The Line Unbroken – F7: Seat of Morgoth

I continue my journey through the First Age and come to The Seat of Morgoth, showing off one of the most dramatic and impressive moments Tolkien ever wrote, Beren and Luthien descending into the pits of Angband itself to take back one of the Silmarils from Morgoth’s crown. I have to give Ian major props for making this quest at all, because I’m sure if I tried to turn an event like that into a quest I’d just find myself paralysed feeling that it was too big and I’d never be able to do it justice. I mean this is Morgoth Bauglir, enemy of the world, root of all evil and corruption in all of Middle Earth. How do you even begin to design the cards that represent that?

In terms of the mechanics of the quest, it begins with some elements of Shadow and Flame with the low threat and boss enemy, and then there’s the Sneak tests which require discarding cards and the difficulty of dealing with Morgoth himself. Ways of dealing with a 15 attack enemy who attacks everyone every round. One notable point however is that Morgoth is not Relentless. This is a case where it can be worth (and I’ve done this before) using Leaguer to stop only one enemy – especially since Leaguer doesn’t have the equivalent to the Feint errata so as written, using Leaguer will stop him attacking each player, not just one.

The First and Greatest Alliance of Elves and Men

Heroes:
Beren
Finrod Felagund
Luthien

Allies (23):
Chieftain of Men x3
Beor x3
Hador x3
Haladin Woodsman x3
Barahir x1
Morwen x1
Tuor x1
Orodreth x2
Finduilas x3
Maedhros x1
Maglor x1
Caranthir x1

Attachments (15):
High Kingship of the Noldor x3
Shadowy Cloak x3
Ring of Barahir x3
Unexpected Courage x3
Oath of Friendship x2
Light of Valinor x1

Events (12):
A Test of Will x3
Valiant Sacrifice x3
Flame Light! Flee Night! x2
Strength of Men x2
The Day Has Come! x2

Thoughts: Starting from the very thematic hero lineup I obviously was brought to Edain, and then to my thoughts during the card reviews of using Strength of Men for big boosts to questing – which in turn requires me to bring some more Noldor for it to work and thus I pull out the Ring of Barahir (also a rather thematic choice) and throw in a few Mastery allies, as I have not included any Mastery heroes anywhere in these two decks. Beyond that, mostly just a bunch of standards. High Kingship will probably be played cross-table as I expect to have a plentiful supply of Leadership resources with two heroes one of whom is Beren. Luthien is likely to get an Oath of Friendship with the High King (or Queen, as it will actually be). The only thing this deck somewhat lacks is card draw, only the three copies of Valiant Sacrifice, and of course using Hador and Flame Light! Flee Night! will help thin out the deck. And hopefully the other deck can throw a bit of draw this way.

To Stand Against Morgoth

Heroes:
Idril Celebrindal
Ecthelion
Fingolfin

Allies (24):
Melian x3
Daeron x3
Gondolin Guard x3
Dwarf of the Blue Mountains x3
Green-elf Ranger x3
Huan x2
Huor x2
Miner of the Iron Hills x2
Telchar the Smith x2
Thorondor x1

Attachments (10):
Blue Shield x3
Ard-Galen Horse x3
Ringil x2
Rochallor x2

Events (16):
Feint x3
Leaguer x3
…And Yet A Warning x3
Secrets of Craft x3
Arts of Felagund x2
Secret Paths x2

Thoughts: This deck meanwhile is primarily focused on handling the combat aspects of the quest such as they are, and on helping us get past Morgoth without dying. As I said, High Kingship is intended to be played cross-table, specifically it’s to go on Idril, and in return Huan is intended to become a Mount attachment for either Beren or Luthien. While Ringil/Rochallor in some cases can be of limited use, here we’ll have low threat so enemies may well sit in the staging area, and I could potentially use Ringil to lower my threat a little if it’s not practical to kill them outright (which it may well not be). On the other side of things, a certain couple of objectives in this quest will allow Ecthelion to thoroughly go to town on some of the enemies. Secrets of Craft can get a limited amount of draw for either deck, but still worth it, and this deck obviously has Daeron. Arts of Felagund fits very well into decks for this quest since generally you want to avoid most of the enemies anyway.

Youtube video: Seat of Morgoth