Turn One Rohan Swarm 1.0

• Versions
• 1.0

This deck takes advantage of 3 of the most explosive heroes in the card pool to swarm the board with utility Rohan allies on turn 1. It might seem simple at first glance, but most starting hands provide a fun little puzzle that usually results in 7 or more resources worth of allies, attachments, and events being played right out of the gate (horse racing pun?).

The Heroes:

These heroes each provide the ability to accelerate resources on turn 1 without needing any additional cards. On their own they can help speed up a deck's tempo, but together they have the potential to create some bonkers opening plays. Denethor is a common hero and Gríma can be a point of contention for people. For these reasons, this deck may be best played solo or with some coordination in multiplayer.

The Strategy:

Flood the board with allies. Without a global stat boost for Rohan (excluding Astonishing Speed) their strength lies in their abilities. By playing several different Rohan allies on turn 1 you have access to decent questing, but more importantly, access to a figurative "Swiss army knife" of abilities that can be triggered at your leisure. Any cards in here that are not directly Rohan related are meant to help you get more efficiency out of your starting hand. As an example, Galadriel can be played right away to snag Herugrim, thus securing 6 resources worth of cards for only 3 resources of investment. Use A Very Good Tale at the end of the round to take further advantage of this seemingly out-of-place Noldor.

The Puzzle:

Each opening hand can provide a unique challenge. I have found that it is often possible to play 7 or more resources worth of cards during the first planning phase, but it requires a bit of thought. The elements of the puzzle usually involve knowing how/when to spend resources and utilize hero abilities to get the most efficiency from your hand.

Here is a small example of what I mean: let's say your opening hand includes Ceorl, Westfold Horse-Breaker, Escort from Edoras, Envoy of Pelargir, and Steward of Gondor. Use Gríma to reduce the cost of Envoy of Pelargir by one and spend his resource to play it. Place the resource from envoy onto Denethor. Pay 2 resources from Denethor to play Steward of Gondor onto Théoden and activate the ability to give him 2 resources. Move 1 resource from Denethor to Théoden now that he has the Gondor trait. Pay the last remaining resource from Denethor and use Théoden's ability to play Ceorl. Pay 4 resources from Théoden to play Escort from Edoras and Westfold Horse-Breaker. This is not the only way to accomplish this, given this hand, but it highlights what I'm talking about. This is not an uncommon first turn and you now have 10 resources worth of cards in play.