PC Errata

From LOTR-TCG Wiki
The PC errata for Flaming Brand (2R32) , intended to reduce its ability to dumpster an entire culture.

While the game was still active, Decipher had a policy of issuing as few Errata as possible, preferring to send problematic cards to the X-List rather than require people to ignore the ink printed on their physical cards. However, in modern times the landscape of the game has changed. The digital platform GEMP dominates the game scene with between 6,000 and 10,000 games per month played, and issuing and managing errata on this centralized platform is easier than it ever was during the game's official print run.

The Player's Council has opted to take an approach more akin to that used in competitive multiplayer video games, with changes issued on an as-needed basis. The PC aims to have no X-Lists and applies the same errata to all PC formats. These are all formats with "PC" in the name, including PC-Fellowship, PC-Movie, and PC-Expanded.

In GEMP, all errata (PC or Decipher) are indicated by a red line across the upper left-hand corner. In addition, all PC errata have a red box in the lower left-hand corner listing the date that the card was last updated.

To search and browse all PC-issued errata, see the following pages:


PC Errata History[edit]

PC errata tend to be released in batches, each batch aiming to address a particular cluster of issues or targeting a particular event.

NOTE: The errata listed below are historical in nature. If you are looking for the current errata, then use one of the pages above.

X-List Errata[edit]

The first batch of errata issued by the PC in March and April 2021 addressed cards which Decipher had already removed from one or more formats. Decipher added cards to the X-List for all sorts of reason, but regardless of origin the PC attempted to bring all cards to the same standard of playability.

As this was the first foray by the PC into making changes, many of them were very conservative--you could even call them "timid". In some cases only the smallest possible change was made to address the recorded reasons for why Decipher had altered a card--such as Legolas, Dauntless Hunter (4R73) being limited to 2; this addressed its reason for its ban from Expanded, but did nothing to address its otherwise infamous reputation.

The first installment of these errata targeted the 5 most impactful banned cards as detailed in these blog posts here, and later the rest of the Fellowship Block X-List cards followed along with the remaining Movie- and Expanded-era cards.


2021 Yuletide Errata[edit]

The second major batch of errata issued by the PC was done as part of the 2021 12 Days of Yuletide event, which also coincided with the first public playtest release of set V1, Shadow of the Past. These errata intended to push the boundary of what had previously been done with errata, breaking away from Decipher's restrictions further and issuing buffing errata alongside the nerf errata. Several infamous cards were targeted, as well as a number of less-well-known ones.

Some of these were tweaked in the months after release.


2022 Summer Errata[edit]

A handful of repair errata were released in July and August 2022, almost all of which were alterations to previous errata. These were mostly buffs to compensate for the over-nerfed state those cards had been left in, sometimes through oversight and in other cases simply being too harsh.


2022 Yuletide Errata[edit]

Another batch of holiday errata for the 2022 Yuletide Leagues, this batch consisted of 60+ cards in two categories: major balance errata, and a rework to the Fellowship Block-era Discard Deck archetype, which aimed to eliminate the NPE of playing against it entirely.

To quote the errata remarks blog post:

PC Errata Commentary:

A Negative Play Experience, or NPE, is different from a card being merely overpowered or too strong. An NPE is when a card or mechanic is degenerate in the sense that it contradicts the basic reason for sitting down and playing the game.

In most card games, you are (bear with me) attempting to sit down and play your cards. It’s okay if your opponent plays better cards, or plays cards more cleverly than you, but if you are made inherently unable to play your cards at all, then you have to wonder what the point was in sitting down in the first place.

Discard decks are not overpowered or difficult to beat. You simply throw out any pretense you had of coming to the table with a fine-tuned deck, you run like a madman down the site path, and you win. Or else you cling to the plan you started with, and watch your hand get disintegrated site after site, alongside your deck getting eaten away little by little, until the number of cards you didn’t play outstrips the cards you did play by a large margin.

The discard deck is not strong! It is not OP. But it makes you question why you didn’t concede immediately, even if you win. It is, in short, an NPE.

With this errata batch, we are taking a systematic approach to excising this NPE from FOTR block. We are not satisfied with deleting those cards from the game via banning, and in fact we are also not satisfied with merely blanking those cards out and replacing the text with something else entirely.

Instead, we looked to Desperate Defense of the Ring (1R244) , which out of all of the discard cards does not feel quite so toxic, somehow. We realized that this must be because of the choice, that even though it is making you choose between two horrible results, you still have the agency to decide which is the least painful path in the moment.

Ironically, after applying this formula to each card, For balance purposes, many cards which affect the draw deck typically had their numbers increased to compensate for the fact that it was no longer a guaranteed hit. In some cases, the increase was dramatic, but that’s what it took to make it work as an alternate choice.

In addition, Free Peoples cards which discard from the draw deck have been altered to discard from the bottom of the deck instead of the top. The topdeck discard is now reserved for more offensive and targeted cards, which in practice meant every Shadow card.

- 2023-01 Errata Remarks


2023 World Championship Errata[edit]

With the return of the World Championship under the PC's management, it was known in advance that certain problematic elements of PC-Movie were going to need alteration, and some of those changes were finally made (controversially) in June 2023.

2023 Yuletide Errata[edit]

As done most years, the PC's Yuletide event includes a batch of errata. Set V1 receives several buffs and reworks, ARBs received a +1 resistance buff, silver bullets were reworked, and more.

2024 World Championship Errata[edit]

In preparation for Worlds 2024, the newly-formed Balance Council within the PC issued some last-minute errata, including nerfing Goblin Patrol Troop and temporarily reverting the Silver Bullet errata. September 15 blog.


Future Errata[edit]

If there has been an errata batch released since the above section, please go bother ketura on the PC Discord to update this article, lol.

Also, if you have an idea for a card to alter (whether through a buff or a nerf), the PC would love to hear from you.


Formats
Sets 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 10 9 11 12 13 14 15 17 18 16 19
Historical Decipher Formats Fellowship Block Towers Block King Block War of the Ring Block Hunters Block
Towers Standard
King Standard
Movie Block
War of the Ring Standard
Standard
Expanded
Open
Player's Council Formats (including PC Errata) 1 2 3 V1 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19
PC-Fellowship
PC-Movie
PC-Expanded
Unofficial Formats 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 10 9 11 12 13 14 15 17 18 16 19
French French
Austrian (Movie)
Austrian (Shadows)
Other Variants
Sealed • Booster Draft • Cube Draft • Culture Shock • Highlander • Poor Man's • PC Errata
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