#RCO #ALeP Gondor Dol Amroth: A Starter Deck Intro to ALeP 1.0

• Versions
• 1.0

In that hour of trial it was love of the game that helped most to hold him firm; but also deep down in him lived still unconquered his plain hobbit-sense: he knew in the core of his heart that many cycles would not be revised, even if such visions were not a mere cheat to betray him. The few small cycles of a Revised Content Only player was his need and due, not a vast collection of cards swollen to a realm; his own hands and those of dedicated community members.

Paraphrased (liberally and with significant co-opting) from The Return of the King by J.R.R. Tolkien

On RCO Content and Creators

This idea spawned after seeing many other community members posting fun and strong Revised Content Only (RCO) decks. As a player, I only started playing about a year and a half ago when the Revised Core was released. I was fortunate enough to have a generous game budget at the time (thank you Mrs. alinktothezack), so I was able to find and acquire all of the original content.

Many players now do not have that luxury. Most cycles have become exceedingly rare, going for multiple hundreds of dollars online. RCO players ended up in an unfortunate limbo: discover an amazing game and community, but realize that the vast majority of content has been truncated. Thankfully, creative players started building decks using the #RCO tag to show new and returning players that there is still plenty of fun to be had with a limited card pool: TheGameLocker, Gonfindel, bhuster, ironwill212, Jesters_Race just to name a few. (I have linked some examples of RCO decks at the end of this write-up.)

While the chances of the entire cardpool being reprinted are slim to none, community members and gathering places (LotR LCG Facebook, CotR Discord, Reddit, etc.) help keep this wonderful game alive. Personally, I have spent more time playing this game than participating in any other hobby since the Revised Core came out! Hats off to this community! May your plain hobbit-sense always win out!

On ALeP

All that being said, this not an RCO deck, at least not totally. Now before you click away, let me explain. I would like to propose something that might be new for some people: marrying RCO and ALeP. A Long-Extended Party (ALeP) is an organization of players whose mission is to "design fun, balanced player cards, and quests and provide them to the community for free".

ALeP follows the same format for its (unofficial) content as Fantasy Flight Games did when new (official) content was still being released for the game. The first ALeP deluxe, Children of Eorl, and the following Oaths of the Rohirrim cycle can already be found on ringsdb. All of this content is free for any RCO player (and otherwise). (I have provided a link at the end of this write-up to ALeP's print and play guide to get your own physical copies of cards.)

The deck I am sharing contains RCO cards and ALeP cards only. You can think of this deck that I am presenting as a sort of "advertisement" for what ALeP has to offer RCO players.

Purpose

I have already outlined some of my purpose above, but let me give it to you in bullet points for people who tune out when they see paragraphs.

• create a fun and (hopefully) strong deck using RCO and ALeP content
• use mostly RCO cards and a few ALeP cards so as not to overwhelm people unfamiliar with ALeP
• build the deck in a similar format to official FFG starter decks (50 card deck, 29 card sideboard) to give players helpful options and suggestions with which to play around without the need to dig through their whole cardpool to theorycraft
• keep the deck at least somewhat thematic to be in line with how many people love to play the game
• get myself off my TV (I have been playing way too much Tears of the Kingdom this summer)

Heroes

Prince Imrahil and Lothíriel, father and daughter, are two heroes RCO players will already be familiar with if they own the Starter Decks. Lothíriel pops an ally into play during the quest then shuffles it back into the deck at the end of the phase reading Prince Imrahil (if he was already exhausted). Imrahil's two willpower means you can comfortably use him to quest while knowing that he will be readied by Lothíriel's ability before combat.

Ingold is an ALeP card from the Children of Eorl Deluxe. This hero will have you drawing cards like you're playing Lore. When a Gondor or Warrior character enters play you get to draw a card if you raise your threat by one or pay one resource. Put Steward of Gondor on Ingold and paying one resource per card will be a cinch. Even so, raising your threat by one isn't that bad in this deck since we're running some Valour allies. (Every ally in this deck and sideboard is either Gondor or Warrior traited with one exception: Théodwyn. We will talk more about her later.) Ingold will regularly be drawing you a card during Planning, Questing, and possibly more if you play A Very Good Tale later in the round.

Boromir and Denethor round out the heroes in our sideboard. Depending on what the quest calls for, these are both excellent options. I would suggest keeping Ingold and Lothíriel as your core, but feel free to play around! Denethor will give you a faster start than Imrahil. Boromir will give you significantly more attack power thanks to the number of allies you will have available.

Combos and Running the Deck

Devoted

Devoted is a new keyword introduced by ALeP in Children of Eorl. I have included two cards with this keyword in this deck to introduce RCO players and others who might be new to ALeP. I have quoted the ALeP explanation for the Devoted keyword below:

The devoted keyword appears on some player cards in this cycle. While each non-Baggins, non-Fellowship hero you control shares at least one Trait with a card with the devoted keyword, that card does not require a resource match. The Trait that is shared does not need to be the same for each hero.

The two Devoted allies included have the Gondor trait which matches each of our heroes; therefore, we will be able to play these allies even though they are off-sphere. (While not relevant for this deck, note that the shared trait between the ally and the heroes doesn't have to be the same for each hero. Theoretically, you could run a Scout or Warrior hero that doesn't have the Gondor trait, and you would still be able to run both of the Devoted allies we have here.)

ALeP Cards

To continue discussing the way the deck works, allow me to give a brief rundown of the ALeP cards included here.

• Rammas Lookout is one of two cards in this deck that contain the Devoted keyword. While it is a candidate for putting into play with Lothíriel, you will get a far better effect if you play this card normally. He won't exhaust to quest and he will be questing for one extra when you meet his requirements.

• Rammas Sentry has the same requirements as the previous card in that you must have at least one resource in each hero's pool to get full effect from him. The ability to cancel 1 point of damage dealt to a Gondor character is extremely useful when defending in this deck that has few traditional defenders.

• Morwen Steelsheen is one of two off-sphere cards in the deck. With this card, we can trigger Ingold's ability during any phase we want by discarding one of our Gondor allies to put Morwen into play. Her response also gives us access to healing which would normally be hard to find in a mostly Leadership deck. Combined with Rammas Sentry we are not only cancelling damage, but also healing any damage that gets through. Especially useful for healing Imrahil (who will likely be your big defender) when a chump leaves play. We can also use her to offset the threat cost of Ingold's ability.

• Note that Théodwyn is not a Gondor or Warrior card so we cannot use her to trigger Ingold. However, she is still a great candidate for Lothíriel's effect because she provides two and also gives us another way to draw a card or generate a resource. The downside of this resource is that it cannot be placed on Ingold. That's fine though because he should have Steward equipped anyway. Instead give the resource to Lothíriel to fund A Test of Will or Devoted cards.

• I included Elessar to tempt RCO players to research and play Aragorn, but it is a still a good card here. (Seriously, look up Aragorn and let your imagination run wild.) You could use this card to run a different hero that needs the Gondor trait but doesn't have it. Here we are using it to either ready a strong ally or prevent an ally from dying. Attach this card to Imrahil or Lothíriel and use it to ready or buff an ally like Veteran of Osgiliath or Knight of the White Tower.

• Gift of Foresight is your answer if you need Imrahil to defend. This can be a nice little combo. Rather than committing him to the quest, keep him ready to defend with Gift of Foresight. After defending with him, defend again with a chump to ready Imrahil using his own effect. Note that Gift of Foresight cannot be used with Boromir or Denethor if you choose to swap them into your deck.

• A Fair Exchange comes from the same Adventure Pack as Aragorn (seriously, have you looked him up yet?). This card makes it feel significantly less bad to get an extra copy of a in your hand. Already have Steward on the board and you just drew another copy? No problem, go find the other you wish you had drawn instead.

• A Lesson in Caution is free in a Secrecy deck. This deck is not a Secrecy deck; however, similar to Ingold, this card allows you to pay one resource for one card and lower your threat by two. What? That's insane. I find it fun to get my threat to 40 to be in Valour for Veteran of Osgiliath and Angbor the Fearless then use this and the following card to keep my threat right around that sweet spot.

• You could just run Hasty Stroke, but A Stout Heart gives you another chance to try an ALeP card. This card lets you take (some) undefended attacks without fear. Cancel the shadow effect revealed, pay a resource, and lower your threat by 3? Yes, thank you very much. This works well with Morwen Steelsheen healing your heroes.

• Open the Gates is a fun card that let's you search the top 5 cards of your deck for a card that shares a Trait with your heroes and put it into play. Kind of like Sneak Attack meets Devoted. You can use the ally entering play to trigger Ingold's ability. Don't forget that to add the ally to your hand at the end of the phase. It does not get shuffled back in like Lothíriel's ability would have us do.

• Salvaged Supplies can be useful way to gain resources in RCO. This card can help you out if you run into the horrible scenario of not finding Steward in your opening hand or mulligan. Or maybe someone you're playing with really wants to run Steward. Run three copies of this card and Theodwyn and try that out instead. I put this in the sideboard in favor of Captain's Wisdom to give another ALeP card a chance. Captain's Wisdom gives you two resources, but it exhausts a hero (definitely strong with Imrahil). Salvaged Supplies requires no exhaust and lets you retrieve it from the discard pile by exhausting a character.

Combos and Plays

• Steward of Gondor goes on Ingold. While it isn't absolutely necessary to get it in your opening hand, your life will be easier.

• Ingold, Lothíriel, and Imrahil will allow you to quest for a combined 8 right out the gate. This can be incredibly useful in certain quests. This is also before you even have Visionary Leadership or Faramir in play.

• You should pretty much always use Ingold's ability. Don't be too afraid to raise your threat if you're running out of resources. There are ways to lower your threat included in the deck, and Veteran of Osgiliath and Angbor like playing in Valour. That being said, don't rush yourself to Valour too quickly or you won't have a chance to get ahead of the encounter deck.

• When playing Envoy of Pelargir and Devoted allies, use them as a way to smooth out your resources. You won't need to do much smoothing in this deck, but we all have learned firsthand the importance of having a resource when A Test of Will is in our deck. You can even pop Envoy and Squire of the Citadel in with Lothíriel's ability just to trigger Ingold's ability essentially for free.

• Soldier of Gondor likes playing in Valour, but he's great before that as well. If you don't want to hard cast him, he is a good candidate for Lothíriel's ability as well. You'll get his effect, trigger Ingold, and he'll go back into your deck to trigger him again later.

• Play A Very Good Tale later in the round once you see what the encounter deck has thrown at you. This can give you another opportunity to trigger Ingold.

• For Gondor! can really help boost your attack power and potentially save your defenders. When coupled with Gift of Foresight and Rammas Sentry, Imrahil is essentially defending for 6. Alternatively, you can boost an ally like Knight of the White Tower up to 4 defense with For Gondor!, 5 with Elessar, and cancel an additional point of damage with Rammas Sentry.

• Valiant Sacrifice is ridiculous when played with Lothíriel, not to mention every time a chump dies. Any time an ally leaves play, you can trigger Valiant Sacrifice to draw two additional cards. Putting Morwen Steelsheen into play by discarding an ally will also give you another opportunity to trigger Valiant Sacrifice.

Other Considerations

• Running Sneak Attack is a great idea with Ingold as long as you sneak in a Gondor or Warrior character.

• Hasty Stroke can be another way to cancel shadow effects.

• I did not include him here, but Errand-rider should always be mentioned as a choice in a Gondor deck. I felt that the stats and effect on Pelargir Ship Captain outweighed the usefulness of including Errand Rider.

• Captain's Wisdom gives nice resource acceleration with Prince Imrahil. Strongly consider running it if you want give your deck some more speed. The downside is that you won't be able to add those resources to Ingold's pool, and he will be the one hurting for resources most of the time in this deck. Using this card with Errand Rider and Pelargir Ship Captain could keep Ingold well-funded if you can't run Steward.

• Gandalf, I am mentioning him because he's Gandalf.

• Heir of Mardil can give you some extra readying if you want it.

• Wealth of Adventure is a cool ALeP card than can search for Visionary Leadership. I suspect you won't have enough problems with this deck to warrant searching for Visionary Leadership in this way, but it's a fun option.

• Rallying Cry has some potential to be pretty cool in a deck that occasionally flirts with Valour.

• Thengel is another ALeP hero that you could use if you wanted to start exploring other options. I purposefully only included one ALeP hero in this deck so as not to flood RCO players with totally new content.

Final Thoughts

I hope the starter deck format helps make ALeP cards more approachable. Like starter decks are meant to, this deck will give RCO players a starting point to build from while also offering a taste of what ALeP has to offer. The ALeP team puts a lot of work into testing and making content. If you are an RCO player, returning player, or even if you're a veteran that has all of the official content, give ALeP cards a try. That's just plain hobbit-sense.

Useful Links

TheGameLocker #RCO Deck - Arwen is the Steward Now

TheGameLocker #RCO Deck - Minimum Purchase Gandalf/Elrond Power Deck

Gonfindel #RCO Deck - Erestor Fast & Furious

TheGameLocker #RCO Deck - Mining the Mithril Mother Lode

bhuster #RCO Deck - A Vilya Starter Deck

ironwill212 #RCO Deck - Minimum Purchase Fellowship Saga Hobbits

bhuster #RCO Deck - Too Much Card Draw

Gonfindel #RCO Deck - More Help for Minas Tirith

TheGameLocker #RCO Deck - Revised Killer Deck

Jesters_Race #RCO Deck - Dwarf All Rounder Deck

A Long-Extended Party Website

A Long-Extended Party Printing Guide