Now for Ruin 1.0

• Versions
• 1.0

This is a thematic Rohan deck, based around Eomer's leadership in the battle of the Pelennor Fields. It is meant to be paired with a Tactics/Spirit Théoden/Éowyn/Merry deck that specializes in early quest power and combat.

This deck is meant to build a small army of questing allies, in addition to providing some resource generation and staging area control to support the other deck, in addition to being able to handle some combat. The core combo of this deck is Fastred defending and returning enemies to the staging area, where Éomer can destroy them during the next quest phase, using Gúthwinë to return allies from the discard pile to the hand.

Fully equipped, with Gúthwinë, Song of Travel, and Firefoot attached - along with Rally the West in the victory display - Éomer quests for 3, attacks for 7 into the staging area, and can use any overkill to damage enemies still engaged with the deck. Steward of Gondor ensures that he always has a resource to spend on his ability when needed, and the resource smoothing allows the deck to pay for the high percentage of cards.

With a Raiment of War from the other deck, Fastred defends for 4 and has 5 hit points, allowing him to take mid-level attacks with impunity. With Rally the West in the victory display, and a Steed of the Mark attached, he quests for 3 as well, and can ready for a later defense.

Elfhelm is the glue hero that makes the decks run together. His primary purpose will be questing - to that end, a copy of Steed of the Mark and a Song of Travel are slated for his use. With the side quest bonus, he can quest for a solid 4 .

The allies are mostly Rohan, to benefit from Gúthwinë's effect. Most of them are questers - though some utility allies are included as well. A number of them have discard-from-play effects as well, since they can easily be returned using Gúthwinë. By the same reasoning, many of them are also useful as repeatable chump-blockers; most notably Snowbourn Scout - already the quintessential chump-blocker, the recycling enabled by Éomer's sword gives it incredible effectiveness. Rider of the Mark functions as a repeatable Hasty Stroke that also contributes 2 to the quest; between it, Armored Destrier, and Déorwine, shadow effects should be kept under control.

Steward of Gondor should go on Éomer. The Day's Rising should be played across the table onto Théoden; the Golden Shield will make it easy to generate resources from the card.

The first Armored Destrier should be played across the table onto Théoden. A second copy can find a home on Elfhelm; he can then use Steed of the Mark to ready after questing, defend for 3 against a weak enemy, and then attack back; in addition, ensuring that Fastred's defense doesn't face a shadow card.

Steed of the Mark has 3 potential targets. The highest priority is likely Éowyn in the other deck, although it is not necessary if an Unexpected Courage is already available for her. The other two are Elfhelm and Fastred, in that order.

Prepare for Battle and Gather Information address the most serious weakness of both decks - card draw, while Rally the West pulls double duty, boosting questing power across the board as well as increasing Théoden's defense and Éowyn's attack in the other deck. Dúnedain Message makes each of the side quests effectively have 3 copies. If the core combination pieces are already in play, Gather Information can be used to fetch the other side quests - or even Dúnedain Message, thinning the deck even further to the same net effect.

Against quests that punish the use of side quests, Valiant Sacrifice provides an alternate means of card draw, though less consistent, and Astonishing Speed boosts willpower, although again, less consistently than Rally the West. The remainder of the sideboard helps to tailor the deck to the challenge of the quest.

In general, mulligan for Steward of Gondor and Armored Destrier; as with the other deck, Gather Information and Westfold Horse-breeder can help fetch essential combo pieces.