because they are so flexible. The +1 Str for Gimli is really quite easy to achieve, if you use My Heart Ever Rises, just throw them back on top before you play it, if you have Courtesy of My Hall just discard them, if you have that That is a Good Rock, chuck them on it in the skirmish phase for a quick +1 Str, +1 Dmg, and heaven forbid you get them too early you can cycle them to the bottom of the deck and get them later. The fact that they can cycle themselves mean that they will never be dead weight in your hand. Plus anyone can tell you that conditions that boost Str are worth their weight in gold (Last Alliance, Trust, Hidan). So an +14 Str Lockbearer might not be looking so bad now.
10) Ready to Fall - The big question we have to ask is this card better than Constantly Threatening? Yes and no. Once you get two sites Ready to Fall is quite a bit more effective but only if things start to go your way. If your opponent is using site liberation or just seriously smashing your dunhill then it becomes quite useless. So which one do you use? Why both of course. Card recursion is good in any form, look what it did to Moria.
9) Eastering Polearm - One thing that really disappointed me is that Raiders got practically nothing in this set. With 5 measly cards in this set the affiliation hasn't gotten the chance to really shine. Did Dunhill really need all those new cards? Well Eastering Polearm continues the Towers tradition of useful, playable shadow possession, 0 cost for a +2 str is ok, then on top of that you can immunity to wounds at 2 burdens and Dmg +1 at five burdens. Wow. No longer do you have to worry about Greenleaf pinging off your Guards and Lieutenants. Now if only Raiders had some kind of weapon recursion.
8) Fire & Foul Fumes - The card that just begs to be broken. With cards like Trapped and Alone it is very easy for four orc to stay in play until the regroup phase, the tricky part is getting the four twilight. Perhaps some sort of Scaffolding trick with discarding orcs or the new Sharku. Which ever way you do it, it will spell doom (oh, no not Doom!) for the fellowship as one of their prized companions is instantly toast. Tasty.
7) Ancient Roads - It is a condition that mirrors Gondorian Ranger's game text. No longer do you have to rely on the slightly weakened Ranger to increase your sight numbers. So you can now stay under six companions and focus on making your Ringbound Ranger even more potent. Will it revitalize Faramir and his peeps? Well it is a great start.
6) Dunlending Elder - It is the most cost effective minion since Uruk Regular. Out of all the shadow affiliations Dunhill can control sites the easiest, in fact they have perfected it. When you control a measly two sites you get for 2 twilight, a 12 Str, Fierce, Dmg +1 minion. Ouch. In the late game when your looking for minions to bring back with Constantly Threatening or Ready to Fall you can go no better. It will be a perfect addition to the Dunlending beatdown machine.
5) Peril - Ah nothing like creating a new archetype. Peril opens up new possibilities for corruption and site control for sauron, something they have been lacking. Sauron has so many neat things that they can do it the regroup phase. Wisps can add burdens, Orcs can control a site, you could stack extra minions on Teeth of Mordor, or just get card out of your hand. Just play a minion that won't like lose such as Morgul Hunter and let them rip. Throw in Gleaming in the Snow, Gollum, a few Enquea maybe an Easterling or two and you'll have a New Age Burden deck. Groovy.
4) Too Long Have These Peasants Stood - Now that's a title. Personally I think Dunhill shouldn't have gotten this card. It gives Dunhill too many answers to different fellowship strategies. Archery? Play Hides. Hidan ? Burn their possessions. A hobbit deck with Promises? Now they too will be crushed by Dunhill. For the low cost of two twilight and Dunhill minion winning a skirmish you get to blow all conditions off the table. Losing your one or two conditions is a small price to pay to discard all of your opponent's Trusts, Hidan's or Promises.
3) Quickbeam - The only companion on this list. A very cost effective Ent. The fact that you can start with him is really quite good. A base 8 Str, 3 toughness for two twilight is always good. Look at Eomer. Two Hobbits and Quickbeam is a solid start, from there your can get one of the three hunters. Go for Legolas for choke, Gimili for beats or Wingfoot if you're interested in double moving. Throw in some Wizard is Never Late in to get Linderroot and Ent Horde and you will have a very solid fellowship.
2) Winged and Ominous - Ah Nazgul, the bane of Standard. This is the Tower's Block answer for Morgul Gates. For the low cost of one you get to turn each of the remaining toughness of your Nazgul into a token which you can discard 3 of them to add two twilight in the shadow phase. Pretty good huh? But is is better than Morgul Gates? In Standard yes since Dauntless Hunter cancels Gates game text, so W&O is better. But watch out for Vilya they can make your life pretty bad. Better start packing Fear.
1) Orc Insurgent - The baddest muther in the Tower's Block. Let me explain this to you, if a shadow card adds twilight it is good (ie. Goblin runner). If a shadow card lets you draw more cards it's better (ie. Hill Chief, Grishnak, Goblin Scimitar). Put this together on a minion that's 11 Str and can do this multiple times and it will blow your mind. This minion is so cost effective it frightens me. For Each culture over Two you can exert the orc to draw a card and add a twilight. You can do this twice. I ran a rainbow beef deck that won regionals, this card would have crippled me as the opponent could have drawn 8 cards and added 8 twilight for the low, low cost of 4 Twilight. What I love most about this is that everyone plays 3 cultures, so for 2 twilight you get to draw two more cards and get an 11 str minion out of the deal. Two of these bad boys are going into my Vida deck, though it will won't be rainbow anymore. I don't fear Grima, I fear this guy.
So what did we learn from this expansion? Nothing. With the exception of Peril, this expansion was all about printing more cost effective cards. Instead of cards that change the meta, we got minions and characters that were bigger and harsher. Was it better than Helm's Deep? As a total Ents of Fangorn have more useful cards but they won't change the game like the cards from Helm's Deep. Change is good.
Earl S. Prusak
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