The Bears and the Maiden Fair 1.0

• Versions
• 1.0

Hello and welcome back... well, for me, at least...

Yeah, the deck name is a reference from another book and another game ;)

I went into my LGS to retrieve my pending order, some LOTR packs. When I got home I started opening them and sorting out all the Player cards through my color-coded binders and one card got my eyes all over.

Beorning Skin-changer

I've immediately digged through my red binder () and looked what I could grab with the Skin-changer. And also thought in a process to repeat this effect and make the most out of it.

The juicy targets are the Bears: Beorn, of course, and Giant Bear. Both of them can attack and block well, so redundancy to provide consistent pulls. And both can be shuffled again back into the deck, which can be useful sometimes.

I've also added Beorning Guardian because it may be Skin-Changed but can also provide a semi-Location management.

Ok, so far so good... but... what can I do to exploit the Skin-Changing effect even more? This is where the Maiden enters.

Arwen is here for two things, and Resources.

This is my initial sketch and I'm gonna test it soon but I'm really in a battle between Aragorn and Mablung. Since this deck is all about Combat Mablung seems the better option to have to generate Resources. The other Hero is Grimbeorn the Old who needs all the Resources to himself (if there are foes worth taking care of with him).

In the long run Mablung is the wisest choice and that's why he is in the cut. Aragorn would only benefit from Arwen's abillity to provide a Skin-changer in first turn while Grimbeorn could keep his Resource to himself.

Engine

The engine of this deck is taking the most advantage out of Beorning Skin-changer. It's the essential card in the deck and the rest of the deck is built for it, supporting it or recurring it.

Some key pieces are:

• Stand and Fight

This is the main reason why is being played in this deck. Arwen with her abillity can generate 2 Resources for herself and play Stand and Fight to retrieve an used Skin-changer that will then trade for a Bear.

• Galadhrim Weaver

This is another piece that keeps the engine running. The Weaver can recycle one freshly used Skin-changer back into the deck. And also provide a , much needed in this deck.

The Maiden's Engine

Arwen is a Hero that pretty much play on her own. She has an inbuilt Resource/Card Draw engine that pairs with other cards in an almost compulsory way.

• Elven-light

This is the most self-explanatory combo card that work with the Maiden. Discard it for a Resource, spent a Resource for a card-draw. It's a slow process but in the long run is really solid. And also...

• Elven Jeweler

This card does not pair directly with the Maiden but it pairs with the process explained above with the Elven-light. After doing it we cannot discard the Light again for another Resource but we can use the Light as a "resource" to play the Jeweler.

Other cards that can pair well with both the Jeweler and the Maiden resource engine are Glorfindel that may be played in later game and any of the Bears since we can Skin-Change them from the bin.

That's a total of 11 cards that can be discarded for the Maiden's Engine. (not to mention the possible +3 from Beorning Guardian if we really want to go that far)

This deck is pretty much Combat centric so that part is taken care of. There are three more aspects to consider in a deck engine, Resources, Card Draw and Willpower.

Resources

Apart from Arwen herself can provide and extre Resource, she can play any card in the deck in one turn. The curve is really low enough that she's able to play at least one card per turn. Glorfindel on the other hand can be tricky but it's a late game card so it can be set for a few turns in the bin while our Maiden collects Resources for it.

Mablung can provide another extra Resource per turn on his own and to his own. And later use them for Allies. A second turn Skin-changer is easy to achieve.

Proud Hunters is another Resource generation in this deck, since it's easy to achieve a kill. And since our allied base is even Grimbeorn the Old can gather those Resources and then use the spare to pay for an Ally.

Card Draw

This is the most steep factor in this deck. I didn't wanted to use Weapons for Foe-hammer so that is out of question.

Elven-light is the ping draw in the deck. Legolas can also fetch an extra card when attacking with a buddy and providing a kill.

Willpower

Question is hard for -based decks.

Grappling Hook is a good crutch to use with the amount of Bears we have in the deck. If the enemy numbers are low, spending an attacker to Quest with its is not bad at all.

Elrond's Counsel is a must play in our Maiden. Besides providing a boost it can also do some Threat management.

Rally the West is a huge deal when scored. Providing that boost to all Heroes can be a good help in high sittuations.

Then an array of good Questing allies,

Bofur is an easy-to-play 2 for 1 resource per turn.

Elven Jeweler and Galadhrim Weaver are 1 each but since their main effect is other they can Quest as soon as they hit the table.

Sailor of Lune may be tricky, that's why I just play two in any deck I use them. They pair well with the Maiden's engine and Elven-light but only that. But hey... in a deck where is scarse all the help is welcome.

Also, Steed of Imladris can help in some Location clogging sittuations as much as Beorning Guardian too.

The remaining cards are tools.

A Test of Will is what it is and a single Will of the West to provide a recycle if needed.

Here it is... The Bears and the Maiden Fair, a deck about exploiting the best a card can do with a solid engine behind.

Test it and tell me how it went. This is just my initial sketch.