Recently, I ordered Fire in the Night. Mainly because of Thranduil and therefore the revival of the silvian trait.

As it should ship every moment, I did wonder which third hero might be the best fit. Initially I was with a green silvan, most probably Haldir of Lorien (easier access to The Tree People, Silvan Tracker and Galadhrim Ministers). But good ol' Galadriel might also be a good choice (Test of Will, Galion trickery, Handmaiden, Weaver and Quicker than Sight, also the double action bonus from Galadriel), which I favour more, because of the new blue cards from that pack.

Anyhow, Bifur combo with Unlikely Friendship came to my mind, which I thought would be the most used/best option when it comes to building a powerful and stable deck.

So in the end I did a quick research on RingsDB, finding not a single Bifur themed deck, also (as I expected) way more Galadriel decks than decks with a green silvan hero. As an add on I noticed a full leadership combo with Gildor Inglorion, which I absolutely had not on my mind. Fun-wise the latter should be the best hero-lineup (Reinforcements plus Gandalf, yay!). Well, at least I can imagine it this way.

In the end; thanks for reading and long story short: do you guys already have tried any Thranduil based decks and can you share your thoughts which third hero to pick and what the strengths of the resulting decks (especially for 4 player parties) were? I like some readings to shorten my wait! :)

5 minutes ago, Flrbb said:

As it should ship every moment, I did wonder which third hero might be the best fit. Initially I was with a green silvan, most probably Haldir of Lorien (easier access to The Tree People, Silvan Tracker and Galadhrim Ministers). But good ol' Galadriel might also be a good choice (Test of Will, Galion trickery, Handmaiden, Weaver and Quicker than Sight, also the double action bonus from Galadriel), which I favour more, because of the new blue cards from that pack.

Anyhow, Bifur combo with Unlikely Friendship came to my mind, which I thought would be the most used/best option when it comes to building a powerful and stable deck.

So in the end I did a quick research on RingsDB, finding not a single Bifur themed deck, also (as I expected) way more Galadriel decks than decks with a green silvan hero. As an add on I noticed a full leadership combo with Gildor Inglorion, which I absolutely had not on my mind. Fun-wise the latter should be the best hero-lineup (Reinforcements plus Gandalf, yay!). Well, at least I can imagine it this way.

Since Thranduil's ability lets you play Silvans from every sphere i find that using a Lore hero is less necessary, the only real benefit would be for The Tree People. I personally experimented with some success using Galadriel as the third hero, using her threat reduction/draw effect quite often to accelerate the deck (and also using the Mirror+Silver Harp combo). She also lets you play Galion in the planning phase and with her ring you get access to Lore.

Gildor could also be a good idea for a mono leadership approach (Reinforcements + A Good Tale + Strenght of Arms).

I agree. Lore is far less necessary and Galadriel gives you lore access if you really want to run the tree people which is now less necessary as well.

Thranduil and celeborn allow a 2 leadership hero deck with Silvan which is something totally new compared to previous 3 sphere typical deck.

Galadriel seems only more powerful in this new Silva deck with less returning to hand event and repeatable Action advantage granted by the new attachement. Gallon is good for free consistent replay when you do not have better option.

Thranduil ability allow now to include tactic allies without relaying on cheating solution/Elrond. Leadership has 2 solid non unique silvan allies and a couple of good combat event.

Galadriel ability and celeborn boost combine very well as they always did and now with double leadership hero the resource curve/discount increase so that we can play easily 2 allies per round (1 in sphere in planning and 1 in combact in/off sphere as suits more).

I think thranduil opens a LOT of new Silva deck combination even few without Celeborn or Galadriel.

I haven't tried it yet, but hero Gandalf could be fun. His neutral resources are less of a detriment with Thranduil's ability, plus with a Wizard Pipe he can play Galion from the top of the deck each round, resulting in a free card draw.

4 hours ago, Halberto said:

Thranduil ability allow now to include tactic allies without relaying on cheating solution/Elrond.

Why not just using Legolas?

5 hours ago, Amicus Draconis said:

Why not just using Legolas?

Mainly defence. Plus legolas has no real synergy with Silvan but theme and find space for his Attachement can be difficult.

If I have to choose a tactic hero as third I would probably go with beregon or imrahil I think.

Elrond solve defence and access to tactic allies from hand. But 33 startimg threat is so much...

Thranduil solve defence, ally access and has less threat. Plus with 2 lead heroes you can have a faster start.

I'd say a hero from tactics is the less fitting choice.

How about adding Spirit Bard? Access to spirit events, tactics weapons/armor, threat not too high, and you can get attachments on Silvans back if you take them out of play. (Plus you could put Elf-friend on Gandalf and get him back before losing him.)

3 hours ago, dalestephenson said:

How about adding Spirit Bard? Access to spirit events, tactics weapons/armor, threat not too high, and you can get attachments on Silvans back if you take them out of play. (Plus you could put Elf-friend on Gandalf and get him back before losing him.)

Silvan opens a LOT of side lateral deck building options. Elf friend increases them too.

Think of treebeard elf friended with elven king.... very fun

I'm not seeing the synergy with elf-friend and Treebeard. Treebeard is an expensive ally you want to stay in play, Gandalf is an expensive ally you don't want to end up in the discard. Saruman, Galadriel, Elrond are also 1-round allies who could be saved, along with Hama or Beorn if you use their ability. Other than that I don't think there's a lot of allies with sufficiently powerful enter/leaves play that you'd want to displace actual Silvans, with the possible exception of Eomund when partnered with a Rohan deck.

1 hour ago, dalestephenson said:

I'm not seeing the synergy with elf-friend and Treebeard. Treebeard is an expensive ally you want to stay in play, Gandalf is an expensive ally you don't want to end up in the discard. Saruman, Galadriel, Elrond are also 1-round allies who could be saved, along with Hama or Beorn if you use their ability. Other than that I don't think there's a lot of allies with sufficiently powerful enter/leaves play that you'd want to displace actual Silvans, with the possible exception of Eomund when partnered with a Rohan deck.

I'm thinking that the subject here is hero Treebeard, where you could use elven king to get readying when you bring Silvan allies back to hand.

What about spirit Legolas and leadership Gimli? I don’t have Galatia Gandalf.

11 minutes ago, Onidsen said:

I'm thinking that the subject here is hero Treebeard, where you could use elven king to get readying when you bring Silvan allies back to hand.

Good point. Elf-friend/Elvenking would actually work nicely on the traditional Silvan splash (Galadriel) if she has Nenya -- recycle Silvans while readying to use her ability.

Spirit Legolas as the third may not be too bad, he can ready Celeborn when questing and then be readied by Elvenking, if needed.

LeGimli I don't think would make a good third, his thing is defense and that's also Thranduil's strength. Plus you want the third hero to open up another sphere for Silvan recursion events, though with Narvi's Belt any dwarf could give access to the Silvan events.

2 hours ago, dalestephenson said:

Good point. Elf-friend/Elvenking would actually work nicely on the traditional Silvan splash (Galadriel) if she has Nenya -- recycle Silvans while readying to use her ability.

Yes i forgot to specify i was referring to treebeard hero. Elvenking and self friend allow to build a readyng loop for him in deck featuring lore and leaderships heros without access to spirit.

Lets say play naith guide for 1, quest with treebeard without exhausting and then during combat you have two actions at the cost of returning naith guide to your hand ready to be played next turn. Rinse and repeat. Not bad and not to difficult to put in place. Plus making treebeard Silvan gives him some free healing with Silvan tracker....

Not material for a top tier deck but surely viable and probably fun.

I have created a multiplayer deck on this line of heroes with Prince Imrahil Leadership.

https://ringsdb.com/decklist/view/11108/thanduil-war-jump-1.0

We have recursive Jump with Elvenking which ready Prince Imrahil and good draw solution with lord of Morthond (which can be played on Prince Imrahil).

wow. that is a very good idea!

Since Thranduil is available he switched into my Dwarven Bulwark - Silvan Archery themed deck and replaces Celeborn ..
https://ringsdb.com/deck/view/44211

And if you wanna try something more Lord of Morthond-style you can have a look at my Lord of Morthond and Silvans deck ..
https://ringsdb.com/deck/view/133893

Besides this i think Celeborn/Galadriel is a perfect combo to play with the "good" silvan allies (spirit/lore) and Thranduil on its own best for playing the "bad" one (tactics/leadership).
In order to play every round up to 2 silvan allies i think you should divide Celeborn from Thranduil in two different decks.