PC Errata/Yuletide 2022

2022 Yuletide Errata

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

• Dwarven Axe (1C9)
• Greatest Kingdom of My People (1R16)
• Grimir, Dwarven Elder (1U17)
• Nobody Tosses a Dwarf (1R23)
• Ancient Enmity (1U29)
• Curse Their Foul Feet! (1R36)
• The White Arrows of Lórien (1C68)
• Hunt Them Down! (1U126)
• Savagery to Match Their Numbers (1R139)
• Uruk Rager (1C150)
• Uruk Soldier (1C154)
• Uruk-hai Sword (1C160)
• Through the Misty Mountains (1U198)
• Band of the Eye (1R240)
• Desperate Measures (1R245)
• The Irresistible Shadow (1R252)
• Orc Butchery (1R265)
• Orc Inquisitor (1C268)
• Tower Lieutenant (1U280)
• Midgewater Moors (1U333)
• Beneath the Mountains (2R1)
• Realm of Dwarrowdelf (2R12)
• Flaming Brand (2R32)
• Lurtz's Sword (2R43)
• No Business of Ours (2C44)
• Too Much Attention (2R45)
• Foul Things (2U59)
• Southern Spies (2C91)
• Not Feared in Sunlight (2U107)
• A Royal Welcome (3U4)
• Hollowing of Isengard (3R54)
• Saruman, Keeper of Isengard (3R68)
• Malice (3U79)
• News of Mordor (3U82)
• The Dark Lord Advances (3C87)
• Get Off the Road! (3U88)
• Hand of Sauron (3C90)
• His Cruelty and Malice (3R91)
• Massing in the East (3U92)
• Terrible as the Dawn (3R103)
• Tower of Barad-dûr (3R104)
• Ever My Heart Rises (4R46)
• Come Down (4R146)
• Scaling Ladder (5U57)
• They Sang as They Slew (7C256)
• Rohirrim Road (7U332)
• Swept Away (8C48)
• Rohirrim Army (8R91)
• Glimpse of Fate (10U12)
• Éowyn, Lady of Ithilien (10R72)
• Anduin Banks (11U227)
• Cavern Entrance (11S232)
• Neekerbreekers’ Bog (11S249)
• Little Golden Flower (15R148)
• Namárië (17U10)
• A New Light (17U15)
• Galadriel's Silver Ewer (18R11)
• Beorning Axe (18R18)
• Prized Lagan (18U110)
• Robin Smallburrow, Shirriff Cock-Robin (18U111)
• Final Triumph (18R115)
• Doorway to Doom (18U134)
• Mithlond (18U136)
• Steward's Tomb (18U139)
• The One Ring, The Great Ring (19P1)
• Brought Down from Inside (19P24)
• Pippin, Steadfast Friend (19P30)
• Úlairë Lemenya, Dark Enemy (19P37)

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