The Path of Wisdom

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Darkling Door 6089

This is a thematic deck built for an ongoing series on my blog, Darkling Door.

Theme: Noldor

Played Against: Nightmare The Watcher in the Water

"It is not despair, for despair is only for those who see the end beyond all doubt. We do not. It is wisdom to recognize necessity, when all other courses have been weighed, though as folly it may appear to those who cling to false hope. Well, let folly be our cloak, a veil before the eyes of the Enemy!"

Gandalf, The Council of Elrond, The Fellowship of the Ring

Strategy

This is a discard-focused Erestor deck that relies on strong Noldor Allies for combat.

The key Attachment is To the Sea, to the Sea!, which along with Arwen Undómiel's resource-generating ability helps to smooth out the cost curve of the deck and make it easier to afford expensive Allies like Gildor Inglorion and Glorfindel. Because of this, To the Sea, to the Sea! is the card I usually mulligan for (although with 10 cards in my opening hand, the odds of seeing it early on are good regardless).

The combat phase is handled primarily by Allies like Guardian of Rivendell. As such, Attachments like Raiment of War and Elven Mail are intended primarily for Allies rather than Heroes in this deck. It doesn't take long before I have an Ally with 3 - 4 and 5 hit points, and plenty capable of handling the combat phase as effectively as any Hero. By the end of the game I usually have two or three of them.

The Heroes are primarily used for questing. Because of that, I don't end up missing the bonuses that Elladan would receive if Elrohir were present—he's really just here to quest for 2 each round and provide me with the resource icon, and he doesn't need Elrohir around for any of that.

Sideboard

This deck was tailored specifically to defeat Nightmare The Watcher in the Water with a specific theme in mind, but the core concept of leaning on powerful Allies for combat turned out to be pretty fun. If I wanted to try this deck in against a different quest, I would remove Forest Snare and Henamarth Riversong and add an extra copy of Silver Harp to get back up to 50 cards. I'd also consider swapping in Aragorn in place of Elladan.

It's also worth noting that a recently spoiled card from The Mountain of Fire would go great in this deck.

► For more analysis, check out my blog post on this deck.

3 comments

Nov 05, 2020 Quetzal513 90

I would be tempted to add Elrohir to the deck or sideboard.

Really like the deck; stumbled upon it looking for fun Noldor decks that doesn't rely on Círdan the Shipwright

Nov 05, 2020 Darkling Door 6089

@Quetzal513 Thanks! Yeah, this deck was posted before he came out, but I would definitely try to make room for him here.

I still think about revisiting this deck from time to time, even 4 years later! Maybe I should dust it off and tune it up with modern cards.

Nov 05, 2020 Quetzal513 90

I am still building my card pool (don't have all the cards needed for this deck yet), but sometimes I get captivated be a concept.

In the case of my search, how certain Noldor cards are enhanced by Erestor that decks are not typically built around. Examples being cycling Lords of the Eldar once your deck is empty, getting Veteran Sword-elf powered up, and any if the events that reward you for having copies already in your discard pile.

Your deck isn't wholly focused around those ideas, but it gives me some cool things to think about. Would be happy to see your tweaks if you revisit it.