LotR - To Block or not to Block - see what I did there?

[Boros_Blendo]

I'm a LotR fan...pretty serious I'd say. I've even read the Silmarillion...twice. Anyway, the set last year was a fanboy dream come true. I've built 14 decks from the set, all but one are completely block cards. Some are janky 1v1 decks with themes of forces of Mordor, the Path of Doom (the ring's journey), Tourists Suck! (made from the hobbit/treefolk precon), etc. Some are more composed like a tempted/Gandalf, Friend of the Shire Izzet deck or token-matters/Mirkwood Bats/Guttersnipe/Siege Gang Commander group punishment deck. Heck, I even kept and modified the Gondor/Rohan precon and helmed it with the included Aragorn. I broke up the other three precons into more compressed 60 card decks...the elves ended up being quite nasty in 60 card. The one I thought more folks in my group would applaud/appreciate/not hate was Tom Bombadil as a purely block Saga deck. It has the 12 best sagas from the set, and about an even split of evil-based cards, and good-based cards. Yes, the Nazgul x9 are 9 of the evil cards...I need them to anchor my critter front. It's balanced by good cards like Aragorn and Boromir, Forth Eorlingas!, Galadhrim Ambush, etc, bringing heavy mechanics to bear. Anyway, I digress.

Of the LotR decks you've made or cards spread out among your decks, do you find the set more useful in parts, or in block? Almost no one else in my group bought much, and the only other one isn't really feeling the itch for block decks. Anyone else felt the pull of pure block decks?

[Toshi]

Of the LotR decks you've made or cards spread out among your decks, do you find the set more useful in parts, or in block?

My playgroup loved the whole LotR stuff and built several decks - i went with Aragorn, the Uniter "charms", with Flame of Anor, Friendly Rivalry, Growth Spiral, Cultivate, Farseek, Rampant Growth, Supreme Verdict, Wayfarer's Bauble, Evolving Wilds, Terramorphic Expanse and the non-map Basics included. So, that ended up being only with a splash of the cards.

I was very tempted to build Éowyn, Shieldmaiden strictly block constructed on top, but just when i was ready to pull the trigger on cardmarket a friend of mine had already built it. Given the card pool is set for now, i am happy to borrow it every now and then - and only a little sad i don't own it myself.

Overall I can totally see the appeal of building within one of the IPs LotR, 40k and Dr Who exclusively, as you get a cohesive build, by both lore and tech standards.
LotR comes with 128 commander options, which is a lot! Dr Who has 76 plus 28 Doctor's Companions, which is even crazier. 40k only has 24, but including some interesting stuff like Abaddon the Despoiler, Ghyrson Starn, Kelermorph and Magnus the Red.

For my other decks i didn't pick up too many reprints, but most notably Boromir, Warden of the Tower, Reprieve, Nasty End and Rally at the Hornburg found their way into several of my decks.
Speaking of which, i am still curious why Lost to Legend isn't run in a lot more than 4,3k decks according to EDHrec!? Tucking key artifacts and commanders like that is super nice.

[JayDomK]

Anyone else felt the pull of pure block decks?

Pure block decks may not perform all the functions you need. Maybe that's why they're not so popular.

[DirkGently]

I still have my Sauron, the Dark Lord deck together.

I always build decks from each set as it comes out - strictly cards from that set, not including commander precons or bonus cards. It's a fun way to mitigate power level while getting to play with a bunch of new toys.

As far as using the cards in other decks, I like some of the lands. Not too many of the other cards tbh, as I'm not a fan of the one ring and kinda meh on bowmasters. I do run them both in my sauron deck though, since the power level is already pretty low (though, as far as set-commander decks go, it's definitely among the strongest - a lot of the cards you'd want to play anyway are in the set, namely all the "ring tempt" cards).

[JayDomK]

I still have my Sauron, the Dark Lord deck together.

I always build decks from each set as it comes out - strictly cards from that set, not including commander precons or bonus cards. It's a fun way to mitigate power level while getting to play with a bunch of new toys.

Perhaps new toys are one of the things that motivate collecting new cards. I don't like to play the same deck because it's boring.

[yeti1069]

I also got very excited for the The Lord of the Rings set, being a huge fan--I've read The Hobbit and the trilogy at least 7 times each, The Silmarillion twice, have listened to them all on audiobook recently (Andy Serkis is phenomenal!), and have everything else Tolkien has published (I have a Tolkien shelf).

I built out each of the precons, swapping leadership for two: Sauron, the Dark Lord and Galadriel of Lothlórien (I hated all the voting cards) took over for their respective Commander deck counterparts. I also built Sméagol, Helpful Guide. I've not restricted myself to only LotR, though. I like Frodo/Sam as a solid mid-power deck, even if it can be a little slow. Sauron is fun, but becomes archenemy quickly, even when I'm not really the biggest threat, and is pulled in a lot of directions, so I don't know how long I'll keep it together. Galadriel I've all but retired, because it has a tendency to take very long turns scrying, playing a land, making tokens, scrying some more, etc... It's a deck that kind of durdles a lot, then eats up time. Eowyn is ok. It's fairly linear, also starts kind of slowly, but tends to balloon out into a huge threat rather swiftly. I don't pick it up that often (but I also have 25 decks I cycle through).

Smeagol was been the most interesting, I think. I have another 'mill and take your stuff' deck in Captain N'ghathrod, that plays on a different axis. I took apart my long-standing Meren deck for this, but am feeling nostalgic for that, so I may scrap Smeagol at some point. This has been the home for the Nazgul and the monoblack Sauron and Witch-King that care about tempting.

Some cards from the set have made their way into other decks, and some are waiting to get slotted in, particularly from the holiday bundle. I just haven't gotten around to deck edits in a while.

[Sinis]

I'm also a huge LotR fan.

I like the idea of block decks, but I find there's often not enough support for some things to move forward. I built Galadriel of Lothlórien, and realistically, I wanted to play better scry cards than the ones available in the LotR set.

Sometimes it's jarring, but, it's usually necessary to branch out to other sets.

[Boros_Blendo]

Galadriel I've all but retired, because it has a tendency to take very long turns scrying, playing a land, making tokens, scrying some more, etc... It's a deck that kind of durdles a lot, then eats up time. Eowyn is ok. It's fairly linear, also starts kind of slowly, but tends to balloon out into a huge threat rather swiftly. I don't pick it up that often (but I also have 25 decks I cycle through).

I had the same problem with Galadriel. By doubling up some of the elf cards and distilling down to 60, I turned the Galadriel deck into a brutal deck for small games, to the point the last game I played, the Realm Seekers came in at 17/17 with two Lothlórien Blades. I had the same Archenemy problem with Sauron, and while I did win my first game with the Hobbits by swinging for lethal on the last person with Frodo due to the frying pan pumping him to 25 power (hilarious), the only precon that really rolled with resiliency was the Gondor/Rohan deck, after I added in other cards from the main set and made Aragorn the commander. It's a bit linear, but still fun.

Sometimes it's jarring, but, it's usually necessary to branch out to other sets.

I agree, most block decks I've had if they stay around long enough end up being diluted with something. To date, the only one that has remained pure as snow is my Grixis-color Kaladesh deck. I may post the Kaladesh list as the deck most like a Swiss Army knife, which is probably why I haven't had to add to it from out of block. I've had a continuous Lorwyn block all-elemental deck (no other spells but creatures) since that set and it was solidly (mostly) block, that is until Thunderkin Awakener jumped into the fray. But the deck is definitely better for the addition. Still, I love building block decks due to the restrictions that force me to get inventive and dig for the synergies rather than lazy-out with 40,000 other cards to choose from.

[RxPhantom]

I have to say that I've never had this urge. I kinda like my decks being a mishmash of stuff from across the multiverse. I haven't put any UB stuff in any of my decks, though.