Those kinds of challenges are the best. I personally add in that the score is an average over 5 games (it used to be 10 but that takes to long). That way I have to perform consistently instead of just getting lucky. One of the hardest and most fun is to beat Redhorn Gate with mono red using tactics Theoden. Another brutal challenge is defeating the Balrog on Journey in the dark, but then resurrecting your hero. That is a tough one.

Just tried a similar challenge with the Morgul Vale.

Same Heroes (Aragorn, Mirlonde, Bifur)

Same draw/resource cards

This time, my special cards were 3x Galadhon Archer, 1x Descendant of Thorondor, 3x Pursuing the Enemy. I dropped the threat reduction because it made the deck almost impossible to draw.

Resource/Planning:

1. Draw deck

2. Sneak Gandalf and play down 3x Archers to kill Murzag

3. Play Descendant, deal 2 damage to Alcaron

Quest:

1. Quest Bifur with Lay of Nimrodel

2. Sneak Gandalf, kill off Alcaron

Encounter:

1. Engage Nazgul

2. Defend with Descendant

3. Attack, dealing 1 damage

4. Pick up Archers with Pursuing the Enemy, dealing 3 damage

Refresh

1. Reset threat

2. Sneak Gandalf, kill Nazgul

Final score: 24

Still had a few resources left afterward, so I feel like I could have included a Greeting or two. Also, I feel like there is a more creative way of doing this, as it seems like a perfect quest for 1-turn completion because no quest progress is required.

Those kinds of challenges are the best. I personally add in that the score is an average over 5 games (it used to be 10 but that takes to long). That way I have to perform consistently instead of just getting lucky. One of the hardest and most fun is to beat Redhorn Gate with mono red using tactics Theoden. Another brutal challenge is defeating the Balrog on Journey in the dark, but then resurrecting your hero. That is a tough one.

Mono red as in all tactics allies/attachments/events as well? That's rough.

I tried another challenge which was to pick what I considered to be the worst combination of three heroes, and build a deck with no allies and try to beat Passage through Mirkwood (normal). I lost horribly.

Losing at mirkwood is quite an accomplishment. I think my favorite performance on that kind of challenge was building a deck for NM dead marshes where I played it ten times in a row and beat it on turn 3 every game. I think that is one of the easiest quests in the game (even in NM), but still fun. I did something similar for long dark and foundation of stone. I'd be impressed if you could do better than turn 3. I would just think it is impossible, but perhaps I didn't try hard enough. I am also convinced you can do better on Morgul Vale, but I have no suggestions so far. The trick I used was to put the big spider or body guard in a trap and use infighting to instantly kill acron then using ranger bows and ready effects to kill nazgul super fast, but your deck seems to have done better so I'm not sure.

On one of the episodes of Grey Company Podcast, Dan challenged someone to build a single-hero Galadriel deck that could succeed at any quest. Can it be done, Seastan?

Losing at mirkwood is quite an accomplishment. I think my favorite performance on that kind of challenge was building a deck for NM dead marshes where I played it ten times in a row and beat it on turn 3 every game. I think that is one of the easiest quests in the game (even in NM), but still fun. I did something similar for long dark and foundation of stone. I'd be impressed if you could do better than turn 3. I would just think it is impossible, but perhaps I didn't try hard enough. I am also convinced you can do better on Morgul Vale, but I have no suggestions so far. The trick I used was to put the big spider or body guard in a trap and use infighting to instantly kill acronym then using ranger bows and ready effects to kill nazgul super fast, but your deck seems to have done better so I'm not sure.

Just looking at the dead marshes, it seems eligible for a turn one defeat if one the two encounter cards you see on the first turn is an enemy, opening itself up to an attack from 3x blades of Gondolin to clear the second stage. I'll have to give it a shot.

On one of the episodes of Grey Company Podcast, Dan challenged someone to build a single-hero Galadriel deck that could succeed at any quest. Can it be done, Seastan?

Great idea! I like challenges of this style... challenging hero choices. Hmm... does easy mode count? Probably not...

On one of the episodes of Grey Company Podcast, Dan challenged someone to build a single-hero Galadriel deck that could succeed at any quest. Can it be done, Seastan?

This is definitely not optimized, but I beat The Dead Marshes with it on my first attempt. Galadriel works really well for this quest because the allies get to quest and do the escape test on the round they enter play.

Total Cards: 50

Nicely, done. We just played The Dead Marshes with draft decks last night. We narrowly lost, but I actually was running a Galadriel deck. Unfortunately, my deck was a bit less fine-tuned than what you have here.

Losing at mirkwood is quite an accomplishment. I think my favorite performance on that kind of challenge was building a deck for NM dead marshes where I played it ten times in a row and beat it on turn 3 every game. I think that is one of the easiest quests in the game (even in NM), but still fun. I did something similar for long dark and foundation of stone. I'd be impressed if you could do better than turn 3. I would just think it is impossible, but perhaps I didn't try hard enough. I am also convinced you can do better on Morgul Vale, but I have no suggestions so far. The trick I used was to put the big spider or body guard in a trap and use infighting to instantly kill acron then using ranger bows and ready effects to kill nazgul super fast, but your deck seems to have done better so I'm not sure.

Gave a go at Dead Marshes. Same sort of deck - a bunch of doomed, draw, songs, sneak attack Gandalf, etc. Then quest through the first stage using lay of Nimrodel. In the refresh phase, I reset threat and play Ravens of the Mountain to complete stage 2 (I had some Cram and scrolls of Isildur to recycle them if necessary). It's actually quite consistent.

As for losing at PtM... I extend my challenge to anyone out there. Worst 3 hero combination and no allies.

Nicely, done. We just played The Dead Marshes with draft decks last night. We narrowly lost, but I actually was running a Galadriel deck. Unfortunately, my deck was a bit less fine-tuned that what you have here.

How do you make drafting work for this game? Do you shuffle up your entire collection and pass it around, taking a few cards at a time?

Nicely, done. We just played The Dead Marshes with draft decks last night. We narrowly lost, but I actually was running a Galadriel deck. Unfortunately, my deck was a bit less fine-tuned that what you have here.

How do you make drafting work for this game? Do you shuffle up your entire collection and pass it around, taking a few cards at a time?

https://hallofbeorn.wordpress.com/2015/05/29/gencon-2015-bear-draft/

In NM dead marshes you cannot lower threat. I believe that prohibits lore aragorn's reset ability.

As for losing at PtM... I extend my challenge to anyone out there. Worst 3 hero combination and no allies.

What heroes did you use for your "3 worst"? Was Spirit Pippin one of them?

In NM dead marshes you cannot lower threat. I believe that prohibits lore aragorn's reset ability.

Yes I see now that you mentioned NM. I was just playing normal mode. But other than the threat reduction, I think the NM mode makes this even easier to pull off, as my first two attempts were foiled by the East Bight, which seems to get removed in NM mode.

As for losing at PtM... I extend my challenge to anyone out there. Worst 3 hero combination and no allies.

What heroes did you use for your "3 worst"? Was Spirit Pippin one of them?

Of course! About once every 3 months or so I get the urge to try to make Spirit Pippin work in a deck somehow. Then every time I start I remember his ability is dependent on all your heroes being hobbits, scrapping my idea of a Pippin/Dunhere combo. Really just a terrible ability.

I think the other heroes I used were Brand and Oin. Maybe not considered the worst by everyone, but I know I've never used them. The great thing about the deck is that certain treacheries, like "The Nine are Abroad", have no effect!

Oin is good

Oin is good

I haven't yet been convinced of this. In general I don't like the dwarf heroes that take until turn 2 or 3 to even have an ability, as the first turns are the most crucial. In the case of Oin, for an ability that amounts to essentially a song card, I just don't get it. I am open to being convinced by a good deck though.

Besides, the deck had no allies in it so that was also a consideration when I was choosing heroes.

I like Oin, and he can definitely work in a decent deck, but that decent deck would need to have a load of Dwarves in to ensure his ability came into effect, so in a deck with no allies he's obviously a terrible option.

I also like Brand, personally, but obviously he really doesn't work in solo.

Color fixing is always good. There are a lot of good dwarves in red.

Anyway, if you choose Nori and Ori for your heroes in a deck without allies they would also suck so I'm not sure what the point is. Why not just use Eleanor but never use her ability or something?

Personally I would try a team like spirit Pippen, Fatty, and Bilbo, a team that actually has synergy, but without allies would suck. Not sure if it would be bad enough to lose Mirkwood, but it would lose the vast majority of quests.

Color fixing is always good. There are a lot of good dwarves in red.

Anyway, if you choose Nori and Ori for your heroes in a deck without allies they would also suck so I'm not sure what the point is. Why not just use Eleanor but never use her ability or something?

Personally I would try a team like spirit Pippen, Fatty, and Bilbo, a team that actually has synergy, but without allies would suck. Not sure if it would be bad enough to lose Mirkwood, but it would lose the vast majority of quests.

Well, Nori and Ori are heroes that I think can be quite good. Sure, not in a deck without allies, but he didn't fit my idea of what I considered some of the worst heroes, as I use them a lot. This challenge was more to force me to use heroes that I don't normally use. There are other heroes that I don't use, but in this case the no ally rule made Oin one of the worst.

My point is that you should expect a hero to be bad if you don't use the ability and what is the point of forcing yourself to use a hero you don't normally use if you aren't really even using it? A truly bad hero is one that you actually use fully, and yet it is still bad. I have built decks with Oin where his ability made a big difference and he was good. I doubt I could do the same with spirit Pippen or Fatty.

My point is that you should expect a hero to be bad if you don't use the ability and what is the point of forcing yourself to use a hero you don't normally use if you aren't really even using it? A truly bad hero is one that you actually use fully, and yet it is still bad. I have built decks with Oin where his ability made a big difference and he was good. I doubt I could do the same with spirit Pippen or Fatty.

That's a good point - I didn't use him to his full potential. However, I did make use of his sphere, trait, and stats. Often times that can be what makes the hero good. For example, I have used Fatty in decks before and never actually used his ability, but rather just as a low cost spirit hobbit in addition to Frodo. You should give a Gandalf/Fatty/Frodo pipe deck a try. It's pretty strong. Galadriel/Fatty/Frodo pipe deck is a great mono spirit option that solves spirit's main drawback of weak card draw. Sure, once spirit Merry comes out he may permanently replace Fatty in my decks, but in the meantime he's not a bad substitute.

As a new player who until recently has been only playing with only a core set, the idea of completing Passage Through Mirkwood in one round blows my mind. Drawing your entire deck in one go - brilliant! To think that when I got The Hunt for Gollum this week I was chuffed with Bilbo's +1 card draw ability! I doff my hat to you, Seastan.

As a new player who until recently has been only playing with only a core set, the idea of completing Passage Through Mirkwood in one round blows my mind. Drawing your entire deck in one go - brilliant! To think that when I got The Hunt for Gollum this week I was chuffed with Bilbo's +1 card draw ability! I doff my hat to you, Seastan.

Thanks, but I can't take credit for it! A while back people were coming up with these decks and continuously recycling their discard pile with will of the west and gaining an unlimited number of resources and threat reduction. The errata on will of the west put a stop to that, but the trick of drawing up your whole deck one time is still around. The problem is you can only put in a few non-draw, non-resource cards in the deck before it loses momentum. But for 1-turn victories, that's all that's needed.

I look forward to the day I have a large enough card pool to try it out for myself!