Description

This a deck designed to work as a self-sufficient combat deck for multiplayer games, handling both the defense and attacking parts of combat. It is able to do well both in 2P and 3-4P games, but for the former you should prefer combat-heavy quests
It tends to work better when there are many small to medium-sized enemies (up to 4-5 attack and 7-8 total hp/defense) and a few bigger ones, rather than when there are only a few very big enemies or a single huge "boss"-like enemy.
Anyway, most of the quests play to its strengths, so I think it's safe to say in most cases this deck works well; just don't try it out against something like the Battle of Lake Town.
Another thing you have to take into account is how punishing Shadow cards are in the scenario you're going to play, since this deck relies on Boromir to defend and has only a few allies that could act as chump blockers [more about this in the "Strategy" section].


NM Quests I have played with it so far:

Blood of Gondor NM (2P)
Assault on Osgiliath NM (3P)
Over the Misty Mountains Grim (3P)

Aside from the fact that BoG NM is very difficult, so it took some tries before we managed win, this deck performed very well in all of them, being able to kill many enemies right the start and never really risking threating out.




Where did the idea come from?


I came up with this while trying to build a Dunedain-allies focused deck with Halbarad. I then realised that by leaving Halbarad out and replacing him with his Chieftain, I could have a good combat deck, since Aragorn (T) provides Boromir exactly with what he needs to be effective in multiplayer, that is additional engagements, but he does so also adding a significant boost to attacking power (both considering his 3 attack strength and -1 def ability).
Sorry Dunedain allies, I'll build around you another time.






Decklist


Heroes

Aragorn (Tactics)
Boromir (Tactics)
Bifur

Starting Threat: 30



Alllies (16)

3x Vassal of the Windlord
2x Dunedain Hunter
2x *Quickbeam
3x Master of the Forge
3x Erebor Hammersmith
3x Gandalf



Attachments (21)

3x Gondorian Shield
3x Rohan Warhorse
3x *Captain of Gondor
1x Dagger of Westernesse
3x Secret Vigil
3x *Horn of Gondor
2x Born Aloft



Events (12)

3x Feint
3x Noiseless Movement
3x Peace, and Thought
3x Daeron's Runes



Side Quests (1)

1x Gather Information






Strategy

This deck relies upon a liberal use of Bormir's readying ability in conjunction with Aragorn to engage and kill multiple enemies in a single combat phase.
Since you will be raising by 4-5 threat each round, there are many cards included to counteract threat gain and prevent you from being eliminated due to reaching 50 threat.
In the early game (R1-3) you'll try to play a few very important attachments and some allies to help you killing the bigger enemies, whereas later in the game you'll just try to play as much threat reduction as possible.
The pillars upon which the combat prowess of this deck is built are two attachments: the Rohan Warhorse and the Gondorian Shield. The latter is what makes Boromir able to withstand multiple attacks even from strong enemies, so it's needed to cover the defensive phase of the game.
The former is required to be able to put Aragorn's attack to use multiple times and, more importantly, to be able to engage additional enemies.
You want both of this attachments in play ASAP, and this is the main reason why this deck boasts very good card draw; Master of the Forge in particular is a key card.
Of the two attachments, the more important one is the Gondorian Shield, since even without the Warhorse you should be able to kill 2 enemies each round whereas without the Shield Boromir will not be able to defend properly. Captain of Gondor is a backup option and can boost Boromir's defense up to 5 as soon as you get the Shield, but you shouldn't hesitate to keep a starting hand containing the Gondorian Shield, unless it has no card draw at all in it.
For the threat reduction part, the Erebor Hammersmith is mainly there to recycle Secret Vigil, but can also help with combat.
Born Aloft and the Horn of Gondor are both there to, respectively, being able to benefit again from Gandalf's reduction and to help paying for that very expensive ally.
Healing Herbs are there to heal Boromir, thus partially making up for weakness of this deck, that is Shadow Control.
This can be a serious issue in some quests; Noiseless Movement basically works as a Feint if there is at least another enemy you can engage and kill, so there are 6 cards that prevent enemies from attacking plus 6 allies that could easily act as chump blockers, thus sparing Boromir the risk of blocking enemies with very high attack values that could outright kill him with a boost from a shadow card.
However for some Quests this is not enough, so you might prefer playing this deck if someone in your team is playing Spirit (Hasty Stroke) or Balin.
Finally, you might encounter some trouble in quests that feature many effects that raise threat, so it might be safer to have someone in the team being able to play something like Galadhrim's Greeting.



So, to sum it up, the ideal opening looks like a T1 in which you are able to play Rohan Warhorse, Gondorian Shield and Peace, and Thought. This is likely to give you enough strength to kill at least 3 enemies each round from round 2 on and to still be left with enough cards to keep your threat far from the elimination mark.




Mulligan conditions:

Gondorian Shield, some card draw.


Priority when playing cards:

Gondorian Shield, Rohan Warhorse, Master of the Forge, Captain of Gondor.


Strategic Goal:

Being able to defend 1-2 enemies and kill 2-3 each round from round 2-3 on.


Weaknesses:

Shadow control. Quests with many threat-raising effects.


Teams well with:

Spirit decks (Arwen, Hasty Stroke, Galadhrim's Greeting, Galadriel hero). Leadership decks with Balin hero.







If you have any questions, just ask.

Yes, embrace Boromir!

Nice deck Eu8L1ch

Thanks! :-)

Yeah, I actually like Boromir quite a lot!