Direct Damage Zone! 1.0

• Versions
• 1.0

This deck is so much fun to play and it does not hinge on any card in particular, making it very reliable. The deck is inspired by one created by mbogie that he used with much success at GENCON 2016. The goal of the deck is to use Silvan tricks and apply as much direct damage (DD) as possible to avoid shadow cards.

Opening Hand Enemies rarely have more than 3 , so mulligan for a weapon: Bow of the Galadhrim or Dagger of Westernesse. If you don't get a weapon then Argalad does not have enough to trigger his ability reliably. Other cards that are good to see are: cheap silvans (Henamarth Riversong, Galadhon Archer) and an event or 2 to help deal with enemies. Heed the Dream is great in your opening hand to dig out a weapon if you did not find one.

Game Play This deck operates on fact that over 60% of enemies in the game have 4 or fewer hit-points. When playing solo you rarely get swarmed with enemies and this deck can quickly deal with them as they appear. During the quest phase weaken any enemies that are revealed by dealing one DD via Thalin's ability, a second DD using Argalad (this is also a form of questing since you negate the threat). Then engage that enemy to get a resource on Mablung. You should have a lot of options at this point to kill the enemy with DD: Gondorian Spearman with or without a Spear of the Citadel, Pursuing the Enemy, Goblin-cleaver, and other events. You may have Foe-hammer in hand and therefor you elect to not trigger Aragalad's ability to get some card draw during the attack step. You should be flush with resources so if you don't find the expensive allies hiding in The Trees you can pay for them.

Tricks If you have a silvan ally and The Tree People use The Tree People after the quest phase so you use the willpower from the ally, and then have a ready ally during combat. If you are playing solo, Henamarth Riversong should be used for his ability to determine if any enemies are being revealed, if no enemies are coming then you should quest with Argalad to use his willpower.
Hands Upon the Bow, Skyward Volley, Rain of Arrows, and Arrows from the Trees are in the sideboard, they all would work great in this deck. I left them out just because I wanted to keep other events in and enough silvan allies to make sure The Tree People did not whiff, but feel free to swap them in as your play-style dictates.