Hobbit pipe is one of my favorite cards from Black Riders. It's by no means the strongest card ever, but I just love using it. Smoke rings is also an awesome card, except it costs way too much (should be 0 or 1, imo). I wanted to make a deck that revolved around Hobbit pipes. Naturally, this would need to use as much threat reduction as possible, so it would include a fair amount of secrecy cards. Unfortunately, an all-Hobbit deck isn't that great for this sort of deck. For one, there is only one spirit Hobbit that doesn't jack up your threat (Frodo). For two, you really need Elrond's council and it is hard to pull off without a unique Noldor hero. So, I was forced to use Glorfindel, who seems to be a requirement for virtually every secrecy deck. I chose Sam for my 3rd hero, but I'm also toying with a spirit/lore deck that uses Pippin instead (and has access to another threat reduction card with Needful to Know).

Hero (3)
Frodo Baggins (CatC) x1
Glorfindel (FoS) x1
Sam Gamgee (TBR) x1

Ally (15)
Arwen Undomiel (TWitW) x1
Bill the Pony (TBR) x1
Damrod (HON) x1
Denethor (EaAD) x1
Dunedain Wanderer (RtR) x3
Elfhelm (TDM) x1
Erestor (TLD) x1
Faramir (Core) x1
Gandalf (Core) x2
Gandalf (OHaUH) x1
Northern Tracker (Core) x2

Attachment (15)
Celebrian's Stone (Core) x1
Good Meal (TRG) x2
Hobbit Cloak (TBR) x2
Hobbit Pipe (TBR) x3
Light of Valinor (FoS) x3
Resourceful (TWitW) x3
Unexpected Courage (Core) x1

Event (22)
A Test of Will (Core) x2
Dwarven Tomb (Core) x1
Elrond's Counsel (TWitW) x3
Hasty Stroke (Core) x2
O Elbereth! Gilthonial! (SaF) x1
Out of Sight (TLD) x2
Small Target (EaAD) x1
Smoke Rings (TBR) x3
Sneak Attack (Core) x2
The Galadhrim's Greeting (Core) x2
Timely Aid (TRG) x3

Note: I only have one core set

The general deckbuilding strategy was to include as many expensive allies as possible. Between resourceful and timely aid, it's pretty easy to get them in play. Even though the deck starts at 20 threat, you can freely play any secrecy cards in your starting hand. As long as you get a threat reduction card by the 2nd or 3rd turn, you can usually stay in the secrecy range for a while. I had two core Gandalfs for use with sneak attack, but the OHaUH Gandalf is a champion in this deck. There is so much threat reduction that I could typically keep him in play for the entirety of the game. Small target is very situational, but has proven to be a game changer on a few occasions. Out of sight is very handy, but if you get outside the secrecy range it is difficult to play.

I really wanted to include taking initiative in this deck, because there are so many expensive cards for it to trigger on. I estimated that there is a 50-50 chance that it would work if I got it in my starting hand. But then what? Maybe I can wound an enemy (or kill if I get lucky), but otherwise I just have a 50-50 chance to draw 2 cards. And if I got it later in the game it would just be a dead card. I really tried, but that card is completely worthless.

The strategy is to get LoV, Resourcefuls, and 2 Hobbit pipes as fast as possible. Save the threat reduction as long as possible until you can get the Hobbit pipes out. After you have 2 Hobbit pipes, you're basically drawing 3 cards every turn, which should be enough to draw another threat reducer. Even without any allies, you can usually quest for 6 with Sam and Glorfindel, engage an enemy (readying Sam), block with Frodo (hopefully with Hobbit cloak), and attack for 5 with Sam and Glorfindel. Timely aid can be a game changer if you get an early tracker or Denethor. Having the 3 WP ally first turn can buy you some time if you don't get LoV.

I played through the quests in the core, Mirkwood, KD, and Dwarrowdelf cycles. Rhosgobel was a lost cause, but the other two quests that I struggled with were Seventh Level and Shadow and Flame. Seventh level just throws too many low engagement enemies at you. I can comfortably defend one each round with Frodo, but Sam was wasted and they just came too fast. Shadow and Flame was harder than I expected. I thought I could just reduce my threat indefinitely and never have to engage the Balrog, but that usually only lasted 2 or 3 turns and the deck doesn't have enough firepower to bring him down fast enough. Plus, if he gets a counterspell that is pretty much game over. I did finally win once at 49 threat even though the Balrog still had 15 hp. I was able to draw 6 cards and hit enough high cost secrecy cards to total 21.

I was able to beat all the other quests on the first try, most of them by a comfortable margin. Dol Goldur was close, but doable as long as Glorfindel doesn't get captured. Return to Mirkwood was very manageable because of the threat reduction and good questing. I don't plan to try the HoN quests because siege and battle would be difficult.

Next I want to try Pippin/Lore instead of Sam/Leadership. Another threat reducer and extra card draw would be nice, but losing Hobbit cloak and timely aid would hurt. I'll post again if I try something out.

In conclusion, I love Hobbit pipe and really enjoy this deck. I hope to see more pipe synergy and possibly another threat reduction card to help this deck out further.

Cool deck and nice strategy, nice to see you getting some good use out of the hobbit pipe. Neat to see Denethor in the deck too!

Seventh level is one of my favorite quests, and when I start working on a new deck I always start with this scenario, because of the enemy swarm that's possible, and there are just a lot of things that could go wrong which can test a deck.

If you had two more copies of Unexpected Courage i think you would see a difference. If you can get one or two of them on Frodo, he would be able to handle the swarm better. You also mentioned swapping out sam for pippin, which could give you access to fast hitch for the same result, although you would be losing some key leadership cards in the deck.

Thanks for posting i've got some new ideas to work with.

Denethor was probably the #1 ally I hoped for with timely aid because of his crazy quest power. It was pretty rare that my heroes actually took damage, so he was usually able to function at full capacity.

Yeah, fast hitches would be nice, although they aren't particularly useful with Pippin. Maybe I can make Frodo a wall with burning brand. And of course Asfaloth enters the scene, which is always a big bonus. Maybe I'll try it out this weekend.

I built a deck recently with Glorfindel, Frodo and (Lore) Pippin - starting threat 18. It needs some refinement so I won't post the full decklist, but between 3 x Galadrhim's Greeting, 3 x Elrond's Counsel and 3 x Needful to Know you can definitely get good value out of your Hobbit Pipes, and I wouldn't cut any of those cards in a hurry.

I built a deck recently with Glorfindel, Frodo and (Lore) Pippin - starting threat 18. It needs some refinement so I won't post the full decklist, but between 3 x Galadrhim's Greeting, 3 x Elrond's Counsel and 3 x Needful to Know you can definitely get good value out of your Hobbit Pipes, and I wouldn't cut any of those cards in a hurry.

That would be cool to see.

I kind of forgot about Spirit Frodo, since we can't use him in BR. Seems like in the future sagas there might be other ring bearers, so he may be playable then.

Spirit Frodo is obviously great. And yeah, Elrond's Counsel is the card for the Pipes. I was disappointed with Smoke Rings, since I had been looking forward to playing the card so much. But for now, with only 3 pipes max, the cost of 2 is hardly justifiable, especially if you have the option of the Counsel (for 0 you get the same card draw, likely better threat reduction and usually as good willpower boost).

I built a deck recently with Glorfindel, Frodo and (Lore) Pippin - starting threat 18. It needs some refinement so I won't post the full decklist, but between 3 x Galadrhim's Greeting, 3 x Elrond's Counsel and 3 x Needful to Know you can definitely get good value out of your Hobbit Pipes, and I wouldn't cut any of those cards in a hurry.

That would be cool to see.

I kind of forgot about Spirit Frodo, since we can't use him in BR. Seems like in the future sagas there might be other ring bearers, so he may be playable then.

This is how my 3-hero secrecy deck currently looks. As I said, it's pretty unrefined: the basic premise was just to have the lowest starting threat possible with 3 heroes, and it includes virtually every secrecy card in Spirit and Lore (and excludes some staple cards from those spheres to make room) while I figure out which ones actually work best.

Spirit Frodo is obviously great. And yeah, Elrond's Counsel is the card for the Pipes. I was disappointed with Smoke Rings, since I had been looking forward to playing the card so much. But for now, with only 3 pipes max, the cost of 2 is hardly justifiable, especially if you have the option of the Counsel (for 0 you get the same card draw, likely better threat reduction and usually as good willpower boost).

The high cost of SM implies that we will see more pipes in the future. Which is what I am looking forward too, because so far the pipe thing didn't impress me too much. But it looks promising.