Into Ithilien 1.0

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• 1.0

A deck that is purpose built to beat Into Ithilien solo, using only cards released until the Against the Shadow cycle, no saga cards and one Core set.

This deck has met my goal of winning the scenario three times in a row.

First, you need 9 Attack T1 to clear Ithilien Road. Together with 2 from Celador, that makes 11, enough even against the five threat 4 cards in the encounter deck. The heroes have 7, so you need 2 more. Khazad! or sacrificing The Riddermarks’s Finest do the job on their own. If you don’t get it, combinations of The Riddermark’s Finest or Wandering Took with Spear of the Mark or Good Harvest with Trollshaw Scout or Veteran Axehand will also work. Mulligan to make sure you have enough.

Next, you need to do the above at less than 25 threat because of Morgul Spider. I tried a lot of higher threat hero configurations as well, but they become much to vulnerable against that start. You don’t want to use chump blockers because you need to keep Celador alive. Keeping under the Spider’s radar seems to be the best approach.

For stage 1, you need more Attack to battle. The Tactics allies and Khazad! do that job best. Miruvor lets Dunhere with Spear of Mark both quest and attack, otherwise you need to keep him back to attack. I found it worthwhile to cycle Miruvor on this stage. You can’t use 1HP allies becuase of Blocking Wargs, so no Vassal of the Windlord.

For stages 2-3, you need more Willpower. The Spirit allies do that job, but Dunhere is the MVP. He keeps the threat level in staging low by killing off the enemies. There’s a synergy here with Thalin, because almost all the enemies are 6 to kill. Dunhere with Spear of Mark has 5 Attack against enemies in staging, so the 1 free damage from Thalin lets Dunhere kill them with one swing. That gains a lot of tempo. Thalin also kills off the annoying Bats by himself, and is a target for Khazad!

For stage 3, you need threat reduction to prevent a siege. Galadhrim’s Greeting and Elrond’s Counsel do that job. Elfhelm can also help.

Next, you need to keep a 2HP ally back to defend at all times because of Haradrim Elite. On stage 1, the Spirit allies do this and on stages 2-3 the Tactics allies do it. Only on T1 should you be open to an undefended attack from staging.

Test of Will is best used against Watcher in the Woods or Blocking Wargs. UC goes on Dunhere.