Yeah lol Hobbit was done years ago but I tweaked Bilbo, Thorin and especially Smaug because of this set.

I also made some final changes to Isildur.

Glad to hear that the bad guys could get a win against the big two good guy decks. I haven’t played any more since my last report as other games have been taking up my time these days.

So, I guess for the time being this set is “done”; or at least as done as any Epic Duels deck can be. 😀

Shortly after posting this I ran another play test and Sauron and the Eye pretty much mopped up Elrond and Isildur. Mainly, they killed Isildur before he did much and Elrond couldn’t do enough on his own.

I’m actually adjusting Smaug’s DRAGON SCALES to make them a little better, but I think I’m happy with the LOTR Legends set the way it is.

Great report! I actually like hearing about Pippin coming through with PALANTIR. It’s like he kinda sucks but that’s a good card for him to have. It’s really cool to hear that Treebeard and the Eye of Sauron are fun, because if they are then this is a great set. The other decks are all fun because they all have these huge moves.

For now I’m removing BLADE OF THE HIGH KING and just giving him a 3rd COURAGE OF MEN but that’s a good card too. I feel like removing an attack card, though, would take a lot away from him. If we really need to water him down we could give him some kind of movement & draw cards or something but at least he’s fun this way. I thought about reducing Elrond’s A11 too but it’s his only big move, shouldn’t he have one big move? They’re fun decks to play, and yes, they’re tough and so is Gandalf, but so are Sauron, Smaug, Balrog and the Eye, even though they seem to keep coming up short.

Team Left (Aragorn and Smaug) vs. Team Right (Sauron and Gandalf)

The luck of the draw seemed to pick favorites early with Sauron drawing INVINCIBLE on his second turn and Aragorn drawing SHARDS on his second turn. Gandalf was steady as always, which helped Sauron immensely.
Smaug’s MY BREATH IS DEATH and FIERY EXPLOSION combo went off pretty often, taking out the Orcs early and nearly killing Pippin. As I’ve seen before POWER OF THE RING laughed off BREATHE, but in an odd reversal DARK MACE was stopped by a DRAGONSCALES and THERE IS ALWAYS HOPE, which put Aragorn one draw away from an A9 ANDURIL.
It was at this critical juncture that Sauron had to make a choice to use INVINCIBLE or not and hope that Aragon didn’t have his last A1/D4 which would leave the king with 1 HP remaining and Sauron defenseless against the ANDURIL that Aragorn had been holding back while he bluffed out Sauron’s defense. Sauron took the chance and killed Aragon who only had a D3 and with Arwen already gone, Smaug wasn’t able to win the 2v1, although, he made Sauron pay by bringing him down to 2 HP, but Gandalf was still strong and in the end, the ignored nearly dead Pippin used his PALANTIR to find the STAFF OF LIGHT, which cleaned up what was left of Team Left.

Isildur and Treebeard vs. Sauron and Eye of Sauron

After seeing this match, I agree that Isildur might be too tough. Because of a daring and bold assault by The Mouth, Elendil did nothing except power up a COURAGE OF MEN (although Mouth didn’t last long after that.) Any decent Epic Duels player knows how to arrange their characters to avoid THERMAL DETENATOR like cards, but some will need to take a few lumps in order to do the same with RELEASE THE RIVER, which came up big, hitting Sauron, his Mouth, and an Orc. Sauron didn’t draw into his POWER OF THE RING until he had already been wailed on by Isildur’s A8s (all 3 of them!) and Treebeard managed to get an A8 NASTY LITTLE ORC through finishing the Dark Lord off although not before he knocked off quite a lot of bark off the Ent with twin DARK MACEs. The orcs of Mordor evidently built the Tower of Barad-Dur to last, as the Eye was able to survive the 2v1 for several turns in which he finished off Treebeard, but ultimately Isildur and the Ents won the day.

-Treebeard actually had a pretty great game even if he didn’t survive to the end.
-Sauron had a bad game with playing two DARK MACEs against Treebeard being his only contribution. He could have played INVINCIBLE, but since he had a POWER OF THE RING in hand it didn’t seem like the best move.
-The Eye is a deck I’ve actually come to like a lot. In this duel he had as good a duel as any.
-Isildur could stand to lose his BLADE OF THE HIGH KING although I’m at a loss right now as to what to replace it with.

Elrond and Isildur won, and I tried to help Sauron and Smaug as much as I could, letting Smaug’s big MY TEETH ARE SWORDS get through for A10 on Elrond. Sauron didn’t get a great draw. He got the new A12 early, but it’s not a good card in the thick of the game since you can’t defend. He got off a big DARK MACE and a pair of MALICE AND HATE but it wasn’t quite enough to counter Isildur’s A8 and A12. He and Isildur basically canceled each other out, leaving Elrond to face Smaug. Elrond is just so very tough and played a patient game waiting for WEAK SPOT so he could carve Smaug up with his A11. In the end it came down to Elrond’s Elf Archer facing Smaug with 1 HP and both Fire Pillars, but he took them all down without really breaking a sweat. Those strong minors make a big difference. The new Sauron isn’t too strong, I can tell you that. Isildur might need to be toned down a little. I don’t know if he needs BLADE OF THE HIGH KING, he already has STRENGTH OF MANY as a potential big attack plus his A12. Elrond is just so very tough.