Glorfindel with Hands Upon the Bow

By Fingolfin Fate, in The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game

I know some people think Spirit Glorfindel too strong. I see their point but personally think such an iconic character from the source material deserve a very special treatment. That aside, this combo I am about to mention briefly is interesting for two reasons, I believe.

First, it works just as well with the Lore version, though the Spirit one has better resource match for it. And it is not the traditional strength of the character, fitting Glorfindel with two higher threat (or two low-threat) heroes to create a powerful deck. This combo is about the individual.

Also, though it consists of many parts, the individual parts are good on their own, too. So it is not like some of the combos that are useless until the last jigsaw falls into place.

Now for it. You begin with Light of Valinor, so that Glorfindel can quest and perform one other action, preferably attack. You add Rivendell Bow for which you need Tactics resource (as for the final piece). That is good in cooperative games, anyway. Now you try to raise Glorfindel's willpower -- again this makes sense, right? Protector of Lórien (if you can access Lore, or play the Lore version), Elrond's Counsel (if you have another unique Noldor), Miruvor, Lords of the Eldar (perhaps from the other player). Finally, when you have Hands Upon the Bow, you shoot the enemy just revealed. And sometimes it could be enough without the willpower bonus, you can use other weapons, too, since you run Tactics anyway. But for the big enemies you have the newish Fair and Perilous that rewards you for raising the willpower.

Another nice thing about this is that you can do most of the tricks after you know what's coming: Protector, Counsel, etc. And there is one other cake, Tale of Tinúviel. If you have a Dúnedain hero with Glorfindel, he can exhaust (after Glorfindel declares attack, so that he will be ready again, or before if Glorfindel doesn't have Light of Valinor yet) to give him both willpower and attack. A good trick here for Elrond's Counsel: you raise the willpower of the Dúnadan to raise both willpower and attack of Glorfindel. It is quite a few cards but in a deck that draws: Beravor, Foe-Hammer, Daeron's Runes, etc., you should get them quickly. And there are not many foes who can survive Glorfindel's shot then.

Edited by Fingolfin Fate

Sounds like fun, but also a lot of pieces. Put a deck together and test it out! Let us know how it goes.

I have. It works very well. I can honestly say it is my favourite combo right now. I am not saying the deck is the strongest out there -- far from it, but this particular combo is extremely strong. I will repeat what I said above. The problem of many pieces is mitigated by the fact that you want to achieve the steps anyway, so you are not becoming a Fool of a Took by doing this. I just love the fact that you get awarded extra for boosting Glorfindel's willpower, which is desirable in the first place.

The deck is Boromir, Beravor, Glorfindel. But unlike the usual Tactics Boromir decks where he does everything, he is more of a safety cushion here. And Glorfindel plays the first fiddle. I usually play together with a Noldor deck where Lords of the Eldar (what a card by the way) make the whole experience all the better.

Awesome! Got full deck lists? If it's as fun as you say, I might record a game with it and put it on my channel. If you want, we could even arrange a game together on OCTGN and I'll record that instead.

Let me fiddle with the deck for a day or so, I will send it then. I try to keep it thematic, as is always my intention. For instance, Peace, and Thought usually goes great with Boromir, and here you really want to draw quick, but I keep it out. I always find the thematic decks most satisfactory, but I try to make them as strong as possible within my own private constrains.

[note: I did not noticed in the Italian version of the card that Tale of Tinúviel works with the printed willpower for the exhausted character. As such the above-mentioned Miruvor or Elrond's Counsel trick (to boost the exhausted character's willpower) is useless. Still, a very good card. And Ranger of Cardolan works perfectly with it, 2 willpower is a sufficient bonus.]