Good morning all,

For the purposes of enjoyment and possible inspiration for those struggling to find combos or wanting a blueprint to take and make their own, I thought I would share my solo Elf deck. This deck has taken a long time to get to where it is and while it could still use some tweaking I am very confident that it is the best deck I have made to date. Claims to fame for me and this deck? It was my first deck that successfully solo'd Journey Down The Anduin. It's the deck that beat The Redhorn Gate on my first ever attempt of it with a final threat of 0. This morning it beat my first ever attempt at Road to Rivendell with a final threat of 13, even with an Orc Ambush putting 8 Orcs in the staging area. I finally made a ringsdb account so I'll share the deck link and then provide some commentary beyond what is said in the notes.

https://ringsdb.com/deck/view/179942

Now I know what you're thinking. 52 cards? I live on the wild side. If you forced me to 50 I'd just drop 2 copies of Island Amid Perils. Actually I'd probably drop all 3 and add a second Test of Will now that I have two core sets. I like the threat drop with Haldir but don't typically need it. Also, before you ask why Warden of Healing in an Elven deck? I thought everyone knew that the Steward of Gondor regularly sends his Wardens to Elrond for a basic 3 week tutelage in healing. Once their apprenticeship is complete they return to Minas Tirith and begin their careers. Ok maybe not but I like them better for the deck then Elven healers.

While Arwen was an objective ally for Redhorn Gate and Road to Rivendell I swapped her out for Galadriel's Handmaiden x3. I missed her +1 defense response but loved her ally resource, and the handmaiden helped with threat reduction even more, sometimes doubling as a chump blocker.

What I like most about the deck is how it doesn't need the full engine up and running to run well. It has several ways to get in motion and go strong while you try to get the cards you need. I love the threat reduction especially. It could almost function as a mid-game secrecy deck with the right cards.

The most common thing I forget in this deck? The first turn allies enter play they do not exhaust to quest via Galadriel. Especially great with Gandalf! As my collection nears completion the only changes I would make at this point: I would remove Island Amid Perils and Miruvor, substituting them with the event Fair and Perilous and a second Test of Will now that I have a second core set.

So there you go, my pride and joy. Would love to hear your thoughts and comments, especially if you take it for a spin.

Having 3 Test of will seems more important to me than having 3 Elrond's counsel. You already have 2 Galadhrim's greeting + Galadriel for threat management (and Gandalf if needed), it's more than enough for most of the scenarios, while having 3 treachery cancellation is generally useful.

Ha! I keep thinking that a Test of Will is a 1x in the core. I will be correcting that very quickly! Thank you.

Is there any particular reason to use Favour of the Lady instead of Galadriel's Handmaiden/Elven Jeweller/Sailor of Lune/Woodland Courier/Galadhrim Minstrel/Master of the Forge?

I also would not use Island Amid Perils on Haldir. Assuming you are going to replace him after returning him to your hand, you pay 8 resources to reduce your threat by 4 and get an ally without an enter play effect. A Galadhrim's Greeting + Haldir reduces threat by 6 while only costing 7 resources and you do not need to wait for a 2 card combo. Likewise Elrond's Counsel and Haldir only cost 4 resources and still reduce threat by 3.

Galadriel’s Handmaiden swapped in for Arwen when I couldn’t use her.

Favor of the Lady It’s cheaper than each of those cards mentioned and I like the willpower boost on Glorfindel, anything that revolves around events isn’t needed as there really aren’t that many in the deck. Additionally if I run into something that discards an attachment (a treachery or a shadow effect without burning brand) I have an easier choice and don’t need to lose the important attachments.

Also up until the last month I didn’t have most of those cards.

Just a reminder that Haldir usually comes in for free via Vilya. If things go down right I am able to play Island Amid Perils and Vilya Haldir again so that he’s never paid for. The deck played co-op before going solo and I always liked having Haldir around for ranged/sentinel to help a friend if needed.

I guess I could drop favor of the lady to get to 50, but once I get fair and perilous and can put that in the deck I think I’ll want to keep it.

That's a fair point about discarding attachments, though Favor of the Lady costs the same as all the allies I mentioned. These would give you more flexibility if you do not need the extra willpower like more attack or the occasional chump blocker. And while there are not many events in the deck, the Galadhrim Minstrel can help you get these few copies out quicker.

In order to vilya Haldir again, he needs to be on top of your deck, which usually requires a Wizard Pipe or Gildor Inglorion. By the way, have you considered adding Henamarth to the deck for solo? Knowing what will come out in staging makes the quest phase a breeze.

I swear I’ve played this game before lol. Favor of the Lady is 2-cost. The minstrel would be tempting but the stargazers are already setting up my first five cards as needed. Then again with these new change ideas...

I want to say Henamarth Riversong was in the deck at some point. That’s a great suggestion to get him back in there. I could drop Haldir, drop Island Amid Perils and add 2 Henamarth and that second test of Will I need. Then replace the 3 Islands with Fair and Perilous (that pack came in today!).

In this case I probably drop both favors of the lady, put in my third a test of Will, then add one galadhrim minstrel.

The Haldir Vilya island amid Perils trick only worked when the stargazer is helping set my deck. Even without the cost I’m starting to think you’re right and it’s a combo that takes too long to setup, especially with some of the suggestions you have provided.

Backstory time: I also think way back in the day Gildor was in the deck. He kept coming up without Vilya out and it just wasn’t worth it so he left. This deck has been around in some way, shape or form for almost two years. My play of the game was very sporadic during this time so take that with a grain of salt. It (the deck) started two fellowship events ago when I got alt art Galadriel for showing up to the fellowship event in 2017. At that time my collection was 1 core, Mirkwood, Khazad-Dûm and dwarrowdelf and I think I was running a deck with (get this) Hama, Boromir and Glorfindel. I looked up Galadriel’s pack, got the idea and ordered it. That was right as the packs disappeared and were not reprinted for awhile, so when I built the deck I subbed in Éowyn until I got Celebrimbor’s Secret, which took over half a year.

It got close to where it is now in March of this year when I started aggressively completing my collection as reprints started popping back up here and there - or rather I started paying more attention to them. Eventually it got to where it is now. I think I’ll try to finish Dwarrowdelf with it, then I will take it apart to build my newest crazy Elven idea (Círdan, Arwen, Haldir).

Sorry for the rambling, I paid a lot of lore for this attachment. 😜

Glad to be of help.

Fair and Perilous gave me an interesting idea: Glorfindel with Nor am I a Stranger and Herugrim could make the attack boost permanent, though the sword without the title is useless. But then a Master of the Forge can help you get the attachments and more importantly shuffles the deck, if the wrong cards on top of it.

I'm one of those people who couldn't care less if their deck had over fifty cards, too!

I don't understand this thing about not having over 50 cards that keeps coming up. As far as I know, you're supposed to have a minimum of 50 cards, not a maximum. Is there some sort of unspoken rule I'm not aware of?

@Vince79 The bigger your deck is, the less likely it is for a specific card to be drawn. For instance, in a 50 card deck with 3 copies of Steward of Gondor, the probability to have 1 copy on top of your deck is 3/50=6%. Now if you build a 60 card deck with 3 copies of Steward, the probability to have one copy on top of your deck is 3/60=5%. Of course as you draw cards, the probability increases to hit a specific card, until you draw one.

You can also calculate the probability for a specific card in your starting hand, which probably is more applicable then the example above but also more difficult. How familiar are you with combination?

5 hours ago, Amicus Draconis said:

@Vince79 The bigger your deck is, the less likely it is for a specific card to be drawn. For instance, in a 50 card deck with 3 copies of Steward of Gondor, the probability to have 1 copy on top of your deck is 3/50=6%.

Oh, I get that. It's just that people talk about 50 cards like it is some sort of hard and fast rule. If your deck has more than 50 cards, there's no need to apologize for it.

Oh I was not taking the rule hard and fast, that was my attempt at some light hearted fun for having a deck at 52, pretending that someone was going to react crazy because I went over 50. Admittedly most of my decks end up in the 50-55 range.

My (designed for 3 player) Dúnedain ranger combat deck checks in at 60 and I’ve been over it multiple times - I don’t want to take anything out and it’s crushing in the quests I’ve played with it.

Taking the wrong card out of a deck in order to trim down to 50 can be far more costly than having a very small less likelihood of not drawing another card.