Index -> Miscellaneous -> Race to Mount Doom

The Race to Mount Doom

The Race to Mount Doom is a special feature for League play. When you join a League in the League Lobby, the 'Mount Doom' column on the Leagues' information will tell you whether or not these rules are used.

The Race to Mount Doom is both a fun way to keep score and a great mechanism for adding extra variety to gameplay

Each player starts the League at the first of nine sites. Each time you score 6 points (6 points in a 4-week League. This number will vary if in short/longer running Leagues) you move to the next site until finally stopping at site 9. Think of it as a site path that you, the player, moves through. You only move sites along the Race to Mount Doom site path between games, so a given RtMD site affects you for all of the games played while at that site (it'll never be the case that your RtMD site or your opponent's RtMD sites switches in the middle of a game).

Each site has some game text on it. Sometimes that game text is a special ability (such as "Fellowship: play a companion. Its cost -4"), and sometimes it's a general change to the game ("Your opponent's minions are not roaming"). This game text is active in all games that you play while you (the player) are at that site. You will see the Race to Mount Doom site in the support area of your Free Peoples and Shadow sides during your games. In some cases, the site is there to remind you what it does but if the game text in question is a special ability or some sort of optional action/response, the site card hints in green when usable and it behaves like it were a card under your control.

Keep in mind that your opponent will be at a Race to Mount Doom site as well so his or her site may affect you! If a site's game text says 'you' or 'your' it is referring to the person at that site. So, if your opponent's Race to Mount Doom site said: "Your starting companions must have a total twilight cost of 3 or less" than that only applies to your opponent's starting fellowship. Of course, if BOTH of you were at that site, you'd both be subject to that rule!

The Race to Mount Doom site texts tend to be beneficial early on and disadvantageous at higher numbered sites. This is so that players who are cruising ahead, winning left and right and likely racking up lots of abilities for their League Cards, don't have free reign at the top. As they advance they will have to play their best to stay in the lead. An example of an 'advantageous' early site would be "Your starting companions may have a total twilight cost of 6 instead of 4." An example of game text found in the higher sites would be: "Each time your fellowship moves, add a burden." There are also lots of sites that are a bit of a mixed bag such as "While you are the Shadow player, skip the Archery phase." This site would make an Archery-based Shadow side useless but would also make your opponent's Free Peoples Archery equally useless.

If the Race to Mount Doom sites are in effect for your League, you can view the sites by pressing the 'Get Site Info' button in your League's League Room. This creates a pop-up display of the Race to Mount Doom sites with their game text displayed. You can right-click on any site to see who is presently at that site. It is highly recommended that you take some time to study your League's Race to Mount Doom path! If you are seeking a match versus a particular player, you can check where that player is on the site path and try and to capitalize on their site's text! If they're at a Race to Mount Doom Site that says "Each time you move, add a threat" then you might want to throw in some cards that can make use of threats!

See also Leagues, League Rooms, League Deck Builder, League Cards, League Lobby and Joining a League.