ALeP makes Dunedain broken

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NERD 808

This deck is fairly self-explanatory. Gilraen gives Thurindir and Aragorn enough willpower to clear side quests, provides early game defense, offers card draw, and looks at shadow cards. Personally, I would say that this is too much value for a nine-threat hero to provide. Aragorn starts with Elessar which boosts or readies your defending allies. This also makes him eligible for Andúril from turn 1. Thorongil provides threat reduction through Aragorn. After looking through the new ALeP expansion, I honestly think that Grey Companion is the only properly balanced card. However, fan cards do certainly make nightmare quests accessible. They just make many older cards useless.

10 comments

Sep 11, 2022 Alonewolf87 1922

I am not sure if I would consider Gilraen as good "early game defense", sure she has a sort of shadow protection, but not so much.

Sep 11, 2022 Magus 2

How has the deck performed so far?

Sep 11, 2022 NERD 808

@Alonewolf87, that is true. I was mainly trying to show that she provides early game willpower while remaining ready. Thus, her ability is like a far superior version of Halbarad's, which needs an enemy to use. In addition, he has half the willpower. If you wanted to make a power deck, including non-dunedain characters or Inner Strength would make the deck better.

@Magus I have not tried the deck yet. As far as fan cards being broken, I am not arguing that this is an overpowered deck. I am just saying that fan cards are typically far stronger than official cards.

Sep 11, 2022 doomguard 1975

i think Gilraen is not better then Galadriel, or Éowyn or Arwen Undómiel and so, not better than the original cards. i do think a aragorn-amathiriel-beravor with steward is

there are ways to make op-decks with Alep-cards, but i do not consider this one to it. (e.g. Thengel + 2 dunedain-rohan + The Last Alliance has much more potential to become op)

Sep 11, 2022 Razumikhin 305

This looks like a fun deck - I'm looking forward to building something like it!

I do think the comparison between Gilraen and Halbarad is an interesting one, but not nearly so clear cut as you suggest here.

Gilraen's ability seems really good (I use 'seems' because I haven't played it yet, and do not want to suggest my initial impressions are a considered judgment) because, as you note, it is a big early game questing boost. 4 WP with the ability to defend a weak enemy is great.

However, Halbarad has some nice advantages too. That extra HP makes a big difference as an early game defender, and his attack power means he is more versatile when ready. The ability to engage an extra enemy is also really helpful in a combat oriented deck in multiplayer - it is often the difference between a second deck engaging an enemy or not. Gilraen's ability also only pays off if both other heroes are questing regularly, which is a risk in a Dunedain deck.

I think Halbarad is also more 'splashable' - he thrives in Dunedain decks, but can work reasonably well in any deck that is looking to pull in enemies. Now, I don't think Halbarad is a top tier hero or anything, but that Gilraen is not so obviously better an all around card than Halbarad is also evidence that she is not broken.

Sep 12, 2022 NERD 808

@Razumikhin I agree with you completely; my title is a bit of an overstatement. Aragorn and Gilraen are nowhere near Vilya or Glorfindel in terms of power. However, fan cards are increasing the average strength of cards. Previously, Dunedain were pretty much multiplayer only if you wanted to beat quests. I now think fan cards make it too easy.

Sep 12, 2022 doomguard 1975

if you think so, then you can make an easy adjustment:

allow Alep-cards only for nightmare- or Alepquests

i think there are some cards that make some deck playable, that were not very playable before (e.g. scouts or beorning) others go to far with some combinations (e.g. res-generation for lore is cool but that together with other very good things let the powercreep walk on). if you play themeful i suggest only a bit Alep, if you play nightmare and attack on dol guldur and dreadnough on hard, take everything you can get.

Sep 12, 2022 NERD 808

@doomguard Honestly, I enjoy messing around with Thengel and other broken cards against hard quests. You are totally right. I think having strong cards can be beneficial.

Mar 09, 2024 ixiguis 22

Gave this deck a try. Such a pain managing/remembering all the triggerable actions from all titles + re-trigger from Elendilmir + response from Arwen (can do twice with Elendilmir) + etc etc. Not a deck for me lol. But thanks for sharing, I think I can make something easier to manage if I remove Aragorn and all the titles...

Mar 09, 2024 NERD 808

@ixiguis Thanks for at least giving it a try. I always prefer decks with lots of options, but that also leads to a lot of unnecessary and sometimes annoying thinking. I have other Dunedain decks (https://ringsdb.com/decklist/view/32360/bondsofthedunedain-1.0) if you are interested. However, you are probably better off using something from a far better deck-builder than myself.