Nob Steals the Arkenstone 1.0

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• 1.0

After Thorin's burial, while all the dwarves were deep in their vapors following the funerary tradition of their folk, Bilbo secretly put on his magic ring and, unbeknownst to all, liberated The Arkenstone from Thorin's tomb.

Some months later, on his way back to The Shire, our burglar stopped at The Prancing Pony. A friendly half-pint before bed quickly turned into three or four administered by none other than the proprietor, Mr. Butterbur himself. As the tavern interior started to take on a rosy glow, Mr. Baggins found himself drawn into a curious game of dice with a most disreputable character, a certain Mr. Goatleaf. Shortly, Bilbo found himself bereft of gold, and in fact in some sizeable debt to the aforementioned "gentleman". Things might have gone poorly indeed for our intrepid burglar had not the quick-thinking Nob interjected to remind Mr. Goatleaf that dice had been banned from the premises after a particularly nasty incident the previous season. A quick exchange of coins and a hurried good evening and Mr. Baggins was escorted with due haste and deposited in his room.

While helping the inebriated Hobbit off with his coat, Nob couldn't help but notice a remarkable gleam from an inside pocket. "Well, it is my Birthday after all," thought the bartender to himself...

Setup and First-turn

Nob the Thief starts off with his Birthday-present and, since he's a Hobbit, 1 resource on The Riddle-game. Mulligan for some 0-cost cards to start winning the Riddle-game. Depending on the cost distribution in your hand, you may not want to play much first turn. And you don't have to: your starting heroes can safely quest for 9 thanks to the Arkenstone and Barliman's capacity to take 5 undefended thanks to Harry Goatleaf. However, if you've got a Miruvor and Treebeard, that's a worthwhile play to start getting some of your own on the table.

Play Notes

Nob is the engine of the deck. With his Item cost reduction, you can use Miruvor to generate a resource or cycle Half-pint to heal up Barliman.

Barliman Butterbur gets all the + cards -- with 3x Spare Pipe, Bree Pony (fetched by Bob), and Ring of Barahir he can easily get to 9+ and absorb a couple undefended attacks per turn. Heal him up with Half-pint, Pint, and Ioreth.

Your starting threat of 23 buys you a lot of time, and you can get some more with Double Back (which also helps Thalion) and A Stout Heart.

The high number of characters and The Arkenstone's bonus mean you can quest past enemies in staging until you've built enough to deal with them selectively. The deck can easily quest for 25+ by mid-game, and still be able to handle 2-3 enemies.

Treebeard, Quickbeam, and Wilyador are your primary attackers, with Bree-land Protector when not needed for shadow cancellation.

Additions

I forgot Gléowine -- sub in for Scheming Staddler or Dori.

Deeping Defender for quests that swarm multiple small enemies. You can quest past them and keeping bouncing them until they die.

The One Ring and Well Preserved can bring Barliman Butterbur to super-defender status for really hard quests.