We Must Be Secret 1.0

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• 1.0

Resourceful is a natural inclusion in any Secrecy deck, it helps players overcome the lack of resources that could haunt any deck running only two characters.

Still, Resourceful is hardly as efficient a card when your Threat strays over 20 as it is when you keep your Threat low enough to benefit from Secrecy. Even when you start with only two heroes, your threat will creep upward. Most often, it creeps up slowly, but the encounter deck can sometimes be a tricky opponent. The game has ways of uncovering your heroes, leaving them exposed and threatened…It’s not enough for a Secrecy deck just to start with a low threat; it needs ways to keep that Threat down. Both Arwen Undómiel and Elrond's Counsel can help you lower your Threat. There are other means, as well, to lowering your Threat. Gandalf and The Galadhrim's Greeting have been around since the game’s release, and The Redhorn Gate gave us Needful to Know .

All these cards can be effective at lowering your Threat, but sometimes you just need a card that’s more of a guarantee. Maybe you need to know you can draw it, or just start with it. Maybe you need to know it will be strong enough to matter. After all, reducing your threat to 23 or even 21 isn’t good enough to trigger your Secrecy discounts. You need to be able to reduce it all the way down to 20, or lower. Maybe a hero…

The Watcher in the Water introduces a new copy of Aragorn, who appears much as he would under his guise of “Strider.” He lacks the Core Set ability to ready himself, making him the first Dúnedain hero incapable of doing so. But the ability he offers instead is a massive one. Once per game, as a Refresh Action, he can reduce your Threat to your Starting Threat level. It’s worth noting that the window for player actions opens up in the Refresh phase after players raise their threat, meaning when you use Aragorn’s ability, you’ll start your next turn at your Starting Threat level.

By now, many of you are probably dreaming up ways to combine Aragorn with Frodo Baggins or Boromir, and these are both excellent ideas. Still, we’re looking at Secrecy this week, and Aragorn’s ability can ensure that you get your Threat at 20 or lower when you need it there.

Without further ado, here’s a deck list, featuring Aragorn, that can use Secrecy to great effect. With a little luck and a good dose of skill, you’ll play allies and other cards at tremendous discounts, keep your threat down, and avoid nearly all enemies while you make progress toward your quests.

-Uncredited. Posted to the FFG website 4/16/12