A Burgling We Will Go

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kjeld 621

I wanted to test out the synergy of Widfast and Gavin with the The Burglar's Turn. Both our new scout and her falcon companion help with fishing locations out of the encounter and dealing with location lock in case you ever get hung up with an active location that's difficult to clear.

CORRECTION: Widfast's ability searches for a Creature ally outside your deck. So I would likely drop Gavin in the deck list in favor of another strong ally like a second Arwen Undómiel or more location control, like a second A Watchful Peace. Also, in certain quests you might rather pull a different Creature ally than Gavin, such as a Loyal Hound for early combat help or possibly, I suppose, The Riddermark's Finest if you know there will be a non-immune location with just 2 quest points starting in staging. In such cases, add Gavin back into the main deck since he's still quite useful.

Mulligan for The Hidden Way, though Curious Brandybuck and Dunedain Pathfinder are also great opening hand cards to see. The former is a get-out-of-jail free if you need an emergency chump blocker, and the latter can give you some early boost and start fishing out locations.

Everything else in the deck is utility to ensure that you are fishing locations and questing successfully every round.

The Burglar Deck is pretty standard, tweaked slightly to fit this hero lineup. Remember that if you don't like the specific attachment that gets attached to the active location, use West Road Traveller, The Hidden Way, Wiglaf's ability, or Strider's Path to get another option.

Potential tweaks: Could add an additional copy of Firyal or Henamarth Riversong for more scrying and encounter deck control. Elven Jeweler is a good option if you want more emergency chump blockers. A copy of A Burning Brand or another Loyal Hound to support Bilbo Baggins as defender, which he can do once he gets some combination of Mithril Shirt, Sting, Citadel Plate, and Arwen Undómiel's boost.

Note on Bilbo Baggins: I chose Bilbo for thematic reasons, but he actually works decently as a defender once you get the right attachments on him and the 2 cards per turn in solo is great. If you're playing multiplayer, you could instead consider Denethor as a solid defender (in which case take out Sting and Red Book of Westmarch and add in Gondorian Shield and Ancestral Armor to the Burglar Deck). For lower starting threat but sticking with Hobbits, Pippin is a decent choice but the new Fatty Bolger may be even better for some early game enemy control.

8 comments

Aug 25, 2021 Emmental 407

Love it ! I will probably go hard on the peaceful side of the deck (The Hidden Way+A Watchful Peace) and see if i can play a scenario without ennemy or treachery^^

If you want to make your hobbit defender tankier, Ring Mail is a better solution than Citadel Plate in my opinion. Add a Hobbit Cloak and you should be enough protected.

Aug 25, 2021 Seastan 42164

Great deck! I should point out that Widfast says to search your "collection", not your deck. So even if Gavin is in your opening hand, you can still pull a copy out of your collection and get the discount on it. If you plan to always pick Gavin, you can even free up that deck slot for something else.

Aug 26, 2021 kjeld 621

Thanks @Emmental and @Seastan!

I hadn't realized Widfast works that way -- I was thinking she worked more like MotK -- that definitely opens up some options, though I think I like the small advantage of starting with a 49-card deck.

Interesting point about Ring Mail v. Citadel Plate, I'll have to give it a try. Ring Mail is good for a tankier defender, but it can ONLY go on Bilbo, which limits its utility a bit. The nice thing about Citadel Plate is it can be used like another source of healing for any hero that might need it. I could also see swapping out Thrór's Key for the Ring Mail, though it would be thematically sad.

Sep 01, 2021 ellipticaltable 204

Small bit of rules pedantry: I don't think you can search your deck using Widfast. @Seastan, does your "collection" include the cards in your deck?

Sep 02, 2021 kjeld 621

@ellipticaltable The intention, it seems, is to allow you to pull a Creature ally from anywhere, not just your deck. So Gavin can be in deck, hand, or somewhere else I believe.

From the ALeP article on Widfast:

"Some players might have questions about what “your collection” actually means. This will be fully defined in an upcoming ALeP FAQ, but if you’re wondering if you could technically grab a 4th copy of a particular non-unique Creature that already has 3 copies in your deck, the short answer is yes, if you have access to one."

Sep 02, 2021 kjeld 621

However, if I interpret that incorrectly, then you could simply pull another copy of Gavin (or in some specific cases Loyal Hound if you're more concerned about dealing with an early enemy) from outside the deck. It shouldn't make too much difference.

Sep 02, 2021 Seastan 42164

@kjeld See my comment above. Your collection is the leftover cards that are not part of the game. So Widfast does not grab cards from your deck. Same goes for cards like Helm of Secrecy. You can't replace your hero with another hero you have on the table.

Sep 02, 2021 kjeld 621

Ah, I see now, I thought "collection" was inclusive of your deck (as in, all the cards you own). This clarification makes sense, though, and I added a correction to the deck description.