Are the Mirkwood Powers really "Contested"?

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CDavis7M
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I have been looking into a "Contested Powers in Mirkwood" scenario based on MENE Sample Deck 1 (Necromancer + Contested Powers) and MEFB Sample Deck 1 (Thranduil + Clean the Greenwood). Is this a good idea? Does anyone have any suggestions?

Also, I am confused about how Contested Powers is supposed to work.

Say Thranduil goes to all this effort of Destroying the Towers, facing the Orcs, Trolls, and Nazgul, and he is preparing for the last battle against the discordant Maia to invert Wholesome Forest. But then on the following turn, the Necromancer burns ricks, cot, and a few trees.

Now what does Thranduil do now? If he faces the Maia and succeeds, then Wholesome Forest becomes inverted. But then on the following turn, the Necromancer may Smoke Wind/Burn Rick, and flip Wholesome Forest back over to Contested Powers, losing the MP. But the Necromancer cannot do this because if he inverts his Land of the Necromancer first, then Thranduil can face the Maia for Towers and flip the Necromancer's Land.

So, there is a stalemate...

And also, should the "flip" on these cards also include "un-inverting"? Because otherwise Thranduil can just tap a faction to re-flip his inverted Contested Powers back into an inverted Wholesome Forest. And then the Necromancer can tap a faction to re-flip. And then they both get MPs because the flip is only triggered by the inversion -- so the land is both Wholesome yet Necromantic? But also, given the wording on the cards, the minion version will re-invert itself based on the BRC&Ts placed with it while Thranduil will need to Pass the Doors to invert a second time? And he cannot invert a 3rd time?

It seems like inverting one of these should prevent the inversion of the other and also prevent the flipping of Contested Powers. Or maybe flipping also causes the card to un-invert? Otherwise there is no "contest" -- both can win.
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CDavis7M
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Site note: Are Wholesome Forest and Land of the Necromancer supposed to interact with CvCC?

I have been thinking about the Contested Powers scenario more. The current cards will flip the opponent's card. But flipping Contested Powers is a non-issue once you have a faction, and discarding factions cross-alignment is not so easy. So I think the idea should be to prevent a re-inversion. It could work like this.
  1. A "contest" to get factions in play.
    • (both alignments) Get a faction and flip the card. Opponent may not flip while they have fewer factions in Mirkwood.
    • So if you focus on factions, you can stop your opponent from progressing.
    • But the opponent can still catch up by getting factions to flip their card. Now attacks are worse for both players.
  2. Another "contest" to complete the quest, with the hero side ultimately able to win.
    • Land of the Necromancer: Invert LotN if 3 BRC&T or SotW are placed with it. Wholesome Forest cannot be inverted. So if the Necromancer completes the quest first, the Hero cannot complete it unless they Destroy the Towers.
    • Wholesome Forest: Invert IF (not when) PtDoDG is stored or if Towers Destroyed is fully rotated. If the Hero Passed the Doors, both alignments can be inverted and attacks are worse for both. But if TD is fully rotated, LoN is flipped and cannot flip back over. Which now lets Wholesome Forest become inverted.
    • move healing effect to the inversion
Something like this:

Minion Contested Powers (changes) Quest. Playable in lieu of playing a minor item with a starting company; any player may bring Contested Powers of Mirkwood into play from their sideboard. Cannot be duplicated by a player. Tap a unique faction you have in play at a site in Mirkwood or its adjacent regions to take one Smoke on the Wind, Burning Rick, Cot, and Tree, or a Stolen Knowledge resource from your sideboard to your hand. ; If you have at least as many unique factions that are playable in Mirkwood as your opponent, flip this card, flip this card.

Hero Contested Powers (changes): Quest. Playable in lieu of playing a minor item with a starting company; any player may bring Contested Powers of Mirkwood into play from their sideboard. Cannot be duplicated by a player. Tap a unique faction you have in play at a site in Mirkwood or its adjacent regions to take Clean the Greenwood, Pass the Doors of Dol Guldur, Towers Destroyed, or a Stolen Knowledge card from your sideboard to your hand. ; then If you have at least as many unique factions that are playable in Mirkwood as your opponent , flip this card.

Land of the Necromancer (changes): Attacks against hero companies keyed to a region or site in Mirkwood receive +1 prowess and strikes for every two unique minion factions in play at such sites. Sauron or Warlord only: place any Burning Rick, Cot, and Tree or Smoke on the Wind you successfully play at a site in Mirkwood or its adjacent regions with this card. If there are two or more such cards placed with it, invert this card when another is placed with it; flip Wholesome Forest if in play. Invert this card if three or more cards are placed with it. While inverted, Wholesome Forest may not be inverted and this card gives 3 MP.

Wholesome Forest (changes): Attacks against minion and overt companies keyed to a region or site in Mirkwood receive +1 prowess and strikes for every two unique hero factions in play at such sites. Once per organization phase, you may tap such a faction to heal a character or ally at a site in Mirkwood (from wounded to tapped). Invert this card when you store Pass the Doors of Dol Guldur or Towers Destroyed becomes fully rotated; flip any Land of the Necromancer in play. Invert this card if Pass the Doors of Dol Guldur is stored. Invert this card and flip Land of the Necromancer if Towers Destroyed is fully rotated. While if Towers Destroyed is fully rotated, no version of Contested Powers of Mirkwood may be flipped. While inverted, this card gives 3 MP (even to an Elf-lord) and once per organization phase, you may tap such a faction to heal a character or ally at a site in Mirkwood (from wounded to tapped).
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Thorsten the Traveller
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I know you have the MENE Player Guide so I'll just quote from there, but it's also in the DC General Rules.
DC General Rules Addendum I writes:
Flipping a card is turning it over to its backside or other side, unrotated and uninverted.

MENE Player Guide writes (card entry for Contested Powers, p.53)
Beware if your opponent goes for the same mission. Perhaps waiting to invert the flip-side is wise, until you are sure he will not do the same and re-invert it. For heroes can only invert this twice, while minions can do it potentially 4 times! Try to keep something useful in your sideboard, so you can tap a faction and flip Contested Powers again.
We did not want to make this quest a faction influence battle. Sure, there's certain thematic justification, the more factions you have on your side the more power for your alignment in Mirkwood. But then the focus will shift towards faction decks, while the fighting part takes up quite a bit of deck dedication and preparation.
nb. there is a slight faction battle going on in the sense that some of the candidate factions around Mirkwood overlap for heroes and minions (Woodmen, Rivermen, Beornings, Falcons). You COULD try to influence opponent's faction(s) away, but probably you will not be prepared for this.
CDavis7M writes: So, there is a stalemate...
That might indeed happen, pretty thematic, I'd say ;-). However, it will not last long. You know that one of the risks for this quest is that opponent (of opposing alignment) tries the same quest. So prepare for that with hazards! There's such an amount of dangerous stuff to throw at him in Mirkwood, neither Smoke on the Wind nor Towers Destroyed is exactly easy to pull off. Storing Pass the Doors is easier, so heroes have the advantage there (though it takes longer), but minions only need to flip Wholesome Forest back twice to be able to win the Contest, so there's that.

It probably comes down to this: when you feel confident you can thwart opponent, even for a single turn, then invert the quest, and call the Council.
Stone-age did not end because man ran out of rocks.
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