Fastred and Kahliel (or using new heroes because they're new...)

By monkeyrama, in Strategy and deck-building

For a while I've been mucking around with two decks that are a paired effort to make use of Fastred and Kahliel. Description follows, with the decklists also:

Deck 1 - An odd alliance (http://ringsdb.com/deck/view/75182)

Packs: From Core Set (2) to The Black Serpent

26 Starting Threat, 51 Cards

Heroes (3)

1x Merry (The Wastes of Eriador)
1x Fastred (The Black Serpent)
1x Faramir (Assault on Osgiliath)

Allies (7)

2x Robin Smallburrow (The Drowned Ruins)
2x Mablung (The Land of Shadow)
3x West Road Traveller (Return to Mirkwood)
2x Arwen Undómiel (The Watcher in the Water)
3x Imladris Stargazer (Foundations of Stone)
2x Westfold Horse-breeder (The Voice of Isengard)
2x Galadriel's Handmaiden (Celebrimbor's Secret)

Attachments (11)

2x Entangling Nets (Temple of the Deceived)
1x Windfola (A Storm on Cobas Haven)
2x Herugrim (The Treason of Saruman)
1x Snowmane (The Land of Shadow)
2x Unexpected Courage (Core Set)
1x Fast Hitch (The Dead Marshes)
3x Light of Valinor (Foundations of Stone)
3x Ranger Spikes (Heirs of Númenor)
2x Ithilien Pit (Encounter at Amon Dîn)
2x Silver Lamp (The Voice of Isengard)
2x Wingfoot (The Nîn-in-Eilph)

Events (5)

3x Tides of Fate (Flight of the Stormcaller)
2x Heed the Dream (Flight of the Stormcaller)
3x Coney in a Trap (The Mûmakil)
3x A Test of Will (Core Set)
3x Renewed Friendship (The Redhorn Gate)

This deck requires Elrond's deck to function. The allies are all self-explanatory, although you should usually use Imladris Stargazer on the other deck until you have two in play. The attachments have specific targets.

Herugrim and Snowmane play across to the other deck on Éowyn. Light of Valinor and a spare Unexpected Courage go on Elrond.

Within this deck, Faramir gets Wingfoot, Merry gets Fast Hitch, while Fastred gets Silver Lamp, Windfola, Golden Shield and Dúnedain Warning from the other deck, and Unexpected Courage. Once set up, he can defend twice with about 7 defense. Most importantly, with Silver Lamp you can make combat very tactical. In a recent game against The Black Serpent this deck had 5 engaged enemies. Jubayr from the other defended 2 enemies, and discarded one problematic shadow effect. Fastred was able to defend 2 more, and I left the last one to Faramir without concern. Fastred is really quite good! (Arwen Undómiel usually boosts Jubayr's defense across the table, but she can boost Fastred if this is necessary).

Ranger Spikes help to boost Faramir's attack, while Coney in a Trap, Entangling Nets, and Ithilien Pit help to avoid problems in early combat. Tides of Fate is a useful card in the early game for a free boost to Fastred's defense when needed. Renewed Friendship is useful because the two decks swap so many attachments! Finally, Heed the Dream is an important fixer card, and one I added late in play-testing. The second ability can be triggered by the other deck, and having a fetching card is handy if your early game hand is weak (even after mulligan). Of course A Test of Will is important!

The most important cards to look for are Light of Valinor and Silver Lamp. With these two in hand you can handle combat, and the other deck can start to useElrond properly. The decks play really well together. They can easily handle tricky combat situations, and the Harad allies are just overall excellent. This deck plays second-fiddle a little, but it's an interestingly tactical questing deck.

Deck 2 - Elrond Summons the Haradrim (http://ringsdb.com/deck/view/75185)

Packs: From Core Set (2) to The Black Serpent

32 Starting Threat (really 29), 51 cards

Heroes (3)

1x Kahliel (The Mûmakil)
1x Éowyn (The Flame of the West)
1x Elrond (Shadow and Flame)

Allies (7)

2x Yazan (The Mûmakil)
2x Jubayr (The Mûmakil)
2x Firyal (The Mûmakil)
3x Kahliel’s Tribesman (Race Across Harad)
3x Southron Refugee (The Black Serpent)
2x Warden of Healing (The Long Dark)
3x Errand-rider (Heirs of Númenor)

Attachments (12)

1x Kahliel's Headdress (The Mûmakil)
2x Haradrim Spear (Beneath the Sands)
1x The Red Arrow (Beneath the Sands)
3x Great Yew Bow (On the Doorstep)
1x Black Arrow (On the Doorstep)
1x Golden Shield (The Flame of the West)
2x Steward of Gondor (Core Set)
2x Dúnedain Warning (Conflict at the Carrock)
2x A Burning Brand (Conflict at the Carrock)
3x Vilya (Shadow and Flame)
1x Gondorian Fire (Assault on Osgiliath)
1x Heir of Mardil (Celebrimbor's Secret)

Events (5)

2x Knife-work (A Storm on Cobas Haven)
3x Feint (Core Set)
3x Elrond's Counsel (The Watcher in the Water)
3x Daeron's Runes (Foundations of Stone)
3x Deep Knowledge (The Voice of Isengard)

The deck is paired with the Fastred deck. There are relatively few allies, but like an Harad deck the point is to use these allies wisely to maximize their use. Many cards are self-explanatory: Daeron's Runes andDeep Knowledge add card draw, in the latter case for both decks, Elrond's Counsel is used to drop threat a little and questing, and Feint is best early on to survive combat before you are set up.

Many attachments, however, go across to the other deck. Black Arrow, The Red Arrow, Great Yew Bow, and Gondorian Fire all go on Faramir, while Dúnedain Warning and Golden Shield go on Fastred.Haradrim Spear goes on Yazan exclusively, since he is the main attacker in the deck (Kahliel is there forKahliel's Headdress and his ability to spend resources on any Harad ally).

Éowyn gets Herugrim and Snowmane from the other deck and can help in combat. Trying to combine her and Yazan with Knife-work helps with card draw.

Now, Elrond. He gets: Steward of Gondor, A Burning Brand, Heir of Mardil, Vilya, and if you can spare one, a Dúnedain Warning. The other deck plays Light of Valinor and Unexpected Courage on him and useImladris Stargazer to help set up the free play of allies. Steward of Gondor and Heir of Mardil are another way to ensure that he can use Vilya and quest in the same round (along with Light of Valinor from the other deck). Once set up Elrond can pop a card into play for free, quests for free, and then defend an attack up to 3 strength without damage. Elrond is crucial to the deck!

Finally, best order of play. The ideal ally to get out early is Jubayr, since the other deck can play Silver Lamp and this allows Jubayr to pick carefully who to defend against and which card to discard. Arwen Undómiel can boost his defense, and usually should! Errand-rider spreads Elrond's wealth, and Kahliel’s Tribesman and Southron Refugee are there to discard for action advantage or for more willpower.

After discussion on RingsDB (thank you @dalestephenson) I'm considering dropping 1 Southron Refugee to add another Jubayr, since he's so important for the two decks, and also maybe losing 1 Great Yew Bow, since it only benefits Faramir. The two decks have taken on The Black Serpent 3 times, with 2 wins, and can be surprisingly (to me at least) solid at questing and combat. I am very open to thoughts on these.

My next project, I hope, will be a Gondor fellowship, trying to thematically mimic the Ithilien Rangers supporting the main might of the Gondorian army.