Noldor survive the City of Corsairs 1.0

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• 1.0

I enjoy thematic decks the most. I have taken Noldor decks thru the entire Dreamchaser cycle and had a lot of fun. Then I hit City of Corsairs.

I looked all over for decks for this quest and all I could find were Seastan's Stormcaller decks --- but they weren't even close to a Noldor theme for me to finish my story. So I had to figure it out myself. Bummer.

But after dozens of tries and deck adjustments, I finally figured it out --- with a big inspiration from Seastan's Sneakby deck. Basically, quest thru the 1st stage in 1 round, so you don't have to deal with the Stormcaller. (I did try several different takes on "kill the SC" as well --- but could never pull it off.)

The biggest challenge here is that you can only place progress on the quest if you are on-course. Between the quest stage, the Stormcaller and the starting location, you have to pass the Sailing test and then quest for a minimum of 20 to pull this off - 24 to guarantee it.

Gradually, my strategy evolved into: get at least 3 allies in play and quest for as close to 24 as you can. Once I adjusted the deck into this current configuration, I won the first game. I probably would have won the 2nd --- but I made a wrong choice in the very first round due to not understanding the Encounter deck probabilities. (I probably would have won if I had gone with the other option.) Then, I won my 3rd game with a lucky Encounter draw -- balanced out by my less-than-lucky opening hand.

Once you are past Stage 1, just go slowly and deal with the enemies as they come -- building up your army as you go.

Anyways, keep Narelenya as your other ship for the ally discount. Then, in your opening hand and first draw (11 cards seen, 1 discarded) -- you want:

• Protector of Lorien (so you can quest for 20)
• Silvan Refugee (free to play due Narelenya)
• Elven Jeweller (pay card cost instead of resources)
• any other Refugee or 2-cost ally
• Elrond's Counsel/Miruvor (to increase questing power)
• Deep Knowledge to increase # of cards in hand - hopefully for more Counsel/Miruvor - or maybe even another Jeweller

(Daeron's Runes will help you cycle cards to get to these.)

Then here is your big decision --- how much to sail and how much to quest?

I mentioned probabilities before so here they are. Multiply the choices together to find your best option. (Don't forget that percentages are really 2 decimal places. eg. 63% = .63)

Sail

• 1 character = 27% to succeed
• 2 = 45%
• 3 = 63%
• 4 = 73%

Quest

• 20/21 willpower = 19% to clear stage 1
• 22 = 65%
• 23 = 87%
• 24 = 100%

So basically, if you can Sail 3 allies and then Quest for 22, you have a (.63 * .65 = 41%) chance of succeeding. Don't forget -- if you fail Sail, you can't place progress.

Is that great? No. But I REALLY want to hold to a thematic deck, so I'll take it. And I won 2 out of 3 --- the loss being because I had not built that table yet and chose wrongly. Did I get lucky? Yup. Will this deck win consistently against CoC? Nope. But this deck can beat it with some regularity.

Thanks again to Seastan for the original inspiration.