Steward of Gondor 1.0

• Versions
• 1.0

This is a Gondor ally swarm deck meant for 2-handed play. It is primarily oriented around combat, but between Faramir and Visionary Leadership it can make significant contributions to the quest phase during the late game.

It is best paired with a deck that is strong at questing straight out the gate, as the questing combos can take some time to show up. Opening hand cards to look for are Steward of Gondor, either Visionary Leadership or Faramir, and Prepare for Battle. A hand with any two of them should almost always be kept. Against quests that start with a powerful enemy in the staging area, Gondorian Shield and/or Armored Destrier for Beregond are important.

Steward of Gondor and Rod of the Steward should be played on Denethor, whose resource smoothing ability can be used to pay for higher cost cards. Visionary Leadership is ideal to play on Boromir, as his innate ability likewise requires a resource to stay in the resource pool. Heir of Mardil and Sword of Númenor are also intended for Boromir. On rounds where Denethor doesn't need to pass resources to Beregond, the resource can be passed to Boromir in order to trigger the readying effect. Alternately, the Sword can be used to ready him for a second attack, if the first one qualifies.

This deck is quite powerful on the defense, with both Beregond and Denethor available for strong defense. Between Armored Destrier and Sterner than Steel, shadow effects are not a large threat. Offensive power is generally achieved via ally mustering and Boromir's attack. This can sometimes leave enemies engaged for several rounds, so efficient allocation of attacks is important.