I sit in front of my computer thinking about the new X-list and how I can't really be surprised on what I see. But I ask myself will this really solve Decipher's problem with overused deck archetypes?

Decipher has the tendency to print "Magic Bullets" to discourage popular archetypes. They have done this all throughout their flagship games: Star Wars and Star Trek. But with LOTR they seem to be waiting on whether to continue this tradition or stick with banning cards. With the recent bannings and printing cards like Grima, I feel Decipher is taking the easy way out instead of actually changing the game to count strategies. This is what metagaming is all about. This is what makes games great, is when you go to a tournament and see 8 different deck archetypes. Instead of building decks to counter the most popular of archetypes, Decipher has done it for us and that in my opinion is wrong.

I'm not saying that there isn't any hope. Decipher had it right at one time. At the end of the Fellowship Block decks were simple. You would strap up your fellowship and back them up with pump. Did Decipher ban any of the Trust cards? No, they designed a Shadow that eats possessions for breakfast. Dunland was great because they bent Trust over the table and returned balance to the game. Today, with the exception of Nazgul, no powerful deck types came out of RotK to balance the meta, unlike the 4 or 5 that came out of Tower Block (Archery, Dunland, Easterlings, Trackers). Not only is this is incredibly stupid but Decipher runs close to stagnating the game. They need to take more chances and print better cards.

So 4 cards have been added to the list. With the exception of one all these "bannings" have come at the wrong time. Six months ago they would have rocked the scene, but not really now. Let's take a look at these cards individually.

Bill the Pony: Decipher believes that Dauntless Hunter were getting too powerful so they remove its main source of choke. While I agree that Hunter is strong, like End Transmission decks in old Trek, you must just play differently to beat it. Hunter's strength was eliminating the minions to ensure a strong double move, so how do you beat it? Simple, you just refrain from laying minions (stick with conditions and the like) on the first move and try to bluff them into a second move in where you would lay the smackdown and cripple the deck. This is why Hunter decks have rarely placed first in major tournaments, because their advantages can be easily turned against them. This is cool; banning Bill to encourage people to play something else is not cool.

Frying Pan: Of all the bannings I can see why Decipher did this, but they did it for the wrong reasons. They are banning this because Decipher feels that this card gives to much of unfair advantage vs Orc decks. The easiest way to fix this is for Decipher to STOP DESIGNING ORCS, and crappy ones at that. What is with Orcs anyway? This was supposed to be Sauron's big day with a slew of new cards. To bad they all suck. I have yet to see a strong Sauron deck (except one - you go, Hebb). Frankly Moria didn't care about Frying pan, they had Throw Yourself in Next Time and Armories to protect them and Saruman Snows to deny them. This was for the Sauron and Nazgul (!?!) Orcs. Instead of designing better cards or using older cards like You bring Great Evil, they go for the quick easy fix. Also this was a key card for Hunter to protect them against the swarm. Sigh, so I guess it's back to Hobbit swords for standard.

Palantir: Now who didn't see this coming? A card that single-handily causes initiative. I could see the designer's meeting at this one.

"Behold initiative!"

"Wow but what about Palantir, couldn't someone use Palantir to take advantage of this rule?"

"Who cares? We'll ban in January!"

(they all laugh maniacally)

But for once I agree with Decipher on this one: Palantir was insanely strong with Moria and needed to be toned down, but banned? Moria was the only one who used it to its full potential. Now since Moria is weak on this site path, I think this banning should have happened last year.

Relics of Moria: Ah, the big banning of this year. I just have one thing to say to Decipher: You $#%%@. What were you thinking? Moria is dead this year (unless Shelob's site is sweet next expansion). No sites this year equals weakness. There was more Easterlings played this year than Moria, and only Moria in its weakest form as Sneak Moria, which doesn't need Relics to win as Ian Vincent showed us this summer. Was Cave Troll's Hammers getting ennoying? Gees.

The thing of it is that to beat these cards all Decipher had to do is print some more removal. How do you beat Relics or Palantir? You shut them down of course. Use the myriad of ways available to you: Sleep, Erland, Something draws Near or Firefoot if you have to. RotK had only one sure way of condition removal and that was Firefoot; how sad is that? My theory is that the Standard meta won't even blink, Moria and Dauntless were on the way out. Decipher hasn't changed anything.

So, on to the last thing, they took Uruk Regular off the banned list. This is good just for the fact that Decipher has the willingness to go back on their decisions. So where Regular might come back, so too could Savagery or O'Elbereth. As for the Regular, he'll never see play now, no Saruman + no Savagery + no sites = no play. He was a safe play for Decipher, so that's why he's off.

Well everything isn't so bad. First up Southrons still suck, their new superweapon the Raider Bow is super strong, but instead of helping them it serves to pump Easterlings up to greater heights. If you haven't played the new beat down Easterling, I recommend that you give them a try. They play like Nazgul but are a lot more fun. That's why more people are playing Easterlings than Moria.

Second, I like how the new Trek expansion is shaping up. Necessary Evil looks like a lot of fun to play. Maybe this will kick 2nd Edition into high gear. Also, if you have any Rare Kahless's for trade e-mail me (e-mail below) I would definitely like to trade.

Well that's it. Until next time.

Peace.

Earl "Sparky" Prusak
Team Five Iron
mastere@shaw.ca