Two-Handed Decks

By PsychoRocka, in Strategy and deck-building

Posted at

These decks look really solid.

Will you be adding lore Ents, when they come up? ;)

And its good to see Gildor's Counsel, it´s actually excellent and under-rated card.

How does the star broach works in the filed? Is it worth to keepp one enemy engaged?

I actually made quite simillar decks to those, but my goal was not to use Spirfindel, cos I lately overused him :D

L. Aragorn-Elladan-elrohir

And wielders of the three: Gandalf-Galadriel-Elrond

Posted at

thanks man =) they serve me pretty well!
Hmmmmmmm I very well may run ents.... I don't want them to overtake the decks though so at the moment am trying to work out what I would and wouldn't add (ent wise) if I was going to go down that path.

They certainly look pretty awesome (the two new ones, the custodian or whatever and Quickbeam) and I used to run the original two (wandering ent and booming ent) and they were both pretty awesome but ultimately got removed for more useful or thematic cards.

Yeah Gildors Counsel is possibly my favorite event card full stop. REALLY allows you to slow down the encounter deck for a turn and get a breather. It is definitely a very underrated and very powerful card especially for two player (or two handed).

Star broach I have found really useful. I normally keep an enemy engaged (if possible and also not too problematic or damaging) anyway so that Halbarad can quest without exhausting so the Star Broach provides an extra point of willpower for 1 on a hero that does not exhaust to quest anyway. I really love it but it certainly is not a power card. Haldir can usually kill an enemy before it attacks many rounds so often you can kill the enemy you leave engaged before it makes another attack anyway leaving very little downside to keeping the enemy engaged and alive. It may very well have to come out if there are cards I really want to include and cannot think of other cards to remove. So far though yes it has proven very useful and better than expected. Comboed with Noble Hero in saga mode Halbarad can quest for a pretty useful 4 and remain ready if an enemy is engaged.

Haha yeah fair enough I tried to swap Glorfindel for Galadriel a while back but the loss of Asfaloth and my unwillingness to include a bunch of lower power location control cards made the decks very weak to location lock. I don't know I know it gets stale but he really serves his purpose in my decks so I've only become more and more reluctant to let him go.
Your lineups look really good! Feel free to share the deck lists if you want =)
Have you tried your new decks out against The Lost Realm yet? How well does the Tactics Aragorn hero go with the Brothers? I was tempted to use him instead of Halbarad for thematic reasons (and also to be able to use all of Aragorn's toys most notably StwB) but Halbarad just suits my decks so much better I had to choose him. Also first turn Steward is not possible with only one leadership hero.... that is a big deal.

Posted at
Deck 1: Tactics/Leadership
The Grey Company
Heroes:
Halbarad - 10
Elrohir – 10
Elladan - 10
Starting threat – 30
Allies: (16)
3x - Naith Guide
2x - Dunedain Watcher
2x - Galadriel
1x - Erestor
1x - Orophin
1x - Faramir
3x - Dunedain Hunter
3x - Gandalf (Core)
Attachments: (22)
3x - Steward of Gondor
3x - Dunedain Mark
3x - Gondorian Shield
3x - Rivendell Blade
3x - Dagger of Westernesse
2x - Rivendell Bow
2x - Elven Mail
2x - Secret Vigil
1x - Arod
Events: (12)
3x - Sneak Attack
3x - Feigned Voices
3x - Ranger Summons
3x - Feint
Side Quests: (1)
1x - Gather Information
Set Aside: (3)
3x - Ranger of the North
Deck 2: Spirit/Lore
Elven Finesse
Heroes:
Elrond - 13
Haldir of Lorien - 9
Glorfindel (Spirit) – 5
Starting threat – 27
Allies: (16)
3x - Galadhrim Minstrel
3x - Warden of Healing
1x - Henamarth Riversong
1x - Quickbeam
3x - Arwen Undomiel
3x - Galadriel's Handmaiden
2x - Northern Tracker

Attachments: (19)
3x - Asfaloth
3x - Ranger Spikes
3x - Lembas
3x - Athelas
2x - Light of Valinor
2x - Cloak of Lorien
2x - Star Broach
1x - Wingfoot
Events: (17)
3x - Gildor's Counsel
3x - Daeron's Runes
3x - A Test of Will
3x - Elrond's Counsel
3x - Hasty Stroke
2x - The Galahadrim's Greeting
Side Quests: (1)
1x - Gather Information
Sideboard: (3)
3x - Forest Snare (simply added if needed)
Made just a few small changes to each deck. (changes are in red)
Removed the two copies of Son of Arnor from the combat deck. As useful on paper as these guys are very often I have one sitting in my hand far too long as they are both expensive and can only be used for their ability and to attack. Because I often have enough attack strength between Elladan, Haldir and Halbarad to destroy all/most foes when there are not too many in play I like to be able to quest even with offensive allies when need be. Ranger of the North, Dunedain Hunter and Orophin can all do both fairly effectively and Gandalf is obviously amazing at everything. Son of Arnor does not pull its wait in this regard with its 0 willpower. This and an ability that is often not needed makes it a dead or useless card way too often. Dunedain Hunter can set up Halbarad to quest without exhausting better and far more cheaply than Son of Arnor and also has a higher attack value. As well as this the hunter cancels any when revealed effects, surge etc.
Son of Arnor does shine in certain scenarios and situations (engaging Bill Ferny within the first few turns through his effect is pretty awesome) but because Halbarad allows to you optionally engage two enemies a round you can often pull most foes over to the combat deck anyway without really needing this ability. I therefore took both copies out and have included some new cards. First off I added Faramir, I removed him for thematic reasons as well as his high cost when I was still running two tactics heroes (at least I believe this is the case, fuzzy memory lol) making it far harder to play him and balance resources on Elrohir for defending at the same time. Now that I run two leadership heroes however and have also included Dunedain characters I feel that he will be both far easier to play and less of a un thematic inclusion as well (he does have almost pure Numenorian blood after all!!) even if he is a ranger of Gondor and not Arnor or of the Dunedain.
Yes he is even more costly than Son of Arnor but has an AMAZING ability and can be very handy when you need a big boost to willpower. The other card I included is the new tactics card Arod which was just spoiled to be in Treason of Isenguard.
Such an amazing amazing card in my opinion! Pretty much so long as you put this on your main offensive hero any turn you kill an enemy you will be placing one progress on a location of your choice active or in staging. This doesn't seem overly powerful but can easily stack up over turns to allow faster progress through quest stages and makes clearing locations in staging easier as well. If you combo its effect with Asfaloth and/or Northern Tracker locations don't stand a chance. Really love this new location control card.
With the Spirit/Lore deck I just changed the one card. I removed a copy of Light of Valinor to include a copy of the newly spoiled ally Quickbeam. This ally is very powerful and has even received criticism of being too powerful. Two cost for a whopping 3 attack and 2 willpower (both very useful) is very good value. He is unique and comes into play exhausted or damaged however. In this deck I run a fair bit of healing however so removing that 1 damage will be very easy and because of his low defense (his only low stat) he will rarely if ever be used for defensive duties anyway. He is too good not to be used even if (for now at least) I am not using other ents.
As a last note the reason I include only one copy of Arod, Quickbeam and Faramir even though all three are very powerful and useful is because of the new player side quest Gather Information. This side quest so far has proven very very useful and I believe allows you to include less copies of unique cards and less x3 of cards in your decks. Danpoage talks about it in one of his latest blog posts on hallofbeorn:
https://hallofbeorn.wordpress.com/2015/04/08/5-invaluable-cards-for-multi-player/
Asfaloth and Arwen however are both crucial cards to these decks so remain at x3 of each even though they are unique.

As always please feel free to post any feedback or suggestions you may have and hope you enjoyed my reasoning for the changes. :P

Edited by PsychoRocka
Posted at

For me those Ents are really OP...especially the new ones. But as you will see I used the older ones nevertheless.

Treebeard is excellent target for Vilya.

About G. Counsel: I totally agree and also an excellent target for Elron-Vilya-LoV combo ;)

Interesting. I´m personally waiting for more card from the last cycle to come to build "stay engaged" deck. We´ll see how efective it will be. It just goes against my nature. "If you can kill the enemy....hit it" :D

Well on the other hand Glorfindel is the most badass elf od this age: died killing balrog before Gandalf made it cool, made epic prophecy about killing witchking, made 4 Nazguls run away from him from one of the Bridges freeing them for Frodo and Aragorn and so on. He should be f*****g epic. :D

My decks are bellow, but (maybe suprisingly) I´m using Leadreship Aragorn, oldie but goldie ;)

And I dont have my copy of Treason yet, so they will be updated soon.

And no, I´m trying them now agains Shadows of Mirkwood nightmare.

Hero: (3)
1x Elrond (Shadow and Flame)
1x Galadriel (Celebrimbor's Secret)
1x Gandalf (The Road Darkens)
Ally: (21)
2x Arwen Undomiel (The Watcher in the Water)
3x Bilbo Baggins (The Road Darkens)
2x Gildor Inglorion (The Hills of Emyn Muil)
2x Northern Tracker (Core Set)
3x Silvan Refugee (The Drúadan Forest)
2x Treebeard (The Antlered Crown)
3x Wandering Ent (Celebrimbor's Secret)
1x Beorn (Core Set)
3x Daughter of the Nimrodel (Core Set)
Attachment: (21)
3x Expert Treasure-hunter (On the Doorstep)
3x Lembas (Trouble in Tharbad)
2x Light of Valinor (Foundations of Stone)
2x Mirror of Galadriel (Celebrimbor's Secret)
3x Unexpected Courage (Core Set)
1x Wizard Pipe (The Road Darkens)
3x Cloak of Lórien (Celebrimbor's Secret)
2x Nenya (Celebrimbor's Secret)
2x Athelas (The Lost Realm)
Event: (11)
3x A Test of Will (Core Set)
3x Elrond's Counsel (The Watcher in the Water)
3x Hidden Cache (The Morgul Vale)
2x Gildor's Counsel (The Hills of Emyn Muil)
Hero: (3)
1x Aragorn (Core Set)
1x Elladan (Road to Rivendell)
1x Elrohir (The Redhorn Gate)
Ally: (18)
3x Dunedain Watcher (The Dead Marshes)
2x Erestor (The Long Dark)
2x Faramir (Core Set)
3x Galadhon Archer (The Nin-in-Eilph)
2x Orophin (Celebrimbor's Secret)
3x Dunedain Hunter (The Lost Realm)
3x Weather Hills Watchman (The Lost Realm)
Attachment: (26)
3x Dunedain Mark (The Hunt for Gollum)
3x Dunedain Warning (Conflict at the Carrock)
3x Elven Mail (The Three Trials)
3x Gandalf Staff (The Road Darkens)
3x Rivendell Blade (Road to Rivendell)
3x Rivendell Bow (The Watcher in the Water)
3x Steward of Gondor (Core Set)
2x Vilya (Shadow and Flame)
3x Secret Vigil (The Lost Realm)
Event: (6)
3x The White Council (The Dunland Trap)

3x Ranger Summons (The Lost Realm)
Edited by OlorinCZ
Posted at
Deck 1: Tactics/Leadership
Elven Fury
Heroes:
Sam Gamgee - 8
Elrohir – 10
Elladan - 10
Starting threat – 30
Allies: (17)
3x - Naith Guide
2x - Dunedain Watcher
2x - Galadriel
1x - Erestor
1x - Orophin
1x - Faramir
1x - Bill the Pony
3x - Dunedain Hunter/3x - Booming Ent
3x - Gandalf (Core)
Attachments: (21)
3x - Steward of Gondor
3x - Dunedain Mark
3x - Gondorian Shield
3x - Rivendell Blade
3x - Dagger of Westernesse
2x - Elven Mail
2x - Secret Vigil
2x - Hobbit Cloak
Events: (12)
3x - Sneak Attack
3x - Feigned Voices
3x - Feint
3x - Halfling Determination
Side Quests: (1)
1x - Gather Information
51 Cards Total
Deck 2: Spirit/Lore
Elven Finesse
Heroes:
Elrond - 13
Haldir of Lorien - 9
Glorfindel (Spirit) – 5
Starting threat – 27
Allies: (16)
3x - Galadhrim Minstrel
3x - Warden of Healing
1x - Henamarth Riversong
1x - Quickbeam
3x - Arwen Undomiel
3x - Galadriel's Handmaiden
2x - Northern Tracker
Attachments: (17)
3x - Asfaloth
3x - Ranger Spikes
3x - Lembas
3x - Fast Hitch
2x - Light of Valinor
2x - Cloak of Lorien
1x - Wingfoot
Events: (17)
3x - Gildor's Counsel
3x - Daeron's Runes
3x - A Test of Will
3x - Elrond's Counsel
3x - Hasty Stroke
2x - The Galahadrim's Greeting
Side Quests: (1)
1x - Gather Information
51 Cards total
Sideboard: (3)
3x - Power of Orthanc (simply added if needed)
Made a pretty big change! Halbarad is coming out and the always overlooked Sam Gamgee joins Elrohir and Elladan as the second leadership hero for the combat deck. To be completely honest I'm not sure how I never at least considered him as the third hero to be paired with the brothers so I am very glad Grandspleen mentioned how well he fits with them in a recent thread about the brothers. Ever since I read that post the other day I have been thinking of how I would implement Sam in this deck and what other changes I would make to facilitate his inclusion. First off why I think he will be so useful (and better than Halbarad) in this deck is as follows:

-Lower starting threat is always a benefit (except if you are running a valour deck but hey that doesn't really exist yet :P ) and makes threat reduction slightly less important or at least gives you a little longer to draw/obtain threat reduction before threating out.
-Sam starts with more willpower which is what Halbarad is primarily used for (questing).
-Sam has the potential to have much more action advantage than Halbarad as he can have multiple fast hitches attached and also readies anytime you engage an enemy with a higher engagement cost than your threat. This means he can potentially quest, ready and defend and then ready and attack given the right circumstances. He can even make multiple attacks in a turn much like Elladan (albeit with lower attack strength) so can join with Elladan in multiple attacks to truly decimate foes.
-Sam provides another defender for the two decks. Yes he starts with a mere 1 defense and 3 hitpoints but that 1 defense becomes 2 when you engage an enemy with a higher engagement cost than your threat. It goes up to 4 if you manage to get a Hobbit Cloak attached to him and the enemy has a higher engagement cost than your threat. The second copy of Gondorian Shield drawn can be put on Sam giving him a further +1 defense. This can be fairly situational and may only be useful early game because as soon as your threat gets too high his bonus and the Hobbit Cloak's bonus will rarely take effect. Gondorian Shield and Arwens Buff however can still put him up to 3 defense so he can be used late game as a defender against the less fearsome enemies in play. Even just as a situational defender its good to have an extra defender to occasionally help Elrohir out and Sam has more potential than Halbarad even with 1 less starting defense as he can receive more boosts to his defense and also has the potential to still attack after defending via the use of a fast hitch. That last part is actually a pretty big deal as having to defend with a hero you had planned to use as an attacker can sometimes ruin your plans to destroy a nasty foe you previously thought you could get rid of that round. Build up of engaged enemies can be a terrible terrible thing....
The strategy to still effectively use Sam late game once your threat has become too high and he is no longer getting stat boosts and readying when you engage enemies is to utilize him as much as possible early game and then get a fast hitch or two on him throughout the game so that he can still quest and provide at least one other action each turn late game. Put a single dunedain mark or weapon on him and he can still quest for 3 and attack for 2 to 3 every turn just via a fast hitch.
This does require a bit of setup but with 3 fast hitches I should get at least one in most games and a weapon can almost always be spared late game once one or two have already been attached to Haldir and Elladan which is exactly when you need the attack boost as early game he will hopefully already be boosted simply from his own ability.
The biggest downside to the hero change in my opinion is the loss of being able to optionally engage two enemies with the combat deck. This ability made Haldir's sniping ability even better and far more regular as well. I am somewhat worried this will make a big difference and potentially endanger the questing deck more often. Getting Sentinel on Elrohir early in games will now be far more important then before. The loss of a hitpoint on one of my heroes doesn't seem too big a deal as many allies in both decks have high hitpoints to help against archery.
Now for the other changes to accompany the hero change:
Ranger Summons sadly must be removed and is replaced by Halfling Determination. This card is perfect for late game when Sam no longer gets boosts from his ability but still has action advantage via a fast hitch. Give him plus two willpower and quest with him and then the plus two attack can still be utilized during combat via the fast hitch. Alternatively it can allow him to safety quest and then defend or defend and then attack. Potentially all three if you got lucky and have two fast hitches out or his ability triggers.
the two copies of Rivendell Bow (which I hate to see go...) are replaced with two copies of hobbit cloak which obviously are a core part of making Sam a viable secondary defender.
the last change to the combat deck was replacing Arod with Bill the Pony. I only included one copy of Bill even though he is fantastic (a free cost ally with 1 will, 1 attack and 2 hitpoints that also gives Sam another hitpoint) as I don't like multiple copies of unique cards (unless Vital to the deck) and Sam is a backup defender after all and Elrohir is still the true defensive powerhouse and no cards that affect his setup to be this have been removed by these changes. When he is seen in a game fantastic, when he is not it really doesn't matter too much.

Lastly I made one change to the questing deck. I removed the three copies of Athelas (which is now far less useful as it can only be attached to Dunedain allies or a Warden of Healing) and replaced them with fast hitch. I also included Power of Orthanc in the sideboard and will now be using it in any scenarios that have nasty condition attachments. This is very worrying as the Doomed 2 messes with Sams ability and does not keep you at low threat at all but sometimes removal of a condition is far far more important....

Overall the strategy for the decks remains more or less the same but now Sam is in the role of quester for the combat deck and is also a secondary backup defender. He can also potentially attack alongside multiple attacks Elladan makes to clear multiple enemies. Gandalf will more often be used to lower threat to ensure more triggers of Sam's inbuilt bonus but because Sam can still be very useful as a secondary attacker or defender even without his ability late game (via the use of Fast Hitches and other attachments) threat will not be as key as it would be in other decks in which Sam is a primary defender or attacker so the combat deck can still get to high threat levels and perform just as well as before, potentially even better.
Time to try out the new changes! Very excited but also slightly worried as well!
Edited by PsychoRocka
Posted at

So I don't like making deck lists because they are so quest specific, but I do have a deck idea and I want some feedback. The idea is for a two handed team of Rohan and Eagles that uses To the Eyrie to constantly recycle Eomund. Once setup, the combo allows the players to send all the Rohan characters on the quest, the ready them all by chump blocking with Eomund.

The heroes would include Theoden (spirit), Theodred, Eomer, Eowyn, Hama, and Dunhere. The purple is used for Steward of Gondor on Eowyn. With Lay of Nimrodel and Herugrim she can kill anything. Also, Dunedain Cache can give Hama ranged so he can always attack to recycle To the Eyrie.

Thoughts?

Edited by DukeWellington
Posted at

No disrespect Duke, but you might want to post your query in a separate thread and not in Mr. Psychorocka's

Posted at

My bad, I thought from the title that this was just a general forum for throwing out two handed deck ideas. Now I see that I was wrong. No offense taken.

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Any and all discussions of two handed decks is more than welcome in this thread but you may not get as good or as many a response from posting it in here as you would posting your own topic in Decks and Strategy. I actually started the thread for all two handed discussion but not that many people posted their decks so it sort of changed into a thread about the evolution and constant changes to my two decks.

It looks like a pretty good strategy though, Eomund is amazing and getting multiple uses out of a single copy of him with To the Eyrie is fantastic for Rohan decks.

Edited by PsychoRocka
Posted at

My bad, I thought from the title that this was just a general forum for throwing out two handed deck ideas. Now I see that I was wrong. No offense taken.

no no! it definitely is but I think you will get more responses and better feedback starting a new thread =)

Posted at
Deck 1: Tactics/Leadership
Elven Fury
Heroes:
Sam Gamgee - 8
Elrohir – 10
Elladan - 10
Starting threat – 30
Allies: (17)
3x - Naith Guide
2x - Dunedain Watcher
2x - Galadriel
1x - Erestor
1x - Orophin
1x - Faramir
1x - Gimli
1x - Bill the Pony
3x - Booming Ent
1x - Legolas
3x - Gandalf (Core)
Attachments: (21)
3x - Steward of Gondor
3x - Dunedain Mark
3x - Gondorian Shield
3x - Rivendell Blade
3x - Dagger of Westernesse
2x - Elven Mail
2x - Secret Vigil
Events: (12)
3x - Sneak Attack
3x - Feigned Voices
3x - Feint
3x - Foe Hammer
Side Quests: (1)
1x - Gather Information
Changed just a few cards in the combat deck and it is now working like even more of a well oiled machine.
Removed all three copies of Halfling Determination (until end of phase not turn.... don't know how I ever misread this or had this wrong) as it is not quite as good as I thought and very very rarely used for anything other than a willpower boost.
Often late game with a weapon or two on Elladan that tactics resource is far better used on Elladans ability to ready after an attack rather than to give Sam +2 attack as Elladan has higher base attack and usually receives more attack buffs as well. Unless you have multiple fast hitches on Sam and many smaller foes out the resource will pretty much always be better spent readying Elladan to make another attack than to boost Sam's attack with Halfling Determination. As I am about to explain the defensive boost is also useless as Sam is very rarely used to defend.

Secondly I took out the two copies of Hobbit Cloak. Sam is not at all being used for defense like I thought he would and instead quests like a champ (also provides a handy chuck of willpower for quest specific situations like Hide Tests, Escape Tests etc) and then with his ability, multiple fast hitches and a single attack boost (usually dunedain mark but sometimes a dagger) he is used as Elladan's sidekick helping him take out foes each round. His action advantage is also amazing for various nasty encounter effects that require you to exhaust a character. He is so rarely used for defense and even when he is it is usually against a 1 or 2 attack strength enemy which he doesn't even really need a defensive boost against except maybe his own ability or a gondorian shield. The second copy of the shield drawn always goes on him anyway so Hobbit Cloak really isn't necessary at all and often does nothing whatsoever over the course of a game.
The replacement cards are fairly straight forward. Three copies of Foe Hammer, a copy of Gimli and a copy of Legolas.
One of the biggest weaknesses of these two decks is card draw. Until recently (when Gather Information was added to both decks and Erestor was re-included in the combat deck) between both decks the only card draw or search featured was from Gandalf for the combat deck and from Daeron's Runes in the questing deck. Now the combat deck has Erestor, Gather Information, Gandalf AND Foe Hammer. Just from playing a handful of games I can see that this has highly improved the speed at which the combat deck operates. Another thing worth noting is that Gandalf is being used more and more frequently for card draw as the decks are stronger than ever before and the combat deck has lower starting threat so often the direct damage or threat reduction is not needed and drawing three cards is far more useful.
Between Gather Information, Foe Hammer and Gandalf the combat deck now has far more potential for card draw allowing you to get out Gondorian Shield, Steward and other key cards much faster. Just from the additional card draw and Gather Information alone both decks (but especially the combat deck) seem to just play so much faster and stronger than before.
I have always overlooked card draw and its importance somewhat but now have more than enough, especially in the combat dec, which honestly seems to benefit more from it than the questing deck would due to cards such as Feint, Feigned Voices, Sneak Attack etc. Also the questing deck has cards like the Minstrel (who pulls out an event for you) to somewhat offset lack of card draw.
Finally the two new allies, both of which have been featured in older versions of my decks, have been included for a few reasons. First off when playing harder quests more allies and more attack power is always a good thing and these two particular allies can provide a fair bit of firepower.
Gimli provides both his willpower and attack as he readies any time an enemy is revealed from the encounter deck and even has sentinel so can be used in emergencies in which Elrohir cannot defend a last attack. He may even survive it with his 2 defense and 3 hitpoints. He is simply too powerful and useful in this deck to not include. His only drawback is his cost but so long as you carefully manage leadership resources between allies and Elrohir's ability he is usually quite easy to play and can even defend and survive an attack the turn he enters play putting less pressure on Elrohir for the turn which is exactly what you need after spending all or most of Elrohir's resources. Other leadership allies like Galadriel and Orophin do not provide this safety net when played.
Legolas on the other hand is more of a guilty pleasure than a powerhouse addition to the deck but can still be very useful on occasion. The deck has very few tactics cards that cost more than 1 and that is so that Elladan can use his ability mid to late game to great effect. Once he has a weapon or two on him he can attack multiple times for higher attack strength than the Legolas ally so essentially there is often no point saving resources to play Legolas as you may need those resources to kill extra enemies to begin with.
I often get stuck in a loop because of this where I am attempting to save resources on Elladan to play Legolas but end up using saved resources across a few rounds to decimate extra foes instead and Legolas sits in my hand doing nothing but taking up space. He can however be fantastic if you do manage to save resources and get him out. He provides card draw almost every turn (every turn you kill enemies as why would you not be using him to help do so?) and also has ranged so can help destroy that annoying enemy that ended up engaged with the other deck but is too strong for Glorfindel and Haldir to take out on their own. Just his card draw alone can help pump out many extra player cards and provide the edge you need to beat a particular quest. So although expensive and sometimes useless on occasion he can shine and help draw many additional cards and potentially be the deciding factor between victory and defeat. I think that the fact he is a x1 copy card and the only tactics card that costs more than 2 makes him far more useful than he would otherwise be.
I find often find that the quests in which enemies are more numerous but weaker are the games in which Elladan's ability is vital and Legolas often sits in hand most or all of the game and quests in which enemies are a little stronger but less numerous are the games in which Legolas truly shines.
Edited by PsychoRocka
Posted at

Are you planning to swap Erestor, when he comes up and adapt those for new "Noldor are fading away - discard" strategy? ;)

Posted at

Removed one copy of Foe Hammer and added Black Arrow. Removed Wingfoot and added Unexpected Courage.

Even as single copies thanks to Gather Information and the additional card draw in the decks both appear fairly often during games.

Ran the new versions of the decks (making these minor changes halfway) against core through to shadow and flame (skipping passage through mirkwood and escape from dol guldur) and beat every quest first attempt except shadow and flame (second attempt) and Conflict at the Carrock (second attempt, messed up the first game and the combat deck threated out instantly when 5 trolls attacked it the first turn they appeared (a hill troll joined them..) raising threat by 15 in one go...).

I'm now going to take them through Heirs of Numenor (eugh... might have to skip a few if I rack up too many losses) and AtS.

I have to say I'm really loving the decks since the inclusion of Sam Gamgee and the extra card draw and have pulled off some really awesome moments and combos so far. Have to say a big thanks to Grandspleen for a post he made about how well Sam goes with the Brothers which inspired me to make the change.

Posted at

Are you planning to swap Erestor, when he comes up and adapt those for new "Noldor are fading away - discard" strategy? ;)

Alas no, too intensive a mechanic which would require entire deck redesign and I really love these decks especially since the recent change to Sam Gamgee. I do hope a few cards in the new mechanic fit decently in my decks though!

Posted at

Changed x3 Booming Ent to x3 Envoy of Pelargir in the tactics deck. Easier to play, can quest OR attack unlike the Ent, more than enough attack power in the deck without the Ents so they are massively unneeded. Plus the Envoys make Legolas (ally) much much more playable and able to come out a turn earlier than he normally would. Also just very handy for putting an extra resource on Elrond to get out a Northern Tracker or on Glorfindel so you have a spare resource for a test of will or hasty stroke.

Edited by PsychoRocka
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Changed x3 Booming Ent to x3 Envoy of Pelargir in the tactics deck. Easier to play, can quest OR attack unlike the Ent, more than enough attack power in the deck without the Ents so they are massively unneeded. Plus the Enjoys make Legolas (ally) much much more playable and able to come out a turn earlier than he normally would. Also just very handy for putting an extra resource on Elrond to get out a Northern Tracker or on Glorfindel so you have a spare resource for a test of will or hasty stroke.

Stupid autocorrect...

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huh?

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The enjoys make Legolas more powerful...

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haha I read over my post so many times and couldn't spot anything, thank you!

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glad I wasn't the only one that still couldn't spot the autofail...

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Deck 1: Tactics/Leadership
Warriors of Eregion
Heroes:
Sam Gamgee - 8
Elrohir – 10
Elladan - 10
Starting threat – 30
Allies: (19)
3x - Naith Guide
2x - Dunedain Watcher
2x - Galadriel
1x - Erestor
1x - Orophin
1x - Faramir
1x - Gimli
1x - Bill the Pony
3x - Envoy of Pelargir
1x - Legolas
3x - Gandalf (Core)
Attachments: (20)
3x - Steward of Gondor
3x - Dunedain Mark
3x - Gondorian Shield
3x - Rivendell Blade
3x - Dagger of Westernesse
2x - Blade of Gondolin
2x - Elven Mail
1x - Black Arrow
Events: (11)
3x - Sneak Attack
3x - Feigned Voices
3x - Feint
2x - Foe Hammer
Side Quests: (1)
1x - Gather Information
51 Cards Total
Deck 2: Spirit/Lore
Elven Finesse
Heroes:
Elrond - 13
Haldir of Lorien - 9
Glorfindel (Spirit) – 5
Starting threat – 27
Allies: (17)
3x - Galadhrim Minstrel
3x - Warden of Healing
1x - Henamarth Riversong
1x - Gildor Inglorion
1x - Quickbeam
3x - Arwen Undomiel
3x - Galadriel's Handmaiden
2x - Northern Tracker
Attachments: (16)
3x - Asfaloth
3x - Ranger Spikes
3x - Lembas
2x - Fast Hitch
2x - Light of Valinor
2x - Cloak of Lorien
1x - Unexpected Courage
Events: (17)
3x - Gildor's Counsel
3x - Daeron's Runes
3x - A Test of Will
3x - Elrond's Counsel
3x - Hasty Stroke
2x - The Galahadrim's Greeting
Side Quests: (1)
1x - Gather Information
51 Cards total
Sideboard: (3)
3x - Power of Orthanc (simply added if needed)
New versions of the decks up to date with recent changes I've made. Removed a copy of Foe Hammer (2 is more than enough) and the two copies of Secret Vigil (far less useful than they seem and used next to never) to make room for Blade of Gondolin and Black Arrow.
Removed a copy of Fast Hitch (down to x2) and Wingfoot from the other deck and replaced them with Unexpected Courage and Gildor Inglorion.
Foe Hammer, Gather Information and using Gandalf ally to draw 3 cards are all very powerful draw or search effects and they make the Warriors of Eregion deck run so much better than before. With two Foe Hammers instead of three there still remains a lot of card draw but not an overabundance. Also the components necessary to play Foe Hammer means on occasion it is unusable until you get a weapon out.
Secret Vigil is an amazing threat reduction card don't get me wrong but how playable it is especially in these decks is another question. First off the enemy needs to stay in play to have Secret Vigil attached to it as it can only be played in the planning phase, often this deck slaughters enemies as fast as possible so does not leave many around as targets. Even when a few enemies are left in play after the combat phase it is often the weakest and less threatening which often also have low threat values. Honestly I found myself almost never using this card and when I would use it the only real benefit would be a threat reduction of a few points for each deck, more often than not 2 at most. Often there would not be valid targets in play (during planning at least), or I needed to save or use the resource for other more important effects (get another weapon out, feint an enemy, perform an additional attack with Elladan). I think that because I changed hero from Halbarad to Sam and have fairly low starting threat for both decks to begin with this card is far less necessary now. Definitely fantastic in the right deck but just started to feel more and more useless in my decks and was ultimately taken out. As for the cards that replaced them, Black Arrow is a no brainer and is just a fantastic card to help with the Boss of any particular quest or even just an especially nasty foe that needs to bite the dust ASAP. Also because it is always attached to Haldir he can use the arrow combined with his ability to take out a much bigger nastier foe before it attacks or whilst in staging like a Troll or Nazgul for example. Blade of Gondolin adds further attack boosts to my heroes (so long as they are attacking orcs) as well as a extra little boost of progress and even potentially location control (if you are struggling to clear the active location). The best targets are often Sam or Glorfindel as you often want a dagger and rivendell blade on Haldir and Elladan to get them to max attack potential whereas Sam and Glorfindel are not as necessary for combat but often do help out especially Sam. Lastly the Blade provides another target for Foe hammer making it that little bit more dependable!
The small changes to the Elven Finesse Deck are the inclusion of Unexpected Courage and Gildor Inglorion and removal of a copy of Fast Hitch and the one copy of Wingfoot.
Wingfoot just sucks in these decks and I don't know why I keep including it. There are far better cards that provide readying effects that are more reliable and can have better targets. Fast Hitch is absolutely fantastic but 3 copies seems a little bit like over kill and just the 2 copies have been working very well with at least one appearing in most games and on occasion the second copy also appears. Often because Sam's own ability triggers at least a few times in most games even just a single fast hitch means Sam can on occasion quest and then attack twice or quest, defend and attack all in the one round.
Unexpected Courage was added back into the deck as an attachment for Haldir. I thought about it and every other hero has action advantage in some form or another. Glorfindel has Light of Valinor to pull double duty, Sam has his built in ability and Fast Hitches, Elladan and Elrohir have their built in abilities and Elrond is usually the recipient of Lembas if they are not attached to Elrohir instead. Unexpected Courage is amazing on Haldir allowing him to use his ability AND then kill a second foe after enemy attacks each turn or if his ability cannot be used he can simply take out two enemies a turn. It can even allow him to quest and then use his ability/take out an enemy if you are desperate for more willpower on any given quest phase. Essentially it provides the last hero with his own form of readying and action advantage to round out the deck and allow every hero to pull double duty.
Gildor Inglorion is just a fantastic ally with awesome stats and a great ability that I decided to put back in now that this deck has overall much cheaper and easier to use cards than it used to. Far more often than in the past I have resources start to stack on up heroes mid to late game with this deck and can usually play cards like Northern Tracker, Gildors Counsel and Galadrims Greeting more easily than I used to. I therefore also added Gildor back into the deck as anytime you can play him he provides an enormous boost even just with his 3 willpower a turn. Throw a Cloak of Lorien on him and you have a backup defender with 4 to 5 defense!
Edited by PsychoRocka
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What did you take out?

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What did you take out?

Just did a big write up of what I took out and why =)

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Deck 1: Tactics/Leadership


Warriors of Eregion


Heroes:

Sam Gamgee - 8

Elrohir – 10

Elladan - 10


Starting threat – 30


Allies: (19)

3x - Naith Guide

3x - Honour Guard

2x - Galadriel

1x - Erestor

1x - Orophin

1x - Faramir

1x - Gimli

1x - Bill the Pony

3x - Envoy of Pelargir

1x - Legolas

3x - Gandalf (Core)


Attachments: (20)

3x - Steward of Gondor

3x - Dunedain Mark

3x - Gondorian Shield

3x - Rivendell Blade

3x - Dagger of Westernesse

2x - Blade of Gondolin

2x - Elven Mail



Events: (11)

3x - Sneak Attack

3x - Feigned Voices

3x - Feint

2x - Foe Hammer


Side Quests: (1)

1x - Gather Information


51 Cards Total


Made a slight change to this deck. Removed Black Arrow and the x2 Dunedain Watchers and replaced them with x3 Honour Guard.

Edited by PsychoRocka
Posted at
Deck 1: Tactics/Leadership
Warriors of Eregion
Heroes:
Sam Gamgee - 8
Elrohir – 10
Elladan - 10
Starting threat – 30
Allies: (21)
3x - Naith Guide
3x - Honour Guard
2x - Galadriel
1x - Boromir
1x - Orophin
1x - Faramir
1x - Gimli
1x - Bill the Pony
3x - Envoy of Pelargir
1x - Legolas
3x - Gandalf (Core)
1x - Anborn (proxied)
Attachments: (18)
3x - Steward of Gondor
3x - Dunedain Mark
3x - Gondorian Shield
3x - Rivendell Blade
3x - Dagger of Westernesse
2x - Elven Mail
1x - Sword-thain (proxied)
Events: (11)
3x - Sneak Attack
3x - Tighten the Belt
3x - Feint
2x - Foe Hammer
Side Quests: (1)
1x - Gather Information
51 Cards Total
Deck 2: Spirit/Lore
Elven Finesse
Heroes:
Elrond - 13
Haldir of Lorien - 9
Glorfindel (Spirit) – 5
Starting threat – 27
Allies: (17)
3x - Galadhrim Minstrel
3x - Warden of Healing
1x - Henamarth Riversong
1x - Gildor Inglorion
1x - Mablung (proxied)
1x - Quickbeam
3x - Arwen Undomiel
2x - Galadriel's Handmaiden
2x - Northern Tracker
Attachments: (16)
3x - Asfaloth
3x - Ranger Spikes
3x - Lembas
2x - Fast Hitch
2x - Light of Valinor
2x - Cloak of Lorien
1x - Unexpected Courage
Events: (17)
3x - Gildor's Counsel
3x - Daeron's Runes
3x - A Test of Will
3x - Elrond's Counsel
3x - Hasty Stroke
2x - The Galahadrim's Greeting
Side Quests: (1)
1x - Gather Information
51 Cards total
Sideboard: (3)
3x - Power of Orthanc (simply added if needed)
Made some exciting new changes to the decks with some new cards that have been revealed from the recent news article for The Land of Shadow!
First off the tactics/leadership deck:
To start with I removed the two blades of gondolin which were very useful but just not contributing enough and put in a copy of Sword-Thain and the new Anborn ally. Sword-Thain is in my opinion a very powerful card and works pretty **** well in my decks. Perfect targets include Legolas who can then receive weapon attachments that can only attach to heroes and become a potentially better attack than Elladan or even Haldir drawing you many cards in the process, Boromir who can then receive Gondorian Shield and become a wall of defense with 3 or 5 defense, Faramir who can then receive Unexpected Courage or even copies of Lembas to use his ability multiple times in one turn to really push through a quest stage or even lesser allies like Arwen, Orophin, Gimli or Anborn who will still receive a resource each turn helping get cards out faster (especially if you boost spirit or tactics who only start with 1 hero generating resources). In one game since these new changes I was able to use the Sneak Attack + Sword-Thain combo quite early on with Anborn thanks to first turn Steward of Gondor and from then on the deck went berserk and within a few turns I was able to play the Faramir, Orophin and Legolas allies (by using Envoy of Pelargir) and still have resources for attachments and the Brothers readying to attack and defend multiple times by generating 5 leadership resources a turn from the three leadership heroes and Steward of Gondor. Anborn is also very useful in these decks as he can either soften up enemies and keep them in staging allowing them to be sniped more efficiently with Haldir or even bombed with Gandalf or can simply contribute a very decent 3 attack to take out enemies during combat. Nice hitpoints and a point of willpower if needed are also nice and overall he is a very good fit for my decks. I also replaced Erestor with a copy of the Boromir ally. Boromir is a nice ally and in quests with enemies that have a high engagement or that keep your threat low (not much doomed or trouble in tharbad style quests etc) he is quite a nice backup/extra defender. I have used him in the decks before but now with the Sneak attack + Sword Thain combo, Envoy of Pelargir to boost tactics resources to make Legolas and now Boromir more playable and the last change for this deck I am about to mention he becomes much more playable and useful. Erestor whilst very very useful was removed as he is the worst recipient for Sword-Thain amongst the unique allies (no real benefit other than the resources as no attachments are particularly useful on him) and costs 4 resources and only contributes 2 willpower (Orophin provides 2 for 3 resources and Faramir can provide far more than 2 for 4 resources) and his ability which although powerful and repeatable (and does not require exhausting) is less necessary with all the extra card draw I now have in the decks. Lastly I removed the 3 copies of Feigned Voices and put in 3 copies of Tighten the Belt. This change was a very hard one to make as I have considered removing Feigned Voices for a while now with only a few Silvan allies left in the deck but it just combos so **** well with Naith Guide and was ALWAYS reliable in my decks even with just the Naith Guides recently. Yes every so many games it would do nothing and sit in my hand all game or until very late game when a Naith Guide shows up but this was so rare or I would return Legolas or Orophin to hand if I REALLY needed to stop an attack that this still made the card very powerful on the vast majority of times it was usable. However recent changes (new stronger unique allies, more defenders and damage cancellation) have made attack cancellation (or at least more than just the three copies of feint and Haldir quite often providing several "feints" over the course of any game) less important and often Feigned Voices is just overkill when I would have been able to defend an extra attack enemy or does little as there are several extra attacks I am unprepared for and it does not really help much. I therefore took it out and put in what has become a very useful card in the several games I've already played with it included; Tighten the Belt. Often it is used on the other deck and provides 2 extra lore resources or even 2 lore and 1 spirit resources on occasion allowing the other deck to pump out a few extra cards the following turn helping to play say Asfaloth, Arwen and Gildors Counsel all in one turn with a resource left on Glorfindel to play Test of Will if need be. These sort of power turns this card can set up are often very good turns in which I am able to progress immediately to another quest stage or able to kill more enemies than in other turns. This sort of push is integral to many quests and situations in which you need to make progress quickly to get away from some seriously nasty effects or triggers but also need action advantage to deal with whats revealed or triggered by the next quest stage.
Rarely is it used on this deck but has been once or twice during turns with no enemies in play in which neither Brother (Elladan and Elrohir) uses resources to ready from attacking or defending and can be very very useful to get out expensive allies fast.
Only one change for the lore/spirit deck:
I changed one copy of Galadriels Handmaiden to a copy of the new Mablung ally who is the same cost but lore which is more affordable for the deck, has the same willpower, 1 attack and one more hitpoint too. The threat reduction from the Handmaiden is nice but far less important than say Greeting or Elronds Counsel or even Gandalf ally's threat reduction ability and is more just a nice bonus ability on a cheap high willpower ally. Mablung provides the same thing (without the bonus ability) with other useful stats and a nice ability of his own. He can stop an enemy engaging either deck (or just this deck which is just as useful); allowing Haldir to snipe it more easily or if it cannot yet be dealt with defense wise or has a nasty engagement effect, or can boost its engagement cost to allow Sam to ready when it engages the other deck and allowing dagger of westernesse to provide a bigger boost providing more attack to destroy said enemy. He can also return an enemy already engaged with this deck to staging so it can be sniped there with Haldir or if this deck cannot handle another attack from said enemy. A very versatile ability if you ask me and a very nice addition to the decks!
Two last things. I also tried out Ambush in just 3 games in the Lore/Spirit deck (removed one Gildors Counsel, Henamarth and one Asfaloth) but it wasn't as fun or powerful as I hoped it might be and just wasn't really necessary or as good as other cards I could have played during a turn (namely ranger spikes which allows me to snipe the enemy with Haldir and reduces its threat and stops it attacking OUTRIGHT instead of just once so is just vastly superior in my decks) and just wasn't cutting it. I really didn't play the best quests ever to try it out but was trying out all the new changes as well as this one and it just wasn't gelling as well as the others and the cards that this change took out as well were far more important and integral than others removed for the other changes. Overall it just wasn't really working and so after just 3 games I reversed this and only kept trialing the other changes which are all now permanent.
Finally I am strongly considering including 2 to 3 copies of the newly spoiled spirit event Fair and Perilous in this deck as it is incredibly useful on a variety of elves in both my decks mainly Glorfindel, Elrond or Elladan. With Glorfindel and Elrond it provides a whopping +3 attack and Glorfindel especially with his action advantage via light of valinor is a perfect recipient. Elladan without any weapon attachments could finally make use of his in built ability with this card attacking multiple times with 5 attack (which these days WILL kill most smaller enemies in one hit) rather than a far weaker 3 attack. With weapons attached and an attack already as high as say 5, 6 or 7 (dagger, marks and rivendell blade providing -2 to enemy armour as well) this can give you that little boost to allow him to smash in one particularly nasty enemies face in one go and perhaps even take out another whilst doing so! What I am struggling to decide is what this card could possibly replace or if it is REALLY that necessary with how much attack power the decks can already generate.... perhaps it should even be a sideboard card for quests with enemies with higher defense/hitpoints or lots of toughness or even just quests with especially nasty bosses (morgul vale, trolls, three trials etc). Do any of you have any ideas or suggestions as far as this goes or even in regards to any of the new changes really or just the decks in general? If so please do share your thoughts :D
As always thanks for reading!
Edited by PsychoRocka