This was quick and easy to generate, though the sample decks are prior to Out of the Wild errata. (This errata is good for Rossiel decks in general, but may have made Scroll of Isildur less popular.)

https://ringsdb.com/decklist/view/11718/astereotypicalrossieldeck-1.0

Funny you just did this one. It would probably be the same if you called it Victory Display deck. Not to argue numbers, of course, I actually think Rossiel is not the best fit for such a deck, she actually does not do too much. Out of the Wild is the best card to get things moving, meaning secrecy is key. Rossiel is probably best for questing but locations are usually the least irritating encounters, so I prefer to pull treacheries and surging enemies. I think Smeagol might be good in this deck, with Mirlonde and either Haldir or Denethor (depending on what you want to specialize on), perhaps even Damrod. I am looking forward to place one copy of Stinker into the Victory display with Out of the Wild and discarding the other with the Door is Closed.

As for the stereotypical deck, I wonder about the absence of Risk Some Light, probably my favourite secrecy card, and one that makes the opening round(s) so much easier as a rule.

Risk Some Light was in 4 of 12 decks. All five of the victory display events were in all 12 decks, Mithrandir's Advice was in 11 of 12, and Daeron's Runes was in 6 of 12. Evening Star gets in with a loophole -- it was only in 2 decks, but those were the only two decks to include cards later than Angmar cycle. Gildor's Counsel (5/12) was also popular, showing that a goodly number of these decks aren't meant for one-deck solo.

Calling it a victory display deck would undoubtedly return the same lineup, there's more Keen As Lances decks that have Rossiel than there are that lack Rossiel.

I like Rossiel best as a defender, since 4 defense and natural target for A Burning Brand go well together. I'm usually more in need of solid defense than an additional 2 willpower. But that works best in quests were the enemies all share a type, or at least most enemies share a type with the boss. But if you're partnering with non-SpGlorfindel spirit, Light of Valinor goes well on her. I do like an initial Out of the Wild grabbing a location when it shares a type with a starting active location, when I want a quick start. For one-deck solo play, the likelihood of having an active location during the quest is significantly smaller.

Thanks for the analysis. I really think this is not a great solo deck, but I have not tried it enough. In coop, Gildor’s Counsel is a great card, though I prefer to play it with a Lore Hobbit hero on Good Meal for 1.

Once I posted about Rossiel being best at questing I immediately thought about her defence. There are usually some nasty enemies you want to get rid off with Out of the Wild.

But are you sure this deck is any good at questing? Of course, it needs not be in coop with the other questing but then you basically need to pair it with a quester/fighter deck. Perhaps Leadership Tactics Gondor would be good shilst this mono-Lore takes care of the encounter deck. But then again, Rossiel as a defender, who would do the killing?

I haven't played the stereotypical deck, but it isn't dramatically different than the deck I used for my Dori and Rossiel fellowship. I took that through the last four quests of the Dwarrowdelf cycle, and it did fine until it hit Shadow and Flame -- the problem wasn't questing or defense, it was getting adequate attack. It relies on allies for killing. (I also used a Rossiel deck in the March league, but that had Treebeard as one of the heroes.)

But will it quest well? I suppose it depends on what your threshold is. Mirlonde/Pippin provides 4 willpower, Rossiel can provide another four if you are using her for questing *and* have a matching location. With the low threat you can usually just send everyone questing early, and though it's not ally-heavy all the allies have willpower and several having matching cost/willpower. Would it be better with 3x Wellinghall Preservers and a copy of Firyal? Definitely. This isn't remotely an optimal deck, but I think it will quest adequately for solo play. It doesn't quest well enough that you could pair it with a strict combat deck, but a deck that provides some questing of its own and some ranged combat allies would be good.

I paired my Rossiel deck with Dori/Eleanor/Balin to have a cancel themed deck. (And because I originally planned on taking the fellowship against the first two Dwarrowdelf quests, where having built in shadow/treachery cancelling would nerf that stupid Sleeping Sentry).

You should understand that whilst I appreciate the look at stereotypical decks, I also use this as an opportunity to discuss what others (or just you in this case) find good in certain archetypes. And maybe share my experience as well.

I tried a Rossiel deck in two players games a few time ago, I find it fun to play.

I have a question about Keen as lance : you count every cards in the victory display ? I mean, when you play Out of the wild, you add Ootw and another card in the victory display, so you reduce the cost of keen as lances by 2 ? And you also count each quest stage you have already done ? (are they sent to the victory display ? I'm not sure)

You count non-VP cards in the victory display for Keen As Lances. Side quests go to the victory display, but have VPs. I don't believe quest stages are designated to go anywhere, I just set them out of play. Since Out of the Wild goes to the victory display now, an opening out of the wild reduces Keen as Lances to three out of the gate (if you have OOW in opening hand). None Return and Leave No Trace also add themselves to the victory display (as does Keen As Lances) so it can get cheap quickly. The practical issue for me is that I only have three copies of Keen as Lances, so I can't take full advantage of the victory display when playing two-handed.

One bad thing about the errata, aside from shenanigans, is that you can't recycle Out of the Wild with Scroll of Isildur. And it can't play The Door is Closed, which is such a great card when it can be used.

I was surprised at how popular Erebor Hammersmith was in the Rossiel deck sample. They're pretty light on attachments, so even if you're running Daeron's Runes and Protector of Lorien you wouldn't always have a good target.

What is this errata ?

Out of the Wild as released did not put itself into the victory display. So it was possible to use extreme recursion to remove the entire encounter deck....

I usually end thinking long about the Hammersmith. He is versatile, 3 hp can be useful for archery, and even the 1 attack is not bad for mono-Lore. But there usually are not many good targets. It really gets much better with a Hobbit and Good Meal. I usually end up playing two copies of the Dwarf.

The Door is Closed can really be amazing, but you really need a proper deck, and think of the Out of the Wild choices very carefully. Scout Ahead can help but I think it is not worth without secrecy and OotW.

Scroll of isildur is only usefull for the draw events and the door is closed. Is it really interesting ? I mean, enough to put 3 copies of the scroll ?

Door cannot be recycled with Scroll, only actions, not responses.

As I said, I play Risk Some Light, and that is one of the strongest events in the game as long as you are in Secrecy, so recycling it for 1 in total is a great deal.

Oh yes, my bad.

Risk some light seems interesting to recycle, I admit

At the time the Rossiel decks were created, Scroll of Isildur could recycle Out of the Wild, and even at 3-cost that's not bad. Recycling Mithrandir's Advice isn't bad either, since card draw comes in handy with or without Protector of Lorien. And if you are running Protector of Lorien or Daeron's Runes, Scroll of Isildur can be used not just to recycle events, but to play them for the first time.

It doesn't work to recycle Door Is Closed, sadly, because it is a response.

And of course, the actual decks had events not found in the stereotypical deck that lend themsleves to recycling. Gildor's Counsel. Risk Some Light. Peace and Thought. Ravens of the Mountains. Tree People. Deep Knowledge.

Risk Some Light is a powerful card in secrecy, but Rossiel's secrecy window is very limited with this hero lineup.

Yes, and it is why I second my own notion, she is perhaps not the best choice for a VD deck, since OotW is such a prominent card there, and if you’re not in Secrecy, then you cannot afford much more than that early. I think either mono-Lore with Mirlonde or minor Spirit with Glorfindel are the best options. Mirlonde Folco Pippin start at 16.

With Folco in the mix you can do Rossiel/Mirlonde/Folco and get back into secrecy as a Strider deck. (And with a lot of other lore heroes as well, for that matter.) If in secrecy, deck manipulation isn't too expensive for two lore heroes. Another option is Rossiel/Mirlonde-or-Pippin/SpMerry -- starts at 20, but has reasonable prospects of being in secrecy long term. (In fact, Rossiel/SpMerry/SpGlorfindel might be an excellent option -- start at 19, access to repeatable threat reduction and Elrond's Counsel, and can afford Galadhrim's Greetings.)

Rossiel doesn't enable VD, but she uniquely benefits from it. Leaving Rossiel out to save 2-3 threat makes sense from the perspective that secrecy *does* enable VD, but if you want to stay in secrecy you need Folco or repeatable threat reduction -- or both. With that said, the classic Rossiel deck can probably afford to pay full cost for Risk Some Light and Out of the Wild after the first few turns, because it's mono lore and most of its events are cheap. Starting in secrecy is important for powering up Rossiel's defense right away (or questing, if you start with an active location), but staying in secrecy much less so. The issue is that it means you *aren't* using that first Out of the Wild for a nasty treachery and instead are using it for an enemy/location -- and selecting them for commonness rather than obnoxiousness. But honestly, what I love about Door is Closed is cancelling enemies, not treacheries. Make Angmar Orc go poof! Try that, Eleanor.

The main weakness of the stereotypical deck IMO as a solo deck is that it should have more allies and better allies. Some of this is timing, the sample includes no recently-made decks and so is missing some of the excellent Lore allies that have been released in the past few cycles, especially Firyal.

I find both really useful, enemies and treacheries, locations much less so with the Door. And then you really dispose of the extra willpower and Rossiel has no advantage in that department over other 2 willpower heroes like Mirlonde (three less treat cost, potentially) or Pippin (2 less threat cost and extra ability). So the question comes back to her defense, is she worth it there? I guess it only makes sense once you also commit to a Burning Brand, otherwise even on 4 defense it seems too risky. And as said above, even if you take care of the defense, the attack might be the hardest for such a deck, so is it worth it to commit to the defense strategy and make it worthwile by pumping the deck with attackers? Is it not better to concentrate on things this deck can do better (encounter manipulation, etc.)?

Let's just look at Mirlonde vs Rossiel. In the general case would I pay 2-3 more starting threat (though still in secrecy) to setup Rossiel's defense? Absolutely, positively yes -- unless there's some reason to believe that the deck will *not* regularly defend. Just starting and secrecy and manipulating the encounter deck isn't sufficient for that -- partnering with a dedicated combat deck, or with a deck with strong sentinel defense, or a stay-in-secrecy deck that can attack the staging area would.

Would I pay 2-3 more starting threat to setup Rossiel's extra questing? Depends on how likely it is to kick in. In two-handed paired with a combat deck, sure. In certain quests that start with an active location and need high initial questing, sure.

Would I pay 2-3 more starting threat, if readying is available, to setup both? Absolutely. Rossiel, when set up, provides a *lot* of bang for her relatively low threat cost.

The *real* cost IMO to using Rossiel in a victory display deck isn't the slightly higher threat -- Mirlonde may keep you in secrecy longer, but she does nothing to keep you in secrecy, and only Out of the Wild and Risk Some Light even care about secrecy. The real cost is using Out of the Wild and Double Back to boost Rossiel *instead* of removing the most damaging card available from the deck. You only get four bites at removal, and if you want to set up Rossiel quickly instead of waiting for None Return or Leave no Trace, you may remove less optimally. In that respect, replacing Rossiel with someone else -- anyone else -- will make the encounter deck manipulation stronger. Denethor/Mirlonde/Pippin starts at 20 and gives you a hero who can not only defend at need but has his own built-in manipulation, and is probably the best non-Folco mono-lore lineup for deck manipulation.

So while Rossiel decks are the most common VD decks, they don't play the same way as non-Rossiel VD decks, and is not likely to be the best deck for deck manipulation. If you're running a deck manipulation support deck in a multi-deck environment, Rossiel may be just a distraction. A mono-lore non-Rossiel VD deck with some of the excellent lore questers could be quite useful in that environment.

But for a solo VD deck, you're probably going to have to attack and defend, and in that environment Rossiel's ability to start in a secrecy deck and yet be able to quest/defend well has a lot of utility. Before Folco Boffin existed, Rossiel/Pippin/Mirlonde likely is the best solo lineup for a mono-lore VD deck. But Folco's a game changer and allows all sorts of combinations to effectively play the VD cards.

Further, looking at Rossiel through the narrow lens of maximal encounter manipulation isn't necessary. Even if another lineup represented the Optimal Encounter Manipulation Deck (quite possible), the Optimal Rossiel Deck would still be fun and interesting to play.

20 starting threat is better but it is not my point. At 16 you can stay in secrecy most of the game or all game, unless you play one of the threat hating quests. Just a copy of Lances will give you four more rounds, and you will not see the Lances much unless you start in secrecy because OotW is too costly, and 20 start is still too risky; or unless you go for the other VD events but I find them waste of slots, mostly.

But I am glad you’re enjoying Rossiel. I really wanted to, and I like the art, but couldn’t that much.

And I agree with the solo point, but I am afraid that even with Rossiel, you are not going to crack many quests on regular basis with the VD deck. Have you? I have not played it enough (solo) to know from experience.

The only solo Rossiel deck I've played was my Rossiel/Treebeard/Damrod deck for the March league. It struggled mightily with Carn Dum, but that's to be expected. I had won the previous league, so I went for fun instead of utility. I've played something very similar to the stereotypical deck successfully, but in multiplayer -- however, the complementary deck did *not* have ranged attackers and it still did fine until it reached Shadow and Flame.

Looking on ringsdb there's some battle-tested solo decks using Rossiel.

https://ringsdb.com/decklist/view/5524/flawless-victory-1.0

Uses Rossiel/Thurindir/SpGlorfindel, so you're guaranteed to start with Scout Ahead. Meant for multiplayer but defeated nightmare Down the Anduin solo in two attempts. (There's an updated version of the deck with the same lineup.)

https://ringsdb.com/decklist/view/10684/rossiel-the-ent-waifu-1.0

Uses TaEowyn instead of Mirlonde for access to red ents.

https://ringsdb.com/decklist/view/95/become-the-forest-cotr-deckbox-1.0

Classic lineup, described as great in solo or 3+ players.

Glorfindel Thurindir is a favourite couple of mine. I think they make the deck in question strong, not Rossiel. But thanks, for all the input.

Thurindir is a great hero, and I'll agree that both Thurindir and SpGlorfindel are more powerful/useful heroes than Rossiel. With that said, Rossiel is the primary defender for the deck, not just a spare part. I don't think you could improve that deck by substituting LoPippin or Mirlonde, and you'd have to remake it to use Folco in place in Rossiel.

I can't really say that about my Dori fellowships, most of which would be improved by a straight substitute of TaBeregond for Dori.