A competitive Middle-earth deckbuilder: grow your hero's deck on the road to Mount Doom and out-score the rest of the Fellowship.
You take the role of Frodo, Gandalf, Aragorn or another hero of the Fellowship, and you fight your way toward Mount Doom one card at a time. Each of the seven heroes, among them Legolas, Gimli, Samwise and Boromir, comes with a special power only that player can use. Everyone starts with their own basic ten-card deck and draws five, then buys stronger cards and uses them to defeat the forces of Sauron. When the dust settles, the player with the most victory points in their deck wins. This is competitive deckbuilding with Middle-earth flavor rather than a co-op quest: you travel together but still keep score against each other.
Who it's for
You are a Tolkien fan who likes deckbuilders and wants a compact competitive session of about half an hour.
Not for you if…
You hoped for a cooperative quest or deep new mechanics. It is a classic competitive deckbuilder with a Middle-earth skin.
Vibe's take
Brisk and familiar for anyone who has built a deck before. You buy the cards that sing with your hero's power and watch the rest of the table do the same.
older than 70% of games
collected more than 41% of games
Best with 3 or 4 · publisher: 15+
shorter than 69% of games · typical 30–90 min
One warm-up round · 2.1 out of 5 · heavier than 55%
Some love it, others really don’t
Text on cards or in the rules