I've recently been playing with a pair of thematic decks based around Elladan and Elrohir, and I'm currently using the latter with Glorfindel (Spirit) and Elrond.

Since my card requirements for Elrohir himself are small (mostly I'm saving his resources for defending), and Glorfindel doesn't require much deck-space to get himself moving either, I'm finding a lot of my card choices are coming down to what works best with Elrond's abilities. He's honestly felt like rather dead weight so far, with his high threat and good stats wasted alongside the other heroes, who handle combat fine on their own.

Any recommendations for cards or strategies that bring the best out of him and Vilya in those spheres? Imladris Stargazer is an obvious one, but I have a bad habit of getting them killed by treacheries.

Unexpected Courage to get more value out of Elrond, for sure.

wait where is elladan.....? how are you using Elrohir for defensive duties at 1 starting def...?

The only defensive buff you have in the deck is Dunedain warning and even if you get lucky and draw 2 of the 3 that puts Elrohir at 3 defense for the whole game....

Or are you playing with Elrohir at 3 base defense even without Elladan in play? I feel like maybe you are doing this because I really don't see him working well as a defender with 1 base defense....

edit: hold on my apologies I just noticed that you said "pair of decks" so I assume there must be another one that is run alongside this one. I must have missed that originally and because you only posted one of the decks I thought it was a solo deck! Would love to see the other deck as I am always looking for new ideas for the brothers (I use them also)!

Reread the first sentence of his first post.

Yeah I noticed it literally right after I posted

was so confused at first

Ha! The other deck is Elladan/Erestor/Arwen and focuses on discard effects (Elven Light, Silver Harp, Stand And Fight...) and cheap attachments (Keeping Count, Rivendell Blade...) to power both decks. I haven't written up the list because its oversized and I've just thrown any useful cards as I've found them. With so much card draw, consistency isn't as important.

Speaking of, I've dropped Lorien Guide from the first deck for Master of the Forge to make getting hold of the vital attachments easier. And noticed that Vilya wasn't in the list I posted for some reason. Ranger Provisions has also been dropped because Elrohir's Leadership is the most important stockpile. On the wrong turn losing one from him to gain one each on the other three heroes isn't worth it to me.

I need to make room for Tale of Tinuviel, too, I think.

Obviously have Imladris Stargazer really allows you to set up Vilya. Less obviously, but as important is having a pair of Masters of the Forge in your stack. With Master you are getting to look at a fresh 5 cards every turn and then set them up with Stargazer. Later he helps you get redundant attachments (like the second and third copies of Vilya) out of the deck so you are drawing live.

Looking over your deck lists it appears that you are limiting yourself to one core between two decks. That's okay (and noble and everything), but then you are distributing your hero icons in a way that doesn't take advantage of them. For example, you have Elrond and Glorfindel in the first deck (lore and spirit) and you have Arwen and Erestor in the second deck (lore and spirit). If I have Spirit in two decks I'm probably going to have 6 copies of Test of Will between them (or a very good excuse not to).

But you don't. And you have Elrohir in the first deck which dilutes your resources. Put Elrohir in with his brother and the move Arwen or Erestor over.

Obviously have Imladris Stargazer really allows you to set up Vilya. Less obviously, but as important is having a pair of Masters of the Forge in your stack. With Master you are getting to look at a fresh 5 cards every turn and then set them up with Stargazer. Later he helps you get redundant attachments (like the second and third copies of Vilya) out of the deck so you are drawing live.

I hadn't thought about that use of Master of the Forge. Will come in handy when I'm struggling to find the right attachments.

Looking over your deck lists it appears that you are limiting yourself to one core between two decks. That's okay (and noble and everything), but then you are distributing your hero icons in a way that doesn't take advantage of them. For example, you have Elrond and Glorfindel in the first deck (lore and spirit) and you have Arwen and Erestor in the second deck (lore and spirit). If I have Spirit in two decks I'm probably going to have 6 copies of Test of Will between them (or a very good excuse not to).

But you don't. And you have Elrohir in the first deck which dilutes your resources. Put Elrohir in with his brother and the move Arwen or Erestor over.

(edit: I only have one core set. I would use more of the counter cards if I had them, or had any interest in making proxies.)

I played a few games (and banged my head against a few tables) and settled on these groupings because:

a) Elrohir and Glorfindel make a great team. Elrohir is the main blocker, and with Light of Valinor Glorfindel is always available to attack (or use Strength of Will). They also allow Peace and Thought to be used at the end of turns without much of a sacrifice. Separating them led to Glorfindel twiddling his thumbs at the end of too many turns, and someone having to avoid questing to whittle down enemy numbers.

b) Erestor and Arwen go together because I want Erestor to have access to Spirit for Will of the West to keep the deck stocked up.

c) Elladan's Trollshaw Scouts work best in the discard-specialist deck (I used to use Watchers of the Bruinen, too), and with ranged contribute well from the "back row" deck.

d) Elrond's ability to pay for allies of any sphere (and join Spirit with his ring) lets me use expensive Spirit allies in the slow deck (and then play them for no cost with Vilya).

There are probably arrangements that are just as (or more) effective but this fit the approach I had in mind. For now.

a) Elrohir and Glorfindel make a great team. Elrohir is the main blocker, and with Light of Valinor Glorfindel is always available to attack (or use Strength of Will). They also allow Peace and Thought to be used at the end of turns without much of a sacrifice . Separating them led to Glorfindel twiddling his thumbs at the end of too many turns, and someone having to avoid questing to whittle down enemy numbers.

This sounds like you're misplaying Peace and Thought. It's a Refresh action, which means you trigger it (and exhaust the heroes) after everyone readies at the beginning of the Refresh phase. Them being ready at the end of the Combat phase has no bearing on this. And the heroes you exhaust for Peace and Thought will remain exhausted the following round unless you can ready them again by other means.

Well then I guess 3 slots just opened up in the deck.

What an awful card.

Well then I guess 3 slots just opened up in the deck.

What an awful card.

The hobbits disagree

Well then I guess 3 slots just opened up in the deck.

What an awful card.

The Card is great...

played right

I guess if I had some Lembas or Miruvor handy. Card draw is a problem for that deck, and I'm determined not to lean on the ubiquitous Gandalf crutch.

Ancient Matholm?

I think you will find that after you add Master of the Forge you will be swimming in cards. Elrond essentially draws one per turn on his own. You could also add Daeron's Runes or Mithrandir's Advice, but I didn't find it necessary. I did like a couple of Elf Stones to help get out early drawn expensive allies though.

Ancient Matholm?

Like Rangers Provisions, it only benefits the first player, which can be awkward when playing two-handed. Good shout, though. I'd forgotten about it.

I think you will find that after you add Master of the Forge you will be swimming in cards. Elrond essentially draws one per turn on his own. You could also add Daeron's Runes or Mithrandir's Advice, but I didn't find it necessary. I did like a couple of Elf Stones to help get out early drawn expensive allies though.

Yeah, you may be right. Once the pieces are in place I shouldn't have much need for card draw as I'll be playing right out of the deck.

Haven't played it yet but I've added Tale of Tinuviel and Ever Vigilant to the deck which could lead to some fun interactions.

Elrond has been demoted to the b-deck in the last reshuffle. As suggested earlier I've changed things so that the spheres are less messy. The a-deck is now as follows: