Middle-Earth Arcade: Breakout 1.0

• Versions
• 1.0

Today you are the "location" guy. Yep, location control decks can get kind of boring. You know what's not boring? Atari's classic 1976 game Breakout! Progress tokens are round, just like Breakout's awesome little ball. Time for some fun!

Objective: put Ravenhill Scout into play with Northern Tracker ASAP. The earliest possible is round 2. Ideally, you've got Prince Imrahil in play when you discard Caldara, which will let you get two allies out of the discard pile. Round 2 can see you well set up with a Ravenhill Scout and 1-2 big allies on the table, as well as some 0-cost attachments floating around.

With two bricks ("locations") in play, Northern Tracker puts down some progress which you can then move around with the Ravenhill Scout. The scout is your "paddle" and the progress tokens are your "balls," and the locations are your "bricks." Now break them!! Move the Northern Tracker's little bits of progress, up to 2 at a time, stack them up onto a high-value location target to "break" (explore) it at need.

Arwen Undómiel will help you discard and pay for cards. She and Galdor of the Havens can both get money from her ability. Galdor will help you find the combo pieces you need. Use his selective mulligan and get rid of any card except: Daeron's Runes, Prince Imrahil, at least one Ravenhill Scout, and Steed of Imladris. Discard everything else in your starting hand, even A Test of Will if it unfortunately shows up. Keep the Steed because it will help you discard faster and get to trigger Galdor's once-per-game action. The Steed is also a reliable way to get another "ball" into play. Play 0-cost cards like Elrond's Counsel and Healing Herbs to empty your hand.

If you get Expert Treasure-hunter: in the early game if you don't have Imrahil, guess "ally." You don't want to see him in your discard pile. If you do have "Imrahil," guess "attachment" or "event." You don't want to end up with expensive allies in your hand, who can be hard to play and prevent you from triggering Galdor!

Use Thrór's Key to nullify locations that block progress on other locations in the staging area.

Dunedain Pathfinder pulls more "bricks" out of the encounter deck for you, while simultaneously emptying your deck faster. Perfect for this deck!

ANNOYING MINI-GAME! If you REALLY want this to feel like "Breakout," don't lose your ball. Use a special token to mark "2 progress" on a location. Move it around but don't let that "ball" leave play! Annoy your teammates by stealing your precious "ball" off of that "brick" JUST before it gets explored!