Hey all!

Haven't been around in awhile but have gotten back into the game recently and caught up on the packs. I'm just getting into The Hobbit and was glad they included some theme decks in the back - though they are pretty terrible as they are restricted to 1 core set and no expansions. As such, I wanted to build a decent deck that still stuck with the theme. Here's my first attempt: as of now I've only played it once and it's 1-0 against trolls. I'm sure it could be improved, but it felt pretty solid in the first play.

1x Thorin

1x Ori

1x Nori

2x Narvi's Belt

2x Hardy Leadership

3x Steward of Gondor

3x Legacy of Durin

3x Daeron's Runes

3x Test of Will

3x Durin's Song

3x Sneak Attack

3x Burglar Baggins

2x A Very Good Tale

2x The Galadhrim's Greeting

3x Gandalf

3x Erebor Hammersmith

3x Erebor Record Keeper

2x Longbeard Map-Maker

2x MIner of the Iron Hills

2x Longbeard Elder

2x Kili

2x Fili

1x Dori, Bombur and Bofur

The key is to get to that magic '5' so that Thorin and Ori kick into high gear. This should almost always happen on turn 2 or 3, barring a bad mulligan draw. Once that hits it's easier to snap a couple of other engines into place (Steward of Gondor, Legacy of Durin, Narvi's Belt) and really make your resource engines go crazy. The deck's biggest strengths are it's crazy card draw and production once things get rolling.

On the flip side, the allies in the deck aren't particularly strong, and you have to rely on tricks to end up sealing the deal.

Thoughts? What has everyone else been playing?

Played a couple games and may make a few adjustments:

Miner of the Iron Hills was meh for me and seemed to be more of a hindrance than a help (**** Sack's not being conditions). They are great against certain quests, but so far I haven't seen a use for them. Perhaps in later Hobbit quests, but for now they are on the fence.

Kili and Fili are freaking great and I am tempted to up them to 3x each. I used them as Troll fodder and killed off my first pair, then brought two more in a turn or two later (netting more cards and threat reduction).

Dori, Bombur and Bofur were originally just in for flavor, but Bofur proved to be a beast, especially once Legacy of Durin is out - netting Threat reduction and a card every turn. Definitely upping him to 2x to get that tech started asap.

Narvi's Belt I'm on the fence about. I like being able to spread the wealth in a tri-sphere deck with whoever ends up Steward, but it hasn't had a huge impact yet. I may swap it out.

Now that I've solidly beat the first scenario a few times and gotten mad loot, I'm ready to move on to quest 2 with some pretty weapons, which should help out my low damage problem.