When I saw Rivendell Scout in the Three Trials, it inspired me to look back at leadership secrecy. Free allies combined with A Very Good Tale can make for an incredibly fast start. Which deck benefits most from a fast start? Outlands. I haven't tried this deck, but I hope to take it for a spin this week. My LotR time is fairly limited, so I wanted to see if anyone had any major feedback before I sink too much time into it. I also only have 1 core set, so some cards are limited.

It is outlands, so 80% of the deck is pretty much predetermined. But the last 20% takes advantage of the hobbit/secrecy cards. Maybe this deck has already been discussed - minus the Rivendell Scouts - but the only Outlands Secrecy decks I've seen on here were Hirluin/Glorfindel.

Hero: (2) - Starting Threat: 16
1x Hirluin the Fair (The Steward's Fear)
1x Sam Gamgee (The Black Riders)

Ally: (28)
3x Anfalas Herdsman (The Steward's Fear)
3x Ethir Swordsman (The Steward's Fear)
2x Forlong (The Drúadan Forest)
3x Hunter of Lamedon (Heirs of Numenor)
3x Knights of the Swan (The Steward's Fear)
3x Warrior of Lossarnach (The Steward's Fear)
2x Bill the Pony (The Black Riders)
2x Dunedain Wanderer (Road to Rivendell)
2x Faramir (Core Set)
2x Denethor (Encounter at Amon Dîn)
3x Rivendell Scout (The Three Trials)

Attachment: (11)
2x Hobbit Cloak (The Black Riders)
2x Lord of Morthond (Encounter at Amon Dîn)
2x Steward of Gondor (Core Set)
2x Sword of Morthond (Assault on Osgiliath)
3x Resourceful (The Watcher in the Water)

Event: (12)
3x Men of the West (Assault on Osgiliath)
3x A Very Good Tale (Over Hill and Under Hill)
2x Strength of Arms (The Drúadan Forest)
3x Timely Aid (The Redhorn Gate)
1x Taking Initiative (The Redhorn Gate) (51st card, I just want to include one copy for that glorious moment when I finally successfully use this card)

The ideal strategy is to get some cheap allies into play early and use A Very Good Tale or two. Between the Rivendell Scouts, Bill the Pony, and Timely Aid, there is a good chance you'll be able to get 2+ allies on the first turn. Steward of Gondor + Resourcefuls should give you plenty of resource acceleration so I didn't bother with cards like gaining strength. Faramir and Denethor are perfect for Timely Aid and Sword of Morthond. I see Denethor as a good early quester and late defender once he gets the Outlands buffs. With only 2 heroes, you don't have to worry about him running back to the safety of the White City. Hobbit cloak makes Sam a good early defender as long as you aren't fighting low engagement enemies (I'm looking at you, Seventh Level). Strength of Arms is a huge card for this kind of deck. It could allow for 20+ questing combined with heavy combat strength once you get the Outlands engine rolling.

The biggest question for me is weather to include the Dunedain Wanderers. Even with secrecy, they feel a little expensive in this deck. I would probably replace them with another Lord of Morthond (I see card draw being a bottleneck) and another Strength of Arms. Also, it seems crazy to have a leadership deck without sneak attack Gandalf. But, I'm so tired of that combo and I feel like every card (except Taking Initiative) serves an important purpose.

Any thoughts? Feel free to try it out and let me know how it goes.

Starting at 16 threat h is not bad, but without threat reduction it might only be a few rounds before you lose secrecy. See how it goes, and if it looks like your not staging in secrecy long enough to get up,and running, I'd probably go back to gandalf/sneak as the way to keep threat low. It's also going to be important if you want same to take advantage of Hobbit cloak, but with Outlands you will undoubtedly have a few defenders to choose from.

I certainly feel tired of the combo to, but I'd probably loose the Wanders, Denethor, and the morthond attachment that buffs stats (forget if it's sword or lord) to make way for gandalf sneak.

You're using A Very Good Tale, so you should definitely bring Dunedain Wanderers. The stats are very good for their cost of 2, in secrecy. And once you're out of secrecy, you should have the resources to play them out for 5 if you need them.

You should also consider throwing in Gandalf and Sneak Attack. I know it's a very old combo, and a lot of people are tired of it, but being able to lower your threat is going to be key to making this work.

I played through a few quests tonight after removing the Dunedain Wanderers and adding sneak attack Gandalf. It dominated Anduin, Carrock (despite Sam getting sacked and roasted alive!), Dead Marshes, and Return to Mirkwood and won about 50% of the time against Seventh Level. I drew Taking Initiative in my starting hand twice, and both times it triggered and killed an enemy in the staging area. It was glorious! I'm almost tempted to add more to my deck because the starting to the game is so important. I think it has about a 60% chance of triggering if I play it on the first turn.

As much as I hate to include it, sneak attack Gandalf is crucial. I sniped an enemy once, but otherwise always used it for card draw. One game I had a perfect opening hand and was able to get 6 allies and 2 attachments in play on the first turn! Faramir and Denethor weren't super useful unless I got lucky to bring them in with a timely aid, which I think only happened once.

Tracker, what are the other quests you normally test your decks against?

It really depends on what I think the deck can handle. PoD Massing at Osgialith is a good one to test on if it passed the ones you mentioned, so is Stewards Fear. If you think it can handle battle or siege I'll do the 3 scenarios from HoN, or I'll throw some of the big challenges at it, Shadow and Flame, Battle of Laketown, Morgul Vale. The first 2 might be a really big challenge for your deck, but Morgul vale, might be doable with your low starting threat. The new VoI scenarios, and first 2 from the current cycle seem to require a certain type of deck, so I would not look to them for a good testing ground, they are definitely not kind to secrecy and an army of allies.

I'm starting to test more decks on Nightmare mode. So, if you have them you can play Anduin , 7th Level, Into Pit. CatC Just about all of them can be a pretty good testing ground for your deck if you feel like you stomped normal mode.