Goodstuff 3.0

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• 3.0
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• 1.0

Concept

I wanted to see if having four heroes was as good as it seemed...well, turns out that it's pretty bonkers. I think my initial impulse was one of two possibilities: 1) all Hobbit heroes; or 2) as many stats and useful abilities on cards as possible while keeping starting threat level around ~35.

I went with the latter, and the deck sorta built itself at that point, with a few exceptions. Basically, I just wondered what would happen if you crammed a bunch of generically good cards into a deck with [Beregond](/card/05001) and [Galadriel](/card/08112), which is already a good start, as they solve so many problems immediately with threat management, card draw, and early game . Keep in mind this deck is designed as a pure solo deck, as there are some pretty popular cards in here.

Deckbuilding & Practice

First choice was to figure out which reasonably costed utility heroes I could pull from and . I considered [Gildor Inglorion](/card/22081), [Sam Gamgee](/card/141002), [Pippin](/card/141004), and others. But I settled on [Frodo Baggins](/card/21002) quickly, as additional threat management would be a huge boon when starting at 34. [Thurindir](/card/17028) was a pleasant surprise, as I realized the synergy with Frodo was too good to pass up for only 8 and essentially zero wasted stats. So, at that point, I had two utility heroes (Frodo, Galadriel), a decent quester and attacker (Thurindir), and a dedicated defender (Beregond). Being able to start with every base covered -- along with some other core loops tied up (card draw, threat mitigation, starting with a card of my choice, readying, etc.) -- had me intrigued. Then, I just started with a few Side Quests and filled in from there.

Allies

Shouldn't be many surprises, especially considering the starting Side Quest should be [The Storm Comes](/card/16013). Every ally in here is there for the cost-stat ratio. That's pretty much it.

Attachments

Here's a bit more of a wrinkle. [Armored Destrier](/card/12059) was an obvious include, as were [Gondorian Shield](/card/06005) and [Unexpected Courage](/card/01057) to turn Beregond into the tank he needs to be. [Outmatched](/card/19062) is a card I've grown very fond of, especially with red Beregond. I suppose it could be cut for two other cards if you're so inclined, but I find you can't have too much redundancy in a deck for readying your dedicated defender. So, that might be the controversial. The rest shouldn't come as a surprise, really. [Miruvor](/card/04133) is an emergency button card for Beregond or a utility card for Thurindir for multiple attacks if you can grab a [Legacy Blade](/card/17117). [Steward of Gondor](/card/01026) goes on Frodo most of the time, depending on the game state.

Events

I haven't run [A Test of Will](/card/01050) for a long time. I just don't like the card anymore. I'll get into that at some point, I suppose. Also, [Tighten Our Belts](/card/08086) can be quite good with four heroes. If you don't see it early, then it's either [Glorfindel](/card/12006)/[[Daeron's Runes](/card/04108) fodder...or it's something in your toolbox. Again, one of those cards I'm sure anyone could debate.

Gameplay

I've been testing it against a litany of quests, and I took it up against the Shadow in the East box as well as Wrath and Ruin. So far, it's performed remarkably well. I think it's really just having an entire deck crammed full of useful cards and four heroes. That's really it...I will say, though, that if you want to play a deck that rewards clever play or is very reliant on chaining triggers and playing from the hand, this deck is not for you (as an aside, it's not really for me, either -- as that's how I like to play this game -- but it was fun to build). Basically, you hard mulligan for [Gondorian Shield](/card/06005), choose [The Storm Comes](/card/16013) as your starting Side Quest (or [Gather Information](/card/09014), depending on what you have or haven't seen/the game state on Setup), and dig for readying to put on red Berry...that's really it. Other than that, you just pull good stuff off the top of the deck, slam it down, and turn cards sideways. It's obviously prone to variance, as any [Bond of Friendship](/card/22147) deck is, but this configuration has been remarkably consistent.