Its a nice deck - I built it last night to have a go against Treason of Saruman. Took down Helm's deep pretty easily, and then followed up with The Road To Isengard. My first round was ridiculous - had an Elrond's Council in Hand, and Mirror of Galadriel. Played the mirror, then during the quest phase played the council on Boromir, then mirrore'd pulling another copy - also on Boromir. This took my threat to 19, and Boromir's willpower to 3. I I then used Boromir's readying action to let me repeatedly trigger the Ent's quest actions, ending on 31 threat, and having pulled all four Ents from the staging area in the first round. After that the game went pretty smoothly.

Its a nice deck - I built it last night to have a go against Treason of Saruman. Took down Helm's deep pretty easily, and then followed up with The Road To Isengard. My first round was ridiculous - had an Elrond's Council in Hand, and Mirror of Galadriel. Played the mirror, then during the quest phase played the council on Boromir, then mirrore'd pulling another copy - also on Boromir. This took my threat to 19, and Boromir's willpower to 3. I I then used Boromir's readying action to let me repeatedly trigger the Ent's quest actions, ending on 31 threat, and having pulled all four Ents from the staging area in the first round. After that the game went pretty smoothly.

Haha brilliant! I haven't tried the deck against many of the newer quests but this one sounds like fun.

Just a thing CaffeineAddict, you can't play mirror of Galadriel the first turn because the quest says your heroes can't gain resources

Players cannot draw cards or gain resources. Do not commit to the quest or reveal encounter cards during the quest phase.

Anyways... you could do this for sure, because this quest is full of treacheries with 0 threat, but you probably would have needed to discard some more cards. Again... that ability on Boromir seems a little overpowered for some quest effects (like in Assault on Osgiliath, in which it allows you to win in the first round if you choose an Ancient Harbor as the first location).

Just a thing CaffeineAddict, you can't play mirror of Galadriel the first turn because the quest says your heroes can't gain resources

Players cannot draw cards or gain resources. Do not commit to the quest or reveal encounter cards during the quest phase.

Anyways... you could do this for sure, because this quest is full of treacheries with 0 threat, but you probably would have needed to discard some more cards. Again... that ability on Boromir seems a little overpowered for some quest effects (like in Assault on Osgiliath, in which it allows you to win in the first round if you choose an Ancient Harbor as the first location).

Hmm...good point, had totally missed that on the quest. Still, 2 willpower would have been sufficient for most of the discarded cards, so it may just have taken a few more activations and slightly higher threat...but I don't think that would have substantially altered the rest of the game.

Just a thing CaffeineAddict, you can't play mirror of Galadriel the first turn because the quest says your heroes can't gain resources

Players cannot draw cards or gain resources. Do not commit to the quest or reveal encounter cards during the quest phase.

Anyways... you could do this for sure, because this quest is full of treacheries with 0 threat, but you probably would have needed to discard some more cards. Again... that ability on Boromir seems a little overpowered for some quest effects (like in Assault on Osgiliath, in which it allows you to win in the first round if you choose an Ancient Harbor as the first location).

Hmm...good point, had totally missed that on the quest. Still, 2 willpower would have been sufficient for most of the discarded cards, so it may just have taken a few more activations and slightly higher threat...but I don't think that would have substantially altered the rest of the game.

Yeah I suppose if you did gain resources a better way of doing it would just be to mulligan for Nenya, and get Boromir up to 5 willpower.

I tried using a deck concept similar. For background, I don't move on to other quests until I've defeated the current one in the cycle. I'm stuck on The Steward's Fear. I have sooooo much threat building up in the staging area and not enough willpower to cut through it. Enemies are easy to pull from the staging area with Boromir + BOG + GS + HON + SOG and kill in 1 turn, but those **** locations! Asfaloth on Spirfindel has been a good mitigation, but I still am having trouble with the willpower shortage.

I tried using a deck concept similar. For background, I don't move on to other quests until I've defeated the current one in the cycle. I'm stuck on The Steward's Fear. I have sooooo much threat building up in the staging area and not enough willpower to cut through it. Enemies are easy to pull from the staging area with Boromir + BOG + GS + HON + SOG and kill in 1 turn, but those **** locations! Asfaloth on Spirfindel has been a good mitigation, but I still am having trouble with the willpower shortage.

Are you doing nightmare or standard? Between Nenya, 3x Handmaidens, Bofur, Arwen, and the occasional Gandalf there should be enough willpower. For this quest I try to get Asfaloth early and use it to clear staging area locations so that I don't place progress on the quest. Then once I've built up a string of questing allies I push through the last stages as quickly as possible.

Standard. But my only willpower came from Nenya, 3x handmaidens and Arwen. I pulled some threat reduction since I was finishing quests at 17-22, so I figured I had too much threat reduction (odd thought, but true). I put in Silvan refugees and have beaten that scenario since.

Steward's Fear just really threw me for a loop. The villains are weaksauce with Boromir loaded up, but solo the extra card per quest phase (leading to location stacking up on me) and all the surging or the card mill plot are killer.

I HATED this quest until I beat it. Now I see why everyone likes it so much.

Steward fear Nightmare is crazy difficult solo! I cannot stand more then 3 round.….

Nightmare Shadow and Flame doesn't seem like the biggest problem, any deck with Galadriel makes that a joke. Nightmare Steward's Fear is another I'd like to hear a rundown for, if you have the time Seastan. I'll admit I'm having a hard time seeing Battle of Laketown, Nightmare Druadan Forest, Nightmare Return to Mirkwood...

Steward's Fear wasn't so hard, but I realize now that the plot I got on my attempt was assassination, which is probably the easiest one. I replayed it 2 more times and lost against the +1 encounter per turn plot and won against the +2 threat per turn plot. I think after the failure I realized the strategy is to take it slow in stage 1 and use Asfaloth to clear staging area locations, then only advance once you've built up a lot of questing and a couple almost-complete locations and can complete the last 2 stages quickly. The quest is long, and for long quests I like to use the WotW in the sideboard and drop 1 BoN, so I can recycle my threat reduction. I can post a more detailed turn-by-turn later if you like.

I just tried Lake-town again and won the first attempt with a score of 95. I had 2 shields, steward, and BoN on Boromir by turn 2, and then just put Smaug engaged with me every turn. I ended with a threat of 36, so this kind of good start isn't necessary and you can take a couple qukest losses early on until you set up.

I tried this deck against nightmare Stewards Fear yesterday, and after 7 attempts, didn't manage a single win - close a couple of times, but no win. Even with Asfaloth, it was too easy to lose to location lock. About halfway through my attempts, I swapped some cards out for UC to maximise Galadriel, which helped, but not enough.

I'd be interested to know how you defeated it. Perhaps there's a trick I'm missing?

I've beaten this twice, one with the assassination plot (very easy) and one with the +2 threat/turn plot. I will see if I can upload a video. Steward's fear is one of the best challenges for this deck because it is difficult, but when you win it does not feel like luck (like Dol Guldur NM).

To be fair, anytime I beat Nightmare Steward's Fear it feels like luck, because I didn't get Unholy Alliance! Lol.

I think that nightmare decks need, most of the time, specifically tailored built decks to play them solo (maybe multiplayer, also).

Took 3 attempts for a win today. Got Rise to Power (+2 staging threat/turn) plot and Daughter Villian. Only changes from the original decklist are -1 BoG, -1 Arwen, +1 UC, +1 WotW. Let me know if I made a significant mistake. The other attempts were all close, so I feel like this quest is challenging but not impossible. However, I haven't beaten Unholy Alliance yet so I feel like there is still some challenge left.

My strategy is to get out Asfaloth quickly and stay in stage 1 as long as possible. Don't be afraid to use A Good Harvest to get out Asfaloth instead of Steward. Keep an eye out for Local Trouble because that's a game-ender. Also be careful about putting down allies because there is some pretty serious ally hate. Once in stage 2 then it's a mad rush for the rest of the game, unless you turned up Assassination in which case you've won. It's a long quest regardless, so WotW is there to recycle you deck and also to save you from Up in Flames.

I think that nightmare decks need, most of the time, specifically tailored built decks to play them solo (maybe multiplayer, also).

What is your opinion of this deck then?

Hmmm you was very very lucky in the begin. Then you was lycky with a Local trouble. If you get it you lost. Once you counter it but then you have no Test of will so you game was really on the edge. Still very impresive!

I think I get a rule wrong ehen I make a underworld d eck. I put only enemies there so I really always overrun by them I begin.

Cool video, from a cool payer. Thank you sir!

What about Blood of Gondor nightmare?

The Underworld deck should be enemies and clues only.

"When setting up “The Steward’s Fear,” remove all the enemy cards from the Streets of Gondor and Brigands encounter sets, along with the 3 Clue objective cards found in The Steward’s Fear encounter set, and shuffle them into a separate deck. This is the “Underworld” deck and it should be set apart from the encounter deck."

Oh and False Accusations in the nightmare version.

Took 3 attempts for a win today. Got Rise to Power (+2 staging threat/turn) plot and Daughter Villian. Only changes from the original decklist are -1 BoG, -1 Arwen, +1 UC, +1 WotW. Let me know if I made a significant mistake. The other attempts were all close, so I feel like this quest is challenging but not impossible. However, I haven't beaten Unholy Alliance yet so I feel like there is still some challenge left.

My strategy is to get out Asfaloth quickly and stay in stage 1 as long as possible. Don't be afraid to use A Good Harvest to get out Asfaloth instead of Steward. Keep an eye out for Local Trouble because that's a game-ender. Also be careful about putting down allies because there is some pretty serious ally hate. Once in stage 2 then it's a mad rush for the rest of the game, unless you turned up Assassination in which case you've won. It's a long quest regardless, so WotW is there to recycle you deck and also to save you from Up in Flames.

I think that nightmare decks need, most of the time, specifically tailored built decks to play them solo (maybe multiplayer, also).

What is your opinion of this deck then?

I don,t have all the cards, but it seems like a mighty find deck for me! I'll try to run it with changes according to my cards pool.

Hmmm you was very very lucky in the begin. Then you was lycky with a Local trouble. If you get it you lost. Once you counter it but then you have no Test of will so you game was really on the edge. Still very impresive!

I think I get a rule wrong ehen I make a underworld d eck. I put only enemies there so I really always overrun by them I begin.

Cool video, from a cool payer. Thank you sir!

What about Blood of Gondor nightmare?

Well, there are two copies of a Local Trouble in the encounter deck. I normally use the Mirror to grab a Test of Will if I make it past the first few rounds because I don't want to lose. So on turn 6 (10:25 in the video) I grab a Test of Will. Then the first copy of Local Trouble shows up at 14:25 and I cancel it. The second copy shows up the same turn at 15:40 as a shadow card. Now, I have a Dwarven Tomb in hand so next turn I could have gotten back a Test of Will, but I don't, since both copies of Local Trouble are gone. There are certainly lucky elements of this attempt but I don't think this is one of them. Local Trouble was carefully planned around. But thank you for the compliment

Have you made many attempts against Blood of Gondor? I think this is one of the easier NM quest for this deck so maybe we are playing differently. When turning up hidden cards you only keep them around if they are enemies correct? Then I have Boromir defend and Boromir+Glorfindel+Faramir kill. I mulligan for shield of Gondor so Boromir can quest for 4 right away. Once you get BoG and Steward on Boromir you win. Maybe you have been trying to complete the Cross-roads?

I never play this deck. I play other deck and as I say Nightmare ATS cycle is really difficult.

But your deck a really cool! Boromir with those attachments just a kiling mashina. Sounds like a,bit overpowered but is often happen in this game…. Maybe we will see some errata on some cards here…. Like Protector of Lorien got some changes

I used to play a very similar deck. In my case I used Eowyn and Theodred in addition to Boromir.

Theodred helps boosting Blood of numenor and Gondorian fire, and if I need it, I can place the resource on Eowyn or himself to pay for an expensive card. Anyways, threat was a little hard to manage because I only had the 3 copies of Galadhrim's greeting. I think I should try with Galadriel.

Shadow and fame Nightmare should br a problem since there is one card in Balrog deck: Discard all attachments and cannot be cancelled. Still can keep another copy in hand and wait. Anyway u would like to see how is work against DAF nmode

Shadow and fame Nightmare should br a problem since there is one card in Balrog deck: Discard all attachments and cannot be cancelled. Still can keep another copy in hand and wait. Anyway u would like to see how is work against DAF nmode

I think I brought this up earlier in the thread. I just use Galadriel and other threat reduction to stay at 0 for most of the quest.

Hmmm I dont think is just so easy couse there is some doom cards and Balrog still can attack. Anyway up to you… ..

Balrog doesn't attack you if you are at 0 threat. Against dommed cards... just keep elrond's counsel in hand.

I got an unusually great starting hand, but also had a tough beginning to the quest with a turn 1 orc drummer then a turn 2 great cave-troll. Not sure how many decks could survive that, with luck or without.

I think Galadriel or Nori decks are the way to go for this quest. Either that or a Hama feint deck. But if someone actually has a deck that can take a hit from Durin's Bane each turn I'd be very intrigued.