I've just uploaded my first solo deck, and would be interested in hearing reactions from more experienced players than I:

https://ringsdb.com/deck/view/102497

A month or two ago I ran into the Into Ithilien roadblock and (as I understand is fairly common) stopped playing for a while trying to re-adjust my expectations for the game's difficulty. I wasn't keen on running through the Gondor campaign with the same band of dwarves I'd survived Moria with, but I was struggling to find a thematic substitute that could survive the exceedingly difficult Into Ithilien and Cair Andros scenarios.

While I get the impression that Outlands decks aren't the favorite of many seasoned players, I've thoroughly enjoyed playing through this one. The notion of a lord of Gondor (Imrahil), his protective counselor (Denethor) and his captain of the guard (Hirluin) rallying their followers to victory in the defense of Gondor is very exciting; I also enjoy how both Imrahil and Hirluin become significantly more powerful as each quest continues.

In terms of improvement, I'm not 100% convinced that Faramir and Visionary Leadership are necessary, though there have been moments where they've been important. The two Swords of Numenor on Imrahil are a little indulgent, but with his frequent multiple activations, I've enjoyed having him as a powerhouse damage dealer.

The Outlands decks I've seen elsewhere tend to have Elrond and therefore don't use Lord of Morthond, though I've found LoM to be extremely valuable.

Has anyone played a similar deck, or do you have any recommendations for making it tighter?

I suggest you enable "share my decks" under the account options. My last play of Outlands used Dain/Hirluin/LeAragorn opposite a dwarf deck (Nori/Ori/Dori), so of course I had to have Lord of Morthond. But Elrond's ability to play any color of ally certainly is good for an Outlands deck also.

I analyzed six decks from cardgamedb using Hirluin (and therefore Outlands) and put the results here:

https://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/1517528/deck-analysis-part-four-outlands

Something more comprehensive could be done with ringsdb, of course. But since I was just looking at raw usage, this particular analysis wasn't very interesting -- all outlands deck used the outland allies (except for Forlong, who just got 5/6), and all the mono-leadership used Lord of Morthond.

If you search on ringsdb for LeDenethor/LeImrahil/Hirluin you'll see that lineup from 8 different creators, the most popular of which by far is this one by Beorn:

https://ringsdb.com/decklist/view/3659/armies-of-dol-amroth-1.0

That might be a good one to look at it to compare to your deck.

Are you trying for a progression style or just thematic? If you enable the share decks option like dale suggested I will definitely take a look!

Hi, all,

I've gone ahead and shared my decks- hadn't realized that that was a box that needed checking. Thank you for letting me know!

Beorn's deck in particular looks quite similar. I should probably try that one out and see how different they are in playing. Some differences I noticed just from eyeballing them:

-I really like Erestor's ability to sub out cards, since this deck relies on so many uniques.

-My Heir of Mardil on Imrahil is really nice, and synergizes with Denethor's ability perfectly.

-Valiant Sacrifice in my deck is probably a little redundant with Heir of Morthond, and could probably be replaced with a different ally to ensure that A Very Good Tale is more reliably useful.

-Armored Destrier is probably a better card than Sword of Numenor, though I do like Imrahil having a high attack...

-I'd have to experiment, but I'm not convinced that Reinforcements/For Gondor is as useful as the other cards, as the temporary bonus that they offer doesn't seem as useful as cards which offer a more permanent boost.

Reinforcements/For Gondor are in the sideboard for Beorn's deck, along with Dunedain Remedy, Sword Thain, and Errand Rider.

One thing that's interesting to me is that your deck is pegged as a solo deck, while Beorn's deck is intended for multiplayer. In MP triggering Imrahil's ability is much more likely, of course, even without the six chump blockers Beorn includes in his deck.

Heir of Mardil is certainly a great option for readying Imrahil. I love that card.

One notable attachment he has you are missing is Rod of the Steward, turning resources into card draw. Once you get Steward on Hirluin, you are going to run out of cards before you run out of resources, even with Sword of Morthond. I like that better than Valiant Sacrifice, especially since you aren't packing the chump blockers that Beorn has. Even though Men of the West exists, I don't like Outlands as chumpers, because everyone you lose is no longer boosting his fellows.

Armored Destrier *is* a better card than Sword of Numenor IMO, but I don't know that it's a better card for either deck. It lets Denethor defend twice (once safely), but at 3/3 I don't know how long Denethor can survive defending without any boosts, and as a solo player you hopefully don't have two foes to defend against very often. I'd honestly rather have Dunedain Warning than either Destrier or Sword of Numenor in your deck, if you see Denethor as primary defender.

If you think the resources are going to pile up, Song of Hope may be worth consideration. Willpower will be tight until the Ethir Swordsmen are out.

I agree on rod of the steward. Very good to help you with that card draw. And I would probably cut out sword of numenor, and leave out armored destrier. Dúnedain Warning or other signals would be my go to for this set up as well.

I think you should consider reinforcements because you have the possibility of more Gandalfing which will help with card draw or threat or whatever you need, he can block for you, attack, or quest, and then you pull him back. It’s a slightly more expensive sneak attack but if you had anyone else with enter play abilities it could be very good. Also leaving play is more Imrahil potential if you aren’t triggering that another way for the round! Actually the more I think about it the more I like it for card draw alone using Gandalf, and throwing his four willpower onto the questing phase, probably worth a try at least!

Men of the West can help you pull back anyone who is discarded with A Very Good Tale so I can see that as a nice combo.

I don’t think you are getting too much from visionary leadership but Faramir can be amazing when you have your mass of troops built up.

Those are my first impression thoughts at least! Welcome to the game! Glad you found a deck you are enjoying playing!