The Swords of the Noldor Reforged 2.0

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• 2.0
• 1.0

Neat! I don't have access to Elladan, Elrohir, Eregion Survivor, or Cloak of Lorien--any suggestions on cards that might replace those (I don't have access to Mountain of Fire or Heirs of Numenor, Voice of Isengard, Sands of Harad, and their respective cycles)? Would Asfaloth be worthwhile?

Elladan and Elrohir are nice combat allies but you could replace them with more generic allies like Lindon Navigator and Sailor of Lune. Might sub in Lembas for the Cloak as it would make up for the loss of defense with healing and readying. Can’t go wrong with Asfaloth! My location control of choice in this deck has usually been Explorer’s Almanac since it’s free and you can use it many times.

Excellent! I played quite a few games with your 1.0 version of this - definitely made Noldor my favorite archetype. Going to have to give this a shot!

No more Linder? I liked him in your previous version.

@The BGamerJoe Thanks for the comments! I'll give it a go. Can you use WIll of the West multiple times in the same game? I know each copy is "removed from the game" upon use, but that doesn't bar using other copies of the card right? Also, how do you deal with shadow attacks? Normally Erestor gets a Burning Brand, no?

Linder is a fine choice but I cut him since I rarely triggered his ability. @philipneri

Yes, you can use 3 Will of the West in a game. I regularly play it all three times in any game that goes over 10 turns or so. I don’t have any shadow mitigation beyond a super tough defender in the Guardian. He starts at 2/3/3 (combat stats) and you can get him up to 3/4/5 with Raiment, 3/4/5with Cloak then ipnto 4/5/5 with Narya and 5/6/6 with end game cycling of Lords of the Eldar. He’s super tough. Early game you can either take a hit on a a hero for defense or chump with a Jeweler. The Survivor can defend pretty well if need be. And if you lose your main defender, you can get another Guardian working pretty quickly and all those cards will cycle back into your hand before long. @Mythdracon

@The BGamerJoeAh, great to know. I don't have access to Eregion Survivor since I didn't purchase Harad and the cycle so far (the game has already made me plenty poor, and even with four cycles of content I'm short on some of the best cards!) Any other defenders that might work here? I guess chump blockers are just fine too.

Do you have the Guardian of Rivendell? He’s the bomb! @Mythdracon

@The BGamerJoe I do! But the discard card cost can be a bit nasty, no? Even though cards like Lords of the Eldar or Elven-light are safe discards.

Also, is Silver Harp good here? Given that one discards at least one card every resource phase from Cirdan's ability.

That Guardian is totally worth it. He has almost the same stats as Amarthiul and you can get him into play in any given turn. Great ally imo. Silver Harp isn’t bad at all. I’ve used it a lot in Moldor decks but I cut it here just because it costs 2 and I don’t miss it any more. Not bad at all but I’ve found this version very efficient without it. Galdor does almost the same thing but he has hero stats and lets you get through your deck even faster.

@The BGamerJoe Neat! But would adding extra cards like Silver Harp be ok here, given that it draws 5 cards per turn? And if so, how many extra cards are ok before it lowers the deck consistency? When I make this deck (with real cards), I'm thinking of maybe replacing the Eregion Survivors with attachments like Silver Harp and Burning Brand, and replacing the Elven brothers with Lindon Navigator and Sailor of Lune, but I lack Silvan Refugee for example.

Also, do you often find Erestor has lots of extra resources left over on him? I'm wondering if there's a way to use those somehow, otherwise I might implant some Ents or Protector of Lorien maybe?

I find it works out about right. You can always use To the Sea! to help out the sphere that might be low. I’ve never found that Erestor builds up resources. Sometimes I even throw resources to him with Arwen to smooth things over. With 23 Lore to 38 Spirit resource demands in the 50 cards, Erestor doesn’t get rich in my experience.

I love Noldor and use this hero lineup all the time, though my deck choices are usually focused more on multiplayer questing and support. What I'm wondering, looking at this, is if Eregion Survivor pulls his weight here. And if so, how? Maybe I've never given him a fair shake or I just play differently than you, but I usually find I still have cards in my hand during the quest phase, when I would be most likely to use him. How often do you get his bonus??

I value the Survivor highly. I’m pretty ruthless about emptying my hand by the end of the quest phase. What are you keeping in hand? @The Purple Wizard

I run 3 of Silver Harp and Test of Will. So most common would be a Test that I didn't play that round and plan to save for next round with the harp. It could also be an ally I couldn't afford that I want to buy next round, or a Will of the West I don't want to play yet but can't discard. Maybe you don't need those cards so much in solo, but in a multiplayer support deck role I find them vital.

I play this deck multiplayer and solo, but probably most solo. I get some sideways looks from team mates for running two Spirit heroes and no Test of Will, but that's one of the things I like about the archetype; it doesn't need Test of Will. It can handle most anything the deck throws at you. I have done that same thing and added Harps and Test of Will for multiplayer games with particularly nasty treacheries but I enjoy the 'balls to the walls" approach with no cancellation at all!

@The BGamerJoe Any tips how you managed to beat Dagnir with this deck ?

The high willpower will let you clear quest stages right way as necessary. Work hard towards building up a Guardian of Rivendell with the Raiment and Cloak with Narya support so you can start defending the dragon instead of letting it attack the town.

One of the challenges of that quest is deciding which quest stages to clear and which to let be. I'd be happy to try to answer any specific questions. It's a hard quest.

How come you are only running one copy of Lords of the Eldar. Late game it's not an issue, but I would have thought drawing this consistently throughout the game would be more ideal.

I had more but I kept wanting to play allies so I didn’t really play it that often. You could certainly up that to two or even three but I found I prefer getting more characters and attachments in play. @Twelvesmallsquares

@The BGamerJoethat's fair enough. I will probably run 2 copies I think because I find it quite handy. In your old build I never used the Song od Battle and the tactics attachments, but will give it a try with Reforged. I hope Reforged doesnt get errata'd too hard!

I love me those Tactics attachments! Boosts the combat phase so much! @Twelvesmallsquares But playing Lords of the Eldar can has a similar effect for your combat phase. That simplifies the deck.

Thanks for sharing! I have played this deck recently and I really enjoy it. Any ideas for a replacement of Steward of Gondor to have the deck more mulyiplayer friendly?

It doesn’t NEED Steward, it just makes it go crazy.

Thror’s Map (still good with the errata and Reforged), Explorer’s Almanac and Test of Will are cards I sub in for multiplayer games. @BOberyn

Love the deck and the Noldor playstyle. I've been running spirit Beregond in the Heir of Numenor quests for a guaranteed turn 1 defender that's immune to ally hate. More generally, how would you run the deck if Erestor isn't available? Galdor with a bit more card draw has been my answer but I'm curious to hear what other changes you'd make.

Thanks @The BGamerJoe

Thanks! Losing Erestor would be a heavy blow to this deck! Galdor would work as a substitute but I would add 3x Silver Harp to keep the hand full of cards while still getting use out of discard effects. I would also put Test of Will back in without Erestor.

Great, thanks BGamerJoe. I'd been running Test of Will, but hadn't thought of the Silver Harp suite as way to mitigate all the discard once Galdor's once-per-game ability has been used. Hopefully I can convince my play partner to share Erestor from time to time as well.

@The BGamerJoeSorry, but I don't understand how you are playing the Tactics attachments. I know Reforged can do this, but those attachments are also in previous versions of the deck, without Reforged. Am I missing something here? I know Narya gives you the Leadership sphere on Cirdan for Steward, but I don't see a way to play Tactics cards here.

Don’t be sorry! Previous versions Song of Battle but Reforged is a much more elegant solution so I swapped the Song out for Reforged.

Thanks, I don't know how I didn't see the Song in the previous version. I'm playing this one right now through the Dreamchaser and it's great fun - thanks!

@The BGamerJoe thanks for this deck! Only problem I see with it is that it makes other decks look bad. I've used it to play through the whole Dreamchaser cycle (and the three scenarios in Sands of Harad) and it was a great fit thematically.

IMO this deck provides a unique sense of cadence - it feels great being able to use cards as resources and use the whole hand on every turn. Everything flows together and every card has value. Playing with this deck actually gives me strong Mage Knight vibes in terms of making the most out of your hand on every turn.

I'm missing LIght of Valinor out of all of these. Seems like an important card.

@sfnubyou could just use a playset of unexpected courage and be fine, you will be losing 1 resource, but it's a solid replacement.

Super fun deck. I put a couple guarded attachments in there to give a few more options. Either way very powerful deck.