Council of Elrond

Nice idea on the sideboard! We usually play with a non-competitive spirit and have a trading rule.
The rule goes something like this:
1) No trading if it is your turn as the active resource player.
2) Trades are one for one.
3) You can trade resource or treasure cards. There are no hazard trades.

This allows the Aragorn player to trade for Return of the King, etc.

I think the sideboard idea is interesting. One idea could be too thin the decks out and put more in the sideboard. The problem is that the decks are so large that searching for a particular card is problematic.

Tip: If someone plays Mouth of Sauron late in the game - you can refill your drink and be back before the searching is done.

Kjeld wrote: ↑Wed Aug 28, 2019 5:31 pm

Goblin King wrote: ↑Wed Aug 28, 2019 3:35 pm I have been toying playing with the wizard specific attachments from Fallen Wizards in the regular ARDA deck. But honestly, the game plays great without them and I'm not sure what more they add. In any case there is nothing wrong with any of these ideas. Play what is most fun for you and your group of players!

One idea I've been mulling recently is the addition of a universal sideboard in ARDA games. This would allow the inclusion of highly situational cards -- Skin-changer, Helm of her Secrecy, the wizard-specific cards from DMs, certain hazards -- that players could access if the opportunity arises to make use of them, but which otherwise don't generally make it into the standard ARDA deck builds because they don't see enough play. I imagine that you could incorporate some of the FW wizard-specific attachments into such a scheme as well. Note that this could also be used in Dark ARDA, for example to include the Unleashed events.

Sideboard would be accessed by either tapping Avatar (for resources) or discarding a Nazgul/Maiar permanent event (hazards), and cards like Smoke Rings or an Unexpected Outpost could be included in the main deck as well.

I like this idea. One thought, though - sideboard access usually puts the card in your deck or discard pile, right? Is the Arda modification that you just exchange a single card in your hand for a single card in the sideboard (whenever you take the appropriate action, like tapping your Avatar or playing certain cards)?

CCG Collector wrote: ↑Fri Aug 30, 2019 2:27 pm One thought, though - sideboard access usually puts the card in your deck or discard pile, right? Is the Arda modification that you just exchange a single card in your hand for a single card in the sideboard (whenever you take the appropriate action, like tapping your Avatar or playing certain cards)?

A good question, and part of the reason for mulling it over more. I think that the card has to go in your hand (there's nowhere else for it to go, really). I suppose it could also be the case that the card could go in a temporary "reserve" pile, and be added to your hand at the end of the turn (so accessing the sideboard wouldn't be quite as powerful).

I also like the idea of having to lose a card in exchange, though probably to the discard pile rather than to the sideboard.

Well, you could thin the decks out, maybe make it 25-33% smaller, and move the removed cards to the sideboard. And add more fun cards to the sideboard. This would encourage trading.

Also, you probably have the main deck split up into at least 2 draw-decks right? Maybe the player could at least select the sideboarded card to go to the deck that they want to draw from.

Greetings one and all.
We have actually been modifying and improving this game variant during COVID by playing electronically. One thing that has been noticed in both live play and electronic play is how the game can sometimes drag because there are so many resources with only 1 MP. So we decided to speed up the game by allowing players to drop and draw 2 cards at the end of every players turn. The cards can be from the player's treasure hand, resource/hazard hand, or one from each. The player can also drop and draw one card before deciding which 2nd card to drop and draw. This allows each player the ability to carefully work on a strategy to gather MPs or set up hazards. We also made many adjustments to the content of the hazard and resource deck. I will work on posting an updated spreadsheet.

Ok here are the latest updates to rules and card lists!
Our latest change is to place many things that offer 1 MP point at a tapped or untapped location into their own deck that will be set up like the Roving Character deck or Minor Item deck. We call it the Minor MP deck.
Hopefully this will help speed up the MPs a bit more.

Always good to see an Arda deck revised after substantial playtesting...though I can't say my wallet will be thrilled with all the new MEBA and MEAS additions to the card list. For anyone else building this, here are the changes as best as I could tell:

+1 Baugúr (German Promo)
+1 Freca (German Promo)
+1 Wolf (German Promo)

+3 Wild Hounds (MEWH)

+3 Ancient Secrets (MEAS)
+3 Black Rain (MELE)
+3 Messenger of Morder (MELE)
-2 Prone to Violence (MEBA) (BEGINS IN PLAY AND REMAINS THE WHOLE GAME)
+3 Piercing All Shadows (MEWH)
+3 Poison of his Voice (MEWH)
-2 Tokens to Show (MEAS) (BEGINS IN PLAY AND REMAINS THE WHOLE GAME)
+3 Tribute Garnered (MEAS)

+3 A Pack at the Door (German promo - "Das Pack von der Tür")
+3 Black Vapors (MEBA)
+3 Chance of Being Lost (MEDM)
+3 Darkness Made By Malice (MEBA)
-3 One Foe to Breed a War (MEAS)
-3 Pilfer Anything Unwatched (MEAS)
+1 Rolled Down to the Sea (MEWH)
-3 Stay Her Appetite (MELE)
+3 The Reek (MEBA)
+3 Times Are Evil (METD)
-3 Trouble on All Borders (MEAS)
+3 Two or Three Tribes Present (MEDM)
+3 Whole Villages Roused (MEWH)
-3 Will Shaken (MEAS)
+3 Worm's Stench (METD)

+3 Nameless Thing (MEDM)
-3 Mumakil (METW)
+3 Pirates (MELE)
-3 Trolls from the Mountains (MEAS)
-3 True Cold Drake (METD)
-3 Wargs (MELE)
+3 Were-Worm (METD)
+3 Wild Fell Beast (METD)
-3 Thief (METW)
-3 Pickpocket (METW)

+3 Whip (MELE)

I've also attached the rules document with some slight revisions. Thanks for the update, Goblin King!

Goblin King wrote: ↑Sun Jun 06, 2021 2:37 pm Our latest change is to place many things that offer 1 MP point at a tapped or untapped location into their own deck that will be set up like the Roving Character deck or Minor Item deck. We call it the Minor MP deck.
Hopefully this will help speed up the MPs a bit more.

I'm FINALLY getting around to updating my physical copy of the Dark Arda deck (still looking for 2x Black Vapour, so if anyone wants to help out...), and I'm noticing there are quite a few 1MP cards that you have not marked for the Minor MP deck. Just going off the stack of cards in my hand right now, there's Usriev of Treachery, No News of Our Riding, Tribute Garnered...

Are these and others like them intentionally left out of the Minor MP deck, or was this just an oversight?

Also, when you say that for 7, 8, or 9 player games certain Ringwraiths gain the ability on their Unleashed cards, is that treated as a permanent event? That is, Uvatha may always move to an additional site, attacks against Khamul's company are at -3, and the Witch-king has +5 DI? Otherwise, how is it used?

Hey Collector!
Tribute Garnered does go in the 1MP deck as you noted in your June '21 post.
Usriev of Treachery we kept in the regular MP deck. Weapons are worth less in Minion games but they have abilities.
No News Of Our Riding was an interesting one. It doesn't work in the 1MP deck because it is played in reaction to defeating a hazard or certain types. So if it is sitting face up, nobody will play that kind of hazard.
Therefore we keep it in the regular Resource/Hazard deck where your opponents don't know you have it.
Regarding the special powers for the Three Ringwraiths. I treat the text on the three Unleashed cards as though it were replacement for the text printed on the Ringwraiths.

Still haven't gotten around to playing this variant yet (been warming my friends up with Hero Arda first), but as I've been going through the cards and rules, I noticed Black Rain was in the card list.



How exactly have you been using this card in your games? The opponent is never going to reveal a character (since they come from their own deck), and even if one was revealed, the effect of the card states to play a ring from your hand (which again, come from their own deck and will never be in the hand).

Is it just a way to see what the opponent is holding, since none of the other text can apply in an Arda game?

Hmmm,
The only thing it is used for is to have a look at an opponent's entire hand.
You are correct that there will be no characters to be found and thus no rings to play either.
But you could use if before movement hazard phase to get an idea of what they plan to hit you with.

Gandalf Gene and I have actually played with this card in casual ring decks, best to have some of those DI nerfers and Call of Home to help--it doesn't happen very often, but getting a unique Ring on the cheap has nice shock value.