Category Archives: Key Concepts

Key Concepts: Surviving the Early Game Part 4 – Lore

Posted on September 2, 2021 by Beorn

Our adventure of early game survival has taken twists and turns, and finally we round the bend and arrive at the last of the spheres. Lore is not the easiest sphere to play. Many of the sphere’s strengths could be … Continue reading →

Posted in A Long-extended Party, Aggro, Archetypes, Combo, Community, Contract, Control, Key Concepts, Multiplayer, Play Style, Series, Solo, Tribal | Tagged Asfaloth, Beravor, Card Draw, Control, Daeron's Runes, Deep Knowledge, Deeping Defender, Drinking Song, Early Game, Encounter Deck Control, Erestor, Fatty Bolger, Galadhrim Minstrel, Galdor of the Havens, Healing, Heed the Dream, Key Concepts, Lembas, Master of the Forge, Protector of Lorien, Readying, Scout Ahead, Thurindir, Victory Display, Warden of Healing, Wingfoot | Leave a comment

Key Concepts: Surviving the Early Game Part 3 – Spirit

Posted on August 24, 2021 by Beorn

The early game survival series continues. In this installment, we highlight some early round strategies for the the Spirit sphere. For those who want a to review previous articles, see discussions of the Leadership and Tactics spheres. Spirit started strong … Continue reading →

Posted in Aggro, Archetypes, Combo, Contract, Control, Key Concepts, Series | Tagged A Long-extended Party, A Test of Will, Ally Mustering, Arwen Undomiel, Attack, Card Draw, Combat, Dain Ironfoot, Defense, Defiant Challenge, Doomed, Double Back, Early Game, Early-Game, Elrond's Counsel, Elven-light, Eowyn, Escort from Edoras, Imladris Stargazer, Key Concepts, Lothiriel, Miruvor, Multiplayer, Questing, Readying, Resource Acceleration, Search, Silver Circlet, Solo, Spirit, Unexpected Courage, Westfold Horse-breeder, Widfast | 1 Comment

Key Concepts: Surviving the Early Game Part 2 – Tactics

Posted on August 1, 2021 by Beorn

Part one focused on Leadership cards to help survive the early game. We continue the series with the Tactics sphere. For most of the life of the game Tactics was fairly one-dimensional. It had characters with excellent attack and defense, … Continue reading →

Posted in A Long-extended Party, Aggro, Archetypes, Combo, Community, Key Concepts, Mono-Sphere, Power, Series, Theme, Tribal | Tagged Beorn, Beregond, Boromir, Combat Control, Community, Deck Building, Early Game, Eowyn, Fantasy Flight Games, Key Concepts, Living Card Games, Lord of the Rings LCG, Prince Imrahil, Readying, Strategy, Tactics, The Lord of the Rings LCG, Tolkien, Traps | 2 Comments

Key Concepts: Surviving the Early Game Part 1 – Leadership

Posted on July 20, 2021 by Beorn

In my earlier key concepts article about timing, I described how player cards can be categorized into early game, middle game, and late game. Obviously, most staples are worth playing at any time during the game, but some cards are … Continue reading →

Posted in A Long-extended Party, Aggro, Combo, Community, Contract, Control, Key Concepts, Mono-Sphere, Power, Series, Theme | Tagged Card Draw, Card Search, Combat Control, Community, Deck Building, Early Game, Efficiency, Fantasy Flight Games, Hero Abilities, Key Concepts, Leadership, Living Card Games, Lord of the Rings LCG, Low Cost Cards, Readying, Resource Acceleration, Secrecy, Setup Effects, Strategy, The Lord of the Rings LCG, Timing, Tolkien | 4 Comments

Key Concepts: Learning How to Lose

Posted on March 6, 2021 by Beorn

At times like these it can be tempting for a bear to hole up in his cave and hibernate. While waiting for my turn to receive the vaccine I’ve had to find alternative venues in which to enjoy board and … Continue reading →

Posted in Community, Key Concepts, Multiplayer, New Players, Play Style, Series, Solo | Tagged Aggro, Bad Luck, Combat, Deckbuilding, Difficulty, Digital vs Physical, Easy Mode, Fantasy Flight Games, Key Concepts, Learning, Living Card Games, Lords of Waterdeep, Losing, Luck, Metagame, Mulligan, Nightmare Mode, Player Side Quests, Questing, Setup, Standard Mode, Starting Threat, Steam, Strategy, The Lord of the Rings LCG, The One Ring, Through the Ages, Tolkien, Treachery Cancelation, Turtle, Video Games | 1 Comment

Guest Author: Nightmare Conflict at the Carrock on Vision of the Palantir

Posted on July 11, 2020 by Beorn

Durin’s Father has graciously invited me to write a narrative-based review of Nightmare Conflict at the Carrock, over on Vision of the Palantir. For anyone who likes brave tales of bears and eagles and wizards, or who just wants a … Continue reading →

Posted in Community, Key Concepts, Multiplayer, Nightmare, Series, Writing | Tagged Beorn, Community, Conflict at the Carrock, Deck Building, Durin's Father, Fantasy Flight Games, Guest Author, Key Concepts, Living Card Games, Nightmare Conflict at the Carrock, Strategy, The Lord of the Rings LCG, Tolkien, Trolls, Vision of the Palantir | Leave a comment

Alternate Art: Grimbeorn’s Path

Posted on May 4, 2020 by Beorn

For a while now I’ve wanted to create a saga deck with the latest card pool and play through all of the quests in a full campaign. It should come as no surprise that I wanted to build a deck … Continue reading →

Posted in Aggro, Alternate-Art, Art, Community, Contract, Decks, Key Concepts, Power, Solo | Tagged A Test of Will, Aggro, Alan Lee, Alternate-Art, Armored Destrier, Arwen Undomiel, Beornings, Blood of Númenor, Card Draw, Celebrant's Stone, Contract, Deck Building, Elrond's Counsel, Elven Spear, Elven-light, Fantasy Flight Games, Forth the Three Hunters, Gildor Inglorion, Golden Belt, Gondorian Fire, Gondorian Shield, Grimbeorn the Old, Heroes Only Decks, Legendarium, Light of Valinor, Living Card Games, Low Character Count Decks, No Allies, Open the Armory, Power Deck, Readying, Resource Acceleration, Restricted Attachments, Rohan Warhorse, Round Shield, Saga, Saga Quests, Silver Circlet, Steed of Imladris, Steward of Gondor, Strategy, Strider, The Lord of the Rings LCG, Tolkien, Unexpected Courage, War Axe, Windfola | 3 Comments

Key Concepts: Sideboarding

Posted on March 15, 2015 by Beorn

Observant readers may have noticed that my recent deck lists have included a “sideboard”. For those unfamiliar with this term – prevalent in competitive card games – allow me to explain. A sideboard is a list of cards that are not … Continue reading →

Posted in Key Concepts, Series | Tagged Condition Attachments, Deck Building, Fantasy Flight Games, Living Card Games, Lord of the Rings LCG, Quest Specific Counters, Sideboard, Situational Cards, Strategy, Support, Tolkien, Treacheries | 11 Comments

Key Concepts: Grading

Posted on September 13, 2014 by Beorn

Whether it is movies, books, or college professors a simple 1 to 5 star grading system is woefully one-dimensional. The reality is that anything worth grading in the first place, is worth analyzing with a bit more nuance than five choices. With … Continue reading →

Posted in Community, Key Concepts, Metagame | Tagged Fantasy Flight Games, Grading, Key Concepts, Living Card Games, Lord of the Rings LCG, Metagame, Relative Value, Situational Cards, Strategy, Tolkien | 31 Comments

Key Concepts: Splashing

Posted on April 16, 2014 by Beorn

While mono-sphere decks can be very powerful, a deck is often even more effective if you include one hero from another sphere. Adding just a bit of another sphere is known as splashing. The reason why splashing can improve a … Continue reading →