QOTW: Foundations of Stone

‘Long I fell, and he fell with me. His fire was about me. I was burned. Then we plunged into the deep water and all was dark. Cold it was as the tide of death: almost it froze my heart.’

‘Deep is the abyss that is spanned by Durin’s Bridge, and none has measured it,’ said Gimli.

‘Yet is has a bottom, beyond light and knowledge,’ said Gandalf. ‘Thither I came at last, to the uttermost foundations of stone… We fought far under the living earth, where time is not counted. Ever he clutched me, and ever I hewed him, till at last he fled into dark tunnels. They were not made by Durin’s folk, Gimli son of Glóin. Far, far below the deepest delvings of the Dwarves, the world is gnawed by nameless things. Even Sauron knows them not. They are older than he. Now I have walked there, but I will bring no report to darken the light of day.’
–The Two Towers

This is one of my favorite quests in the game, and this is one of my favorite passages in the Lord of the Rings. It hints at dark Lovecraftian horrors in the depths of the earth that are older than the very Maiar that entered into the circles of the world at the beginning of time. It is a textual ruin that taunts the reader and asks them to imagine the worst, because Tolkien won’t provide any more details, ever.

My first time playing this quest was the moment I remember truly and deeply falling in love with this game. That the game could take you down into those unspoken depths to explore those horrors hinted at by Tolkien was an amazing revelation to me. I couldn’t wait to play more, to explore more of Middle-earth’s dark and mysterious corners.

Foundations of Stone Stats

Groups registered: 15
Total attempts: 25
Most attempts: 5
Average attempts per entry: 1.7

Total number of wins: 21
Win-rate: 84%

Average opinion on the quest: 4.4

Achievements

Here are the achievements we had for this quest:

Not Getting Off That Easy

Forced: If a card with a printed cost of 0 is attached to a Nameless enemy from the top of a player’s deck, attach an additional card from the top of that player’s deck.

Aquaphobia

Forced: When stage 3B is revealed, discard all Mount and Artifact cards from play. Each player must also discard allies they control until the total printed cost of allies they control is 6 or less.

Encounter Card Opinions

The winner of “favorite encounter card” this week is Durin’s Axe. You won’t find this card until you are washed down to the depths of the earth, so this can be a very nice way to get your board set back up. The narrative implications have always fascinated me too. We find Durin’s Axe “far below the deepest delvings of the dwarves,” and yet here is an axe of legend. Was one of the Durins (for many kings of the Dwarves took that name) taken down here by the Nameless Fear? Did he voluntarily plumb the depths to seek revenge on the darkness below? We can delve into these unexplored corners of Middle-earth, but more questions always arise.

We had no cards again this week that appeared on both lists.

The winner for “least favorite encounter card” this week was Lost and Alone. This card is one of the most unique “lost a hero” cards in the entire game. It shuffles them into your deck, which is SO weird. Watch out for the nameless things, which may cause you to permanently lose that hero by stealing them from the top of your deck. The shadow effect here is also really nasty.

Things worth sharing from the games

I took my Riddermark’s Finest deck through this one which is fairly well suited to this quest since it relies on a few critical attachments rather than many attachments. I stalled on stage 1 to build up a board state. Once I was ready, I quested through stage 2 in 1 round. At stage 3 I also discarded my mounts and artifacts (2 mounts) for the achievement. I had spare copies of my critical attachments in hand so it wasn’t too painful. Quest Stage 4B made me discard 7 resources. Immediately after that, Theoden became Lost and Alone then shortly after that I lost my hand to its shadow. I only came across a single Nameless enemy which I dispatched quickly with my Giant Bear and Loyal Hounds.

When playing this without both ranged and Thalin, playing Gandalf just to get rid of Bats, is a thing.

This quest is a lot of fun and well-suited for victory display shenanigans. In both of my playthroughs I ended up in Old One Lair and The Endless Caves, with my main Silvan deck hiding from and questing through the Nameless Things and the secrecy deck questing to join them. The tensest moments were when Lost and Alone claimed Thranduil in my second attempt and it took ~5 rounds and intensive card draw to find him and keep him from getting attached to another Nameless Thing. He finally showed up and I quested out with Host of the Galadhrim!

Sam quested like a powerhouse with a Fireside Song. When I advanced to Stage 4, I received the Endless Caves (the easiest one!). Sam was easily able to avoid combat except for two enemies that engaged him: one was washed away, and the other attacked twice before Samwise the Strong quested past Stage 5B. Gotta love this classic scenario!

Encounter deck Combo’d me, my Lost and Alone hero got attached to a Nameless enemy and a 2nd Lost and Alone as a shadow discarded my hand

After listening to the latest CotR podcast, I tried some of the Noldor decks spotlighted. For this game, I used The BGamerJoe’s Noldor Attack Dol Guldur and it was super fun. I have not fully explored the Noldor archtype, and may go listen of the old seminar the podcast mentioned. I’ve been playing for 12 years now and there is still so much to learn–what a great game. The quest never really got out of control vs this deck, and I know I made many suboptimal plays.

First time ever playing this quest and my Stage 4B was the one requiring revealing 4 new cards. I couldn’t believe my eyes! I managed to scrape out of it thanks to having clear staging area before the additional cards and having the combat combination of Elladan and Elrohir. The Nameless Thing mechanic was very cool. All around great quest.

Quite a fun quest. I’d been workshopping a new Dúnedain deck and decided to test it on this quest, which I’d never played before. I knew that *something* was coming for one of the quest cards, but I didn’t know exactly what it would be. I had a Vigilant Dunadan and an Honour Guard as my allies I kept (from NM mode) into stage 4, where I discovered an Old One Lair. Keep Watch and the Vigilant Dunadan helped me weather the initial combat and take out the enemies that came with revealing 4 cards, even though that Dunadan would later be killed by an Elder Nameless Thing with 7 attack. I like the Nameless Things, that’s a design space that isn’t much used.

Playing last alliance of Beornings and Eagles, I had support of the eagles on Grimbeorn with Beorn in play, engaged with an Elder Nameless Thing with 17 cost-worth of cards stacked underneath. Triggered Beorn’s +5 attack, then targeted Support of the Eagles with the Last Alliance, exhausted Support to add Beorn’s 8 attack to Grimbeorn, and exhausted the two of them and an EotMM to attack for 22 and kill the Nameless Thing

Decklists used

The Riddermark’s Finest Finest Hour https://ringsdb.com/decklist/view/62554/theriddermarksfinestfinesthour-1.0

To Hunt a Balrog https://ringsdb.com/deck/view/637826

Hobbit BOF (https://ringsdb.com/deck/view/645730) + Oldies but goodies (https://ringsdb.com/deck/view/644643)

Beregond (sp), Erestor, Théoden (https://ringsdb.com/deck/view/630676) + Bilbo (tac), Thalin, Glador -not a very good fellowship deck, (https://ringsdb.com/deck/view/643418)

Ents: https://ringsdb.com/deck/view/520481

Silvans & Secrecy Fellowship (Celeborn, Galadriel, Thranduil & Rossiel, Glorfindel (Sp), Mirlonde) – https://ringsdb.com/deck/view/642461 & https://ringsdb.com/deck/view/642459

Sam Grey Wanderer Deck: https://ringsdb.com/decklist/view/63263/samwisethestrongqotwfoundationsofstone-1.0

Fellowship on stumbling legs – Arwen, Kahliel, Denethor (https://ringsdb.com/deck/view/624106) + The council of cancelling – Balin, Eleanor, Beorn (https://ringsdb.com/deck/view/637215)

Victory Display mono-lore, Bond of Friendship Hobbits w/ Tom Cotton

https://ringsdb.com/decklist/view/15407/noldorattackdolguldur-1.0

Progression: Elladan/Elrohir/Eowyn (https://ringsdb.com/deck/view/647416)

Bond of Friendship Dúnedain

To Hunt a Balrog https://ringsdb.com/deck/view/637826 and Autumn’s 3 Hunters for Wainriders https://ringsdb.com/deck/view/632108

Bond of Gloin [https://ringsdb.com/deck/view/628191]

Last alliance of Beornings and Eagles: https://ringsdb.com/decklist/view/63240/wingedguardianleviosa-1.0 Played two-handed with a few different decks

This week we have been playing the final quest of the cycle, Shadow and Flame. Once you have finished with your playthroughs, please fill in this form https://forms.gle/syyUUYG5eX8EQs2JA for the individual quest, and this form https://forms.gle/PSwg6w4QZ4fAYiVJ6 for the cycle as a whole.

If you want to share in the discussion of this quest live, join the Cardboard of the Rings discord and look for the Quest of the Week channel: https://discord.gg/5tkTeSCdxc

And for achievements for this quest, this is what we have: