Vilya #RCO 1.0

• Versions
• 1.0

I love deckbuilding, revising, and figuring out ways to enjoy the game solo, two-handed, and multiplayer. I'm brewing with revised content only since it's the most accessible to new players like myself. Only exception I might make right now is playing by Messenger of the King rules despite not having the card (still trying to hunt it down if they don't rerelease somehow). I'll use the rest of the notes here to include my deckbuilding thought process/explanation behind card choices, whether they're right or wrong for my sake. THIS IS NOT A GUIDE FOR PLAYING THE DECK since I haven't played it yet. I'll include something talking more about that in the campaign log or for updated versions if it's important for explaining the new deck choices.

Please comment and provide feedback for the deck since I'm still learning, and I'll post a campaign log when I complete different quests. With that out of the way, here's the first deck I wanted to mess with: Vilya.

Hero Selection:

-Elrond and Vilya is a crazy value engine that lets me play cards from the top of my deck for free once every round. The deck is going to need a good selection of allies and attachments in order maximize performance.

-Gandalf works as his own value engine, but synergizes with Vilya thanks to the top deck information and filtering. I want to try and fit in all of his attachments I have available: Gandalf's Staff, Wizard Pipe, and Narya. They're not the best way to get value off Vilya from their low cost, but I won't be unhappy to play them, and I still need to play cards from hand. Being colorless means they will come out early, two.

-Both these heroes have built in color fixing, either through their abilities or their rings. I still can only use Vilya once per round, so I need to make sure I can hard play cards in my deck with the resources I'll build up overtime.

-The threat cost is really high for two heroes: 27 just from them. To keep my threat under control, I can either pick a low threat hero, or someone with threat control built in: ideally both. Sphere is probably a major factor too, and I think events might be the cards I want easy access to. Since most heroes that meet those criteria have synergy limitations (like Nori only triggering from dwarf allies) my choices are Fastred, Galadriel, and Merry. I'm not brave enough to have 36 starting threat, so I'll pick Merry for this one. Because of that, Hobbit Pony might be worth having so I can make use of his ability with low risk of guessing wrong.

Card Selection:

-Aside from all the cards mentioned above, I wanted to add Bilbo Baggins to search for Wizard Pipe. I'm happy having an extra 2 in addition to securing some engine pieces.

-I included some permanents that seemed to be high value for any number of reasons. Unexpected Courage gives action economy, isn't a restricted item, can stack on heroes, etc. In the same vein, Magic Ring feels like another card I can't go wrong with, and provides more utility as long as I was managing my threat throughout the game.

-At this point, I started adding in events I knew from what I had available. A Test of Will is going to save my skin, as it always has anytime I have access to . Elrond's Counsel gives a slight bonus to question, but mainly I wanted it for free threat reduction. Heed the Dream is a card that, I admit, is mostly here because the set got released recently and I wanted to try something other than Daeron's Runes, at least for this deck. That'll leave it open for my friend to make when we play together. Besides, it lets me dig for different combo pieces I need, or ignore extra copies in favor of other options. Last event I added as Inspiring Presence. Gandalf is the highest threat cost I own, and with one other player willing to engage in combat, this will give us a nice boost for the round.

-For other permanents to add, I turned on the filters by cost, and started to sift through them. I focused on cards with reuseable actions, and I could even get two uses in a round thanks to Narya. I scanned a few lists to see what the popular allies were for this, and put together some version of that.

Finalizing:

-Moving on to trimming ratios, I followed a general rule for 3s, 2s, and 1s.

-3s are cards I either wanted to see in my opening hand, if possible, or were cards that had the ability/value of playing multiple copies, such as one time effects like Miner of the Iron Hills or cards like Northern Tracker where having more can always be relevant.

-2s are cards that don't meet any of the criteria for 3s, but still want to be seen earlier in the game. All unique allies aren't openning hand cards, but once Vilya is live, all of them benefit from being used sooner. The only choice I really needed to make about this was Daughter of the Nimrodel. Yes, I want to heal more, but realistically, I heal 3 damage from one hero (thanks Elrond), can defend decently to prevent damage, and my allies can do the same. Narya could always let me ready her to use twice if I'm in serious danger, but since her only function outside of healing is providing 1 , she stays at 2 unless I find that burns me later.

-The deck is almost finished, and I need a few more slots. Protector of Lórien gives me something to eventually do with extra copies of Vilya, Wizard Pipe, and other unique cards. Self Preservation protects my Gandalf when the enemies overrun his 3 . Lembas lets me help out other players or even myself. Each of these were my 1s.

-Deck's done so I sorted the cards by their roles/purpose: card advantage, resource economy, action economy, questing, defending, attacking, and table utility/support. If I were to play this solo, I would replace Inspiring Presence and Heed the Dream with the cards in the sidedeck. Henamarth Riversong in solo changes how you play the entire game, in a very good way. Daeron's Runes is still a good cost that costs you nothing. You'll want to keep resources if you can help it. Citadel Plate makes Gandalf tankier to survive situations where you don't have anyone else to lighten the burden of engagements with enemies and bosses. That one specifically could be replaced if I don't ever drop below 5 HP on him.

-I'll start my testing with the core set campaign w/ dark of mirkwood. Once I've completed that, I'll write a reflection about that experience, interactions I learned/took advantage of, and any edits I made thanks to feedback.