ive talked about my 'flight to the ford' deck in other people's threads, however ive never actually posted it for critique….so here it is…its a good deck, probably one of my best, and wins regularly on the hard quests and rarely looses the easier ones. i shall talk about it below the deck

HEROS

GLORFINDEL (spirit)

FRODO

ARAGORN (lore)

ALLY

Imladris stargazer x 3

Arwen x 3

Rivendell minstrel x 3

Gandalf x 3

Gildor x 1

Henemarth Riversong x 1

EVENTS

Elrond's counsel x3

Fresh Tracks x3

Test of Will x2

Hasty Stroke x2

Good Meal x3 ( in for thematic reasons…but will be going….see below )

Sneak Attack x2

ATTATCHMENTS

Light of Valinor x3

Asfaloth x3

Sword That Was Broken x3

Celebrians Stone x1

Steward of Gondor x2

Song of Kings x3

Unexpected Courage x1

Fast Hitch x3

Path of Need x1

Forest Snare x2

TOTAL 51

ok so the idea is that frodo, fast hitched, can defend taking threat gain. this isnt a problem as with glorfindel' low start threat, aragorns threat reset, and elronds counsel -3 threat all keep threat managed. i could have put galadhrims greetings in but i think its enough already.

glofindel can attack/quest if he has a light of valinor and aragorn can also attack/quest if he has UC. asfaloth obviously goes on glofindel and the sword goes on aragorn, making questing extremely easy.

all these cards can be quickly aquired via Stargazer, and if she gets killed i have a couple more of her just in case.

locations are dealt with by asfaloth and the huge questing amount, so questing is never a problem with this deck

defending as i have said is frodos turn, who with multiple hitches can defends multiple times. and as stated threat is never a problem.

treachery is dealt with by test of wills and hasty stokes….i only have 1 core set so would prefer 3 of each….this is probably one of the weak parts of the deck….as if i do lose its usually down to treachery cards.

i havent included a healer as frodo takes threat gain, aragorn and glorfindel are pretty tough characters as they are

now attacking…..this is perhaps a weak part of the deck- no real attackers, however i usually snare really bad enemies (though again only 2 in core set).

i have gildor (who ill probably put another 2 in as hes amazing), who can attack with both glorfindel and aragorn, to give 8 attack- quite respectable, and with the UC and light of valinor, the chances are these will all be ready come attack phase…..gandalf is also there to be sneak attacked, and i have fresh tracks to do a bit more damage and buy some time

path of need is in there- i may take it out….i never actually used it as my questing is FAR too high to let any location lie…its pretty situational

The song of kings is a must have in this deck, and i always get them out with stargazer/minstrel first, so this then allows me to play steward of gondor and the sword on aragorn…two of the main cards in the deck

arwen is in there to quest and give frodo +1 defense to make threat gain as low as possible.

as i say i win alot with this, even more than my dain deck. the lack of attackers never actually is a problem (so far) as i quest so quickly and Aragorn and Glorfindel really are great attackers, though i doubt this deck will suffice for Shadow and Flame type quests (havent got it yet but will try it)

i did think about splashing tactics to give more power - and probably will when i get Hands Upon the Bow- put a few rivendell bows and blades in, and 3 trollshaw scouts

rich

Can't say too much about the deck right now, because I have not played such a deck before. But there is one card that keeps me baffled:

Why and how do you use Good Meal? There is no card that could even benefit from a full 2 resource discount and most of your events are responses anyway, which means you have to use Good Meal in advance without even knowing, whether you actually need it that turn.

plueschi said:

yeah that ones in for a 'thematic reason' (blame the Bilbo in me)…also from a previous deck design (that had high cost spirit cards in)- i just love the card art so much, and combined with a hobbit- i cant bring myself to take it out!

i did also have love of tales in for that reason, but took it out, and im going to do the same with good meal, as you say, it serves no purpose.

good meal along with path of need, and a couple of others, will be going when i splash in tactics

Btw way, thanks for your player type poll, I find it insightful and hilarious. For example, the both of us are of "opposite" player-types (you A, me D) and these do explain quite a lot of the misunderstandings going on in many different threads. For exmaple it explains, why I didn't "get" the inclusion of Good Meal, but it makes sense for you

Another example would be that I now understand better, why so many people get rubbed the wrong way by Glaurung, he simply is a different "type" to most (on top of not being a non-native speaker).

Oh and as it stands, this Pippin-player right here, would suggest using the new Master of the Forge in combination with the Stargazer, thats an awesome combo and you might even cut out some Minstrels as these two (Master and Gazer) should fetch plenty of Songs in time.

plueschi said:

you are quite welcome. and yes, thats a great idea with master of the forge, ill probably give him a go when i get S and F

rich

I would personally keep "Path of Need" I've found that it has bailed me out a lot of times since you'd be surprsied by how much it helps with some tactful placement. Using it on "The Carrock", "Doors of Durin", "Goblin Gate", or any of the big mandatory locations within Into the Pit and Redhorn Gate can mean the difference between winning and losing

Pharmboys2013 said:

yes it is very good in those mandatory locations as you say- it will probably end up being one card i slot in depending on the scenario

rich

richsabre said:

beware that if Frodos defends multiple times, he can only use his ability for only one of those enemy attacks, as his ability can be triggered once per phase.

Angus Lee said:

****! you're right…..well that sort of makes the deck a little weaker…and voids a few victories..thanks for pointing that out, completely forgot about the once per phase. though admitedly usually frodo was just dealing with 1 enemy per turn, so ill have to come up with some sort of back up for when i get over ran with enemies. im thinking a UC on aragorn with burning brand…yeah that sounds not bad

between the two of them they should be able to handle defending

rich

In most cases Frodo is fine with defending multiple attacks a turn with Arwen's help

Doom1502 said:

yes that is true….shes more than just good looks haha

I like your deck very much. Particularly your version that includes leadership (fresh tracks is a nice card I have overlooked so far). Besides what has been mentioned above I can't see any weaknesses - maybe besides the missing condition attachment removal, I mentioned in the other thread already.

This deck takes good advantage of the most awesome hero combination in lotr at the moment! This is high art. To give more comments on the list I would have to playtest the deck myself.

Rich,

Great solo deck, I did the first two quests in the Hobbit with it and it worked well. I only made three changes from yours. I added 2 protectors of lorien to boost shield or wp by discarding, since there are so many unique attachments they are no longer dead cards. Also, went with two rivendell minstrells and 2 masters for the forge, works great! Also, for those two quests, I took out Gildor and something else (forget what) and put in two elfhelms as there are a lot of doomed effects in these quests. Once again great deck design and is very fun to play!

Shockeffect said:

thanks very much….im getting the hobbit soon so shall take those changes into consideration when tweaking the deck for it

I've mounted your deck and will give it a try. I'll let you know the results .

Greetings.

Robert McMutton said:

good to know- let me know how it runs!

rich