well they certainly have a great design team….theres no doubt…however it all depends whether secrecy holds their attention for long enough or is getting whatever results they were aiming for

 This is the line from the article that just bugs me:

"Of course, the Imladris Stargazer is a natural companion to another Spirit ally, the Zigil Miner (Khazad-dûm, 9), but she’s potentially more interesting in combination with a number of Secrecy-focused cards. The Imladris Stargazer offers Secrecy decks a means of draw manipulation that rivals that of Gildor Inglorion (The Hills of Emyn Muil, 79), but one that plays for a mere fraction of Gildor's cost. Thus, the Stargazer is far more likely to aid a Secrecy strategy during its vital early turns."

When I finished reading that first sentence, I just wanted to scream out loud, "No, she's not!" There's nothing about "Secrecy-focused cards" that makes her "potentially more interesting with them" than if you were playing a traditional non-Secrecy deck and were digging through the top cards looking for the best option. And yes, she costs 3 less than Gildor (who is unique and actually grants you the benefit of Elrond's Counsel), but he also has +2 WP, +3 Attack, and +1 Defense, and +2 HP. What does she have? That's right 0/0/1 for stats, and 1 Hit Point. She may be a "fraction" of Gildor's cost, but she can only do a "fraction" of what he can so that seems fair. Frankly I would have limited her cost to 1 Spirit and reduced the number of cards she can look at to 3 or 4. She's an expensive blocker most of the game, unless you are using her in a very tight combo. Whether the card you are looking at has Secrecy written on it or not is irrelevant.

well lets see… I think secrecy might pan out.. I mean eagles was lame as hell until the end of the cycle.. dwarf sucked untill khaz and hobbits are getting the big turbo charge soon (please i wana see a tactics sam!).. The point is until the full cycle is out we do not know the full power. There is defiantly a load of threat management stuff coming out.

Tragic (I play with him a bit in lackeyCCG) is brewing a pretty interesting draw deck for secrecy. I am probably going to be yelled at for this.. as it is early.. but the main idea is to use Aragorn (Lore) in the secrecy deck and then Bilbo and / or Beravore to draw. The version I have seen is for 2 player. Anyway the idea is that you draw a ton of cards into your hand.. from a secrecy deck, and then BANG you use Aragorns ability to reset yourself under secrecy level and play like a huge smack ton of cards in a single turn.. all at secrecy cost. I have seen his brew version and the engine defiantly works.. the question is will enough good cards be available to make the "a Secret Dump Deck" as he calls it, worth it.

The point is that secrecy is cool as it is a macaronic that people can play with.. and until the card pool grows you can nvr tell where it will end up.

As for how this card helps… well take a look…. and who knows what is next… but most that we know off have a deck peak machanic.

Yes, secrecy is worth it if you build around it.

I have a Lore/Leadership that works wonders in 2-player games, and most of my cards costs 4-5, mostly to take advantage of Taking Initiative (it's a wonderful card in my opinion). I use most Secrecy Cards available to those two spheres and lots of Allies to help me in questing and combat; it starts slow, only get a good Will on t2 (with luck) and more consistently on t3.

There is a certain time in the game that Taking isn't useful anymore, but that's why you have Protector of Lórien, to dump useless/not-so-useful cards in your hand for will/def boost.

The Lore sphere is great for Secrecy because it have useful people both for combat and questing! Haldir and Gildor are Uniques, and as such, they are supposed to be very good, but heck, putting them into play soon can make a huge difference. Mirkwood Runner is there too, he is great to get those Trolls. Another thing is that the deck has a good amount of Sentinel/Ranged, so if the other deck (an attrition-based) is having some problems in combat, this Secrecy can help a little bit!

booored said:

I wouldn't worry about letting the cat out of the bag. No offense to you or Tragic, but that combination seemed pretty obvious to me right from when Aragorn (Lore) was announced. I just won't be able to execute it for a while since I have no Dwarrodelf packs . . . yet.

yeah well.. i aint seen anyone else mention it.

As soon as he was previewed, the first thing that popped in my mind was an alliance with Frodo.
You can basically ignore most combat damage for a while and then reset yourself to Secrecy; Spirit has good cheap allies too, and ways to bring your threat down after reseting (Wandering Took, The Galadhrim's Greeting, Elrond's Counsel, etc), so I think it is the most obvious couple for Aragorn (Lore).

personally i think hes the most powerful hero in the game as, as stated above, he allows you to really exploit other heros abilities….also it makes great thematic sense…..four travel weary hobbits, fresh from the downs, come into the pracing pony…..and their threat is reset by the meeting with strider…great stuff

cordeirooo said:

just remeber frodo only works once per turn.. so high agro encounter decks like say anduin he dosn't help as much as some people think. But yeah Boromire and Frodo are often talked about as well

booored said:

Dang! You're right.
I didn't realize his 'once per turn' clause. What a shame. :(

Well, you can still take a hit without worrying much, anyway. :D


While I do agree Boromir could use the Strider's ability, I don't find the Lore/Tactics spheres conjunction very useful for a two-Hero deck.

The card draw trick won't work in solo mode, as the big problem with secrecy decks (so far) is to survive the first 2-3 rounds. If you have a partner that is covering you, yep, it is fine. If you're on your own, you just can't wait too long.

I've gotten some of my best scores with secrecy. I scored an 89 on Hunt for Gollum with Eowyn and Bilbo and a Zigil/secrecy deck. Also it works for 2 player as well, I've got the current highest score for the Juicebox 2-player Dead Marshes tournament thanks to secrecy. I also got a 105 on Road to Rivendell with Loragorn and Theodred. Theodred and Dunhere are also a good combo. Just give it a try and experiment, it's fun!

yeah ziggy+secrecy is fine for solo.. you get great scores and it is very consistant

Frodo's ability can actually be triggered "once per phase," so don't forget that he can suck up damage in the Questing phase as well as the Combat phase. :)