An Elf's Oath is Her Bond 1.0

• Versions
• 1.0

With flowing locks, these proud Noldor face into the East, away from comforting shores of Valinor and toward the growing shadow. Oathbound are they, sworn to forsake the West until such time as all the dark enemy's plans be laid to waste. Only then will they lay down their swords (or books, staffs, or cloaks) and finally seek rest in the undying lands.

Description

This is a fairly straightforward Noldor themed Bond of Friendship deck. Fun, but not overpowered. Many of the usual tricks are here, with lots of toolbox options to help out. Note that most of the allies cost 2, and work with either Wandering Spirit or Lay of the Nauglamír. The latter is useful not only for getting out a couple of early utility allies, but also for dropping Elven-light and Relic of Nargothrond into your discard pile early.

Questing is pretty well in control out the gate with 3 heroes with 3. For defense, look to get Protector of Lórien and a Relic of Nargothrond on Erestor. Guardian of Rivendell and Warden of the Havens can also take the Relic, with the latter reliably defending for 5 each round provided you can pay one resource to get back the shield. Glorfindel handles pretty much all combat once he's got his Elven Spear and Rivendell Blade.

Use The White Council if needed to shuffle back in your Will of the West mid-game.

Possible tweaks

• Lembas. However, is tight. Could drop an ally, but you want to keep a decent density for Lay of the Nauglamír and Lords of the Eldar.

• I've considered house-ruling Bond of Friendship so that 10 becomes X for this deck, e.g. exactly 11 cards or exactly 12 cards from each sphere and neutral. I don't think this breaks the Contract, just opens up a bit more design space for an Erestor deck. Could include some further utility cards this way (Unexpected Courage, Dunedain Warning, Daeron's Runes, etc.), and also make it so you don't get decked too quickly.

• If theme isn't an issue, I would consider some further recursion for mid to late game. Galadhrim Weaver would help, or Nori, for instance. For some quests, a Miner of the Iron Hills could sub in for a Master of the Forge to deal with nasty Conditions.

• I wish Rivendell Minstrel cost 2.

• If you need more burst out the gate, sub two Legacy of Númenor for the two Captain's Wisdom. Just make sure you get your Favor of the Valar into play!

• It's likely worth replacing Secret Vigil with an Elven Spear. Enemies rarely hang around in staging with your high starting threat, and you're generally looking to eliminate them same round with Glorfindel, so maxing his chances of doing so is good.

• A Good Harvest is often not needed due to the deck's low cost curve. More utility allies like Wilyador, Steward of Orthanc, or Envoy of Pelargir would likely be better, though less thematic.

• Departing from theme, could also consider Hidden Cache or Ered Luin Miner for use with Lay of the Nauglamír. Would probably sub out A Good Harvest, but other cuts would be harder. Possibly Open the Armory.

Quests completed:

• Escape from Umbar
• Desert Crossing
• Long Arm of Mordor (this was tough, took 3 attempts)
• The Mumakil (two attempts... many elves died to bring us this information)
• Race Across Harad (three attempts, though one failure due to misremembering the quest progression)