Mono-Lore Secrecy Support Deck

By Teamjimby, in Strategy and deck-building

I got to play this deck against the Grey Havens yesterday and we beat all 3 quests on the first try, so I thought I'd post the deck list. It paired perfectly with a Silvan deck that was running Rossiel and Galadriel. Rossiel was able to benefit from my victory display cards, my Keen As Lances benefited from his victory display cards, and I was able to use Galadriel a few times for threat reduction and card draw. The third deck was Grandspleen's Bear Trap deck, which handled 90% of the combat.

This deck would also shine with a Haldir/Beregond deck (or other ranged/sentinel), so Pippin could actually engage enemies and use his card draw ability. I think I only got to trigger him once or twice per game.

The general premise is to combine the resource generation of secrecy with the card draw from Mithrandir's Advice and Keen as Lances. With that underlying engine, you can severely soften the encounter deck with victory display, Test of Will, and The Door is Closed. Secrecy and victory display both require the deck to be very focused, so you won't see some of the usual lore staples like Warden of Healing or Thror's Map. I also left out Daeron's Runes because if you play it during planning you will often waste your Leaf Brooches.

Total Cards: 50

Heroes (starting threat: 18)
Bifur (Khazad-Dûm)
Mirlonde (The Drúadan Forest)
Pippin (The Black Riders)
Allies (5)
3x Ithilien Lookout (The Dunland Trap)
2x Rivendell Minstrel (The Hunt for Gollum)
Attachments (15)
3x Scroll of Isildur (The Morgul Vale)
3x Good Meal (The Redhorn Gate)
3x Leaf Brooch (The Three Trials)
3x Resourceful (The Watcher in the Water)
3x Song of Travel (The Hills of Emyn Muil)
Events (30)
3x A Test of Will (Core Set)
3x The Galadhrim's Greeting (Core Set)
3x Gildor's Counsel (The Hills of Emyn Muil)
3x Leave No Trace (Escape from Mount Gram)
3x Mithrandir's Advice (The Steward's Fear)
3x None Return (Across the Ettenmoors)
3x Out of the Wild (Road to Rivendell)
3x Risk Some Light (Shadow and Flame)
3x The Door is Closed! (The Treachery of Rhudaur)
3x Keen as Lances (Escape from Mount Gram)

Optional packages, depending on the other decks:

  • If nobody else wants to run Rossiel, you can use her instead of Bifur. It can also be useful to include 2 Lights of Valinor so she can quest and defend at 4. This way you might be able to eventually engage more enemies on your own and kill them with the Ithilien Lookouts and Mirlonde.
  • If you need location control, the new card Evening Star is decent in this deck. In this case I would also add Daeron's Runes, because the first Evening Star is good discard fodder.
  • If you needed to include healing or other quest-specific cards, I think this deck could function without most of the victory display stuff. I'd keep Out of the Wild and Keen as Lances, but drop Leave No Trace, None Return, and maybe The Door is Closed.
  • Scout Ahead would be nice, if you're into player side quests. In my experience we rarely choose to do them, so I took it out.

Some strategy points:

  • Look for Resourceful, Leaf Brooch, and Mithrandir's Advice in your starting hand. Without those, the deck won't reach its potential. Otherwise, secrecy cards like Out of the Wild and Ithilien Lookout are good, as well as Song of Travel and Galadhrim's Greeting for secrecy insurance.
  • Resourceful and Song of Travel typically go on Bifur, because he can pull resources to him if you need an emergency Galadhrim's Greeting or Test of Will. If you're playing with Rossiel instead of Bofur, I might put the attachments on Pippin so you can use Good Meal for spirit. This assumes the quest isn't likely to kill Pippin with treacheries.
  • Good Meal is almost always used for Gildor's Council. If you're desperate, you can put Song of Travel on Pippin and use the Good Meal for a Galadhrim's Greeting.
  • Use the Leaf Brooches to their maximum potential. Sometimes that means saving an Out of the Wild until next turn if you have already played an event this turn. Or it means saving Risk Some Light until after you have played a different event. If you have 2+ Leaf Brooches, you might be able to play a Gildor's Council before that Out of the Wild or Mithrandir's Advice.
  • Staying in secrecy is very important (unless it is late game and you have excess resources from Resourcefuls). So use the Galadhrim's Greetings (don't be afraid to hog it) and, if desperate, Keen as Lances to keep threat down.
  • Keen as Lances should mostly be used for card draw, and only used for threat reduction when you are desperate. The card draw can hopefully draw you into a Galadhrim's Greeting or more card draw. Although keep in mind you can also use it to give other players resources.
  • Scrolls of Isildur are usually used on Mithrandir's Advice, but Gildor's Council is also a good target depending on your situation.
  • Try to convince your teammates to run 3x Keen As Lances. That card is bananas once it gets rolling, and it gets exponentially better when everyone is using it.

I enjoyed playing the deck, and I hope to use it more. It would probably struggle against quests with a lot of doomed, and it might not shine as much if the other decks don't synergize. Some of the highlights included playing Gildor's Council via Good Meal each of the first two rounds while simultaneously getting my engine setup against Raid on the Grey Havens. That quest starts off with a lot in the staging area and location lock is very possible, so the Gildor's Councils were very nice. Another highlight was one round where I played Gildor's Council, cancelled a treachery with Test of Will, and cancelled an enemy with The Door is Closed, so I singlehandedly shut down the encounter deck for a full round.

Anyway, let me know if you have any suggestions or if you give it a try!

Edited by Teamjimby