Tag: g

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.

Beeswax Candle

Matt Kell (kattattack22)Leave a comment

The Ranger Spikes of location attachments

Errata Version

Beorn actually errata’d the card after releasing it. The errata version only gives the option to ready to the first player. This is more consistent with other location attachments like Ancient Mathom, Ranger Provisions, and Woodmen’s Clearing. While I understand this change in that context, I much prefer that the response scales in multiplayer despite being a mostly solo player.

It costs zero and can negate many locations in the game if you’re running a Beorning Hero. The advent set and ALEP expand the options from 2 to 5. Honabeorn, Laekna, and Osbera are the most likely to benefit from the option to ready when the location attached to Beeswax Candle leave play. They have a a good amount of willpower to contribute to questing.

The Candle also goes right along with the location attachment focused Woodman deck. Haldan can draw a card when the attached location is explored. It will give bonuses to Forest Road Traveler and a discount to play Mirkwood Hunter. Woodmen Lore will ready 1 more character when played. A 4 threat location can be down to 0 for a turn between the Candle and Familiar Lands.

This card is so good. Tactics already didn’t many good options for location control. Meneldor was the best placing 2 progress when he enters or leaves play. Arod was second best placing a progress on a location if attached character participated in an attack that destroyed an enemy. Beorning Guardian’s ability to place progress came at a steep cost of discarding itself along with having to destroy an enemy. Beeswax Candle won’t get rid of a super high threat location. What it does is allow the player to ignore a 2-3 location without traveling or exploring it. This means no worrying about Travel effects. No problems with encounter effects when the location or if any location is explored. If a player does end up having to explore it, then they get to ready a character (possibly more if playing pre-errata version)!

Grimbeorn the Old (Ally)

Matt Kell (kattattack22)Leave a comment

Lord of the Beornings

Grimbeorn gives a reasonable 10 stats for his 5 cost. Although it can be less considering it could be discounted with Radagast’s Staff. Beorning Skin-changer can get that discount to 3. Of course with his Creature trait, he also can be paid for with Radagast ally’s resources.

Grimbeorn like Radagast ally can use his resources for cards with a particular trait. The advent set comes chalk full of cards with the Beorning trait. Grimbeorn doesn’t specify that they need to be ally cards. It also includes the attachments and events like Honey Cake and Dance of the Bears. There aren’t many Beorning cards in the FFG card pool beyond Beorn, Beorning Beekeeper, Beorning Guardian, and Beorning Skin-changer. ALEP only introduced Beorning Pony and Birna that use his resources, but they can’t be used for Birna’s ability.

There are some ally attachments that are not restricted that Grimbeorn can use. Grappling Hook can let him use his robust 3 attack to help quest for a round. Ent Draught and Spare Pipe’s extra hit points especially combined with Self Preservation can make him a more reliable defender. Pack Leader and Spare Hood and Cloak offer a couple readying options.

Grimbeorn ally much like the other “Lord” characters (forgive the Magic the Gathering term) that provide trait specific resource acceleration can really help out. Radagast ally never took off because his lackluster stats and long time for his extra resources to exceed his high cost. Treebeard did much better because his cost is a little less, much better stats, and an extremely useful ability for the high stat Ents. Grimbeorn is much closer to Treebeard. He is much easier to get into play than Radagast thanks to Beorning Skin-changer and Radagast’s Staff. His 3 attack and 3 defense make him immediately viable in combat. Although defending with him is a risky proposition since losing him hurts a player’s economy. His ability to cancel damage helps there somewhat.

Gandalf’s Search

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

LotR LCG’s much worse version of Magic the Gathering’s Brainstorm or Ponder.

Background

The card refers to Gandalf searching the records of Minas Tirith for any mention of The One Ring. He recounted the events during The Council of Elrond. There he found Isildur’s Scroll that detailed that he kept it and made it an heirloom of Arnor. Also the scroll detailed how to identify the ring by the inscription that it bore that would only reveal itself in fire.

Card Theme

This game often represents knowledge as card draw. The Lore sphere in particular is full of examples cards representing Middle-Earth’s knowledge, stories, and songs with Gleowine, Daeron’s Runes, Deep Knowledge, Erestor, Drinking Song, and Mithrandir’s Advice representing the knowledge, stories, and songs present in Middle Earth. Gandalf’s Search centered around finding a very specific piece of knowledge. Mechanically looking at cards in a player’s deck to find 1 particular card fits very well with the theme.

Card Synergies and Interactions

Istari

Gandalf’s Search can assist in setting up Gandalf hero’s ability. Especially if the top card isn’t that helpful or just trying to find an event Gandalf can play to maximize on the once per phase limit. It also plays well with Flame of Anor to maximize the attack boost to the Istari heroes and allies. Any high cost card the search can put on top works. A player knowing what their top card is also helps enable Messenger Raven’s ability. Messenger Raven is run in a lot of Radagast hero decks to give him a repeatable way to quest without exhausting. The player just returns the raven to hand and plays it next round with the added bonus of possibly drawing a card.

Elrond Vilya

It is is not the most efficient option to set up putting an expensive card into play with Vilya’s effect compared to Imladris Stargazer, Gildor ally, or Wizard Pipe. Still it is an option that can be cheaper than Gildor in the same sphere as Elrond hero.

Dwarven Mining

The Dwarven Mining cards discard cards from the top of the player deck for an effect. Zigil Miner in particular it helps to know what the top 1 or 2 cards of a player’s deck are to gain resources. Rearranging more than 2 can help set up gaining 2 resources. The other mining cards get an effect no matter what the top cards are, but the rearranging effect if enough resources are paid can help avoid discarding key cards. Then there are two cards are designed to be mined. Hidden Cache offsets the nerf Zigil Miner received from its errata down to 1 resource per card with a matching cost. Ered Luin Miner is not an efficient ally for 3 cost, but great value when put into play for free.

Expert Treasure-hunter

Expert Treasure-hunter is similar to Dwarven Mining cards since it discards the top card of the player deck. A player that knows what the card is can always guess correctly to draw it instead.

Resource Acceleration

  • Legacy of Numenor - Leadership Event - 0 Cost - Doomed 4. Action: Add 1 resource to each hero's resource pool.

More resources or cost reduction increases X and the player can see and rearrange more cards. Steward of Gondor was the big one in the Core Set and still strong today. In Lore, options are more limited with Master of Lore that can only reduce the cost by 3 at best. Love of Tales while cheap requires multiple copies in play to generate significant resources and many song cards or Drinking Song with Scroll of Isildur. Hobbits with a Good Meal can basically turn the effect into X + 2. There are all the Leadership events like Tighten Our Belts, Legacy of Numenor, and Captain’s Wisdom that can add resources to heroes.

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 Gandalf’s Search at 9 rings. I strongly suspect Nate French modeled this card on Brainstorm or Ponder. Brainstorm is incredibly strong in Magic the Gathering, and Ponder while weaker is still very good. Both are cheap and have great ability to set up combos and find answers to cards played by the opponent. Brainstorm especially is strong because it lets you swap cards in your hand with the top 3 of your deck and then put them back in any order at any time. Ponder is much closer to Gandalf’s Search since it draws only 1 deck, the player reorders the rest, and its timing is limited to main phases (equivalent to LotR’s Planning Phase.)



Like many LotR Core Set cards, cost was set fairly high compared to cards that came later. This could be Nate trying balance the card search and draw effect, or possibly it made sense with unknown plans for more strong resource acceleration on par of Steward of Gondor and original Zigil Miner. Either way, the cost never made much sense when Lorien’s Wealth can draw 3 cards for 3 cost. Gandalf’s Search for the same cost looks at 3 cards, draws 1, and the player puts the other two back on top in the order they want. Lorien’s Wealth effectively set the standard cost to draw a card at 1 resource. If you are paying more than 1 for Gandalf’s Search, then the player is better off just playing Lorien’s Wealth and drawing all the cards you get to look at. There also wasn’t any cards in the Core Set that trigger off what a player’s top card is. Getting to choose the order of cards is only setting up draws. It isn’t until Expert Treasure Hunter in The Hobbit Over Hill and Under Hill and Zigil Miner came out in Khazad-Dum that it could do more. Original Zigil Miner could help recoup the cost of it looking at more than 1, but with the errata version, it still wouldn’t be worth it.

The good news is we eventually got the better version of this card, Heed the Dream. That’s why despite the card have a few potential uses, I rated it so low. The cost is just too high for them and many cheaper more efficient alternatives exist.

  • Dave – 10
  • Grant – 10
  • Ted – 10
  • Matt – 9
  • Average 9.75

External Links

Sample Decks

Low-Cost Very Efficient 1 Core Set Deck by nelloianiro

Pretty much as the title says, a single (original) core set deck full of low cost cards.

Main Deck

Hero (3)
Aragorn (Core Set)
Eleanor (Core Set)
Glorfindel (Core Set)

Ally (17)
2x Daughter of the Nimrodel (Core Set)
3x Gandalf (Core Set)
2x Gléowine (Core Set)
3x Guard of the Citadel (Core Set)
1x Henamarth Riversong (Core Set)
1x Lórien Guide (Core Set)
2x Miner of the Iron Hills (Core Set)
3x Snowbourn Scout (Core Set)

Attachment (13)
1x Celebrían’s Stone (Core Set)
1x Dark Knowledge (Core Set)
2x Forest Snare (Core Set)
1x Power in the Earth (Core Set)
2x Protector of Lórien (Core Set)
1x Self Preservation (Core Set)
2x Steward of Gondor (Core Set)
2x The Favor of the Lady (Core Set)
1x Unexpected Courage (Core Set)

Event (20)
2x Common Cause (Core Set)
1x Dwarven Tomb (Core Set)
2x Ever Vigilant (Core Set)
2x For Gondor! (Core Set)
1x Gandalf’s Search (Core Set)
1x Hasty Stroke (Core Set)
2x Lore of Imladris (Core Set)
1x Lórien’s Wealth (Core Set)
2x Sneak Attack (Core Set)
2x Stand and Fight (Core Set)
1x Strength of Will (Core Set)
2x The Galadhrim’s Greeting (Core Set)
1x Valiant Sacrifice (Core Set)

3 Heroes, 50 Cards
Cards up to Core Set

Decklist built and published on RingsDB.

Guard of the Citadel

Matt Kell (kattattack22)Leave a comment
  • Card Talk Season 6 Episode 5
    • Video episode
    • Audio episode
  • Cycle
    • Shadows of Mirkwood
  • Set
    • Core and Revised Core Set

The most basic of allies.

Background

Guarding the citadel and the White Tree was the highest honor and duty to the guards in Minas Tirith. They couldn’t leave their posts for any reason except if commanded by their lord. They could wear Elendil’s livery of the White Tree with a silver crown and stars on a field of black. They also wore mithril helms with wings of sea birds. The flavor text comes from The Council of Elrond. It is near the closing of Elrond’s recounting of The One Ring’s history and the aftermath of the Last Alliance.

Card Theme

The theme here is all in the name and traits since there are no mechanisms other than its stats.

Card Synergies and Interactions

Gondor Global Stat Boosts

The Core Set alongside this ally introduced the first Gondor global stat boost with For Gondor!. It worked to give each a character + 1 attack. It also gave Gondor characters +1 defense. The enemies in the core set often had 2 attack and the defense could save the Guard assuming there was no shadow effect. Faramir doesn’t just provide his bonus willpower to Gondor characters, but he is Gondor traited. Simliarly, Sword that was Broken thematically should be Gondor related as the sword of High King Elendil although the boost is given to all characters.

Then the Against the Shadow cycle introduced more Gondor centric cards. Leadership Boromir hero gave all Gondor allies +1 attack as long as he had a resource in his resource pool. Then much later in the cycle, Visionary Leadership could give all Gondor allies an extra willpower.

The Outlands, representing the southern fiefs of Gondor, provide global boosts to other Outlands characters. Sword of Morthond allows a Gondor ally to gain the benefit of these global bonuses as well.

Gondor Swarm

The global boosts available to Gondor are better the more allies they can get into play. Fortunately, the trait has many cheap allies like Guard of the Citadel. Some even help find or put additional allies into play like Soldier of Gondor and Herald of Anorien. Soldier of Dol Amroth can make Tactics Gondor allies cheaper. Pelargir Ship Captain, Envoy of Pelargri, and Errand Rider can help smooth resources for more allies in addition to being more cheap allies. Squire of the Citadel has one of the cheapest printed costs and Citadel Custodian can become free with enough Gondor allies in play.

Ally Attachments

Gondor doesn’t get any specific bonuses for attachments on allies like Dale. Guard of the Citadel does have a very useful trait to get ally attachments, Warrior. There are several that can increase the Guard’s combat ability with bonus attack, defense, and hit points. Bonus willpower is hard to come by with only Wild Stallion as an option.

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 Guard of the Citadel at 7 rings. I view the Guard as the Grizzly Bears of LOTR LCG. For those that haven’t played Magic the Gathering, Grizzly Bears is the epitome of a vanilla creature. It costs 2 for 2 attack and 2 defense/hit points. Nothing really bad about it other than it lacks any abilities. Great for a beginner deck. Guard of the Citadel fills the same role. It is a low complexity ally that is cheap and good enough. Later on as people build out their card pools, there’s usually not much reason to pull out Guard of the Citadel as there are many other 2 cost Gondor allies with the same or better stats and an ability.

  • Dave –
  • Grant –
  • Ted –
  • Matt – 7

External Links

Sample Decks

The Armies of Gondor by Gizlivadi 

Mono Leadership Gondor Swarm

Main Deck

Hero (3)
Aragorn (Core Set)
Boromir (Heirs of Númenor)
Denethor (Flight of the Stormcaller)

Ally (27)
3x Envoy of Pelargir (Heirs of Númenor)
3x Errand-rider (Heirs of Númenor)
2x Faramir (Core Set)
2x Galadriel (The Road Darkens)
3x Gandalf (Core Set)
2x Guard of the Citadel (Core Set)
3x Herald of Anórien (Trouble in Tharbad)
1x Ingold (The Wastes of Eriador)
3x Squire of the Citadel (The Blood of Gondor)
3x Veteran of Osgiliath (Escape from Mount Gram)
2x White Tower Watchman (The Drúadan Forest)

Attachment (16)
2x Celebrían’s Stone (Core Set)
2x Heir of Mardil (Celebrimbor’s Secret)
3x Rod of the Steward (Flight of the Stormcaller)
3x Steward of Gondor (Core Set)
2x Sword that was Broken (The Watcher in the Water)
1x Tome of Atanatar (The Blood of Gondor)
3x Visionary Leadership (The Morgul Vale)

Event (8)
3x A Very Good Tale (Over Hill and Under Hill)
2x Sneak Attack (Core Set)
3x Strength of Arms (The Drúadan Forest)

3 Heroes, 51 Cards
Cards up to Flight of the Stormcaller

Decklist built and published on RingsDB.

Glorfindel (Spirit Hero)

Matt Kell (kattattack22)Leave a comment
  • Cycle
    • Darrowdelf
  • Set
    • Foundations of Stone 

The Glorfindel hero you want to play.

Background

Glorfindel we meet in the Lord of the Rings trilogy after Frodo is stabbed by the Morgul blade. He finds Strider and the Hobbits on their way to Rivendell. He takes Frodo from them and carries him swiftly to Rivendell. When confronted by the ringwraiths at the ford, he reveals his spiritual presence to drive the wraiths into the river. Then they are swept away in the ensuing flood. Those unfamiliar with books will note this part is filled by Arwen in the Peter Jackson film adaption.

Glorfindel, however, has a much more extensive story than his cameo in Lord of the Rings. In the First Age, he is one of the captains of Gondolin, the hidden elf city. He is most well known for slaying a Blarog in single combat covering the elves’ flight from the city after it fell. After the fatal blow, the Balrog began to fall into an abyss and dragged Glorfindel down with him. Glorfindel died, but the Valar brought him back from the Halls of Waiting.

He lived in Valinor after his resurrection until coming back to Middle Earth in the Second Age. Glorfindel most likely returned to Middle Earth with the Blue Wizards. He was sent to aid King Gil-galad and Elrond in fighting Sauron. Not much is known of his deeds during the end of the second age and early third age. He did fight Sauron’s forces in Eriador. There, most notably, he gave the prophecy that the Witch-King would not fall by the hand of a man.

Card Theme

Glorfindel is obviously a powerful Nolder as a First Age Elf that took down a Balrog single handedly. His strong stat line is well justified there. The low threat then is a reflection of his involvement in the War of the Ring. Hero threat is explained as the attention the hero draws from Sauron. Powerful leaders like Elrond or Gandalf have high threat because they’re high profile and powerful threats to Sauron. Hobbits have low threat because they generally below his notice. Glorfindel only returning shortly after the forging of The One Ring and believed to not openly display his unseen presence much if at all, likely was not well known. Later as previously mentioned he helped Frodo get to Rivendell, but was rejected from The Fellowship as his power would draw too much attention. This brings us to his Forced effect. Glorfindel’s power is hidden because it stems from his strong presence in the unseen world. He could reveal and unleash it as he did with the Nazghul. Doing so more often would eventually draw Sauron’s attention represented by the Forced effect raising a player’s threat.

Card Synergies and Interactions

Does Not Exhaust to Quest

The drawback to Glorfindel’s low threat cost is the Forced effect on his card. Every time he exhausts to quest, the player has to raise their threat by 1. The work around to this is either not to quest or use Light of Valinor that came in the same pack to quest without exhausting. Strider can also provide the a way around exhausting to quest, but the player can only control 2 or less heroes. If using the Grey Wanderer contract, either one of these could be put into play right at the start of the game.

Secrecy

Glorfindel’s low threat cost is great to enable Secrecy decks. Prior to Smeagol and Messenger of the King, his 5 threat cost was the lowest threat (tied with Mirlonde in Mono-Lore). On top of that, he had 3’s in two stats. Most low threat heroes in the first few cycles had 2’s with Sam Gamgee as the notable exception. Secrecy cards can provide tremendous value in a game. Resourceful and Timely Aid each only one cost can provide tremendous resource acceleration. Out of the Wild and Risk Some Light can control the encounter deck. Allies with Secrecy like Celduin Traveler, Ithilien Lookout, Dunedain Wander, and Rivendell Scout are great values for their Secrecy cost with each having at least a 2 stat.

Asfaloth

Asfaloth, the location control card that because it could put 2 progress on any location resulted in locations getting many more quest points. It is easy to forget that it normally only places 1 progress when used with any other Noldor or Silvan hero because it almost always played with Glorfindel. The 2 progress per round is huge in clearing locations and avoiding location lock. In early cycles it will clear many locations in a single turn. Later cycles it might take a few turns but still it will eventually clear many locations and avoid nasty travel effects.

Attack Boosts

Glorfindel is often going to attack to utilize his robust attack stat. Attacking additionally avoids triggering his Forced effect. His attack easily can be better considering his traits qualify him for some of the best attack boosting attachments. Furthermore, his low threat works well with Dagger Westernesse extra bonus attack when players engage enemies with greater engagement cost higher than their threat.

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 Spirit Glorfindel hero at 1 ring. His very low threat, great stats, Spirit access, Asfaloth, and easy way to avoid his drawback make him fit into numerous decks. The 5 threat cost gives players lots of room to include high threat cost heroes. If they use lower threat cost heroes as well, it can be easy to avoid many engagements and avoid being overwhelmed early in the game. Not to mention enabling using the Secrecy discount when kept under 20 threat. While other heroes have low threat cost, none have double 3’s and the bevy of hit points that Glorfindel does. Then Light of Valinor in addition to negating his drawback, lets him use both stats every round. It is incredibly efficient. If he wasn’t powerful enough, he makes one of the best location control cards better. It can’t be understated how that 2 progress from Asfaloth changed location design in the game because it was so powerful with Glorfindel.

The real downside to Glorfindel is that he can become a crutch. When making a hero line up, he can help round out many of them. Need more willpower to start off with a lot of threat in the staging area or need to progress quickly, Spirit Glorfindel can help the questing hero do it. Need more attack power to deal with an big enemy early, Spirit Glorfindel can help with a more dedicated attacking hero. Facing a lot of archery, direct damage, or undefended attacks, His big pool of hit points can help. Need to keep starting threat low, to avoid engagements, Spirit Glorfindel can help. He just brings a lot to the table.

  • Dave – 2
  • Grant – 1.5
  • Ted – TBR
  • Matt – 1

External Links

Sample Decks

Gandalf’s Noble Hunters by kattattack22

A Three Hunters deck featuring Spirit Glorfindel.

Main Deck

Hero (3)
Denethor (Flight of the Stormcaller)
Gandalf (The Road Darkens)
Glorfindel (Foundations of Stone)

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

Attachment (41)
3x Ancestral Armor (Roam Across Rhovanion)
3x Armored Destrier (Temple of the Deceived)
1x Celebrían’s Stone (Core Set)
3x Gandalf’s Staff (The Road Darkens)
3x Golden Belt (Challenge of the Wainriders)
2x Gondorian Shield (The Steward’s Fear)
2x Heir of Mardil (Celebrimbor’s Secret)
3x Light of Valinor (Foundations of Stone)
2x Livery of the Tower (The Flame of the West)
2x Shadowfax (The Treason of Saruman)
3x Shining Shield (The Fortress of Nurn)
3x Silver Circlet (Wrath and Ruin)
2x Staff of Lebethron (The Land of Shadow)
3x Unexpected Courage (Core Set)
3x Valiant Sword (Under the Ash Mountains)
3x Wizard Pipe (The Road Darkens)

Event (9)
3x A Test of Will (Core Set)
3x Campfire Tales (The Hunt for Gollum)
3x Open the Armory (The Dungeons of Cirith Gurat)

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

Sideboard

Attachment (10)
3x Expert Treasure-hunter (On the Doorstep)
1x Staff of Lebethron (The Land of Shadow)
3x Steed of Imladris (Across the Ettenmoors)
3x Sword of Númenor (The Dread Realm)

Event (9)
3x Daeron’s Runes (Foundations of Stone)
3x Elrond’s Counsel (The Watcher in the Water)
3x Power of Orthanc (The Voice of Isengard)

Decklist built and published on RingsDB.

Victory-a Secret by stokesbook

A Secrecy enabled victory display encounter control deck.

Main Deck

Hero (3)
Glorfindel (Foundations of Stone)
Mirlonde (The Drúadan Forest)
Rossiel (Escape from Mount Gram)

Ally (8)
2x Celduin Traveler (The Nîn-in-Eilph)
3x Galadhrim Minstrel (Trouble in Tharbad)
1x Gildor Inglorion (The Hills of Emyn Muil)
2x Ithilien Lookout (The Dunland Trap)

Attachment (13)
2x A Burning Brand (Conflict at the Carrock)
2x Asfaloth (Foundations of Stone)
1x Cloak of Lórien (Celebrimbor’s Secret)
2x Lembas (Trouble in Tharbad)
3x Light of Valinor (Foundations of Stone)
3x Resourceful (The Watcher in the Water)

Event (29)
3x A Test of Will (Core Set)
3x Daeron’s Runes (Foundations of Stone)
3x Elrond’s Counsel (The Watcher in the Water)
2x Fair and Perilous (Across the Ettenmoors)
3x Keen as Lances (Escape from Mount Gram)
3x Leave No Trace (Escape from Mount Gram)
3x Mithrandir’s Advice (The Steward’s Fear)
3x None Return (Across the Ettenmoors)
3x Out of the Wild (Road to Rivendell)
3x The Door is Closed! (The Treachery of Rhudaur)

Player Side Quest (1)
1x Scout Ahead (The Wastes of Eriador)

3 Heroes, 51 Cards
Cards up to The Treachery of Rhudaur

Sideboard

Hero (2)
Galdor of the Havens (The Grey Havens)
Pippin (The Black Riders)

Ally (5)
3x Galadhrim Weaver (The Treachery of Rhudaur)
2x Henamarth Riversong (Core Set)

Attachment (5)
2x Leaf Brooch (The Three Trials)
3x The Long Defeat (The Battle of Carn Dûm)

Event (11)
3x A Elbereth! Gilthoniel! (Shadow and Flame)
3x Hasty Stroke (Core Set)
2x Lórien’s Wealth (Core Set)
3x Risk Some Light (Shadow and Flame)

Decklist built and published on RingsDB.

Gloin (Hero)

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

Pain is truly gain with this hero.

Background

Gloin was a member of Thorin’s Company in the quest to retake Erebor and father of Gimli. Gloin in The Hobbit is described as wearing a white hood and good at making fires. He fought in and survived the Battle of Five Armies. Afterwards, his share of the treasure made him wealthy.

He also appears in The Fellowship of the Ring. He and Gimli had come to Rivendell to inquire about Balin’s colony at Moiria. He tells Frodo about Erebor since the Battle of Five Armies while he recovers from the Morgul blade wound. He also speaks at the council relating how a messenger from Mordor came to Erebor asking about Hobbits.

Card Theme

Gloin trading damage for resources is pretty thematic. This is if you consider he took long arduous journey, fought in a big battle, lost some kin in the process, but in the end had a lot of gold to show for it all. Some players will be refer to resources as money or dollars since you have to pay to play the card. Once the resources are spent they’re gone until the player gains more. The mechanics work then work to represent Gloin’s wealth from retaking Erebor although it came at a personal cost.

Card Synergies and Interactions

Healing

Healing lets a player basically turn Gloin into a resource generation machine. The Core Set included Self Preservation that did this well since it healed 2 damage a round. Many of the enemies in the first cycle had 2 attack that was fairly safe to take undefended. It could be assigned to Gloin and fully healed with Self Preservation. It essentially turned into second Steward of Gondor.

Darrowdelf, the second cycle, introduced the best healing card in the game with Warden of Healing. One point of healing isn’t great for Gloin, but then Elrond hero also released in the same cycle. Elrond boosts to healing 2 damage. The Warden’s action also lets it ready for 2 Lore resources. Giving Gloin a Lore resource icon then lets him take damage again and again. Then use the resources generated to just heal it all. The Warden then at the same time can heal 2 damage from any other character.

There were of course other healing cards introduced in later cycles. Many the healing cards were more one time effects that aren’t as effective as Self Preservation or Warden. Then the last cycle introduced 2 more healing attachments with easily repeatable healing. Well Preserved in particular is fantastic for Gloin. It can be found with The One Ring at the start of the game, gives Gloin +1 hit point, and will heal all damage once per round. It is fast to set up and get Gloin generating resources from taking damage right at turn 1.

Song of Healing trades cards in hand for 1 point of healing. It synergizes with Gloin thanks to Elven-light. Once Gloin has the Spirit icon, his resources can be used to draw cards. Elrond allows Gloin to net 1 resource for each Elven-light discarded and played.

Hit Point Boosts

The more hit points Gloin has, the more damage he can take at once. This has become more important as the game introduced enemies with higher and higher attack values to allow Gloin to absorb those attacks safely.

Damage Redirection + Ent Heroes

The other trick to generating resources on Gloin is have him take damage. Defending enemy attacks, undefended attacks, damage from the Archery keyword, or other encounter direct damage effects are always options available. There are limits to this especially in multiplayer since players are limited to one optional engagement each. Song of Mocking helps get around the limitation on engaging enemies. Another play just has to make sure to assign all damage to the hero selected by Song of Mocking. It is not limited and multiple copies can go on Gloin to cover more players. Vigilant Guard is similar although it doesn’t move all damage. It has 3 big advantages over Song of Mocking.

  1. It gives Gloin 2 additional hit points.
  2. The damage is redirection is a response.
  3. It is not limited to damage deal to heroes.

Gloin will need to gain the Warrior trait from Mighty Warrior. Once set up, however, just any source of damage can be sent to Gloin. This is huge because with the 2 Ent heroes, players can trigger the resource generation. Treebeard hero is best for this since the ability only deals 1 damage, and he can use his ability 5 times per phase. He won’t get the bonus if the damage is redirected because he isn’t paying the damage cost. Still 5 resources in a single phase is a Gandalf ally into play. Quickbeam can also work for this although he will still take a damage and it can only be used 1 per phase. Quickbeam also has to exhaust first before the action will work.

Resource Smoothing

Resource smoothing really opens up what players can do with the pile of resources on Gloin. I previously mentioned that with Lore or Spirit icons, Gloin can continuously ready Warden of Healing or draw cards from Elven-light. Narvi’s Belt and A Good Harvest are two of the best smoothing options since they can smooth for any sphere over a phase. The cycle of Song attachments provide a more permanent way for Gloin to get the right resource icon.

High Cost Cards

Gloin can enable playing some of the most expensive and powerful cards in the game even including his son, Gimli. Players can get unique allies with hero level stats and abilities, make an ally into hero, ready all their characters, or have a heroes (or all heroes in valour) defend and attack without exhausting.

Dunedain Allies

The Dunedain allies work very well with Gloin enabling their engaged enemy bonuses and providing much needed resources. Many of the Dunedain allies cost 3 or more resources and more resources in all spheres can help get them into play. A built up Gloin ideally with healing and plenty of hit points can just take several undefended attacks making it easier for Dunedain to keep enemies engaged round after round.

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 Gloin at 3 rings. He basically has a whole deck type centered around his ability to turn damage into resources. There isn’t just one build of it, but most of the very effective ones do share a few cards in common like Elrond hero and Warden of Healing. The Gloin voltron deck though is very vulnerable to attachment removal from the encounter deck. It can also be quite slow to set up. They can do some crazy combos like drawing the entire player deck in a few turns, reduced all player threat to zero, or attack every enemy in the staging are without heroes exhausting. The investment in Gloin can be very worthwhile.

There are some builds are less centered on Gloin using just a little healing and not going all in on additional hit points. Core Set builds in particular work well as an alternative to Steward and gain action advantage by taking undefended attacks. These less centric builds can even include Dwarf decks considering he will have 3 willpower and 3 attack when Leadership Dain is in play and ready. The addition of Well Preserved with The One Ring I think makes it easier to include Gloin without having the entire deck center around maximizing his ability. His threat cost of 9 is not high although he doesn’t bring much stat wise with 2 willpower and attack (sans Dain), but he can still slot in pretty well into a variety of decks.

Dave – 5

  • Grant – 7
  • Ted – TBR
  • Matt – 3

External Links

Sample Decks

Sample Decks

The Dain and the Discard by Dave Walsh

A Dwarf Mining voltron deck although Gloin is really only used for Leadership access.

The Dain and the Discard

Main Deck

Hero (3)
Dáin Ironfoot (The Ghost of Framsburg)
Gandalf (The Road Darkens)
Glóin (Core Set)

Ally (17)
2x Erebor Guard (The Sands of Harad)
3x Erebor Toymaker (Mount Gundabad)
3x Ered Luin Miner (Temple of the Deceived)
3x Ethir Swordsman (The Steward’s Fear)
2x Gimli (The Treason of Saruman)
1x Glorfindel (Flight of the Stormcaller)
3x Warden of Healing (The Long Dark)

Attachment (24)
1x Ancestral Armor (Roam Across Rhovanion)
2x Gandalf’s Staff (The Road Darkens)
1x Hardy Leadership (Shadow and Flame)
2x King Under the Mountain (On the Doorstep)
2x Narya (The Grey Havens)
1x Ring of Barahir (The Steward’s Fear)
2x Ring of Thrór (The Ghost of Framsburg)
2x Shadowfax (The Treason of Saruman)
1x Silver Lamp (The Voice of Isengard)
3x Squire’s Helm (The Withered Heath)
2x Steward of Gondor (Core Set)
3x Unexpected Courage (Core Set)
2x Wizard Pipe (The Road Darkens)

Event (15)
3x Durin’s Song (Khazad-dûm)
3x Hidden Cache (The Morgul Vale)
3x The Galadhrim’s Greeting (Core Set)
3x Well-Equipped (The Blood of Gondor)
3x Will of the West (Core Set)

3 Heroes, 56 Cards
Cards up to Mount Gundabad

Decklist built and published on RingsDB.

My strongest Core Set deck for solo play – revised for 202 by warlock000

Core Set only deck that can handle each of the Core Set quests in campaign mode.

2

Main Deck

Hero (3)
Beravor (Core Set)
Éowyn (Core Set)
Glóin (Core Set)

Ally (20)
1x Beorn (Core Set)
2x Erebor Hammersmith (Core Set)
2x Faramir (Core Set)
3x Gandalf (Core Set)
1x Gléowine (Core Set)
2x Guard of the Citadel (Core Set)
1x Henamarth Riversong (Core Set)
1x Longbeard Orc Slayer (Core Set)
2x Miner of the Iron Hills (Core Set)
1x Northern Tracker (Core Set)
3x Snowbourn Scout (Core Set)
1x Son of Arnor (Core Set)

Attachment (14)
1x Celebrían’s Stone (Core Set)
1x Dark Knowledge (Core Set)
2x Forest Snare (Core Set)
2x Protector of Lórien (Core Set)
3x Self Preservation (Core Set)
3x Steward of Gondor (Core Set)
2x Unexpected Courage (Core Set)

Event (16)
3x A Test of Will (Core Set)
1x Ever Vigilant (Core Set)
2x For Gondor! (Core Set)
2x Hasty Stroke (Core Set)
2x Lore of Imladris (Core Set)
3x Sneak Attack (Core Set)
3x Stand and Fight (Core Set)

3 Heroes, 50 Cards
Cards up to Core Set

Sideboard

Ally (2)
1x Erebor Hammersmith (Core Set)
1x Guard of the Citadel (Core Set)

Event (1)
1x Ever Vigilant (Core Set)

Decklist built and published on RingsDB.

Gloin Resource Engine (Single Core Only) by Tribster

Core Set only deck focused on Gloin gaining resources to play allies and build up the board state.

Gloin Resource Engine (Single Core Only) 6.0

Main Deck

Hero (3)
Denethor (Core Set)
Glóin (Core Set)
Glorfindel (Core Set)

Ally (20)
3x Daughter of the Nimrodel (Core Set)
2x Erebor Hammersmith (Core Set)
2x Faramir (Core Set)
3x Gandalf (Core Set)
2x Gléowine (Core Set)
3x Guard of the Citadel (Core Set)
1x Henamarth Riversong (Core Set)
2x Longbeard Orc Slayer (Core Set)
2x Miner of the Iron Hills (Core Set)

Attachment (10)
1x Celebrían’s Stone (Core Set)
1x Dark Knowledge (Core Set)
2x Forest Snare (Core Set)
2x Protector of Lórien (Core Set)
2x Self Preservation (Core Set)
2x Steward of Gondor (Core Set)

Event (20)
2x Common Cause (Core Set)
2x Ever Vigilant (Core Set)
2x For Gondor! (Core Set)
1x Grim Resolve (Core Set)
3x Lore of Imladris (Core Set)
2x Lórien’s Wealth (Core Set)
2x Radagast’s Cunning (Core Set)
2x Secret Paths (Core Set)
2x Sneak Attack (Core Set)
2x Valiant Sacrifice (Core Set)

3 Heroes, 50 Cards
Cards up to Core Set

Decklist built and published on RingsDB.

The Dain and the Discard by Dave Walsh

A Dwarf Mining voltron deck although Gloin is really only used for Leadership access.

The Dain and the Discard

Main Deck

Hero (3)
Dáin Ironfoot (The Ghost of Framsburg)
Gandalf (The Road Darkens)
Glóin (Core Set)

Ally (17)
2x Erebor Guard (The Sands of Harad)
3x Erebor Toymaker (Mount Gundabad)
3x Ered Luin Miner (Temple of the Deceived)
3x Ethir Swordsman (The Steward’s Fear)
2x Gimli (The Treason of Saruman)
1x Glorfindel (Flight of the Stormcaller)
3x Warden of Healing (The Long Dark)

Attachment (24)
1x Ancestral Armor (Roam Across Rhovanion)
2x Gandalf’s Staff (The Road Darkens)
1x Hardy Leadership (Shadow and Flame)
2x King Under the Mountain (On the Doorstep)
2x Narya (The Grey Havens)
1x Ring of Barahir (The Steward’s Fear)
2x Ring of Thrór (The Ghost of Framsburg)
2x Shadowfax (The Treason of Saruman)
1x Silver Lamp (The Voice of Isengard)
3x Squire’s Helm (The Withered Heath)
2x Steward of Gondor (Core Set)
3x Unexpected Courage (Core Set)
2x Wizard Pipe (The Road Darkens)

Event (15)
3x Durin’s Song (Khazad-dûm)
3x Hidden Cache (The Morgul Vale)
3x The Galadhrim’s Greeting (Core Set)
3x Well-Equipped (The Blood of Gondor)
3x Will of the West (Core Set)

3 Heroes, 56 Cards
Cards up to Mount Gundabad

Decklist built and published on RingsDB.

DúneGlóin by Seastan

Gloin’s resources help play and power up the Dunedain.

Main Deck

Hero (3)
Elrond (Shadow and Flame)
Glóin (Core Set)
Mablung (The Nîn-in-Eilph)

Ally (20)
3x Dúnedain Hunter (The Lost Realm)
2x Dúnedain Watcher (The Dead Marshes)
2x Fornost Bowman (The Dread Realm)
2x Galadhrim Minstrel (Trouble in Tharbad)
3x Gandalf (Core Set)
3x Master of the Forge (Shadow and Flame)
2x Warden of Annúminas (The Lost Realm)
3x Warden of Healing (The Long Dark)

Attachment (15)
3x Citadel Plate (Core Set)
3x Narvi’s Belt (Khazad-dûm)
3x Self Preservation (Core Set)
3x Song of Mocking (The Dead Marshes)
3x Song of Wisdom (Conflict at the Carrock)

Event (15)
3x A Good Harvest (The Steward’s Fear)
3x Daeron’s Runes (Foundations of Stone)
3x Deep Knowledge (The Voice of Isengard)
3x Peace, and Thought (Shadow and Flame)
3x Sneak Attack (Core Set)

3 Heroes, 50 Cards
Cards up to The Dread Realm

Sideboard

Ally (2)
1x Fornost Bowman (The Dread Realm)
1x Warden of Annúminas (The Lost Realm)

Attachment (3)
3x Boots from Erebor (Khazad-dûm)

Event (3)
3x We Are Not Idle (Shadow and Flame)

Decklist built and published on RingsDB.

Seventeen a Round by Seastan

Gloin gains 17 resources per round thanks to Treebeard hero + Song of Healing + Elven-light. Note,

Main Deck

Hero (3)
Elrond (Shadow and Flame)
Glóin (Core Set)
Treebeard (The Treason of Saruman)

Ally (4)
1x Nori (Challenge of the Wainriders)
3x Rivendell Minstrel (The Hunt for Gollum)

Attachment (28)
2x Boots from Erebor (Khazad-dûm)
1x Citadel Plate (Core Set)
2x Dwarven Axe (Core Set)
3x Ent Draught (The Treason of Saruman)
1x Golden Belt (Challenge of the Wainriders)
1x In Service of the Steward (Flight of the Stormcaller)
3x Mighty Warrior (Race Across Harad)
1x Nor am I a Stranger (Conflict at the Carrock)
3x Song of Battle (The Dead Marshes)
3x Song of Healing (The Land of Sorrow)
3x Song of Travel (The Hills of Emyn Muil)
1x Sword-thain (The Dread Realm)
3x Vigilant Guard (A Storm on Cobas Haven)
1x War Axe (The City of Ulfast)

Event (18)
3x A Good Harvest (The Steward’s Fear)
3x Daeron’s Runes (Foundations of Stone)
3x Drinking Song (Mount Gundabad)
3x Elven-light (The Dread Realm)
3x Heed the Dream (Flight of the Stormcaller)
1x Hour of Wrath (The Dread Realm)
1x Oath of Eorl (The Black Serpent)
1x The Hammer-stroke (The Blood of Gondor)

3 Heroes, 50 Cards
Cards up to Challenge of the Wainriders

Sideboard

Event (2)
1x Khazâd! Khazâd! (Khazad-dûm)
1x The Galadhrim’s Greeting (Core Set)

Decklist built and published on RingsDB.

Galadriel (Ally)

Matt Kell (kattattack22)Leave a comment
  • Card Talk Season 5 Episode 52
    • Video episode
    • Audio episode
  • Cycle
    • The Lord of the Rings Saga
  • Set
    • The Road Darkens
  • Player Card Categories
    • Card Search
    • Played from Hand
    • Equipping

Leader of Lothlórien, Giver of Gifts

Background

Galadriel is the co-ruler of Lothlórien, Lady of the Galadhrim, founder of the White Council, and bearer of Nenya, one of the three Elven Rings. She came to Middle Earth from Valinor when most of the Noldor followed Fëanor to war against Melkor and retrieve the Silmarils. Galadriel came however seeking a place to rule as her own. She married to Celeborn near the end of The First Age and had one daughter, Celebrian who would wed Elrond. It is in the Third Age, Galadriel that became the Lady of Lothlórien. Growing darkness in Mirkwood and Dol Guldur caused her to found the White Council.

Card Theme

The Galadriel ally fits pretty well with what we see of Galadriel in the books. She only has willpower as a leader of the Free Peoples but she doesn’t directly engage with Sauron or other forces of darkness. She finds an attachment and puts into play essentially gifting it to the players’ heroes or allies as she gifted the Fellowship Lembas, Elven Cloaks, Three Golden Hairs to Gimli, Elven rope to Sam, Bow of the Galadhrim to Legolas, Elf-stone to Aragorn, a Golden Belt to Boromir, and the Phial of Galadriel to Frodo. The ally version only sticks around for a round considering she only provides some limited aid to the main characters before they leave her lands.

Card Synergies and Interactions

Key Attachments

Galadriel’s ability can help find any attachment that costs 3 or less that is vital to a player’s deck functioning well. Steward of Gondor one of the the best resource acceleration cards is a valid target. Getting an early Vilya also can be a huge boon that Galadriel can pull out. Trait based support attachments like Heir of Valandil, O Lorien, The Elvenking, or King of Dale can all found and put right into play. Galadriel’s ability can help make those decks more consistent by getting whichever attachment is needed right out into play.

Player Guarded X

Galadrial ally’s ability unfortunately doesn’t work with these cards very well and is a bit of a nonbo. This is due to what is affectionally referred to as the “hot second” ruling.

You cannot “cheat” guarded attachments. The guarded keyword triggers after it enters play; so no matter what you do, you will have to attach it to an enemy or location. In the case of Well-equipped, it would attach to the Dwarf for a hot second before forcing you to mill for an enemy or location and attach it to that encounter card.

Caleb Grace’s Hot Second Ruling

A player could at least pull out a Guarded X attachment from their deck. Then once it was attached to a hero, the guarded keyword would trigger putting it in the staging area.

Put Ally into Play

Unfortunately, these cards are largely another nonbo. The ability specifies that Galadriel has to be played from hand to trigger putting an attachment into play. Born Aloft can let a plyer use the same copy of Galadriel for multiple triggers. Although the player has to pay full cost again. To the Sea, To the Sea does work to get a discounted Galadriel into play. There is a is a little bit of a combo with Timely Aid and Send for Aid. Galadriel puts the other cards not put into play with her ability back in any order instead of shuffling. Any desired ally she finds can put into play later with either card.

Dwarf Mining and Vilya

As just mentioned, Galadriel’s ability allows the player to put cards back on top of their deck in any order. This can set up Zigil Miner to generate 2 resources, put another attachment in play with Well-Equipped, or even draw a card with Expert Treasure Hunter. Even better is to put any ally or attachment into play with Vilya.

Quest Specific

Galadriel usually will only quest with her 3 willpower, but she has a good number of hit points for an ally and leaves play at the end of the round. This makes her a great target for archery. The Against the Shadow, Haradhrim, and Vengeance of Mordor cycles have quite a bit of archery. The Lord of the Rings saga quests starting in Treason of Saruman features Archery quite heavily as well.

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 Galadriel at 5 rings. A willpower boost for a turn and getting to fetch an attachment from the top 5 are pretty useful. The deck does need a fair number of attachments to make sure it doesn’t whiff. While she is generally useful, 3 resources for only a temporary boost to questing seems steep even in Leadership. It is just enough that early game it can be difficult to get and play her to help set up a player’s board state with 3 or less cost attachment. Also the opportunity cost of only putting in a temporary ally when ramping up willpower might be necessary can be a big ask. Late game her usefulness really drops off as typically willpower will be sorted out and key attachments already out in play. The limitation on her ability that she has to be played hurts her usefulness and fun factor. The fun factor loss seems worse as she is in the same sphere as many of the put an ally in to play cards. All these drawbacks, it often is just better to run more card draw to find a key attachment than Galadriel ally.

  • Dave – 7
  • Grant – TBR
  • Ted – 4
  • Matt – 5

External Links

Sample Decks

All That is Gold Does not Glitter by Gizlivadi

A solo Dunedain deck with a fair number of non-trap attachments

Main Deck

Hero (3)
Amarthiúl (The Battle of Carn Dûm)
Aragorn (The Watcher in the Water)
Halbarad (The Lost Realm)

Ally (20)
2x Errand-rider (Heirs of Númenor)
1x Fornost Bowman (The Dread Realm)
2x Galadriel (The Road Darkens)
3x Gandalf (Core Set)
3x Guardian of Arnor (The Battle of Carn Dûm)
3x Master of the Forge (Shadow and Flame)
2x Ranger of Cardolan (The Wastes of Eriador)
2x Sarn Ford Sentry (The Lost Realm)
2x Weather Hills Watchman (The Lost Realm)

Attachment (17)
2x Armored Destrier (Temple of the Deceived)
1x Celebrían’s Stone (Core Set)
1x Dúnedain Remedy (The Drowned Ruins)
3x Dúnedain Warning (Conflict at the Carrock)
3x Forest Snare (Core Set)
1x Gondorian Shield (The Steward’s Fear)
1x Heir of Valandil (The Lost Realm)
3x Steward of Gondor (Core Set)
2x Sword that was Broken (The Watcher in the Water)

Event (14)
3x Deep Knowledge (The Voice of Isengard)
1x Descendants of Kings (Escape from Mount Gram)
3x Feint (Core Set)
3x Heed the Dream (Flight of the Stormcaller)
2x Legacy of Númenor (The Voice of Isengard)
2x Sneak Attack (Core Set)

3 Heroes, 51 Cards
Cards up to The Drowned Ruins

Decklist built and published on RingsDB.

Finally, a Feasible Fellowship by Priate Brahm

A solo Dunedain deck with a fair number of non-trap attachments

Main Deck

Hero (3)
Amarthiúl (The Battle of Carn Dûm)
Aragorn (The Watcher in the Water)
Halbarad (The Lost Realm)

Ally (20)
2x Errand-rider (Heirs of Númenor)
1x Fornost Bowman (The Dread Realm)
2x Galadriel (The Road Darkens)
3x Gandalf (Core Set)
3x Guardian of Arnor (The Battle of Carn Dûm)
3x Master of the Forge (Shadow and Flame)
2x Ranger of Cardolan (The Wastes of Eriador)
2x Sarn Ford Sentry (The Lost Realm)
2x Weather Hills Watchman (The Lost Realm)

Attachment (17)
2x Armored Destrier (Temple of the Deceived)
1x Celebrían’s Stone (Core Set)
1x Dúnedain Remedy (The Drowned Ruins)
3x Dúnedain Warning (Conflict at the Carrock)
3x Forest Snare (Core Set)
1x Gondorian Shield (The Steward’s Fear)
1x Heir of Valandil (The Lost Realm)
3x Steward of Gondor (Core Set)
2x Sword that was Broken (The Watcher in the Water)

Event (14)
3x Deep Knowledge (The Voice of Isengard)
1x Descendants of Kings (Escape from Mount Gram)
3x Feint (Core Set)
3x Heed the Dream (Flight of the Stormcaller)
2x Legacy of Númenor (The Voice of Isengard)
2x Sneak Attack (Core Set)

3 Heroes, 51 Cards
Cards up to The Drowned Ruins

Decklist built and published on RingsDB.

Guardian of Esgaroth – Community Review

Card Talk: An LOTR LCG PodcastLeave a comment

by David Renaud

  • Card Talk Season TBD Episode TBD
    • Video episode
    • Audio episode
  • Cycle
    • Ered Mithren
  • Set
    • The Withered Heath
  • Player Card Categories 
    • Attack Bonus
    • Defense Bonus
    • Willpower Bonus

Background

Guardian of Esgaroth is fairly clear as where it stands: an armsman from Dale, likely after the events of The Hobbit. Following Bard the Bowman to rebuild their ancestral lands, the Men from Dale would benefit from trade from both the Elves of Mirkwood and the Dwarves of the Lonely Mountain.

Card Theme

The card’s theme becomes quite evident in the deckbuilding direction it demands. Dale is a wealthy land of warriors and craftsmen. Guardian of Esgaroth pushes a deck towards plenty of attachments, including weapons, armour, and horses. The Men of Dale leverage their affluent position to be well prepared for war.

Card Synergies and Interactions

Guardian of Esgaroth fits into a fairly typical Dale deck. Brand son of Bain and Bard son of Brand provide synergistic heroes, with a third slot open for player preference (either to double up with more Leadership/Spirit or open up another Sphere). Personally, I enjoy Theodred for resource smoothing.

Then the rest of the deck can be an assortment of other Dale allies and low cost attachments. In particular, Wild Stallion stands out as an excellent card for the deck, as it provides the Guardian with +2 to all stats.

Additionally, cards that provide extra actions per turn out of Guardian shine. Valiant Determination enables questing for 5 on top of attacking or defending for 5 each turn.

wild stallion

Spare Hood and Cloak has been a surprisingly effective card for the deck. With the heroes, it immediately draws a card. Then it lets you pass the cloak to the Guardian to get an extra action in an emergency, while also letting the Guardian pass it back in rounds in which its combat power isn’t needed. This brings an extra level of flexibility to respond to a critical turn.

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.

Guardian of Esgaroth requires support, but acts on an often unused axis of the game – universally powerful allies. There are often min/maxed allies or universally average allies, but an ally that hits 5/5/5/5 (thanks to Wild Stallion) benefits from many effects that are costed to only apply to allies instead of heroes. This allows it to benefit from cards like Strength of Arms and Valiant Determination to act in multiple phases, for example. A 5 Defense/5 Health Ally also is unlikely to die to an unfortunate shadow, meaning you can heal off the damage and reuse it. And worst case scenario, losing a buffed ally isn’t as consequential as losing a buffed hero. And you can have three of them at once.

However, it requires a significant investment in deckbuilding to make it work.

  • David – 3
  • Dave – TBR
  • Grant – TBR
  • Ted – TBR
  • Matt – TBR
  • Average – 3

4P Ranger Summons by David Renaud

This deck was part of my four player fellowship running all the “shuffle into the encounter deck” events.

Main Deck

Hero (3)
Amarthiúl (The Battle of Carn Dûm)
Bard son of Brand (The Wilds of Rhovanion)
4P Ranger Summons by David Renaud This deck was part of my four player fellowship running all the “shuffle into the encounter deck” events. Brand son of Bain (The Wilds of Rhovanion)

Ally (18)
3x Guardian of Esgaroth (The Withered Heath)
2x Knight of Dale (The Dungeons of Cirith Gurat)
3x Long Lake Fisherman (The Withered Heath)
3x North Realm Lookout (The Wilds of Rhovanion)
3x Redwater Sentry (The Wilds of Rhovanion)
1x Wiglaf (Roam Across Rhovanion)
3x Wild Stallion (Roam Across Rhovanion)

Attachment (23)
2x Ancestral Armor (Roam Across Rhovanion)
2x Bow of Yew (The Wilds of Rhovanion)
3x Hauberk of Mail (The Wilds of Rhovanion)
3x King of Dale (The Wilds of Rhovanion)
2x Raiment of War (The Thing in the Depths)
3x Round Shield (Mount Gundabad)
2x Squire’s Helm (The Withered Heath)
3x Steward of Gondor (Core Set)
3x Valiant Determination (The Ghost of Framsburg)

Event (9)
3x Campfire Tales (The Hunt for Gollum)
3x Ranger Summons (The Lost Realm)
3x Traffic from Dale (The Wilds of Rhovanion)

3 Heroes, 50 Cards
Cards up to Mount Gundabad

Sideboard

Ally (3)
3x Ranger of the North (The Lost Realm)

Deck built on RingsDB.

September 2021 Solo League by Alonewolf87

This isn’t my deck, but includes the general ideas that I would bring into a solo build of the deck.

Main Deck

Hero (3)
Bard son of Brand (The Wilds of Rhovanion)
Brand son of Bain (The Wilds of Rhovanion)
Frodo Baggins (Conflict at the Carrock)

Ally (22)
2x Gandalf (Core Set)
3x Guardian of Esgaroth (The Withered Heath)
3x Long Lake Fisherman (The Withered Heath)
3x North Realm Lookout (The Wilds of Rhovanion)
3x Redwater Sentry (The Wilds of Rhovanion)
3x Rhovanion Outrider (Temple of the Deceived)
2x Warrior of Dale (The Wilds of Rhovanion)
3x Wild Stallion (Roam Across Rhovanion)

Attachment (20)
2x Bow of Yew (The Wilds of Rhovanion)
3x Hauberk of Mail (The Wilds of Rhovanion)
3x King of Dale (The Wilds of Rhovanion)
3x Map of Rhovanion (The Wilds of Rhovanion)
3x Spare Hood and Cloak (Over Hill and Under Hill)
3x Squire’s Helm (The Withered Heath)
3x Valiant Determination (The Ghost of Framsburg)

Event (8)
3x A Test of Will (Core Set)
2x The Galadhrim’s Greeting (Core Set)
3x Traffic from Dale (The Wilds of Rhovanion)

3 Heroes, 50 Cards
Cards up to The Ghost of Framsburg

Decklist built and published on RingsDB.

Gwaihir (Hero)

Matt Kell (kattattack22)1 Comment
  • Player Card Categories 
    • Enters Play
    • Leaves Play

The art doesn’t show him with a tiny crown, but the card demonstrates why he deserves it.

Background

Gwaihir is the most prominent Eagle of the Misty Mountains which are the descendants of Manwe’s servants in the First and Second Ages, the Great Eagles. He is only one of three Eagles to be named in the trilogy along with Landroval and Meneldor. The first mention of Gwaihir is when Gandalf explains to Frodo how he was rescued from Orthanc. His second mention is in yet another Gandalf telling tale of his exploits this time to Aragorn, Gimli, and Legolas. This one relating that Gwaihir carried him from the mountaintop where he slew the Balrog after being returned to life to Lothlorien and then did some scouting for him along the River Anduin. Gwaihir makes his third appearance as one of the three eagles to fly to Fields of Cormallen and eventually Mount Doom to rescue Sam and Frodo after The One Ring’s destruction.

Card Theme

The readying Gwaihir whenever an Eagle enters or leaves play as Gwaihir preparing to swoop down on some enemies right after another eagle gets out of the way. It could also show Gwaihir being a lead from the front type of leader to the Eagles. He’s not going to let them go in alone against the forces the Shadow. He’s going to be right there with them divebombing the orcs.

Card Synergies and Interactions

Eagle Allies

The more Eagle allies you or the other players run in your decks, the more times you can ready Gwahir. The primary ones for this are Eagle Emissary, Vassel of the Winglord, Wilyador, and Winged Guardian since they can discard themselves. This also synergizes well with returning Descendent of Thorondor and Meneldor to hand with Born Aloft, Meneldor’s Flight, or Flight of the Eagles to maximize their enter and leave play effects.

Put Ally into Play

Another way to ready Gwaihir is to just put the Eagle allies into play. Sneak Attack from the core set is the staple card of this effect. It works great for a combat phase ready especially if Gwaihir committed to the quest. The ally is put into play to ready Gwaihir and he’ll ready at the end of combat when the ally is returned. Horns! Horns! Horns! is a Doomed alternative, but then it shuffles the ally into the deck rather than returning it to the player’s hand. Gwaihir’s Debt offers an is in sphere option to ready him twice in combat. The requirement to have an Istari and Eagle in play can be a little restrictive unless using hero Radagast, Gandalf, or Saruman. It’s also not as consistent since it is from the top 5 of the deck.

More general ally mustering cards like A Very Good Tale, Send for Aid, Timely Aid, Vilya, and The Red Arrow can also help get another Eagle ally into play. Like Gwaihir’s Debt, they are not as reliable since it is possible to whiff if there isn’t one near the top of the deck.

Stand and Fight also offers a way to put an Eagle ally into play outside the planning phase. Akin to the ally mustering effects, the ally won’t necessarily leave play triggering another ready. It does have the added bonus of being able to bring back one of the self discarding Eagles.

Unrestricted Attachments

Gwaihir’s constant effect keeps him from readying in the refresh phase is drawback to offset his readying ability. Unexpected Courage can offset this drawback and help Gwaihir function in the mid to late game if the supply of Eagle allies runs short.

Gwaihir’s other constant effect that he can’t have restricted attachments and his biggest drawback compared to other Tactics heroes. Tactics has the most restricted attachments of any of the spheres and most are centered on making characters better in combat. Gwaihir has a strong attack with decent defense and hit points, but he is prohibited from many of the best attachments to increase them. There are still a few options to help him be a better defender and attacker. Ent Draught, Self Preservation, and Lembas can give him some additional hit points and healing to help survive attacks with just his base defense. Dunedain Warning even with just one copy attached gets his defense up to 4 and on par with Beregond. Dunedain Mark gives a way to boost his attack further. He can even wield the Black Arrow to gain +5 for a single attack. He probably has to carry the arrow in his talons and just release it at target during a swoop down to “launch” it, but it could work. These few options, however, aren’t the best way to boost his attack and defense.

Support of the Eagles

Support of the Eagles is the best unrestricted attachment for Gwaihir. It is in-sphere. The bonus it gives is based on an Eagle ally’s stats so it synergizes already running many Eagle allies. The bonus lasts until the end of the phase meaning it can be exhausted at the beginning of combat to get a boost from Vassel of the Winglord, Wilyador, or Winged Guardian. Those allies can be used then to block or attack. Timed just right, this can give let Gwaihir defend and attack several times in a single combat phase. For example, Gwaihir could defend an enemy, then Winged Guardian defends another, the Guardian leaves play, Gwaihir readies, Gwaihir attacks an enemy, Vassel of the Winglord attacks another enemy, Vassel is discarded, Gwaihir readies, and is ready to attack another enemy. Even if there isn’t another enemy engaged with the Gwaihir player, he has ranged to attack across the table.

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’m going to rate Gwaihir at 4 rings. My initial rating for him was 5 because he’s a better multiplayer hero. I have played him solo and he is fine with enough Eagle allies and at least one Unexpected Courage that he can consistently ready at least once a turn. He is a hero you really need to build around. It effectively limits him to Eagle decks which tend to be low on willpower and combat oriented. In true solo, where the deck needs to handle all aspects of the quest can be too limiting. That he has both Ranged and Sentinel reinforces that he is stronger in a multiplayer setting. In multiplayer especially if another player also has Eagle allies, he can be incredibly good.

What pushed him into a 4 for me is the fun factor. He introduces a lot of interesting timing decisions to the Eagle archetype. Smart play with cards like Sneak Attack and Gwaihir’s Debt can make Gwaihir play like pre-errata Tactics Boromir. This really makes Eagles play a bit more like Silvans with the Eagles swooping in and out of play. Late game with a built up Eagles of the Misty Mountains and a Support of the Eagles, Gwaihir can take some beefy enemies alone. He’s a really fun hero for fans of Eagles and those that want to capitalize on them leaving play besides just with Eagles of the Misty Mountains.

  • Dave – 3
  • Grant – 5
  • Ted – TBR
  • Matt – 4
  • Matthew Dempsey – 1

External Links

Sample Decks

Slippery… Eagles? by Dave Walsh

Eagle deck designed to benefit from them entering and leaving play with Gwaihir and Tactic Eomer. Leadership Frodo provides a way to ready Gwaihir if needed.

Main Deck

Hero (3)
Éomer (The Voice of Isengard)
Frodo Baggins (A Shadow in the East)
Gwaihir (The Land of Sorrow)

Ally (18)
3x Descendant of Thorondor (The Hills of Emyn Muil)
3x Eagle Emissary (The Land of Sorrow)
3x Eagles of the Misty Mountains (Return to Mirkwood)
2x Meneldor (Roam Across Rhovanion)
2x Radagast (A Journey to Rhosgobel)
3x Vassal of the Windlord (The Dead Marshes)
2x Wilyador (The Land of Sorrow)

Attachment (18)
2x Gúthwinë (The Mountain of Fire)
2x Necklace of Girion (The Wilds of Rhovanion)
2x Rod of the Steward (Flight of the Stormcaller)
2x Rohan Warhorse (The Voice of Isengard)
3x Secret Vigil (The Lost Realm)
3x Steward of Gondor (Core Set)
1x Strength and Courage (The City of Ulfast)
2x Support of the Eagles (Return to Mirkwood)
1x The One Ring (A Shadow in the East)

Event (15)
3x Flight of the Eagles (Roam Across Rhovanion)
3x Meneldor’s Flight (The Hills of Emyn Muil)
3x Sneak Attack (Core Set)
3x The Eagles Are Coming! (The Hunt for Gollum)
3x Valiant Sacrifice (Core Set)

3 Heroes, 51 Cards
Cards up to The Land of Sorrow

Sideboard

Ally (3)
3x Eagle of the North (Roam Across Rhovanion)

Decklist built and published on RingsDB.

Rohan and Eagles Race Wainriders by Matt Kell

This deck uses ALEP’s Last Alliance contact and has a readying focus so that the heroes are available for the appropriate racing test in Challenge of the Wainriders. Westfold Horse-Breaker in particular is key. You can use the contract in order to get Gwaihir to ready along with Eowyn or Thengel. Once Light-footed Steed is on one of them, all the heroes can ready from the discard.

Main Deck

Hero (3)
Éowyn (Core Set)
Gwaihir (The Land of Sorrow)
Thengel (ALeP – Children of Eorl)

Contract (0)
1x The Last Alliance (ALeP – Children of Eorl)

Ally (25)
3x Escort from Edoras (A Journey to Rhosgobel)
3x Gamling (The Land of Shadow)
1x Grimbold (The Flame of the West)
1x Meneldor (Roam Across Rhovanion)
2x Morwen Steelsheen (ALeP – Children of Eorl)
2x The Riddermark’s Finest (The Hills of Emyn Muil)
1x Théodwyn (ALeP – Children of Eorl)
3x Vassal of the Windlord (The Dead Marshes)
3x Westfold Horse-breaker (The Hunt for Gollum)
3x Wilyador (The Land of Sorrow)
3x Winged Guardian (The Hunt for Gollum)

Attachment (16)
3x Golden Shield (The Flame of the West)
3x Horn of the Mark (The City of Ulfast)
3x Light-footed Steed (ALeP – Children of Eorl)
2x Snowmane (The Land of Shadow)
3x Thrór’s Key (On the Doorstep)
2x Unexpected Courage (Core Set)

Event (9)
3x A Test of Will (Core Set)
3x Flight of the Eagles (Roam Across Rhovanion)
3x The Eagles Are Coming! (The Hunt for Gollum)

3 Heroes, 50 Cards
Cards up to ALeP – Children of Eorl

Sideboard

Hero (1)
Éowyn (The Flame of the West)

Ally (3)
3x Eagle of the North (Roam Across Rhovanion)

Attachment (6)
3x Ancient Mathom (A Journey to Rhosgobel)
3x Born Aloft (Conflict at the Carrock)

Event (3)
3x Ride to Ruin (The Hills of Emyn Muil)

Deck built on RingsDB.

Gwaihir Gets The Bling by bobbymcbobface

A deck designed solely to see how many useful attachments could put on Gwaihir.

Main Deck

Hero (3)
Bilbo Baggins (Mount Gundabad)
Gwaihir (The Land of Sorrow)
Radagast (The Fate of Wilderland)

Ally (19)
3x Descendant of Thorondor (The Hills of Emyn Muil)
3x Eagles of the Misty Mountains (Return to Mirkwood)
2x Landroval (A Journey to Rhosgobel)
3x Meneldor (Roam Across Rhovanion)
2x Messenger Raven (The Fate of Wilderland)
3x Vassal of the Windlord (The Dead Marshes)
3x Winged Guardian (The Hunt for Gollum)

Attachment (21)
1x Black Arrow (On the Doorstep)
2x Fast Hitch (The Dead Marshes)
1x Magic Ring (The Crossings of Poros)
1x Mithril Shirt (The Fate of Wilderland)
2x Necklace of Girion (The Wilds of Rhovanion)
3x Radagast’s Staff (The Fate of Wilderland)
1x Song of Travel (The Hills of Emyn Muil)
2x Sting (Mount Gundabad)
2x Support of the Eagles (Return to Mirkwood)
1x The Arkenstone (The Withered Heath)
2x Wizard Pipe (The Road Darkens)
3x Woodmen’s Clearing (The Withered Heath)

Event (10)
3x Flight of the Eagles (Roam Across Rhovanion)
2x Gwaihir’s Debt (The Fate of Wilderland)
3x Meneldor’s Flight (The Hills of Emyn Muil)
2x The Eagles Are Coming! (The Hunt for Gollum)

3 Heroes, 50 Cards
Cards up to The Land of Sorrow

Sideboard

Ally (3)
3x Eagle of the North (Roam Across Rhovanion)

Decklist built and published on RingsDB.