So my buddy and I had an idea I'd like to share. We wanted to build decks around a nearly random hero combination. We established a "draft" system that broke down into three steps:

1) We first started with 5 random heroes from the entire collection. Only I saw them first. I made my selection and then he selected his from the remaining 4. We did not tell each other who we selected.

2) Then we randomly received a hero from the entire collection. We were allowed one mulligan in case it was an unworkable hero (pippin, for example) or just one we didn't want to mess with. We both took accepted ours. Again, without sharing the details yet.

3) finally, we flipped 7 random heroes, this time he chooses first. Then I selected from the remaining three.

My selection, in order, was Erestor, sBard, and sLegolas. His was Lotheriel, Tilbo, and Beorn.

What's amazing about this process is that if we had gone in reverse order (7-random-5), his deck would have been Sam-tilbo-folco and mine would have been galdor-sBard-Loramir (or lotheriel). Just amazing. Same cards, different order, changes everything.

So now the challenge is to build decks to try and compensate for a lack of synergy. We both have a good idea of where we want to go with them.

Anyway-- it definitely adds an extra twist to the game. I figure I would share in case anyone else would like to give it a try! Post here if you do! (We are journeying down the anduin with these decks, for context)

On 3/13/2020 at 10:19 PM, player3351457 said:

So my buddy and I had an idea I'd like to share. We wanted to build decks around a nearly random hero combination. We established a "draft" system that broke down into three steps:

1) We first started with 5 random heroes from the entire collection. Only I saw them first. I made my selection and then he selected his from the remaining 4. We did not tell each other who we selected.

2) Then we randomly received a hero from the entire collection. We were allowed one mulligan in case it was an unworkable hero (pippin, for example) or just one we didn't want to mess with. We both took accepted ours. Again, without sharing the details yet.

3) finally, we flipped 7 random heroes, this time he chooses first. Then I selected from the remaining three.

My selection, in order, was Erestor, sBard, and sLegolas. His was Lotheriel, Tilbo, and Beorn.

What's amazing about this process is that if we had gone in reverse order (7-random-5), his deck would have been Sam-tilbo-folco and mine would have been galdor-sBard-Loramir (or lotheriel). Just amazing. Same cards, different order, changes everything.

So now the challenge is to build decks to try and compensate for a lack of synergy. We both have a good idea of where we want to go with them.

Anyway-- it definitely adds an extra twist to the game. I figure I would share in case anyone else would like to give it a try! Post here if you do! (We are journeying down the anduin with these decks, for context)

Success! Here are the decks!

https://ringsdb.com/fellowship/view/8457/draftdecks

On 3/13/2020 at 9:19 PM, player3351457 said:

I figure I would share in case anyone else would like to give it a try! Post here if you do! (We are journeying down the anduin with these decks, for context)

I'm mostly a solo player so I'll be following your guidelines on ringsdb:

(I think in Solo, there has to be a scale in hero card selection. Maybe 3-1-4).

I'm going to try it on Morgul Vale, because I'm feeling like getting punished. I'll let you know how it goes!

Alright, so on the first go, my heroes were Gandalf, Lanwyn, and Ori. I didn't even try to build a deck for that. 😄 But then, I had a very good draw:

Draw 3: LeEomer , Galdor, or SPippin

Draw 1: TImrahil

Draw 4: LoDenethor, LeDenethor , LoGlorfindel, or Ori

The game itself was awesome. I played an early Gandalf to drop my threat and give me a few rounds to prepare. Eomer whittled away at Murzag meanwhile. Got Steward rolling on Denethor early, along with Gimli and a Knight of the White Tower for questing. I engaged Murzag finally, and after his attack revealed... Lieutenant of Mordor! Thankfully, Denethor was still ready with his Armored Destrier and two Dunedain Warnings. We breezed through stage two, but after a bad series of reveals on stage 3 had 8 progress on To the Tower. Nazgul engages, Denethor first defends an engaged Morgul Tracker (44 threat currently), then discards the shadow from the Nazgul. It would have given him +2 Attack! Denethor, already with two damage, defends for 7. (base 3 + 2 Dunedain Warnings + Behind Strong Walls + For Gondor!) Up to one damage on Nazgul. Next round, we fail quest by 5 (would have been eliminated, except I realize - I haven't been adding the Visionary Leadership to Gondor characters. So we fail by 3. (48 threat) Imrahil cheats an Envoy into play, who, after giving a resource, falls to the nazgul. One more damage on him.

So we progress to what had to be the last round. 49 threat. 2 damage on Nazgul. No direct damage effects, and not enough attack for both Eomer in quest and others in combat. Then we draw... Gandalf!!! A wizard is never late! We play Gandalf and get another damage on the Nazgul. Quest successfully. I decided to use Eomer with Guthwine to place the damage during questing. The only problem? Our only ready character is Denethor, which means Imrahil HAS to pull out either a Marksman, or Beorn. (In hindsight, a gondorian spearman also would have done the trick.) He grabs a Marksman. Ten minutes later, (After I dance a rousing jig) Denethor sacrifices himself to save his son. And the Marksman places the 5th damage!!! At 49 Threat!! That was fun. Thank you player3351457 for the great idea for draft decks!

Here's my deck, for anyone who's interested

https://ringsdb.com/decklist/view/15344/draftdeck-1.0

I think it would be a great idea to have a draft decks competition, similar to what @dalestephenson is doing with his solo league.

Well done! Thanks for posting the AAR as those are fun to read.

That's a really good draw (second time around). I would have gone ballistic if Lotheriel flipped on the third round.

So much fun

If enough people are interested and try it out, it would be pretty fun.