FW Saruman Resource GCCG 2011: Southern Muscle

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Bandobras Took
Rules Wizard
Posts: 3109
Joined: Wed Jan 31, 2007 2:30 pm

I originally built this deck because I was tired of my starting party getting slaughtered. It did respectably in the GCCG tournament, so I'm posting the resource portion here:


Starting Party/Pool:
Boromir II w/Thrall and Dagger
Dasakun w/Thrall and Dagger
Pon Opar w/Thrall
Asternak

Haldalam (sub for another in case of bouncing, otherwise shuffle in deck)
Wormtongue (shuffle in deck)
Layos (shuffle in deck)

Play Deck:
3 x Fallen Saruman

Allies:
Nenselde the Wingild
2 x Noble Hound

Factions:
Men of Anfalas
Men of Lamedon

Items:
Torque of Hues
Keys Of Orthanc

Short Events:
2 x Risky Blow
2 x Marvels Told
2 x Smoke Rings
2 x Weigh All Things To A Nicety
2 x Longbottom Leaf

Long Events:
1 x Sun

Permanent Events:
Forewarned Is Forearmed
Hall of Fire
More Alert than Most
2 x No Strangers at this Time
The Fortress of Isen
Gatherer of Loyalties
Great Patron
2 x Great Army of the North

Sideboard:
Allies:
Lindion The Oronin

Items:
Scroll of Isildur
Wizard's Ring

Factions:
3 x Half-Orcs
3 x Greater Half-Orcs

Short Events:
Wizard's Laughter
Wizard's River-horses

Permanent Events:
Stone of Erech
Promptings of Wisdom
A Strident Spawn
Wizard's Myrmidon
The Forge-master
Saruman's Machinery
The White Hand

Boromir and Dasakun with the daggers have a prowess of 7, which is enough to get you past most hazards. You've got one turn with potentially nothing to do at the start; moving to Isengard is good unless you have Torque or some hounds; Torque is then best played at Ruined Signal Tower, while Hounds can be played at Wose Passage-Hold. Nenselde is in there for Sun recycling if you can afford to leave a character at Dol Amroth. Ideally, you can manage a Faction/No Strangers/Hound combo at Lond Galen and Vale of Erech, respectively.

Influence becomes a problem when Saruman comes into play; it may be a good idea to have Asternak at Isengard for that purpose and have a core wandering company of Pon, Dasakun, and Boromir. At Isengard, sideboard in the Wizard's Ring for Saruman (make sure you have characters to tap to support the cc), sideboard in Strident Spawn and Saruman's Machinery once you're sure you can get Fortress in play, and don't forget that permanent events transfer over to whichever haven you want when bringing characters into play, just in case it comes up. Sideboard the half-orc factions to the discard and use Great Army as a short to get them in your deck. Scroll is in the sideboard vs Dunk or if you desperately need MPs, as Saruman makes it worth 4. If you've gotten lucky with your factions, you should only need one Half-Orcs to pull out white hand. Cram as many characters as you can under Saruman's DI (17 with a Wizard's Ring).

Expected MPs:
Characters: 10-13
Items: 4-6
Allies: 1-4
Factions: 4-13
Misc: 3-10
Spread: 22-46

Note that the minimum is a little low, but with a tough party, you should be able to manage some kill MPs to help even things out. Also, watch out for your character MPs; if you have too many, you're crowding Saruman's GI and they're not contributing to your actual score.
The game is flawed, but this does not mean it cannot be loved.
Mordan
Posts: 72
Joined: Wed Aug 10, 2011 5:29 pm
Location: Tellin (Belgique)

what would be needed to make FW Saruman competitive in tournaments?
Ringbearer
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Bandobras Took
Rules Wizard
Posts: 3109
Joined: Wed Jan 31, 2007 2:30 pm

Either:

1) Rule that Blind/Ire are not playable on Ring Tests (and there's room in the wording of Ring Tests for doubt); or
2) Move the format to 3-deck.

Fallen Saruman's largest strength is his ability to dunk; unfortunately, current rulings on Blind/Ire slice that neatly in two in a tournament setting, as you can pretty much guarantee a turn of delay with those cards, which is often all you need.
The game is flawed, but this does not mean it cannot be loved.
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