The game is fun and engaging to play, the mechanics are deep, and the opportunity for complex strategy makes every game a delight. But most of all, I fell in love with the theme of the card game. Every quest breathes Middle-Earth, and the game captures the delightful lore of Tolkien’s world better than any adaptation I have seen before or since.

One of the things that impressed me about this game is the community that has grown up around it. A suite of venerable and impressive blogs, podcasts, and YouTube channels support a thriving group of players who are respectful (always a delightful surprise in an Internet community) and passionate about the game.

In early 2018, I decided to start this blog as a way of offering my own contributions to the community I’ve enjoyed so much. For a long time, I’ve wanted to play through the non-Saga quests in the same manner as a Saga campaign – connecting them all together into a grand story arc, with the same characters throughout (or at least with characters coming and going with well-defined character arcs). And so, I’ve decided to blog my adventures in Middle-Earth with you.

Since Gondor is my favorite archetype in the game, the choice of a name for the blog was obvious. (To give you a sense of just how far this goes, I was once given a challenge to go out on a limb and be creative in my deckbuilding. In response, I built a mono-Lore Gondor Ranger/scrying deck. In fairness, it was entirely different to anything I’d ever published before. But even when I branch out, I build another Gondor deck!) Over the course of this adventure, I hope to be exploring a wide variety of archetypes, and perhaps even discovering some hidden uses for unexpected cards along the way.

Although our journey may not end at the Mountain of Fire, I hope it will be just as exciting for you to follow. Until then, good travels!