Men of the Twilight 1.0

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• 1.0

"And we love them: tall men and fair women, valiant both alike, golden-haired, bright-eyed, and strong; they remind us of the youth of Men, as they were in the Elder Days. . . For so we reckon Men in our lore, calling them the High, or Men of the West, which were Númenoreans; and the Middle Peoples, Men of the Twilight, such as are the Rohirrim and their kin that dwell still far in the North; and the Wild, the Men of Darkness." - Faramir, The two Towers

Although the Rohirrim are not descended from the legendary Númenoreans like the Men of the West are, they are still come from a mighty race of men. They are fierce and valiant, resembling the wild youth of the race of men in the Elder Days when the world was young.

This deck is the first Rohan deck I have built that I am pleased with. For most of the game's history, the Rohan archetype felt like it was lacking some key components and cards that would let it deal with combat consistently. Lately, that seems to have changed with new releases and Rohan seems to be maturing well enough in its various archetypes.

This deck can both quest and combat enemies, thanks to the flexible nature of Rohan. The overall plan is simple, buff Théoden or Elfhelm and use Éomer as the big damage hammer. Theoden gets Snowmane, Eomer gets Firefoot and Gúthwinë, either Theoden or Elfhelm will get Golden Shield, Armored Destrier, and Dúnedain Warning depending on who should be the defender. After receiving your opening hand, you will have a better idea of who to use as the defender. If you think you will need Theoden for his attack early on, you may as well have Elfhelm defend. If you have attacking covered by Eomoer, Theoden can become a tougher defender than Elfhelm. Theoden has more hit points and due to being a hero, Elfhelm gives him +1 when he is riding Snowmane, which turns into more from Golden Shield.

The allies are focused more on questing since the heroes do all the combat. Good questers such as West Road Traveller and Steward of Orthanc are included, and the steward comes with the added bonus of giving a little card draw (just avoid overdoing the doom in multiplayer). Rider of Rohan is there to help with either questing or combat depending on the situation, and doubles in usefulness if a side quest is completed. The other allies all work well with Gúthwinë's recursion ability, allowing Snowbourn Scout and Westfold Horse-breeder to chump-block and be reused for their enter play effects later. Also, being able to use Grimbold to void an attack more than once in a game can be helpful. Westfold Horse-Breaker is a very interesting ally to recur. That readying effect allows a powered-up hero another action, meaning Theoden could be readied to defend or attack again or Eomoer could make another orc-crushing attack.

For the events, there are the staple Feint and A Test of Will events, putting a stop to some of the worst afflictions of the encounter deck. In a similar vein, Hasty Stroke saves defending heroes from dangerous shadow cards. The multifunctional Tides of Fate is included for a few reasons: boosting shadow cards are relatively common and the extra helps when a hero turns up short, Eomer may at times have the spare change to pay for the second effect, and that +3 would make either Elfhelm or Theoden an excellent attacker. Since Eomer can easily be hitting for 5-10 on his own, Quick Strike allows him to defeat an enemy before it would get a chance to attack, hence avoiding the shadow effect as well. Last but not least, Valiant Sacrifice gives decent card draw for when allies inevitably leave play.

The deck is straightforward and strong, like the Rohirrim. It works as a solo deck, but an unlucky lack of early willpower can be a limitation for some quests. I think it is a good multiplayer deck as well. It will bring some muscle to the combat and questing aspects of the game, a bit of location control when recurring Snowbourn Scout, and some high utility events. It will just let other decks handle other necessities like healing or threat reduction. For me at least, I think it lets me experience the Rohirrim as the fierce Men of the Twilight that they are.