I played through a game myself with this deck. And even though I'm not the greatest player and did things like forget to include the three Gandalfs (I added them halfway through the game, but still got stinted for another few turns regardless), and played Steward of Gondor on Eowyn instead of Beravor, the deck did well. It seems to be the case that having the three spheres involved condensed into one player leads to a more efficient game, since you don't get the extra staging draws from another player. It's the magic draws from Beravor that make a multi-sphered deck like this work.

For deck construction with only one core set, three-sphere decks seem to be the way to go, even if they're rather tricky. You will almost always need incredible draw to pull it off, but that's what Lore is for.

(If people are interested in the full, detailed game log, including unheeded prayers for Gandalf, it's on my blog.)

Here is another also very good deck to play. I like this deck more then Beravur/Gloin/Eowyn. This deck play more fast more fun and you still have chance to lose.

Total Cards (50)

Hero (3)
Eowyn (Core) x1
Gimli (Core) x1
Theodred (Core) x1

Ally (11)
Faramir (Core) x2
Gandalf (Core) x3
Northern Tracker (Core) x3
Lorien Guide (Core) x3

Attachment (14)
Celebrian's Stone (Core) x2
Citadel Plate (Core) x3
Dwarven Axe (Core) x3
Steward of Gondor (Core) x3
Unexpected Courage (Core) x3

Event (25)
A Test of Will (Core) x3
Dwarven Tomb (Core) x2
Feint (Core) x3
Quick Strike (Core) x3
Sneak Attack (Core) x3
Stand and Fight (Core) x3
The Galadhrim's Greeting (Core) x3
Valiant Sacrifice (Core) x2
Hasty Stroke (Core) x3

Strategy: Gimly is killing machine. With plate, axe and U.courage on him he is unbeaten. He can make 12 damage is enough to kill any enemy in the game for now with one strike. Quick strike kill them even before they can come close.
Theodred for quest and add resources to heroes.He can died in the end if need it.
Eowyn she is for quest and counter some nasty with hasty stroke and test of will(and reduce threat with galadrimes greatings).
Faramir for quest and Gandalf depend of situation.Kill, draw, reduce treat.

A little off: I need sleep, i read dwarfen womb instead of dwarfen tomb.

IMO, best deck:

(8) Theodred
(9) Eowyn
(8) Dunhere

3 Wandering Took
3 Northern Tracker
3 The Galadhrim's Greeting
1 Will of the West - used when majority of power events(Sneak Attack, Valiant Sacrifice, Stand and Fight, Dwarven Tomb) are in a discard pile.
3 A Test of Will - mainly vs fast Pursued by Shadow
3 Stand and Fight - mainly for Gandalf and Gleowine
3 Dwarven Tomb
1 Fortune or Fate - the only form of healing in this deck
3 Unexpected Courage

3 Guard of the Citadel - can be played turn 1 if needed with Stand and Fight
2 Faramir - he is needed later anyway, so 3 copies seem too many
1 Son of Arnor - mainly vs Sniper
3 Snowbourn Scout
1 Ever Vigilant - mainly for Gandalf and Faramir
3 Sneak Attack
3 Valiant Sacrifice
3 Steward of Gondor
2 Celebrian's Stone

3 Gandalf - I often use threat/wound skill too much and forget that sometimes drawing is the best option.
2 Gleowine - 2 cards and 6 resorces per turn is much better than 1 card and 6 resorces per turn
1 Henemarth Riversong - can be played turn 1 if needed with Stand and Fight and peeking is extremely useful

Deck is a bit boring but very consistent, wins very easily and very fast.

Turn 1 ally/UC is often very needed vs intial 3 (or even more if surge happens) shadow cards. I use bold to show which cards are a good turn 1 material.

Haha deadeb!

I was right about Eowyn.For scenario 2 is a must and now they all can see this.Wen you start thinking the best deck for scenario 2 you always start your deck with Eowyn and then you search the rest cards for your deck .

I have not been able to beat scenario 2 with any standard, mono-sphere deck that comes with the core set; so, I decided to try this deck. My first hand was a disaster (I hadn't shuffled very well, I got all Lore cards). I reshuffled and drew again, and low and behold, I won!!! Ending score of 26!

It was a little slow going; I had a lot of Spirit cards and few resources on Eowyn (and conversely, lots of resources on Beravor and Gloin, and few cards to spend it on).

Once Faramir was down, this was a power questing deck and I was able to keep threat down until I chose to engage the Hill Troll. Because I blazed through the Anduin so quickly, I only had 2 enemies to destroy (bats and beastmaster), which I was able to handle easily, with my plethora of allies.

Now, all I have left to conquer (i've not even tried!) is quest 3...

Dain Ironfoot said:

Congrats for beating the scenario

I assume you mean the Eastern Crows with bats, do you? The bats are only in the passage thorough mirkwood-scenario.

yeah, musta been crows! i just remember a lot of little black "dots" for the artwork and them being reshuffled back into the deck once defeated.

it was so exciting to beat the scenario! i just gotta think a bit about how to beat scenario 3.

i can beat scenario 1 with leadership relatively consistently now. i've beaten it with tactics once. need to try it again with lore and spirit, just for kicks.

Dain Ironfoot said:

If you wonna beat a third scenario take your friend with you. For solo play is impossible. 2 players is ok .

Glaurung said:

Yep, my wife and I just beat it yesterday on the second try with the following mix (one core):

Gimli, Legolas (Prisoner), Breavor

Aragorn, Eowen, Dunhere

We just survived bascially due to the fact that i managed to reduce the thread for us both dramatically and I managed to use my one of my 2 Gandalf twice, so 3 Gandalf uses all in all. Otherwise, threat would have killed us, but we manged the fighting greatly I have to admit.

Still, we will defenitely try that again. Guys, play the community created "Helping friends" scenario. Sorry, I don't remember the name of the guy who created it. But we lost this one with two players recently. Its really nice, and fullfills its mission to keep its difficulty steady and even become harder towards the end.

Iver said:

Yes i use to play this scenario. For one player is ok. But for 2 players like always too easy.

The most interesting and difficult still Dol-Guldur.

All NinjaDorg scenarios is also to easy. I try all of them long time ago already (except the last one With HFG cards).And dont want to play again there no challenge at all.

So for now there is no any fan made scenario which one is really done properly . Still helping friends is the best from them on my choice.

Have another scenario done by one german guy. Call Chasing the orc. Very interesting idea with some new cards added. Very interesting game play.

But still too easy again.

DurinIII said:

I really don't understand what you mean by "Eowyn provides much of the willpower points you need when you start finally questing" and "The point of this deck is to only quest when you absolutely can score a huge amount of progress." When you start questing? Only quest when... As in, you don't quest every turn? How do you handle the increase in your threat level when you have ZERO willpower to compare to the total threat in the staging area? Are you sure you're playing by the same rules the rest of us are?

You quest every turn. But you don't "overquest". For example, if there's 4 points of threat in the staging area, you can assume revealing 1 additional card will add 2 or 3 points, so you try to quest with 6 or 7 points of willpower's worth of character.

A good tool to manage when / how to quest is with Hemanarth Riversong. He lets you peak at the top card, so you use him before the end of the turn and you can then plan exactly what needs to be done on the next turn. That way, you can keep characters with special abilities ready and use them for other purposes than questing. Denethor can fullfil a similar function (as well as getting rid of a nasty card, but then you face the "unknown", which is often worse than the worst cards (personnally, for example, I never, ever quest with characters that have only 1 life if I may meet a Necromancer's Reach. But if I peek and see the Reach coming, I'll leave it there and play around it, even if it means taking 1 or 2 points of threat increase, rather than swap it and then face the unknown, which could just as well be another Necromancer's Reach).

I understand the intricacies of questing and overquesting and when it is appropriate to quest everyone and when you need to tone things down a bit, but DurinIII makes it sound in his post that I quoted above that he doesn't quest at all some turns, in particular against the Anduin scenario as he's talking about in that post, as if his threat will only go up at the end of each turn, by one, and he can just save up a few turns worth of resources before he plays anything, quests, and has to turn over any additional encounter cards.

tldr; I know how to play, I'm not sure DurinIII does. (NOT meant as an attack, just summarizing)

I have played 4 times this deck and never lost:

Solo Spirit/Tactics

Solo Spirit/Tactics

Hero (3)
Eowyn (Core) x1
Thalin (Core) x1
Dunhere (Core) x1

Ally (15)
Northern Tracker (Core) x3
Lorien Guide (Core) x3
Gondorian Spearman (Core) x3
Wandering Took (Core) x3
Gandalf (Core) x3

Attachment (12)
Unexpected Courage (Core) x3
Dwarven Axe (Core) x3
Blade of Gondolin (Core) x3
The Favor of the Lady (Core) x3

Event (27)
The Galadhrim's Greeting (Core) x3
Hasty Stroke (Core) x3
Stand and Fight (Core) x3
Swift Strike (Core) x3
Quick Strike (Core) x3
Feint (Core) x3
Blade Mastery (Core) x3
Stand Together (Core) x3
Strength of Will (Core) x3

Saramund said:

I have a very similar deck that I posted on another site:

Voltron Dunhere

the only difference being you have some defensive cards where I tried to use Gleowine and Faramir.

I have my best solo scores with this deck but still have no chance on Dol Guldur