Middle Earth CCG Challenge Decks Players Guide
Middle Earth CCG Challenge Decks Players Guide
Middle Earth CCG Challenge Decks Players Guide
DOCUMENTHISTORY 78
Challenge Decks Errata (only the first 10 for the others you will find an individual section in the
description of the deck)
In the Dwar deck (H) and the Indr deck (J); the Arkenstone should have the icon for a play deck card,
not a sideboard card.
Old Forest should read "healing effects," not "healing cards."
Resource Play
As quickly as possible, Adrazar and the Hobbits need find themselves in Gondor so that Adrazar can recruit
factions. Stopping at the Glittering Caves along to way to pick up a major item is ideal. Glorfindel and
Anborn can pick up other resources as needed.
Saruman
During the first free organization phase after bringing Saruman into play, tap him to bring Vanishment,
Wizard's Laughter, and Wizard Uncloaked from the sideboard to the discard pile. He can then tap to take
one of these spells to your hand as needed. Consider bringing Saruman into play at Isengard. This allows
him to play the Palantir of Orthanc, and to use it, without moving. When using the Palantir, Saruman needs
other characters in his company to support his corruption checks. you may consider moving Saruman to
Wellinghall-as it is safer -if he wishes to use the Palantir every turn. In general, Saruman has plenty of tasks
that require him to tap. If you lose key characters and need Saruman's presence in the field, give the Palantir
to another character and bring Align Palantir in from the sideboard. A Hobbit is always a good choice to use
an aligned Palantir.
Hazard Play
A major aspect of an Orc/Troll strategy is forcing so many combat rolls on your opponent that statistical
some strikes are bound to be successful, even if the prowess seem weak. The creatures in this deck have a
high frequency of play, so it is usually a safe gambit to build them up in your hand waiting for a Minions
Stir or Two or Three Tribes Present.
Sideboard
After playing Sapling of the White Tree, tap Saruman to bring in The White Tree from your sideboard. After
playing Palantir of Orthanc, you probably want Align Palantir. On the hazard end of things, your sideboard
has the potential of destroying a Wizard opponent's general influence. This makes your opponent vulnerable
to Muster Disperses and to your influence attempts against his marshalling point sources. If you recognize
early in the game that your opponent is playing many factions, you may want to dedicate An Unexpected
Outposts to bringing these hazards into your play deck. Use An Unexpected Outposts to recycle Minions
Stirs and Doors of Night otherwise.
Strategy Resources
Starting company is mediocre. Only one character (Glorfindel) is big enough to take a decent strike. The
deck makes up for this with lots of canceller cards - not surprising with two Hobbits. The main focus of this
deck is factions in Gondor - the Knights and three of the 2 MP factions. Adrazar should be able to get most
of them, with his +5 against each of them. The rest of the points come from items, and everyones favourite
misc. point card, The White Tree, Theres 6 items, and only 5 item sites, so at least one wont get played the
first time around. Be careful with Isengard - save it to play your Wizard, since Rivendell is so far away from
most of the sites in the deck. Tolfalas and Isle of the Ulond are two of the item sites, which makes Great
Ship worth at least a little bit (I still would have rather seen a better rare, though). Be sure not to lose
Treebeard, since hes your only ally - and his movement restrictions make him something of a pain to work
around. Treebeard would definitely not have been my choice as the only ally in a deck.
Strategy Hazards
The hazards are actually very good, for sealed deck-type play. The Orcs are playable against just about every
deck, and Minions Stir makes them dangerous. Even minions have to fear Orcs keyed to Wilderness, and an
Orc Warband at 7 @ 9 is very feasible - or an Orc-Lieutenant at 3 @ 13. And the three Troll brothers can do
bad things to item-bearing little guys. Id have rather seen a Lure of Nature rather than Alone and
Unadvised, but you cant have everything. :)
Resource Play
Alatar's deck makes active use of Gates of Morning. Its most powerful tactic is to cancel and discard the
final hazard played against a company with Many Turns and Doublings if Gates of Morning is in play. Gates
of Morning provides a natural defense against some of the more powerful hazards that require or benefit
from Doors of Night. A patient player can elegantly rise to the threat of most hazards. Take the time to move
Elrond to Rivendell to play Vilya. Store a Rescue Prisoners as soon as you can to get its character untapped.
Do not forget you can do this at Bree, Old Forest, and the Blue Mountain Dwarf-hold in addition to at a
Haven. you will face strong creatures in the mountains, but always consider tapping your characters to face
strikes and waiting another turn to play that resource. you should receive many kill marshalling points.
Alatar
Alatar works well being active and travelling with his characters. If his company is at a Haven, move it last
to give him the option of "teleporting" to another company facing an attack. He has enough direct influence
alone to bring any faction into play, but look to give him followers to free general influence in your defense.
This deck is vulnerable to Muster Disperses.
Hazard Play
Play corruption cards as soon as you can. As an exception, consider placing Lure of Expedience on-guard if
you feel fairly certain a company will play an item. Then reveal it and place it on the character playing the
item. He must make a dangerous corruption check. The Undead are fairly effortless to play. you can increase
the threat of the corruption cards by playing Corpse-candle and Barrow-wight on corruption-laden
companies. Hold off playing Chill Douser until another Undead. If an opponent is moving to a site with an
Undead-automatic-attack, Chill Douser during the movement/hazard phase should make him think twice
about entering the site. Consider this with The Moon Is Dead in play. Amassing bonuses to Undead-
prowesses and strikes during a turn gives its own reward.
Sideboard
After playing the Book of Mazarbul, tap Alatar to bring in the Blue Mountain Dwarves. Try to both store the
item and recruit the faction with one trip to the Dwarf-hold. Of course, storing this item before the Free
Council begins is the most important thing.
Strategy Resources
Ah, an Alatar deck. Go around and kill stuff. :) Seriously, the starting company is pretty well suited for that,
especially with Dodge and Risky Blow to help out. The Many Turns and Doublings can help out with the
hazards that you cant defeat especially if the Gates are in play and you can reduce your hazard limit. The
obvious theme is getting items and Rescue Prisoners. Safe from the Shadow is a nice touch and dont forget
that Gollum and The Windlord Found Me can provide tapped Shadow Holds for Rescue Prisoners, as well
as items. The sites were picked well; plenty of opportunity to play all the MP cards. Vilya can be used on
one of your trips back to Rivendell with a Rescue Prisoners to get some of the warrior cards or Many Turns
back. Careful playing with Gollum - 4 other decks (C, F, H, and J) have a manifestation of Gollum that you
may run across.
Strategy Hazards
Hazards are corruption based. The creatures cause checks, and the events give points. Simple, tried, and itll
work. Dont be afraid to throw a few sacrificial Undead, especially Corpse Candles, in the hopes of forcing
more checks. Be careful with The Moon Is Dead - you have the Barrow Downs and Lossadan Cairn in your
sites, and duplicated auto attacks are nothing to sneeze at. Its too bad that its difficult to get at the hazards
in your sideboard - the Foolish Words would probably be pretty useful, more than the third Moon Is Dead or
one of the Stirring Bones.
Pallando
Pallando should move to Lorien and form a company there from the play deck. This company is responsible
for playing the two allies and the Book of Mazarbul-if not played with the Dwarves on an early turn.
Otherwise, Pallando should not move unless you can properly protect him with tactical options from your
hand. After playing Quickbeam, relocate Pallando's company to Rivendell. Tap Pallando to bring the Blue
Mountain Dwarves into the play deck. His company should be in a convenient position to move to the Blue
Mountain Dwarf-hold to store the Book of Mazarbul and play this faction.
Hazard Play
The hazards attempt to swarm an opponent with high frequency of play creatures. Do not underestimate the
role of Neeker-breekers. The greatest threats are the spiders and Watchers in the Water enhanced with Full
of Froth and Rage and Wake of War. The hazards also have a roadblock sub theme that fills out its blind
spots in the dark areas against Ringwraith opponents.
Sideboard
The sideboarding for this deck is not as important as with other Challenge Decks. The most important play
is bringing in the Blue Mountain Dwarves after playing the Book of Mazarbul. If you believe in your
opponent has any sort of Dragon or Drake creatures, bring in The Old Thrush.
Strategy Resources
Dwarves, Dwarves, and more Dwarves. And thus items, items, and more items - four of them hoard items.
The starting company is pretty typically Dwarvish - high prowess, low body, and corruption prone. Make
good use of the Fellowships and A Friend or Three once youve got some of the items. There are only three
hoard sites, so use Thrors Map or Bounty of the Hoard to get two hoard items at one site if you can. Or
maybe Lucky Search will get one for you - but be careful of that strike at the end! Its nice to have a Smoke
Rings to use, especially since there are plenty of good cards in the sideboard - Not At Home and The Old
Thrush could be very useful in this deck. This deck can produce a lot of MP quickly - calling the council
early is a definite possibility. Again, watch Gollum - four other decks may want him, too.
Strategy Hazards
Neeker Breekers? When there could have been Wolves? Cave Worms instead of Cave Drakes? The
spider/animal/wolves thing is a good idea, but it wont take much help for the opposing companies to start
raking in kill points. This is great against minions - everyone will have to tap, at least - but if you play
against Alatar, expect to discard a lot of creatures or give away the MP in droves. Use your hazards to slow
down the opponent and try to call then Council quick. Despair of the Heart rather than Lures? Sheesh.
Resource Play
The diplomat skill rises to the forefront in Radagast's deck. You should only begrudgingly discard New
Friendships. This card helps with corruption checks, influence attempts, and Flatter a Foe, which can
devastate a well planned turn of hazards. Try to play Forewarned is Forearmed only in response to the play
of a creature or automatic-attacks it affects. You do not want an opponent to have an easy shot at killing
your Assassin.
Radagast
Radagast must play an active role for this deck to succeed. He certainly should move through Wilderness to
draw extra cards, but do not feel you should maximize the Wildernesses in his site path or draw all the cards
he has coming. You can always draw cards one at a time and determine the potential of each before
choosing to burden your hand with more. If Radagast does not keep the card drawing in check, you will
draw more marshalling point sources than you can play in one turn. This forces you to discard hazards or
resource tactical options while you wait to play the marshalling points. If you discard the marshalling points
instead, you may not be able to accumulate enough when later turns arrive. Radagast's direct influence
should be used to control characters as soon as possible in order to free general influence. Until this
happens, the deck is vulnerable to Muter Disperses and influence attempts by an opponent. The fact that he
and a follower or two form a second strong company allows you to play more resources from your hand. His
special ability then allows you to draw the next round of marshalling points-or a good complement of
hazards-more regularly.
Hazard Play
This deck has what is possibly the best creature in the game, Assassin. If the option is available, use Thrice
outnumbered to recycle Assassin (unless you know your opponent is not going near its keyable sites).
Sideboard
Against a corruption strategy, tap Radagast to bring in Glamour of Surpassing Excellence as soon as
possible. This card is more against corruption than meets the eye. The Dragon Ahunt cards offer a nice
opportunity against opponents who travel consistently in their affected regions, so quickly bring these in
once you recognize you are playing the right opponent.
Strategy Resources
A Kill the Minions deck? Seems like it could work that way. Everyone but Halbarad in the starting
company is pretty big. Orcrist for Gimli and The Bow of the Galadhrim for Legolas, plus a bunch of non-
unique allies to add strikes in company vs. company combat, gives a definite advantage against the minion
companies in these decks. Plus 15 points worth of factions, in case you cant go kill people. And for getting
all these things, Beorn and his Black Arrow can be a big help. All in all, the resources seem well balanced.
Strategy Hazards
Three Ghosts? Strange, in otherwise totally Man hazard strategy. And the -Man strategy is pretty good, at
least against Heros. Its not quite as good against minions, since they wont spend as much time in border
lands/holds - Lawless Men and Sellswords still work, though. Thrice Outnumbered is neat, too - as long as
your Men dont get defeated. And in the sideboard, there are a couple of Dragons Ahunt to punish anyone
foolish enough to venture into the Northeast. Other than, the Ghosts, this is a very good hazard deck.
Resource Play
Untapped scouts can play a crucial part in the success of Gandalf's deck. They provide your main means of
attack avoidance by using Concealments and Stealths. There are enough weapons in your deck to make
Aragorn and a couple other warriors from the play deck into formidable fighters, so expect to receive a few
marshalling points from creature kills. Ultimately, you want to give Arwen a Lesser Ring. This provides her
with enough direct influence to control Aragorn. These two form a powerful 2-character company who
require only 3 general influence. With Return of the King on Aragorn, he can recruit any faction
automatically. If you play Tower Guard of Minas Tirith before Return of the King, be sure to leave a
character at Minas Tirith so that the site is still available to play Return the King. Return of the King does
not require the site to tap, nor is its play limited to the site phase.
Gandalf
One of Gandalfs primary tasks is testing the 3 Beautiful Gold Rings with his special ability. This means
Gandalf must be untapped and must have joined the company bearing the ring. It should not strain your hand
too much to hold the Magic Ring of Stealth and Lesser Rings waiting for the gold rings and Gandalf's test.
Otherwise, in a company with other characters, Gandalf should feel free to move around gathering
Resources.
Hazard Play
The hazards offer a wide variety of creatures with good attacks in a complete range of regions and sites.
Except for Searching Eye, each hazard is playable on its own, without directly benefiting from another. This
means the hazards do not require you to hold cards in hand waiting for an optimal complementary hazard
before playing them. If you must discard and have a creature in hand you are not certain you can play soon,
discard it and do not look back. The resource strategy needs all the tactical supporting cards it can get, so
freely sacrifice hazards to make room.
Sideboard
Tap Gandalf to bring in the 2 factions after playing Return of the King. Otherwise the resources in the
sideboard offer general options to defend against specific opponents. This quality of generality holds even
more for with the sideboard hazards.
Strategy Resources
Gandalf and Aragorn rebuild the old kingdom. Very thematic - except theres no Andruil or White Tree?
Hmm...I think the deck builder had to stretch a bit to build two Gondor decks. Anyhow, this is the Return of
the King as it might have been without the One Ring involved. Aragorn and Arwen, with the help of many
Dunedain supporters, head for the South to rebuild the kingdom. But not without picking up a few tokens
along the way - Narsil foremost among them. With Gandalf as your Wizard, Gold Rings can be turned into
Lesser and Magic Rings. Personally, I think the rings hurt this deck - if you get one of the special ones
before you get Gandalf (or a Gold Ring) then it just clogs up your hand. A Reforging/Andruil combo, and
maybe another Sword and Hauberk, would make more sense. A game between this and deck A will be very
interesting -probably turn into an influence-the-factions-away contest.
Strategy Hazards
Drakes, Men, Ents, a couple Undead, and Pukel-Men. Pukel-Men? What a useless waste of a rare. Still, the
hazards are pretty decent, given the amount of playability. If possible, use Tidings of Bold Spies or a
detainment creature to tap some characters, then smite them with a horde. Just be careful that you dont hand
heros MPs on a platter - there are a lot of MPs to give! No less than 20 creatures populate this deck. Id have
liked to see another Muster Disperses in the sideboard, and both Nothing to Eat or Drinks should be in the
deck. Otherwise, very good.
Resource Play
Adunaphel's deck has many resources that need one or more extra turns of preparation before awarding
marshalling points. This makes the deck slow and requires holding cards in hand for a long time. What is
more, unlucky bite rolling can devastate this deck. The only consolation is that your marshalling point
sources are generous, and that successfully playing this deck can be very rewarding. Amassing marshalling
points from characters is key, so consider seriously the play of sources of extra influence. It is not necessary
to play both Dwarven Rings. In fact, they appear in duplicate to ease the plight of playing one. Make a
reasonable effort to play both, but not at the expense of attack avoidance or easier marshalling point sources.
Give the first Dwarven Ring to Asternak. He should try to influence the Wose faction with either the
Dwarven Ring or Join With that Power. Note that Deeper Shadow cancels and discards the second hazard
against a moving 2-character company containing Ciryaher.
Adunaphel
Adunaphel's role is simple. She sits in Do1 Guldur and cancels one attack a turn. However, you have many
attack avoidance cards. During organization phases when you have 3 or more such cards in hand (include
Deeper Shadow), she should tap to bring a resource in from the sideboard. Evaluate your opponent's hazards
or your own marshalling point needs to make this choice. Recognizing when you do not need her attack
cancellation is critical to this deck's success.
Hazard Play
To complement your difficult resource strategy is a deadly mix of Drake hazards. Key to successfully using
them is knowing both what and how to recycle with From the Pits of Angband. Sending a drake back to your
hand with Doors of Night is not always best, especially with a resource strategy requiring a lot of cards in
hand. Do not hesitate to place a drake with Summons from Long Sleep to get it out of your hand. you do
sacrifice its surprise value this way, but you also may cause an opponent to overestimate the threat against
him and adjust his movement accordingly.
Sideboard
During your opponent's first untap phase when you have few hazards in hand, half his hazard limit. Then
bring Itangast Ahunt, Sand-drake, and True Cold-drake to your discard pile. These cards will be available
options when From the Pits of Angband hits the table.
Strategy Resources
Freehold raiding is the name of the game for Adunaphels minions. The starting company is all covert, and
only two Orcs are in the deck at all. Send them all to one of the five freeholds To Satisfy The Questioner
and find that Thats Been Heard Tonight (although not in that order, of course). And at Bag End the Red
Book waits for you to take it back to the Dark Lord. Lots of cancellers ought to make getting into the
strongholds easier, and Adunaphels ability makes travelling a lot safer. And on the item front, there are
Dwarven Rings. As a minion, theres no need to give them to a Dwarf for extra MPs, so the corruption isnt
too bad. The trick is keeping the corruption on the Least of Gold Rings from hurting your characters while
you wait for Secrets of Their Forging and the Dwarven Ring. For best results, dont play the Gold Ring
early. Just like the hero ring deck, this one is hurt by the rings because they clog up your hand. Oh, and
Gollum (as Stinker) is in this deck, too. Be careful against decks B, C, H, and J; get the Regiment of Black
Crows if you can.
Strategy Hazards
Drakes make up the hazard; lots of em. 14, to be exact, and 3 Slayers are in the mix to cover
borderlands/holds. Doors of Night/From the Pits of Angband lets you get them back, and Summons From a
Long Sleep makes them dangerous. An Unexpected Outpost recycles the Summons and Pits. This is a very
good hazard strategy, especially against other minions, since no points are given away if one of them is
defeated. The only problem I see with these hazards is the lack of any defense against faction gathering -
most of the other decks have Muster Disperses or Foolish Word.
Resource Play
Dwar's deck is primed for a couple delights only Ringwraith players enjoy: trophies and the Troll trio of
Burat, Tuma, and Wuluag. If at all possible, place trophies with the Lieutenant of Morgul. In fact, take any
opportunity to increase his direct influence. He has multiple uses for it, such as I'll Report YOU, controlling
followers, and recruiting factions. Particularly, you want to maximize the chance of successfully recruiting
the Ice-Orc. Shagrat has almost the same potential as the Lieutenant in all these respects. Sacrifice almost
any other card to keep members of the Orc trio in hand until playable. In a company together, their benefits
are remarkable for the influence they require. The trio in tandem effectively have only a -1 penalty to
prowess when not tapping to face a strike. Consider this scenario. Burat and Tuma each face a strike form an
attack, Burat goes first and tap-with his prowess, the strike likely fails. Tuma faces his strike next, but first
taps to untap Burat. Tuma's has -1 prowess against the strike for being tapped, but Burat became untapped.
For the 2 Border-holds there are 2 site-tapping resources: Gleaming Gold Ring and High Helm. In order to
play the 2 Burning Rick, Cot, and Trees, you must use these resources at their designated Border-holds and
not leave the sites before burning them down. It is well worth it to discard a few hazards to keep components
of the Border-hold combination in hand.
Dwar
Dwar does not move from Do1 Guldur. During the earlier turns, he should tap to give the combat bonuses to
his fledgling companies. On later turns, when the prowess of these characters increase, Dwar can freely tap
to bring resources in from the sideboard. Do not forget to bring in Sudden Call during the first deck cycle.
Hazard Play
Nothing tricky here. Wolves and Animals do not hit as hard as other creatures, but they have a high
frequency of play.
Sideboard
Use Dwar to bring the Minor Ring to the discard pile at his first safe opportunity. It is then available when
Gleaming Gold Ring is brought to him for testing. Orders from Lugburz is good for getting the Lieutenant
and Shagrat into one monster company. Against a Wizard opponent, consider bringing the Rebel-talks in
from the sideboard and recycling Stay Her Appetite. you may remove all your opponents allies in this way
and double the marshalling points from your allies.
Strategy Resources
Big, bad Orcs and Trolls. And Tros Hesnef, the biggest little 2 mind character in the game. This deck has a
large starting company. Once Dwar is in play, they just get bigger. And there are plenty of things to make
them even better. Grab a Black Mace or three, and the High Helm. Then go Burning Rick, Cot, and Tree -
and while youre at it, maybe burn up a hero company or two. Dont spend all your time on your muscles,
though, there are plenty of factions to get as well. A few influence boosters would be nice, to make sure that
the factions get into play, but the Lt. will probably be OK with his inherent +5. The ring seems a bit out of
place, too - Id rather have the Sable Shield in the deck.
Strategy Hazards
Hazards are animals, wolves, and a couple of men. This one is better than the similar hero counterpart - in
large measure because there are more Wolves. And the Doors of Night doesnt hurt. The creatures are all
keyable to most anything. Be careful of the Gondor hero decks, though; your only real defense against those
is Foolish Words, and theyre in theyre in the sideboard. You can still get them (and everyone else) when
they go after items, though.
Hoarmurath
Hoarmurath taps every organization phase to bring a resource to the play deck from the sideboard. The only
exception is when you have Voices of Malice in your hand - Hoarmurath is your only sage. He does not
move from Do1 Guldur in any case, increasing your hand size by one. It may be useful to bring in Fell Rider
near the end of the first deck cycle. In this way, you have the option of moving Hoarmurath for the second
cycle.
Hazard Play
Woe be the opponent who wanders into this hazard mix unprepared! Practicing a little patience, you can
unload a vicious mix of Undead-attacks. The key is to turn them into monsters with bonuses from The Moon
Is Dead, Plague of Wights, and Chill Dousers. For example, you can reasonably create a Ghouls attack of 14
strikes at 10 prowess. You should generally look to discard hazards in favour of keeping your numerous
marshalling point sources in hand, however.
Sideboard
Many resources in the sideboard will undoubtedly be useful against any opponent: Orc Quarrels, Black
Maces, Sudden Call, etc. In fact, with Hoarmurath tapping most turns to bring a resource into the play deck,
you effectively increase the number of resources in the play deck without increasing the number of hazards.
There is nothing tricky about the sideboard hazards. Use An Unexpected Outposts to recycle your best
Undead creatures or enhancers if you are making good use of them. Otherwise bring in hazards from the
sideboard to hit the elusive opponent in new ways.
Strategy Resources
Starting company here is built to keep hazards away. Orc scouts count as half for company size, just like
hobbits. Gorbags a bit larger than your average hobbit, though. The point here is to go to shadow holds,
play some items, allies or factions, and use Records Unread to untap the site and do it again. Gollum (as
Stinker) is back, but the competition for him isnt too big a deal since the Great Lord of Goblin-Gate and the
War-wolves will cover your ally requirements. This is likely to be a slow deck, since youll can spend a least
a couple of turns at a given site.
Strategy Hazards
Hazards are Undead, again more powerful than the hero version was. Doors of Night, Plague of Wights, and
The Moon is Dead makes for some truly evil undead attacks. Against other minions, theyll mostly be
detainment, but slowing your opponent down can be as good as wounding characters if youre careful.
Careful using Choking Shadows against minions - you may end up making everything detainment! Be sure
to save Chill Dousers and Stirring Bones for Ruins and Lairs, where theyll be normal attacks. Again,
theres nothing against factions except two Foolish Words in the sideboard, so be sure to get your own.
Resource Play
Play the Awaiting the Calls on the 2 Orc Captains to free enough general influence to bring in more
characters. This means you should play That Aint No Secret on the Ill-favoured Fellow since the Orc
Captain at Mount Doom, ideally should not move to store this event. The lesser mind characters will
"shuttle" between sites, storing resources, delivering Records unread to Nurniag camp, etc. Note that the
lower mind characters from the deck can come into play under direct influence at the Dark-holds.
The Witch-king
The Witch-king moves with Fell Rider to Minas Tirith to play the Palantir and to Barad-dur to play Helm of
Fear. Playing these items requires him to tap twice. Otherwise, the-Witch-king, as the deck's only sage,
should be untapped to play Voices of Malice to discard Foolish Words or other debilitating hazard
permanent-events. Foolish Words can be revealed as an on-guard card in response to an attempt to play a
faction. During the site phase, with Voices of Malice in hand, the Witch-king should wait for all faction
attempts before himself playing an item. He can always wait another turn to play his item.
Hazard Play
This deck has an unusual hazard strategy that often causes great frustration for an opponent -the "Roadblock
Strategy." Its goal is to prevent an opponent from reaching his new site or to tap his new site prematurely to
prevent the play of resources. An opponent who recognizes this strategy should forget all other sideboarding
needs and bring in his anti-roadblock resources. These include Gates of Morning, Skies of Fire, Promptings
of Wisdom, and Piercing All Shadows. As for your play, the key is your An Unexpected Outposts. you must
choose your cards to recycle from Long Winters, Snowstorm, Doors of Night, another An Unexpected
Outpost, and Twilight.
Sideboard
If Voices of Malice is not in hand or if you will not try to influence a faction, tap the Witch-king to bring in
a resource from the sideboard. Above the Abyss against a Wizard opponent is invaluable. When a company
of 3 or more Orcs forms at Minas Morgul, bring in The Last Child of Ungoliant. you should play her near
the end of the first deckcycle. Of course, you wil1 need Sudden Call towards the end of the first cycle.
Hazard-wise, bringing in Foul Fumes against certain Wizards-opponents can be important.
Strategy Resources
Factions are the name of this game. Get your Orc Captain, and an attendant Brawler, over to Cirith Gorgor
to play factions. The Horseman can go get the Men, and discover things That Aint No Secret anyway. The
Witch King can get the Helm of Fear and the Palantir once he shows up. And when you have a character or
two that you can afford to lose, get the Last Child of Ungoliant from the sideboard and go invade the Big
Spiders lair, This is another deck thats liable to be slow, because there are a lot of things only worth one
point, But its unlikely that anyone can stop you if youre careful. Beware of Stench of Mordor - that can
really slow you down.
Strategy Hazards
Wow, roadblock in a sealed deck! Snowstorm is in the deck. but Long Winter is your bread and butter. Use
the Withered Lands to keep sites tapped. That wouldnt normally be affected. Get the Long Winter back
with An Unexpected outpost. And whatever happens, dont lose the Doors of Night! I think a third Twilight
couldnt have hurt. Lure of Nature is a nice touch, and the creatures are useful. This strategy might have
some trouble against freehold roamers, but they have to go get items sometime. The only real weak spot is
those going out to sea, and the Rain Drakes cover that as well. This ought to slow down the opposition
pretty good.
Resource Play
Your goal should be to play 5 of the 6 man factions at the 3 Border-holds surrounding Mordor. Essential to
playing two at one site is the minor item, Secret Book. It may become a chore moving a character to a
Border-hold just to untap it with this item, but it is often necessary. High Helm can help The Mouth or
Horsemann in the Night with their influence attempts. Pay close attention to the Standard Modifications
factions in play give. you may receive more bonuses here than anticipated. Hador plays a very important part
in the success of this deck. He casts a Powerful attack avoidance sorcery, Tormented Earth. When not
needed otherwise, tap another character to help Hador with the corruption check from this spell. Note that
Hador play Tormented Earth even if tapped or wounded. Slayers are a real threat, so save Ready to His Will
to make this creature an ally and stop its attacks. One or more companies of Orc should form at Dol Guldur.
These are responsible for playing most of the non-faction resources. Never hesitate to sacrifice an Orc to a
large attack for the greater good of Sauron.
Indur
Indur does not move. He uses his special ability to bring discarded Tormented Earth back to your hand. If
enough attack avoidance is otherwise in hand Indur can tap during his organization phase to bring a resource
to the play deck. Poisonous Despair works best if taken to the discard pile first. Indur can bring this to your
hand if your opponent becomes a threat to influence your marshalling points away.
Hazard-Play
The hazards have a high frequency of play so that the Secret Books cycle into your hand quickly. The
creatures will not consistently threaten your opponent, but your corruption should have a profound effect. A
prudent opponent will slow down his movement to take time removing the corruption cards; a careless
opponent will take costly losses from failed corruption checks.
Sideboard
The sideboard contains an additional 8 marshalling points of resources. They work well coming into the
deck for the second deck cycle. If your companies are in good shape tactically, tap Indur to bring some of
them sooner.
Strategy Resources
The Mouth comes into his own in the challenge decks. Theres no Mouth of Sauron to return him to your
hand, so he can roam around and influence factions with impunity. Which is exactly what this deck uses him
to do. 6 factions are in the deck. with 2 more in the sideboard. Between the Mouth and the Horseman you
can get just about any faction with ease - especially once you give the Mouth the Blazon and High Helm.
Use cancellers and the other characters to keep him untapped. And if you run out of factions start recycling
resources. Use a second company, probably overt with an Orc Captain and Ill-favoured Fellow to go get the
items and allies. Stinker is in this deck too (Sigh - Gollum just wont go away), so be sure to grab an ally out
of the sideboard just in case if youre playing one of the other Gollum manifestation decks.
Strategy Hazards
Corruption is always a good hazard strategy. Plenty of Lures, Corpse Candles, Dragon Sickness and
Weariness to force checks, and a few other creatures to slow the opposition down. Downside - no anti-
mustering cards. Covetous Thoughts is great versus minions and totally worthless against heros. I doubt
Alone and Unadvised will be playable very much of the time - Id say 3 of them is too many. Id rather have
another Weariness instead. Overall, though, heros will hate it and minions will be annoyed. What more can
you ask from corruption?
THE SHADOW-DEEPS
This deck features the Balrogs Great Shadow form - which is his stealthiest and most reclusive-along with
bold adventuring in Saurons domains. The Under-deeps beneath the Dark Lords holds tempt the Balrog
with the lingering power of Morgoth, the creator and Black Enemy. The Balrog dispatches his Orcs and
Trolls to retrieve what they can here and from the strongholds above. The decks hazards center on Spiders
and Animals land the horrible Spawn of Morgoth, newly unearthed for this expansion.
Resource Play
The power of this deck improves dramatically using Great Shadows ability to recycle non-short-event
resources and characters. Guiltlessly discard inconvenient MP sources drawn early in the game, because you
can recycle; and redraw them later. Access additional resources from the sideboard by tapping The Balrog to
bring five to your discard pile, cycling these using Great Shadows ability. Cycle and recycle Skies of Fire to
foil an opponents Doors of Night strategy. The deck relies on one or more high prowess non-Balrog
companies to roam the heart of Mordor and beyond. There are plenty of cards in the deck to make your
characters colossal fighters. Ill Report you 2x, Black Mace 2x, and Descent Through Fire are the main ones,
so take special care to play these. The only underground route to The Under-galleries and The Under-courts
- the two most important sites - goes through The Sulfur-deeps. Therefore, avoid tapping The Sulfur-deeps
until playing Descent Through Fire and tapping both later sites. Also, avoid tapping The Under-leas and The
Under-vaults too early.
The Balrog
As soon as convenient, tap The Balrog to bring to the discard pile Breach the Hold. Roots of the Earth,
Memories of Old Torture, Flame of Udun, and a sideboard resource that reacts to your opponent. These
cards are now ready to easily pop into the play deck using Great Shadows ability. and without taxing play.
In Great Shadow form The Balrog should always be accompanied by his minions outside of a Darkhaven.
While waiting to draw Great Troll and Descent Through Fire, he should stay in Moria conveniently bringing
in characters and playing Ancient Secrets. When the Orcs of Moria faction shows up, snag it for 3 MPs.
Once The Balrog plays Descent Through Fire - the decks most important card - bring in Breach the Hold
and Roots of the Earth from the sideboard. Send the Balrog north to The Drowning-deeps/Remains of
Thangorodrim area once you draw one of them. Most MP sources are playable between these two sites.
Expect to shave an excess of MP sources in hand as the game wears on if you have been recycling discarded
ones. Consider Flame of Udun to maximize the Balrogs battle-readiness, though this minimizes playing
additional MP cards. Eventually, Out He Sprung will hit the table, allowing The Balrog to surface for
company vs. company combat; against a hero opponent. To optimally prepare for attacking, bring in Flame
of Udun , as The Balrog cannot move on the surface with Great Shadow.
Hazard Play
The hazard mix contains plenty of Spiders, a handful of Animals, and enhancers for both. A few basic utility
cards are included to cover blind spots. Certain enhancers -called Spawn - form a natural sub-theme of their
own. Three of the decks hazards depend on the number of Spawn in play. Take special care with the Spawn
Monstrosity of Diverse Shape. It provides an ability of which you will no doubt make efficient use.
However, it also creates a vicious automatic-attack at The Drowning-deeps and Remains of Thangorodrim.
you must be prepared to either discard this hazard yourself, cancel its attack or sacrifice some scrub Orcs to
its horribly twisted mass.
Balrog's Host
The Balrog uses his Strangling Coils form in this deck to maximize direct influence and faction recruiting.
He wants all Orc factions of the Misty Mountains in his Great Army. When the time is right, the Balrog
burrows into the Iron Hill Dwarf-hold from the Under-deeps to claims the realm as his own - much as he
took Khazadum now called Moria. The hazards contain a mix of two sub-themes: Dragons/Drakes and
roadblock.
Resource Play
you must recruit at least four of the five unique Orc factions to receive two marshalling points from Great
Army of the North. Therefore, do not discard unique Orc factions without attempting to influence them. On
the other hand, A Few Recruits is an excellent discard choice, unless you have Grey Mountain Goblins in
hand or in play and Gondmaeglom is available. This deck contains two Out He Sprangs to help The Balrog
reach an opponents company for company vs. company combat. If you have a site where an opponents
company is present, attack them if at all convenient. It may be worth holding Great Fissure in your hand
indefinitely as insurance waiting for the chance. Bring in Flame of Udun and Scourge of Fire from the
sideboard if yours opponent travels a lot around the Misty Mountains. Against a minion opponent, bring in
Prone to violence as soon as possible. The decks resources threaten your opponent as much as your hazards.
Specifically, you have the potential to strip out MPs. Besides the potential of company vs. company combat,
you have People Diminished, Crowned with Storm, Eddy in Fates Tide, Invade Their Domain, Mine or No
Ones, and Scourge of Fire, which is probably the most powerful. Ultimately, you want to complete this
expansions ultimate quest - invading the Iron Hill Dwarf-hold. Leisurely play Roots of the Earth and
Breach the Hold as your draw them. They do not have to be played in order, land each keeps The Rusted-
deeps in play without committing a character garrison. After you have cycled about half your deck, bring in
Invade Their Domain and Lord and Usurper. Keep a couple tactical cards in hand to insure their successful
play. The only underground route to The Rusted-deeps goes through The Under-leas and The Wind-deeps.
Therefore, avoid tapping these two sites at least until The Balrog is at The Rusted-deeps and prepared to
play Invade Their Domain.
The Balrog
The Balrog with Strangling Coils recruits factions very well without enhancement-and usually requires no
tactical cards to remain untapped against creatures. When he is not attacking an opponent, The Balrog is
your number one option for gathering the Great Army. you will need The Balrog to tap to bring a few cards
in from the sideboard. Do not forget to bring in Sudden Call before the first deck cycle ends.
Hazard Play
The hazards feature several Dragon Ahunt manifestations, powerful Drakes, Long Winter to tap your
opponents deep Wilderness sites, and Doors of Night to make everything function efficiently. This decks
hazards slam opponents travelling around the Misty Mountains and Dragon country. Unfortunately the
hazards are rather weak against Gondor decks, and only mediocre against Mordor and Under-deeps minion
decks. Bring in Covetous Thoughts as soon as possible against a minion opponent. Use An Unexpected
Outposts to recycle Twilights, Long Winter, Doors of Night, and itself as you determine their necessity
against each opponent. You need to consider your own movement when playing Long Winter because it taps
your deep Wilderness sites too. You need to consider your own movement when playing the Dragon Ahunt
cards as your surface movement may take you through hunting grounds.
Only the size of the sideboard is different to other decks. Because the Akorahil deck needs a lot of sites the
sideboard was reduced to 8 cards and so this deck has now 28 sites. The other three decks has 20 cards each
in the sideboard.
Also the starting companies are now unique. This means that no other challenge deck has the same unique
character in the starting pool. The decks for Ren, Uvatha and Khamul were taken from meccg.net where
Mark Alfano posted the decks in 2006. I havent changed the original list for resources and hazards. I have
just made little changes in the starting company (to make them unique to the other challenge decks also to
the four new one) and I added a sideboard and changed some sites.
The Akorahil deck has the same idea as Mark Alfanos well known Malady deck. The original deck is much
more better than the challengedeck because the original deck has more rare cards in it. But I think that you
will get an idea how the original deck is working.
The descriptions of the decks have the same chapters than the old decks. So it is easy to play these decks. But
most of the decks are not so quick. So you should play especially against the hero-decks two-deck. The
reason for this is just simple. A ringwraith-player needs a Sudden call to finish the game. This card is in your
sideboard. So you need to sideboard it and then you need to draw it. Also the numbers of marshalling points
you can get quick is not so high than in a wizard deck. So you need to slow down your wizard-player-
opponent.
Here You find an overview of the Marshalling points each Challengedeck has in deck plus sideboard.
Deck A B C D E F G H I J 1 2 K L M N O P Q R S T U V
characters 12 12 13 15 15 15 12 10 11 17 15 15 15 14 10 13 14 17 13 16 14 14 15 17
allies 2 3 4 5 4 3 3 7 6 4 6 1 3 9 2 3 2 9 3 13 6 4 5 8
factions 15 6 10 19 11 8 10 8 9 18 5 14 7 14 4 11 9 5 17 5 19 17 12 5
Misceneallous 7 9 0 0 3 10 4 0 3 1 12 19 0 0 2 9 25 6 7 8 12 2 9 0
items 12 17 19 10 16 13 15 22 11 13 12 4 26 12 10 9 4 16 4 5 2 10 7 14
total 48 47 46 49 49 49 44 47 40 53 50 53 51 49 28 45 54 53 44 47 53 47 48 44
You see that each deck has enough Marshalling points to call the council/Audience with Sauron/Day of
Reckoning/Day of Decision.
For any comments please drop me a line. Thanks and have fun.
Ren
Ren is sitting the whole game in Dol Guldur. He cans sideboard or when needed tap to give +2 for all
corruption checks in the company with the Rings. So this is a help to survive the corruption check at the end
of the untap phase for the untested Gold Ring.
Hazard Play
The main idea is modifying auto attacks at all versions of sites. But be aware that the long events like Fell
Winter and Awaken Minions can also hurt you. The creatures will help you to make the modified auto
attacks more painful. Especially the Drakes together with Door of Nights can more often attack. And note
that Fell Winter with Doors of Night treat all Borderlands to Wildernesses.
Sideboard
Sideboarding is hard in this game because You have no cards for sideboarding in the deck. So You can only
use Ren for sideboarding resources and reducing the hazard limit to sideboard one hazard. In every case you
should sideboard Sudden Call. It is also important to get more factions because you have only one in your
deck. And finally dont forget to bring in Rumor of the One to get more Marshalling points for Your ring
items. When You playing against a deck which is moving trough a lot of free-domains/free-hold then New
Moon can change one free-domain/border-hold to a border-land. This is then enough so that the Slayer can
attack. You can use Withered Lands to change border-lands and shadow-lands to a double Wilderness and
this is enough for the True Fire-drake.
Strategy Resources
To make the deck faster you should sent a second company to Southron Oasis and Variag Camp. When
Your Ringwraith is not in play you can also play Jerrek, Pon Opar, Asternak, Mionid at their home sites. All
four have a bonus for the direct influence for factions playable at their homesite. You can do the same with
Odoacer. Because he has only a mind of 1 you can let him wait for the faction in Woodmen-town*.
Strategy Hazards
You have the Doors of Night in it. So use them. When You have to play against deck I (Witch-King) you
should not play them. Otherwise it is too easy for this deck to tap all the sites you need. And dont forget to
put a lot of cards onguard because the modifiers are more effective when the opponent is surprised after
deciding entering the site.
Errata
Please read the following cards as follows:
SLAYER - Creature (C)
[MP: 2; P/B: 11/-; Playable: Border-lands and Border-holds]
Slayer. Two attacks (of one strike each) against the same character. Attacker chooses defending character.
The defender may tap one character in the same company to cancel one of these attacks. (E)
Resource Play
Your characters are not so strong. So you have to use wisely Down Down to Goblin-town to reduce the
number of creatures playable against you. The automatic attacks are not so strong. So you should defeat
them. Otherwise you can use Crept along Cleverly or A Nice Place to Hide to cancel these attacks. If you
have a second company you should send them to Sarn Goriwing to wait for an major item and after that they
can play more War-wolfs there. Uvatha has to influence Smaug.
Uvatha
Uvatha is waiting for Black rider, Smaug Roused and Words of Menace and Deceit. To make him useful in
the meantime you should sideboard resources or use his special ability to bring one card from the discard
pile in your play deck. If you have the three cards in your hand move him to The Lonely Mountain*. Cancel
the automatic attach by using Crept along Cleverly and then influence Smaug with the help of Words of
Menace and Deceit. When Uvatha failed the influence check then You can play The Arkenstone* in the next
turn. Or you use his special ability and/or Weigh All Things to a Nicety to cycle the faction and Words of
Menace and Deceit and try again.
Hazard Play
Use the creatures to generate an attack of at least five strikes. Then play Left Behind to form a separate
company with that character and after that you can play Alone and Unadvised. The corruption checks can
hurt. You can also try the same thing with Faces of the Dead and Seized by Terror. And before the
corruption checks you can use Muster Disperses or Call of Home. The sideboarding of additional hazards is
only possible by halving the hazard limit or after exhausting your play deck.
Sideboard
First You have to sideboard the reaources for Uvatha (Black rider, Smaug Roused and Words of Menace and
Deceit). You can also sideboard the Goblins of Goblin-gate and Orcs of Moria when the deck is exhausted
and you have not enough MPs. Before the deck exhausting you should sideboard Sudden Call.
Strategy Resources
Your key character is Pon Opar. He is the only sage in your deck and without him the Voices of Malice are
useless. You should move every turn with the covert company to a Ruins & Lairs when you have Down
Down to Goblin-town in your hand. Otherwise it is better to stay. Please note that Regiment of Black Crows
change to an overt company. With the overt company go for items and factions. Be careful when you are
playing against a Fallen wizard. You cant play any resources at a protected site.
Errata
Please read the following cards as follows:
CORSAIRS OF UMBAR - Creature (U) [MP: 1; P/B: 9/-; Playable: Coastal Seas]
Men. Five strikes. May also be played keyed to Andrast, Anfalas, Belfalas, Cardolan, Enedhwaith,
Harondor, Lindon, Lebennin, and Old Pkel-land; and may also be played at Ruins & Lairs and Shadow-
holds in these regions. May also be played at any site in Elven Shores, Eriadoran Coast, Andrast Coast,
Bay of Belfalas, or Mouths of the Anduin. (E)
Akhorahil
Akhorahil Description is waiting for the Fell-Rider. With the help of this card he can travel to sites where
your opponent has a company. To prepare this you have to find out which haven is the best starting point
because he can go there without a moving card. Akhorahil can play all of your magic cards and can put them
back in the deck after using. So he is powerful and can cancel a lot. When at the same site as your
opponents company play A Malady Without Healing and use Akhorahil Unleashed to play Malady twice.
Against a hero company Akhorahil can make company versus company combat. And when travelling to
Moria* or Caves of Ulund* play a greater item there. Against dwarves you can use The Arkenstone* to
force the discard of a dwarf character.
Hazard Play
This is just easy. Play corruption cards and the creatures. The corruption cards should help the Malady to
destroy a character. The Balance of Things is also very good to make corruption check not so easy.
Sideboard
The sideboard dont have much cards in it. So its easy to find out what you will need. The two greater items
is a must to sideboard. Otherwise You will have not so much points in the end. And also Sudden call is
needed to end the game. The hazards depends of what you will need. If you have eliminated all rangers then
River is a good choice.
Errata
Please read the following cards as follows:
CORSAIRS OF UMBAR - Creature (U)
[MP: 1; P/B: 9/-; Playable: Coastal Seas]
Men. Five strikes. May also be played keyed to Andrast, Anfalas, Belfalas, Cardolan, Enedhwaith,
Harondor, Lindon, Lebennin, and Old Pkel-land; and may also be played at Ruins & Lairs and Shadow-
holds in these regions. May also be played at any site in Elven Shores, Eriadoran Coast, Andrast Coast,
Bay of Belfalas, or Mouths of the Anduin. (E)
Khamul
Khamul is waiting for his moving card. So he can start with sideboarding. If he got this mode card he can
also burn sites because with the Fell Rider he has 12 prowess. This is also a big help in company versus
company combat. You should use Forced Marsh to move Khamul first to a Darkhaven and then to a none
Haven site. So he doesnt need to wait for a new Fell Rider.
Hazard Play
You should tap or kill all of your opponents rangers . Then you can play Enchanted Stream and River to
roadblock the companies.
Sideboard
When Khamul is in play you should sideboard in the third Fell Rider or The Ring Leaves Its Mark. When
your opponent is a Wizardplayer you should sideboard in Black Mace. Because all of the Wizard
Challengedecks have Moria included. So go to Moria for company versus company combat and play the
greater item. In every case you should sideboard the War-wolf. So you have a better chance to get an ally
because Blackbole is the only one in the deck. Be careful with the hazards. Itangast Ahunt can also touch
you and you have no chance to cancel these attack. The other hazards should be helpful against sneaking
deck (Searching Eye) and Gondor decks (Lost in Free-domains and Ambusher). And dont forget to
sideboard in Sudden Call before you exhausted your deck. In the case of exhausting your deck you should
sideboard the two factions (Orcs of Mirkwood and Woodmen) because then you can use the sites again.
Strategy Resources
The idea of the deck is simple. Play an item or ally at a site an burn them down. you have enough modifier
for prowess in your deck and when each of the two leader in the starting company has an Ill report you it is
much more easier to burn the sites. But you are a little bit weak to influence factions. Because you have no
Sage-character Foolish Words is the best way to stop you. In that case you should sideboard Gift as Given of
Old to make the influence attempt easier for you. And be careful in Dragon country. If your opponent has
dragons in his deck you should go to places where dragons can not attack.
Strategy Hazards
First modify the attack of Undeads with the help of The Moon is Dead. Then play your Undeads. Even a
detainment attack can tap a character. The same could happen with Neeker-breekers. Afterwards Enchanted
Stream plus River is the best way to stop your opponent. And to make an company versus company combat
more successful at a Border-hold you have three Slayers.
Errata
Please read the following cards as follows:
When You are playing a hero challenge deck against the same Fallen Wizard You have to replace Your
wizard with the wizard in your sideboard. To do this You make the replacement after You have played Your
wizard. So You dont need to replace the three wizard You have in deck.
If You are playing Fallen Wizard You must know some new rules. Here are rules You have to know for
using the challengedecks.
USING MEWH
When you play a Fallen-wizard, assume that your Fallen-wizard is a METW Wizard. All of the normal
METW rules apply except for the specific exceptions outlined in these rules. The MELE rules that
concern Wizards also apply to Fallen-wizards.
Wizards When the rules and cards refer to a Wizard, they apply to your Fallen-wizard.
Wizardhavens When rules and non-site cards refer to Havens and Darkhavens, they apply instead to your
Wizardhavens. The special effects of METW Havens (i.e healing, bringing characters into play, etc.) do
apply to your companies at your Wizardhavens. These same effects do not apply to your companies at
MELE Darkhavens and METW Havens.
Stage Points Certain cards give your Fallen-wizard stage points. Stage points reflect how far your
Fallen-wizard has deviated from his original mission. You must keep track of your accumulated stage points.
The number of stage points that a card gives is indicated by one of the following symbols:
Stage Resources MEWH introduces a new type of resource card called a stage resource card. Such a
card is actually a Fallen-wizard-only resource card only Fallen-wizard players may include them in
their decks. Stage resources have a green-colored (i.e. tarnished copper) background. Most stage resource
cards give stage points.
Characters You may use both hero and minion characters. However, you may only use a character if his
mind attribute is 5 or less. All of your non-Orc/-Troll characters are considered to be hero characters. You
may only use up to two of each non-unique character.
Orcs & Trolls Because most Fallen-wizard characters will not be Orcs and Trolls, specific rules
concerning Orc and Troll characters are collected in one section at the end of these rules.
Hero/Minion Resources You may use both hero and minion resources. However, you may only include
up to a total of two of each non-unique hero or minion resource in your play deck and sideboard.
Sites There are four Fallen-wizard site cards: Isengard, The White Towers, Rhosgobel, and Deep Mines.
These site cards have a light gray background. Unless stated otherwise on a card, a Fallen-wizard player may
use these sites instead of the hero/minion versions. Most fallen-wizard companies use hero site cards when
moving to non-Fallen-wizard sites (see the Movement section for exceptions).
Marshalling Points Marshalling points for stage resource cards are handled normally (i.e. as printed on
the card). However, all other marshalling point cards are only worth 1 marshalling point each to a Fallen-
wizard (regardless of their printed value).
These MPs can not be modified by a hero or minion resource event (e.g. Rumor of the One, Tribute
Garnered, Sentinels of Nmenor, etc.). However, Fallen-wizard abilities and stage resource cards can
modify the number of marshalling points certain cards give.
Editorial: Birk Pinker Page 39 of 80 Last update: May 2011
mail: birk.pfeiffer@web.de
Part V: Fallen Wizard Decks - Introduction
THE VICTORY CONDITIONS
As a Fallen-wizard you may win in the same way a METW Wizard wins: your opponent is eliminated or you
recover The One Ring or you have the most marshalling points at the Free Council. The following
exceptions apply:
In order to win by recovering The One Ring at least one A New Ringlord card must be played and the
conditions outlined on that card must be met.
The Free Council is handled normally, and victory is determined in the standard way by comparing
marshalling points. However, to you (a Fallen-wizard) it is called your Day of Reckoning and your
marshalling points reflect how far you have progressed towards completing your own personal agenda.
You do not receive marshalling points for cards stored at non-Wizardhaven sites
A Fallen-wizard player prepares for play just as a Wizard does, with the following exceptions:
Note: This rule means that when you declare that you are playing a specific Fallen-wizard, your opponent
may not play the corresponding hero Wizard (i.e. that Wizard has already fallen). You and your opponent
may still both declare and attempt to play the same Fallen-wizard, but the game will probably by won by the
first player to get his Fallen-wizard into play.
Starting Characters
Your starting characters (up to 5) may include hero characters and minion characters, but you may not start a
character with a mind greater than 5. However, you may not start Orc and Troll characters unless you start
with an appropriate stage resource card (e.g., Bad Company).
Starting Site
Your starting company may begin play at The White Towers or at any Ruins & Lairs site in Rhudaur or
Arthedain. If you start at a Ruins & Lairs site, one of your starting stage resource cards may be a Hidden
Haven played on your starting site.
All of your non-Orc and non-Troll characters are considered to be hero characters. Thus, a company
consisting of only such characters is treated as a hero company. Such a company is covert for the purposes
of playing minion resources.
Your Fallen-wizard may only start at his home
You may not start or bring into play any character with a mind greater than 5.
MOVEMENT
Fallen-wizard companies must use region movement. When one of your Fallen-wizard companies moves to
a site, you and your opponent draw cards based on the site being moved to. This applies even if moving to
one of your Wizardhavens. The METW Havens (i.e., Grey Havens, Rivendell, Lrien, Edhellond) and MELE
Darkhavens (i.e., Minas Morgul, Dol Guldur, Carn Dm, and Geann a-Lisch) are not considered to be
havens for a Fallen-wizard player.
The following exceptions for using sites can be modified by the play of certain hazards and stage resources.
A fallen-wizards non-overt companies must use hero sites for sites that are not Ruins & Lairs.
A Fallen-wizards companies may freely use either minion or hero Ruins & Lairs sites on a site per site
basis (subject to the restriction below).
If your hero (or minion) version of a site is in play or in your discard pile, you may not use your minion
(or hero) version of the same site.
The play of certain cards can change the type of sites that your companies may use (e.g., Plotting Ruin,
Heart Grown Cold, etc.). When this happens, immediately exchange any affected site cards already in
play with the corresponding site cards of the proper type.
CORRUPTION CHECKS
Note: When the test of a gold ring indicates that a specific type of ring may be played, you may play either a
hero or a minion ring of the appropriate type.
Editorial: Birk Pinker Page 41 of 80 Last update: May 2011
mail: birk.pfeiffer@web.de
Part V: Fallen Wizard Decks - Introduction
Using Items
All non-Orc/-Troll characters may freely use both hero and minion items.
A company with any Orc or Troll characters is an overt company. In addition, a company with any of the
following allies is an overt company: Great Bats, Great Lord of Goblin-gate, Last Child of Ungoliant,
Regiment of Black Crows, Two-headed Troll. Any other company is a hero company.
Orcs that are Half-orcs are special if a Half-orc is in a company with only Half-orcs and Men, the
company is not overt (i.e., the Half-orcs appear to be ugly men to the casual observer). Half-orcs cannot
take trophies. However, for all other purposes a Half-orc is considered an Orc.
You may not play Orc and Troll characters until you have played the appropriate card (e.g., Bad
Company).
Unless at a Wizardhaven, and Orc or Troll cannot be in the same company as an Elf, Dwarf, Dnadan,
or Hobbit.
A Fallen-wizard overt company may attack any company controlled by another player and vice versa.
A Fallen-wizards overt companies must use hero sites for Shadow-holds, Dark-holds, and minion
Darkhavens. They must use minion sites for Border-holds, Free-holds, and hero Havens.
Overt companies are not minion companies for the purposes of the detainment attack guidelines in the
MELE rules (p. 31). Overt companies are minion companies for hazards that can only attack/affect
minion companies (e.g., Sons of Kings).
Corruption checks for an Orc or Troll character are handled as if he were a minion character. That is, if
the roll for a corruption check for an Orc or Troll character is equal to his corruption point total or one
less, he is tapped instead of being discarded. He is not considered to fail the corruption check in this
case.
You may not play a hero resource permanent-event on a company with an Orc or Troll in it.
A hero resource may not target an Orc or Troll character (e.g., Orc and Troll characters may not use
Block, Escape, etc.).
A hero resource that requires a character with a specific skill may not use an Orc or Troll character to
fulfill that requirement (e.g., Concealment, Many Turns and Doublings, etc.).
An Orc or Troll character may not tap to initiate an effect from a hero resource (e.g. Praise to Elbereth,
Great Ship, etc.).
An Orc or Troll character may be the bearer of a hero item, but all bonuses and special abilities are
ignored (all restrictions to movement and playability still apply).
TOURNAMENT RULES
Resource Play
First you have to play Double-dealing at The Worthy Hills. After that you can sideboard all the hero-
resources you can play there. you can do that because the minion version of The Worthy Hills has the
special that the site never taps. The next step is to get a protected wizardhaven. Therefore you have to send a
character to Isengard@ and/or The White Towers@ to play The Fortress of Isen/ Fortress of the Towers.
you can also use Guarded Haven at Ettenmoor to protect the site. Now you can play A Strident Spawn and
Sarumans Machinery. This means that you can play now the Halforcs and the technology-items at the
protected Isengard. If you have three factions (the stage points are not the problem) you can play the White
Hand and finish the game. Please use the Hall of Fire to untap characters at Ettenmoor and Isengard. So you
have a better chance to remove permanent events on your characters (e.g. corruptions cards).
Saruman
Saruman is staying the whole game in Isengard and has to sideboard every turn. If you have A strident
spawn in play you should tap Saruman during the organization phase to bring the four faction from the
sideboard in the discard pile. You can then use Horns, Horns, Horns to shuffle these factions in your play
deck. Please note that you can untap Saruman after you have played Hall of Fire at Isengard to play a
resource with him.
Hazard Play
Just try to kill some characters with the creatures and modify the automatic attacks.
Sideboard
The conditions for sideboarding are:
Name of the card Card you must have in play or condition
When I Know Anything, When you Know More, Double dealing
Schwertmeister, Woses of the Eryn Vorn
Noble Hound Rebuilt the town
A Strident Spawn Protected wizardhaven
Half-orcs A Strident Spawn
Saruman's Machinery Protected Isengard
Blasting Fire, Vile Fumes Saruman's Machinery
The White Hand A Strident Spawn, Saruman's Machinery + three factions
Strategy Resources
If you are not able to play the Noble Hound at Worthy Hills send a character to Bree. And if you dont have
Sarumans Machinery, you should travel to Mount Gram to play the technology items. Please note that you
need for that Double Dealing at the site. Otherwise you have no MPs for allies and items. You should also
be aware that you have enough free general influence. Because Saruman is reducing your general influence
to 15 and the Troll-chief is alone at Ettenmoors you will get big trouble if somebody is playing successful a
Call of Home on him. So the best thing is to play Ill-favoured Fellow at Ettenmoors under direct influence of
the Troll-chief. The Troll-chief has still one free direct influence and should be able to influence the
factions. Because Baugur is an agent you can only bring him in play at Isengard. He can play the Halforc-
factions too because he has three direct influence. Please note that Baugur and the Ill-Favour-Fellow are
Halforcs. So you can discard them when you have them in your hand to early and after playing A Strident
spawn you can play them out of your discard pile. To make the influence check against the Woses easier you
should use When you know more. And you can also use When I know anything to modify a corruption
check.
Errata
Please read the following cards as follows:
Resource Play
Play the items to power your characters up. Play the allies to defeat attacks more easier. Try to get the
faction with the help of A Friend or Three. If you have Tom Bombadil in play be careful, because then You
can only go with him to Barrow-downs, Bree, Old Forrest, White Towers and Weathertrop. You can draw a
lot of cards by using A short rest. This will help to get the needed cards.
Alatar@
Alatar is joining Your starting company or is forming a second company and he is also going for items,
allies and factions. Tap Bow of Alatar to give a strike to Alatar in all cases. Reshuffle from discard pile to
deck Risky Blow by using Huntsmans Garb. Before the first deck cycle tap him to sideboard needed stages
cards. Later in the game with enough weapon form one big company around him to kill a lot of creatures by
using The Great Hunt. Before You decide whether to take creatures from the discard pile or the play deck
have a look in the deck list of the opponents deck.
Hazard Play
The creatures are mix to attack every type of site. More interesting are the events. They reduce the general
and direct influence. So you can then use Muster disperses and Call of Home.
Sideboard
Sideboard is easy in this deck. Transfer Great Patron, Gatherer of Loyalties (after You have more than 3
stage points), Legacy of Smith (after You have more than 6 stage points) and The Great Hunt (after You
have more than 12 stage points) from the sideboard to deck by using Smoke Rings or by tapping Alatar. The
hazards depend on the opponents deck. You have two An unexpected outpost in the deck. So this should be
easy.
Errata
Please read the following cards as follows:
Resource Play
Moving around with Beretar and Firiel to collect allies and factions. Try to get quickly Mistress Lobelia.
Then use her ability to grab resources playable at her current sites. The next step is to get a protected
wizardhaven. Therefore you have to send Damrod to Isengard@ and/or The White Towers@ to play The
Fortress of Isen/ Fortress of the Towers. You can also use Guarded Haven at Ettenmoor to protect the site.
Now you can play A Strident Spawn. This means that you can play now the Halforcs at the protected wizard
havens. If you have five factions (the stage points are not the problem) you can play Prophet of Doom and
finish the game. Please use the Hall of Fire to untap characters at Ettenmoor and The White Towers. So you
have a better chance to remove permanent events on your characters (e.g. corruptions cards).
Pallando
Pallando is staying the whole game in The White Towers@ and has to sideboard every turn. During the first
time he should put five factions in the discard pile (A Panoply of Wings, Beast of the Wood, Rangers of the
North) so that you can bring them in the play deck by using Horns, Horns, Horns. If you have A strident
spawn in play you should tap Pallando during the organization phase to bring the additional five factions
from the sideboard in the discard pile (Half-orcs). You can then use the second Horns, Horns, Horns from
the sideboard to shuffle these factions in your play deck. Please note that you can untap Pallando after you
have played Hall of Fire at The White Towers@ to play a resource with him.
Hazard Play
You have an Orc-/Troll hazard strategy here. So you should first modify the attack and then you can create a
heavy attack. To have enough modifiers available you can use An unexpected Outpost to get them back.
And you should also cycle Veils Flung Away when your opponent is going through wilderness, Borderland
or Free-domain. Especially against Orc an Troll characters can this card hurt. And for your own protection
you have Aware of their Ways in the deck. So you can bring out of play dangerous hazards for you (for
example Slayer, Foolish Words) or you can destroy resources needed by your opponent.
Sideboard
The conditions for sideboarding are:
Name of the card Card you must have in play or condition
A Panoply of Wings, Beast of the Wood, Pallando
Rangers of the North
Legacy of Smith More than 6 stage points
Noble Hound Mistress Lobelia
A Strident Spawn Protected wizardhaven
Dwarven Lightstone, Delvers Harvest Protected wizardhaven
Half-orcs A Strident Spawn
Prophet of Doom five factions
Strategy Resources
In your first turn you have to move Beretar and Firiel to Bag End to play Mistress Lobelia. And then you can
move with her to Bree and the Old Forrest. You can tap the Mistress during the organization phase to put an
ally or faction to your hand. So you should go to Bree when you have already the Rangers in the discard pile
or to the Old Forrest to play Goldberry. You have to play the two Beast of the Wood there because you cant
play them at Bree. To make the influence check against the animals factions easier you should use Gift as
Given of Old. You can put this card to your hand during your end of turn phase by tapping Pallandos Hood.
Damrod is moving to The White Towers in the first turn. Because Damrods mind is less than 3 you are not
Editorial: Birk Pinker Page 52 of 80 Last update: May 2011
mail: birk.pfeiffer@web.de
Part V: Fallen Wizard Decks - Deck Q
allowed to draw any card for him. So you should play a character in the first round and send them both to
the White Towers. Then he is waiting for more characters there and after you have played Fortress of the
Tower you can send two characters to play the Dwarven Light-stone and Delvers Harvest at the Deep
Mines. You have to be careful with your general influence because the Troll-chief is alone at Ettenmoors
you will get big trouble if somebody is playing successful a Call of Home on him. So the best thing is to
play Ill-favoured Fellow at Ettenmoors under direct influence of the Troll-chief. The Troll-chief has still one
free direct influence and should be able to influence the factions. Because Baugur is an agent you can bring
him in play only at Isengard. He can then play the Halforc-factions too because he has three direct influence.
Please note that Baugur and the Ill-Favour-Fellow are Halforcs. So you can discarded them when you have
them in your hand to early and after playing A Strident spawn you can play them out of your discard pile. If
you have five factions in play you can play the Prophet of Doom.
Strategy Hazards
You should play the hazards as quickly as you can to draw the needed resources.
Errata
Please read the following cards as follows:
Resource Play
Your starting company is staying at Weathertop* to play the wolves and the Wild Hounds. In the last turn
they can go to Bree to get the Panoply and Noble Hounds. Form a second company at Rhosgobel and play
all of the none-unique allies there. Later go down to the Deep Mines to get the Dwarven Light-stones and
the Delver Harvest. When too many characters were eliminated at Weathertop* you can send new characters
via Rivendell to Weathertop*.
Radagast
Radagst is sitting the whole game in Rhosgobel and is also playing allies. During the organization phase he
has to sideboard. Untap him after the movement-hazard phase by using Hall of Fire.
Hazard Play
This are Man with corruption. Very simple.
Sideboard
The conditions for sideboarding are:
Name of the card Card you must have in play or condition
Great Bats 2x, Regiment of Black Crows, Noble Radagast
Hound, Noble Steed (in the discard pile)
Legacy of Smiths More than 6 stage points
An Untimely Brood More than 6 stage points and Radagast
Regiment of Black Crows, Noble Hound, Noble An Untimely Brood
Steed
Delver Harvest 2x, Dwarven Light-stone Three characters at Rhosgobel@
Girdle of Radagast More than 12 stage points and six allies
Errata
Please read the following cards as follows:
Resource Play
Voteli and Ioreth are travelling to Bag End to sit there nearly the whole game. They are playing all of the
Marvels Told and Voices of Malice. And they are playing the two allies playable there. Please note that you
have to play first the Mistress and after that you can use the Mistress to search your play deck and discard
pile for Bill. You can make Bag End to wizardhaven by using Chambers. With Guarded Haven this site is
protected. Later in the game Voteli can travel alone to Bree or the Old Forrest to play a resource there and
Mischief. Boromir is travelling to Beorns House to play the faction. Theoden and Dasakun are travelling to
EaglesEyrie to get the faction there. In turn two Boromir is travelling to Minas Tirith and Theoden and
Dasakun are going to Edoras. As you can see all the characters in the deck have homesite in one of the free-
holds around Minas Tirith. So Theoden can control every of them with his direct influence. When You have
played a faction then play No Strangers at this time. In the next turn you can play chamber and after that
Guarded Haven to get your second protected haven. Please note that you should never play No strangers at
this time at Minas Tirith. Because Gandalf has to use Fireworks two times to make two factions and the
Palantir playable there. And the Palantir is the only item in the deck. So use the Fireworks wise !!!
Gandalf
Gandalf comes into play in Minas Tirith, Dol Amroth or Pelagir. And he is travelling between these sites
every turn. So he is going only through free-domains. During his first organization phase tap him to bring
five factions in the discard pile. And during the next organization phases tap him to bring one resource to the
play deck. When you have played a resource at Minas Tirith then play Fireworks with him to untap the site.
Please note his special ability. He can untap at the end of the organization phase.
Hazard Play
When you have Door of Nights in play you can play Das Pack vor der Tr. And then your spiders and
animals can attack nearly everywhere. To make them stronger play Wake of War and Full of Froth and
Rage. Use Searching eye to destroy resources of your opponent which require a scout (such as Hiding, Hide
in dark place, A nice place to hide).
Sideboard
The conditions for sideboarding are:
Name of the card Card you must have in play or condition
Knights of Dol Amroth, Men of Anorien, Men of Gandalf
Lebennin, Riders of Rohan, Tower Guard of
Minas Tirith (in the discard pile)
Legacy of Smiths More than 6 stage points
A tapped site except Minas Tirith where you have
No Strangers at this Time played a faction
Guarded Haven 2x A site with No Strangers at this Time and Chambers
Palantir of Minas Tirith untapped Minas Tirith
Mischief in a Mean Way More than 12 stage points
More than 12 stage points, 2 protected havens and six
Await the Onset characters
After having several tournaments with the so called Lost Challengedecks I found out that I have also to built
a Hero-Challenge-Deck to make sure that also Newbies can take part.
So I built a deck without Wizard. To be consequent I also have to built a deck without a Ringwraith by using
the Lidless Eye. Please note that the Lidless Eye deck is only playable against a Wizard and/or Fallen
Wizard. So the Balrog- and Ringwraith-Decks can not fight against Sauron!
This is the only thing You have to know. Everything else is normal playing.
Have fun.
Resource Play
Form three companies at the beginning. The first company Galdor goes to Thranduil's Halls and is
waiting for the Wood-elves. The second company Thrain II goes to Blue Mountain Dwarf-hold and is
waiting for the Blue Mountain Dwarves. The third company Robin Smallburrow goes to Bag End and is
waiting for Mistress Lobelia. When they are at their destination play Await the Advent of Allies at Galdor
and Robin Smallburrow Thrains mind is too big for that card. So You generate free direct influence to
built up a fourth company around Theoden in Edoras and a fifth company around Boromir II in Minas
Tirith. When Thrain II and Galdor have played their faction they are losing the Advent of Allies and can go
for items. Thrain II should go for Durin's Axe. So You got the two extra MP. Because You have no wizard,
so You can bring characters in play at their homesite. You have two characters with home site Edoras and
three with Homesite Minas Tirith. So it should be easy to form companies there. You also have two dwarfes
with homesite Blue Mountain Dwarf-hold. So You they can support Thrain II. He has three direct influence
to control one of them. Galdor can control Haldir by using A chance meeting. Robin is Your weakiest
starting character. If he is wounded You can use House of Healing or Halfling strength (sideboard) to heal
him, because it is to dangerous for him to go to a Heaven. Or You discard him and play Folcon Boffin in
Bag End. Trhain II is strong enough to reach the haven after he was wounded. Galdor can also healed by
using Houses of healing. Or You play Legolas direct in THranduils Halls, transfer the item and sent Galdor
to Lorien. Before the game ends play Alliance of Free Peoples to get extra points for dwarfs, men and elf
factions.
Hazard Play
The goal of the hazard deck is to reduce the direct influence of Your opponent. Use muster disperse to
destroy the factions. Because of Your Alliance You should use dwarfs, men or elf factions. But be careful.
After playing Alliance the discard of such a faction is discarding the Alliance too. The creatures are just a
mix and are normally easy to play.
Sideboard
Sideboarding is hard for You because You have only three Smoke Rings to bring resources ins Your deck.
So You should choice wise which are this three cards. In a normal game You should bring in Align Palantir,
Durins Axe and Knights of Dol Amroth to get a lot of MP. In the deck cycle You can bring in more MPs
Strategy Resources
In an ideal game You have in the end the following companies and cards in play before 2nd deck cycle:
I: Thrain II with Durins Axe and Oin, Thrain II controls Oin = 8 MP
II: Galdor controls Haldir = 3 MP
III: one Hobbit with Mistress and Bill = 3 MP
IV: Theoden and Eomer = 3 MP
Editorial: Birk Pinker Page 64 of 80 Last update: May 2011
mail: birk.pfeiffer@web.de
Part VI: Decks without Wizard and Ringwraith - Deck T
V: Ioreth with Await Adv. of Allies, Palantir, Align Palantir and Forlong, Ioreth controls Forlong = 4 MP
Faction in Play and Alliance of Free People: Blue Mountain Dwarfes, Wood-Elves, Riders of Rohan,
Knights of Dol Amroth = 12 MP
The total MPs are 33 MP.
And You have to know that You can discard Bill when he is coming to Your hand before You have played
Mistress. Because You can use Mistress ability to search for Bill in Your playdeck or discard pile. Gate of
Morning and The Sun Unveiled is a great help for losing corruption cards and Foolish Words. And Your
character is untapped after playing this card. So You can use them before the council to have untapped
characters to support the corruption check. Dain II and Ioreth could have a problem there.
Strategy Hazards
Play quick Your events and creature. Use the unexpected to bring hazards from Sideboard to Playdeck or
cycle hazards which can hurt Your opponent. Nothing special no big tricks.
Errata
Please read the following cards as follows:
Resource Play
The Orc-Captain and the Orc-Veteran are going to Mount Doom and playing all of the allies there. If the site
is too dangerous (for example the auto attack there was modified) then they can go to Nurniag Camp* to
play the Great Bats. The other company (Eradan, Raisha and Nevido Smod) is going for items and factions.
If You have a faction in Your first organization phase in Your hand then go to the site where the faction is
playable. Otherwise go to Raider-hold* because the automatic attack is weaker there then in Gobel
Mirlond*. When You play a faction or item play a Secret Book as a minor item. Then You can untap the site
to play a second faction or item there. Use Come by night upon them to reduce the prowess of the automatic
attac and to play an item for free. Recycle this card by using Weigh All Things to a Nicety. When the
Lidless Eye is in play You can use Your direct influence to play more characters. You have a lot of character
with one of the Boder-holds around Morodor as homesites. So You can play them there and You can tap
them to cancel the automatic attack. Use the sideboarding ability of the Lidless Eye to bring in more
factions, Burning Rick, Cot, and Tree and the special short events for the Lidless Eye like The Dark Power
and Eye never sleeping.
Hazard Play
The goal of the hazard deck is to have The Doors of Night in play. So the Come by night upon them reduces
the prowess of the automatic attack by 2. Then You can also changes Wilderness, Shadow-Land and Border-
land to a double Wilderness to play True Fire-drake or play the Rain-drake at Ruins & Lairs. You also can
play Nameless Thing in costal regions and at adjancet site of any Under-deeps site with the help of Doors of
Night and You can recycle two cards instead of one by using An unexpected outpost.
Sideboard
Sideboarding could be hard for in the case that the Lidless Eye is coming late to the game. In that case You
should use Weigh All Things to a Nicety instead of recycling Come by night upon them.
Strategy Resources
You have some one mind characters in the deck. Use these characters to wait at a tapped site for a Secre
Book to untap the site so that You can then play a second faction there. To wait for an item is not necessary
because You have three Border-hold-sites where You can play items and two additional site one Ruins %
Lairs and one shadow-hold. You need a tapped Border-hold to play Burning Rick, Cot, and Tree. If You are
playing this card at a site where You have playes a faction then You have to discard the faction. So it makes
no sense to do so. When You have Faithless steward in the hand bring one of agent-character to Barad-dur to
give the Faithless to that agent during the untap phase. Then bring him to one of his homesites to get the 3
MPs.
Errata
Please read the following cards as follows:
Because I dont have enough of some cards I put some german, French or Spanish version of the card in the
deck. Therfore you find the English text here for such cards.
So You have the following cards from the Balrog edition in this challenge deck:
Characters:
Buthrakaur[R]
Crook-legged Orc 3x[U]
The Balrog% 3x[C]
Resources
Orders from the Great Demon[U]
Great Shadow 2x[U]
Sites
Moria% 2x[U]
The Under-gates% 2x[U]
The Under-leas%[U]
Note: Middle-earth: The Balrog introduces a new classification of creatures called Spawn. These
monstrous creatures were created by Morgoth or other fallen spirits. Like the Balrog, a few Spawn survived
the War of the Wrath and hid deep underground.
A BALROG PLAYER
A Balrog player acts as a Ringwraith player. Any card and rules text applying to a Ringwraith also applies to
The Balrog (e.g., if a card refers to a Ringwraith, it now applies to a Ringwraith or The Balrog). However,
instead of using the special rules listed on page 59 of the MELE rules (or wherever else these rules may
appear), a Balrog player uses the following special rules:
Any ring in The Balrogs company at the beginning of the end-of-turn phase is automatically tested. Any
ring test in The Balrogs company has a modification of -2.
The Balrog may carry items (including rings) but may not use them (i.e., an item has no effect on The
Balrogs company or on his attributes and abilities).
The Balrog never makes corruption checks and corruption cards may not be played on The Balrog.
Normally, The Balrog may not use starter and region movement (as stated on his card). However, the
play of certain resources can expand his movement capabilities.
The Balrogs company is always overt.
Note: You and your opponent may both be Balrog players, but the winner will probably the first player to
get his Balrog into play.
Starting Site
You may have up to two starting companies - they may begin play at Moria and/or The Under-gates.
MOVEMENT
There are three types of basic movement in MECCG: starter movement, region movement, and Under-Deeps
movement.
Editorial: Birk Pinker Page 71 of 80 Last update: May 2011
mail: birk.pfeiffer@web.de
Part VII: The real Balrog challenge deck Short introduction
Balrog companies can never use starter movement.
When one of your Balrog companies moves to a site, you and your opponent draw cards based upon the
site being moved to. This applies even if moving to one of your Darkhavens.
MISCELLANEOUS
If you are a Balrog player, your opponent may not play any of the following cards: The Balrog (Ally),
The Black Council, Durins Bane, Balrog of Moria, Reluctant Final Parting. However, if at any time your
opponent has one of these cards in his hand, he may remove it from play and bring a card from his
sideboard into his play deck.
Rings are not automatically tested for a Balrog player at Barad-dr.
A Balrog player may not store anything at Barad-dr.
Shelob, Spider of Morlat, and Balrog of Moria are Spawn.
A non-Balrog player cannot use Balrog sites. However, for the purposes of playing certain hazards, a
non-Balrog players location deck may include one copy each of: Ancient Deep-hold, The Wind-deeps,
The Drowning Deeps, The Rusted-deeps, and Remains of Thangorodrim (i.e., the Balrog sites for which
there is no corresponding hero or minion site).
If The Balrog is in play or has been defeated, ignore all Balrog automatic-attacks (i.e., at The Under-
gates).
CLARIFICATIONS
Defeating a Permanent-event
Certain hazard permanent-events indicate that they give kill marshalling points (e.g., Dragon At Hunt
and At Home cards, the Spawn hazards from Middle-Earth: The Balrog, etc.). Each of these cards has
an attack associated with it. If such an attack is defeated, treat the associated card as a defeated creature.
Discarding Cards
When a card leaves active play (discarded, eliminated, returned to owners hand, etc.), discard all cards
played on it.
TOURNAMENT RULES
Spawn hazard permanent-events count as half a creature for the Council of Lrien 12-creature minimum.
A Balrog player has an extra +5 general influence that cannot be used to control characters.
THE UNDER-DEEPS
Note: Created by streams of molten rock and expanded by geothermal eruptions of super-hot gas, the Under-
deeps are a result of a combination of natural and supernatural forces. The hand of Morgoth joined what was
once a collection of sundered cavern complexes. His greater servants used this maze of tunnels and hambers
to travel surreptitiously throughout Endor. Although Endor changed during the Elder Days, the core of the
Under-deeps survive. Travel between the underground sites is now difficult, if not impossible, for all but the
greatest (and luckiest) explorers. Blocked or twisting away from their original course, the Under-deeps seem
broken. Junctions and strongholds seem lost. Many appear as simple caves or side passages. Others lie
hidden behind veils of rock. Nearly all are still there, though, awaiting discovery.
An Under-deeps site card has Under-deeps in the section that normally gives a sites region. An Under-
deeps site is just like any other site with the following exceptions:
Unlike other sites, each Under-deeps site is not considered to be in a region-instead it is located below
another site, called the Under-deeps sites surface site.
Instead of a nearest Haven, each Under-deeps site lists all of its Adjacent Sites. Each Under-deeps site
is adjacent to its one surface site and a number of other Under-deeps sites. The first adjacent site listed is
always the Under-deeps sites surface site.
Eagle-mounts and Gwaihir cannot be used to move to or from an Under-deeps site.
A company moving to and/or from an Under-deeps site has no site path. So, hazards may only be played
keyed to the companys new site.
An environment card that changes site type (e.g., Choking Shadows, Quiet Lands, etc.) cannot be used to
change the site type of an Under-deeps site.
Unless you are a Balrog player, you may not consider marshalling points associated with a company at an
Under-deeps site for the purposes of calling the Free Council or the Audience with Sauron.
Normally, when you successfully play an item, faction, ally, or information at a site, the site card is
tapped and one additional character may tap to play a minor item. At an Under-deeps site, you can play
any item playable at the site instead of this minor item.
For the purposes of playing hazards, a Free-Hold is never considered to be the surface site of an Under-
deeps site.
Balrog players receive no MPs for hero items played at their Darkhavens.1
Example: Azog taps and plays High Helm (a major item) at The Gem-deeps and the site taps. Then, a Hill-
Troll in Azogs company could tap to play a minor item at a non-Under-deeps site. But The Gem-deeps is an
Under-deeps site, so the Hill-Troll can tap to play any item playable at The Gem-deeps: a minor item, a
major item, or a gold ring. He taps and plays A Little Gold Ring.
1
NOTE: This rule does not appear in the rules insert with the Balrog packs. This rule is correct and should be
considered as though it were printed in the rules insert.
Editorial: Birk Pinker Page 73 of 80 Last update: May 2011
mail: birk.pfeiffer@web.de
Part VII: The real Balrog challenge deck Short introduction
- this number indicates how difficult it is to move from the Under-deeps site to the adjacent site. When an
adjacent site is revealed by one of your companies whose site of origin is an Under-deeps site, you must
make a roll (2D6). If the result is greater than or equal to the number in parentheses following the adjacent
site as listed on its site of origin, the movement/hazard phase proceeds normally. Otherwise, the company
returns to its site of origin (no cards are drawn)and the movement/hazard phase proceeds as if the company
had not moved.
Note: A company moving from a surface site to its Under-deeps site does not need to make a roll. As an
exception to this, a Balrog company moving between the Blue Mountain Dwarf-hold and the The Drowning-
deeps (or between the Iron Hill Dwarf-hold and the The Rusted-deeps) must roll the number given on the
Under-deeps site, which is normally 13 and impossible to roll.
Note: Movement between an Under-deeps site and its surface site is not affected by modifications that affect
movement between two Under-deeps sites. Modifications to movement to adjacent Under-deeps sites do
apply.
Example: A Balrog company that starts at Carn Dm can move normally or it can move to The Iron-deeps -
The Iron-deeps lists Carn Dm as an adjacent site. Similarly, a minion company that starts at The Iron-deeps
may attempt to move to any adjacent site listed: Carn Dm (0), The Under-leas (6), or The Under-vaults (7).
However, after committing to movement, the moving player must roll a 6 or better to successfully move to
The Under-leas or a 7 or better to successfully move to The Under-vaults.
Example: A company is moving from The Under-grottos to Goblin-gate with Long Winter in play. Long
Winters effect of returning a company to the site of origin has no effect, since it depends on the companys
site path, and the company has no site path. Long Winters effect of tapping a site will work, since that
effect depends on the sites site path, which still exists. Finally, creatures can only be played keyed to the
Shadow-hold of Goblin-gate.
Resource Play
Just play all of your wolf-allies at Isengard*. Play the major items and the Palantir also at Isengard* with the
help of Catch an Elusive Scent. Built a big company there with the help of the three unique Troll brothers.
Built a second company by using the special Balrog ability to play characters out of the sideboard around
the Balrog to move between Moria% and the Under-gates% and play Stinker and Orcs of Moria in Moria%.
InYour last turn go to Under-leas% to get the Axe and the Iron Shield. If Your opponent has big hazards
playable at Ruins & Lairs change Isengard to a Shadow-hold by using Hold Rebuilt and Repaired. When
Your opponent is a Fallen Wizard and has ptorected Isengard, You can go to Dimril Dale and play Hold Ost-
in-Edhil*Rebuilt and Repaired there. Then You still can play War-wolf and Snaga-hai. Or You can move to
Ost-in-Edhil* to play all of Your wolf-allies there.
Balrog
If You dont have Stinker and/or the Orcs of Moria in your hand then You can tap the Balrog to bring
resource in Your playdeck. When the Balrog becomes Great Shadow then tap the Balrog to bring five non-
short event resource in the discard pile and bring these cards in the play deck during Your end of turn phase.
Hazard Play
The hazards are just a mix. So try to play them and to hurt Your opponent.
Sideboard
The conditions for sideboarding You will find here:.
Errata
Please read the following cards as follows:
The original ten challengedecks were produced by ICE in 1998 and contain cards from METW, METD,
MEDM, MELE, MEAS and MEWH. Balrog cards are not in these decks because the Balrog was produced
later.
In 2006 Mark Alfano posted in CoE-forum three of the missing Ringwraith challengedecks. I played these
decks during Worlds 2007 in NYC. But this three challengedecks had no sideboard and also the starting
character were not unique to the other existing challende decks. So a character draft was needed.
But then the idea was born to build also challengedecks for Akorahil and the five fallen Wizards. I started
this project in 2008 and during the monthly MECCG-gaming events in Berlin (thanks to the Berlin crew)
and via GCCG (thanks to Heiner) the decks were tested and further developed.
During Lure X in 2010 (thanks to Wolfgang to organize this great event) the nine Lost Challengedecks
were presented to the public. So I got a lot of feedback whether the decks are playable and how to change
some cards in the decks.
In 2011 at Lure XI (thanks again to Wolfgang to organize this great event) we had a second Lost
Challengedecks tournament. Here are the results of the decks. Please note that we were ten players, so we
had to use one of the already known decks (in that case Deck H).
After Lure XI I also got a lot of feedback (thanks to Wanja and Heiner) so the decks were changed a little
bit. I also built three new decks (one Hero-deck without wizards, one Sauron-deck and one Balrog-deck).
At the following pages You find the changes of the decks I made after Lure XI . Please feel free to give any
comment. Thanks.