Tournament Rules, Pabianice 2007
We obviously won't be quoting all the rules, just the rules we changed and the ones we feel that not all might be aware of. We assume that everyone knows the official rule books and booklets (METW, METD, MEDM, MELE, MEAS, MEWH, MEBA), as well as card errata, rulings and CRF.
For easy access to the rules we recommend the brand new revised rulebooks on Council of Elrond web page:
http://www.councilofelrond.org/index.php?id=13
As for the errata, CRF and rulings - they can be found a the Dutch MECCG Council site:
http://www.meccg.net/netherlands/meccg/
(what follows are instructions how to navigate the site to get to...)
CRF:
Rules -> CRF
Card errata:
Rules -> CRF -> Card Errata and Rulings
Rules errata: R
ules -> CRF -> Rulings by Term
Below are the rules describing the system by which the tournament will be played
- the tournament will be played in the Swiss System format and there will be 5 rounds (even if more than 32 players arrive due to time restrictions); which means everyone will play 5 games
-
Tournament Points: If, at the Free Council after the final Marshalling Point totals have been tallied, one player has more MPs than the opponent, that player wins. The winner receives either 4, 5, or 6 tournament points depending upon the ratio of his MP total to the opponent's (see below). The loser receives 2, 1, or 0 points respectively. To determine a winner's MP ratio, divide the winner's total MPs by the loser's MPs. A loser with zero or less MPs automatically gives the winner 6 points:
a) Winning with The One Ring - 8 Tournament Points;
b) Winning with MP ratio 2:1 or greater - 6 Tournament Points;
c) winning with MP ratio less than 2:1 but greater or equal 1,5:1 - 5 Tournament Points;
d) Winning with MP ratio less than 1,5:1 but greater than 1:1 - 4 Tournament Points;
e) Losing to someone who won with result (d) - 2 Tournament Points;
f) Losing to someone who won with result (c) - 1 Tournament Point;
g) Losing otherwise - 0 Tournament Points;
- a player without a pair (or a player who has resigned from playing the tournament) recives a "BYE" (worth 6, 5, 4, 3 and 3 Tournament Points respectively in rounds 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5)
- in case of a Marshalling Point tie during the Free Council a draw is declared and both players receive 3 Tournament Points
- the time of 1 game is limited to 1 hour and 15 minutes
(may be subject to change)
- all games are 1-deck games
- to call the Council (or whatever it is called for different alignments) a player needs to accumulate 25 MPs or more, or exhaust his deck once
- the Council is auto-called when both players exhaust their decks (the Council begins as soon as the current turn is finished)
- breaks between the games will be 10-15 minutes long
(may be subject to change)
- character pool for character draft can consist of up to 15 characters (it cannot include wizards/ringwraiths/fallen-wizards/balrogs); characters not used in the draft can be put to deck (as long as the maximum number of characters in the deck isn't exceeded) or otherwise must be removed from the game (they can't be put into sideboard)
- minion player's starting company can consist of up to 6 characters, hero and fallen-wizard players have a starting company limit of 5 characters
- wizards/ringwraiths/fallen-wizards/balrogs cannot be included in the starting company
- the maximum number of your wizards/ringwraiths/fallen-wizards/balrogs in deck is:
1) wizard: 2+1 (or 3)
2) ringwraith: 2+1 (or 3)
3) fallen-wizard: 3
4) balrog: 3
The Deck:
(by "deck" we mean: playdeck, sideboard, character pool and location deck combined)
1) your deck can be of either hero, minion, fallen or balrog-minion alignment
2) you can bring 2 decks for play during the tournament - one of them vs hero opponents and the other vs. minion (including balrog-minion) opponents, also one of those 2 decks must be assigned vs. fallen-wizard opponents; both of your decks must be of the same alignment (hero, minion, fallen or balrog-minion) but the avatars you use in them can be different (for example Gandalf in deck number 1 and Pallando in deck number 2)
3) your 2 decks can have "common cards" in them that are transferred between your decks when you change them (for example if you don't have 6 Twilights to put 3 in each deck you can just have 3 and transfer them between the decks when you change them to play a different alignment); you must always transfer the same set of "common cards" which you determine before the start of the tournament
(basically this means that you can build only 1 deck and simply exchange previously determined and prepared cards before games with chosen alignment(s) - for example: you build your base deck vs. hero opponents and before games with minion or fallen opponents you exchange a previously determined set of cards for ones that'll make your deck better vs. current opponent; you can exchange both hazards and resources and even characters, likewise you may change the contents of your sideboard - but all those changes must always consist of the same previously determined sets of cards)
4) sideboard can contain a maximum number of 30 cards, the deck chosen to be used vs. fallen-wizard opponents may also contain extra 10 cards in their sideboard (those cards must be determined before the start of the tournament and can only be used in games vs. fallen-wizard players)
5) after each game the cards taken from sideboard must be put back in it
6) your playdeck must consist of between 30 and 50 hazards and exactly the same amount of resources, it also can contain up to 10 characters plus between 1 and 3 wizards/ringwraiths/fallen-wizards/balrogs (see above)
7) you must have at least 12 creatures in your playdeck
8] creatures that are also events count as half a creature - for example 5 nazguls and Mouth of Sauron count as 3 creatures)
*Agents in hero and balrog-minion decks count as half a creature; ".... Ahunt" and ".... at Home" cards also count as half-creatures; Spawn cards from Middle Earth: The Balrog and the "Balrog of Moria" card from Middle Earth: The Wizards also count as half-creatures
9) you can't use proxies
10) special German promo cards (those that don't have their English versions) can be used
11) non-English cards can be used but the player using such cards must be able to quickly show his opponent the English text of such cards (for example by putting the English text in the card sleeve with the non-English card, or by having a list of his non-English cards and their English texts available at hand)
12) once the tournament starts no part of your deck may be changed
- optional rules in use:
1) region maps
2) Hobbit burglary
3) recently visited sites
4) Company vs. company combat
(including stealing items)
5) a character can face a strike not tapping with a -3 modification to his prowess
6) a character can try to get rid of a corruption card without tapping with a -3 modification to his roll
7) special movement to Gorgoroth (non-minion players only)
8] if a fallen-wizard player has more than 10 Stage Points the company containing his fallen-wizard character can initiate Company vs. Company Combat with any of his opponent's companies; Likewise any opponent's company can initiate Company vs. Company Combat with the company containing a fallen-wizard character whose player has more than 10 Stage Points
9) wizard to fallen-wizard conversion
- card sleeves/protectors can be used
- marking cards or card sleeves/protectors is not allowed
- biting your opponent is not allowed
Below are non-standard rules we'll be using for some cards and combos as well as less known and/or harder to find rules on more complicated matters
- A Chance Meeting and We Have Come to Kill are playable only when you'd normally be allowed to bring characters into play, that is during organization phase
- a character played with A Chance Meeting does not count towards the one character per turn limit
- effects of A Chance Meeting and We Have Come to Kill do not stack with cards that affect bringing characters into play (for example: An Unexpected Party)
- Sacrifice of Form does not kill (discard) the Sacrificing wizard's character followers
- The White Tree+Wizard's Trove: a sage is required and the Sapling of the White Tree needs to be discarded
- Army of the Dead+Paths of the Dead: to be able to play Army of the Dead, Aragorn II during his organization phase must play Paths of the Dead and during the movement/hazard phase move using the special Paths of the Dead movement from Dunharrow to Vale of Erech (he needn't start the turn at Dunharrow - for example he can start at Lorien, play Paths, move to Dunharrow, play Master of Esgaroth and move to Vale of Erech via Paths of the Dead)
- Open to the Summons can't be used by a fallen-wizard player to bring into play a character with mind greater then 5
- Thrall of the Voice can be used to bring into play an orc or troll character even if the fallen-wizard player doesn't have Bad Company stage resource in play
- burglary: after the burglary attempt and after tapping the site another character in the company can tap to play an extra minor item or anything else that's playable on the site
- on-guard creature+burglary: the on-guard creature attacks the whole company after the burglary attempt (no matter if the attempt was succesful or not)
- Sneakin': playable at the end-of-organization phase - so you can't play it on a company and then reorganize it
- Many-coloured Robes: the Robes tap, not Saruman
- the Balrog 2-minder rule will not be in use
- if your opponent plays a wizard/ringwraith you have in your playdeck you can also play him, if you also have a different wizard/ringwraith in your deck and he then counts as the other wizard/ringhraith (you should switch him to your other wizard's card as soon as you draw a copy); if until the end of the game you still hadn't switched to your other wizard then your opponent has every right to ask you to show him that you really have the different wizard included in your playdeck
- Tom Bombadil and Leaflock: their abilities allow to completely cancel a hazard (for example all 3 attacks of Assassin) targeting the appropriate company (in case of Tom - one moving to a site in one the regions mentioned on Tom's card; in case of Leaflock - his company) or an entity associated with that company; the also allow to cancel and discard a hazard event played on such a company or an entity associated with that company
- while moving a company that does not contain a character with a mind attribute greater than 2 (or a wizard/righwraith/fallen-wizard/balrog) the resource player does not draw any cards
- site path and company's path are two different things, but they are the same in case of starter movement
- when a company is returned to their site of origin by some effect, that immediately ends that company's movement hazard phase; such an effect is an action in chain of effects (often the first one, but not always) and therefore players can respond to it
- company's size and hazard limit mustn�t have any fractions, all fractions are rounded up (so 5 hobbits is 2,5 rounded up to 3 - which means no Stealth and 3 hazard playable vs. such company)
- agents cannot move to hero Havens, Wizarhavens (elvish agents with special ability allowing them to do so are an exception) and Under-deeps sites
- minion players (but not balrog-minion) can move from Udun to Dagorland as if the regions were connected to each other; minion players� agents (not balrog-minion) can also move as if Udun and Dagorland were connected to each other
- hazards playable on agents may not be played vs. minion and balrog-minion players
- agent's attacks vs. minion and balrog-minion players' companies are always detainment
- minion and balrog-minion players have extra 5 General Influence that cannot be used to control characters
- when influencing opponent's characters or resources the side which initiated the influence attempt receives a -5 penalty if his deck and his opponent's deck have different alignments, meaning:
Wizard/Fallen-wizard vs. Minion/Balrog - the "aggressor" receives -5 penalty
Wizard vs. Fallen-wizard and Minion vs. Balrog - no extra modifiers
- when influencing opponent's characters or resources with an agent there's no penalty for different deck alignments
- items, allies and character followers controlled by a wizard/righwraith/fallen-wizard/balrog cannot be influenced
- minion player may deploy his starting company at Minas Morgul and/or Dol Guldur (starting with 2 companies, one at Minas Morgul and the other at Dol Guldur is possible)
- balrog player may deploy his starting company at Moria and/or The Under-gates (starting with 2 companies, one at Moria and the other at The Under-gates is possible)
- fallen-wizard player may deploy his starting company at The White Towers or any Ruins & Lairs in Rhudaur or Arthedain (fallen-wizard player may only have 1 starting company)
- the
unmodified sum of mind attributes of your starting characters cannot exceed 20; which means neither Thrall of the Voice (even in case of starting with a 6 minded character by a fallen-wizard player) nor Open to the Summons nor any starting minor items have any effect on the characters mind attribute�s when determining if their sum is equal or lower than 20
- agents in minion (not balrog-minion) and fallen-wizard players' decks count as characters, while in hero and balrog-minion decks they count as hazards and half-creatures
- the sum of mind attributes of agents included in playdeck and sideboard (no matter if they count as hazards or characters) must not exceed 36
- elimination of wizard/righwraith/fallen-wizard/balrog does not end the game, the player who lost his wizard/righwraith/fallen-wizard/balrog receives -5 Marshalling Points (applied at the very end after every other MPs and MP modifications are included)
- only one copy of a unique card can be in play at any given time (dragon manifestations are and exception)
- you don't get MPs for killing your own hazard
- except for balrog-minion player, MPs associated with companies at under-deep sites do not count for the purposes of calling the Council (but they do count at the Council of called while they're in under-deeps)
- creatures played as an extra auto-attack (special ability of some sites) never give MPs (even if defeated) don't count towards the hazard limit and are always discarded after their attack is resolved
- when rolling a body-check for a ringwraith (not balrog) he/she is returned to it's controlling player's hand on a roll of 7 or 8 (the ringwraith isn't eliminated so it's controlling player doesn't receive the -5 MPs for losing his ringwraith); the player who got his main ringwraith returned to hand cannot reveal a different ringwraith and his opponent cannot play that rignwraith as his own; all ringwraith followers and resources controlled by the ringwraith who got returned to hand are discarded
- corruption checks made by any characters in the ringwraith's (also The Balrog's) company is made with a +2 modifier
- when playing vs. a fallen-wizard player a hero player may exchange any copies of the fallen-wizard player's declared wizard with any other wizard (or he can simply remove them from his deck)
- corruption checks for fallen-wizards and orcs and trolls in fallen-wizards' decks are made as for minion characters
- corruption checks for fallen-wizard's non-orc and non-troll characters are made as for hero characters
- fallen-wizards' non-orc and non-troll characters can use both minion and hero resources (of course as long as they meet all the prerequisites)
- fallen-wizard players may have a maximum of 2 copies of each non-unique resource or characters in their decks (playdeck, sideboard and character pool combined), stage cards are excluded from this rule
- Palantir of Elostirion and Palantir of Orthanc never give any MPs to fallen-wizard players (no matter what other cards are played)
- when a fallen-wizard leaves the game his player must discard all stage resources specific to that fallen-wizard; this also happens when 2 fallen-wizard players play vs. each other and both of them declared the same fallen-wizard - when one player plays the fallen-wizard the other has to discard all stage resources specific to that fallen-wizard; however playing fallen-wizard specific resources after that isn't forbidden in neither case
- orcs that are half-orcs do not make a minion player's companies overt, so for a minion player a company consisting of only half-orcs or only half-orcs and men is considered a covert minion company
- orcs that are half-orcs do not make a fallen-wizard player's companies overt, so for a fallen-wizard player a company consisting of only half-orcs or only half-orcs and men is considered a hero company
- creatures with * that fallen-wizard players defeat give
zero MPs until appropriate stage resources are played (or if the fallen-wizard is fallen Alatar)
- balrog player doesn't receive any MPs for hero items played at his Darkhavens
- balrog player is considered a minion player and The Balrog is considered a ringwraith for the purposes of cards' effects' but a balrog player has his own rules and The Balrog also has his own rules
- when playing vs. a balrog player you can't play any of the following cards: The Balrog (ally), The Black Council, Durin�s Bane, Balrog of Moria, Reluctant Final Parting. However each time you have one of these cards in hand you can show it to your opponent and remove it from play and bring a card from your sideboard into your play deck (the card brought from sideboard can be any card - no matter the type of the card you removed from play)
- Blue Mountain Dwarf-hold, Iron Hill Dwarf-hold and The Wind Throne are treated for all players as if they are a surface site for an under-deep site below them - even if not all alignments have appropriate site cards to represent those under-deep sites; however for the purposes of hazards a site that is a Free-hold isn't considered to have and under-deep site below even if it actually has one (so basically Blue Mountain Dwarf-hold and Iron Hill Dwarf-hold are considered as if they don't have under-deeps below them as long their site type remains a Free-hold)
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