Deck: Lore Galore (or Knockback deck 2.0)

This is a multiplayer mono-lore deck: it really needs other deck’s support.

It’s heavily combat based; building on the way that Lore seems to be starting to take in taking the fight to staging area, and controlling it. The deck is all about this theory.

I haven’t tried it, as quite a few of the cards aren’t released yet, and it’s too many proxies to play the deck for my taste; yet the deck feels unique enough to share anyway J.

The main idea is simple: trap anything you can, dispatch anything you can, recycle & repeat.

Heroes:

Aragorn (lore) 12 (Ranger: threat reset, main defender)

Faramir 11 (Ranger: main attacker)

Pippin 6 (Hobbit: main quester, card draw & stage area control)

Allies:

Master of lore x3 (cost reduction: mainly for other allies & ranger spikes)

Warden of healing x3 (healing)

Ithilien archer x3 (knockback & candidate for ranger bow)

Erebor hammersmith x3 (recycling traps, block & add quest power)

Anborn x2 (recycling traps, attack & candidate for ranger bow)

Master of the forge x2 (pulling traps from the deck & chump block)

Haldir of Lorien x2 (will/att/def possible & candidate for ranger bow)

Gildor Inglorion x2 (4^th hero!)

Gandalf (uhoh) x1 (threat reset by Aragorn included)

Attachments:

Ranger spikes x3 (just trap anything)

Ithilien pit x3 (just trap anything)

Ranger bow x3 (syncs with the traps)

Burning brand x2 (candidates: Aragorn, Gildor, Haldir, Erebor hammersmith)

Events:

Mithrandir’s advice x3 (draw power)

Forest patrol x3 (syncs with ranger spikes & infighting)

Take no notice x3 (syncs with pippin, traps, ranger bow & free to cast)

Infighting x3 (syncs with forest patrol to control damage on foes)

Scroll of Isildur x3 (recycle any needed event: draw, damage, control)

47 card up till now. Any suggestions on what to add (or leave out) are welcome,

as I have no idea if it will work whatsoever...

I build a deck around the same three heroes just today! I left out dwarves and have three Ithilien Trackers in the deck. They are the number 1 choice for the Ranger bow, to me - especially if you have more than one in play.

I've also added the event cards Expecting Mischief for even more direct damage and Rumors of the Earth for better planning. Similarly for allies, Henamarth Riversong is a must, in my opinion. I've also included Forest Snares as an emergency trap whence you're engaged by a powerful attacker. I had the Hill Troll in mind, for example.

Isn't Pippin Spirit?

I've made a similar-ish deck but it's Lore + Leadership with a strong focus on traps for fun and mischief.

Also Lore Aragon + Sword That Was Broken + Celebrian's Stone = totes amazeballs! (when it happens)

Isn't Pippin Spirit?

I've made a similar-ish deck but it's Lore + Leadership with a strong focus on traps for fun and mischief.

Also Lore Aragon + Sword That Was Broken + Celebrian's Stone = totes amazeballs! (when it happens)

It seems he is using the new Pippin from the Saga Expansion.

Master of lore x3 (cost reduction: mainly for other allies & ranger spikes)

Do you find Master of Lore of any use with its high cost and the errata??

Isn't Pippin Spirit?

I've made a similar-ish deck but it's Lore + Leadership with a strong focus on traps for fun and mischief.

Also Lore Aragon + Sword That Was Broken + Celebrian's Stone = totes amazeballs! (when it happens)

Join a couple of Favour of the Lady and you have Aragorn questing alone in some occasions...

And yes Pippin is Spirit, unless he already have Black Riders, where the Pippin hero is Lore

Hi Guys, thanks for the replies.

Bit late on replying myself, though I was on vacation, and I don’t use computers on vacation!

Anyway:

@Ithilien Ranger:

The dwarves are there to pick up traps early on when Anborn is not in play yet.

They are really very good; as I got new insight on them through the excellent statistics article by tales from the cards. They offer great value for their cost.

Check it out here as I can really recommend it: (the whole site actually)

http://talesfromthecards.wordpress.com/2013/07/30/sphere-analysis-of-lotr-lcg/

Adding the Ithilien trackers is something that I’ve considered from the begin, leaving out the masters of lore. And as I still haven’t tried this deck, as I don’t have Black Riders nor Blood of Gondor, I can’t really say which will work better. It’s getting hard to drop cards to get to 50 with the card pool ever increasing. But that is a good thing imo: more options = a good thing.

On the addition of scrying: Rumor from the earth & Henemarth etc. is less effective in multiplayer, or so I’ve found. And this design is for multiplayer. Also there’s simply no room for 6-10 cards extra. The only multiplayer scrying effect is Palantir, as it digs 3 cards deep.

It’s an option, as I run Loragorn and 1 of my buddies mainly uses spirit and has massive threat reduction. Hmmm…now there’s an idea I hadn’t thought of.….thanks for mentioning scrying and so bringing this to my attention! J

Lastly did forest snare not make the cut because it’s limited usefulness with ranger spikes around. It’s not very recyclable with a steep cost of 3. And for me not a insta-add card for lore anymore really. But that’s my opinion, as a group of players should not have too much trouble with 1 hill troll these days. And the really nasty foes are immune to attachments anyway.

@Roguefrog:

There’s a lore Pippin coming, as you’ll probably be aware of by now. At the time when I was writing the OP he was just revealed and my brain went cooking on the Lore possibilities straight away. (as usual, as Lore is my favourite sphere by far)

The addition of Leadership idea would surely make this deck stronger to play solo.

It would add quest power and sourly needed resource generation.

As I write this, I’m thinking it might make the deck work more smoothly in multiplayer too….hmmm…. no I wanna stay mono-lore J

Great feedback though thanks!

@Muemakan:

I’ve still found master of Lore quite useful, albeit only in mono-lore decks.

The steep cost of 3 is doable then still, and pays itself back; just slower.

His errata has really diminished his usefulness, but I do understand why they did it.

He really is too powerful if you use him without the errata.

I will replace him with Elf-stone probably though when I get Black-Riders.

This card was not spoiled yet when I wrote the OP, and can get Anborn, Gildor or Haldir in play for 1 resource! J I’m already lovin’ Elf-stone!

The same goes for poison spikes. I’m going to have to find/make room for it as it as it combos so well with forest patrol....ah, the luxury problems I face are horrible…

@CJMatos:

Indeed I am “using” Lore Pippin. I don’t have him in my anxious, greedy, groping long thin wriggling fingers yet though. This deck was/is purely theoretical as I wrote in my OP and the final version will differ much from the original deck I posted. I was just so excited about it that I had to share it J

This is a similar deck to the one I am running right now, but with Mirlonde in place of Pippin. With the amount of card draw you have, I would suggest a copy or two of Protector of Lorien for those cards that you may not need/want to play, but need to find a use for. I have also toyed around with Master of Lore in a mono-Lore deck, but I don't think that it is worth the cost anymore. I agree with your assessment about Elf-Stone; that card is going to be a 3x copy per deck for me when I get BR. Some other suggestions for the deck would be Ithilien Tracker, Daeron's Runes, Radagast's Cunning, and Secret Paths.

All the cards you’ve recommended here have crossed my mind also.

Indeed I have a great amount of card draw in this deck and adding Daeron’s Runes (while being one of my favorite cards) would just be overkill. I need the room, and I’m thinking of dropping the Master of the Forge as well to create more space, as I need to be able to get on the table the goodies I draw from the deck.

I can’t try Pippin yet, but I’ll prefer him over Mirlonde any day. He seems to fit very well in the deck with keeping foes in the staging area and lowering the cost of Take No Notice. On top of that he also let’s you draw a card at times. Mirlonde’s ability just so …meh; especially with Loreagorn around. I’d choose Bifur over her easily in multiplayer too.

It looks like this forevermore for Master of Lore: out! Elf-stone: in! The only downside is that in multiplayer the card might miss you when it triggers and your mate must play a 1 cost ally or something. Yet this can easily be calculated for with the addition of Palantir. I’m starting to like the idea of adding Palantir….

The Ithilien Trackers will possibly replace the Erebor Hammersmiths, as their ability, while useful, is a 1 trick pony. The Trackers however, would add some staying willpower boosting, a more sturdy ally and a great candidate for Ranger Bow to boot. And if I add Palantir, with which I toying around in my head now, I know exactly what’s coming of the encounter deck to nullify it’s threat in multiplayer. Although I’m already leaning towards the Trackers…

On Radagast’s Cunning & Secret Paths: These are fine cards; though these days they almost never make the cut in any my decks it seems. This is mostly because I only play multiplayer and my mates got threat & location control covered in their decks. If this was a single player deck it would indeed look very different and with these possible as additions.

Protector of Lorien is still an great card, even with the errata. Though in this deck there are few cards I’d like to feed to it. Even if I draw a second copy of Haldir, Gildor or Anborn, I’d rather keep it in my hand for if maybe the one in play gets killed off, I can replace it. The only candidate I can think of I can easily feed extra copies of is Palantir; if I add it to the deck, making Protector of Lorien simply not worth its slot in my book. Though again, in solo play this card would probably be highly needed.

The deck’s final version is taking shape in my head and I can’t wait to get BR and the final packs of the AtS cycle to try it! If you are interested I’ll also post my current version, as it is getting quite different from what I started out with.

Yeah, please do. There are going to be many versions of the Ranger/Trap deck, and I am fascinated to see what the community comes up with. As for my suggestions, I completely skipped over the fact that you were playing multiplayer. I think Bifur is definitely the stronger choice than Pippin. The issue I see with Pippin is that his card draw ability will be extremely hard to trigger, as most enemies in the game have a lower engagement cost than the 28 (taking into account Pippin's ability). Also, one card that you are missing (that I am really surprised about) is Advanced Warning.

Good point on the high 29 threat starting threshold Pippin has to keep under to trigger his ability. I’ve thought about it though. Mainly because it will only get harder to use as threat goes up when the game progresses. This is why Take no Notice is in the deck. It’s free, and with Pippin in play whops all engagement up by a massive 6. This also directly answers part of your question about not adding Advanced Warning. Because I have Pippin I chose Take no Notice over it; as using both feels like too much. Also with a casting cost of 2 Advanced Warning doesn’t seem very playable in any resource starving Lore deck; especially one needing to recycle traps. I think this explanation makes sense on why I will try & use Pippin? Though if Pippin fails horrible at his task Bifur will indeed be the runner up. Time will tell. He’s one of my favorite heroes and it is very possible I will need every resource I can get from my Leadership buddy using Bifur’s ability to make the deck run more smoothly.

Here’s the current version. Nice to read you’re so interested btw! I’ve fiddled quite a bit and if anything needs further explanation I’ll be happy to give it.

Heroes:

Aragorn (lore) 12 (Ranger: threat reset, main defender early on)

Faramir 11 (Ranger: main attacker)

Pippin 6 (Hobbit: main quester, card draw & stage area control)

29 starting threat

Allies:

Warden of healing x3 (healing)

Ithilien archer x3 (knockback & candidate for ranger bow)

Ithilien tracker x3 (syncs with palantir/willpower boost, candidate for ranger bow)

Anborn x2 (recycling traps, attack & candidate for ranger bow)

Haldir of Lorien x2 (will/att/def possible & candidate for ranger bow)

Gildor Inglorion x2 (4^th hero & card switching)

Gandalf (core) x1 (no explanation needed)

(16) total

Attachments:

Ranger spikes x3 (just trap anything)

Ithilien pit x2 (just trap anything)

Poison stakes x3 (just trap anything)

Ranger bow x3 (syncs with the traps)

Elf-stone x3 (cost reduction on expensive allies)

Burning brand x2 (candidates: Aragorn, Gildor, Haldir)

Fast hitch x2 (ready pippin after palantir & after questing)

Palantir x2 (multiplayer scying effect on pippin, threat reset by aragorn)

(20) total

Events:

Mithrandir’s advice x3 (draw power)

Forest patrol x3 (syncs with ranger spikes & infighting)

Take no notice x3 (syncs with pippin, faramir, traps, ranger bow & free to cast)

Infighting x2 (syncs with forest patrol or poison stakes to redirect damage)

Scroll of Isildur x3 (recycle any needed event: draw, damage, control)

(14) total

50 cards in total

You may have to figure out something else with Palantir, because that can only go on a Noble hero. It sucks, because I had the same thought as you, but attaching it Lore Aragorn (mind boggling that this version isn't Noble, by the way).

You are correct of course. Thanks for pointing it out mate. I knew Palantir had that restriction but completely forgot about it. Pippin just was such a fine candidate being able to use fast hitch. He also felt correct theme-wise as he used the thing in the book. I probably won’t put the thing on Faramir though as he is too valuable as an attacker. Oh well, back to the drawing board, as I have my doubts now on being able to use the Palantir effectively. Bifur is getting closer at replacing Pippin with every post we make! And to think I started building this trap deck with Pippin’s ability being central in the first place! Leaving him, palantir & fast hitch out means new options though! Maybe you got some nice combo ideas? (or anyone else for that matter)

I still think Erebor Hammersmith is an extremely strong card in this type of deck, especially if you want to get some more uses out of your attachments. Out of Sight could be a useful card as well, lending to the control aspect of the game and getting rid of those nasty treacheries and enemies that you don't want to deal with. It is an expensive card, but with the resources you will be saving with Elf-stone, it could be feasible. If you do decide to run Bifur, you could also include Ancestral Knowledge. That could help with clearing those active locations that have Elf-stone attached. Just some thoughts...