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| = Strategy = | | = Strategy = |
| == Gameplay Strategy == | | == Gameplay Strategy == |
| This card is often overlooked by Moria players for its situational bent, unplayable against a Free Peoples without a Hobbit and useless against a Free Peoples that won't be exerting its Hobbits anyway. But until Movie Block every deck is required to have at least one Hobbit (Frodo), and in Fellowship block every deck is likely to have at least one card that will exert a hobbit: {{Card|Sting}}. Add in the popularity of {{Card|Merry, Friend to Sam}} and {{Card|Sam, Son of Hamfast}}, plus the powerful effects of {{Card|Filibert Bolger}} and {{Card|Frying Pan}}, and there's no shortage of opportunities for this card to interfere with a Fellowship.
| | ''In this section, describe:'' |
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| Because the card plays on a companion, it can create a timing dilemma for the Shadow player. Drawing it early might mean playing it before an opponent has any cards which exert Hobbits, while drawing it late often means playing it after Hobbits are already nearly exhausted. In both cases, almost any other card would have a greater impact. The safest bet is often playing it on Frodo, as Sting or Frying Pan will probably be put on him at some point even if he doesn't have them now. Merry, Friend to Sam is also an obvious target when he is in play, though it may not be worth playing on him once his text has been used already and is rarely worth holding in hand for him. Sam, Son of Hamfast's exertions aren't something this card can solve, but {{Card|Sam, Proper Poet}} can cause problems for a swarm. If Frodo is healthy, he can be made Defender +1 and sacrifice himself. And of course, if Frodo is not healthy any version of Sam can bear Frying Pan and take The Ring. Perhaps ironically (given the movie scene referenced), Pippin tends not to have any innate use for his vitality and is often the least important companion to target. Still, his vitality can be an excellent resource for Frying Pan and Filibert Bolger, and preventing the Free Peoples from using it can get him killed a turn or two sooner than planned.
| | * ''General usage'' |
| | | * ''Unorthodox or subtle usage'' |
| Throw Yourself in Next Time has much less utility after Fellowship block thanks to the [[X-list]]. Sting and Filibert Bolger were banned soon after the start of [[Towers Standard]] and Frying Pan is banned beginning in [[King Standard]]. There are other cards that exert Hobbits, of course, but none of them are usable in any deck the way those cards were. At the same time, the number of possible companions exploded: there are 16 distinct companions in all of Fellowship block and 30 in set 4 alone. This combination of a wider variety for Fellowships and fewer key cards available which exert Hobbits make it less generally useful as more cards are added, where Moria is already relatively weaker since it gets only a handful of new cards itself. [[Reflections]] brought the first wave of [[Alternate Ring-bearer|alternate Ring-bearers]], so from [[Movie Block]] onward the card risks not only being unhelpful against decks that don't exert Hobbits, but unplayable against decks that don't even ''have'' Hobbits.
| | * ''Common pitfalls of using this card'' |
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| That said, it isn't outright useless. An unexpected use in later formats is against Rohan. {{Card|Merry's Sword}} protects the fellowship from a variety of effects, most famously the wounds from {{Card|Shotgun Enquea}} which is often included for crowd control in Moria decks since the culture lacks any of its own. Because {{Card|Merry, Swordthain}} is the popular choice and he loses all stacked cards when returning to the Free Peoples Player's hand, the Shadow player may only be able to expect one turn of disruption per copy.
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| Another creative use for the card is in a corruption build in [[Movie Block]] with {{Card|Lost to the Goblins}}. One might think that the primary target would be {{Card|Sam, Son of Hamfast}}, however he will remove as many burdens as he can when played which minimizes the opportunity for Shadow players to interfere. Instead, it can be played on the Ring-bearer to prevent the Free Peoples from exhausting him. This is the only way to stop {{Card|Gollum, Dark as Darkness}} from exerting Frodo and triggering all copies of Lost to the Goblins in hand which - after the deck has been stacked by {{Card|Goblin Sneak}} - adds up to 12 burdens. {{Card|Host of Moria}} is able to play Throw Yourself in Next Time from discard if desired, making the condition difficult for the Free Peoples to navigate around even with plentiful condition discarding.
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| If it is needed, note that there is no restriction on the number of copies that can be played on a single companion. If there's only one Hobbit companion to play it on (or worth playing it on), extra copies can just stack on that character. The redundancy can save the effect from {{Card|Athelas}} or offer padding against {{Card|Secret Sentinels}}. As with all Shadow cards which play on a companion, this can tip a companion from 2 cards to 3 and allow {{Card|Grima, Wormtongue}} to send the Free Peoples cards back into its owner's hand. Sometimes this can be used to kill a Hobbit outright, if that companion's vitality is boosted by {{Card|Escape}} or {{Card|Rare Good Ballast}}.
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| It is worth emphasizing that bearer may be exerted ''only by'' Shadow cards, which excludes more than just Free Peoples cards and can cut both ways. Frodo bearing this card at {{Card|Moria Lake}} would force two other companions to be exerted instead, but he would likewise be exempt from {{Card|Silverlode Banks}} when moving there with no ranger. A Hobbit Ring-bearer with {{Card|The Binding Ring}} would not be able to wear it using its text.
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| == Deckbuilding Strategy == | | == Deckbuilding Strategy == |
| While Throw Yourself in Next Time is a straightforward solution to many problems, the question is whether those problems are actually worth solving -- whether using another card would have a greater benefit anyway. {{Card|Sting}} can remove 4 twilight, but there's no better culture for adding twilight back than Moria. {{Card|Merry, Friend to Sam}} can save someone from the swarm, but having another Orc in a swarm would probably have killed Merry anyway. The culture is rarely concerned with burdens and {{Card|Sam, Son of Hamfast}} does his greatest damage the same Fellowship phase he was played. {{Card|Filibert Bolger}} and {{Card|Frying Pan}} can be big hurdles, but they tend to only be seen in a deck with a big investment in the Shire culture which means weaker companions and less condition discarding.
| | ''In this section, describe:'' |
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| Beatdown decks typically have more supporting cards than other Moria strategies and can feel the impact of some of those Shire cards more. A deck with a great focus on the most expensive minions might not be able to afford losing twilight to Sting every turn, and pays much more dearly when a minion is killed by Frying Pan. A build oriented around {{Card|Cave Troll of Moria, Scourge of the Black Pit}} will also benefit greatly from nullifying Filibert Bolger.
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| Swarm decks are not as forgiving in their deck compositions, and most of the time a minion would probably go much farther since swarms rarely build on themselves from one turn to the next. Instead, a typical build will simply throw as many minions as possible as often as possible at a Fellowship to use up its companions, either by killing them or getting rid of whatever keeps them alive (e.g., vitality for Frying Pan). This leaves just a small window of opportunity for it to bring any tangible benefit to the deck.
| | * ''Cards and strategies this card works well with'' |
| | | * ''Cards and strategies this card works particularly well or poorly against'' |
| Regardless of what kind of deck you have, ask yourself what problem you want it to solve and whether it can be solved in another, more general way before turning to this card for answers. After Fellowship block - when the most problematic cards are no longer available (or simply less effective) - it becomes extremely situational. There are some Hobbit exertions worth worrying about, sure, but if they're not seen very often it's probably not worth the card slot. Should you decide to run this card, 1 copy will often come too late, and after whatever damage you'd want to avoid has already been done. Given Moria's natural penchant for cycling you'll probably want more copies (discarding copies that come too soon, if applicable), yet given the very specific nature of the card you probably won't want too many. 2 copies is a good start to balance these two competing desires, and will give you a chance to see if the card has the impact you're hoping for.
| | * ''Alternate cards you might consider picking instead of this one, depending on the situation, including alternate version of characters'' |
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| = Strengths and Weaknesses = | | = Strengths and Weaknesses = |
| == Synergizes With... == | | == Synergizes With... == |
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| * {{Card|Host of Moria}}, to replay it when its intended target his the table | | * ''List friendly cards that work well with this card'' |
| * {{Card|Grima, Wormtongue}}, when it pushes a companion from the normally safe 2 cards up to 3
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| * {{Card|Lost to the Goblins}}, and especially {{Card|Gollum, Dark as Darkness}}, to help keep the Ring-bearer from being exhausted until you are ready
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| * {{Card|Moria Lake}}, which will force the Free Peoples to exert two other companions when played on Frodo
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| == Strong Versus... == | | == Strong Versus... == |
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| * {{Card|Sting}} | | * ''List enemy cards this card does well against'' |
| * {{Card|Merry, Friend to Sam}}
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| * {{Card|Sam, Proper Poet}}
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| * {{Card|Frying Pan}} and {{Card|Filibert Bolger}}, especially when Frodo is the only Hobbit
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| * {{Card|Merry's Sword}}
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| * {{Card|Bilbo, Melancholy Hobbit}}
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| * {{Card|The One Ring, The Binding Ring}} on a Hobbit Ring-bearer
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| * {{Card|Aragorn, Elessar Telcontar}}, who typically moves vitality from Frodo to other companions
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| == Weak Versus... == | | == Weak Versus... == |
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| * Decks with no ways to exert Hobbits, especially those with an [[Alternate Ring-bearer]] where it is usually outright unplayable | | * ''List enemy or friendly cards to avoid playing this card with'' |
| * {{Card|Merry, Swordthain}} and {{Card|Pippin, Wearer of Black and Silver}}, who shake off all stacked cards
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| * Relatively worse than most other Shadow cards most of the time outside of Fellowship block due to its situational nature | | = Rulings = |
| | ''In this section'': |
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| | * ''Put quotes from the CRDs and Comprehensive Rules here that reference this card specifically by name'' |
| | * ''Also put quotes if a particular rule commonly affects the outcome of a card in a subtle manner (such as quoting the [[Rule of 4]] for {{Card|8R20}})'' |
| | * ''Link to rules discussions on TLHH'' |
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| | = See Also = |
| | * ''Add links to the wayback machine (or wiki archival links) for official Decipher articles regarding the card'' |
| | * ''Link to decks that use this card'' |
| | [[Category:Cards That Need Work]] |
