by dalestephenson
Welcome to the LOTR Solo League. This month we'll be playing three quests from the Hobbit Saga. The quests are:
1) Over the Misty Mountains Grim (OHUH)
2) Flies and Spiders (OtDS)
3) The Battle of Five Armies (OtDS)
Here are the rules:
1) Each player will construct a 50+ card deck, then use that exact deck against all three quests. You may use that deck freely against any quests (include the three quests in the league) prior to the run for testing purposes, but you may not use any trial runs for your official results.
2) At least one of the heroes must be from a box with those quests. This means that you must have at least one of Thorin, Beorn, Ori, Nori, Balin, Oin, Bard, and Bombur
3) Your score against each quest will be how much help you need to defeat it, based on the Grace of the Valar variant invented by Seastan. It works like this:
For each token you have, after you draw/mulligan your initial hand you can choose to draw a card or give a hero a resource. This happens one at a time, so if I use my first token to draw a card, I see the card before I decide whether to use my second token for a card or a resource.
The original variant starts at zero tokens and gains two tokens if you lose quickly (first five turns) and one if you do not -- however, for the purposes of this league I will allow you to start a quest at any number of tokens, and adjust by as many as you want. The only rules for adding/reducing tokens are these:
Rule 1) If you lose a quest with X tokens, you cannot play that quest again with X or less tokens.
Rule 2) If you defeat a quest with Y tokens, you cannot play that quest again with Y or more tokens.
So for example, if I start with six tokens against Over the Misty Mountains Grim and defeat it, I can play it again with 0-5 tokens. If I then try with three tokens and lose, I can play it again with 4 or 5 tokens. If I try with four and lose, I can play it again with 5 tokens. If I win, my final score for that quest is 5, and if I lose my final score for the quest is 6. (Alternatively, I could've decided that 6 was a good enough score the first time I played it, and just have my final score be 6 without playing again.)
Remember that tokens do not carry over between quests. When playing The Battle of Five Armies it does not matter how many tokens I needed to defeat Spiders and Flies.
4) You are not required to publish your deck, but providing a ringsdb link is encouraged (otherwise I may need to ask you for your decklist at the end of the month if required for a tiebreaker). You are required to reveal which Heroes you used, and how many cards in your deck came from outside Hobbit saga, GH/Dreamchaser and a single core. Do not include outside heroes in this count, only cards in the deck itself.
5) Tiebreakers have frequently mattered and decided last month's league. Here are the tiebreakers, in order:
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1st) The number of outside cards (i.e. not from Hobbit saga, GH/Dreamchaser or a single core) used in the deck. Do not count outside heroes in this count, only cards in the deck. Less cards is better.
2nd) The number of heroes specifically from Hobbit saga or GH/Dreamchaser. More is better.
3rd) The number of heroes used from the Hobbit saga. More is better.
4th) The number of cards in the deck outside Hobbit saga and GH/Dreamchaser. Less is better, and core cards are considered "outside" for this tiebreaker.
5th) The number of cards outside Hobbit saga. Less is better, and core cards are considered "outside" for this tiebreaker.
6th) Performance in December's Solo League (if you didn't play or finish October's League, a median performance will be assumed). Whoever did worst wins this tiebreaker.
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6) 1st place gets to choose the cycle for March's league, 2nd place gets to choose a quest from that cycle, and 3rd place gets to choose a quest *not* to be used from that cycle. In an effort to expand the diversity of decks used, the last place player will choose an additional cycle that may be used for deckbuilding in March's league. February's cycle will be chosen by the winner of December's league.
7) Weekly deadlines will be on Monday at 11pm Eastern. Only the final deadline really matters for scoring (and it can be delayed if requested) -- the first two deadlines are only to be included in intermediate standings.
Over the Misty Mountains Grim: January 13th
Spiders and Flies: January 20th
The Battle of Five Armies: January 27th
8) I've created a google spreadsheet for results here:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1pemKSSKckPdrWYovc1jA...To join the league, merely add your name and information about your deck to the spreadsheet, then enter your results as you have them. Please give a link to your deck if you built or published it on ringsdb, but it is not required.
If you wish you may run additional decks against the quests and record your results (I hope to do this), but only the first entry will be considered for the competition itself.
IMPORTANT NOTE: For these three quests, assume that you were able to get all the treasures in previous quests. So for the 2nd and 4th quest you have Glamdring, Sting, and Orcrist, and for the final quest you also have Mithril Shirt, Arkenstone, Thror's Golden Cup, Thror's Hunting Bow, and Thror's Battle Axe. (This means if you want the Necklace of Girion, you need to use the guarded attachment). You are not required to add any of these treasures to your deck, and none of them (or the Magic Ring, which you must have in your deck for the 2nd and 3rd quests) count against the 50-card minimum.
