Solo / Elrond + Aragorn + Glorfindel / Core + Khazadum 4.0

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• 6.0
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• 4.0

Hello there! I am mainly a solo player as I live abroad and my LOTR LCG friends are elsewhere. Given this, I like to play the game with solo decks. I have enjoyed playing it solo 2-headed style, but I do like the idea of a solo adventure with one deck only. I am fairly new to the game so I have gotten the following sets:

• Core Set
• Shadows of Mirkwood
• Khaza-Dum
• Dwarrowdelf

My goal is to progress through all the cycles I currently own with one single deck (no sideboard). This is a result of me playing alone and inspired this very cool looking deck, by Seastan: https://ringsdb.com/decklist/view/8682/the-one-deck-1.0

Lets say that my version of it is what I can do with the library of cards available plus a few tweaks. Here is the run down of the deck:

- Elrond + Vilya The true engine of the deck. By himself Elrond is a powerhouse, and a very good representation of how powerful this character actually was. His ability to pay for allies of any sphere really comes online once he has Steward of Gondor. His added sphere becomes quite useful once he has Vilya, to play things such as The Galadhrim's Greeting. His augmented healing ability is the perfect paring with Warden of Healing. All of his other stats are stellar as well: I always prioritize Vilya action, but in case he has Unexpected Courage, he is usually utilized for defending, and secondly for questing. Glorfindel and Aragorn do a better job at attacking.

- Glorfindel The reason for his inclusion is his low threat and good action advantage with a mere 1 resource. He is the primary quester out of the 3 heroes, and the main attacker, as Elrond will be busy with the above and Aragorn acts more as an all-arounder filling the function a certain turn might require.

- Aragorn Not only does Aragorn help with the resource generation, but his stats are close to perfect for having a more versatile and adaptive role. He can quest for a solid 2 (5 with Glorfindel), he can attack for 3 (6 with Glorfindel) and he can defend very well (2 Defense and 5 Hit Points, with the potential to have A Burning Brand). Lastly but not least, his ability to reset our threat level is quite powerful and more useful than what it looks like. We can either maximize it and utilize it once we are close to 50 Threat (meaning this would be like having a card that costs 0 and reduces our by 15-19). It can also be utilized to avoid any encounters that might prove to hard at a certain point in the game (Trolls in Conflict at the Carrock as an example).

This is our team of heroes that I feel is very well rounded, and while expensive (30 ) it does not 'break the bank'.

- Beorn 99% the time he will come in through Vilya. He is of course our our primary offensive option, as his attack matches both Aragorn and Glorfindel, but also because of his +5 attack ability. We can use it as soon as it makes sense to do so, has when he returns to the deck it should not be too hard to fish him out again (either through Gildor Inglorion or Imladris Stargazer + Vilya)

- Eagles of the Misty Mountains These are a very good target for Vilya as they are not unique and have pretty good stats all around, keeping the deck flexible. Not only that, but they remain useful once defeated in the case you have multiple, augmenting the power of their fellow kin.

- Faramir 1 of being that he is , so his purpose if of course not to go into combat, but be the questing powerhouse that he is. This one will be pivotal in pushing the deck through the quest heavy encounters and keep us afloat in case we are location locked.

- Gandalf 3 of as he is so versatile. Amazing target for Vilya as you can adapt on the fly to what you need and even if its timing is not perfect, you can always use him to some good effect.

- Gildor Inglorion Presents a very good engine for the deck, but one of its weaknesses as well. His stats are on par with that of our heroes, and his ability pairs perfectly with Vilya, especially late game when you might have many good Vilya targets in hand. Him being means you might hit him with Vilya to no effect, or you might get stuck with 2 or 3 copies in hand at a time you can not pay for him. Nonetheless, I believe that it is still worth the risk of having 3 given the upside he presents.

- Imladris Stargazer One of the deck's engines. Its pairing with Vilya is obvious, and in some cases you can have that pairing up and running as early as 2nd turn.

- Landroval Yet an amazing target for Vilya. He is not much of a blocker nor quester, but he joins the ranks of our offense cast with 3 attack and acts as an insurance policy for our heroes in case something goes wrong. He can also help make Eagles of the Misty Mountains more powerful.

- Master of the Forge While not the engine of the deck, this card is pivotal for the deck's strategy. Not only does Master of the Forge help you get Vilya as early as possible (potentially first turn into your hand), but it remains useful after that. He can either help get other attachments (A Burning Brand, Light of Valinor, Unexpected Courage)(not Steward of Gondor as we want to play that one with Vilya given the restriction). Another added benefit of this guy that cannot go unmentioned is his ability to shuffle the deck. This is especially good when you utilize either Imladris Stargazer or Gildor Inglorion and see no good targets for Vilya.

- Miner of the Iron Hills This one might not be the most useful ally, but I do like having a safety net vs conditions as those can really stop the deck's engine in the case they hit Elrond.

- Northern Tracker At 4 cost, this is a good target for Vilya but can also because be directly playable from hand in case Elrond has Vilya, given the added sphere he gains. Decent stats all around and good quester, especially for location heavy quests.

- Warden of Healing Healing powerhouse that pairs very well with Elrond, not only because of his own healing augmenting abilities, but it keeps him up to be our tank (3 Defense, and perhaps a A Burning Brand). 3 of might be overkill, but they are quite fragile with only 1 Hit Point, so we stock them nicely incase any treachery kills them.

- A Burning Brand This could have been a 2 of, but it is a very good tool to pair with Elrondand Aragorn, both quite decent at blocking. In combat heavy quests you do want the 2 of these out, so you have 2 solid blockers, hence the 3 copies.

- Light of Valinor As some of the above, having 3 of a is not ideal, especially if it is the target of a 'blind' Vilya. But for a mere 1 resource its benefits are huge. You get a free 3 per turn in Glorfindel and virtually give him an Unexpected Courage like effect.

- Steward of Gondor A peculiar target for Vilya. It becomes quite powerful with Elrond as now you will be having 3 resources of any Sphere for allies. So potentially you can play any ally from your hand in case you don't hit anything with Vilya.

- Unexpected Courage Amazing action advantage. Priority would go as follows: 1 Elrond(Vilya + Block or Quest), 2 Aragorn(Quest or Block + Block or Attack), 3 Glorfindel(you probably already have Light of Valinor on him)(Quest for free, then attack twice, or block in the rare case you need to block 3 attacks + attack).

- Vilya The focus of the deck. I will usually mulligan a hand that does not have Vilya or at least Master of the Forge. The goal is to get it online as soon as possible. In the unfortunate case that we don't, we have a strong cast of heroes to hold down the fort.

- A Test of Will Worst possible target for Vilya, making it a weakness of the deck by having 3. But it also makes the deck quite resilient, as we will have a strong ally presence along with our heroes, so this provides protection from any treacheries that affect multiple targets.

- Daeron's Runes This helps us dig through the deck go get Vilya or any other card we might need at any given point and turns repeated useful by utilizing them as a resource. It is also useful in case we have Gildor Inglorion and/or Imladris Stargazer not showing us anything we like by assisting in getting through those top deck cards faster.

- The Galadhrim's Greeting A third tool to reduce and manage threat (along with Aragorn and Gandalf). This will help us for the games that go long in case we take a while to start the engine and avoid any creature encounter sooner than what we might prefer. Preferably played from hand instead of Vilya of course.

- Will of the West In most of the cases, if not all, this is a horrible target for Vilya, but it will ensure that we stay in the game should it go long. This will help us in the rare cases most of our allies are destroyed and should be doable since our threat can be managed with so many tools.

I will be questing from the Core Set up to the end of Dwarrowdelf and see how this deck does. Still not sure if I have the courage to tackle Escape from DolGuldur solo. Will be posting quest logs as the quests are tackled. Happy adventuring!