Lately I've been thinking a lot in building a hero Treebeard deck. With cards like Lembas and Boom and Trumpeted , he becomes a monster, capable of destroying high def/high HP enemies in almost one go. I really want to pair Treebeard with Elrond , because he improves healing (which Treebeard will need a lot to work at his best), his Noldor trait allows to play Lembas, and his ability to pay for allies of any sphere is awesome.

The main question is... who can be the third hero? Most people would say Glóin , but Im attempting to build something different, powerful, but not-broken.

My first option is Tactics Éowyn . Tactics sphere gives me access to Boom and Trumpeted. The deck would excel at quick willpower and high capability to kill bosses asap. Picture this: Turn 1, play a chump-blocker (like Envoy of Pelargir ), quest with Éowyn, Treebeard and Elrond (9 willpower, boost-able with Treebeard). Combat phase: boost Treebeard's attack and ready him with either Lembas or Boom and Trumpeted. Ready Eowyn if necessary. Kill the boss (Three Trials, City of Corsairs, Hill Troll, etc. to name some quests in which you begin engaged with bosses asap). The advantages of these heroes' lineup is that they need little setup, ideal for quests which don't give you time in that regard. The main disadvantage is card draw, and mostly, resource generation. I'd be drawing little, and playing even less cards on the table...

Other heroes I've thought of are Leadership Denethor , Leadership Faramir (to go with Ent allies), Árwen , Gandalf . Leadership sphere makes it a ton easier to play Steward of Gondor and solve the resources' issue, but with Leadership heroes I lose willpower, a third strong hero, and access to Boom and Trumpeted. With Arwen I still have willpower, and gain a little in the resources department, but she is weaker than Eowyn, and Steward of Gondor is still better than Arwen in generating resources. Still can't add Boom and Trumpeted. Gandalf is a monster, with all his abilities and toys ( Expert Treasure-hunter , Word of Command , Gandalf's Staff , Wizard Pipe , Narya ) I shouldn't have a hard time drawing cards and finding whatever I need. Gandalf is strong too without much setup needed. My threat would skyrocket though.

Cards I'd like to add:

Warden of Healing and Wellinghall Preserver ; combined with Elrond (+Lembas), I should be able to keep using Treebeard's ability forever

Erebor Hammersmith + Favor of the Valar (+Lembas), to solve the high-threat issue. Erebor Hammersmith could also recycle Lembas in those quests in which not dying by threat isn't top priority

Elf-stone could be, if my willpower is solid

Firyal and Master of the Forge , top 5 allies in the game imo

A Burning Brand

Vilya maybe? Entmoot if I go with more Ent allies?

Arwen Undómiel ally, Ent Draught

Maybe more Ent allies, but I'm not sure if that's the best way to go.

Overall, by including Treebeard I'm aiming at getting strong heroes asap, without much further setup needed; that's because in many quests, the hardest part is the initial 1 ~ 2 rounds Any input appreciated!

That's 26 starting threat with the heroes alone. Maybe just run them, or like you Eowyn or maybe Merry.

I saw a guy do a Strider deck with just Elrond and Treebeard once, and as I recall it was effective. Not game-carrying or anything, but it worked.

Mirlonde is also a possibility if you want to go Mono-lore, or Lore Pippin. You don't get access to another sphere's tools, but it keeps threat down. If you're going to put Cloak of Lorien in there, being a mono-lore combination, Mirlonde is an extra target for it. Otherwise, Pippin is the more functional choice.

All good suggestions so far. You could consider Arwen as well. Treebeard begs for UC which she can quickly provide. You also get spirit's treat reduction for your high threat.

In my book if you include Elrond in a Treebeard deck is to power up your WoH/Ioreth/Preserver and be free to skip self preservation althoghether. He would also open to lembas which provide help in action advantage. Card draw should not be a problem: even not considering deep knowledge, lore give you access to Deron ruins, Heed the Dream and M. advice. Add in Entmoot if you want to include full a ent ally pack and you are in with draw.

action advantage and threat management are a different problems.

I see two way to deal with a Treebeard +Elrond pairing

The Spirit route: add Arwen or (Sp) Merry for access to action advantage (UC + LoV) and threat reduction. Arwen is better since she helps also for resource acceleration. Merry power up stronger threat reduction and allows to include arwen ally. as third option either glorfindel or frodo but not sure i will pass over arwen hero in most case.

The Tactic route: add (T) Eowyn or (T) Merry. Throw in Boom and Trumpeted and some tactic ent allies +entmoot to round the deck and draws tons of cards.

As you mentioned Eowyn would serve as wilpower powerhouse and early borad control.

However for me the Merry is too good to pass over. He would be serve as outsphere alternative to UC. Put a couple of Fast Hitch on Merry and Treebeard will attack 2 or 3 times per round with his boosted attack. Lembas will serve to ready him after questing while Merry would provide all the action advantage you need in combact. Willpower can be a bit low early on especially in some quests but the merry way is so good. Merry would also grant you to have an unique hobbit and an uniques ent in play turn 1 which can be handy. With Merry/FH, Lembas+Erebor Hammersmith, and ent readyng events you should have quikly all the action advantage you need.

If you feel like including Vilya you could also add in LoV or UC for even more advantage but they are not needed. Elf stone will help for resources and ent allies are undercosted anyway.

Give a try and let me know!

I've never tried Tactics Merry; will give him a thought

I was intrigued by the idea that most people would automatically say Gloin, and decided to see what Treebeard/Elrond companions were used in ringsdb.deck. Counting each combination once per author (to avoid recounting iterations of the same deck), here's the count:

4 decks: Gloin, Gandalf, Mirlonde, and none.

2 decks: Galadriel

1 deck: Amarthiul, LoAragorn, Arwen, Bard, Beorn, Cirdan, LeDenethor, LoGlorfindel, SpGlorfindel, SpMerry, Rossiel

5 hours ago, Rajam said:

I've never tried Tactics Merry; will give him a thought

And i forgot to mention rohan warhorse. FAST Hatch +horse equal to merry readyng treebeard up to 6 Times per turn if you keep on Killing things. ... monodimensional but still one Great combo for your orc hunting days...

It's a bit close to your no Gloin condition. But I ran a very efficient solo campaign with Treebeard, Gimli and Spirit Pippin.
this work particularly well in campaign because you can target the 2 healing boons hanfs of a healer and the one whose name I forgot.