Rangers, Spirit 2 1.0

• Versions
• 1.0

Guardian of Ithilien would do the same job as A Light in the Dark in addition to giving you another body. Did you consider him?

I like the idea of this deck, a slight variation of my own trap deck posted earlier this week. Beregond is just superb in a deck like this.

@D4rkWolf10- I didn't, but mostly because I don't own that pack. I'm working with a pretty small cardpool (though this deck is begging me to invest in the Dream-chaser cycle).

If I had him, I'd probably slot Guardian, yeah, though I'd keep the Light in the Dark. Light is awesome between engagement and combat, to bounce back baddie, rather than have to fight him (obviously, hopefully, landing him in a trap). I do, however, think that Guardian would be a upgrade over Ithilien Tracker. I do get some use from the ally's ability, but Tracker, primarily, is a vessel for Ranger Bow. Guardian can fill that roll for cheaper, so I would definitely try it out.

And yeah. I have yet to manage to play the deck, but I have high hopes for it. I couldn't ever get a trap Lore/Spirit deck off the ground because it didn't have the defensive help that my Lore/Tactics could put down (mostly Gondorian Shield on Damrod and Defender of Rammas). Beregond should fill that gap nicely. I also want to try a Spirit Merry version that avoids that need for defense with threat control, but this lets me use my new Flame of the West cards, so it got built first.

Finally, your deck looks awesome! Great minds think alike. Do you find that Mithrandir's Advice is worth it with only 2 Lore heroes?

@blackship I apologize for taking so long to get to you with a response. Life has been busy. I actually started using Mithrandir's Advice after @Authraw advised me to in another deck featuring two Lore heroes (Controlled Discard on this site if you want to take a look at it). The basic explanation for it is for one resource it gives you two cards, which is better than a 1 to 1 ratio, making it advantageous to you. Since his advice I include it in most if not all of my decks featuring at least 2 Lore heroes and I have not been disappointed.

I'm curious, is this deck intended to play solo or across the table from someone?

Also, just a thought, but I think I would include 3x Guardian of Ithilien and remove Henamarth Riversong and 2x Quickbeam. I think with your current setup and having Faramir in the deck, you really don't need the attack strength, and Ithilien Tracker is extremely underrated (especially in multiplayer) for pseudo questing strength. If you found some room in your events for Interrogation, it would make Ithilien Tracker that much stronger, as well as proper trap play, as you'd be able to dictate the amount of threat (to a degree) in the staging area.

@D4rkWolf10No worries! Life happens.

I play almost exclusively solo. I dabbled in two-handed, but once I started building more complex decks, it just became too much for me to keep track of.

Mithrandir's Advice - Yeah, I thought about it a bit more after posting the comment and it does seem to make good sense. I got there like this: Would I play a card that cost 0 and let me draw 1 card? Yeah, sure. It effectively lets me build a 47 card deck, increasing consistency. Now, would I do that if the card had a cost of 1 resource and drawing a card? Yeah. It's maybe not the auto-include that the 0-cost would be, but it's definitely good value for cost. I'll definitely be giving this card a closer look in future decks with 2 Lore heroes.

Quickbeam - While the 3 attack would seem to be the headline here, I'm actually including the card because I like the cost to willpower ratio. Past decks I've built like this one have had issues questing early in the game, so I wanted to include my best cheap questing allies.

This is also largely the reason there's 2x Mablung. I'd include 1x for flavor regardless, but I do prefer Ithilien Archer for return-to-staging from my allies. Mablung's here because his 2:2 cost to willpower is great to get early. Thinking about it, Bilbo Baggins may have to find his way in too if what's here isn't enough.

Henamarth Riversong - Yeah, this is the 50th card in this deck. Again, he can help with my early questing issues and he has some synergy with Ithilien Tracker, but Interrogation would definitely be an upgrade... if I owned it. :) Regardless, if I don't think he's pulling his weight, I'll probably bench him for Elrond.