I was able to easily beat this quest with this deck:

Gandalf

Galadriel

Elrond

Allies:

x1 Skinbark

x1 Landroval

x3 bilbo baggins

x1 envoy of pelargir

x1 beorn

x1 galadriel's handmaiden

x1 Erestor

x1 Legolas

x1 Gildor inglorian

x1 Faramir

x1 Treebeard

x1 Gimli

x1 Arwen

x1 Bofur

x1 Haldir

x1 Orophin

x1 master of the forge

x1 Gwahir

x1 Rumiel

x3 northern tracker

x1 Radagast

Attachments:

x3 lembas

x3 vilya

x3 unexpected courage

x1 Wizard pipe

x1 Shadowfax

x1 Light of valinor

x1 Nenya

x1 Gandalfs staff

x1 Protector of Lorien

Events:

x3 elronds council

x3 test of will

x2 flame of anor

x2 Galadrim's Greeting

The deck was not made with this quest in mind, it was inspired by Master of Lore's "Wielder's of the Three" deck, obviously with lots of modifications. The deck wasn't built with Carn Dum in mind, so it could probably be optimized to be even more efficient against it. The deck can be tricky to play as there are many decisions to make, but the goal is mulligan for Vilya. With smart play of Gandalf and his pipe, you should be drawing through the majority of your deck before the game is over (his ability is once per phase, keep in mind, that's a huge mistake I see people make with him that makes him less effective. For example, you want to start the planning phase with say a test of will, or elrond's council on top of your deck. Playing them from the top of your deck is essentially drawing another card). If you haven't used his pipe yet, and you have a card you can play from your hand, put it on top of your deck and play it from there instead, as it's giving you another card draw. Gandalf requires a lot of manipulation to get the best use of him.

Another mistake is to not use his staff to cancel shadow cards, this is what I use it for 99% of the time.

Why no Imladris Stargazer?

I was able to easily beat this quest with this deck:

Gandalf

Galadriel

Elrond

Yep, this would fall under category 2 of my above list. It's a killer deck that can feel quite thematic. But some people don't like Vilya.

Why no Imladris Stargazer?

At first I did have 2 of them. After playtesting it a lot, I found it unnecessary. Gandalf lets you know what's on top of your deck anyway for using Vilya. And everytime I had her in my hand I was always wishing I had another big ally in my hand instead. When you can play anything for free, it feels better to have a 5 cost ally with tons of stats than a 2 cost with none. (Of course she's AMAZING in the right deck, I use her all the time, but in this deck she's not so useful). And once you have Vilya and the pipe, you almost feel like it doesn't matter what you draw next when every card in the deck is amazing.

I was able to easily beat this quest with this deck:

Gandalf

Galadriel

Elrond

Yep, this would fall under category 2 of my above list. It's a killer deck that can feel quite thematic. But some people don't like Vilya.

I'd love to see YOUR deck list. I'm sure it's insane.

* EDIT: Just saw the link. I'll check it out.

In terms of people not liking Vilya, this is the same problem I have when people say they don't like Glorfindel. These cards SHOULD BE powerful. Vilya is the most powerful ring in Tolkien's lore (besides the one ring of course). If it was a dud it would be awful in terms of keeping with the source material. I love how it radically changes the way you play and deck build. I love that it feels overpowered. Having very different deck building options is what makes this my favorite game. That's not to say I'd always play with it, I love weaker decks too, play hobbits more than anything, but Vilya and Glorfindel should be powerful otherwise the designers would have lost touch with what they're basing the game on.

Well, it's hard to have a concept like surge without the occasional bad streak. I just scoop and comfort myself by knowing that the probability of it was quite small. You can get 3-4 blocking wargs in a row on your first turn of Into Ithilien and I think the best way to deal with that is chuckle and try again. Though I'd be happy to see a rule like maximum X surges per round, where X is the number of players.

And here is where you are wrong IMO. I just lost 7 games in a row due to bad card draws. 4 times I revealed Daechanar's Will, I even managed to survive one time only to be killed three turns later. In one game I was almost set and done when three sorcery cards in a row destroyed my party during the second quest phase. 2 times I lost when Thaurdir got three sorcery cards while at least to 4+ ATt enemies where still sitting in the staging area. This scenario is supposed to give the players these bad streaks, and that's why it is poorly designed.

And that's why I decided to stop playing Carn Dum. Let's hope the next scenario is better.

I was able to easily beat this quest with this deck:

Gandalf

Galadriel

Elrond

Yep, this would fall under category 2 of my above list. It's a killer deck that can feel quite thematic. But some people don't like Vilya.

Or Gandalf.

I was able to easily beat this quest with this deck:

Gandalf

Galadriel

Elrond

Yep, this would fall under category 2 of my above list. It's a killer deck that can feel quite thematic. But some people don't like Vilya.

Or Gandalf.

I don't play Gandalf in multiplayer ever. I see why he is annoying in multiplayer not just for how long his turns can take, but also robbing tactics decks of much needed card draw and threat reduction. But he's a blast to play solo.

Btw, has anyone tried the new cards they promised would help you defeat this scenario?

Well, it's hard to have a concept like surge without the occasional bad streak. I just scoop and comfort myself by knowing that the probability of it was quite small. You can get 3-4 blocking wargs in a row on your first turn of Into Ithilien and I think the best way to deal with that is chuckle and try again. Though I'd be happy to see a rule like maximum X surges per round, where X is the number of players.

And here is where you are wrong IMO. I just lost 7 games in a row due to bad card draws. 4 times I revealed Daechanar's Will, I even managed to survive one time only to be killed three turns later. In one game I was almost set and done when three sorcery cards in a row destroyed my party during the second quest phase. 2 times I lost when Thaurdir got three sorcery cards while at least to 4+ ATt enemies where still sitting in the staging area. This scenario is supposed to give the players these bad streaks, and that's why it is poorly designed.

And that's why I decided to stop playing Carn Dum. Let's hope the next scenario is better.

Well, it wasn't my opinion. The odds of getting Daechanar's Will on turn one is around 1/25. The odds of getting two surging Sorceries into a third Sorcery is like 1/2700. Assuming solo play of course.

Well, it's hard to have a concept like surge without the occasional bad streak. I just scoop and comfort myself by knowing that the probability of it was quite small. You can get 3-4 blocking wargs in a row on your first turn of Into Ithilien and I think the best way to deal with that is chuckle and try again. Though I'd be happy to see a rule like maximum X surges per round, where X is the number of players.

And here is where you are wrong IMO. I just lost 7 games in a row due to bad card draws. 4 times I revealed Daechanar's Will, I even managed to survive one time only to be killed three turns later. In one game I was almost set and done when three sorcery cards in a row destroyed my party during the second quest phase. 2 times I lost when Thaurdir got three sorcery cards while at least to 4+ ATt enemies where still sitting in the staging area. This scenario is supposed to give the players these bad streaks, and that's why it is poorly designed.

And that's why I decided to stop playing Carn Dum. Let's hope the next scenario is better.

Well, it wasn't my opinion. The odds of getting Daechanar's Will on turn one is around 1/25. The odds of getting two surging Sorceries into a third Sorcery is like 1/2700. Assuming solo play of course.

The sorceries didn't surge, but I drew them turn by turn. I had Thaurdir at 9 damage, I had Faramir and StwB, just needed to make 15 progress - three turns later Thaurdir was down to zero damage, attacking me twice each turn, and I was left with only two heroes, three allies and a threat of 47.

It might just be my style, but perhaps I wait longer in stage 1 than you do. I never want to spend more than a single turn in stage 2.

I normally plan it this way:

• Advance to stage 2.
• Flip Thaurdir, defend the attack.
• Defend Thaurdir in combat phase.
• Put 12-15 damage on Thaurdir.
• Next turn, get 15 progress on quest, with a defender ready to take an attack from Thaurdir should a sorcery be revealed.

I generally won't advance until I'm very confident that I can do the above. It save a lot of headache in stage 2. It's kind of like the new Conflict at the Carrock.

Count me as one who actually enjoys Battle of Carn Dum. I haven't been this challenged (outside of Nightmare) since Nin-in-Eilph and I like having to carefully strategize and deck build. I had to drop my usual Boromir deck and actually won with a mono-Leadership Aragorn/Balin/Imrahil deck. It was a surprise to me to win with a tweaked version of an old deck I used to use and to beat such a hard quest with a different type of build. I'm really looking forward to trying out other decks. I am a glutton for punishment though! I personally like quests that can actually hit you even when you think you have it under control, so that you can never rest easy, which can be kind of boring.

So much of the experience of this game is subjective, but when an easy quest comes out, many start worrying that the game is getting too easy, and then when a quest like this come out, many start worrying that the game is getting too hard. I wouldn't worry either way, the design strategy of the game seems to be to provide a mix of difficulties throughout each cycle, so some you'll like, some you won't as much, but it'll average out.

It might just be my style, but perhaps I wait longer in stage 1 than you do. I never want to spend more than a single turn in stage 2.

I normally plan it this way:

• Advance to stage 2.
• Flip Thaurdir, defend the attack.
• Defend Thaurdir in combat phase.
• Put 12-15 damage on Thaurdir.
• Next turn, get 15 progress on quest, with a defender ready to take an attack from Thaurdir should a sorcery be revealed.

I generally won't advance until I'm very confident that I can do the above. It save a lot of headache in stage 2. It's kind of like the new Conflict at the Carrock.

That's how I do it, too.

IF THE ENCOUNTER DECK LET'S ME!

However, I didn't know that it's possible to place more damage tokens on an enemy than he has hit points. That's legal?

It might just be my style, but perhaps I wait longer in stage 1 than you do. I never want to spend more than a single turn in stage 2.

I normally plan it this way:

• Advance to stage 2.
• Flip Thaurdir, defend the attack.
• Defend Thaurdir in combat phase.
• Put 12-15 damage on Thaurdir.
• Next turn, get 15 progress on quest, with a defender ready to take an attack from Thaurdir should a sorcery be revealed.

I generally won't advance until I'm very confident that I can do the above. It save a lot of headache in stage 2. It's kind of like the new Conflict at the Carrock.

That's how I do it, too.

IF THE ENCOUNTER DECK LETS ME!

However, I didn't know that it's possible to place more damage tokens on an enemy than he has hit points. That's legal?

Yeah, it's legal, but obviously it only applies to Indestructible enemies. That strategy dates all the way back to Shadow and Flame.

Yeah, it's legal, but obviously it only applies to Indestructible enemies. That strategy dates all the way back to Shadow and Flame.

seriously? I'd never consider that an option but I guess it is similar to putting excess quest points on a quest that you can't actually advance past until a certain enemy is dead or something.

Well, after I could not get any good out of this quest, I decided to use my one deck, the one that has never lost a quest for me. Galadriel, Spirfindel, Gandalf. I changed it a bit and inlcuded some Ents to attack, defend and quest with and on attempt one I won with an easy pace. I believe that the encounter deck did not come as bad as it could but non the less after turn 4 it was certain to be a win, it was just a matter of time. Just before I quest to put the 15th Token on stage one I played the "Shadows give way" event so advanced unharmed and with Gandalf having Burning Brand, Gondorian Shield, Steward of Gondor and arwen in play as well as Shadowfax and Unexpected courage, Thaurdir could do no harm to me since I was defending with 6, no shadow effects and could defend multiple enemied

I feel pretty happy to be honest

Well yeah, you can beat the quest with overpowered cards, but the scenario is still unfair because you can't beat it with mediocre cards.

Well yeah, you can beat the quest with overpowered cards, but the scenario is still unfair because you can't beat it with mediocre cards.

You cannot even beat it with good cards. I tried Loragorn, Treebeard and Merry with a good Ent deck, three games I was near victory but lost all of them (one out of my mistake, I could have won but anyway). Once in a while it is interesting for such a challenging quest to appear. Eventually after a few AP's it will be more managable, like Escape From Dol Guldur, or Battle of Lake town which were very tough on their early days, but nowdays they can be won with more ease

I will play it again with the same deck I won to test if it was pure luck though

I haven't beat this darn quest and I'm trying! Well, okay, I don't want to go use Elrond+Vilya mega uber deck... but it's getting close. I have Lords of Shadow and Dread Realm (soon) to play!! This quest has to get out of here, and I'll never play it again!

(sorry FFG, it went too far)

I have a very good win ratio with a 2 handed deck that really doesn't use any of the overpowered cards. It is definitely not 100% but around 80%, which I feel pretty good about considering I was doing my best to create and interesting deck while not using any of the powerful cards such as Steward, Unexpected Courage, Test of Will or Sneak attack Gandalf.

First Deck is Legolas, Haldir, and Damrod. Full of traps, Bows, and Blades.

Second Deck is Erkenbrand, Idraen, and Sam. Both these decks were combined to reduce the awful shadow effects that are present in this game, I kept losing due to the punishing Shadow effects and lack of Hero actions. Therefore Sam and Idraen are to provide extra readying, Erkenbrand to cancel nasty shadows, Haldir and Legolas to snipe, Damrod to neuter the enemies capabilities. Idraen with Silver Lamp allowed me to see which enemies had the worst shadow cards. I've tried it against other difficult quests as well, and with almost no modification works very well, against NM Morgul Vale, NM Return to mirkwood (if you race), NM Black Riders.

Personally I like having a good mix of quests. People complain about quests when they're too hard but honestly you are not required to play every quest in this game. You can be content for months, if not years, playing the "easy quests" that already exist in this game. Why do people begrudge the occasional difficult quest? If there were no super hard quests I wouldn't like this game. I don't want a walk in the park, I want to be challenged. If anything I think the majority of quests in this game tend to be on the easy side if anything. There's no quest in this game that you can't specifically make a deck to dominate it.

I've suggested before the designers really need to go out of the box more and make more quests that either punish readying outside of the refresh phase or don't allow it at all. Same with extra card draw.

If you think this quest, or lake town, etc, are too challenging don't play them. I'm not trying to be harsh here either by saying that. There are so many quests in this game there's room for everyone to be happy.

Or just do the "story" mode option where you remove some of the more punishing cards.

Personally I like having a good mix of quests. People complain about quests when they're too hard but honestly you are not required to play every quest in this game. You can be content for months, if not years, playing the "easy quests" that already exist in this game. Why do people begrudge the occasional difficult quest? If there were no super hard quests I wouldn't like this game. I don't want a walk in the park, I want to be challenged. If anything I think the majority of quests in this game tend to be on the easy side if anything. There's no quest in this game that you can't specifically make a deck to dominate it.

I've suggested before the designers really need to go out of the box more and make more quests that either punish readying outside of the refresh phase or don't allow it at all. Same with extra card draw.

If you think this quest, or lake town, etc, are too challenging don't play them. I'm not trying to be harsh here either by saying that. There are so many quests in this game there's room for everyone to be happy.

The 'don't play it' is unfortunate because by design an adventure cycle should not be interrupted/skipped. Lake Town has the player go get it on purpose, out of band, to decide to suffer through it. I did! I didn't like it but I don't need to be so disappointed about their decision since it was on purpose a "challenge". This is in the cycle, standing in the way (if you want to, obviously, defeat them in order) of the last quest.

Finally, to your point of 'there is no quest to dominate it'... see, I absolutely want every quest to have me fail it the first few times, until you deck build then it should be a fair fight, a tough fight, but one you can win. Go see me on bgg, over 200 plays, all quests. Eventually, even the hard ones, are conquered. But usually not with 8+ continuous fails. I've come to realize I can only beat this one either by reading someone's combotastic deck (I don't like to do that) or by exploiting the game to the max (elrond-vilya-uber-deck). When it goes too far that way, I feel like I may as well say "Okay, my heroes now all have +5 defense" and then sure, I'll beat it.

I'll still try a few more times (it IS kinda fun to take days off, then come back and try something a little crazy)... I just want to go on record, as a 200 quest player, not a uber deck builder but an avid one, as a player that has defeated all other cycle adventures, etc.... this one stands out as a bit way too much, with effects that give the player, the "wtf how unfair is that" feeling.

Oh, and I'm doing easy mode (only did normal about three times)... and actually, I do suspect this is one of those where easy mode doesn't NECESSARILY make it easier due to the ratio of some cards now having been changed.