Author: Matt Kell (kattattack22)

Escape from Mount Gram with Three Wolf Hunters – April 18, 2020

Matt Kell (kattattack22)Leave a comment

Introduction

I think my three hunters deck will work just fine here. Halbarad has the built in action advantage to quest and fight. Also with only 1 hero in play the contract will flip quickly.

Decklist

Three Wolf Hunters for Wastes of Eriador

Hero (3)
Aragorn (The Lost Realm)
Beravor (Core Set)
Halbarad (The Lost Realm)

Contract (0)
1x Forth, The Three Hunters! (The City of Ulfast)

Attachment (41)
3x A Burning Brand (Conflict at the Carrock)
3x Armored Destrier (Temple of the Deceived)
2x Celebrían’s Stone (Core Set)
3x Dúnedain Warning (Conflict at the Carrock)
3x Expert Treasure-hunter (On the Doorstep)
2x Favor of the Valar (The Battle of Carn Dûm)
3x Golden Belt (Challenge of the Wainriders)
3x Gondorian Shield (The Steward’s Fear)

3x Ranger Spear (The City of Corsairs)
2x Roheryn (The Flame of the West)
3x Steed of the North (Race Across Harad)
3x Strider (The Drowned Ruins)
3x Sword of Númenor (The Dread Realm)
2x Sword that was Broken (The Watcher in the Water)
3x War Axe (The City of Ulfast)

Event (9)
3x Daeron’s Runes (Foundations of Stone)
3x Deep Knowledge (The Voice of Isengard)
3x Feint (Core Set)

3 Heroes, 50 Cards

Deck built on RingsDB.

First Attempt

Setup: Angmar Orcs, Southern Gate, and Jailor Gornakh set outside play. Choose Halbarad to be starting hero and add 2 resources to him. 30 item, mount, and artifact cards shuffled into the captured deck. Shuffle a random non starting hero into captured deck and other left facedown. Threat is 10. Advance to stage 2A which captures 7. It also puts a prison cell into the staging area and cell captures 3.

Starting Hand: Daeron’s Runes, Deep Knowledge, and Strider.

Turn 1: Expert Treasure-hunter drawn. Play Strider on Halbarad. He quests for 4. Prison Cell added to the staging area for 2 threat. Gondorian Shield and Golden Belt rescued. Travel to first prison cell and put Ranger Spear into play. Refresh and threat is 11.

Turn 2: Daeron’s Runes drawn. Halbarad quests for 4. Tunnels of Mount Gram added to the staging area for 2 threat. 2 progress placed on the active location. Refresh and threat is 12.

Turn 3: Dúnedain Warning drawn and played. Halbarad quests for 4. Captives of Gornakh wiffs as I don’t have any allies. Active location explored rescuing War Axe x2. Golden Belt #2 rescued from the quest. Travel to prison cell #2 and put Gondorion Shield into play. Refresh, threat is 13, and flip contract.

Turn 4: Deep Knowledge drawn. Halbarad quests for 6. Prison cell added to the staging area for 2 threat. Active location explored and rescue Sword of Númenor from the quest. Travel to tunnels. Refresh and threat is 14.

Turn 5: Favor of the Valar drawn. Play sword on Halbarad. Play Favor of the Valar. Halbarad quests for 7. Feeble and Weary whiffs because I don’t have any exhausted characters. Active location explored and rescue Ranger Spear. Celebrían’s Stone and A Burning Brand rescued from the quest. Travel to Prsion Cell. Only card underneath is Steed of the North and Halbarad has 3 restricted attachments. I can’t find any clear guideance on this. I’m going to play it as since I can’t put it into play there isn’t a valid choice for the response so it has to stay underneath as a captured card. Refresh and threat is 15.

Turn 6: Expert Treasure-hunter drawn. Halbarad quests for 7. Interrogation discards A Burning Brand and raise threat by 2. Threat is 17. Active location explored rescuing Steed of the North. War Axe rescued from the quest. Advance to stage 3. Jailor Gornakh, Southern Gate, and Angmar Captain added to the staging area. Engage the captain. Halbarad defends, no shadow, and one damage taken. Heal it with contract. Refresh and threat is 18.

Turn 7: Feint drawn. Halbarad quests for 7. Angmar Orc added to the staging area for 8 threat. Extra card is Captives and whiffs. Threat is 19. Halbarad defends, shadow whiffs, and one damage taken. Heal with contract. Refresh and threat is 20.

Turn 8: Dúnedain Warning drawn and played. Halbarad quests for 7. Interrogation discards Aragorn. No threat gained (I guess I won’t be rescuing him.)

Pretty sure that is game. I really needed another hero to help.

I lost this quest because I missed a very key part of the rules. The facedown hero during captured deck setup was supposed to go on top. I would have had 2 heroes long ago if so. I only saw this after I conceded because I was wondering how I would get the facedown hero.

The Galadhrim’s Greeting

Matt Kell (kattattack22)Leave a comment
  • Card Talk Season 7 Episode 11
    • Video episode
    • Audio episode
  • Cycle
    • Shadows of Mirkwood
  • Set
    • Core and Revised Core Sets
  • Player Card Categories
    • Threat Reduction

The Galadhrim’s Greeting was gracious, generous, and grand.

Background

The Fellowship after escaping Moria proceeded to Lorien. They’re soon found by a patrol by Haldir. He ends up taking them to their city. The Fellowship then is lead to the court of Celeborn and Galadriel where they each enter one by one. Celeborn greets them while and asked to sit while Galadriel remains quiet.

The flavor text is actually Haldir speaking to the Fellowship pointing out their city. All to tell them they have go around to the South side because there’s no North gate.

Card Theme

I tend to think about this as more about how Lorien is safe space for the Fellowship for awhile. Sauron’s forces and his gaze are blocked because of the Galdriel with Nenya and all the elves there.

Card Synergies and Interactions

Resource Acceleration / Cost Reduction

These cards help make sure can play Galahdrim’s Greeting especially outside mono-Spirit decks.

In Sphere or Neutral

  • Arwen Hero
  • Zigil Miner
  • Hidden Cache
  • A Good Meal
  • Resourceful
  • Necklace of Girion
  • Leaf Brooch

Out of Sphere

  • Steward of Gondor
  • Captains Wisdom
  • Wealth of Gondor
  • Legacy of Numenor
  • Tighten Our Belts
Legacy of Numenor - Leadership Event - 0 Cost - Doomed 4. Action: Add 1 resource to each hero's resource pool.

Event Recursion

Playing The Galahdhrim’s Greeting multiple times can help players keep their threat low to avoid automatic engagements, stay in secrecy, or allow Hobbits to get their bonuses more consistently.

Cards that play or bring it back directly from the discard pile

  • Map of Earndil
  • Dwarven Tomb

Cards that put it back into your deck

  • Galadhrim Weaver
  • Will of the West
  • The White Council
  • Tactics Nori ally

Hobbits

Hobbits in general have many abilities that trigger while engaged with an enemy that have a higher engagement cost than the player’s threat.

Hobbit Pipe

The Galadhrim’s Greeting is one of the many threat reduction events that can trigger this card to draw a card.

Secrecy

Secrecy introduced in the Khazad-Dum cycle discounts the cost of many cards as long as a player’s threat is less than 20. Few hero line ups can start below or at 20. Even those that do, can’t get far below giving players only a few turns to take advantage without lowering their threat back to 20 again.

Player Doomed

Player Doomed cards gave powerful effects that essentially cost threat rather resources. There were also some allies that gave additional effects when played if the player elected to take Doomed X instead. The Galadhrim’s Greeting can offset those Doomed costs.

Quest Specific

There are some quests that have a considerable amount of Doomed or additional threat raises per turn where it is a good idea to pack in as much threat reduction as possible.

  • Murder at the Prancing Pony
    • Many of the enemies have effects that raise a player’s threat.
  • The Steward’s Fear
    • One of the Plot cards raises each player’s threat by 2 at the end of each round.
  • Wastes of Eriador
    • Each time is is Night the players will have to raise their threat by an additional 1. Not to mention the encounter cards feature Doomed or have shadow effects that raise threat if it is Night.
  • The Crossing of Poros
    • One of the possible Stage 2’s raises a players threat when playing allies unless they exhaust them. The associated encounter set for this Stage 2 also have a number of threat raising effects.
  • The Passing of the Grey Company
    • Enemy attacks raise threat rather than deal damage.

Ring Rating

Card Talk uses the highly scientific yet arbitrary scale of 1 ring for the card to rule them all to 10 to be cast back into the fiery chasm from whence it came.

I rate The Galadhrim’s Greeting at 2 rings. Not every scenario requires a deck have threat reduction but it is usually good to have. Players will still benefit from possibly avoiding automatic encounters even if they never comes close to threating out. The ability to choose a player or give all players 2 less threat makes it incredibly useful in multiplayer. The only drawback is that is fairly expensive at 3 cost but very much worth it. My experience with it is that sometimes it sits in my hand all game waiting for resources or when I really need it, and other times it is a clutch play that saves the game.

  • Dave – 3
  • Grant – 2
  • Ted – 2
  • Matt – 2
  • Average – 2.25

External Links

Sample Decks

Ride them Down (with Hobbit Ponies) by Aurion

This deck uses threat reduction and Hobbit Pipe as a card draw engine while turtling to build up a large board of allies. Spirit Pippin can send enemies back to staging so Ride Them Down can use quest progress to destroy the enemy.

Main Deck

Hero (3)
Frodo Baggins (Conflict at the Carrock)
Merry (The Wastes of Eriador)
Pippin (Encounter at Amon Dîn)

Ally (17)
1x Arwen Undómiel (The Watcher in the Water)
3x Bilbo Baggins (The Road Darkens)
1x Bofur (The Redhorn Gate)
2x Curious Brandybuck (The Wastes of Eriador)
3x Gandalf (Over Hill and Under Hill)
2x Northern Tracker (Core Set)
2x Sam Gamgee (The Thing in the Depths)
3x Westfold Horse-breeder (The Voice of Isengard)

Attachment (18)
3x Ancient Mathom (A Journey to Rhosgobel)
3x Good Meal (The Redhorn Gate)
3x Hobbit Pipe (The Black Riders)
3x Hobbit Pony (The Wastes of Eriador)
1x Shadowfax (The Treason of Saruman)
3x Spare Pipe (The Land of Sorrow)
1x Unexpected Courage (Core Set)
1x Wizard Pipe (The Road Darkens)

Event (17)
2x A Test of Will (Core Set)
2x Dwarven Tomb (Core Set)
3x Ride Them Down (The Antlered Crown)
3x Smoke and Think (The Land of Sorrow)
3x Smoke Rings (The Black Riders)
3x The Shirefolk (Mount Gundabad)
1x Will of the West (Core Set)

3 Heroes, 52 Cards
Cards up to The Land of Sorrow

Sideboard

Event (4)
3x The Galadhrim’s Greeting (Core Set)
1x Will of the West (Core Set)

Decklist built and published on RingsDB.

The One-Ring Bearers by Dave Walsh

More of a theme deck featuring all the bearers of The One Ring. It uses Ents and Guarded X cards to bolster the hero line up.

Main Deck

Hero (4)
Bilbo Baggins (Mount Gundabad)
Frodo Baggins (Conflict at the Carrock)
Sam Gamgee (The Black Riders)
Sméagol (A Shadow in the East)

Contract (0)
1x Bond of Friendship (The Fortress of Nurn)

Ally (16)
1x Angbor the Fearless (The City of Ulfast)
2x Bill the Pony (The Black Riders)
2x Booming Ent (The Antlered Crown)
2x Derndingle Warrior (Escape from Mount Gram)
2x Galadriel’s Handmaiden (Celebrimbor’s Secret)
2x Quickbeam (The Treason of Saruman)
2x Rosie Cotton (The Mountain of Fire)
1x Treebeard (The Antlered Crown)
2x Warden of Healing (The Long Dark)

Attachment (22)
2x Ancient Mathom (A Journey to Rhosgobel)
1x Ent Draught (The Treason of Saruman)
2x Fast Hitch (The Dead Marshes)
1x Favor of the Valar (The Battle of Carn Dûm)
1x Inner Strength (Wrath and Ruin)
1x Mithril Shirt (The Fate of Wilderland)
1x Necklace of Girion (The Wilds of Rhovanion)
1x Orcrist (Fire in the Night)
1x Power of Command (Challenge of the Wainriders)
2x Secret Vigil (The Lost Realm)
1x Song of Hope (The Black Serpent)
1x Sting (Mount Gundabad)
1x Stone of Elostirion (Under the Ash Mountains)
1x Strength and Courage (The City of Ulfast)
1x The One Ring (A Shadow in the East)
2x Unexpected Courage (Core Set)
2x Woodmen’s Clearing (The Withered Heath)

Event (12)
1x A Good Harvest (The Steward’s Fear)
2x Bilbo’s Plan (The Land of Sorrow)
2x The Galadhrim’s Greeting (Core Set)
2x The King’s Return (The Fate of Wilderland)
2x The Master Ring (A Shadow in the East)
1x The Ring of Power (A Shadow in the East)
2x The Ruling Ring (A Shadow in the East)

4 Heroes, 50 Cards
Cards up to The Fortress of Nurn

Decklist built and published on RingsDB.

The Wastes of Eriador 4 with Three Wolf Hunters – April 11, 2020

Matt Kell (kattattack22)Leave a comment

Introduction

I’m not ready to give up on this deck yet. I’m hoping a better draw with more restricted attachments and I can flip the contract to quest well.

Decklist

Three Wolf Hunters for Wastes of Eriador

Hero (3)
Aragorn (The Lost Realm)
Beravor (Core Set)
Halbarad (The Lost Realm)

Contract (0)
1x Forth, The Three Hunters! (The City of Ulfast)

Attachment (41)
3x A Burning Brand (Conflict at the Carrock)
3x Armored Destrier (Temple of the Deceived)
2x Celebrían’s Stone (Core Set)
3x Dúnedain Warning (Conflict at the Carrock)
3x Expert Treasure-hunter (On the Doorstep)
2x Favor of the Valar (The Battle of Carn Dûm)
3x Golden Belt (Challenge of the Wainriders)
3x Gondorian Shield (The Steward’s Fear)

3x Ranger Spear (The City of Corsairs)
2x Roheryn (The Flame of the West)
3x Steed of the North (Race Across Harad)
3x Strider (The Drowned Ruins)
3x Sword of Númenor (The Dread Realm)
2x Sword that was Broken (The Watcher in the Water)
3x War Axe (The City of Ulfast)

Event (9)
3x Daeron’s Runes (Foundations of Stone)
3x Deep Knowledge (The Voice of Isengard)
3x Feint (Core Set)

3 Heroes, 50 Cards

Deck built on RingsDB.

Fourth Attempt

Starting Hand: Daeron’s Runes, Deep Knowledge x2, Armored Destrier, Sword of Númenor, and A Burning Brand.

Setup:Shrouded Hills is the active location. It is day. North Downs in the staging area. Threat is 32.

Turn 1: Steed of the North drawn. Play both deep knowledges and Daeron’s Runes to draw strider x2, war Axe, burning brand, armored destrier, and fient. Discard a strider and threat is 36. Play destrier and Strider on Halbarad. Play Steed of the North on Beravor. Play Sword of Numenor and war axe on Aragorn. Halbarad and Beravor quest for 8. Cold from Angmar deals a damage to Halbarad and attaches to the main quest. Active location explored and 2 progress placed on the quest. Travel to North Downs. Refresh, threat is 38, it is Night, and reveal Predatory Wolves and add Wolf of Angmar to the staging area.

Turn 2: Golden Belt drawn. Play second armored destrier on Halbarad. Play burning brand on Beravor. Halbarad and Beravor quest for 6. Another Cold from Angmar damages Halbarad and attaches to the main quest. Active location explored. Engage wolf. Ready Beravor. Amarthiul defends, shadow adds one attack, and 2 damage dealt (no more defending for him.) Aragorn attacks for 6 to kill it. Beravor draws deep knowledge and Feint. Refresh, threat is 39, flip contract, and it is day.

Turn 3: Steed of the North drawn. Play Steed on Aragorn. Heroes quest for 18. Sudden Darkness flips time to night. Reveal Rugged Country revealed for 2 threat. Threat is 40. No progress made. Use contract to heal Halbarad foe one. Travel to Rugged Country. Refresh, threat is 41, and it is day.

Turn 4: Daeron’s Runes drawn and played. Draw War Axe and Dúnedain Warning. Discard extra burning brand. Play warning on Beravor. Heroes quest for 18. Blood-thirsty War added to the staging area for 2 threat. Active location explored and add 13 progress to the quest for 15 total. Engage warg and ready Beravor and Aragorn. Beravor defends, cancel shadow, and one damage taken. Aragorn and Amarthiul attack for 10 to kill the warg. Exhaust sword of Numenor to gain a resource. Use contract to heal Halbarad and Beravor. Refresh, threat is 43, it is night, and sudden darkness raises threat to 47.

Turn 5: Golden Belt drawn. Halbarad quests for 6. Northern Warg added to the staging area for 3 threat. Beravor draws Gondorian Shield and Steed of the North. Engage warg and ready Beravor. Beravor defends, cancel shadow, and no damage taken. Aragorn attacks and kills the warg. Refresh, threat is 48, and it is day.

Turn 6: Gondorian Shield drawn. Use Beravor to draw Feint and Daeron’s Runes. Play Runes to draw Celebrían’s Stone and Favor of the Valar. Discard deep knowledge. Play Favor of the Valar. Play Gondorian Shield on Beravor. Play Celebrían’s Stone, Golden Belt, and Steed of the North on Halbarad. Halbarad quests for 11. Northern Warg added to the staging area for 3 threat. Stage 1 complete. Wolf of Angmar added to the staging area. Beravor draws Armored Destrier and Ranger Spear. Engage Northern Warg and ready Halbarad and Beravor. Beravor defends, cancel shadow, and no damage taken. Aragorn attacks for 8 to kill the Warg. Engage wolf with Aragorn’s ability and ready Aragorn. Aragorn attacks wolf and kill it. Refresh, threat is 49, it is night, no non-objective ally to discard, and Northern Warg added to the staging area.

Turn 7: Dunedain Warning drawn and played on Halbarad. Play Golden Belt and Ranger Spear on Aragorn. Heroes quest for 21. Rugged Country added to the staging area for 4 threat. 17 progress placed on the quest. Stage 2 completed. Pack Leader and Wolf of Angmar added to the staging area for stage 3. Travel to Rugged Country. Optionally engage pack leader and exhaust Amarthiul. Ready the heroes with steeds. Halbarad defends vs wolf, shadow discards an Armored Destrier, and one damage taken. Ready Halbarad with other Armored Destrier and discard shadow on Northern Warg. Halbarad defends vs Northern Warg and no damage taken. Beravor defends vs Pack Leader, cancel shadow, and one damage taken. Heal Beravor and Halbarad with contract. Aragorn attacks Northern Warg for 9 killing it. Refresh, discard Favor of the Valar, threat is 45, it is day, and wargs return to the staging area.

Turn 8: Dunedain Warning drawn and played on Beravor. Play Gondorian Shield on Halbarad. Heroes and Amarthiul quest for 22. Rugged Country added to the staging area for 7 threat. Active location explored and 12 progress placed on the quest. Optionally engage Pack Leader and can’t exhaust anyone. Heroes ready with steeds. Beravor defends, cancels shadow, and no damage taken. Aragorn and Halbarad attack for 11 to deal 8 damage to Pack Leader and win!

Score 125 = 8 rounds * 10 + 45 threat + 0 hero damage + 0 killed heroes – 0 victory points.

Stand Together

Matt Kell (kattattack22)1 Comment
  • Player Card Categories
    • Recursion
    • Discard Pile

A card that does what other card games allow players to do as part of the standard rules.

Background

The flavor text comes from The Return of the King. Sam is looking at Mount Doom. He realizes they might just have enough provisions to get to the mountain, but not enough to get back. Sam then resolves to finish the task even if it means that he dies with Frodo.

Card Theme

The card doesn’t really represent Sam and Frodo standing together in their task. The artwork is more representative of the defending together mechanism showing presumably Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli standing together against some orcs.

Card Synergies and Interactions

Direct Damage while Defending

Grouping several defenders that can deal a damage when they’re declared a defender could destroy the enemy before the attack resolves. Gondorian Spearman and Defender of Cair Andros have this ability built in. Tactics characters and Hobbit heroes can gain it from Spear of the Citadel and Sting. A deck that included all of these could get up to 10 damage in a single defense!

Gondorian Spearman also benefits significantly. Usually their 1 defense and hit points results in them dying from the attack. Stand Together increases their chances of defending again either because of defense from the other defenders, or all damage is assigned to one of the other defenders.

Characters with Shadow Cancelation Abilities

Another way to use Stand Together is in chump blocking. Pairing chump blocker with a character that can cancel or discard the shadow makes it safe from shadows. There are many shadow effects that aren’t just attack bonuses or defense penalties that chump blocking won’t stop.

Particularly direct damage to the defender. If the defending character is killed by direct damage first, then the attack becomes undefended and the damage has to be assigned to a hero.

Ring Rating

Card Talk uses the highly scientific yet arbitrary scale of 1 ring for the card to rule them all to 10 to be cast back into the fiery chasm from whence it came.

I rate Stand Together at 9 rings. I recognize there are a couple small use cases for it. The first one in trying to get a bunch of characters that deal damage when they defends sounds fun. I’m just very skeptical that a player can get it to work in a game. A player will likely need 3 – 4 characters or attachments that deal damage when they defend to destroy an enemy by defending. On top of that, they’ll need a copy of Stand Together which is an event. The player will get to use it maybe 3 times in a game without some sort of event recursion. It seems janky and fun, but a lot of set up for something that will only work a few times. The second use case for safer chumping could just be handled by a Feint unless the attacking enemy is immune player card effects. That makes it a very niche use case.

This all said, I’ve never played Stand Together. I came to LOTR LCG from Magic where blocking with multiple defenders is built into the game. The resource curve and pacing in Magic is more of ramp where it is much easier to build up lots of weenie creatures to defend a bigger one. In LOTR, Stand Together seemed like a trap since attacking and defending is separate, and the resource curve does not ramp up to play more than 1 character per turn easily. Also Magic’s combat, defenders always deal damage to the attacker so defending it is always possible to destroy the attacker. LOTR that usually isn’t the case so multiple defenders will only preserve the player board state. Then the player is left with less characters to defend other enemies or attack the enemy and hopefully get rid of it. In most situations, Feint is going to accomplish the same things, give the player some action advantage, and avoid a shadow effect.

  • Dave – 9
  • Grant – 9
  • Ted – 9
  • Matt – 9
  • Average – 9

External Links

Sample Decks

Gondor Stands Together by Seastan

Deck focused on dealing damage by defending with Gondorian Spearmen and Spear of the Citadel.

Main Deck

Hero (3)
Beregond (Heirs of Númenor)
Denethor (Flight of the Stormcaller)
Erestor (The Treachery of Rhudaur)

Ally (9)
2x Envoy of Pelargir (Heirs of Númenor)
2x Errand-rider (Heirs of Númenor)
3x Gondorian Spearman (Core Set)
2x Honour Guard (The Wastes of Eriador)

Attachment (17)
3x Armored Destrier (Temple of the Deceived)
3x Book of Eldacar (Encounter at Amon Dîn)
3x Gondorian Shield (The Steward’s Fear)
2x Raven-winged Helm (The Wastes of Eriador)
3x Spear of the Citadel (Heirs of Númenor)
3x Steward of Gondor (Core Set)

Event (24)
3x Anchor Watch (The Grey Havens)
3x Behind Strong Walls (Heirs of Númenor)
3x Captain’s Wisdom (The Thing in the Depths)
3x Gaining Strength (The Steward’s Fear)
3x Gondorian Discipline (Encounter at Amon Dîn)
3x Heed the Dream (Flight of the Stormcaller)
3x Stand Together (Core Set)
3x Wealth of Gondor (Heirs of Númenor)

3 Heroes, 50 Cards
Cards up to Temple of the Deceived

Sideboard

Attachment (1)
1x The Day’s Rising (The Antlered Crown)

Decklist built and published on RingsDB.

The Wastes of Eriador 3 with Three Wolf Hunters – April 11, 2020

Matt Kell (kattattack22)Leave a comment

Introduction

Low starting willpower and not getting the contract to flip last game certainly lead to the loss by threat. Here’s hoping I get more restricted attachments faster this time.

Decklist

Three Wolf Hunters for Wastes of Eriador

Hero (3)
Aragorn (The Lost Realm)
Beravor (Core Set)
Halbarad (The Lost Realm)

Contract (0)
1x Forth, The Three Hunters! (The City of Ulfast)

Attachment (41)
3x A Burning Brand (Conflict at the Carrock)
3x Armored Destrier (Temple of the Deceived)
2x Celebrían’s Stone (Core Set)
3x Dúnedain Warning (Conflict at the Carrock)
3x Expert Treasure-hunter (On the Doorstep)
2x Favor of the Valar (The Battle of Carn Dûm)
3x Golden Belt (Challenge of the Wainriders)
3x Gondorian Shield (The Steward’s Fear)

3x Ranger Spear (The City of Corsairs)
2x Roheryn (The Flame of the West)
3x Steed of the North (Race Across Harad)
3x Strider (The Drowned Ruins)
3x Sword of Númenor (The Dread Realm)
2x Sword that was Broken (The Watcher in the Water)
3x War Axe (The City of Ulfast)

Event (9)
3x Daeron’s Runes (Foundations of Stone)
3x Deep Knowledge (The Voice of Isengard)
3x Feint (Core Set)

3 Heroes, 50 Cards

Deck built on RingsDB.

Third Attempt

Starting Hand: Deep Knowledge, Daeron’s Runes, Roheryn, Steed of the North, Strider, and Favor of the Valar.

Setup: Shrouded Hills is the active location. Make Camp and Northern Warg in the staging area. Threat is 32

Turn 1: Sword that was Broken drawn. Play deep knowledge and draw Feint and Dúnedain Warning. Threat is 34. Play Daeron’s Runes and draw Armored Destrier and War Axe. Discard Sword that was Broken. Play Strider on Halbarad. Play Steed of the North on Beravor. Play War Axe on Aragorn. Halbarad quests for 5. Wolf of Angmar added to the staging area for 3 threat. Freezing Blast raises threat to 36. 2 progress placed on the active location. Use Beravor to draw War Axe and A Burning Brand. Engage wolf. Amarthiul defends vs wolf, no shadow, and no damage taken. Aragorn attacks for 4 and kills the wolf. Engage warg with Aragorn ability. Refresh, it is night, threat is 38, and Cold from Angmar revealed dealing a damage to Halbarad and blanking his text box.

Turn 2: Sword of Númenor drawn and played on Aragorn. Play Burning Brand on Beravor. Halbarad quests for 4. Weight of Responsibility requires to reavel 2 cards. Pressing Needs makes threat 40 and switches quest to Make Camp. Rugged Country added to the staging area for 4 threat. One progress placed on the active location for a total of 3. Amarthiul defends vs warg, shadow gives it another attack, and no damage. Beravor defends, cancel shadow, and 1 damage taken. Aragorn attacks for 6 to kill the Warg. Refresh, threat is 41, and it is day.

Turn 3: War Axe drawn. Play Sword that was Broken on Aragorn. Play Roheryn on Aragorn too. Play Dunedain Warning on Beravor. Halbarad and Beravor quest for 9. Northern Warg added to the staging area for 5 threat. Active location explored and 2 progress added to the quest. Engage warg and Aragorn attacks and kills it thanks to Roheryn. Refresh, threat is 43, it is night, and Cold from Angmar deals a damage to Halbarad and attaches to the main quest.

Turn 4: A Burning Brand drawn. Play Armored Destrier on Halbarad. Halbarad and Beravor quest for 8. White Warg added to the staging area for 2 threat. Active location explored. Engage warg and Aragorn on Roheryn kills it. Refresh, threat is 44, and it is day.

Turn 5: Ranger Spear drawn and played on Halbarad. Play Favor of the Valar. Halbarad, Beravor, and Amarthiul quest for 12. Add Wolf of Angmar from the deck with Predatory Wolves for 1 threat. 11 progress added to the quest for a total of 14. Engage wolf and Aragorn on Roheryn kills it. Refresh, flip contract, threat is 46, it is night, and another Cold from Angmar damages Halbarad and attaches to the main quest.

Turn 6: Strider drawn. Halbarad and Beravor quest for 10. Wolf of Angmar added to the staging area for 1 threat. Surge reveals Bitter Wind dealing 2 damage to Beravor. Engage wolf and Aragorn on Roheryn kills it. Refresh, threat is 47, and it is day.

Turn 7: Armored Destrier drawn. Halbarad and Beravor quest vs Make Camp. Sudden Darkness flips time to Night. Treat is 48. Shrouded Hills added to the staging area for 2 threat. Travel to the hills. Refresh, threat is 49, and it is day.

Turn 8: Ranger Spear drawn and played on Aragorn. Play Armored Destrier on Halbarad. Halbarad and Beravor quest for for 13 vs Make Camp. Bitter Wind kills Beravor and Halbarad.

I concede this one.

Lórien’s Wealth

Matt Kell (kattattack22)Leave a comment
  • Player Card Categories
    • Card Draw

A wealth of cards for a wealth of resources.

Background

Lothlorien is the realm of some Silvan elves lead by Galadriel and Celeborn during the War of the Ring. It is a forest location southeast of the Misty Mountains, west of the Anduin, and north of Fangorn Forest. Aragorn passed by it after capturing Gollum. The Fellowship visited after losing Gandalf in the Mines of Moria. There Frodo gazed into Galadriel’s Mirror and saw a vision of a possible future. The Fellowship also received gifts from the elves when they left.

Card Theme

Card draw is typically associated with knowledge in one form or another in the game. Lorien’s Wealth I always assumed meant the wisdom of knowledge of the elves particularly Galadriel and Celeborn. The flavor text more refers to the natural beauty of the Golden Wood which doesn’t align with the later theming of card draw particularly in the Lore sphere.

Card Synergies and Interactions

Cost Reduction / Resource Acceleration

Any card that give more Lore resources or bring down the fairly high 3 cost is good with this card. In the Core Set, players were limited to Steward of Gondor in the Core Set. Lore unfortunately did not get many options in later expansions. Love of Tales can work in mono-Lore Song heavy decks or decks that recur Drinking Song into a resource engine. Lore has a decent amount of low threat heroes like Smeagol, Lore Pippin, Mirlonde, Folco, and Bifur to start in Secrecy and use Resourceful. Hobbits can have a Good Meal to bring the cost down to 1. Master of Lore can also reduce the cost by 1 but its own 3 cost is a bit prohibitive.

Swarm Decks

The basic design of most swarm decks is lots of low cost allies, resource acceleration, and card draw. The resource acceleration helps to play more than 1 ally per turn. The extra cards keep those allies flowing to the player’s hand and from there onto the table. Three cards is possibly three more allies to play.

Ring Rating

Card Talk uses the highly scientific yet arbitrary scale of 1 ring for the card to rule them all to 10 to be cast back into the fiery chasm from whence it came.

I rate Lorien’s Wealth at 8 rings. This largely because card draw is just that useful. Three cost is pretty expensive in this game for 3 cards. I remember when I first looked at the cards, the three cost did not seem that back coming from Magic the Gathering. There some of the more basic card draw cards like Concentrate and Counsel of the Soratami cost 1 more than number of cards drawn. Magic, however, the resources to play cards can ramp up by 1 every turn. That makes more expensive cards much easier to play in mid to late game than it is in LOTR LCG.

In only the Core Set, it was OK. Primarily if you could put Steward of Gondor on a Lore hero. It fit because all the Core Set cards centered around 3 cost. Then the card pool grew giving players many other card draw options that didn’t cost anywhere near as much. Just in Lore there are 3 card draw cards that cost zero resources. Even at 1 cost, Heed the Dream can look at 5 and draw 1 and Mithrandir’s Advice can draw 1- 4 cards depending on how many Lore heroes the player has. There are many better options now to draw cards.

It is still possible to use the card for late game draws. Especially if a Lore hero is drowning in extra resources from Steward, it is played for free by Vilya, or something along those lines. The abundance of alternatives means this card is only going to see play from players with a very limited card pool.

  • Dave – 10
  • Grant – TBR
  • Ted – 9
  • Matt – 8
  • Average – 9

External Links

Sample Decks

Quest and Location Control for Three Trials Minimum Purchase by kattattack22

The questing and location control deck for a Minimum Purchase 2 handed fellowship.

Main Deck

Hero (3)
Beravor (Core Set)
Éowyn (Core Set)
Idraen (The Three Trials)

Ally (27)
3x Daughter of the Nimrodel (Core Set)
2x Erebor Hammersmith (Core Set)
1x Gandalf (Core Set)
2x Gléowine (Core Set)
3x Greyflood Wanderer (The Three Trials)
1x Henamarth Riversong (Core Set)
3x Isengard Messenger (The Voice of Isengard)
3x Lórien Guide (Core Set)
2x Miner of the Iron Hills (Core Set)
2x Northern Tracker (Core Set)
2x Wandering Took (Core Set)
3x Westfold Horse-breeder (The Voice of Isengard)

Attachment (6)
1x Keys of Orthanc (The Voice of Isengard)
1x Silver Lamp (The Voice of Isengard)
2x The Favor of the Lady (Core Set)
1x Unexpected Courage (Core Set)
1x Warden of Arnor (The Three Trials)

Event (17)
2x A Test of Will (Core Set)
3x Deep Knowledge (The Voice of Isengard)
1x Dwarven Tomb (Core Set)
2x Hasty Stroke (Core Set)
2x Lórien’s Wealth (Core Set)
3x Stand and Fight (Core Set)
2x Strength of Will (Core Set)
2x The Galadhrim’s Greeting (Core Set)

3 Heroes, 50 Cards
Cards up to The Three Trials

Decklist built and published on RingsDB.

The Wastes of Eriador 2 with Three Wolf Hunters – April 11, 2020

Matt Kell (kattattack22)Leave a comment

Introduction

I trimmed down my deck to 50 cards. The extra 10 to counter Deadman’s Dike mining of my deck is no longer needed. That meant Will of the West and Song of Travel could be easily cut. Favor of the Valar cut down to 2 copies because generally only need it late game. Two copies helps cut down the odds of drawing it early. The 3 copies of Open the Armory taken out as well. The deck already had a fair amount of card draw with Expert Treasure-hunter, Deep Knowledge, and Daeron’s Runes. If I made these modifications now in 2024 after having more experience with 3 hunter decks, I’d probably left in Open the Armory and taken out Expert-Treasure Hunter. I do like Expert-Treasure Hunter a lot though. It’s a fun card but easy to forget to use.

Decklist

Three Wolf Hunters for Wastes of Eriador

Hero (3)
Aragorn (The Lost Realm)
Beravor (Core Set)
Halbarad (The Lost Realm)

Contract (0)
1x Forth, The Three Hunters! (The City of Ulfast)

Attachment (41)
3x A Burning Brand (Conflict at the Carrock)
3x Armored Destrier (Temple of the Deceived)
2x Celebrían’s Stone (Core Set)
3x Dúnedain Warning (Conflict at the Carrock)
3x Expert Treasure-hunter (On the Doorstep)
2x Favor of the Valar (The Battle of Carn Dûm)
3x Golden Belt (Challenge of the Wainriders)
3x Gondorian Shield (The Steward’s Fear)

3x Ranger Spear (The City of Corsairs)
2x Roheryn (The Flame of the West)
3x Steed of the North (Race Across Harad)
3x Strider (The Drowned Ruins)
3x Sword of Númenor (The Dread Realm)
2x Sword that was Broken (The Watcher in the Water)
3x War Axe (The City of Ulfast)

Event (9)
3x Daeron’s Runes (Foundations of Stone)
3x Deep Knowledge (The Voice of Isengard)
3x Feint (Core Set)

3 Heroes, 50 Cards

Deck built on RingsDB.

Second Attempt

Starting Hand: Armored Destrier, Golden Belt, War Axe, Deep Knowledge, Dúnedain Warning, and Expert Treasure-hunter.

Setup: Shrouded Hills is the active location. It is Day. White Warg in the staging area. Threat is 32.

Turn 1: Ranger Spear drawn. Play deep knowledge to draw another spear and burning brand. Play a spear each on Halbarad and Aragorn. Play war Axe on Aragorn. Play Burning Brand and Dunedain Warning to Beravor. Halbarad quests for 3. Bitter Wind deals a damage to Aragorn. One progress placed on the active location. Name attachment and treasure hunter adds Favor of the Valar to the hand. White Warg engaged and deal a damage to Aragorn. Beravor defends, cancel shadow, and no damage taken. Aragorn attacks for 6 killing the Warg. Refresh, threat is 36, and it is Night. Blood thirsty warg added to the staging area.

Turn 2: Daeron’s Runes drawn. Play Armored Destrier on Halbarad. Halbarad and Amarthiul quest for 3. Pressing Needs added Lost in the Wilderness to the staging. Surge added Cold from Angmar to the quest and deals a damage to Aragorn. Threat is 38. One progress added to the active location, name attachment, and add Dunedain Warning to hand. Engage warg. Beravor defends, cancel shadow, and one damage dealt. Aragorn attacks for 6 dealing 4 damage. Refresh, threat is 39, it is day, and return Blood thirsty warg returned to the staging area.

Turn 3: Roheryn drawn. Play warning on Beravor. Halbarad quests for 3. Eriador Wastes added to the staging area for 5 threat. Threat is 41. Engage warg. Beravor defends, cancel shadow, and no damage taken. Aragorn attacks and kills the warg. Refresh, threat is 43, it is night, and North Downs added to the staging area.

Turn 4: War Axe drawn. Halbarad, Aragorn, and Amarthiul quest for 5. Wolf of Angmar added to the staging area for 6 threat. Surge reveals sudden darkness and threat is 48. Engage wolf. Beravor defends, cancel shadow, and no damage taken. Refresh, threat is 49, it is day and return wolf to the staging area.

Turn 5: Steed of the North drawn.

That’s game due to threat.

Swift Strike

Matt Kell (kattattack22)Leave a comment
  • Card Talk Season 7 Episode 8
    • Video episode
    • Audio episode
  • Cycle
    • Shadows of Mirkwood
  • Set
    • Core and Revised Core Sets
  • Player Card Categories
    • Direct Damage

Not to be confused with last week’s card, Quick Strike.

Background

The flavor text is the description of the counter attack Eowyn makes on the Witch-King’s mount that decapitates it.

Suddenly the great beast beat its hideous wings, and the wind of them was foul. Again it leaped into the air, and then swiftly fell down upon Éowyn, shrieking, striking with beak and claw. Still she did not blench: maiden of the Rohirrim, child of kings, slender but as a steel-blade, fair yet terrible. A swift stroke she dealt, skilled and the outstretched neck she clove asunder, and the hewn head fell like a stone.

J. R. R. Tolkien. The Lord of the Rings. The Return of the King. Chapter 6

The art doesn’t match considering it shows someone possibly a ranger hitting an orc with the pommel of their sword.

Card Theme

The card’s mechanism of dealing direct damage when a character defends matches pretty well with the theme from the flavor text. Eowyn only attacks as the Witch-king’s mount is in the process of attacking her.

Card Synergies and Interactions

More Direct Damage

Some quests early in the game’s life had a many 1 or 2 hit point enemies like Journey Along the Anduin, Return to Mirkwood, The Seventh Level, We Must Away Ere Break of Day, or Over the Misty Mountains Grim. Later scenarios, the norm was enemies with 3 or more hit points. In those, more is needed if a player wants to destroy an enemy with Swift Strike’s direct damage. Gondorian Spearman, a character with a Spear of the Citadel, a Hobbit with Sting, Defender of Cair Andros in Valour all deal their damage at same declare defender step.

Thalin could do a damage when they came out. Tactics Bilbo has a similar ability to Thalin although it targets only 1 enemy and they already need to be in play. Galadhon Archer, Descendent of Throndor, and Rumil have direct damage effects are like Gandalf ally from the Core Set dealing direct damage when they enter play. Hail of Stones is the most flexible since it can be used in any action window. These all can soften enemies up for a Swift Strike to destroy the enemy before it resolves its attack. There are also many direct damage effects that can trigger when a character attacks like Yazan, Bow of Yew, Goblin-Cleaver, etc. Dwarves also have Darrowdelf Axe, Heavy Stroke, Azain Silverbeard, and Thorin Stonehelm. These are less useful since it won’t prevent the enemy attack by destroying it.

Lore is the other main sphere with direct damage effects. Argalad similar to Thalin and Bilbo can deal 1 damage to an enemy in the staging area provided he has enough attack power to reduce their threat to 0. Expecting Mischief is very similar to Thalin since it triggers to deal 2 damage when an enemy is revealed.

There are also a couple thematically tied to the Ithilien Rangers like the trap, Poisoned Stakes. It unfortunately deals 2 damage at the end of the round. Arrows from the Trees also can deal damage to enemies in the staging area and more when Tactics resources are spent, but the players have to avoid engaging any enemies. Both given the timing and needing to avoid engagement don’t work that well with Swift Strike.

Event Recursion

Tactics has some of the best cards for event recursion, but one of the main one doesn’t work with Swift Strike. Book of Eldacar can’t recur Swift Strike because actions are last in the priority of effects (Constant/Passive), Forced, Response, and Action). By the time a response is triggered, the player wouldn’t have the opportunity to activate the action on Book of Eldacar to use the response effect. Hama hero can basically turn into any 3 cards into copies of an event in the discard pile. Then Nori ally is less targeted but timed right and with some shuffle effects can do the trick. The remaining recursion cards like Nori just add it back into the deck. A good amount of card draw and/or deck shuffle effects are needed to help find it again.

Ring Rating

Card Talk uses the highly scientific yet arbitrary scale of 1 ring for the card to rule them all to 10 to be cast back into the fiery chasm from whence it came.

I rate Swift Strike at 9 rings. It is just too expensive for what it does. It costs 2 to deal 2 damage after you declare a defender for an attack. It won’t give the player action advantage like Feint since the defender is already committed. It is only 2 damage needing more cards to combo with it to destroy the enemy. Quick Strike in comparison might be enough with the right hero like Treebeard, Nas’sayiah, or Tactics Eomer that have built in attack boosts.

That is only comparing to 2 other Core Set Tactics events. The card pool has since added more ways to deal with enemies before they attack with similar staging area attack or attack cancelation effects. Even the amount of direct damage that can be dealt to enemies in the staging area before a defender is required have increased. All these alternatives combined with the 2 cost and having to exhaust a character in defense is why this card doesn’t see play anymore.

  • Dave – 9
  • Grant – TBR
  • Ted – 8
  • Matt – 9
  • Average – 8.67

External Links

Sample Decks

Real Self-Starters by Wandering Took

From the Ringsdb deck description

A mono-tactics event deck, with splashes of damage cancellation, direct damage, and shadow mitigation

Main Deck

Hero (3)
Beorn (Over Hill and Under Hill)
Éowyn (The Flame of the West)
Na’asiyah (A Storm on Cobas Haven)

Ally (3)
3x Honour Guard (The Wastes of Eriador)

Attachment (14)
3x Book of Eldacar (Encounter at Amon Dîn)
3x Dagger of Westernesse (The Black Riders)
2x Raiment of War (The Thing in the Depths)
3x Secret Vigil (The Lost Realm)
3x Strider (The Drowned Ruins)

Event (33)
3x Blade Mastery (Core Set)
3x Feint (Core Set)
3x Foe-hammer (Over Hill and Under Hill)
3x Goblin-cleaver (Over Hill and Under Hill)
3x Horn’s Cry (The Treachery of Rhudaur)
3x Quick Strike (Core Set)
3x Sterner than Steel (The Flame of the West)
3x Swift Strike (Core Set)
3x Thicket of Spears (Core Set)
3x Tireless Hunters (The Lost Realm)
3x Wait no Longer (The Mûmakil)

3 Heroes, 50 Cards
Cards up to The Mûmakil

Sideboard

Event (6)
3x Close Call (The Dunland Trap)
3x Trained for War (The Drúadan Forest)

Decklist built and published on RingsDB.

The Wastes of Eriador with Forth Dúnedain Defenders to Deadman’s Dike – April 11, 2020

Matt Kell (kattattack22)Leave a comment

Introduction

Shuffling up the Dunedain Defenders without any modifications just to see how it goes.

Decklist

Forth Dúnedain Defenders to Deadman’s Dike

Hero (3)
Aragorn (The Lost Realm)
Beravor (Core Set)
Halbarad (The Lost Realm)

Contract (0)
1x Forth, The Three Hunters! (The City of Ulfast)

Attachment (44)
3x A Burning Brand (Conflict at the Carrock)
3x Armored Destrier (Temple of the Deceived)
2x Celebrían’s Stone (Core Set)
3x Dúnedain Warning (Conflict at the Carrock)
3x Expert Treasure-hunter (On the Doorstep)
3x Favor of the Valar (The Battle of Carn Dûm)
3x Golden Belt (Challenge of the Wainriders)
3x Gondorian Shield (The Steward’s Fear)

3x Ranger Spear (The City of Corsairs)
2x Roheryn (The Flame of the West)
2x Song of Travel (The Hills of Emyn Muil)
3x Steed of the North (Race Across Harad)
3x Strider (The Drowned Ruins)
3x Sword of Númenor (The Dread Realm)
2x Sword that was Broken (The Watcher in the Water)
3x War Axe (The City of Ulfast)

Event (15)
3x Daeron’s Runes (Foundations of Stone)
3x Deep Knowledge (The Voice of Isengard)
3x Feint (Core Set)
3x Open the Armory (The Dungeons of Cirith Gurat)
3x Will of the West (Core Set)

3 Heroes, 59 Cards

Deck built on RingsDB.

First Attempt

Starting Hand: Daeron’s Runes, Golden Belt, Feint, Steed of the North, Armored Destrier, and Sword that was Broken

Setup: Shrouded Hills is the active location. Freezing Blast revealed. Threat is 34.

Turn 1: Gondorian Shield drawn. Play Steed of the North and Gondorian Shield on Beravor. Play Armored Destrider on Halbarad. Halbarad quests for 2. Predatory Wolves adds Wolf of Angmar to the staging area for 1 threat. One progress placed on the active location. Use Beravor to draw Open the Armory and Song of Travel. Wolf engaged and ready Beravor. Beravor defends, no shadow, and no damage taken. Aragorn attacks and kills wolf. Refresh and threat is 35.

Turn 2: Sword that was Broken drawn. Play Open the Armory and find War Axe. Play War Axe on Aragorn. Halbarad quests for 2. Bitter Wind deals a damage to Halbarad. 2 progress added to the active location for a total of 3. Beravor draws Will of the West and Sword of Numenor. Refresh and threat is 36.

Turn 3: Will of the West drawn. Play Daeron’s Runes and draw Sword of Numenor and Armored Destrider. Discard a Will of the West. Play a sword of Numenor each on Aragorn and Halbarad. Halbarad quests for 2.

I realized I’ve been forgetting to flip between day and night.

Reset!

Quick Strike

Matt Kell (kattattack22)Leave a comment
  • Card Talk Season 7 Episode 7
    • Video episode
    • Audio episode
  • Cycle
    • Shadows of Mirkwood
  • Set
    • Core and Revised Core Sets
  • Player Card Categories
    • Declared Attack

Strike Hard. Strike Fast. No Mercy.

Background

The flavor comes from the Two Towers when Aragorn, Gimli, and Legolas meet the returned Gandalf. They’re catching up with the event each of them knows. Aragorn claims Gandalf is speaking in riddles. This prompts Gandalf to tell them what he thinks the current state of affairs are and Sauron’s plan. Basically it boils down to strike Minas Tirith hard and fast now supposing the Fellowship would take the ring there.

Card Theme

I wrote once long ago about how enemies attacking first in LOTR LCG is thematic because Mordor et al are the aggressors in the story. The Free Peoples, especially Gondor, are on the defensive and only barely holding Mordor at bay. This card is very much about how the best defense is a good offense. Hit first and maybe the enemy can’t hit back.

Card Synergies and Interactions

Ranged Attackers

Ranged Attackers can get a bit more mileage out of Quick Strike in multiplayer. A player can use their ranged attacker to help out another player by attacking one of their enemies so they don’t have to defend. This is can be very important if one player or one hand if playing 2 handed solo has the questing and support deck without a good defense option.

Attack Boosts

The most obvious synergy since more attack means the Quick Strike is more likely to destroy the enemy in a single attack. There are many ways to boost a character’s attack with attachments being one of the most prevalent in the game generally representing many weapons available to characters of the books. These also work better with Quick Strike since they can already be in play. The player doesn’t need the double coincidence of drawing both Quick Strike and an attack boosting event. Then there are also some characters with built-in attack boosts like Core Set Gimli, Na’asiyah, Fornost Bowman, Erebor Hammersmith that might be able to destroy an enemy without another card helping.

Firefoot and Rohan Warhorse

Firefoot has a couple of synergies with Quick Strike. It does boost attack as just discussed. Additionally, if the Quick Strike does more damage than the target’s hit points, Firefoot gets to “trample ” that damage onto an enemy engaged with the player. Magic the Gathering players will recognize the “trample” term that deals excess damage to creature to a player. It also works with the idea of the charging horse running over an enemy while its rider is on their way to attack another. The Rohan Warhorse doesn’t offer as much of a combo but readying after Quick Strike destroys an enemy is still very good.

Event Recursion

Tactics has some of the best cards for event recursion. Hama can basically turn into any 3 cards into copies of an event in the discard pile. Book of Eldacar is part of the set of Record cards that can replay events and put them back into the player’s deck. Then Nori ally is less targeted but timed right and with some shuffle effects can do the trick.

Staging Area Attack

Dunhere + Quick Strike or Quick Strike on an enemy with Ithilien Pit attached can be attacked in the quest phase. If the enemy is destoryed then it acts as pseudo-questing by lowering the threat in the staging area.

Ring Rating

Card Talk uses the highly scientific yet arbitrary scale of 1 ring for the card to rule them all to 10 to be cast back into the fiery chasm from whence it came.

I rate Quick Strike at 3 rings. I go back and forth if Quick Strike is better than Feint. In certain situations, it certainly is since destroying the enemy can certainly cancel an attack. When used with Firefoot, it can possibly kill 2 enemies and prevent 2 attacks that round. Paired with staging area attack, it can even do some pseudo-questing.

I still find myself usually putting Feint in many of my decks over Quick Strike. Usually I need something early game before my defender is set up to handle big attacks or more often the possibility of 2 or more attacks a round in the early game. Quick Strike usually needs a little set up to reliably destroy enemies before they can attack the player(s). It is really good but needs a little more support to use well.

  • Dave – 4
  • Grant – 3
  • Ted – TBR
  • Matt – 3
  • Average – 3.33

External Links

Sample Decks

Dúnhere & Tacteowyn, Fastred edition by Flrbb

The concept is (almost) to not engage the enemies and kill them with Dunhere in the staging area, this is where a low threat is usefull. Fastred helps in his own way to keep the thread low.

Main Deck

Hero (3)
Dúnhere (Core Set)
Éowyn (The Flame of the West)
Fastred (The Black Serpent)

Ally (18)
2x Arwen Undómiel (The Watcher in the Water)
1x Elfhelm (The Dead Marshes)
3x Galadriel’s Handmaiden (Celebrimbor’s Secret)
3x Gandalf (Core Set)
3x Honour Guard (The Wastes of Eriador)
1x Jubayr (The Mûmakil)
3x Rhovanion Outrider (Temple of the Deceived)
2x Rider of Rohan (Beneath the Sands)

Attachment (18)
3x Ancient Mathom (A Journey to Rhosgobel)
1x Captain of Gondor (The Antlered Crown)
3x Dagger of Westernesse (The Black Riders)
3x Raiment of War (The Thing in the Depths)
3x Secret Vigil (The Lost Realm)
3x Spear of the Mark (The Morgul Vale)
2x Unexpected Courage (Core Set)

Event (14)
3x A Test of Will (Core Set)
3x Foe-hammer (Over Hill and Under Hill)
2x Hasty Stroke (Core Set)
2x Quick Strike (Core Set)
2x Sterner than Steel (The Flame of the West)
2x Unseen Strike (The Redhorn Gate)

Player Side Quest (2)
1x Double Back (Escape from Mount Gram)
1x Keep Watch (Beneath the Sands)

3 Heroes, 52 Cards
Cards up to The Black Serpent

Sideboard

Hero (1)
Glorfindel (Foundations of Stone)

Ally (8)
1x Envoy of Pelargir (Heirs of Númenor)
2x Galadhon Archer (The Nîn-in-Eilph)
2x Guardian of Rivendell (Flight of the Stormcaller)
1x Legolas (The Treason of Saruman)
2x Northern Tracker (Core Set)

Attachment (10)
2x Golden Shield (The Flame of the West)
3x Light of Valinor (Foundations of Stone)
1x Resourceful (The Watcher in the Water)
1x Rivendell Bow (The Watcher in the Water)
2x Spare Hood and Cloak (Over Hill and Under Hill)
1x Windfola (A Storm on Cobas Haven)

Event (6)
3x Elrond’s Counsel (The Watcher in the Water)
3x Feint (Core Set)

Player Side Quest (1)
1x Gather Information (The Lost Realm)

Decklist built and published on RingsDB.