Na'asiyah and the Gondorians vs. Intruders in Chetwood 2.0

• Versions
• 2.0

Introduction

Here is a 100% Gondor thematic deck designed to deal with the Chetwood Intruder scenario, where Na'asiyah becomes the Captain and the Steward of Gondor. Lothiriel and the allies quest, Denethor defends (and sometimes takes a look at the Palantir while Na'asiyah is fighting...).

Intruder in Chetwoods is a scenario that I like, because not only does it feature encounter cards that synergize evilishly well, but it gives both the player and the encounter deck a chance : it's truly the archetype of the medium difficulty scenario. However, it is far from easy to win with a true solo thematic deck. In this scenario, the initiative to engage in combat is the player's prerogative, but the enemies' stats dissuade us from engaging them. Locations are the majority cards, but location control decks can be discouraged by side quests that slow down progress.

Rather than relying on a Dúnedain combat engagement deck, or a Thurindir deck, I chose a Gondor deck, but not exactly a conventional one. That deck balances ally swarming and hero stuffing.

General setup

Steward of Gondor is the most important card to get in first hand, as it will give Na'asiyah the Gondor trait and make her the most powerful flexible resource manager in the deck : with these resources, she will be able to defend against any enemy and/or destroy it in one turn, draw, buy certain attachments, and give +1 to all Gondor characters. Visionary Leadership and Gondorian Shield come next in order of importance.

When setting up the quest, always choose the Rugged Country location.

If you have Steward of Gondor in the first turn, pay him with the 3 resources of Denethor and attach him to Na'asiyah. Exhaust Steward of Gondor to give 2 resources to her. Do not hesitate to immediately buy a Gondorian Shield for Denethor with Na'asiyah resources.

Attachments

• For Na'asiyah: Steward of Gondor, Visionary Leadership, Rod of the Steward, Gondorian Shield, 1 or 2 x Unexpected Courage, Captain of Gondor.

• For Denethor: Gondorian Shield, Magic Ring, Palantir.

Intruder in Chetwood includes treacheries, shadow effects, immediate attacks during the quest phase and Surges which make it wise to readying the heroes. Alongside the two copies of Unexpected Courage, I did not want however to add Heir of Mardil as a readying solution. It's reserved for a hero with the Noble trait, so I could only attach it (without including additional cards) to Denethor or Lothíriel. Heir of Mardil response needs a financial trigger. In this deck Denethor needs more resources than Lothiriel, also I frequently give or transfer resources to him thanks to Pelargir Ship Captain, Envoy of Pelargir, Squire of the Citadel, Errand-rider. (Later, Denethor's action allows him to move resources to Lothíriel or Na'asiyah, depending on the needs of the moment). Heir of Mardil however only costs one resource less than Unexpected Courage, and it costs one resource from the deck's tightest sphere (). Above all, Unexpected Courage is a much more flexible attachment here : 1) it is not unique; including it in two copies gives me the freedom to attach one to Na'asiyah and the other to Denethor ; 2) I can use it during any action window, without waiting to just get resources to trigger its response.

I also opted for Magic Ring, which is a great toolkit with almost no downside, since threat isn't really an issue in the deck.

The quest

During the first quest phase, do not exhaust nor commit Denethor to the quest. Commit all the other characters to the quest, except for Minas Tirith Lampwright. Good candidates to target for Lothíriel's response at that moment are Soldier of Gondor, Pelargir Ship Captain, and [Linhir Sea-captain] (/card/12115). If you have Visionary Leadership and Valiant Sacrifice, Squire of the Citadel then becomes Lothiriel's best ally, because you can put him in play for free and he will quest at 1 (or 2 if Faramir is in play), then at the end of the quest phase will bring back a resource to Denethor who will therefore draw 2 cards for free thanks to Valiant Sacrifice.

The first quest test is usually unsuccessful. It doesn't matter. You will systematically travel to the location chosen during the setting up of the scenario (Rugged Country), and engage Angmar Marauder or Angmar Orc if one of them has been revealed. As soon as you have attached Gondorian Shield to Denethor, you can engage Orc War Party (only if no other enemies are in staging area).

The Lothiriel + bringing a questing ally into play mechanic is perfect for countering the effect of discarding an ally by Angmar Orc. Since the chosen character is never a unique or decisive ally, this discard is not heartbreaking.

The travel

You will only travel to 3 types of places:

• Rugged Country. This will be the first active location, and can be chosen again later
• Chetwood Forest. This is the most useful location for our deck which needs threat reduction in staging area.
• Borderland of Bree. You will choose it as an active location when there are at least two other cards in the staging area that cannot be easily removed from there. Borderland of Bree will be a last resort to avoid stacking cards in the staging area.

The player's threat level

In order not to fear the consequences on the threat level of encounter cards such as Outlying Homestead, Pressing Needs or Surprising speed, I chose... not to worry about the threat level ! :-) So, I didn't include any threat reducers in the deck (saving deck space). Conversely, I also did not add Steward of Orthanc or Keys of Orthanc, so as not to stray from the Gondor theme. Out of 30 games, I only lost twice by reaching the elimination threshold of 50. The rules that I impose on myself here to limit blockages and quest failures :

• Only engage an enemy when Na'asiyah and Denethor have the means to manage and destroy it in a single turn.
• Travel to the three aforementioned places as soon as possible.
• Use Lothiriel's ability only sparingly, especially when resources and the number of allies in play are insufficient (the first turns).
• When you need to apply the effect of Pressing Needs, fetch Lost in the Wild. The mechanics of this Gondor deck do not tend to accumulate cards in hand. Furthermore, all important cards are in multiple copies in the deck.

The mini combo Denethor + Palantir + Magic Ring + Minas Tirith Lampwright

As Denethor distrustful of everything, including the corsair Na'asiyah, he requests a Palantir. This attachment has four functions here :

• Potentially speed up the draw
• Scry the encounter deck (a nod to Denethor , but without adding Thorongil)
• Optimize the ability of Minas Tirith Lampwright
• Serve as a trashy attachment when you can't cancel the shadow effect of Weight of Responsibility.

Magic Ring](/card/31031), which can be paid with the resources of any hero, will be used here for its three options : readying, resource generation, and healing. It can be used to readying Denethor before of after he has used the Palantir.

In the quest phase Minas Tirith Lampwright will be :

• ready by default, if Denethor was unable to scry the next cards
• exhausted, committed to the quest if you control Visionary Leadership, and if Denethor and the Palantir saw that no card with Surge was going to be revealed during this phase
• about to be discarded to name the type of the encounter card that follows the one with the keyword Surge, which Denethor was able to previously scry.

If a Surge encounter card is revealed before being able to use the Palantir, we must look at the cards already discarded and those in play, then ask ourselves: 1) what type of card is most likely to be drawn, 2) what type of card would bother us the most currently. In the worst case, if Minas Tirith Lampwright were to be discarded without discarding an encounter card, we would only have lost one resource .

I also use Minas Tirith Lampwright as a chump-blocker (especially against Sudden Assault) and as a target for Angmar Orc.

The most important allies to help with quests are Faramir and Ingold. The Rammas Watcher and Captain Sea are also valuable allies for the quest.

The combat

Na'asiyah potentially provides defense and attack, and sometimes also quests. Captain of Gondor has a cost-stat that exactly echoes Na'asiyah's ability. Denethor takes care of defense alone when one Gondorian Shield and Round Shield are attached to him.

Fire of Gondor indirectly reduces the frequency of use and cost of Na'asiyah's ability. It's not immediatly available nor as flexible as her buit-in ability, but it saves some extra resources that Na'asiyah could spend to draw, pay another card, or her bonus in attack or defense.

Other aspects of the game

I favored drawing options that were both thematic and reasoned. Rod of the Steward fits more into the theme that Ancient Mathom, allows me to mop up excess resources from Na'asiyah when there is no combat, and avoids over-drawing which could be punished by the side quest Lost in the Wild. Proud Hunters is enabled by the presence of the unique ally Iarion.

Testing one's will can undo any treachery, except Sudden Assault. This treachery can, however, be discarded (without resolving its effects) by Lampwright.

The budget for paying allies is tight, because Na'asiyah can not pay for them. So, the resources moving is an important aspect of the deck.

There are several copies of the unique cards (Steward of Gondor, Visionary Leadership, Rod of the Steward). But that's not a big deal, since those cards are really important for the deck's efficiency, and since there is drawing. Moreover it could be useful to keep some copies in hand, because of the treachery Weight of Responsability.

This deck regularly passes Chet's Wood Intruder in less than 8 eight turns. Obviously, the result depends greatly on the cards drawn. If several copies of Orc War Party (or three side quests) appear in the staging area in the first turns, the chances of victory are slim. But in general I win with that deck, and the game is nice and challenging at the same time.