Support of the Eagles (with hero Radagast) 1.0

• Versions
• 1.0

First published deck -- feedback welcome!

(This will probably be adjusted when i have access to Rohan Warhorse, Meneldor, Flight of the Eagles and Glamdring.)

Basic concept

Almost mono-tactics, with Radagast being there to help pay for eagles, Ioreth, and a few key lore cards. Heroes are doing the main share of work with Support of the Eagles and their other attachments. Pump up a single Eagles of the Misty Mountains for this, and use the remaining eagles as you like. This building up can take a few turns with no issues, since Support of the Eagles can also target cheap allies like Vassal of the Windlord and Winged Guardian. Look for Radagast's Staff early to call your eagles in more easily.

With such a varied toolbox, it can be hard to pull the right cards, especially since there are many single copies. Word of Command is essential here. Use it to pull whichever cards you need -- my main targets in the early game are missing key attachments, and mid/late game i'm looking to counter the parts of the scenario that i'm struggle against.

Questing

As with any tactics-heavy deck, questing is a challenge. Main questers will be Radagast, Gimli (it helps to have Ring of Thrór to ready him in case he's needed later), Gwaihir, and Eagles of the Misty Mountains. You're usually looking at somewhere between 4 and 8 , and rarely above that.

Some cheat-questing is possible by attaching Grappling Hooks to your high attack eagles, or beefed up Gimli -- Support of the Eagles can be activated here too for some extra strong grappling (or hooking?). This can be super strong with fully stacked Gimli, but it only happens once per Grappling Hook. (Nobody tosses a dwarf, but grappling hooks are absolutely acceptable.)

Legolas should have Arod for additional progress, and usually 1 each of Rivendell Blade and Blade of Gondolin -- adjust his weapons as demanded by the scenario, with dual Gondolins if you sorely need to quest and dial Rivendells if some beefy enemy needs to be taken down.

Defending

Defending should start with Gimli, who should get at least 1 Citadel Plate and Vigilant Guard. The second Citadel Plate can go on Radagast, who will take over defending duties with A Burning Brand once Gimli is beefed, but i'd stick it on Gimli most times. Song of Battle is necessary to put Support of the Eagles on Radagast, and to help pay for every non-eagle tactics card.

The second Vigilant Guard can go on Legolas to take some overflow damage that might KO Gimli or Radagast. Keep your heroes alive with Ioreth.

Card draw

As someone else pointed out on the deck that inspired this, The Eagles Are Coming! is likely to whiff because of the small number of Eagles. That's where card draw comes in: Peace, and Thought plus a one-card temporary draw with Wizard Pipe (maybe putting an eagle back for The Eagles Are Coming! or Ring of Thrór to target). Ring of Thrór is a decent pseudo-draw as attachments form most of our deck.

Swap in more Peace, and Thought and a few copies of Foe-hammer if you feel they're needed. If you have the non-saga Glamdring, i would definitely swap that with Legolas's knives -- since questing is an issue, i would probably drop both Rivendell Blades in exchange while keeping Blades of Gondolin.

Resources and readying

There's no great way to get more resources in this deck, but some things help mitigate this lack: Radagast's Staff for paying eagles, Ring of Thrór for attachments, and Song of Battle for some resource smoothing.

The same for readying: without Rohan Warhorse there're few readying effects, so make full use your eagle allies, and Ring of Thrór if you play it.

Side note on hero choice

I've built this deck around Gimli because i just can't separate this silly boy from his BFF, but you could probably make a more efficient deck with Beregond or Háma. Perhaps even Mablung if you're short on resources or Éowyn for questing. Legolas is a staple hero that shouldn't be swapped out, because his progress tokens are too essential.