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| ''For the in-game concept of controlling the flow of cards through a player's hand, see [[Cycling]]''
| | #REDIRECT [[Cycling]] |
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| A '''cycle''' (noun only) can refer to a series of cards, either within a culture or across multiple cultures, with thematically-linked mechanical effects. Most cycles occur within the same set, though some span across a block and a few are across blocks. Check out [https://web.archive.org/web/20040810110327/http://www.decipher.com/content/2003/11/110403lotrrotksnider.html this Decipher blog post on cycles] for some insight on the design process for cycles.
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| Perhaps the most infamous cycle is [[Mount Doom]]'s unique [[Free Peoples]] [[condition]]s that trigger when the player loses [[Initiative]]:
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| * {{Card|Memories of Darkness}}
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| * {{Card|Glimpse of Fate}}
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| * {{Card|Brooding on Tomorrow}}
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| * {{Card|Hardy Garrison}}
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| * {{Card|Fell Deeds Awake}}
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| * {{Card|A Light In His Mind}}
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| These are opposed by a cycle of unique [[Shadow]] conditions that provide a benefit when Shadow player has initiative or can be discarded for a pump in a skirmish:
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| * {{Card|Unabated in Malice}}
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| * {{Card|Under Foot}}
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| * {{Card|Stooping to the Kill}}
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| * {{Card|Flames Within}}
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| {{Card|Suffered Much Loss}} is closely related, though a bit of an odd card out (in more ways than one -- it is the only {{C|Isengard}} card in King block).
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| Occasionally, separate cycles will overlap with one another. Dunland has a cycle of relatively cheap minions that the Free Peoples player has an opportunity to discard:
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| * {{Card|Dunlending Rampager}} and {{Card|Dunlending Renegade}}
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| Along with a cycle that plays minions more cheaply in a skirmish phase:
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| * {{Card|Dunlending Reserve}} and {{Card|Dunlending Footmen}}
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| The pinnacle of both is {{Card|Wild Men of the Hills}}: a minion stronger than [[The Balrog]] at half the price (cheaper still if played in a skirmish), though the Free Peoples may be able to discard it immediately. Notice that it was released in [[Battle of Helm's Deep]] while Dunlending Reserve and Dunlending Footmen were released in [[Ents of Fangorn]], an example of a cycle across sets in a block.
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| Cycles across blocks are less common and often more loosely related, though they still occur. {{Card|Hobbit Intuition}} / {{Card|Hobbit Stealth}} in Fellowship block and {{Card|Severed His Bonds}} / {{Card|Swiftly and Softly}} in Towers is the most obvious example of this.
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