Total Cards: (50)

Hero: (3)

1x Aragorn (The Watcher in the Water)

1x Sam Gamgee (The Black Riders)

1x Glorfindel (Foundations of Stone)

Ally: (21)

2x Arwen Undomiel (The Watcher in the Water)

2x Bill the Pony (The Black Riders)

3x Gandalf (Core Set)

3x Master of the Forge (Shadow and Flame)

2x Henamarth Riversong (Core Set)

2x Gleowine (Core Set)

2x Warden of Healing (The Long Dark)

2x Dori (Over Hill and Under Hill)

3x Ethir Swordsman (The Steward's Fear)

Attachment: (20)

2x A Burning Brand (Conflict at the Carrock)

2x Unexpected Courage (Core Set)

3x Light of Valinor (Foundations of Stone)

2x Asfaloth (Foundations of Stone)

3x Sword that was Broken (The Watcher in the Water)

3x Steward of Gondor (Core Set)

3x Blood of Numenor (Heirs of Numenor)

2x Celebrian's Stone (Core Set)

Event: (9)

3x A Test of Will (Core Set)

3x Sneak Attack (Core Set)

3x Daeron's Runes (Foundations of Stone)

Very nice deck; Lore Aragorn is always amazing. I guess it could also be good against nightmare quests.

I really hit a wall in the Morgul Vale while running this deck. I've been able to consistently get Aragorn stacked with attachments, but even when this happened I got overwhelmed by enemies (some with 8 Attack) or utterly destroyed by The Master's Malice. I'm not sure if there is a way to tweak this particular lineup to get through the quest, or if I should just put together a mono-sphere tactics deck for quests like this (and Shadow and Flame).

I used to play a very similar deck. As you say, the main issue was the lacking of attack. Saruman helped me a lot with that. I also played Elrond's counsel to counter it's doomed.

For me it was one of the most versatile decks I played, with it I was able to won The Battle of Lake-Town in solo twice in a row.

You could also consider Quickbeam, Treebeard and/or other Ent allies. They really help increasing your attack power.

You could also consider Quickbeam, Treebeard and/or other Ent allies. They really help increasing your attack power.

That sounds like a great idea! Unfortunately, I'll have to wait to catch up on the sets that contain those allies (I own every set up till Morgul Vale and only recently got back into the game). Did you beat Morgul Vale with this deck? That quest has been a huge thorn in my side lately!

Sadly I can't remember that. I played almost every mission with that deck, so I probably played Morgul vale too, but I can't be sure now. Anyway, I think you can beat it with that deck, maybe you'll have to do some tweaks to adapt it to the mission, and keep always your tests of will in hand to counter master's malice.

I think also that specially for this mission you need a very strong defender (maybe aragorn with some dunedain warnings?), or at least more chumpblockers than normal.

Sadly I can't remember that. I played almost every mission with that deck, so I probably played Morgul vale too, but I can't be sure now. Anyway, I think you can beat it with that deck, maybe you'll have to do some tweaks to adapt it to the mission, and keep always your tests of will in hand to counter master's malice.

I think also that specially for this mission you need a very strong defender (maybe aragorn with some dunedain warnings?), or at least more chumpblockers than normal.

At least have you ever reached the third stage ?

I think I reached the third stage once or twice, but by then the number of enemies I was engaged with was out of control. One of my biggest problems with this deck has been getting overwhelmed and not having enough defenders/attackers. I've been able to consistently get Steward, Blood of Numenor, Burning Brand, and 2x Unexpected Courage on Aragorn, but even then he can only block so many attacks. And then there is the problem of actually killing enemies, especially the **** Bodyguards.

I like your suggestion of more chump blockers, so I am going to try replacing the Ethir Swordsmen with Snowbourne Scouts and get rid of Dori for one more copy each of Warden of Healing and Bill the Pony. In many ways, Bill is the perfect chump blocker: he is free, has two hit points, and can quest or defend if necessary. I'm also going to try and make sure I can kill the first boss the very first time he attacks. Another thorn in my side has been the shadow card that returns enemies to the staging area showing up when I try to strike early. I'll get Gandalf out and be ready to finish him off, then the Orc boss will attack, return to the staging area, and have his ability trigger a Bodyguard into play.

Thanks again for the suggestions!

Victory! After a few losses (including one where I had the board owned going into the third stage and drew a Master's Malice; had the resources to pay for a Test of Will but didn't have it in hand, then found out it was the next card on top of my deck) and a bit of luck, I was able to grab Faramir (with 8 progress on To The Tower) and get the hell out of dodge.

Thanks again for your input! I'm looking forward to taking this deck through the Mirkwood cycle next...

I think OHUH Gandalf would be a great change since you have Lore Aragorn. He offers more action advantage and has unbeatable stats. Then maybe replace Sneak Attack with Word of Command. Forest Snare could work too, though not on the Nazgul, but it could give you more guys to focus on the Nazgul with.

Gandalf and Forest Snare are expensive though and I'm not really sure how well you can handle them resource-wise.

I think OHUH Gandalf would be a great change since you have Lore Aragorn. He offers more action advantage and has unbeatable stats. Then maybe replace Sneak Attack with Word of Command. Forest Snare could work too, though not on the Nazgul, but it could give you more guys to focus on the Nazgul with.

Gandalf and Forest Snare are expensive though and I'm not really sure how well you can handle them resource-wise.

That is a great suggestion, and I've been toying with the idea myself. I was convinced that Core Gandalf would be essential to winning because I could use him to "bomb" enemies or reduce my threat to stay below engagement until I was ready. It turns out that the time I won, I didn't get him until I had nearly gone through my entire deck. I used him to speed up killing the Nazgul, but by that point the victory was in the bag.

I think I will try out OHUH Gandalf when I run the Mirkwood cycle; I like the idea of having another permanent ally with amazing stats. And like you said, I can replace the Sneak Attacks with quest-specific cards, or even Elrond's Counsel (these were crucial to winning Morgul Vale but I replaced Sword That Was Broken instead). With Steward, he is definitely affordable and as you pointed out, Aragorn takes care of the threat increase and, where low threat is especially key, Elrond's Counsel is a good sub for the slots left by Sneak Attack. The more I think about it, the more I like the idea of having space for tweaking according to quest.