[Updated below]
In physics, the observer effect is the theory that the mere observation of a phenomenon inevitably changes that phenomenon. This is often the result of instruments that, by necessity, alter the state of what they measure in some manner. A common example is checking the pressure in an automobile tire; this is difficult to do without letting out some of the air, thus changing the pressure. Similarly, it is not possible to see any object without light hitting the object, and causing it to reflect that light. While the effects of observation are often negligible, the object still experiences a change. This effect can be found in many domains of physics, but can usually be reduced to insignificance by using different instruments or observation techniques.
That’s my highfalutin way of preparing for what is coming next: I cheated. It was during the refresh phase of round five of the Quest post for Shadow and Flame, ironically starting with ‘We come to the moment of truth’. Three cards to reveal from the Lore deck, the sum of the printed cost needing to be 4 or greater, and the first card was going to be zero. A smarter play than just flipping the three cards and hoping for the best presented itself: play Deep Knowledge using Gandalf’s ability, which would raise each player’s threat by 2, pushing Lore up to 20 and exposing Lore to the army of Goblin Swordsmen in the staging area. However, it would put two extra cards in Lore’s hand, cards that could potentially be allies to be played in the planning phase of round six, thus giving us extra willpower to get past Dark Pit and 3B (12 progress required). More importantly, it would clear Deep Knowledge from the top of the encounter deck, meaning the 4 printed cost required would come from three cards rather than two. It was definitely the smart play. It would have worked too. The cards into my hand would have been Henamarth Riversong and Henamarth Riversong. The three discards would have been:
- Risk Some Light.(1)
- Mithrandir’s Advice (1)
- Out of the Wild (3)
Durin’s Bane would have been discarded, another Deep Knowledge would come next which I could play as well to root out some more of those allies, and Risk Some Light would have given me certainty about what was coming off the encounter deck. It would have been a quite brilliant play to ensure victory.
Instead, I cheated. When the back-to-back Henamarth Riversongs came out, I looked at the fourth card down, Risk Some Light, swapped it with the second Henamarth, and proceeded as if it were the order of the cards. Cheating at a solo game. Might as well cheat at Klondike.
Right, that’s enough of the sackcloth-and-ashes. Time to offer my explanation for such low-down skullduggery and that explanation is you, dear imaginary reader. Had I not spent a number of hours scrawling every action taken in the course of the quest, I wouldn’t have felt the need to play it the way I did. Now, you might argue that I should have played Deep Knowledge since it clearly had a higher chance of success. But had I done that and still come up short, it would have been that bit more difficult to put things back the way they had been. The act of being observed had changed the observed. So it was all your fault after all.
What I have learned from the episode with Shadow and Flame, apart from my capacity for being economical with the actualité, is just how sloppy my deck-building is. As noted in the Refresh post, the Elrond/Vilya combo didn’t fire. In a 50 card deck, you’d hope to have at least one copy of Firyal or Gildor Inglorion. Failing either of them making an appearance, Elrond was still able contribute his willpower to the quest. What made me groan as the quest rushed towards that fork in the road was having Hasty Stroke sitting on the Leadership/Spirit side of the table. A great card, and utterly useless in this context since I had no intention of making a serious defense against an attack from Durin’s Bane. It was telling that Nori, the Spirit hero, had 6 resources at the end of the game.
How did I end up putting such a dud in the deck? When building any deck, it would be normal to put in all the great cards then start stripping things back. With a card like Hasty Stroke, it’s hard to take it out because it feels like it should be there. Just in case. Even a tiny bit of lateral thinking would have made me realise how poor a choice it was, and how careless not putting in Light of Valinor was. Had I done so and been able to play it on Elrond, he would have been able to stay ready for the questing phase and then exhaust with Vilya to get cheap allies into play, or contribute his 2 attack to assaults on Durin’s Bane. Either of those would have made all the difference.
The worst part of it all is that the whole point of this blog is to craft decks with the specific intention of beating a quest. If I’m missing something as obvious as that, what else am I doing wrong? With the famously hard-as-nails Heirs of Númenor/Against the Shadow cycle looming, I need to get better at this game. I’m going to take some time to build some Swiss Army knife decks so that when I come back to this project, I can be most of the way towards beating the quest and a few tweaks is all it takes to turn those trolls to stone. That’s right, to keep things fresh it’ll be the Hobbit saga next. Cair Andros will have to wait for that siege to be lifted.
[Update 24/5/20] Heirs of Númenor is famously nails, and the prospect of playing all nine quests in the cycle made me decide that The Hobbit Saga was the way to go. Play the first box, then see where I stood. Yet when it came to it, I was suffering from a spot of Dwarf fatigue and ended up playing through the first four Against the Shadow adventure packs before deciding to go back to the deluxe box. That’s where I am now, hurling myself against the beast of a quest that is Into Ithilien, hoping that a succesful pair of decks that can beat it will be able to handle all thee quests. Ilúvatar knows when I’ll be in position to do it, but the plan now is put myself in Peril in Pelargir,
The Road Goes Ever On 