This tournament is part of the Living Tournament system. You are welcome to read this, play the scenario, and post your results (in that order). Place well enough, and you may just end up with a Living Tournament World Ranking !

Scenario: The Watcher in the Water
Deck Parameters: Open Build*
Number of Players: Solo Player

Tournament Parameters:

1) This is a Living Tournament. You may play and post results at your own pace.
2) *Open Build means you may use any legal LOTR LCG cards at your availability.
3) A valid result in this tournament consists of reporting your results (wins and losses) from 3 back-to-back games (may be spread out over as much time as you like), using the same deck for each of those 3 games. (Please observe the mulligan rule, and all other rules, from the LOTR LCG rulebook and subsequent official FAQ documents.)
4) After you post your results, the results from your 3 games will be calibrated using the RGun formula** to obtain your Weighted Result.
5) Weighted Results will then be ranked against other player’s Weighted Results, and the rankings will be updated over time as new results are posted to the thread.
6) You may play this tournament as many times as you would like (so you can try out different deck builds over time), but you can only hold one spot in the overall tournament rankings at a time (i.e. this gives you a chance to try and best your own result while only occupying one spot in the rankings).
7) Do not cheat. Just don’t. It destroys the fun and integrity of the tournament system. If you realize you have made a mistake at a later date that had serious implications for a result you had posted in the past, please make a new post in this thread drawing attention to that fact – that past result will be invalidated, and of course, you are welcome (and highly encouraged) to try again.

**The RGun formula has been designed to value both Final Score (per game) and overall Win Ratio (from your 3 games, cumulative). The formula is: (Average Score of Games Won) x (Total Games Played/Games Won). For an expanded discussion on how this formula was created, you can read the thread called Measuring Success .

Posting Your Results (Required Information):

When posting your results for this tournament you are encouraged to cut and paste from the following template and complete the requested information:

Heroes:

Game 1 Result: (Report Final Score or Loss)
Final Threat Level:
Threat Cost of Each Dead Hero:
Damage Tokens on Remaining Heroes:
Victory Points Earned:
Number of Rounds Completed:

Game 2 Result: (Report Final Score or Loss)
Final Threat Level:
Threat Cost of Each Dead Hero:
Damage Tokens on Remaining Heroes:
Victory Points Earned:
Number of Rounds Completed:

Game 3 Result: (Report Final Score or Loss)
Final Threat Level:
Threat Cost of Each Dead Hero:
Damage Tokens on Remaining Heroes:
Victory Points Earned:
Number of Rounds Completed:

Posting Your Results (Optional Information):

After completing the above, you are welcome to include any other details you would like to add. Some suggested ideas are: your specific available card pool (number of Core Sets used, specific Adventure Packs used, etc…) and additional narrative to share epic tales of your adventures through Middle-earth.

Living Tournament Rankings:

1. Robert McMutton ~ 67.33 (May 19, 2012)
2. Fatty ~ 71.33 (November 25, 2012)
3. Narsil0420 ~ 71.66 (June 28, 2012)
4. leptokurt ~ 78.66 (May 11, 2012)
5. masonos ~ 82.33 (January 1, 2013)
6. muemakan ~ 86.33 (May 24, 2012)
7. DevastazioneH88 ~ 92.66 (December 17, 2012)
8. jjeagle ~ 101.33 (May 20, 2012)
9. Shady Rick ~ 114.66 (May 4, 2012)
10. Mandolf ~ 127.5 (May 5, 2012)

Honorable Mentions:

11. Tracker1 ~ 133 (July 8, 2012)
12. Kiwina ~ 172.5 (November 10, 2012)
13. RGun ~ 180.75 (June 6, 2012)
14. Angus Lee ~ 249 (November 3, 2012)

Last Updated:

January 26, 2013 (4:11am) [FFG Time - Forum Time Stamp]

Home Link:

Living Tournament Library & World Rankings

Heroes: Gimli, Boromir, Coragorn

Game 1 Result: 124
Final Threat Level: 48
Threat Cost of Each Dead Hero: 0
Damage Tokens on Remaining Heroes: 9
Victory Points Earned: 3
Number of Rounds Completed: 7

Game 2 Result: 67
Final Threat Level: 37
Threat Cost of Each Dead Hero: 0
Damage Tokens on Remaining Heroes: 3
Victory Points Earned: 3
Number of Rounds Completed: 3

Game 3 Result: 115
Final Threat Level: 48
Threat Cost of Each Dead Hero: 0
Damage Tokens on Remaining Heroes: 0
Victory Points Earned: 3
Number of Rounds Completed: 7

Total Score: 102

Cards used: everything incl. TWitW, one core set

So, it ever took me that long to get three victories in a row. 67 is my best game by far, every other win ended up with over 100 points (I got 91 and 92 when In used a Dwarven deck, but lost more often than I won). My win/loss ratio is slightly over 50 percent with these heroes. The heroes were chosen by their hit points, everyone who had 5 HP was in the pool. Gimli's role is to quest and to play a decisive role in the final battle against the Watcher. Boromir is both defender and attacker, he also saves his pals if the get grabbed by some tentacles. Aragorn is my main quester, especialy if he gets his Broken Sword.

In the second game I was very lucky. I had a tentacle in the setup (the one that hits you with 4 AT undefended), so I played a Sneak/Gandalf in the quest phase and destroyed it. Gandalf, Gimli and Aragorn quested for 8 WP, and I git a treachery (the one that gets attached to your heroes). In round 2 I met another tentacle which was destroyed by Boromir and a Vasall of the Windlord (it was the one which turns into an attachment) in the combat phase. That way I already had 10 progress and Aragorn got his sword in round 3. However, I didn't want to progress to stage 2B that early, as I lacked the resources to play Gandalf in rounds 3 or 4. That's why I only sent Aragorn to the quest, but I got the treachery that makes every enemy attack you. As there were no enemies and no cards in the staging area, the card had no effect and I made 3 points progress, and suddenly I found myself right in front of the Watcher, with only Gimli, Boromir, a "Bruinen Guard" (?) and another Vasall of the Windlord ready to fight. That still wasn't enough to kill the Watcher by far. So I took a gamble and went for Durin's Door instead. I disarded three cards and Gandalf himself opened the door for my fellowship. I applied three points damage to the eagle and finished the quest in the next round.

I'm most proud of the third game, because it was the first time I won this scenario without getting any damage on my heroes.

Heroes: Dain, Dwalin, Bifur

Game 1 Result: 93
Final Threat Level: 26
Threat Cost of Each Dead Hero: 0
Damage Tokens on Remaining Heroes: 0
Victory Points Earned: 3
Number of Rounds Completed: 7

Game 2 Result: 153
Final Threat Level: 43
Threat Cost of Each Dead Hero: 0
Damage Tokens on Remaining Heroes: 3
Victory Points Earned: 3
Number of Rounds Completed: 11

Game 3 Result: 98
Final Threat Level: 29
Threat Cost of Each Dead Hero: 0
Damage Tokens on Remaining Heroes: 0
Victory Points Earned: 3
Number of Rounds Completed: 7

Total Score: 115

Cards used: The deck I used is my most current version of my all dwarf non-Zigil deck. With the exception of Gandalf, it contains only dwarf heroes and allies. It also does NOT use the Zigil Miner. Not necessarily my most min-maxed deck but it's by far the one I enjoy playing the most. I got hit with some terrible card draw in the 2nd game. The deck is set up to still be able to perform even if you don't get those few awesome cards that can make a game, but in that 2nd game I had no UC's, no Steward , no sneak attacking Gandalf, and very few allies until late game. I feel it should score on average from the mid eighties to under 110. It's not especially good at eliminating enemies so I was pretty happy with how it performed on this quest.

Although my local community and I have been playing and logging quests in our own personal quest log, this is the first time I have participated in and posted my results here. I hope to do more in future.

Heroes: Aragorn (Watcher in the Water), Beravor and Boromir

Game 1 Result: LOSS

Game 2 Result: 80
Final Threat Level: 33
Threat Cost of Each Dead Hero: 0
Damage Tokens on Remaining Heroes: 0
Victory Points Earned: 3
Number of Rounds Completed: 5

Game 3 Result: 90
Final Threat Level: 42
Threat Cost of Each Dead Hero: 0
Damage Tokens on Remaining Heroes: 1
Victory Points Earned: 3
Number of Rounds Completed: 5

Final weighted score: 85*3/2 = 127,5

In the first game I was overwhelmed in the beginning by 3 enemies so Boromir had to use his ready-ability several times, which led to a lot of threat (on top of the already high starting threat of 33 with these heroes). Boromir also got snared by Grasping Tentacle (setting his defence and attack to 0) so I chose to use his second ability to kill off the remaining enemies. Things were starting to look okay but then Disturbed Waters (Doomed 5) brought my threat to 49, and there wasn't any action window in the Refresh Phase to use Aragorns ability before I hit 50 threat.

The second and third game went really smooth, Beravor and Gleowine gave me solid card draw, Boromir fought like a boss, and Aragorn saved the day when threat was getting high. In the second game I opened the Doors by discarding pretty much my whole hand, but in the third I had Sneak Attack + Gandalf + Hail of Stones in my hand = The Watcher got one-hit to death

Shady Rick said:

Hi Shady Rick! Welcome!!

Quick question on your game three… the points actually add up to 96, which would bring your weighted average to 114. With 98, it would be 114.66.

I left it at the latter for now, but let me know if it needs adjusting.

New team, better score:

Heroes: Boromir, Glorfindel, Loragorn

Game 1 Result: 93
Final Threat Level: 30
Threat Cost of Each Dead Hero: 0
Damage Tokens on Remaining Heroes: 6
Victory Points Earned: 3
Number of Rounds Completed: 6

Game 2 Result: 83
Final Threat Level: 36
Threat Cost of Each Dead Hero: 0
Damage Tokens on Remaining Heroes: 0
Victory Points Earned: 3
Number of Rounds Completed: 5

Game 3 Result: 83
Final Threat Level: 35
Threat Cost of Each Dead Hero: 0
Damage Tokens on Remaining Heroes: 1
Victory Points Earned: 3
Number of Rounds Completed: 5

Total Score: 86,33

Cards used: everything incl. TWitW, one core set

The goal of this deck is to open Durin's Door which makes it a bit less flexible than my previous deck (I changed Coragorn to Loragorn and was able to finish the game in both ways), but as long as it is effective I won't complain. Gléowine helps a lot, of course. I had him in the first two games and thus only little problems to open the door. More important, however, are cards like "Shadow in the Past" and "Rumour from the Earth". I already pointed out in another thread how helpful Daughter of the Nimrodel is in this scenario.

Gandalf only appeared once, thankfully in the last round of game 1. In his absence Radagast helped my fellwoship to progress quickly through the quest.

juicebox said:

Hey Juice,

Thanks for the welcome and the catch. I double checked my quest log and the score of 98 is correct. I had 2 damage on heroes that I forgot to type in.

Shady Rick said:

Excellent… we're all set then. Thanks!

Heroes: Frodo Baggins. Bilbo Baggins, Loragorn

Game 1 Result: 59
Final Threat Level: 19
Threat Cost of Each Dead Hero: 0
Damage Tokens on Remaining Heroes: 3
Victory Points Earned: 3
Number of Rounds Completed: 4

Game 2 Result: 79
Final Threat Level: 22
Threat Cost of Each Dead Hero: 0
Damage Tokens on Remaining Heroes: 0
Victory Points Earned: 3
Number of Rounds Completed: 6

Game 3 Result: 98
Final Threat Level: 29
Threat Cost of Each Dead Hero: 0
Damage Tokens on Remaining Heroes: 2
Victory Points Earned: 3
Number of Rounds Completed: 7

Total Score: 78,67

Cards used: everything incl. TWitW, one core set

Inspired by a discussion about Glaurung's "Deck to beat them all" I built a deck around Arwen, Daughter of the Nimrodel, Fast Hitch, Burning Brand and Protector of Lórien. The other importnat cards are Rumour from the Earth and Shadow of the Past, which both allow me to open the door quite easily. I think I can still get a better result, as the third game was rather disappointing.

Frodo + Loragorn is an awesome combo. It allows me to take three undefended attacks during the first two rounds. By round 3 my defense is usually aready standing. Frodo can take 4-5 undefended attacks before Loragorn sets back my threat level.

In case I am not able to provide Bilbo with the needed attachments (like in game 3) I can still play Gildor Inglorion to block one enemy. The deck is more flexible than it might seem, especially as Bilbo provides you with enough cards so that I usually get the ones I need. In one of the most awesome games I managed to survive against all three Mountain Wargs, two of them entering the game very early. That game made Daughter of the Nimordel sweat…

Heroes: Eowyn, Dúnhere, Boromir

Game 1 Result: 121
Final Threat Level: 23
Threat Cost of Each Dead Hero: 0
Damage Tokens on Remaining Heroes: 11
Victory Points Earned: 3
Number of Rounds Completed: 9

Game 2 Result: 79
Final Threat Level: 25
Threat Cost of Each Dead Hero: 0
Damage Tokens on Remaining Heroes: 7
Victory Points Earned: 3
Number of Rounds Completed: 5

Game 3 Result: 96
Final Threat Level: 32
Threat Cost of Each Dead Hero: 0
Damage Tokens on Remaining Heroes: 7
Victory Points Earned: 3
Number of Rounds Completed: 6

Total Score: 98,667

Card Pool: Core x3, all AP including WitW

Posting Your Results (Optional Information):

This may prove to be not the best deck for this quest, but it went ok for me. All three times I went for the Watcher, using Gandalf, and Unseen Strike as the main help to put him down with a single attack (with Boromir, Dunhere, a Dwarven Axe, some ally… ). It was easier than I thought. First time I got a lot of locations, and lasted longer. Boromir got a Citadel Plate and helped taking some attacks without problems. The second was the fastest, and the third showed with Arwen and Gandalf in my hand, so I managed quite well.

Now that I played it, Dúnhere is not of much help here, due to the low engagement cost of all these tentacles, and I missed some Lore. So, I will try it with another decks.

Heroes: Aragorn (Lore), Elrohir, Elladan

Game 1 Result: 94
Final Threat Level: 37
Threat Cost of Each Dead Hero: 0
Damage Tokens on Remaining Heroes:
Victory Points Earned: 3
Number of Rounds Completed: 6

Game 2 Result: 109
Final Threat Level: 32
Threat Cost of Each Dead Hero: 0
Damage Tokens on Remaining Heroes:
Victory Points Earned: 3
Number of Rounds Completed: 8

Game 3 Result: 69
Final Threat Level: 32
Threat Cost of Each Dead Hero: 0
Damage Tokens on Remaining Heroes:
Victory Points Earned: 3
Number of Rounds Completed: 4

Total Score: 90,667

Card Pool: Core x3, all AP including WitW

Posting Your Results (Optional Information):

Another try with better results. For this series I used a Quatri-sphere deck, using Aragorn for questing (and reseting my threat when the time comes), and the twins to take care of all these annoying tentacles. Again I opted to kill the Watcher, using Gandalf, Sneak Attack if possible, and Hail of Stones to finish him. It hasn't proved quite difficult after all. The daughters of Nimrodel and self preservation helped me to maintain my heroes unharmed.

juicebox said:

Robert McMutton said:

Hey, juicebox, I think you have registered wrongly my results. My best score so far for this quest is 90,667 as you can see above. Although is nice being the first of the board for a quest, it isn't fair is I haven't deserved it yet .

Again, thanks for the great job, pal. Greetings.

Robert McMutton said:

Woah, great catch. Thanks!

Fixing…

Heroes: Aragorn (Lore), Théodred, Boromir

Game 1 Result: 90
Final Threat Level: 28
Threat Cost of Each Dead Hero: 0
Damage Tokens on Remaining Heroes: 5
Victory Points Earned: 3
Number of Rounds Completed: 6

Game 2 Result: 65
Final Threat Level: 25
Threat Cost of Each Dead Hero: 0
Damage Tokens on Remaining Heroes: 3
Victory Points Earned: 3
Number of Rounds Completed: 4

Game 3 Result: 47
Final Threat Level: 17
Threat Cost of Each Dead Hero: 0
Damage Tokens on Remaining Heroes: 3
Victory Points Earned: 3
Number of Rounds Completed: 3

Total Score: 67,333

Ok, now I got it, juicebox. I made a nice quatri-sphere deck, tweaking the last one replacing the twins with Théodred and Boromir, and I got better results and felt more at ease with it. The last game was in fact very easy, because I had a lot of luck with the encounters, and with my hand too. Hail of Stones is my favourite to kill the Watcher, although in this last game I went for the Doors with Hennamarth easily.

Heroes: Aragorn (Lore), Beravor, Theodred

Game 1 Result: 125
Final Threat Level: 18
Threat Cost of Each Dead Hero: 0
Damage Tokens on Remaining Heroes: 0
Victory Points Earned: 3
Number of Rounds Completed: 11

Game 2 Result: 88
Final Threat Level: 19
Threat Cost of Each Dead Hero: 0
Damage Tokens on Remaining Heroes:2
Victory Points Earned: 3
Number of Rounds Completed: 7

Game 3 Result: 91
Final Threat Level: 14
Threat Cost of Each Dead Hero: 10
Damage Tokens on Remaining Heroes: 0
Victory Points Earned: 3
Number of Rounds Completed: 7

Posting Your Results (Optional Information): Cards from 3 x Core + all packs up to and including TWITW. I won via the Doors of Durin every time, with the aid of Henemarth and Shadow of the Past. Daughter of the Nimrodel was vital to keeping my heroes alive as leptokurt has written elsewhere.

Went not that good……but at least I have a first entry.

Game 3 had me discarding Sneak Attack and revealing Black Ururks to get rid of the Doors. ( Works only in German)

Heroes: Aragorn (Lore), Elladan, Elrohir

Heroes: Glorfindel (Spirit), Frodo, Denethor

Game 1 Result: 62
Final Threat Level: 25
Threat Cost of Each Dead Hero: 0
Damage Tokens on Remaining Heroes: 0
Victory Points Earned: 3
Number of Rounds Completed: 4

Game 2 Result: 84
Final Threat Level: 22
Threat Cost of Each Dead Hero: 15
Damage Tokens on Remaining Heroes: 0
Victory Points Earned: 3
Number of Rounds Completed: 5

Game 3 Result: 69
Final Threat Level: 31
Threat Cost of Each Dead Hero: 7
Damage Tokens on Remaining Heroes: 4
Victory Points Earned: 3
Number of Rounds Completed: 3

Total Score: 71.66

What kills me is that I scored a 43 the first game I played but then lost twice in a row. This was designed to just push through as fast as possible and get through the doors with the Watcher being none the wiser. The key was to have some 2 willpower questers out right away and make sure I had a couple S and T cards in my hand. Fast Hitch and Unexpected courage helped a lot on Frodo and Denethor. Glorfindel really didn't contribute a lot apart from his willpower and killing the occasional Tentacle. This was not a very reliable deck (but high scoring decks rarely are, right?) and relied heavily on not getting too many tentacles out, but it was sure fun when I got that 43!

Heroes: Bifur, Dain, Glorfindel (FoS)

Heroes: Dain Ironfoot/Bifur/Thalin

Game 1 Result: (Report Final Score or Loss) 83
Final Threat Level: 33
Threat Cost of Each Dead Hero: 0
Damage Tokens on Remaining Heroes: 3
Victory Points Earned: 3
Number of Rounds Completed: 5

Game 2 Result: (Report Final Score or Loss)Loss
Final Threat Level:
Threat Cost of Each Dead Hero:
Damage Tokens on Remaining Heroes:
Victory Points Earned:
Number of Rounds Completed:

Game 3 Result: (Report Final Score or Loss)Loss
Final Threat Level:
Threat Cost of Each Dead Hero:
Damage Tokens on Remaining Heroes:
Victory Points Earned:
Number of Rounds Completed:

Posting Your Results (Optional Information): Game 1 finished by defeating the Watcher. Card pool is 1x core set plus all the AP and expansions up to Hobbit Saga 1. I'll probably try again later.

Heroes: Denethor, Elrond, Glorfindel(Foundations of Stone)

Game 1 Result: 81
Final Threat Level: 34
Threat Cost of Each Dead Hero: 0
Damage Tokens on Remaining Heroes: 0
Victory Points Earned: 3
Number of Rounds Completed: 5

Game 2 Result: 149
Final Threat Level: 29
Threat Cost of Each Dead Hero: 0
Damage Tokens on Remaining Heroes: 0
Victory Points Earned: 3
Number of Rounds Completed: 12

Game 3 Result: Loss
Final Threat Level:
Threat Cost of Each Dead Hero:
Damage Tokens on Remaining Heroes:
Victory Points Earned:
Number of Rounds Completed:

Total Score: 172.5

Posting Your Results:

My pool was all the cards from Core-Dwarrowdelf only buying 1 of each product. The strategy of my deck was to be able to manipulate the encounter deck as much as possible in order to reach stage two, and then complete it as quickly as possible. Shadow of the Past was my win condition card for exploring Durin's Gate.

The second game took longer because I wasn't drawing any of my cards that shared the first letter with cards in the encounter discard pile. I was able to Forest Snare The Watcher in that game, which was pretty fun and helped me survive until I drew the right card. The last game was kind of a no-win scenario with Doomed 5 and Mountain Wargs for Setup and the Striking Tentacle from questing. Denethor needed to block and was killed due to shadow effects on round 1. The Striking Tentacle was unblockable on round 2, so my two remaining heroes fell to the tentacle and the Warg.

Heroes: Ori, Dáin Ironfoot, Thorin Oakenshield

Game 1 Result: 74
Final Threat Level: 30
Threat Cost of Each Dead Hero: 0
Damage Tokens on Remaining Heroes: 7
Victory Points Earned: 3
Number of Rounds Completed: 4

Game 2 Result: 94
Final Threat Level: 40
Threat Cost of Each Dead Hero: 0
Damage Tokens on Remaining Heroes: 7
Victory Points Earned: 3
Number of Rounds Completed: 4

Game 3 Result: 72
Final Threat Level: 30
Threat Cost of Each Dead Hero: 0
Damage Tokens on Remaining Heroes: 5
Victory Points Earned: 3
Number of Rounds Completed: 4

Total score: 80

2 Core Sets, all expansions including The Hobbit.

This scenario was easier than I thought it would be. However in game two it looked really bad from early on. I made a poor choice in the first round that cost me a valuable resource, then I got hit twice by Bitter Wind, so I never seemed to get any resources. My threat was up to 45 at one point, but I still made it!
In all three games Thorin had to take 4 wounds from an undefended Striking Tentacle attack. Luckily dwarves are tough!

I must say I really like the riddle mechanic in this scenario, even though it is random. It makes you think twice when deciding which cards to play and which cards to save in your hand.

Heroes: Ori, Dáin Ironfoot, Thorin Oakenshield

Game 1 Result: 64
Final Threat Level: 36
Threat Cost of Each Dead Hero: 0
Damage Tokens on Remaining Heroes: 1
Victory Points Earned: 3
Number of Rounds Completed: 3

Game 2 Result: 64
Final Threat Level: 36
Threat Cost of Each Dead Hero: 0
Damage Tokens on Remaining Heroes: 1
Victory Points Earned: 3
Number of Rounds Completed: 3

Game 3 Result: 60
Final Threat Level: 29
Threat Cost of Each Dead Hero: 0
Damage Tokens on Remaining Heroes: 4
Victory Points Earned: 3
Number of Rounds Completed: 3

Total score: 62,66

2 Core Sets, all expansions including The Hobbit.

I made another try with a slightly modified deck and this time it went much better. All three games went very similar, in the first two I even got the same score! I had more luck with the striking tentacles this time too, which meant I didn't have to face any undefended attacks. In the last game Dain nearly got killed anyway when Ill Purpose showed up as a shadow card. Ouch! Luckily dwarves are tough…

Oh no! I had another look at the Watcher in the Water card yesterday and realized I have playing this wrong all along. I had totally forgot the Watcher's ability to deal 3 damage to a character each turn. It wouldn't had made any difference to the scoring for the last game, but since I am not 100 % sure about the other games I guess my previous entries are not valid.

Guess I just have to try again then…

Heroes: Ori, Dáin Ironfoot, Thorin Oakenshield

Game 1 Result: 56
Final Threat Level: 33
Threat Cost of Each Dead Hero: 0
Damage Tokens on Remaining Heroes: 6
Victory Points Earned: 3
Number of Rounds Completed: 2

Game 2 Result: 67
Final Threat Level: 35
Threat Cost of Each Dead Hero: 0
Damage Tokens on Remaining Heroes: 5
Victory Points Earned: 3
Number of Rounds Completed: 3

Game 3 Result: 91
Final Threat Level: 36
Threat Cost of Each Dead Hero: 0
Damage Tokens on Remaining Heroes: 8
Victory Points Earned: 3
Number of Rounds Completed: 5

Total score: 71,33

2 Core Sets, all expansions including The Hobbit.

This time the Doors of Durin didn't swing open as easily as in my previous attempts. In none of the games the top card of the encounter deck matched a card in my hand when I peeked at it with Longbeard Elder in the questing phase. Therefore I had to take a chance and emptied all of my hand after the encounter card had been revealed in the hope that the next card in the deck would open the doors for me, and it worked in the first two games! In the last game I had to wait another round and have another ally killed by the watcher and then discarded the only card in my hand, a "We are not Idle", and luckily the encounter card was "Wrapped".