Swarming Outlands, no Steward required!

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De-Stapled Outlands (MD - Outlands Alternative) 2 0 0 1.0
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jban 996

This deck originated when I tried to provide a strong Outlands deck that did not make use of the Steward of Gondor. Most Outlands decks run great if you can start with the Steward of Gondor, but without it always feels like it is underachieving. I believe an Outlands deck does not need the Steward of Gondor so therefore I came up with this design. This deck allows you to play Outlands, while the other players can take maximal benefit of the strong unique attachments.

The idea of this deck is to swarm allies in the first round of the game. Erestor and Denethor make sure we have the optimal starting situation. The perfect start hand contains the following cards: 2x (or 3x) A Very Good Tale, Bill the Pony and Sam Gamgee. Heed the Dream, Daeron's Runes and Deep Knowledge are included to get to this starting hand.

A first round typically is played as follows:

  1. Play Captain's Wisdom
  2. Play Heed the Dream to get to your start hand. You can use both your and your resources to get the 2 cards that complete your start hand.
  3. Play Sam Gamgee and Bill the Pony for a total of 1 resource.
  4. Play A Very Good Tale.
  5. Play A Very Good Tale.
  6. Play the remainder of your resources, eg. Warrior of Lossarnach, The Storm Comes or Send for Aid.

The first round will usually get you between 6 and 8 allies to start with. As becomes clear, each hero that has been selected is required to make this deck work. Erestor and Denethor to play Heed the Dream, and Frodo Baggins to play both Sam Gamgee and Bill the Pony. Two allies with 5 cost, for a total cost of 1, that work great to get your A Very Good Tale swarm running.

The remainder of the game, plays very naturally. 3 copies of Will of the West are included because you get through your deck in no time. This way you can play about 5-7 A Very Good Tale in a game. Make sure your Will of the West are not all discarded, such that you can keep on recycling your deck.

Deck Specifics:

  • I included 30 allies to make sure my A Very Good Tale has a high success ratio. I think 30 allies is the minimum to have a successful tale consistently (,which results into 2 allies).
  • Faramir can be replaced, but try to keep at least 30 allies.
  • The sideboard consists out of an additional Errand-rider if you feel you need more management. For purposes, Deep Knowledge can be replaced by Elrond's Counsel. This does reduce the consistency, but sometimes is more important. Finally a copy of Dwarven Tomb is included to reduce the odds of running out of Will of the West.
3 comments

Aug 28, 2017 Seastan 44447

I just noticed this deck because I have a similar one (http://ringsdb.com/decklist/view/5425/multiplayer-outlands-no-staples-1.0). I like your idea of using Sam and Bill though.

Do you get the sense that some cards here a bit 'overkill'? I find that once you've gone through the deck once you are unstoppable, so the Will of the West is not necessary (I use Men of the West instead because it seems faster than cycling through the deck again). Similarly, Faramir seems good only when you have many characters out already, at which point he isn't needed.

Aug 28, 2017 Seastan 44447

Ah, I noticed that you've seen my version already. Did you end up trying it out?

Aug 30, 2017 jban 996

Hi Seastan

Because there is basically no resource acceleration in this deck, I found Men of the West too costly. If you have some effective tails with 4 allies, you will never be able to pay for their return. I aggree to the effect of #Faramir being a bit of an overkill, but there is no real ally which I consider to fit very well. Captain's Wisdom does allow that tiny acceleration for leadership resources, so therefore I opted for a leadership power-ally. The sidequests are not very reliable so playing Knights of the Swan normally occurs rarely and I almost never succeed in using my resources for other spheres.

The Galadhrim's Greeting, Jban

PS: I have moved recently, so nearly no time to play. I will give it a try soon.