I always play with 2 decks these days, so thought I'd post the decks I've been using. I've managed to beat all the Core Set quests and all the Shadows of Mirkwood cycle with these decks, but it's always challenging and by no means high win rates on the harder quests.

My scope was that I wanted to create themed decks. The first deck is Dunedain/Eagle and the second deck is Hobbit/Silvan. I refined the decks as I went along, taking out dead cards that I just didn't use, but always tried to keep within the theme. Hence the absence of Steward of Gondor (Aragorn is in his Strider guise here), and no Miner of the Iron Hills etc.

THE CALL OF THE WILD

Aragorn, Berevor, Brand son of Bain

2 Common Cause
3 Celebrian's Stone
3 Dunedain Mark
3 Dunedain Warning
3 Radagast's Cunning
2 Strider's Path
3 Song of Kings
3 Radagast
3 Song of Battle
3 Northern Tracker
3 Hasty Stroke
3 A Test of Will
3 Winged Guardian
3 The Eagles Are Coming!
2 Landroval
3 Vassal of the Windlord
2 Eagles Of The Misty Mountains
3 Support Of The Eagles

IN THE COMPANY OF ELVES

Bilbo Baggins, Frodo Baggins, Legolas

2 Silverlode Archer
3 Sneak Attack
2 Daughter of the Nimrodel
3 Secret Paths
3 Forest Snare
3 Protector of Lorien
3 A Burning Brand
3 Fast Hitch
3 Gandalf
3 Song of Wisdom
3 Song of Travel
2 Lorien Guide
3 The Galadhrim's Greeting
3 Unexpected Courage
2 Ancient Mathom
3 Feint
3 Blade of Gondolin
3 Song of Mocking

There's a strong reliance on Song Cards as both decks are mixed from all the Spheres (to preserve the theme). This can make it a little slow to build, but can end up with very powerful combinations. The first Song of Kings should go over to Legolas to pay for Sneak Attack when it comes up. Song of Travel is best on Berevor to help pay for Northern Trackers, A Test of Will and Hasty Stroke (along with Aragorn when he has Celebrian's Stone)

The Hobbit/Silvan deck is the workhorse of the two. Ideally Bilbo ends up with multiple Dunedain Warnings, Burning Brand, Fast Hitch and Song of Mocking to put damage onto Frodo if needed (who in turn converts to Threat). If Song of Mocking is not available then Frodo becomes the chief defender, hopefully with a Fast Hitch so he can quest as well. Legolas gets loaded with the offensive Attachments like Dunedain Mark, Blade of Gondolin and Support of the Eagles.

The Dunedain/Eagle deck is more a Support Deck, with Aragorn questing with Celebrian's Stone. Berevor Quests and card boosts with Unexpected Courage. Brand is great when combined with Legolas. You should be drawing most of the enemies over to the Hobbits to defend against. Legolas can then attack with Brand, hopefully destroying an enemy, then Legolas is readied by Brand to attack another enemy. If Legolas is loaded with Attachments he becomes a real monster slayer and can potentially add 8 Progress tokens in a turn with 2 Blade of Gondolins. This deck has quite high starting threat (32) which can be a problem on quests like Journey Down The Anduin. The Galadhrim's Greetings should be used solely on this deck, whilst the Hobbit/Eagle deck uses the Gandalf/Sneak Attack combo to keep it's threat down.

With the Eagles, Winged Guardian's enable great defensive power (remember to keep a Resource token back to keep them in the game). Vassal of the Windlord is excellent to help take out a big enemy (it has Ranged as well). If you have Support of the Eagles in play, it's worth just having around to boost attack strength. If you do use Vassal of the Windlord you can then add the card to Eagles of the Misty Mountains if it is in play.

All in all these decks have been really fun to play and surprisingly effective.

Interesting stuff! I'm especially intrigued by your decision to put Brand opposite Legolas instead of across from Beravor. I almost always use Brand to help Beravor draw more cards, but it seems like you've chosen to favor the additional progress tokens over extra draw options.

What are your strategies for dealing with the initial Hill Troll in Journey Along the Anduin? One of the decks has a starting threat of 32, so you have to confront the troll right away. I'm assuming you optionally engage it with the other deck and use Frodo to defend.

scottindeed said:

Better put the Song of Mocking on Frodo.

I'll go though the decks when i get a chance this weekend properly.. but at a single glance I think you are missing one of the truly great 2 player combos in teh game... Beravore and Brand Son on Bane.... If you run these decks exactly the same with no changes.. just for yuks, swap Beravor and Bilbo. When I get time to really look though the decks I may have other thoughts.. but the ability to untap Beravore every round for a free 2 cards is a HUGE effect... and defiantly one worth looking into exploiting.

Yes Journey Down The Anduin was difficult because of the starting threat. Frodo would be used to defend, and hope for cards like Feint, Forest Snare, Protector of Lorien, Dunedain Warning. It did take me several attempts this one.

Why would Song of Mocking be better on Frodo? He has a built in method to deal with any damage assigned to him. Bilbo does not.

booored said:

I can see that would be a great combo - but the Legolas untap is also very strong for dealing with multiple monsters and making progress. The reason Berevor isn't on the other side is just the theme. Aragorn and Berevor are the two Dunedains together.

i just find that decks the run off legolas's ability to place tokens can often run into the ground, literally, when monsters dry up. You can play fine but if no mobs come for a few turns you make no progress, the staging area fills up and you are on the back foot with no way out for the rest pf the game. Everything is fine and dandy if you are pulling mobs.. but what about when you are not?

scottindeed said:

I think you misread SoM's (overcomplicated) card text. The damage will go to the hero attached with SoM, it's not the other way around. In your case you would kill Bilbo in almost every case.

Imagine the following scene:

Boromir is fighting against hordes of Orcs and just got the third arrow through his chest. He murmurs "scratch only" and is on his way to finish the evil monsters, but then Bilbo jumps out of the hiding, yells some racist jokes against the Orcs and shows them his naked hairy Hobbit ass. Axe. Axe. Arrow. Dead.

leptokurt said:

Song of mocking makes dmg hit the hero instead of another hero. Frodo is one of the better uses for this card as you can save the life of any hero at any time by eating the damage of threat. That is why people say to place it on Frodo. Though he works really well on other cards as well.

booored said:

Yeah, which is why it shouldn't be placed on Bilbo, but on the big strong guy. Or Frodo.

Whoops! I'd played Song of Mocking the other way round. But still the end result was the same, I was putting damage onto Frodo instead of Bilbo.