tier 1: decks that are fun to play

tier 2: decks that are boring

Seems legit. Since I don't play tier 2, does that make me a powerplayer?

I'm also curious about the newest Hobbit Secrecy deck. I've never played one. Maybe you can post a full decklist?

On a side note, as you can see in my own tier interpetation, only very few decks deserve 'top tier' status for me as such a deck would have to be able to consistantly beat a Carn Dum.

I think boromir is more powerful than dain by quite a lot.

Hey guys, what about starting a new thread to log quests in there? The idea is to begin gathering information and then decks and quests can be ranked using some measure, but I think gathering info comes first; something like:

"Deck used: Rivendell Councilroom link (Seastan's Aragorn / Halbarad / Amarthiúl)

Quest: Into Ithilien [Normal Mode]

Players: 1

Result: Success!

Score: 106

Details / Strategy / Comments: Blah blah blah... etc."

tier 1: decks that are fun to play

tier 2: decks that are boring

Seems legit. Since I don't play tier 2, does that make me a powerplayer?

I'm also curious about the newest Hobbit Secrecy deck. I've never played one. Maybe you can post a full decklist?

On a side note, as you can see in my own tier interpetation, only very few decks deserve 'top tier' status for me as such a deck would have to be able to consistantly beat a Carn Dum.

So like I said before I think it’s a pretty standard Hobbit Secrecy. Like I said though, I haven't run it past Across the Ettenmoors so I don't know how it would do in those later quests. Biggest problem I had was low-engagement enemies.

I don’t have the exact card lineup/amounts since I took it apart but this should be pretty close off the top of my head. It was at 55 cards though so I gained a couple somewhere…probably a couple allies I cut last time I tweaked it.

Sam/Merry/Pippin (20)

Allies:

Gandalf x2

Celudan Traveler x2

Rivendell Guide x3

Ithilien Lookout x2

Dunedain Wanderer x2

Treebeard x1

Bill x1

Henamarth Riversong x3

Northern Tracker x1

Beorn x1

Boromir x1

Faramir x1

Gildor Inglorion x1

Gimli x1

Haldir x1

Legolas x1

Erestor x1

Arwen x1

Attachments:

Resourceful x3

Fast Hitch x1

Hobbit Pony x1

Steward of Gondor x1

Elf-Stone x2

Sword-Thain x1

Protector of Lorien x1

Events:

Sneak Attack x2

Daeron’s Runes x3

O Elbereth x1

Needful to Know x2

Timley Aid x3

Elrond’s Council x2

Out of the Wild x2

Noiseless Movement x1

A Very Good Tale x3

Ravens of the Mountain x1

Expecting Mischief x1

Other Thoughts:

Strategy is pretty simple. It’s secrecy so you’re looking for resource acceleration and ally addition in your opening hand. Resourceful and Timely Aid are best (obviously) but since this is meant to stay in secrecy for the most part I wouldn’t ditch an otherwise great opening hand just because you don’t get them up front.

Keep in Secrecy as much as possible (Merry, Elrond’s Council, Needful to Know, Gandalf). Then focus on getting Henamarth out to more reliably gauge when to play Needful to Know, Expecting Mischief, Out of the Wild and Ravens (personally, I don’t usually use any of these blind unless I’m desperate—and I use Ravens and Out of the Wild as removal more than their other effects). Get a Noldor on the board so you can use Elrond’s Council (Rivendell Guide is free in secrecy so he’s a great choice). EDIT: I was miremembering this--as pointed out below you need a unique Noldor for Elrond's Council, so Arwen, Erestor or Gildor.

From there it’s just a matter of staying out of dodge and surviving until you can get your big allies out with A Very Good Tale (Dunedain Wanderer is a great exhaust for this), Elf-Stone and Timely Aid. Once you can afford it you can also get a character in using Sneak Attack+Sword-Thain (which isn’t really acceleration since you will still be paying 5 total resource but is great resource smoothing since 4 of them are neutral and you will be making one back per turn). Try to keep big enemies from piling up by bouncing them with Ravens and Out of the Wild and using Gandalf and Expecting Mischief to snipe when they get through to staging.

Noiseless Movement and O Elbereth are pretty much “in case of emergency” cards I would probably leave out if I remade this deck. And if you were running this solo you might want to add some shadow or treachery cancelation, though the scrying can help. Would probably also ditch Hobbit Pony too—just didn’t find enough use for it. Maybe replace it with Celebrian Stone or Hobbit Cloak (or the Hobbit shadow-cancellation staff I can’t remember the name of). Or Ingold for some cost diversity for A Very Good Tale.

Like I said, don’t have exact numbers of copies off the top of my head but it was 55 cards total. This should give you a decent idea though.

Get a Noldor on the board so you can use Elrond’s Council (Rivendell Guide is free in secrecy so he’s a great choice).

Isn´t Elrond counsel needd to have a unique Noldor? Then the guide is not enough in terms of Noldor.

Get a Noldor on the board so you can use Elrond’s Council (Rivendell Guide is free in secrecy so he’s a great choice).

Isn´t Elrond counsel needd to have a unique Noldor? Then the guide is not enough in terms of Noldor.

Yes, it needs to be unique in order for it to work so you would not be able to use Elrond's Counsel if Rivendell Scout was the only Noldor card you controlled.

Get a Noldor on the board so you can use Elrond’s Council (Rivendell Guide is free in secrecy so he’s a great choice).

Isn´t Elrond counsel needd to have a unique Noldor? Then the guide is not enough in terms of Noldor.

Get a Noldor on the board so you can use Elrond’s Council (Rivendell Guide is free in secrecy so he’s a great choice).

Isn´t Elrond counsel needd to have a unique Noldor? Then the guide is not enough in terms of Noldor.

Yes, it needs to be unique in order for it to work so you would not be able to use Elrond's Counsel if Rivendell Scout was the only Noldor card you controlled.

You are both correct. Completely forgot about that. So Gildor, Arwen, Erestor.

I know I knew that but I'm wondering how many times I may have forgotten it while playing now...Still, used Merry and Needful to know more often as I always tried to get Henamarth out asap.

From there it’s just a matter of staying out of dodge and surviving until you can get your big allies out with A Very Good Tale (Dunedain Wanderer is a great exhaust for this), Elf-Stone and Timely Aid. Once you can afford it you can also get a character in using Sneak Attack+Sword-Thain (which isn’t really acceleration since you will still be paying 5 total resource but is great resource smoothing since 4 of them are neutral). Try to keep big enemies from piling up by bouncing them with Ravens and Out of the Wild and using Gandalf and Expecting Mischief to snipe when they get through to staging.

What is this sneak attack + sword thain thing? Even if you attack sword thain, wouldn't you still need to discard at the end of the phase?

From there it’s just a matter of staying out of dodge and surviving until you can get your big allies out with A Very Good Tale (Dunedain Wanderer is a great exhaust for this), Elf-Stone and Timely Aid. Once you can afford it you can also get a character in using Sneak Attack+Sword-Thain (which isn’t really acceleration since you will still be paying 5 total resource but is great resource smoothing since 4 of them are neutral). Try to keep big enemies from piling up by bouncing them with Ravens and Out of the Wild and using Gandalf and Expecting Mischief to snipe when they get through to staging.

What is this sneak attack + sword thain thing? Even if you attack sword thain, wouldn't you still need to discard at the end of the phase?

It's because Sneak Attack has the text (paraphrasing) "At the end of the phase, discard the ally from play" and since Sword-thain changes the card to a hero it can no longer be discarded from play.

From there it’s just a matter of staying out of dodge and surviving until you can get your big allies out with A Very Good Tale (Dunedain Wanderer is a great exhaust for this), Elf-Stone and Timely Aid. Once you can afford it you can also get a character in using Sneak Attack+Sword-Thain (which isn’t really acceleration since you will still be paying 5 total resource but is great resource smoothing since 4 of them are neutral). Try to keep big enemies from piling up by bouncing them with Ravens and Out of the Wild and using Gandalf and Expecting Mischief to snipe when they get through to staging.

What is this sneak attack + sword thain thing? Even if you attack sword thain, wouldn't you still need to discard at the end of the phase?

It's because Sneak Attack has the text (paraphrasing) "At the end of the phase, discard the ally from play" and since Sword-thain changes the card to a hero it can no longer be discarded from play.

Even made it into the FAQ.

From there it’s just a matter of staying out of dodge and surviving until you can get your big allies out with A Very Good Tale (Dunedain Wanderer is a great exhaust for this), Elf-Stone and Timely Aid. Once you can afford it you can also get a character in using Sneak Attack+Sword-Thain (which isn’t really acceleration since you will still be paying 5 total resource but is great resource smoothing since 4 of them are neutral). Try to keep big enemies from piling up by bouncing them with Ravens and Out of the Wild and using Gandalf and Expecting Mischief to snipe when they get through to staging.

What is this sneak attack + sword thain thing? Even if you attack sword thain, wouldn't you still need to discard at the end of the phase?

It's because Sneak Attack has the text (paraphrasing) "At the end of the phase, discard the ally from play" and since Sword-thain changes the card to a hero it can no longer be discarded from play.

This. ^

Really changed my mind on Sword-Thain in general. Never saw the value in it outside of this combo.

Like I said, you're still spending 5 resources but allowing 4 of them to be neutral is a big help in a Tri-Sphere (or even a duo-sphere) deck. Plus it allows you to tailor your income a bit--have a hand full of Lore cards? Sneak+Sword-Thain in a Lore ally and you have one more resource of that type per turn.

Huh - very cool! The possibilities are quite interesting.