Delay not, need not 1.0

• Versions
• 1.0

Building off of Uruk-guy's Hama's New Best Friend deck, it occurred to me that Háma + Need Brooks No Delay + Foe-hammer could finally provide enough card draw to power a solo mono deck.

So I built this, using the same hero lineup but subbing in Théoden to stick with my theme and give a permanent boost to . I've been quite pleased with the result. The deck can hold it's own against a surprising variety of quests (it handily squashed The Fate of Wilderland, for example, and eked out a win against Nightmare Journey Along the Anduin), and has been a lot of fun to play.

Opening Hand

Look for Need Brooks No Delay or Feint, or Foe-hammer plus one of the many weapons in the deck. Avoid too many of the 3-cost allies -- you'd much rather pull those with Need Brooks No Delay than pay for them outright.

Early Game

I like to set up a Defender of Rammas with a Raiment of War to free up Theoden to quest if needed. If you don't get the Defender, the Raiment of War can go on Théoden in a pinch, though you'd prefer Golden Shield.

For many quests it's better to focus first on some decent quest support -- Bofur, Meneldor, Grimbold, and Pippin are all quite useful in this regard.

You also want to get a War Axe or Warrior Sword on Hama early, so he can actually finish off enemies and use his ability to recur either Need Brooks No Delay or Foe-hammer. Note that the timing works such that you can use Hama's ability to retrieve Foe-hammer ("After Hama is declared as an attacker"), and then play that same Foe-hammer ("After a hero you control attacks and destroys an enemy"). In a pinch you can also recur Feint (quite useful against Hill Trolls) or another utility event like Wait no Longer or even Thicket of Spears.

I also find having an Ent or two out is quite handing for soaking up Archery and other direct damage. While your Honour Guards are critical for this as well, I usually try to reserve their ability to protect my heroes and especially the Defenders of Rammas.

Late Game

Nori plus Bofur can help you recycle your key events (and other cards) once Hama is tapped out. Give extra axes and swords to Nori.

Threat can occasionally be an issue, but judicious use of Secret Vigil (great card to play on enemies like the 4 Morgul Tracker) and Favor of the Valar should keep you in the game. For threat-heavy quests, I'd recommend adding in an extra Favor of the Valar.

Wait no Longer is generally a late game card for when you can deal with pretty much any enemy that comes out and you just need to control the encounter deck while your heroes and unique allies quest through. Thicket of Spears is also a good card to save for the end when you need to wipe out a wave of enemies.

Other Options

The easiest cards to drop from this deck are:

• 1-2x Open the Armory -- I haven't found the need to play this as often as I would have thought, and almost always have other uses for that one resource. It's still useful to thin the deck a bit, but could be reduced from 3x.
• 1x Golden Shield -- I often end up using Théoden to quest, so the shield doesn't necessarily do much. However, for late-game enemies once Theoden is equipped with Raven-winged Helm and there's an Honour Guard or two ready, he can tank enemies of 7 or 8 indefinitely. But for most quests this could be dropped to a one-off.
• 1x Wait no Longer -- while I occasionally play this in the first couple of rounds, it's more often a late-game card in my experience and could be dropped to 2x.

What to add:

• A third Feint.
• A second Favor of the Valar.
• A second copy of Meneldor or Grimbold.
• 1-2x Hold Your Ground!.
• Deeping Defender.
• Non- attachments like Snowmane. Herugrim, or Windfola.
• Quest-specific tech.