Gondor Trappack 1.0

• Versions
• 1.0

Hi, your deck is very similar to one I posted a few months ago. I used exactly the same hero lineup as you, but the idea of the deck was quite different, as I focus on equipping Faramir with a Great Yew Bow to boost his attack, and once Anborn hits the table, try to kill one enemy each round, recover the Ranger Spikes and play them again.

If you want to see it, to take any ideas, this is the deck: ringsdb.com

I like where you're going with this deck, but I do have some thoughts for consideration:

1) Using Damrod of course indicates using a trap deck, but your deck is more of a Ranger ally/trap mash-up. While that's not necessarily a bad thing, I am not sure the deck will end up being as consistent as you'd like. I would consider either focusing more on traps, which would mean removing some allies, adding more traps, and also some different hero attachments, or even different heroes. I'm pretty sure there's an avoid engagement and snipe enemies in the staging area strategy that you could employ if you didn't want to do traps.

2) I like Éowyn for the thematic sense of the deck, but in practice she seems out of place. Your threat is pretty high to be having Dagger of Westernesse as an attachment, as you'll rarely get optimal value out of it. I would consider removing Éowyn in favor of a more defensive oriented hero to free up Faramir to do your attacking, and I would remove Dagger of Westernesse in favor of Ranger Spear, which you should get way more mileage out of in a trap deck. Beregond seems like an obvious optimal choice since any attachments you could give him in this deck would probably be free, but the fatigue of overuse is also real for some people which I get.

3) I would definitely consider more events if you remove allies, particularly card draw. Both Mithrandir's Advice and Knife-work come to mind as perfect for this deck. Hands Upon the Bow seems like a great choice to make Faramir even stronger. For me personally, the ideal setup would be for you to get 3 low threat enemies trapped via Ranger Spikes to give him 5 attack all game. Add in attachments he becomes pretty silly.

4) Entangling Nets is one of my personal favorite traps. When it hits a really strong enemy and debuffs them, it's one of the best feelings ever. I'd add 3 copies, and round out all of your traps you only have 2 copies of to 3.

This post is much longer than I intended lol. If you take any of these suggestions please let me know and I hope the deck works out for you! Good luck!

@OKTarg Trap decks are super fun and I like what you have going on here. I agree with a lot of what @D4rkWolf10 has said, especially in regards to Ranger Spear, with 1 attached to Faramir, he can have a big swing in his .

Éowyn gives you some good and the icon. But I think you could have a more consistent deck making it mono , throwing Pippin in, and utilizing an event like Take No Notice for free; As well as keeping more enemies in the staging area to boost Faramir, then nuking with Ithilien Pit attached to an enemy.

I appreciate the suggestions! A few thoughts on your comments:

1) I don't have most of the storm chaser cycle, so entangling nets and ranger spears aren't an option. I agree they'd make the deck stronger.

2) since I'll be pairng with a leadership gondor deck, I think the ally count is okay. But I'll need a bit of testing to see :)

3) I can try mono with pippin, but probably only if I get the ranger spear in there. Daggers may not be the ideal weapon, but at least they can be equipped by anyone.

4) hands upon the bow is a great fit, but that's on one of the two old APs I don't have!

Thanks for the suggestions! I'll let you know how it goes when I take it out for a spin....

@OKTarg I can understand the limitations of not having the full card pool. Even if you don't have the full dream chaser cycle yet, you can still get a lot of enjoyment from the City of Corsairs pack. 1.) It gives you the ranger spear and 2.) It gives you really good Gondor allies (and hero), so both your decks benefit :)

@OKTarg I should have clarified, my suggestions were mainly made because I thought with a Mono Leadership Gondor deck, you were like running most of your questing and willpower through that deck, leaving this deck free for combat. I apologize if that's not the case. I currently run a defense and trap deck as the 3rd deck in a fellowship, and thought your intent was similar.

All my recommendations were made based off my own experience with trap decks, of which I've built several variations. I find that if they're not the focus of the deck, you tend to almost with you just went with a different strategy, but again that is perhaps a personal preference thing.

Lastly, Tactics is my weakest sphere, so take my suggestions with a grain of salt. @DazeMan has posted several decks more focused in that sphere and is probably more knowledgeable about it than me. I would take his advice if any in regards to that sphere.

@DazeMan Thanks for the suggestion for the Corsairs pack. I plan to pick it all up eventually, but maybe I'll start there.

@D4rkWolf10I think you're right that I could stand to be more combat-focused. Since I usually play single-deck solo, it's hard for me to change my mindset to specialize a bit more. You might be right on the traps that I should just go all-in on them!