The Old Powers 1.0

• Versions
• 2.0
• 1.0

Deckbuilding
The original impetus behind this deck was a desire to tweak another build of mine (http://ringsdb.com/decklist/view/6770/trees-of-imladris-1.0) after I just got an order of cards. I wanted to make a more aggressive build without Glorfindel and his toys. Círdan the Shipwright seemed to be a natural fit to allow me another way to get Elven-light into the discard pile and some more card draw without relying too heavily on the stuff...aside from Entmoot. I also never build for solo, so this deck seemed like a fun challenge.

A couple thoughts on card choices:

No Vilya is actually my preferred way to play Elrond. He's just so good on his own that you don't need it, and I wasn't building a deck around slamming stuff onto the table for free, so I left it out...which naturally begs the question of, why Unexpected Courage, when my hero lineup isn't exactly doing all-star stuff in the combat phase?

Unexpected Courage is always good, of course. It's in here for Elrond and Círdan the Shipwright. Elrond for the extra in the early game and Cirdan for the unfortunate games when you don't see Light of Valinor early.

Obviously, Light of Valinor always goes on Círdan the Shipwright because Narya is boss in any deck, but particularly baller in an Ent deck.

No Leaflock because I just don't have that pack, yet.

A Good Harvest is here as insurance for the Narya problem to play Steward of Gondor or in the unfortunate circumstances when you can't afford some of the Ent allies.

1x Silver Harp has proven to be the one card I'm super iffy on when it comes to general applicability. Some games it's incredible while I'm waiting for Elven-light to get up and running, and others it's just a win-more card. Up to you.

Galadriel's Handmaiden is your redundancy for threat reduction but also a way to spend excess resources on Elrond...or perhaps even just excess resources if you're doing particularly well.

Gameplay
Mulligan conditions are as follows: 1) Light of Valinor -- kinda makes the deck work with Círdan the Shipwright being the readying engine and packing the most starting ; 2)Elven-light -- it's kinda the engine for resource gen and card advantage; and 3) Narya -- not just the boss readying card for buffing Ent allies but also insurance to play Steward of Gondor without A Good Harvest. Other than that, the rest has been pared down due to some pretty extensive playtesting. You could make the case that the other cards you're looking to dig for in the early rounds (if not throwing your hand away to get) are: Elrond's Counsel and The Galadhrim's Greeting.

The rest is pretty easy...Slam down a bunch of trees, mitigate the tempo hit with Narya, and heal a bunch of damage when you need it.

For what it's worth, I've had multiple wins against Journey Down the Anduin, Flight to the Ford, Steward's Fear, Intruders in Chetwood, Weather Hills, and Treachery of Rhudaur. Honestly, the biggest problem with the deck is a high starting , which can be a problem. However, the thing I like about this deck is how tight it is in the sense that there's a ton of decision points in the first few rounds to really try and set up a board to deal with the late game. Though not quite as slow as a traditional Dúnedain deck, it has that feel of touch-and-go in the early rounds as you try to manage and while ramping for the late-game push.