Rangers of Ithilien 1.0

• Versions
• 1.0

Rangers of Ithilien

So you all know by now that I am a dirty 'theme' player. I like my decks to have either a tribal through-line or have a bit of a narrative that reflects a part of the Lord of the Rings story as a whole.

The Gondor Rangers have been a deck type I've be circling for a while without really getting it to work, and when Faramir came out I thought that might be the innate access to the Leadership sphere, might get it up and running, but alas it didn't.

The deck still doesn't really work as a solo deck, but one of the things that cropped up during testing was that alongside a Leadership centric "Gondor swarm"deck, providing it's willpower and attack boosts, the deck really does a decent job of managing enemies, both engaged and in the staging area through traps, combat and direct damage.

One curious note while putting together this deck was that there isn't a deck published on ringsDB at the time of writing that had this hero lineup, which as a dirty theme player, made me a little sad.

Opening Hand: So at its heart the deck is a trap deck, so one trap in your opening hand is crucial, with Ranger Spikes or Entangling Nets being the most ideal.

In the few testing games I'd played I found a new respect for Ithilien Tracker. Primarily coming from a solo players perspective, I usually play one-handed, his ability was a little hit and miss, but in higher player counts he really contributes a fair bit. Even his 3 hitpoints come in handy during those archery heavy quests. Getting one of these on the table early really can make a difference in the early turns.

Depending how under pressure you are from enemies early a Gondorian Shield shield for Mablung as he'll be your primary defender.

Master of the Forge is also an obvious choice to find early, allowing you to fish for a new trap every turn or pull out a couple of ranger weapons to help Faramir kill some enemies.

At the Table:

The deck plays relatively straight forward, you want to try and get a trap into staging every turn if possible, allowing Damrod to give you a little card draw as well as help you buff up Faramir's damage.

Big, tough enemies can be a bit of a problem for the deck, but you're not without a few tools to deal with them. Should they make it out of the staging are, you can throw them back there with the new Guardian of Ithilien, hopefully into a waiting Ranger Spikes. Soften them up with Ranger Bow, for which the aforementioned Guardian is a great target. And if you happen to draw into a Forest Patrol or an Arrows from the Trees that might be just enough damage to finish it off.

Hands Upon the Bow is great for Faramir, essentially always giving you +2 attack (one for the enemy and one for the event), add in a Ranger Spear and a trapped enemy and that should be enough to finish off all but the very toughest enemies.

Interrogation is a great card for helping you pick exactly what trap would be best to place in staging to deal with the next enemy that appears off the encounter deck. Maybe the Dúnedain player would appreciate an Entangling Nets on a weak enemy to keep engaged with him? Or perhaps an Ambush would be better to kill off the enemy without having to defend it's attack.

Sideboard:

The sideboard is a little tricky with this deck, as it really could benefit with a couple more of any of the listed cards, but doesn't really have the card draw necessary to offset the drop in consistency by going over 50/51 cards. The Song of Wisdom were in the first version of the deck, which really helped use up Mablung's excess resources, especially handy for the Ithilien Lookout which is a great card, even out of secrecy, which again really helps with your trap selection for the turn. It's probably best if you try the deck alongside your favourite willpower-centric companion deck and see what tweaks are good to make.