GOAL

This deck does one thing: blow smoke rings 'till the Dark Tower falls. With every bowl filled and every mouth pulling a cool, sweet, draw, a veritable questing army arrives from hither and yon to savor the calming fumes.

ASSUMPTIONS

The entire plot of The Lord of the Rings can be summed up as, "How do we get Longbottom Leaf back to the Shire where it belongs?" Hence, everyone who gives up on Hobbit Pipes + Smoke Rings either hates this game, has gazed into the Palantir one too many times, or is currently trapped in Old Man Willow's sleepy bosom. Smoke Rings are the unifying symbol of triumph (Shalom, thriving, everlasting peace) in Tolkien's creation, therefore all things (read: all cards) are created for the end of blowing them. And blow them we shall.

DECK TYPE

Hobbits, Ally-Dumping, Willpower Questing, Player Deck Manipulation, Multiplayer.

PAIRS WELL WITH

Dain & Dwarves, Turtle Decks

SETUP

Opening hand goals include getting A Very Good Tale to drop in pipe finding allies on Turn 1. Ideally, we'll power this through Bill The Pony + Sneak Attack + Gandalf.

STRATEGY: EARLY GAME

Our foundry can start fishing for pipes as soon as they hit the table (Master of the Forge for draw, Erebor Hammersmith for discard). Gildor can fish as well, but has the added bonus of being able to power quest, enable Elrond's Council, and put in-hand allies on top of the deck, where they can be Good Tale'd out for the low low price of free. A few events (Take No Notice, Sneak Attack) help us deal with unexpected enemies while we're getting tamped down.

STRATEGY: MID GAME

With stems in mouth, and bowls aglow, out goal is to continue blowing Smoke Rings whilst summoning a controlled questing army to the field. As the Army grows and attachments get buckled up, potential problems for the hobbits start to disappear. Frodo ties fast hitches, while Arwen tanks him up or inspires compassion across the table. Barliman takes one for the team, especially when we have another in hand, or in the top 5 cards of our deck. If we get stuck with 2/3 pipes, or we can't seem for the life of us to find Denethor's other son, we ask Gandalf to speak a but a word and summon whatever's lacking.

STRATEGY: LATE GAME

By the time we're ready to chug past the finish line, we've assembled a powerful-yet-diverse questing mega army that steals enemies away from other players for sport, and makes a good night of healing, love, and not a few spiked Orc-heads. Erestor has long been turning our dead uniques into things more useful, while I. Stargazer, and the Warden wander off to help other players. As Faramir and Gildor become unneeded for questing, they team up with Sam and Frodo to take down a Hill Troll or two (we all need hobbies at the end of the day). All the while our threat is dropping, our deck is shrinking, our willpower is climbing, and our hobbits are puffing. As a bonus, if we haven't had enough smoke with the first go round, we just might summon the Will of the West to get another precious bowl.

UNEXPECTED FRIENDSHIPS

• Sneak Attack + Erebor Hammersmith = Two attachments from the discard pile in one turn.
• Bill the Pony + Sneak Attack + Gandalf + A Very Good Tale = 3 stay in play allies for the low cost of 1 resource, Gandalf and his bonuses as icing on the cake.
• Imladris Stargazer + Master of the Forge + Gildor Inglorion = Multi-stage fetching and shuffling, guaranteeing a hit sooner or later.
• A Very Good Tale + Gildor Inglorion = I want this Ally but I don't want to pay for it, so I'll stuff it back where I can get it for free.