Welcome & Introduction:

Welcome to my tenth Solo Player LOTR LCG Tournament. The idea behind this tournament is that for one week (Sunday – Saturday), everyone is invited to participate in playing a particular scenario with particular deck building requirements in a Solo Player Tournament. You are then invited to record and post your final results, the heroes you used, and any additional narrative that you’d like to add.

Note: The tournament has a one-week lifespan, and only games played and recorded throughout this week are valid. As the week unfolds, I will keep this first post updated with the Top Ten results. (Each participant can occupy a maximum of one Top Ten spot at a time, so you’re welcome to try and best your own result throughout the week.) See also, The juicebox LOTR LCG Top Ten Hall of Fame.

Will you place in the Top Ten for the week? I hope you’ll participate and find out!

After the end of this week’s tournament, you are welcome to continue to post results to this thread if you continue to play this particular scenario under these particular parameters. However, the Top Ten on this first post will not continue to be updated after the week is over, thus preserving (like a time capsule) the results from this week’s tournament. In the mean time, if you have ideas for a future tournament, feel free to post them in the Ideas Thread.

And now… on to this week’s Solo Player Tournament!

Solo Player Tournament #10:

Scenario: Into the Pit
Deck Parameters: Open Build
Tournament Mechanics: Sets of 3*
Number of Players: Solo Player

*Sets of 3:
1) A valid result in this tournament consists of reporting your results (wins and losses) from 3 back-to-back games, using the same deck for each of those 3 games. (Please observe the mulligan rule, and all other rules, from the LOTR LCG rulebook and subsequent official FAQ documents.)
2) After you post your results, the results from your 3 games will be calibrated using the RGun formula** to obtain your Weighted Result.
3) Weighted Results will then be ranked against other player’s Weighted Results in the Top Ten for this week’s tournament.
4) You may play and report as many games (in Sets of 3) as you would like (so you can try out different deck builds over the week).

**The RGun formula has been designed to value both Final Score (per game) and overall Win Ratio (from your 3 games, cumulative). The formula is: (Average Score of Games Won) x (Total Games Played/Games Won). For an expanded discussion on how this formula was created, you can read the thread called Measuring Success.

Top Ten:

1. SiCK_Boy ~ 91 (Éowyn, Théodred, Beravor)
2. leptokurt ~ 104 (Dwalin, Dáin, Bifur)
3. muemakan ~ 105.33 (Boromir, Théodred, Éowyn)
4. Chac ~ 113.66 (Éowyn, Théodred, Legolas)
5. Zjb12 ~ 144.75 (Éowyn, Théodred, Legolas)
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.

Last Updated:

February 19, 2012 (10:53am) [FFG Time]

[This week’s tournament will run from February 12-18, 2012 and will officially close at the end of the week (midnight) as time-stamped by the FFG forum time clock.]

Hi,

Here is the result of my first try on this week tournament.

Card pool : 3 core sets + Hunt for Gollum AP + Journey to Roshgobel AP

Heroes : Eowyn, Theodred, Legolas

First game (win)

Round markers : 7 (70)
Final threat : 44
Dead heroes threat : -
Wounds : 6
Victory points : 4

Total : 116

Second game (win)

Round markers : 7 (70)
Final threat : 42
Dead heroes threat : -
Wounds : 2
Victory points : 4

Total : 110

Third game (win)

Round markers : 8 (80)
Final threat : 39
Dead heroes threat : -
Wounds : 0
Victory points : 4

Total :115

Good luck to all players

Chac
 

My first cycle was a bit disappointing. One loss because I got 2x Watchful Eyes in rounds 1 and 3, and one bad result because I got 2 Goblin Pursuers after using the Cave Torch twice (round 2). The Pursuers got company when a Goblin Swordsman joined them as a shadow effect. To clear the floor from these enemies took me quite a while. My threat was also rising close to 50  as I drew one threat heavy location after the other.

Game 1: WIN (120)

Threat: 44

Damage: 0

Fallen:0

Rounds: 80

Victory Points: 4

Game 2: LOSS

Game 3: WIN (192)

Threat: 44

Damage: 2

Fallen:0

Rounds: 150

Victory Points: 4

As always I used 1 core set and all APs + KD expansion.

 This scenario is driving me nuts---half the time I lose, and the other times I have to call the game because there is so much going on with all the encounter location card effects, that I forget and screw something up---ugh!  Last night I literally got stuck on the bridge for several rounds until I eventually threated out, while accumulating tons of resources and cards, none of which I could use since you cannot play cards.

[QUOTE efidm=616978]

This scenario is driving me nuts---half the time I lose, and the other times I have to call the game because there is so much going on with all the encounter location card effects, that I forget and screw something up---ugh! Last night I literally got stuck on the bridge for several rounds until I eventually threated out, while accumulating tons of resources and cards, none of which I could use since you cannot play cards.
[/QUOTE]

Almost the same happened to me in my last game. I only needed one more progress on the bridge but kept drawing "Burning Low" with 2 Branching Paths in the staging area. Of course while I was making my way over the bridge I drew all those cards I needed. Once I was over the bridge I encountered two Patrol Leaders before finally the Mapmaker showed me an unprotected shortcut on my way up.

I had 6 losses in a row after my last cycle, then 2 wins and 1 loss, and finally I got 3 wins in a row:

Game 1: WIN (110)

Threat: 34

Damage: 0

Fallen: 0

Rounds: 80

Victory Points: 4

Game 2: WIN (101)

Threat: 34

Damage: 4

Fallen: 0

Rounds: 70

Victory Points: 7

Game 3: WIN (178)

Threat: 45

Damage: 0

Fallen: 0

Rounds: 140

Victory Points: 7

The second game could have been way better if

1) my first attempt to defat the Patrol Leader had not been thwarted (which is why I had to use Gandalf`s ability to accomplish that next round)

and

2) I hadn't drawn 4x Signs of Conflict

leptokurt... nice persistence.

Also, who were your heroes?

So far only my normal deck had a chance against it. But I would rather like to get another deck to work.

Well, there´s still half a week.....

 Well, at least here's something:  game 1, threat 36; damage 6; rounds 6; vps 4.  Total: 98.  Interesting thing here was all 3 Heros, eowyn, theodred, and legolas had watchful eyes on them by the end.  What a pain!  UC helped on legolas And letting round take the fall one turn helped with the others for one round.

Game 2: L.

Game 3: hmm....stuck on the bridge with two patrol leaders and tons of cards and resources in my hand...what do you think happened???   LLLLLLLLL.

juicebox said:

My heroes are Barack Obama, Batman and.Ro....

Oh, you mean my heroes?

Dwalin, Dáin, Bifur - dwarfs for presidency!

muemakan said:

Could you try a Ziggy deck if that's possible? I still haven't seen one in action, and I'm not able to build one with only one copy of the core set.

However, if you want to have some fun, try out a dwarven deck. That way you can include most of the hew KD cards!

Oops, double posted.

Make sure to bring some Miner of the Iron Hills along with you to remove those nasty Watchful Eye condition attachments in this scenario.  Very helpful to get rid of those and slow the encounter deck draw.

leptokurt said:

Yeah, tried a dwarf deck in all two player games I played last week. We won every game we played. In my solo games,  I am not there yet.

Hm don´t know if I want to try the Ziggy.......but on the other hand I have got some time this night.

By the way, here is my first entry.

Heroes: Boromir, Eowyn and Dwalin

1.Game: R-9, TH-36, W-2, V-4= 124

2.Game: R-8, TH-45, W-3, V-4= 124

3.Game: LOST

hm, that makes 186, not that great.

Forgot to put PoL into my deck. Most important card in the Ziggy deck once you got your deck running. Managed a 66 with it. 

First miner hit the table in round 3.

 Better today, same Heros, legolas, eowyn, theodred.

Game 1: threat 33; damage: 0; dead Heros: 9 (legolas); rounds: 7 (70); vps: 4 (gate, hall, bridge).  Total: 108.

Game 2: threat 27; damage: 2; dead Heros: 0; rounds: 6 (60); vps: 4 (same). Total: 85.

Game 3: L.

Decided to give it a go with a massive draw deck featuring Eowyn, Theodred and Beravor (made from 3 Core Sets + all expansions).

Results:

Game # 1 - Win: 18 threat + 0 dead hero + 2 wounds - 4 victory points + (7 rounds * 10) = 86

Game # 2 - Win: 8 threat + 0 dead hero + 0 wound - 4 victory points + (8 rounds * 10) = 84

Game # 3 - Win: 7 threat + 0 dead hero + 0 wound - 4 victory points + (10 rounds * 10) = 103

Here's my decklist:

Hero (3)
Beravor (Core) x1
Eowyn (Core) x1
Theodred (Core) x1

Ally (22)
Northern Tracker (Core) x3
Daughter of the Nimrodel (Core) x3
Gandalf (Core) x3
Gleowine (Core) x2
Henamarth Riversong (Core) x3
Miner of the Iron Hills (Core) x3
Rivendell Minstrel (THFG) x2
Snowbourn Scout (Core) x3

Attachment (19)
Unexpected Courage (Core) x3
A Burning Brand (CatC) x3
Dunedain Mark (THfG) x3
Protector of Lorien (Core) x3
Song of Kings (THFG) x1
Song of Travel (THoEM) x1
Song of Wisdom (CatC) x2
Steward of Gondor (Core) x3

Event (9)
A Test of Will (Core) x3
The Galadhrim's Greeting (Core) x3
Sneak Attack (Core) x3

Comments on the quest:

Having played it a lot a few weeks ago for one of Zjb's tournaments, I was already familiar with the tricks of this quest. You want to be careful with the Torch, although it's almost always worth using it if it's to "clear" a location (you have a few locations with 4 or 5 threat, while most enemies are no more than 3 points of threat value, so if you can handle the fights, the trade-off is great. Having a way to peak at the encounter deck is key as it lets you maximize usage of the Torch and not waste attacks on Patrol Leader. You want to quest with an extra buddie whenever possible because of Sudden Pitfall. The other two dangerous treacheries are Crumbling Ruin and Dark and Dreadful, but even if you don't have a way to cancel them, they aren't game killers. Watchul Eyes can also become cumbersome when it starts accumulating so a work-around is needed. The last aspect is that you want to beware of shadow cards because of the ones that put additional enemies in the staging area.

Comments on my deck:

With all that in mind, I made a few specific choices for this quest. The core of my deck is basic 3 colors cards. The main plan is to get an early Steward (on Beravor, who also gets the Songs), a Protector of Lorien on Eowyn and massive draw from Beravor and Unexpected Courage. Sneaky Gandalf plays a role either as a sharpshooter (especialy in stage 2 of the quest, it's often worth killing the Patrol with Gandalf rather than reducing your threat as you can skip to stage 3 as soon as your clear the board of enemies). Henamarth is also a key component of the deck in general (allows to pace the questing and plan around treacheries), but even better against this specific quest because of all the interactions. I had originaly considered playing Dunhere instead of Theodred to attack the enemies in staging during the first part of the quest as well as using Denethor instead of Beravor. I'm sure such a setup would have been as consistent (in win %), but much more slower (hence giving worse scores). Also, it would have required an early Song of Kings as well as a Steward to start the engine while the current version is up and running on turn 2 with just a Steward.

I'll remove the 2 Song of Wisdom the next time I play it. The original intent was to be able to play all my A Burning Branch, but the truth is that I simply block multiple times with Beravor (from his Unexpected Courage) when required. So the 2 Songs would change for either Stand and Fight (allows you to discard to Eowyn early and get these allies back later) or Dwarven Tomb (to pick up A Test of Will). I'm also not 100 % sold to the Dunedain Mark. They give some fighting power (played on Beravor), but maybe an ally with fighting power would give the same results.

As for specific choices against this scenario, the 3 Miners of the Iron Hills could swap out against a scenario without dangerous conditions. Snowbourn Scouts were added as questing fodder in case of A Sudden Pitfall. They could also take a break if required. Possible replacements include: the 3rd Gleowine, the 3rd Rivendell Minstrel, West-Road Traveller or Strider's Path (fullfil similar functions), Escort from Edoras, The Riddermark's Finest, Erebor Hammersmith, Haldir, Eomund, Elfhelm and Gildor Inglorion. I'd probably steer clear of the high-cost allies because I rarely stock on resources over turns (and with the card drawing, it's easy to have playable cards each turn).

Comments on my games:

Not much to say. They all went pretty much according to plan. The last game was the longest one; I was engaged early by a Goblin Follower and had to keep defending, thus slowing my card draw. I also had 2 Goblin Scout in the staging area for a while. Once I found my second Unexpected Courage, a combination of Gandalf and The Galadhrim's Greetings finally allowed me to engage these villains and clear the staging (at one point, I thought I'd take the reverse road as my threat was up to 34, but I didn't have to).