The RCO One Deck

This deck is part of Mormegil’s Deckbox, an effort to create an extensive catalogue of decks for the different archetypes, themes and playing styles available to players. Click here to check out the whole project.

Premise

Building One Decks has long been a part of the LOTR LCG community. The challenge is pretty simple – build one deck that is able to beat all scenarios in their most difficult iteration in the game without swapping any heroes or player cards between quests. For the “original” card pool, there exist a myriad of very potent One Decks, with these two (Example A, Example B) having stats for the entire quest gauntlet. During the respective deck descriptions of these two One Decks I go into the history of the project as well as other alternatives, so if you want to further read up on the concept, feel free to check them out.

Since building these two decks, I was asked by some people if there exists a One Deck for the revised content. The revised content includes far fewer quests of course (including future releases the Core Set, the four Starter Decks, the Dark of Mirkwood, the Angmar Awakened, Dreamchaser and Ered Mithrin cycle as well as the Lord of the Rings Saga Expansions), however the options in regards to player cards are also much more limited. There are fewer archetypes and the existing archetypes are significantly weakened. With these considerations in mind, this deck is what I came up with!

Playthrough stats

In total, I played through:

• 3 Core Set quests

• 2 Dark of Mirkwood quests

• 18 Lord of the Rings Saga quests

• 9 Angmar Awakened quests

• 9 Dreamchaser quests

• 9 Ered Mithrin quests

This means that a total of 50 quests were played overall.

• 47 quests were beaten in the first attempt

• 2 quests (“The Dread Realm” and “The Fate of Wilderland”) needed two attempts

• “The Black Gate Opens” is not winnable, I needed two attempts for the required resources however (6)

Since campaign mode is integral to the RCO quests, I played all scenarios as a campaign. If you prefer to play them standalone, the deck should work just as well however, I suspect that the stats would be very similar to the ones recorded just now. I did not play campaign mode for the Dream-Chaser and Ered Mithrin Quests due to the former campaign being one I heavily disklike (since most of the main XP goals seem to trivially drag out the quests for ages) and the latter not being released yet.

The most challenging scenario in the RCO pool is for my money "Mount Doom" (especially if paired up in campaign with "The Black Gate Opens"). The quest in standalone itself is quite doable (due to having lots of action advantage as well as Faramir together with Narya), however getting the required resources on The Black Gate in campaign can be quite the challenge. Aside from that, "Escape from Dol Guldur" (but only in non-campaign mode), "The Battle of Carn Dûm" and "The Fate of Wilderland" are probably the next most difficult quests for this deck.

Most other quests should be winnable at quite a high win rate, with the only thing that is able to derail you being quite a lot of bad luck during the first 2-3 rounds (which is what happened in my loss against "The Dread Realm" for example).

If you want further information on specific quests, I created this document where you can see all the quests played step-by-step.

How to Play

This is a Vilya deck. Vilya has long been probably the standout solo archetype in the game, be it in the original or revised content pool. While Vilya has been somewhat weakened by the RCO pool (missing key cards like Imladris Stargazer or Warden of HealingHealing), I still believe it to be the best deck type in solo by quite a margin. The flexibility and sheer tempo it provides just lends itself very well to the One Deck challenge.

Your usual route to victory is pretty simple: Look for Vilya early on (through mulligans, Gandalf's ability and all your drawing tools, especially Drinking Song/Gather Information), and Wizard Pipe as soon as possible after that. From there on, use Vilya whenever possible to play whatever you need for no cost while still using your other resources to further expand your board state.

Only very few quests will be able to keep pace with the sheer number of resources advantage you are able to generate through Elrond’s Ring as well as your base resources, Arwen Undómiel, Gandalf's Staff and Steward of Gondor. Your drawing tools ensure that you never run out of cards, with it being not uncommon to play your entire deck after 5-6 rounds.

Be mindful of Gandalf’s ability all the while (your 0-cost events are best played from top of deck during any phase since they immediately replace themselves, therefore not even costing you the opportunity cost of having to draw the card.

Heroes

Running means that your first hero choices is automatically Elrond. While he is needed for enabling Vilya however, that is not where his usefulness ends. His resource smoothing ability is the strongest in the game, allowing you to run off-sphere allies to your heart’s content (and therefore being the my favorite target for Steward of Gondor) while his healing ability is often underestimated.

My second hero choice was just as easy since Gandalf's synergy with Elrond is just ridiculous. With Imladris Stargazer not a part of the RCO pool, Wizard Pipe is undoubtedly the most useful tool to control the top of your deck, thus setting up a powerful Vilya card consistently. However even more so than Elrond and Vilya, Gandalf is much more than a vehicle for his Pipe. His stats are amazingly flexible, allowing you to use him in almost every situation effectively while his Staff and Narya provide uniquely powerful abilities. His own card text is also crucial for this deck, allowing you to never have to do a blind Vilya, providing another great way to smooth out your resources and giving you access to some very good “pseudo-draw” (since the top card of your deck is always instantly replaced when playing it.

The last hero was the most difficult to decide on. I considered Tactics Éowyn for quite a while, however I ultimately decided that Arwen Undómiel is the way to go. Her resource generation is a very welcome tempo boost this deck desperately needs (since Vilya can be a bit of a tempo hit the first 2-3 rounds due to its exhaustion cost) while she herself is a very able quester that provides prime access to the powerful drawing engine that is Elven Light as well as the Spirit sphere (which you want as soon as possible for A Test of Will) even before playing Vilya on Elrond.

Allies

Beorn, Boromir, Déorwine, Faramir, Galdor of the Havens, Gimli, Glorfindel and Thalion are your prime Vilya targets here, all of them providing a huge impact as the best high-cost allies the RCO pool has to offer. Faramir I run even twice since he is absolutely key for “Mount Doom” and “The Black Gate Opens”.

Angbor the Fearless and Quickbeam are just too good to pass up for such a low cost. Envoy of Pelargir is a favorite of mine due to its extreme versatility. It quests/attacks sufficiently well for only a single resource while being a great chump-blocker and useful tool for resource smoothing. Bilbo Baggins has great stats and acts as your third copy of Wizard Pipe, his deck shuffling also being quite useful if the top card doesn’t appeal to you. Henamarth Riversong is for my money the best ally in solo and therefore an automatic include, he is just insanely strong.

Attachments

Apart from Vilya, Steward of Gondor and your first copy of Unexpected Courage (who all go on Elrond), all attachments usually go on Gandalf to maximize his great stats. His Staff is great for resources/cards early on but I mostly use it for shadow cancellation after the first 2-3 rounds to control that aspect of the game. Narya is great here, giving you access to Leadership resources (which can be used for Déorwine’s ability) and having a very useful readying/stat-boosting effect. Unexpected Courage, Wizard Pipe, Vilya and Steward are just insanely efficient, Magic Ring I like for its versatility, especially since the deck lacks healing more than anything else.

Events

Daeron's Runes is the best card in the entire game and an automatic 3x. A Test of Will, Elrond's Counsel and Elven-light are staples that are just logical includes given the heroes you run. Drinking Song is very useful to find your pieces early on (while netting you an additional card in Saga quests/once you get Bilbo out). Grim Resolve is a nice emergency button if you are being outpaced, it can also be absolutely critical for “Mount Doom”/”The Black Gate Opens”. Helm of Secrecy is the ultimate toolbox that can be a lifesaver in quite a few situations. Keep in mind that your 0-cost events are always best played from top of your deck (if possible outside the planning phase) so that they automatically replace themselves on top of your deck, thus not even costing you the opportunity cost of drawing a card.

Side Quests

Gather Information is great to find you whatever you are missing, Double Back is very useful as a tool for threat management. With your strong starting willpower, completing them should usually be manageable.

Enjoy!!!