Mark's MECCG Notes

Source http://mark.random-article.com/meccg/

All credit goes to the original author Mark Whitley's

v. 1.1 - Layout,& Editing: Oliver Bagoz

1 - Deck Building
This page contains some rudimentary advice on how to construct a deck for the
Middle-Earth Customizable Card Game. MECCG is a decidedly more complicated
game than most other CCGs, and a newcomer to the game might find the task of deck
construction to be a bit thorny. Experienced players will likely scoff at this advice; this
is not for you. Rather, this is advice for novices or folks who have trouble paring down
the size of their decks (like me).

Note that I only address Hero decks here, as I never got into playing Minions. (I just
don't like playing the bad guys.)

Core Resource Cards

Firstly, let's tackle the problem of which regions, sites, characters, and Marshalling
Point cards you should be playing. It all boils down to basically one thing: location is
everything.

Choosing your Sites

The first step in getting started is to pick an area on the map where you will do most of
your travelling. You should confine it to about 6-12 regions which are all adjacent. If
you spread out your sites, it will take longer to move around and makes you more
susceptible to being roadblocked. Some areas suggest themselves: Mirkwood, Dragon
Country, Gondor, Rivendell, etc.

Gather all the site cards in those regions. Find the nearest Haven and include it. You
may end up with a handful, but you will thin them out later. In the final analysis, you
should only need about a dozen sites, so take this opportunity to shrink the area you
will travel in. It might help to organize them by: item sites, faction sites, and
information sites.

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Choosing your Marshalling Point Cards

The next thing to do is to select Marshalling Point (MP) cards playable at the sites you
will visit. These need to be appropriate. If you have no hoard sites, you shouldn't
include any items that require a hoard site. Likewise, if there are no Information sites,
you will not be able to play Information MP cards (such as Dreams of Lore). Also,
remember that you need a blend of the different categories of points so that your
opponent's points don't get doubled for a particular category). You should end up with
about 10 MP cards that total around 25 points. (All you need is 20, but it's good to stay
on the safe side.)

Breaking it Down

In general, shoot for:

Two Factions (in case one gets "Muster Dispersed" away)

Three Items (not minor, they give no MPs)
One Ally (Noble Hound is always a good choice)
One "Miscellaneous" source (Rescue Prisoners is a good choice)

This leaves 3 empty slots. Fill them as you wish. This allows you to play more
factions, more allies, more items, etc.

Notes on Items

A few more words need to be said about items. You should try to cover the following
bases:

One big weapon to help you with strikes. (Two big weapons is usually a good
idea.) Glamdring / Orcrist are always good bets. If you're travelling in Dragon
Country, Wormsbane is a must-have.
One item that grants additional direct influence (you may be able to do without
this, or get it with a minor item, but more DI is never a bad thing.)
One item that helps keep your characters untapped, unkilled or otherwise ready.
Examples: an item that cancels strikes (i.e. Torque of Hues), an item that gives
plusses to body (i.e. Mithril Coat), or an item that allows a character to remain
untapped against a strike (i.e. Great Shield of Rohan).

You will need one site card per MP card (10) plus 2 or three more just to be on the
safe side (i.e. if one gets tapped because of a Fell Winter.) Take this opportunity to
thin your site deck a bit.

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Rules of Thumb for MP Cards

"Generic" MP cards are more easily played than site-specific cards. Glamdring is
easier to play than the Book of Mazarbul because Glamdring can be played at any
Major Item site whereas the BoM can only be played at Moria. Likewise, Noble
Hound is easier to bring into play than Leaflock because the Hound can be found at
any Border Hold whereas Leaflock can only be played at Wellinghall. Site-specific
factions are unavoidable (but Roac the Raven or Old Road can help).

Non-unique MP cards are "safer" than unique cards because if your opponent has
already played it, you won't be able to unless you can find a way to get your
opponent's card off the table. A Sword of Gondolin is "safer" than Orcrist because the
SoG is non-unique. Unique items do, however, typically grant higher bonuses, so there
is a trade-off there.

Allies with movement restrictions require more attention to the site deck than non-
restricted allies. Restricted allies usually have better bonus-game effects, so there is a
trade-off.

Factions and Allies do not give corruption points, items do.

Choosing your Characters

In general you want to play characters that have home sites in the traveling area you
picked earlier. This allows them to join your traveling companies more easily or to
quickly bring in a faction at their home site.

You should probably include the home site for each of your starting characters whose
home site is located within your starting geographical region.

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Size Matters

Character cards can be roughly broken down into three categories: Low-Mind
characters (those with a mind attribute of 1, 2, or 3), Medium-Mind characters (those
with a mind attribute of 4, 5, or 6), and High-Mind characters (those with a mind
attribute, of 7 to 10).

Here are some rough proportions for character selection:

For each High-Mind character you should have:

1-2 Medium-Mind characters and
2-3 Low-Mind characters

From this pool you will decide which characters will be in the starting party (discussed
below), and which ones will go into the deck. Remember that the more characters you
have in your deck, the less likely you will be to draw a resource card, so keep it slim.
A starting pool of a dozen (give or take) is about right. If there are some characters
that you think you won't need, put them in your sideboard instead of your deck.

You might bring in some out-of-towners (i.e. characters whose home site is not in the
geographic area you selected at first) to accommodate these size guidelines.

General & Direct Influence

The rationale for the above breakdown is for helping you make the best use of your
direct influence. General Influence is a limited source (20) and, with few exceptions,
cannot be increased. (Saw Further and Deeper w/o a Wizard and Emerald of Doriath
are the only ways I know of.) Direct influence, by contrast is a much more flexible
resource: there are numerous items that grant DI bonuses (Red Arrow, to name but
one); some resource cards grant additional DI (such as Helm of Her Secrecey); many
characters start with some DI; and some characters have "specialized" DI that can be
used against specific races or characters (such as Thorin or Arwen).

Your starting party will probably have one of each type of character (High, Medium,
and Low), and the High-Mind character will probably be able to dominate the Low-
Mind character right away. After retrieving your DI bonus item (see above), the High-
Mind character will be able to dominate the Medium-Mind character. A starting Minor
Item that grants DI bonuses or a character with race-specific DI bonuses might allow
the High-Minder to control the Med-Minder right away. In some cases, you may be
able to get the Med-Minder to dominate a High-Minder! (Such as Arwen dominating
Aragorn.)

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Skills

The characters you pick need to have a variety of different skills so as to round out
your company. If you are deficient in a skill area, your game will suffer.

The most important skills to have are listed in order:

Ranger - for preventing roadblocks and canceling attacks with Many Turns and
Doublings. Every moving company needs one (maybe two).
Sage - for playing Marvels Told, if nothing else. These can stay at havens or
other "safe" sites, such as home sites. (Having one Low-Mind sage in your deck
is usually a good idea.)
Scout - for milking a site with Thorough Search, and playing Concealment to
cancel an attack. Every moving company should have one of these.
Diplomat - only really useful if you have a heavy faction deck. (I know, Pledge
of Conduct... Whatever.)

(Some might quibble about where I ranked Sage and Scout.)

Warrior is not included in the list because it is impossible to avoid, being by far the
most common skill. That having been said, it is always a good idea to have Warriors in
your company for Warrior-only Items and Risky Blow, Lucky Strike, and Dodge
support cards.

As before, you might bring in some out-of-towners (i.e. characters whose home site is
not in the geographic area you selected at first) to accommodate these skill guidelines.

Dealing With The Weak Guys

You will quickly encounter the problem of what to do with the weaker characters in
your group. There are several strategies that boil down to one (double-edged)
question: do you need to keep the weak guys around for any special services they
provide (such as the Hobbit pack-horse for high-corruption items or burgling sites), or
can you afford to throw them away?

The "beef 'em up" strategy, where you arm them with weapons. (Giving a
Hobbit a big sword changes the game considerably).
The avoidance strategy, which comes in two forms: the "cancellation" approach
(Elven Cloak, Torque of Hues, Hobbit Stealth, Concealment); and the "putting
something between the weak guy and the bad guy" approach (Noble Hound,
Many Foes He Fought).

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 Lastly, we have the tissue paper strategy, where the weak guys are only there to
draw fire. Itangast is attacking us? All yours, Oin! *FWOOM* Way to take one
for the team, Oin!

Make a decision now about which weak guys are important and which aren't and plan
accordingly.

Picking a Starting Party

Four characters is a good size for the starting party, give or take one. Be sure to have
one tough guy (High-Mind) at least one Ranger in the group, and probably a Scout.

If you play with the optional starting home site rule, you can start your party at one of
the sites in your deck rather than Rivendell, which can help speed things up.

What About the Other Characters?

What you basically want to do with the remaining characters you selected is clone
your starting party twice, such that you have a 1st string, 2nd string, and 3rd string
line. The 1st string is your starting party, the 2nd string goes in your deck, and the 3rd
string goes in your sideboard.

Choosing Your Wizard

The traveling area and MP items you selected should tell you what Wizard you should
choose. If you're doing rings, Gandalf is a good choice, for Palantri, Saruman is a good
choice. If you're going through lots of Wilderness areas, Radagast is a good choice. If
your MP items will require big combinations, Pallando is a good choice.

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Choosing Your Starting Minor Items

These can be broken down based on who will use the items: a weak character that you
want to protect or a tough character that you want to beef up even further. There may
be some special-purpose considerations as well.

Good starting Minor Items for weak characters who you want to stay alive
Shield of Iron-Bound Ash (arguably the best Minor Item because it gives bonuses to two stats.)
Elven Cloak (good cancellation card)
Star Glass (another good cancellation card)
Dagger of Westernesse
Healing Herbs (preparing for the worst)
Good starting Minor Items for tough characters
Black Arrow (make it easier to kill big creatures)
Dagger of Westernesse (max prowess is 8)
Cram (keep the tough guy untapped)
Special-purpose Minor Items
Elf Stone (if you're playing with Elves and you can make use of the DI bonus right away)
Horn of Anor (if you're playing a Faction-heavy deck)
Cram (if your main travelling area is a ways away from Rivendell and you're in a hurry to get
there, i.e. Mordor, Gondor, Dragon Country)
Athelas (if you're starting with Aragorn)
Healing Herbs (if you're starting with Ioreth)

Rules of Thumb for Minor Items

If you foresee corruption as an issue (i.e. you're playing with Dwarves) you may want
to choose starting minor items that can be discarded (Cram, Healing Herbs).

If a minor item won't help you, don't use it. Minor items give corruption points but no
Marshalling Points. If the starting Minor item won't help you attain your MP cards,
choose some different ones that willhelp you.

Remember that some Minor items can be "upgraded" (such as Dagger of Westernesse
-> Barrow Blade or Star Glass -> Phial of Galadrial), making them more useful and
simultaneously giving you an MP.

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Achieving Harmony

Getting the Core Cards taken care of is something of a balancing act. You might find
yourself sifting and sorting a bit. Stay focused by not worrying about the resource
support (non-MP) cards or hazards just yet. Remember to keep it slim: 10 MP cards,
about a dozen sites, and about a dozen characters (this includes the starting party).

There should be a unity to the cards you choose: characters should have home sites
where factions are playable, all sites should be within two or three regions of each
other, and the starting minor items should help you get it all done. It may seem a bit
involved at first, but the more familiarity you gain with the guards, the easier it
becomes.

Doors of Night / Gates of Morning

Before you get started on the rest of your deck you need to make a decision about
something that will affect the course of the whole game: Whether to play with a Gates
of Morning strategy or a Doors of Night strategy. You really should pick one or the
other, otherwise you surrender to your opponent control over the time, the weather,
and the site path. The area you've decided to travel will help you make the decision as
to whether you'll choose Doors or Gates.

After you choose Doors or Gates, you will devote up to 5 cards from either your
resource portion or your hazard portion (or both). If you go with Doors of Night, most
of the cards you devote to the Doors strategy will come from your hazard portion, if
you go with Gates, most of the cards you devote to Gates will come from your
resource portion. Be on the lookout for any card that has a secondary effect if Doors /
Gates is in play because it makes the card more playable.

You should probably have one card to cover the other side of the equation though, just
to keep your bases covered. Example: If you decide to go with Gates, you might just
include a Praise to Elbereth, just to make sure you have some bonus if your opponent
gets his Doors strategy in place before you can get your Gates strategy going.

Keep in mind that many Environment cards are long events which can be difficult to
bring into play, because you can end up shooting yourself in the foot. Remember that
anything that hurts / helps you will hurt / help your opponent too. Also remember that
Echo of All Joy can make one Gates-related resource long event permanent and Will
of Sauron can make all Doors-relates hazard long events permanent.

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Reasons for Choosing Gates of Morning

The primary reasons for going with Gates of Morning are to:

1. Improve the site path, thereby making it harder for your opponent to play
hazard creatures.
2. Give you some advantage in combat.
3. Help vs. Corruption.

You would probably want to go with a Gates strategy if

You're going to Mordor.

You're going to Dragon Country.
You have a weak party and you don't want them to face strikes.
The creature hazards you have chosen are playable in "good" site paths:
Borders, or Free Holds. Men are an excellent example.

Gates of Morning Support Cards

Making the site path more "good"

Moon
Stars
Fog (both sides toward the middle)
Combat Advantage
Cloudless Day (defender always chooses strikes)
Dark Quarrels (# strikes from any attack reduced by half)
Clear Skies (+2 to prowess)
Sun (all hazards & auto-attacks are -1 to prowess)
Not at Home (reduce # strikes in auto attack by 2)
More Alert Than Most (# strikes from attack that chooses defending characters is reduced by 2)
Vanish in the Sunlight (reduce prowess of Undead / Nazgul)
Star of High Hope (I think)
Other good Gates cards
The Cock Crows (discard any hazard permanent event)
The Sun Unveiled (discard all hazard permanent events on a character)

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Reasons for Choosing Doors of Night

The primary reasons for going with Doors of Night are to:

1. Make the site path more evil, thereby making it easier for you to play hazard
creatures on your opponent.
2. Boost the playability / prowess of hazard creatures.
3. Enhance a roadblock strategy.

You would probably want to go with a Doors strategy if

You're traveling to Gondor.

You're staying near Rivendel.
You have a strong party and plenty of resource cards to help you in combat.
The creature hazards you have chosen are playable mainly at Shadow / Dark
domains, i.e. Orcs, Trolls, Undead, Nazgul.
You've chosen Dragons or Drakes for your creature hazards.
You have a good defense against a Roadblock strategy (yet another reason for
choosing a tight geographical area for the majority of your travels, and yet
another reason for having a Ranger in each moving company.)
You've got 3 Twilights in your deck.

Making the site path more evil

Morgul Night (long: middle to lower)
Fell Winter (long?: upper to middle)
Choking Shadows (short: middle to lower)
Gloom (short: upper to middle)
New Moon (upper to middle)
(*) Withered lands (short: both sides toward the middle)
Enhancing a Roadblock Strategy
No Way Forward (reduce region movement to 2)
Foul Fumes (shadow / dark in site path forces return, unless Ranger)
Snowstorm
Long Winter (long)
Winds of Wrath (seas)
Drowning Seas

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Boosting the playability / prowess of hazard creatures
Dragon's Desolation (if you're playing with Dragons)
Rank Upon Rank (Men / Giants)
Clouds (+2 to each hazard creature)
Night (+1 to prowess of attacks, -1 to prowess of Men / Dunadan)
Minions Stir (+1 to prowess / strikes of Orcs)
Other Doors-related hazard cards
Shadow of Mordor (increases hazard limit)
Eye of Sauron (boosts prowess of auto-attacks)
Resource cards that work well when Doors is in play
Praise to Elbereth

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Resource Utility Cards
After you've picked your core cards and decided on doors or gates, you should have
chosen around 10-15 resource cards already. You should now pick about 20 support
cards (2 for every 1 MP card) that will help you get your MP cards.

Some Rules of thumb on event types

Short Events are the easiest and often most useful kinds of cards to play. Favor
these.
Permanent or Long Events require more forethought and will help your
opponent as well as you.
Minor items do not give MPs, only bonuses and corruption. Do not put
additional minor items in your resource support portion unless they will help
you get your MPs.

Basic-Utility Resource Cards

The following table contains some resource cards that are useful in nearly any deck.
They are divided into categories that address common tactical situations that you will
likely always have to deal with. Especially good ones have a light yellow background.

Combat Related
Risky Blow
Lucky Strike
Block
Fellowship
Dodge
Cancellation - These should be used primarily to cancel auto-attacks
Dark Quarrels
Many Turns and Doublings
Concealment
Riddling Talk
Trickery
Escape
Healing
Houses of Healing

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Help with Corruption / Factions
Fellowship
A Friend or Three
New Friendship
Elf Song
Help with Movement
Fair Travels in... (Chose this based on your travel area. Wilderness is usually the most useful)
Secret Entrance
Secret Passage
Milking a Site
Thorough Search
Lucky Search
Card Manipulation
Smoke Rings
Secret News
Far Sight
Miscellaneous
A Chance Meeting (you should have one of these for every three characters in your deck)
Marvels Told (every deck needs at least two)
And Forth He Hastened

What's Left?

You should now have 5-10 empty slots left. Try to pick cards that you think will help
cover a weak area (such as corruption) or a blind spot. You could just fill the empty
spaces with more general purpose cards. Some other good choices are cards that are
race or character specific (i.e. Skin Changer for Beorn) Look below at Choosing
Cards for Your Sideboard for further ideas.

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Core Hazard Cards
Let's now tackle the problem of making the Hazard portion of your deck. The key
point to remember is that the hazard portion must not conflict with your resource
portion. This is especially true for the creature portion, but applies to other parts as
well.

Another point: the guidelines presented here are for a general-purpose Hazard deck.
As such, I try to cover all the bases. You could probably achieve a more deadly hazard
portion by focusing in more tightly on one area (such as corruption) at the expense of
neglecting another (such as roadblock).

Hazard Creatures

Council of Lorien rules state that you need to have at least 12 creatures, so these can
be considered the "Core" cards of the hazard portion of your deck, analogous to the
Marshalling Point cards in the resource portion.

The best way to make a creature portion is to pick a certain class of creature (such as
Drakes, Men, Orcs, Undead) and then pick cards that are variations on that theme.

Your priorities in selecting creatures are:

1. Frequency of Play: You want to be able to get them out of your hand quickly.
To that end, you don't want to have to work at making them playable.
Remember that the most common region type is Wilderness and the most
common site type is Ruins / Lairs.
2. Covering the Bases: You don't want to leave a "blind spot" for any particular
region. Cover the most common regions / sites first (Wilderness & Ruins are the
most common region / site), but make sure you have some coverage for Border
/ Free and Shadow / Dark (and possibly even Costal). You may be able to cover
some of the extreme ends of the spectrum with non-creature cards (such as Lost
in Free Domains).

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Good General-Purpose Creatures

Regardless of what creature theme you chose, the following creatures are often good
choices because they help cover blind spots (keyable to areas you may have missed)
and are usually readily playable:

Keyed to Wilderness / Ruins

Cave Drake
Neeker Breekers
Watcher in the Water (also Costal)
Rain Drake (also Costal)
Keyed to Free / Border Lands
Ambusher
Slayer
Assasin
Keyed to Shadow / Dark Domains
Corpse Candle (also forces a corruption check)
Little Snuffler (prevents Scout cards from being played)
Any Nazgul

Half Creatures

"Half Creatures" are dual-purpose cards that function either as creatures or as

permanent events. Examples include: Nazgul, Dragon Ahunt / At Home
Manifestations, and other creatures like Shelob, Spider of the Morlat, and the Balrog.
Per Council of Lorien rules, these count as half a creature toward the total 12 so you
could have 10 regular creatures and 4 table creatures.

An advantage with half-creatures is that you can put down on the table as soon as you
draw them.

One strategy in choosing half-creatures is to enhance the creature theme you have
already selected. For example, if you're going with Wolf / Spider / Animal creatures,
choose Dwar of Waw, Shelob, Barinax at Home and Spider of the Morlat as your half-
creatures. There's almost always a Nazgul and a Dragon At Home card that can help
enhance your creature selection.

Another strategy is to choose half-creatures that have good general-purpose effects.

Good examples are Uvatha the Horeseman (let's you retrieve a hazard card from the
discard pile) and Anduphanel (make a character tap).

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You probably want to have a couple Nazgul because they are so versatile. In addition
to whatever permanent event effects they have, they can always be played keyed to
Dark Domains / Holds, a Fell Beast or Morgul Horse support card can make them
playable at Shadow lands and they can be used to bring in a card from the sideboard.

Creature Enhancement Cards

These are short / long / permanent event cards that help improve your creature portion.
The following are examples of various different types of creature enhancements.

Enablers: which make it easier to bring your creatures into play. If you're
playing creatures with a low frequency of play (FoP), you may need to devote
quite a few cards to this category. Dragons Desolation with Dragons is an
example, Host of Bats with Orcs is another, In Great Wrath with Nazgul is
another. Sometimes making the site path more evil is all the enabling you need.
Hazard Limit Boosters: allowing you to play more than the normal number of
hazards. Two or Three Tribes Present is the quintessential HLB.
Prowess Boosters: which beef up your creature attacks. Most of your creature
support cards will be of this type. Fury of the Iron Crown with Men is an
example, Words of Power and Terror with Nazgul is another.
Aftershocks: They might also provide some nasty follow-up effects. Carrion
Birds / Wolf Riders + Orcs is an example.
Recyclers: Cards that allow you to revive a creature from your discard pile. The
Nazgul Are Abroad with Nazgul, frex.

There are other creature support cards that don't fit neatly into the above categories.

You should probably choose about 5-10 creature enhancement cards. Some creatures
need more enhancing than others.

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Hazard Utility Cards
The following table lists some Basic utility cards are cards that most decks should not
be without. After you've selected your creature, half-creature, and creature support
cards, you should have chosen about 20-25 out of 40. Pick about 10 or so from this list
to help fill in the remaining slots. The points made earlier about short events vs. long
events also apply here. Entries with a light yellow background are especially useful.

Roadblock
River
Seige
Snowstorm
Long Winter
Foul Fumes
Chance of Being Lost
No Way Forward
Auto-Attack Enhancers
Arouse / Awaken / Incite Denizens (ruins, higher FoP)
Arouse / Awaken / Incite Minions (shadow / dark, lower FoP)
Eye of Sauron (all, long event, so be careful)
Fell Winter (border, long - be careful)
Corruption
Lure of Nature
Lure of the Senses
Lure of Expedience
Lure of Creation
Despair of the Heart
Force a Corruption Check
Greed
Weariness of the Heart
Ren the Unclean
Increase Hazard Limit
Two or Three Tribes Present
Lost in... (Wilderness has highest FoP)

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Anti-Faction
Muster Disperses
Foolish Words
Call of Home
Gnaw with Words
Card Manipulation
Mouth of Sauron
Aware of Their Ways
An Unexpected Outpost
Uvatha the Horseman
Miscellaneous
Twilight (you gotta have at least 2 in every deck)
Call of Home (target Rangers / High DI characters)
Fell Beast (if you're playing with Nazgul, and why wouldn't you?)
Fury of the Iron Crown (good general-purpose creature enhancer)
Many Sorrows Befall

Harmonizing the Hazard Portion

As with the core / resource portion, putting the hazard portion together is something of
a balancing act. Familiarity helps. Organizing your collection helps too. Soon you'll
see some patterns emerge. Some examples of hazard strategies that work in harmony
are:

Wolf, Spider, Animal creatures all work well together, combined with a Doors /
Gates strategy that turns the site path all to Wildernesses. (Either Doors of
Night and Withered Lands or Gates of Morning and Fog.)
Undead, Nazgul, and Corruption all work well together, along with a Doors of
Night + Morgul Night / Choking Shadows to make the site path more evil.
Orcs and Trolls all work well together, along with a Doors of Night + Morgul
Night / Choking Shadows to make the site path more evil.
Dragons and Drakes work well together. Doors of Night is usually all you need
to make them more playable.
Men combined with Gates of morning + some events that make the site path
more "good".
Roadblock + Auto-Attack enhancement complement each other nicely.

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Choosing Cards for Your Sideboard
Cards that belong in your sideboard are:

Extra characters that you only need if other ones die.

Any cards you can't use until after your Wizard is revealed.
The latter parts of a multi-part strategy (i.e. the White Tree).
"Contingency" cards (i.e. Costal / Under-Deeps Hazards).
Any card that you think might help cover a potentially exploitable weak spot.
Weak creatures that need table enhancement cards put down beforehand. (i.e.
Crebain)

Review
Following this advice, you should have a deck constructed like so:

[up to 30] Core Cards

12 Site cards
12 Characters: 4 for your starting party, 4 in your deck, and 4 in your sideboard. (possibly more)
2 Starting Minor Items
2 copies of the same Wizard. Optionally, one different Wizard in your sideboard.
10 Marshalling Point Cards
2 Factions
2 Weapons
1 DI item
1 Cancelation / Armor
1 Ally (Noble Hound)
1 Miscellaneous (Rescue Prisoners)
2 Others (whatever's handy)
[5] Gates of Morning (unless going with Doors of Night)
2 copies of GoM
2 or 3 Gates-related cards
optionally, 1 Echo of All Joy to make one permenant.
[5] Doors of Night (unless going with Gates of Morning)
2 copies of DoN
2 or 3 Doors-related cards
optionally, 1 Will of Sauron to make them permenant.
[25-30] Resource Utility Cards
5 Combat Helpers (Risky Blow, Lucky Strike, Block, Dodge, Houses of Healing)

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3-4 Corruption Helpers (A Friend or Three, New Friendship)
4-5 Cancellation
4-5 Movement / Site helpers
2 Chance Meeting
2 Marvels Told
1 Smoke Rings (or Far Sight)
maybe 2-4 Char / Race specific or Faction helpers
maybe a few "contingency" cards. These will probably go in your sideboard.
[20-25] Core Hazard Cards
10 Creatures
4 Half-Creatures (2 of these will prolly be Nazgul)
6-11 Creature Enhancers
[15-20] Hazard Utility Cards
5 Roadblock (including Auto-Attack enhancers)
5 Corruption
5 Something to get his cards off the table (Muster Disperses, Call of Home, Twilight) or recyle
yours (Mouth of Sauron)
Maybe 5 To cover blind spots. These will probably go in your sideboard.

Like all other rules, these are made to be broken. With any luck, it will help you with
deck construction.

Ideal Scenario

Ideally, when it's your turn you should be able to play around 5 cards:

One card on the table during the org phase that helps your company (i.e.
Fellowship / Cloudless Day) or gets one of your opponents cards off the table
(i.e. Marvels Told, GoM).
Maybe one card that helps movement.
One card that helps with combat.
One card that cancels an Automatic Attack.
One MP card.
Maybe, one card that helps you get another MP card out, i.e. Thorough Search
and another item or Chance Meeting and another character.
Failing any of that, you should be able to play a manipulation card that lets you
peek at a hand / deck (Secret News) or pull something from a deck (Smoke
Rings / Far Sight).

Ideally, when it's your opponent's turn you should be able to play around 5 cards:

20
One card on the table at the beginning of his movement phase that hurts him
(Roadblock, Corruption, Half-Creature, etc.) or one that removes one of his
cards from the table (Twilight, Call of Home, Muster Disperses).
One or two creatures plus one or two enhancers.
Failing any of that you should be able to play a manipulation card that
manipulates his cards (Aware of Their Ways) or lets you recycle one of yours
(Mouth of Sauron).

21
2 - Basic Utility Cards
Put these in every deck.

Resource Utility Cards

Category Most General Purpose More Specific

Risky Blow The Old Thrush

Combat Related Lucky Strike The Dwarves are Upon You
Fellowship Kindling of the Spirit

Dark Quarrels
Many Turns and Doublings
Trickery
Riddling Talk
Concealment
Cancellation Hiding
Escape
The Cock Crows
Rebuild the Town
Elven Cloak (minor)
Star Glass (minor)

Houses of Healing
Healing Healing Herbs (minor)
Great Road

A Friend or Three
Corruption Help New Friendship Elf Song
Fellowship

Fair Travels in *
Secret Entrance
Horses
Reducing Hazards Ford (tap a Ranger)
Secret Passage
Elf Path (tap an Elf)
Riddling Talk

Block Hundreds of Butterflies

Dodge Healing Herbs (minor) Cram (minor)
Untapping / Non-tapping And Forth He Hastened Waybread (minor)
Washed and Refreshed Athelas (minor)
Hall of Fire Swash-Topped Boots (minor)

22
 Fireworks
Look More Closely Later
Here There or Yonder
Thorough Search
Noble Hound (1 ally MP)
Milking a Site Lucky Search
Noble Steed (1 ally MP)
A Chance Meeting
Rescue Prisoners (3 misc MP)
Knowledge of the Enemy (1 misc MP)
Barrow Blade (1 item MP)

Marvels Told
Removing Perm / Long Events
Twilight

Smoke Rings
Card Manipulation Horns, Horns, Horns
Favor of the Valar

23
Hazard Utility Cards
Category Most General Purpose More Specific

Despair of the Heart

Lure of Creation
Lure of Nature
Weariness of the Heart (forces check)
Lure of Expedience
Corruption Traitor (perm) Ren the Unclean (forces
Lure of the Senses
check)
Greed
Itangast At Home (+1 CP greater items)
Scorba At Home (+1 CP major items)

Call of Home
Anti-Faction Muster Disperses Gnaw with Words
Foolish Words

Call of Home
Lost in Free Domains
River
Drowning Seas
Roadblock No Way Forward (perm)
Adunaphel (half-creature)
Long Winter
(?) Chance of Being Lost
Foul Fumes

Seige (perm)
Doubled Vigilance (perm)
Fell Winter (long)
Auto-Attack Tidings of Bold Spies
Eye of Sauron (long)
Incite Denizens
Incite Minions

Two or Three Tribes Present

Daelomin At Home (perm, +2 haz lim) Eyes of the Shadow (perm)
Increase Hazard Limit
Power Built By Waiting (perm) Lost in *
Bring our Curses Home

Uvatha the Horseman (half-creature)

Mouth of Sauron The Nazgul Are Abroad (perm)
Card Manipulation An Unexpected Outpost Aware of Their Ways
Long Dark Reach Smaug at Home (half-creature)
Khamul The Easterling (half-creature)

Removing Table Cards Many Sorrows Befall Twilight (if not in resource portion

24
Gates of Morning
Category Most General Purpose More Specific

Dark Quarrels
Cloudless Day (long) Vanish in the Sunlight (short)
Combat Help
Clear Skies (long) Echo of All Joy
More Alert than Most (perm)

Quiet Lands Vanish in the Sunlight (short)

Improving Sites / Site Path Moon Fog (long)
Stars Echo of All Joy

The Cock Crows

Corruption / Haz Perm Evt Help The Sun Unveiled
Glamour of Surpassing Excellence

Doors of Night
Category Most General Purpose More Specific

Snowstorm
Will of Sauron
Long Winter (long)
Roadblock Eye of Sauron Drowning Seas
Foul Fumes (long)
Winds of Wrath (seas)
No Way Forward (perm)

Morgul Night (long)

Fell Winter (long)
Withered lands
Degrading the Site / Site Path Choking Shadows
Witch King of Angmar
Gloom
New Moon

Clouds (long) Rank Upon Rank (Men / Giants)

Boosting Creatures Prowess Night Minions Stir (Orcs)
Eye of Sauron Hoarmurath Of Dir (+1 any strike)

Resources Praise to Elbereth Twilight (extra)

25
3 - Mark's METW Hazard Deck Ideas
Some of Mark's ideas for assembling a general purpose hazard deck for METW.

This is a deck that you can use regardless of where your opponent is going or what he
is doing. It's got a little bit of everything.

Credit where it's due: I milked this web page for all it was worth coming up with this
one. (http://fan.theonering.net/morgulrats/hazards.html)

Note: "Missing" means: Missing from the collection I use but I'd like to find 'em and
use 'em someday.

Categories:
Corruption (3/7 + 3/5)
Corruption cards are especially good to play on buff groups who would otherwise
handily beat hazard creatures that you throw at 'em.

Main Hazards

(first string)

Lure of Expedience
Lure of Nature
Lure of the Senses

(second string)

Lure of Creation
Despair of the Heart
The Burden of Time
Icy Touch (support?)

Support Cards

(first string)

Traitor
The Balance of Things
Ren the Unclean
26
(second string)

Weariness of the Heart

Greed
Corpse Candle

Missing

(main)

Alone and Unadvised

Covetous Thoughts
Black Breath
Bring Our Curses Home
Foes Shall Fall
In the Grip of Ambition
Longing for the West
Morgul-knife
The Pale Sword (support? -- Do we have this one?)

(support)

The Roving Eye

Echoes of the Song
Dragon-sickness

Note: Many of the cards in the "Undead" section complement the corruption cards
nicely in that they force corruption checks if not canceled.

27
Undead (4 + 2/4)
Best thing about Undead is that they force corruption checks, which means they
complement the previous corruption cards nicely. They also tend to carry a healthy
number of strikes.

Main Hazards

(first string)

Barrow-wight
Corpse-candle
Ghosts
Ghouls

(second string?)

Support Cards

(first string)

Plague of Wights
Icy Touch

(second string?)

Note: You may need these next ones to bring Undead into play if your opponent
doesn't visit any shadow-holds or dark-holds.

Doors of Night
Reaching Shadow (is that right?)

Missing

(main)

Stirring Bones
Wisp of Pale Sheen

(support)

Endless Whispers
Exhalation of Decay
28
 Faces of the Dead
Shadow out of the Dark
Sleepless Malice
The Moon is Dead

Dragons / Drakes (3+/7 + 3/7)

Drakes tend to carry high prowess and are very playable in a site path with 2-3
Wildernesses or at a Ruins & Lairs.

Main Hazards

(first string)

Cave Drake (lots)

Cave Worm
Ice Drake

(second string)

Land Drake
Light Drake
True Fire Drake
Winged Fire Drake

(big nasty / rare cards)

All at home / at hunt manifestations - also noted in "Drop n' Run" below.

Support Cards

(first string)

Dragon's Blood
Dragon's Desolation
Rumour of Wealth

(second string)

Dragon's Breath
Fever of Unrest
29
 Dragon's Terror
Doors of Night - to reduce the # of wildernesses needed in the site path

Missing

(main)

Marsh Drake
True Cold Drake
Were Worm
Wild Fell Beast (sure this isn't support?)
Sand Drake
Winged Cold Drake

(support)

Summons from Long Sleep

Withered Lands
Deftness of Agility
Dragon's Curse
Exile of Solitute
Frenzy of Madness
From the Pits of Angband
Foes Shall Fall
Memories Stolen
Parsimony of Seclusioin
Prowess of Age
Prowess of Might
Subtlety of Guile
Velocity of Haste
Worm's Stench

30
Men (6/7 + 1)
Playable in a variety of situations, including many that can't be reached by other
hazard creatures (free holds, border holds and costal regions).

Another advantage of Men is that they don't require a great deal of support cards to
bring into play (i.e. Doors of Night, Fell Beast, etc.). It's also hard to cancel attacks by
men.

The downside is that they often need support cards to make them more deadly. Best to
play these on small / weak parties.

Main Hazards

(first string)

Ambusher
Assassin
Brigands
Pick-pocket
Theif
Abductor

(second string)

Corsairs of Umbar

Support Cards

Fury of the Iron Crown (good for more than just Men)

Missing

(main)

Lawless Men
Beorning Skin-changers
Beorning Toll
Dunlending Raiders
Horse-lords
Lord of the Carrock
Pirates

31
 Sellswords between Charters

(support)

Helms of Iron
Rank Upon Rank
Scimitars of Steel
Thrice Outnumbered
Two or Three Tribes Present

Orcs (5/8 + 3/6)

Like men, Orcs are playable on a variety of regions.

The downside is that they tend to be low prowess and require support cards to make
them more serious threats. Additionally, you may need a DoN / RS combo to bring
them into play if your opponent stays away from shaddow / dark holds. Lastly, many
characters have plusses versus Orcs, making the support cards that much more
necessary.

Main Hazards

(first string)

Orc Guard
Orc Lieutenant
Orc Warband
Orc Warriors
Orc Watch

(second string)

Orc Patrol
Orc Raiders
Wolf Riders

Support Cards

(first string)

Minions Stir
32
 Fury of the Iron Crown
Daelomin at Home

(second string)

Doors of Night
Choking Shadows
The Will of Sauron
Host of Bats

Missing

(creatures)

Hobgoblins
Little Snuffler
Uruk-lieutenant

(support)

Pierced by Many Wounds

Power Built By Waiting
Helms of Iron
Scimitars of Steel
Tribal Banner
Tribal Totem
Two or Three Tribes Present
Waylaid, Wounded, and Orc-dragged
Morgul-night

33
Roadblock (3+/6)
Good for slowing your opponent down w/o giving him any MPs.

Disad: You can hurt yourself with this one with the permanent / long events. You can
also really piss off your opponent doing this.

Main Hazards

(first string)

River
Lost in Free Domains
Lost at Sea
(There should be a few more "Lost in *" here, non?)

(second string?)

Song of the Lady

Doors of Night
Foul Fumes
Long Winter
Snowstorm
The Will of Sauron
Twilight

Missing

(first string)

Baduila
Beorning Skin-changers
Ranger Agents (for Seek Without Succes)
Seek Without Succes
The Way Is Shut

(second string?)

34
Auto-Attack Enhancement
Main Hazards

Minions and Denizens cards: Arouse/Awaken/Incite

Support Cards

Tidings of Bold Spies (good for drawing out cancelation cards)

Missing

Miscellaneous (2/N + 2)

Mini-categories or one-offs. The good thing about most of these cards is that you can
easily play them on your opponent and burn through your hazard deck.

Note that you can shoot yourself in the foot with these if your resource strategy
involves prowling around Dragon country or dark holds.

Main Hazards

(first string)

Call of Home
Muster Disperses
Foolish Words

(second string)

Any Nazgul
Any Dragon / at home / ahunt manifestations
Doors of Night
Traitor
Any other permanent events

Support Cards

These are support cards that are often useful for bringing any of the above Nazgul /
Dragons into play

Fell Beast
Fury of the Iron Crown
35
 Weariness of the Heart

Missing

Any agent (dark minions)

Any Spawn (Balrog?)
Power Built by Waiting (Against the shadow)
Wild Fell Beast (is this like "Fell Beast?" but for Dragons?)

Note also that the corruption cards listed above are easy to play and fit in well with
this strategy.

Summary
Corruption (3 /7 + 3/5)
Undead (4 + 2/4)
Dragons / Drakes (3+/7 + 3/7)
Men (6 /7 + 1 )
Orcs (5 /8 + 3/6)
Roadblock (3+/6 )
Miscellaneous (2 /N + 3 )

Totals: (26+/35 + 15/32)

Other Tips
You should combine the above categories in such a way that they complement each
other. Examples:

Corruption and Undead go well together because many Undead cards force
corruption checks.
An Orc hazard strategy is well-complemented with a few Trolls. (Some perm-
events that give Orcs bonuses also give the same bonuses to Trolls.)
Roadblock is complemented well by Men because if your opponent stays away
from Wildernesses (as in a Gondor Deck), you can hit him with Men in the
border-holds.

36
4 - MECCG Resource Support Cards
This is a listing of resource that I normally use by category. Clearly you cannot use all of them in one deck, but this
should help get you started picking and choosing the ones you think will work best for you.

Good cards that are recommended for any deck have a light yellow background. Cards that could fit into more than one
category I have listed in all relevant categories.

Cards which have a pre-requisite (such as a skill) are listed in the 'Required' column. A term in parentheses indicates
that the card does not have a pre-requisite but is greatly helped by a certain skill / condition.

Note: These are only support cards. You should start assembling your resource deck by choosing Marshal Point cards
(Factions, Allies, Information, Items, etc.) found in the regions you plan to be wandering in. The cards in this listing
tend to be non-marshalling, event-type cards, with the exception of some items, allies, and characters.

Character Related
Card Set Type Requires Plusses Marshal Corrupt Notes
Direct Influence: Cards help increase direct influence.
The One Ring TW Special(U) ---- +5 DI 6 MP 6 CP
Narsil TW Great(H) ---- +1 DI 3 MP 2 CP
Emerald of
TD Minor(H) ---- +1 DI 0 MP 1? CP DI only counts against Elves and Elf factions
Doriath
Trifling Ring DM Ring Test +3 DI 2 MP 1 CP DI against characters only
Lesser Ring TW Ring test +1 DI 2 MP 1 CP
Magic Ring of
TW Ring Diplomat +3 3 MP 2 CP
Words
Elfstone TW Minor --- +2 DI 0 MP 1 CP DI only against Elves

37
Red Book of DI only against a Hobbit. Only playable at Bag End. Only
TW Special(U) --- +2 DI (1) MP 1 CP
Westmarch get MP if stored at a haven.
Wizard's Staff TD Great(H) Wizard +2 DI 2? MP 2 CP
Red Arrow TW Major(U) --- +5 DI 2 MP 2 CP DI only against any character from Edoras.

1 general-purpose DI, +5 DI vs. Galadriel (needs 3 more -

Celeborn TW Char ---- (+6 DI) 2 MP ----
- Gives you 6 mind covering 9 mind)
0 general-purpose DI, but +7 DI vs. Aragorn (needs 2
Arwen TW Char ---- (+7 DI) 1 MP ----
more -- Gives you 3 mind covering 9 mind)
General Influence: In addition to supporting more characters, more GI helps you combat Muster Disperses & Call of Home.
Emerald of
TD Minor(H) Wizard +2 GI 0? MP 1 CP +2 to GI if bearer is a Wizard
Doriath
Saw Further Should definitely be in your deck if you're playing
TW Perm no Wizard +5 GI ---- ----
and Deeper without a Wizard.
Bringing in More Characters / Allies: The more characters you have in play, the faster you can get the MP.
A Chance
TW Short --- ---- ---- ---- Bring in a char at free-hold, border-hold or ruins/lairs.
Meeting
Bring in ally at tapped/untapped Ruins & Lairs if roll (+3
Here, There or
TD Short (Diplomat) ---- ---- ---- to roll if Diplomat) > 6 + Ally mind stat, and ally allowed
Yonder
in this region.
Keeping Characters On The Table: This section could also be called: "How to counter 'Call of Home'"
All chars at a haven can't be discarded / removed for any
Elf Song TW Long @Haven ---- ---- ----
reason.
Discard Noble Hound to cancel effect that would take
Noble Hound TW Ally ---- ---- 1? MP 0 CP
controlling character prisoner.
Help vs. Corruption:
Tap Aragorn, discard Athelas to remove corruption card
Athelas TW Minor Aragorn ---- 0 MP 1 CP
from char in company.

38
 All chars at a haven may immediately remove 1
Elf Song TW Long @Haven ---- ---- ----
corruption card.
Three Golden
TW Perm Diplomat ---- ? MP +2 CP Must be played at same site as Galadriel.
Hairs
A Friend or
TW Short ---- ---- 0 MP +1 CP +1 to corruption check for every char in the company
Three
Emerald of the
TD Great(H/U) ---- ---- ? MP +1 CP
Mariner
Fellowship TW Perm 4+ chars ---- 0 MP +1 CP +1 vs corruption to all chars in company
Tap bearer sage to remove corruption card from Elf or
Palantir of Wizard. PoE is playable at White Towers and cannot be
TW Spec Sage ---- 2 MP 2 CP
Elostirion moved from there, so have a 1 mind sage (i.e. Halbarad)
sit there holding it. (2 MP, 2 CP)
Any Hobbit TW Char ---- ---- varies varies All Hobbits have +2 to +4 CP vs. corruption
Untapping / Non-tapping: Keeping characters fresh and ready.
Great Shield of Warrior may tap GSoR to remain untapped against one
TW Major(U) Warrior ---- 2 MP 2 CP
Rohan strike (unless bearer becomes wounded)
Cram TD Minor ---- ---- 0 MP 1 CP Discard to untap bearer.
Tap bearer, discard item to change char in company from
Healing Herbs TW Minor ---- ---- 0 MP 1 CP
tapped to untapped.
Block TW Short Warrior ---- ---- ---- Doesn't tap against strike unless wounded.

Doesn't tap against strike unless wounded. -1 to body if

Dodge TW Short ---- ---- ---- ----
wounded.

Tap Arkenstone to untap a dwarf, target dwarf makes

The Arkenstone TW Great(U) Dwarf ---- 5 MP 4 CP
corruption check at -2.

39
Combat Related
Card Set Type Requires Plusses Marshal Corrupt Notes
Increasing / Enhancing Prowess: These cards will help you defeat strikes. The overriding theme is plusses to prowess. (Many
are Warrior-only.)
The One Ring TW Special(U) ---- +5 Pr 6 MP 6 CP +5 prowess, max 2 x base prowess
Narsil TW Great(H) ---- +1 Pr 3 MP 2 CP
Magic Ring of
TW Special Warrior/test +2 3 MP 2 CP Warior bearing this ring gets +2 to prowess
Courage
Must be played following an Ent ally or Faction at
Ent Draughts TW Special Ent ally/fac +1 0 MP 0 CP Wellinghall. +1 to prowess. Cannot be stolen, transferred,
stored, or duplicated.
Shield of Iron-
TW Minor --- +1 0 MP 1 CP Tap SoIBA to get +1 prowess against one strike.
Bound Ash
Praise to
TW Short DoN +1 Pr ---- ---- Chars (all) gain +1 prowess until the end of the turn.
Elbereth
Kindling of the +2 to prowess for all chars in Wizard's company. Wizard
TW Spell Wizard +2 Pr ---- ----
Spirit makes corruption check at -2.
Lore of the Tap Elf bearer to give +1 to prowess to all chars in
TD Perm Elf@Haven +1 Pr 0 MP 2 CP
Ages company, Elf makes corruption check.
Risky Blow TW Short Warrior +3 ---- ---- +3 to prowess, but -1 to body.
Lucky Strike TW Short Warrior ---- ---- ---- Make 2 rolls to strike, use best.
+1 to prowess to everyone in a company leaving a haven,
Fellowship TW Perm 4+ Chars +1 Pr 0 MP +1 CP
size >=4.
Dagger of
TW Minor +1 Pr 0 MP 1 CP +1 to prowess, max 8
Westernesse
Potion of Discard to give +1 prowess to all chars in bearer's
TW Minor --- +1 Pr 0 MP 1 CP
Prowess company
Glamdring TW Major(U) ---- +3 Pr 2 MP 1 CP +3 to prowess to max 8 (max 9 vs. Orcs)

40
Sword of
TW Major Warrior +2 Pr 2 MP 2 CP +2 to prowess, max 8
Gondolin
Orcrist TW Great(U) ---- +3 Pr 4 MP 2 CP +3 to prowess, max 9 (+4 to prowess, max 10 vs. Orcs)
+2(+4) +2 to prowess, max 9 (vs. Dragons / Drakes +4 prowess,
Wormsbane TD Great(U) --- 4 MP 2 CP
Pr max 12 and -2 to creature's body).
+2(+4)
Durin's Axe TW Great(U) Dwarf 2(4) MP 2(3) CP +2 to prowess (+4 to if held by Dwarf), max 9.
Pr
Wizard's Staff TD Great(H) Wizard +2 Pr 3 MP 2 CP +2 to prowess, no max 9
+5 to prowess, staff is removed from play and goes in
Staff Asunder TD Short Wizard/staff +5 Pr 3 MP* 0 CP
your marshalling point pile.
Canceling / Reducing Strikes: In case you don't feel like facing them. Best used vs. Automatic Attacks or big nasties. See
also Help vs. Big Nasties
Bearer makes corruption check modified by -2 to cancel a
The One Ring TW Special(U) ---- +? ? MP ? CP
strike. (6 MP, 6 CP)
Magic Ring of Scout bearing this ring can tap to cancel one strike
TW Special Scout +? ? MP ? CP
Stealth directed at him. (3 MP, 2 CP)
Magic Ring of Ranger bearing this ring can tap to cancel any attack
TW Special Ranger +? ? MP ? CP
Nature against his company. (3 MP, 2 CP)
Cancels any attack, but one unwounded char becomes
Escape TW Short ---- +? ? MP ? CP
wounded.
Concealment TW Short Scout +? ? MP ? CP Tap scout to cancel one attack against company.
Can cancel any hazard in various regions surrounding Old
Tom Bombadil TW Ally ---- +? ? MP ? CP
Forest
Make influence check to cancel attack by Dragon, Men,
Flatter a Foe TD Short (Diplomat) +? ? MP ? CP Drakes, Trolls, Orcs, Elves or Giants (and decrease hazard
limit by two)
Tap ranger to cancel attack by wolves, spiders, animals or
Many Turns
TD Short Ranger +? ? MP ? CP Undead. Alt: w GoM decrease hazard limit by one (no
and Doublings
minimum).

41
Wizard's River Cancels attack against lone Wizard. Wizard makes
TW Spell Wizard +? ? MP ? CP
Horses corruption check at -2.
Cancel one attack by Orcs, Trolls, or Men. Alt: w GoM #
Dark Quarrels TW Short --- +? ? MP ? CP
strikes / 2
The Cock
TW Short --- +? ? MP ? CP Cancels troll attack.
Crows
Elven Cloak TW Minor --- +? ? MP ? CP Cancel attack keyed to Wilderness
Cancel attack by Unded (or -2 prowess to Spiders /
Star Glass TW Minor --- +? ? MP ? CP
Animals / Wolves attack)
Tap bearer and ToH to cancel any attack. Bearer makes
Torque of Hues TW Major --- +? ? MP ? CP
corruption check.
Can tap to cancel a strike keyed to Wilderness or Shadow-
Gollum TW Ally Comp<=2 +? ? MP ? CP
Land.
Deflects a strike from the bearing character. Arguably the
Noble Hound TW Ally --- +? ? MP ? CP
best ally a Hobbit can have.
Goldberry TW Ally --- +? ? MP ? CP Tap to cancel one attack keyed to Wilderness.
Help with Body Checks: Most of these are forms of armor.
The One Ring TW Special(U) ---- +? ? MP ? CP +5 body, max 10 (6 MP, 6 CP)
Great Shield of
TW Major(U) ---- +? ? MP ? CP +2 to body, max 9, (2 MP, 2 CP)
Rohan
Hauberk of
TW Major ---- +? ? MP ? CP +2 to body, max 9, (2 MP, 1 CP)
Bright Mail
Habergeon of
TW Major(H) ---- +? ? MP ? CP +2 to body, max 10
Silver
The Mithril-
TW Great(U) ---- +? ? MP ? CP +3 to body, max 10
Coat
Shield of Iron-
TW Minor --- +? ? MP ? CP +1 to body, max 8
Bound Ash

42
 Discard to give +2 body (max 10) to all characters in
Miruvor TW Minor --- +? ? MP ? CP
bearer's company until the end of the turn.
Healing Help:Get better quicker!(TM)
Houses of Play on Free Hold and site becomes a haven. Card is
TD Perm Free Hold +? ? MP ? CP
Healing removed when site is discarded.
Tap Dunadan, discard Athelas to change char in company
Athelas TW Minor Dunadan +? ? MP ? CP
from wounded to well / tapped.
Tap bearer, discard item to change char in company from
Healing Herbs TW Minor ---- +? ? MP ? CP
wounded to well / tapped.
Takes your company immediately back to a haven after
Great Road TW Short ---- +? ? MP ? CP
the site phase.
Minas Tirith becomes a Haven. (Handy if you're
The White Tree TW Perm SotWT +? ? MP ? CP
travelling in that region.)
Healing cards affect all characters in her company. (She's
Ioreth TW Char --- +? ? MP ? CP
weak, though; see Canceling Strikes.)

43
Movement Phase Help - These cards help your movement phase, giving you a speed advantage.
Card Set Type Requires Plusses Marshal Corrupt Notes
Moving Farther: These let you play additional region cards.
Cram TW Minor ---- +? ? MP ? CP Good for playing an extra region card in region movement
Waybread TD Minor ---- +? ? MP ? CP Only playable at Lorien. (Works like Cram?)
Moving Again: These cards let you have an additional movement / hazard phase after your first one.
1(+1/2)
Shadowfax TW Ally +? ? MP ? CP Tap to allow additional movement / hazard phase after first one.
chars
Reducing Movement Phase Hazards:
Secret Play at end of Org phase. If you move to a Ruin/Lair site, opponent
TW Short Ruin/Lair +? ? MP ? CP
Passage can only play hazards creatures keyed to the site.
Play at end of Org phase. Tap ranger to prevent opponent from
Ford TW Short Ranger +? ? MP ? CP
playing hazards keyed to Wildernesses.
Hey Come Play at end of Org phase. Wildernesses in site path are halved
? Short --- +? ? MP ? CP
Merry Dol (round down)
Reduces hazard limit by 1 (or by 2 if Dark/Shadow and GoM in
Fair Travels
TW Short (GoM) +? ? MP ? CP play) for every instance of a land type in site path. (Only play these
in *
if you've got 3+ people in the company, otherwise it's wasted.)
Stealth TW Short Scout +? ? MP ? CP Good for small parties, requires Scout skill
Making the Site Path Less Evil: These cards allow you to "upgrade" more deadly region types into more friendly types.
Fog TW Long --- +? ? MP ? CP Makes going through Dark Lands a little safer
Not Getting Sent Back: See also Removing Permanent Events.

Goldberry TW Ally --- +? ? MP ? CP Tap to cancel effect of hazard that forces return.

44
Site Phase Help
Card Set Type Requires Plusses Marshal Corrupt Notes
Canceling / Reducing Automatic Attacks: Helps make sure you have some untapped characters when you go in. Can give you a
speed advantage. See also Canceling Strikes
Cancel Dragon, Drake or Troll auto-attack or attack
Not at Home TD Short --- +? ? MP ? CP keyed to a site. Alt: w GoM, reduce strikes by 2 (to min
of 2)
Quiet Lands TW Short --- +? ? MP ? CP Halves number of strikes in auto-attack.
Milking a Site: Untapping a site or pulling more out of it. Can also give you a speed advantage.
Dwarven Ring of Tap Dwarf bearer to untap a site he is currently at. Bearer
TW Special(U) Dwarf/test +? ? MP ? CP
Druin's Tribe makes corruption check a +2. (4(6) MP, 3(5) CP)
Thorough Search TW Short Scout +? ? MP ? CP Tap Scout to play another item at a tapped site.
Bounty of the Play one more minor / major item normally played at a
TD Short(H) --- +? ? MP ? CP
Hoard hoard site.
Thror's Map TD Minor(U) --- +? ? MP ? CP Discard to untap a site with a Dragon auto-attack.

45
Help With Permanent Events
Card Set Type Requires Plusses Marshal Corrupt Notes
Removing Hazard Permanent Events:
Gates of
TW Perm --- ---- ---- ---- Removes all hazard environment permanent events in play.
Morning
Palantir of
TW Great(U) use +? ? MP ? CP Tap PoO to discard any hazard permanent event in play.
Osgiliath
The Cock
TW Short --- ---- ---- ---- w/ GoM, forces discard of permanent-event
Crows
Removes hazard non-environment permanent event. Sage
Marvels Told TD Short Sage ---- ---- ----
makes corruption check at -2.
Twilight TW Short ---- ---- ---- ---- Removes hazard or resource environment permanent event.
Help with Resource Permanent Events:
Crown Of Allows you to play a resource permanent event as though GoM
DM Perm ---- ---- ---- ----
Flowers was in play.
Echo of All Joy TD Perm no DoN ---- ---- ---- Makes a resource long event a permanent event

46
Help vs. Big Nasties
Card Set Type Requires Plusses Marshal Corrupt Notes
Help vs. Nazgul: See also Combating Strikes and Canceling Strikes above.
Vanish in the
TW Short (GoM) +? ? MP ? CP -2 prowess to Nazgul (or Undead) (-4 of GoM in play)
Sunlight
Praise to
TW Short 1+ Chars +? ? MP ? CP Tap N chars to cancel N Nazgul attacks.
Elbereth
Can use this to remove Nazgul perm-events. (Sage makes
Marvels Told TD Short Sage +? ? MP ? CP
corruption check at -2.)
Wizard's River Discards all Nazgul events in play. Wizard makes corruption
TW Spell Wizard +? ? MP ? CP
Horses check at -2.
Barrow-Blade ? Item(?) --- +? ? MP ? CP
Discard to modify strike from hazard creature not keyed to a
Arrows Shorn of
TD Minor(H) Warrior +? ? MP ? CP site by -1 prowess , body -2. Only one strike need be
Ebony
defeated.
Peath TW Char --- +? ? MP ? CP Has prowess of 9 (4 +5) vs. Nazgul and body is halved.
Eowyn TW Char --- +? ? MP ? CP Has prowess of 8 (2 +6) vs. Nazgul and body is halved.
Any Female
TW Char --- +? ? MP ? CP All have +5 to +6 vs. Nazgul and the body is halved.
Man Char
Help vs. Dragons: See also Combating Strikes and Canceling Strikes above.
Discard dragon-land based factions to add their MP to your
Alert The Folk TD Short Factions +? ? MP ? CP
prowess vs. the Dragon attack.
Opponent must discard hazard creature from hand, limiting
Dragon's Hunger TD Short --- +? ? MP ? CP hazard limit by one, otherwise Dragon / Drake attack is
canceled.
The Old Thrush TD? Short --- +? ? MP ? CP -3 to prowess (non-Nazgul) from creature w/ prowess >=13
Dragon Feuds TD Short --- +? ? MP ? CP Discard Dragon / Drake creature from your hand to cancel a

47
 Dragon / Drake attack.
Discard "ahunt" manifestation. Alt: w DoN, decrease # strikes
Sated Beast TD Short --- +? ? MP ? CP
by Dragon / Drake to 1 (to min of 1).
Discard to modify strike from hazard creature not keyed to a
Arrows Shorn of
TD Minor(H) Warrior +? ? MP ? CP site by -1 prowess , body -2. Only one strike need be
Ebony
defeated.
vs. Dragons / Drakes +4 prowess, max 12 and -2 to creature's
Wormsbane TD Great(U) --- +? ? MP ? CP
body (Normally +2 prowess, max 9)

48
Race Specific
Card Set Type Requires Plusses Marshal Corrupt Notes
Elf Helpers:
Elfstone TW Minor ---- +? ? MP ? CP +2 DI against Elves.
Star of High
TD Long ---- +? ? MP ? CP +1 to prowess for Elves (and Dunadan). (+2 if GoM in play)
Hope
Dwarf Helpers: See also Help vs. Corruption
+2 to prowess (+4 to if held by Dwarf), max 9. (2(4) MP,
Durin's Axe TW Great(U) Dwarf +? ? MP ? CP
2(3) CP)
+3 DI vs. Dwarves / Dwarf factions. Can also tap Arkenstone
The Arkenstone TW Great(U) Dwarf +? ? MP ? CP to untap a dwarf, bearer makes corruption check at -2. (5 MP,
4 CP)
Hobbit Helpers:
Hobbit Stealth TW Short Hobbit +? ? MP ? CP Cancels a strike
Hobbit Strength TW Short Hobbit +? ? MP ? CP Aids in healing or corruption
No Waiting to St-
TW Short Hobbit --- --- Hobbit must be untapped
Wonder 4/Bd-1
Sting TW Minor(U) (Hobbit) +? ? MP ? CP Like a Dagger of Westernesse, but +2 prowess for Hobbits
Book of
TW Minor(U) ---- +? ? MP ? CP +2 DI against a Hobbit
Westermarch
Fast Asleep TD Short --- +? ? MP ? CP Gives +2 to a buglary attempt
Dunadan Helpers:
Sun TW Long ---- +? ? MP ? CP
Red Arrow TW Major(U) --- +? ? MP ? CP +5 to bearers DI against any character from Edoras.
Star of High
TD Long ---- +? ? MP ? CP +1 to prowess for Dunadan (and Elves). (+2 if GoM in play)
Hope

49
5 - MECCG Card Manipulation
This page describes all the various ways to manipulate cards in the Middle-Earth Customizable Card Game. Separate
sections are devoted to peeking and moving cards this way and that.

Deck Manipulation: For getting cards from discard pile / play deck into your hand (or vice-versa). For nearly all of these,
you must tap the character, ally, or bearer of an item to perform the manipulation.
From To
Card Set Type Requires Marshal Corrupt Move What Notes
Where Where
Tap Dwarf bearer. Reshuffle
Dwarven
play deck after moving cards.
Ring of TW Special(U) Dwarf/test 4(6) MP 3(5) CP 1-2 minor items play/discard hand
Bearer makes corruption check
Thrar's Tribe
at +2.
Dwarven Tap Dwarf bearer. Reshuffle
Ring of play deck after moving cards.
TW Special(U) Dwarf/test 4(6) MP 3(5) CP 1-2 Minor items play/discard hand
Thelor's Bearer makes corruption check
Tribe at +2.
Tap Dwarf bearer. Major item
Dwarven must immediately be played at
Ring of current bearer's site. Play item
TW Special(U) Dwarf/test 4(6) MP 3(5) CP Major item play deck
Dwalin's site immediately or discard and
Tribe reshuffle play deck. Bearer
makes corruption check at +2.
Tap Dwarf bearer. Major item
Dwarven must immediately be played at
Ring of current bearer's site. Play item
TW Special(U) Dwarf/test 4(6) MP 3(5) CP Major item play deck
Bavor's site immediately or discard and
Tribe reshuffle play deck. Bearer
makes corruption check at +2.

50
 Tap Dwarf bearer. Major item
Dwarven must immediately be played at
Ring of current bearer's site. Play item
TW Special(U) Dwarf/test 4(6) MP 3(5) CP Greater item play deck
Druin's site immediately or discard and
Tribe reshuffle play deck. Bearer
makes corruption check at +2.
Tap Dwarf bearer. Major item
must immediately be played at
Dwarven
current bearer's site. Play item
Ring of TW Special(U) Dwarf/test 4(6) MP 3(5) CP Greater item play deck
site immediately or discard and
Barin's Tribe
reshuffle play deck. Bearer
makes corruption check at +2.
Wizard's spell/ritual/light Tap bearer (Wizard) at end of
TD Great(H) Wizard 3 MP 2 CP discard pile hand
Staff enchantment turn.
Play deck must have at least 5
cards. Take 5 cards of your
play choice from discard pile and
Vilya TW Short Elrond ---- ---- any discard pile
deck shuffle them into you play deck.
Elrond makes corruption check
at -3.
Must tap Sauruman, do at end
Sauruman TW Wizard ---- ---- ---- spell discard pile hand
of turn.
Nenselde the resource env
TD Ally ---- ? MP ---- discard pile hand Tap Nenselde.
Wingild short/long event
Smoke play
DM Short Sage? ---- ---- resource / char discard pile Tap sage.
Rings deck
Favor of the hand + play Shuffle hand / discard pile into
TW Short(U) ---- ---- ---- all
Valar discard deck play deck and draw a new hand.

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Peeking at Cards
Card Set Type Requires Marshal Corrupt Notes
Peeking at Opponent's Hand:
May look at opponents hand. (Can also duplicate powers of Palantir of
Palantir of
TW Great(u) use 3(5) MP 3 CP Annuminas or Play of Elostirion if either of those are in play.) (3 MP (5
Amon Sul
if stored at Haven), 3 CP)
Mirror of
TW Short at Lorien ---- ---- May look at opponents hand and top 5 cards of any one play deck.
Galadriel
Secret News TD Short ---- ---- ---- Opponent reveals 5 cards from hand
For each char in the party, opponent must show that many cards in
Crebain TD Short ---- ---- ----
hand.
Peeking at Opponent's Play Deck:
Mirror of
TW Short at Lorien ---- ---- May look at opponents hand and top 5 cards of any one play deck.
Galadriel
Peeking at Opponent's Discard Pile:
Mirror of
TW Short at Lorien ---- ---- May look at opponents hand and top 5 cards of any one play deck.
Galadriel
Their Ways Are Opponent reveals top 5 cards of discard pile. You can chose to remove
TD Short ---- ---- ----
Known to Us one from play.

52
Increasing Hand Size: Something you will probably need to do if you have a lot of combinations in your deck. Unless it says
otherwise, each of these will increase your hand size only by one.
Card Set Type Requires Marshal Corrupt Notes
Elrond TW Char at Rivendell 3 MP ----
Galadriel TW Char at Lorien 3 MP ----
Ciridan TW Char at Grey Havens 3 MP ----
Palando TW Wizard ---- ---- ----
Only playable at Moria. Tap at Org phase to
Book of Mazarbul TW Item(U/S) Sage ? MP ? CP
increase hand size by one.
Emerald of the
TD Great(H/U) ---- ? MP ? CP
Mariner

53
6 - MECCG House Rules
The following are some house rules that we play with.

Muster gives +Prowess (max 7, I think) to an influence attempt for a Warrior, it

is not an automatic success
Neeker-Breekers to not affect Wizards (or anyone else with no mind attribute)
The Barrow Wight may be played keyed to the Barrow Downs (duh)
We use a pretty liberal interpretation of the description on "A Chance
Encounter" centered around the key word "may". Basically, we say you can
bring in a character in your hand at a Free/Border-Hold or a Ruins/Lairs and
have the new char be controlled by an existing char with direct influence, or
have the new char control an existing char with the new char's direct
influence, or just under general influence (not controlled, not controlling).
"May". Subjunctive. Read up on it.

54
7 - Decks
Elves in Rohan - Fairly tight site deck and fast-moving. Wilderness strategy w/
Radagast, Doors of Night, cards to convert the site path all to Wildernesses,
Roadblock hazards and Drakes for the creature portion.
Elves in Rohan
==============

Sites
-----

Rivendell
Lorien (x2)
Edoras
Wellinghall
Beorn's House
Hermit Hill
Framsburg
Bandit Lair
Goblin Gate
Glittering Caves
Sarn Goriwing
Isengard
Moria
Dol Guldur

Starting Company
----------------

Galadriel (w Elfstone)
Celeborn
Haldir
Orophin (w Dagger of Westernesse)

(All chars have Lorien as home site, so they start there)

Extra Characters
----------------

Radagast (x2)
Eowyn
Eomer
Beorn
Wacho
Annalena

Resource Portion
----------------

MP Cards

55
~~~~~~~~

Orcrist
Glamdring
Red Arrow
Great Shield of Rohan
Riders of Rohan
Beornings
Ents of Fanghorn
Barrow Blade
Gollum
Rescue Prisoners

Support Cards
~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Risky Blow
Lucky Strike
Praise To Elbereth
Fellowship
Old Road
New Friendship
A Friend or Three (x2)
Elf Song
Houses of Healing
Trickery
Concealment
Many Turns and Doublings
Horses
Waybread
Block
Thorough Search (x2)
A Chance Meeting (x2)
Swash-Topped Boots
Marvels Told (x2)
Twilight (x2)

Hazard Portion
--------------

Creatures
~~~~~~~~~
Cave Drake (x3)
Rain Drake (x2)
Winged Fire-Drake
Were-Worm
Winged Cold Drake
Cave Worm
Wild Fell Beast

Half-Creatures
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Adunaphel
Uvatha the Horseman
Scorba Ahunt

56
Itangast Ahunt

Creature Enhancers
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dragon's Blood
Foes Shall Fall
Prowess of Age (x3)
From the Pits of Angband
Two or Three Tribes Present

Support
~~~~~~~
Doors of Night (x2)
Fell Winter (x2)
Long Winter
Foul Fumes
River
Call of Home
Incite Denizens
Doubled Vigilance
Eyes of the Shadow
Lure of the Senses
Lure of Nature
Lure of Expedience

Sideboard
---------

Characters
~~~~~~~~~~
Erkenbrand
Theoden
Adrazar
Fram Framson
Arwen

Resources
~~~~~~~~~
Skin-Changer
Herb-Lore
Helm of Her Secrecy
And Forth He Hastened
Dagger of Westernesse

Hazards
~~~~~~~
Lost in Free-Domains
Worm's Stench
Withered Lands
Snowstorm
The Will of Sauron

57
Rivendell Recycler - Very tight site deck centered around Rivendell that uses
Radagast and lots of recyclers to compensate for the low draws. Orc Hazards with
Doors of Night and auto-attack enhancers.
Rivendell Recycler
==================

Sites
-----

Rivendell
Lorien
Bag End
The White Towers
Old Forest
Barrow Downs
Cameth Brin
Weathertop
Bree

Starting Company
----------------

Elrond (w Elfstone)
Adrazar (w Dagger of Westernesse, under Elrond)
Annalena (under Elrond)
Elledan

Extra Characters
----------------

Strider
Beretar
Halbarad
Barliman Butterbur
Elrohir
Radagast (x2)

Resource Portion
----------------

MP Cards
~~~~~~~~

Wizard's Ring
Barrow Blade
Tom Bombadil
Rangers of the North
Dreams of Lore
Earth of Galadriel's Orchard
Glamdring
Hillmen

58
Palantir of Elostirion
Noble Hound

Support Cards
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A Friend or Three (x2)
Secret Passage
Concealment
Old Road
A Chance Meeting
Athelas
Elf Song
Ford
Master of Esgaroth
Risky Blow
Washed and Refreshed
Smoke Rings
Fellowship
Praise to Elbereth
Many Turns and Doublings
Safe From The Shadow
Great Road
Bridge
Vilya (x2)
Fair Travels in the Wilderness (x2)
Marvels Told (x2)
Twilight (x2)

Hazard Portion
--------------

Creatures
~~~~~~~~~

Hobgoblins (x2)
Orc Lieutennant
Little Snuffler
Orc Warband
Orc Guard
Orc Watch
Orc Warriors

William
Tom
Bert
Umagaur the Pale

Half-Creatures
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Uvatha the Horseman
Ren the Unclean
Adunaphel
Witch King of Angmar

59
Mouth of Sauron

Creature Enhancers
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Choking Shadows (x2)
Minions Stir (x2)
Two or Three Tribes Present
Host of Bats

Support
~~~~~~~

Doors of Night (x2)

Call of Home
No Way Forward
Foul Fumes

Eye of Sauron
Incite Minions
Doubled Vigilance
Redoubled Force

The Nazgul Are Abroad

An Unexpected Outpost

Shadow of Mordor

Lure of Nature
Lure of Expedience
Lure of the Senses

Sideboard
---------

Characters
~~~~~~~~~~
Cirdan
Gildor Inglorion
Arwen
Ioreth

Resources
~~~~~~~~~
Herb-Lore
And Forth He Hastened
Dagger of Westernesse
Hobbits
Thorough Search
Mallorn

Hazards
~~~~~~~
Helms of Iron
Scimitars of Steel

60