As much as I hate the wait for the next expansion, at least it gives me some time to ponder over the new cards. Many of the cards in this deck I thought were completely useless, especially the Hero Caldara, but with the following deck has pleasantly surprised me. Of course this is not going to bring down the most difficult quests, although I have not tried it yet. I gave it my Seventh Level and JDtA test. I am a little nervous to try it on Battle and Siege quests. Here is the deck and some strategy notes below.

Hero (3)

Caldara (TBoG) x1

Glorfindel (FoS) x1

Eowyn (Core) x1

Ally (26)

Arwen Undomiel (TWitW) x2

Damrod (HON) x2

Emery (TBoG) x2

Ethir Swordsman (TSF) x3

Northern Tracker (Core) x3

Pelargir Shipwright (AoO) x3

White Tower Watchman (TDF) x3

Zigil Miner (KD) x3

Imladris Stargazer (FoS) x3

Elfhelm (TDM) x2

Attachment (6)

Light of Valinor (FoS) x3

Map of Earnil (AoO) x3

Event (18)

Dwarven Tomb (Core) x3

Elrond's Counsel (TWitW) x3

Fortune or Fate (Core) x3

Hasty Stroke (Core) x3

Hidden Cache (TMV) x3

A Test of Will (Core) x3

Strategy:

So this deck works very different then any I have played before, since it is more important to have cards in your discard pile then in your hand. In many of the games I have played I just had 1 or 2 cards in my hand, but with Caldara I would be bringing in two 3 or 4 cost allies almost every turn.

Here is how it works. If you start of with high cost allies in your hand other than Emery just use Eowyn's discard ability during the quest phase to get them to the discard pile. The most important card to see early on is Fortune of Fate. Once you have that in hand start saving resources on Glorf and Eowyn. The next 2 important cards are Dwarven Tomb and Map of Earnil. You will be using these to recycle Fortune of Fate or Elrond's Counsel if threat starts to get high.

The next group of important cards are all about resource generation. For this we rely on Zigil, stargazer and Hidden Cache.

Now this is not an easy deck to play there is a lot of set up, but it is pretty cool when all the pieces fit together. Once you have most of the ingredients. High cost allies in the discard pile, Fortune of fate, retrieval card (tomb or map), and Stargazer/Miner combo then it is best to Discard Caldara at the most optimum time.

So far I have found the best time to discard her is at beginning or end of the combat phase usually after she had defended and then I may bring in some allies to help with the attack.

Before she is discarded I try to follow these steps:

1) Use any of her remaining resources. If I have Dwarven tomb in hand I use it now to fetch Fortune of fate.

2) Use the stargazer/miner combo. This could put more high cost allies in the discard pile, and hopefully give you enough resources to put Caldara back into play before the end of the phase. With Hidden Cache this could be between 3-4 resources.

I usually want to make sure she will be put back into play before the end of the round. This is important because I want her to start the next round with a resource, and if I have Pelargir Shipwrights in play I want to make sure they will be questing for 3 next round, since their willpower is based on the number of Spirit heroes in play.

Overall it is a very interesting deck and it totally changed how I played the game. I am now very eager to see how this deck will stand up on the VoI scenarios, since it seems like the new quests intend to penalize a player for having a lot of cards in hand. Not so with this deck the discard pile is where I will be playing my cards from.

Alway open to feed back.

Thanks

I had a similar Caldara deck a little while ago, and I recently remade it including Lay of Nimrodel. That gives a really fun push, and gives a really nice use for any excess resource from the Zigil Miner. My main problem with hidden cache, though almost obviously meant to work well with Emery and Zigil Miner, is I always have a really hard time including a card in a deck with the only purpose of being discarded, so maybe consider swapping the cache for the lay. I recommend finding a way to stuff in another Emery; that is an absurdly good ally to drop first turn and still buy Arwen or Pelargir Shipwright. So maybe consider bailing on the cach for two lays and a third emery?

Emery is really good in the deck. Might be worth the 3 copies for a better chance of getting her first turn. I was really liking the cache. My only problem is that my only other 0 cost card in the deck is Elrond's Counsel, and i usually do not want to discard it when the miner digs the, both up with the help of stargazer, although if I'm in a pinch it's a way to get 4 resources fast.

The Lay could also work really nicely in the deck, since i have had Eowyn with up to 8 resources before, it could even be a target for for Dwarven Tomb. Might give it a try. Thanks.

Nice creative deck mate! I like it! Thanks for posting.

I'm certainly going to try it out, as it sounds like a fun new playstyle. (in LotR LCG that is)

And I would not swap out the cache.

I've been playing around with it and really enjoy the card.

Used it with a smile on my face to great effects I did.

That, and you probably need those precious resources anyway to cast F&F consistantly.

Also, Lay may be overkill with all the willpower you have.

The only card I'm not sure about is white tower watchman?

Is he any good? And in this deck? As I never used him.

The only card I'm not sure about is white tower watchman?

Is he any good? And in this deck? As I never used him.

Yeah I decided to give him a try since his ability is dependent on 3 heroes of the same sphere. He's not bad to have in play since he gives you some insurance if you need to take an attack undefended. He is a solid defender and he is up to 3 with Arwen. He is also good for taking a hit from a hill troll since your threat will not go up that much. You can always get him back with Caldara afterwards if you need to. He certainly is not essential to the deck, just trying to use some cards that don't see much light.

This is from the top of my head, but doesn't Caldara only allow the return of spirit allies?

Solid logic tho on adding him, as the deck lacks healing.

This is from the top of my head, but doesn't Caldara only allow the return of spirit allies?

Solid logic tho on adding him, as the deck lacks healing.

Yep, you are right. she can't retrieve him. Still a solid card though.

Great job Tracker! I love seeing new play styles.

Nice creative deck mate! I like it! Thanks for posting.

I'm certainly going to try it out, as it sounds like a fun new playstyle. (in LotR LCG that is)

And I would not swap out the cache.

I've been playing around with it and really enjoy the card.

Used it with a smile on my face to great effects I did.

That, and you probably need those precious resources anyway to cast F&F consistantly.

Also, Lay may be overkill with all the willpower you have.

The only card I'm not sure about is white tower watchman?

Is he any good? And in this deck? As I never used him.

He is very good. most of the time he is auto include to any mono deck.

Wow this deck almost beat Morgul Vale. One Game I lost to threat, but played it out and won at 55 threat, the loss was due to the treachery on the last round that increases threat for each progress on the tower. The other game I lost with to many progress tokens on the Tower i played it out and won at 12 tokens. I also had a lot of straight out loses. This is really tough quest, With a bit of luck I think this deck could win it. Caldara did an awesome job of bringing in chump blockers every couple rounds. The great thing was I never ran out of allies.

Edit:

Just got a victory on MV with this deck. 13 rounds, 46 threat, 2 damage, and Caldara in discard

pile.

Edit 2:

Got 1 victory out of 3 attempts on Dol Guldur.

Caldara was the star of the show. My threat was at 37 and i engaged the Nazgul. I had enough progress on the 2nd stage. So Caldara attached the last 2 objectives to advance to stage 3 then she defended the Nagul with the help of Arwen, then she was discarded to bring in 2 northern trackers to help finish of the Nazgul. Also by discarding her I also got rid of the 2 objectives which were no longer needed. i quested out the last stage in one and avoided the bees which had been looming since early in the game.

My opinion of Caldara has done a complete 180, she is really good. In some ways her ability is almost similar to an Elrond/Vilya combo. I just can't wait for some more high cost spirit heroes.

Now it's off to MaO for the Nazgul hat trick.

Update

TMaO was easy. That quest is not what it used to be.

Tried PiP and was able to hold its own and won first attempt. Not bad on this battle quest.

Nice creative deck mate! I like it! Thanks for posting.

I'm certainly going to try it out, as it sounds like a fun new playstyle. (in LotR LCG that is)

And I would not swap out the cache.

I've been playing around with it and really enjoy the card.

Used it with a smile on my face to great effects I did.

That, and you probably need those precious resources anyway to cast F&F consistantly.

Also, Lay may be overkill with all the willpower you have.

The only card I'm not sure about is white tower watchman?

Is he any good? And in this deck? As I never used him.

He is very good. most of the time he is auto include to any mono deck.

Hmmm, I should give him a try then.

I've build a weird mono lore deck yesterday, and will give him a go.

Got 1 victory out of 3 attempts on Dol Guldur.

Caldara was the star of the show. My threat was at 37 and i engaged the Nazgul. I had enough progress on the 2nd stage. So Caldara attached the last 2 objectives to advance to stage 3 then she defended the Nagul with the help of Arwen, then she was discarded to bring in 2 northern trackers to help finish of the Nazgul. Also by discarding her I also got rid of the 2 objectives which were no longer needed. i quested out the last stage in one and avoided the bees which had been looming since early in the game.

My opinion of Caldara has done a complete 180, she is really good. In some ways her ability is almost similar to an Elrond/Vilya combo. I just can't wait for some more high cost spirit heroes.

Sounds like you had a great game!

The discarding to get rid of the objectives part is cool.

I would not have though of that.

Got 1 victory out of 3 attempts on Dol Guldur.

Caldara was the star of the show. My threat was at 37 and i engaged the Nazgul. I had enough progress on the 2nd stage. So Caldara attached the last 2 objectives to advance to stage 3 then she defended the Nagul with the help of Arwen, then she was discarded to bring in 2 northern trackers to help finish of the Nazgul. Also by discarding her I also got rid of the 2 objectives which were no longer needed. i quested out the last stage in one and avoided the bees which had been looming since early in the game.

My opinion of Caldara has done a complete 180, she is really good. In some ways her ability is almost similar to an Elrond/Vilya combo. I just can't wait for some more high cost spirit heroes.

Sounds like you had a great game!

The discarding to get rid of the objectives part is cool.

I would not have though of that.

You can also do it with condition treachery cards. I got rid of Caught in the Web that way too.

That surprised me, that feature. It is a big added bonus to shove local trouble on her, maybe an archery hit, then just dump her in a river somewhere.

That surprised me, that feature. It is a big added bonus to shove local trouble on her, maybe an archery hit, then just dump her in a river somewhere .

That's just cold! LOL

It's amazing how a card that everyone hates can turn out to be so powerful.

I am still utterly baffled by how good Caldara is, and this deck is really impressing me with what it is able to handle.

Just a quick session report.

I'm playing Nightmare JDtA finally make it to stage 3. I am feeling pretty confident that I can handle the 2 cards drawn. First card Pursuit on the Shore. Which returns the enemy with the highest hight points from your victory display or discard pile, okay a Hill troll, alright I can handle this, second card another Hill Troll. Oh, s%#t, also my threat is just at 30, and I have two pesky rats to deal with until i can get rid of the trolls. This is truly a nightmare.

In steps Caldara, Fortune of fate, Dwarven tomb, Stargazer, Zigel and a small army of Allies. Two rounds later the trolls are destroyed and the rats flee. Caldara's ability to defend one rat, leave play, retrive 2 high hit point chump blockers for the trolls, then return with FoF to defend the other rat, then my 3 Trackers, Damrod, Elfhelm, Glorfindel out one troll. Then she is able to do the same thing all over again the next round for the second troll.

This is amazing, her ability basicaly provided 4 actions, that would have been used by other valuable allies in play, in a normal deck I would have also lost two of allies in play to the trolls with no way of getting them back easily. Many other deck's I have played would probably have fell apart in this situation. But Caldara was able to bring back the same two allies next round as defenders. Of course it cost 11 resources to pull off, but this is what this deck is desighned to do.

She may be one of my new faviorite heroes. Still in shock.

Made 2 card changes to the deck. Removed 1 Hasty Stroke, and 1 map of Earnil for Bofur and Dwalin great unique allies for the deck.

I'm also thinking about adding Eomund for 1 Eithr Swordsmen. Since I can see him being a good chump blocker and when leaving play he can ready Elfhelm and Eowyn, could be another neat combo that I have never used.

I love Edmund, but ife all you have is Elfhelm and Eowyn, he's better off being left out since Eowyn doesn't have the stats for anything but questing and Elfhelm is somewhat unreliable since you need to draw and play him first

Tracker, if you get a chance I would love to read a play test report on this deck. (And I doubt I'm alone as this is the first recursion deck in the game.)

Tracker, if you get a chance I would love to read a play test report on this deck. (And I doubt I'm alone as this is the first recursion deck in the game.)

I'll see if I can get around to it. I have always found it a bit tedious to give a round by round report, since I hate to break the flow to record every nuance. My suggestion is you should just try the deck, or something similar to get the first hand experience. Don't be surprised if you are completely baffled at first, since this deck will radically change how you used to playing. Give it a few goes on some of the easier quests, and you will start to get a sense for how it is supposed to work. The opening hand can have a big influence on how the game goes. A poor hand and the deck will feel really slow, with one or 2 critical pieces in the opening hand then you are good to go. So far I think stargazer might be the most important card early on since she is going to control which card you draw each round and which cards get put in the discard pile. I dislike using discard abilities without her aid, since I am likely to lose some events or attachments that I would rather have in my hand.

I would be curious to hear other players feedback on a deck design like this. I hope it does not just work for me. I enjoy this type of deck because it opens up a whole new strategy, although it probably will not be everyones cup of tea.

Give it a go and let me know how it goes.

I have not done a video in awhile. That would be the best way for you to see how it plays. I may be able to do one over the next couple of weeks.

I haven’t written up a play test report in a while and I thought I might do a new one with Tracker’s recursion deck. I expect I’m going to make a few tactical mistakes as this deck isn’t like anything I’ve played before, but hopefully I’ll get some pointers and others can learn from my mistakes. This is the deck in the first post of this thread without Tracker’s adjustments made in later posts. I’ve played through Passage through Mirkwood twice, winning both easily and so wanted a quest with a little more of a challenge. Journey down the Anduin it is.

Opening hand: A Test of Will, Ethir Swordsman, White Tower Watchman, Arwen, Emery, Elrond’s Council.

Quest 1A: Reveal a card: Hill Troll! (About the only time you want to see that.)

Opening Draw: Fortune or Fate. During my previous two games I did not draw this card, but won anyway largely due to the shear questing power of the deck. Play Arwen (2). Discard three cards from my hand to put Emery into play (Northern Tracker, Imladris Stargazer, Pelargir Shipwright).

Turn 1:

Quest with Eowyn, Arwen & Caldera. Play Elrond’s Council (Threat to 19). Reveal banks of the Anduin. Questing 9 versus 2 threat is 7 progress on the quest. Travel to the Banks of the Anduin and leave the Troll in the staging area.

Refresh everyone and raise the threat to 20.

Turn 2:

Resources: Eowyn (1), Glory (2), Calera (1) Draw Hidden Cache.

Quest with Eowyn, Arwen & Caldrea (8). Reveal Wolf Rider surging into Dol Guldur Orcs (4). Two damage to Caldera. 8 Will vs. 4 threat puts banks of the Anduin back on top of the Encounter deck and places 1 progress on 1A (8).

Now… play Hidden Cache for 1 resource, Caldera (0), and draw Imladris Stargazer. Discard Caldera and put Northern Tracker and Pelargir Shipwright into play.

Engage Dul Guldur Orcs and Wolf Rider. Defend Orcs with Emery (No Shadow NS), no net damage. Defend Rider with Shipwright (NS) for 1 net damage. Glory attacks and destroys Orcs. Tracker attacks and destroys Wolf Rider.

Refresh everyone and raise threat to 21.

Turn 3:

Resources: Eowyn (2), Glory (3) draw Light of Valinor. (Here I decide that I don’t need Glory’s questing right now and so decide to play FoF towards the end of turn in case I need to play A Test of Will.)

Quest with Arwen & Eowyn (6), reveal The Necromancer’s Reach. Note, unless I say otherwise Arwen’s +1 defense will go to Emery. I decide to take the damage. 5 progress on the quest. Leave the Troll and play FoF to bring back Caldera.

Refresh everyone and raise Threat to 22.

Turn 4:

Resources: Eowyn (1), Glory (1), Caldera (1). Draw Dwarven Tomb.

Play Light of Valinor on Glory. Glory (0), Play Dwarven Tomb to fetch FoF. Caldera (0).

Quest with Arwen & Glory (5), reveal Massing at Night “surging” into Eastern Crows surging into Driven by Shadow. Net threat 4 vs 5 equals 1 net progress.

Engage Eastern Crows & defend with Emery, NS and no damage. Destroy Crows and shuffle it back into the deck.

Refresh everyone and raise Threat to 23.

Turn 5:
Resources: Eowyn (2), Glory (1), Caldera (1). Draw Hasty Stroke. Play Imladris Stargazer. Glory (0), Caldera (0).

Quest with Arwen & Glory (5) Reveal Necromancer’s Pass (3) for net 1 progress. I don’t travel here as I don’t want to discard two cards at random. (Possible talking point.)

Exhaust Imladris Stargazer and place Elfhelm, White Tower Watchman, Fortune or Fate, Ethir Swordsman, and Arwen back on the top of the deck in that order.

Refresh everyone and raise Threat to 24.

Turn 6:

Resources: Eowyn (3), Glory (1), Caldera (1). Draw Elfhelm. Play Ethir Swordsman. Eowyn (2), Glory (1)

Quest with Eowyn (discarding Elfhelm), Glory, Arwen and Northern Tracker placing 1 progress on Necromancer’s Pass. Reveal (not so) Evil Storm. Put 8 more progress on 1B.

I plan on engaging the troll next turn.

Exhaust Imladris Stargazer and place Ethir Swordsman on top of the deck.

Refresh everyone and raise threat to 25.

Turn 7:

Resources: Eowyn(3), Glory (2), Caldera (1) draw Swordsman.

Quest with Eowyn (discarding Swordsman), Tracker (putting another progress on Reach and removing it), Arwen, and Glory for 11. Reveal Dul Guldur Orcs for net threat of 3. Two damage to Caldera. (There is so much progress on the quest now it’s immaterial.)

Engage DGO and Hill Troll.

Defend Hill Troll with Emery. Shadow is Pursued by Shadow. Arwen back to my hand (removing her damage), but her effect persists and Emery defends with 3 and has two hit points. Emery passes away and my threat increases by 1 to 24. Defend DGO with Caldera (NS) and no further damage. Discard Caldera (losing her resource) putting Elfhelm and Emery back into play. Play Fortune or Fate and bring Caldera back.

Glory kills the DGO and the rest of the team gang up on the troll with an attack for 6 and 3 net damage.

Exhaust Stargazer and place Damrod on the top of the deck. (FoF is second.)

Refresh everyone and raise threat to 26.

Turn 8:

Resources: Eowyn(1), Glory (1), Caldera (1) draw Damrod. Play Arwen. E(1)G(0)C(0).

Quest with Eowyn discarding Damrod and Arwen for 7. Reveal Eastern Crows surging into Chieftan Ufthak (net 3). Engage Crows.

Defend Troll with Emery (NS). Discard Emery and Raise threat by 1. Defend Crows with Shipwright (NS).

Glory, Caldera, N. Tracker, Elfhelm & Swordsman attack for 9 dispatching the Troll. Move to Quest card 2B.

Exhaust Stargazer and put FoF on top. (And second too.)

Refresh everyone and raise threat to 28.

Turn 9:

Resources: Eowyn (2), Glory(1), Caldera(1) draw Fortune or Fate and play nothing.

Quest with Eowyn, Arwen, Glory & Shipwright (12). Reveal Enchanted Stream and The Brown lands (9). Three progress on the quest. Travel to TBL and discard it.

Defend Eastern Crows with Caldera (shadow = +1AT) no net damage. Destroy Crows and shuffle it back into the deck.

Exhaust Stargazer and place Northern Tracker on top of the deck. (This should be sweet.)

Refresh everyone and raise threat to 30.

Turn 10:

Resources: Eowyn (3), Glory (2), Caldera (2).

Quest with Eowyn discarding Northern Tracker. Arwen (Shipwright +1DF), Glory (10). Reveal Eastern Crows surging into Gladden Fields and Pursued by Shadow. Cancel with A Test of Will (Caldera). Net progress 4. Travel to Enchanted Stream. Engage Cheiftan Uftak and Crows comes along for the ride.

Defend Eastern Crows with Caldera (NS) and no net damage. Defend CU with Shipwright. Shadow removes 1 progress from the quest. (6). Shipwright dies. Discard Caldera. Return Northern Tacker and Damrod.

Attack Ufthak with Glory, two Trackers, Elfhelm and Damrod. Bye bye Ufthak. Attack Crows with Swordsman and shuffle back. Return Caldera with FoF.

Exhaust Stargazer and place FoF on top.

Refresh everyone and raise threat to 31.

Turn 11:

Resources: Eowyn(1), Glory(1), Caldera (1) No card draw to Enchanted Stream.

Quest with Eowyn, Arwen (Caldera), two Trackers (2 progress on Gladden Fields) and Glory (11). Reveal Wargs and Gladden Fields. (It’s a big field.) 8 threat for 3 progress. Discard Enchanted Stream and place 1 on the quest (7). Travel to Gladden Fields (the new one).

Defend Wargs with Caldera. Shadow is Despair and is cancelled with Hasty Stroke for no damage. Caldera (0). Destroy Wargs.

Exhaust Stargazer and place A Test of Will on Top.

Refresh everyone and raise threat to 33.

Turn 12:

Resources: Eowyn(2), Glory (2), Caldera (1). Draw a Test of Will.

Quest with Eowyn, Glory, two Tackers (removing GF from the staging area) and Arwen (Caldera) for 11. Reveal Misty Mountain Goblins and Marsh Adder (5). Net three progress on the quest (10) and remove the second Gladden Fields. Engage both Goblins and Adder. Defend Adder with Caldera (shadow +1 AT) for 2 damage and threat to 32. Discard Caldera and return Shipwright and Emery. Defend Goblins with Emery (NS), no damage. Remove 1 progress from the quest (9).

Attack Adder with Glory, Elfhelm, Damrod and Swordsman. Remove Adder from the game.

Exhaust Stargazer and place Fortune or Fate on top.

Refresh everyone and raise threat to 34.

Turn 13:

Resources: Eowyn(3), Glory (3). Draw FoF. Play FoF returning Caldera

Quest with Eowyn, Glory, Arwen (Caldera), Shipwright (12). Reveal Eastern Crows surging into Eastern Crows surging into Evil Storm and Despair. 10 Progress for 19 total on the Quest card. Move to 3B. Reveal Eastern Crows surging into Necromancer’s Pass and banks of the Anduin. Travel to Necromancer’s Pass discarding my hand.

Engage all three Crows. Defend Misty Mountain Goblin with Caldera (NS) no damage. Defend Crow 1 with Swordsman (NS) no damage. Defend Crow 2 with Emery (NS) no damage. Defend Crow 3 with Elfhem (NS) no damage. Destroy Crow 1 and 2 with the two Northern Trackers. Destroy Goblins with Glory and Damrod.

Exhaust Stargazer to place Northern Tracker on top.

Raise threat to 35 and refresh everyone.

Turn 14:

Resources: Eowyn (2), Glory(1), Caldera(1). Draw and play Northrn Tracker.

Quest with Eowyn, Arwen (Calera) and three Northern Trackers (removing Banks from the staging area and back to the top of the deck). Necromancer’s Pass is discarded.

Defend Crows with Caldera (NS) and destroy Crows.

Game Over.

Thoughts. I didn’t get the Zigil Miner resource engine going and so I felt like I had to creep along. Also, and maybe I just need more experience, but I felt like I needed a little bit of card draw. I understand why Tracker doesn’t have any though. It’s a bit slow to get the engine of this deck rolling and it always feels like it might sputter. Would appreciate any comments on my play as it IS a very different play style.

Thanks for giving it a try. Looks like you played it pretty well. It's unfortunate you did not get Zigil into play, since then you would really see the deck work much better. Either way it's still takes a bit of time to set up, before the ball gets rolling. Still Looks like you were able to use Caldara's power 4 times and bringing her back successfully. With Zigil you probably could have done it a few more times. You were still able to handle the troll, uftak, warg, and the adder, so you got most of the tough enemies in the deck.

This Caldara deck is not a fast deck, you can expect most games to last over ten rounds. This is really hilighted during Anduin, because you have to build up sufficient attack power before taking out the Troll, meanwhile you have a mountain of progress on the first stage.

One thing I try to do is bring Caldara back with FoF before the round ends to get her resource starting next round. If you had Zigil in play that would have been easier.

This deck had gotten some wins on some really tough quests. Most recently I was able to win The Battle of Laketown. During that quest I realized I needed more card draw with Ancient Mathom, and the scenario provided an abundance of locations. I needed to get test of will's and hasty strokes into hand, only getting on card per round was to slow. I also included a will of the west in case i cycled through all copes of FoF, tombs, and map. This was included for this scenario specifically because of the when revealed that makes you discard cards from you deck equal to the damage on Laketown. Losing 20 cards like that is tough.

So overall, i'mreally happy with this type of deck, and since it is a new style of play That the Developers are strengthening, I think it is only going to get better.

Also, one thing about your Anduin report, during stage 2 you were engaging 2 enemies at a time like in round 10 you optionally engaged Uftak, and crows came too. The quest cards says not to make engagement checks, but you may still optionally engage 1 enemy. I always assumed that in this case I could optionally engage Uftak, but the crows do not make an engagement check, so they just hang out in the staging area even if my threat is higher then their engagement cost. So, enemies will start to build up in staging area when you get to round 3. Have I been playing that wrong for the past few years?

I'd enjoy hearing how this deck type of deck is working for you in the future.

No, oops. I usually don't make that mistake. I think that trying to record everything and still play the deck distracted me. Wouldn't have changed anything in the end though.

I did have to discard Cadara a couple times when I didn't have the resources ready to pull her right back. Those were tactical decisions, but I stand by them.

Thanks for the archetype. I would not have bothered to try it. In practice it plays a lot like an Elrond/Vilya deck to me except that there are many more high powered elves to grab. If Spirit gets a few more unique allies in the next expansion it will help out the deck a lot. Also, Vilya can grab Gandalf which is a plus and it's not as expensive to run once you have an Unexpected Courage on Elrond.

Thanks again.

Well I've tried this deck a few times, and must say that it does indeed alter your play style. I like it.

I also have to say that I've found it can stand on it's own fine in many quests without Caldara's ability.

There where a couple of times when I just used her ability because I could. No need at all.

It's a really fun deck, and when all the parts are up and running it's great.

This means the need of F&F. This is the only trouble I've had at times; not getting F&F anytime soon in a game.

So I've thought of adding Ancient Mathrom, as location exploring is easy with this deck, getting me faster to F&F.

That sometimes did the job alright, so that's some advice to people who want to try this deck.

I've stopped playing the deck, but I agree that Ancient Mathom is needed. And as for why the deck is powerful without Caldara using her ability all the time, I just put that down to Spirit's power level.