The Hidden Forest

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Derived from
Rossiel's Revenge 3 1 0 1.0
Inspiration for
The Hidden Forest 2 0 0 3.0
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Mad Morderan 135

Mad Morderan has a newer deck inspired by this one: The Hidden Forest

I originally called this deck "Rossiel's Revenge" but I've since then tweaked it some more and added to the sideboard to allow for some flexibility, depending on which scenario you're playing and whether you're playing solo or multi.

This deck is all about momentum. The two Ent heroes are so strong they can usually soak up early attackers and early high- locations with their abilities while Rossiel gets her victory display shenanigans going and your Ents are readying from their initial exhausted state. And once you get going, the Ents tend to stick around because they're so tough, and pretty soon they start to pile up and become a questing, defending, and attacking force to be reckoned with.

There are four ways to set this deck up depending on whether you want to play solo or multiplay, and whether you are going against a scenario that is heavy on enemies vs. locations. The deck shown here is the multiplay, heavy enemy deck. For solo play, swap x3 Henamarth Riversong for Haldir of Lórien, Elven Mail, and either Beechbone or Skinbark, depending on whether you're facing orcs or not. For orcs, keep Skinbark. For location heavy scenarios, swap x2 Secret Paths and Explore Secret Ways for x1 Cloak of Lórien x1 Daeron's Runes and either Beechbone or Skinbark, again depending on whether you will be facing orcs or other enemies (obviously for heavy location solo play you may be swapping out both unique Ents).

Use Out of the Wild and/or Scout Ahead early to get Rossiel's stat buffs going, but base your choice of what card to put in the victory display on the scenario. Remember that Rossiel only benefits from enemies and locations in the victory display, but putting treachery cards there sets you up to be able to completely cancel them with The Door is Closed!--a very powerful effect. Base this decision on whether or not you need it early vs. late in the scenario, and whether or not the scenario has any super-nasty treachery cards (like Sleeping Sentry). The Door is Closed! can even negate cards that have effects that can't be canceled--so choose wisely. Slap those really nasty cards in the victory display early if you can, as Leave No Trace and None Return will not help you with treachery cards, but these latter two cards will help you buff Rossiel and make Keen as Lances cheaper. With this deck you have the ability to place 7 cards in the victory display, so try to maximize them if you can, but just get something there as early as you can.

It's been pointed out that Rossiel can be weaker in scenarios with lots of traits among the locations and enemies. This is true just in terms of raw power, but I don't see it as a fatal weakness in the deck. It boils down to how you use Out of the Wild and Scout Ahead. In multi-trait scenarios, you may do better with putting treachery cards in the victory display first (to later cancel with The Door is Closed!), since this benefit doesn't change. Then use Leave No Trace and None Return judiciously, basing it on what your immediate needs are. In any case, though I haven't found Rossiel to be that hindered by these scenarios, you might consider adding that final copy of Leave No Trace and None Return as 51st and 52nd cards.

Threat builds up sometimes with this deck because it starts so high, so use Gandalf and Keen as Lances to lower it and keep your momentum going, but these cards together have the potential to lower your threat by a total of 22 if you use them only for that. It's unlikely you will need that much threat mitigation, so sometimes you will want it for card draw or even resources instead. That said, in the hardest scenarios I usually need all of that threat mitigation to stay in the game and keep my momentum going.

I call this "the hidden forest" not because of secrecy but because of the victory display stuff and the hidden/secret paths stuff. Thematically, Rossiel and a few silvan allies--having convinced Treebeard to commence an Entmoot--traverse along ancient secret paths, leaving no trace of their passage. Along the way, scouts and sentries are pounded under Ent feet, and none return to report to their captains. Then, when the time strikes, they show up suddenly at the enemy's doorstep, whereupon they unleash their wrath upon all foes, booming and trumpeting in a terrifying display!

6 comments

May 01, 2018 Raiderjakk 58

I tried this out last night against some old quests and I kept threating out. I swapped in Favor of the Valar and it helped out a little. Great deck.

May 01, 2018 Mad Morderan 135

No kidding? Did you not get a chance to reduce threat with Gandalf or Keen as Lances? Those are crucial to this deck, and I rarely use any of the other options because of it. Sorry that happened!

May 01, 2018 Raiderjakk 58

No need to be sorry!

I did Massing at Osgoliath which has two bad guys from the start.... I dropped Quickbeam to Tom Cotton to bring down threat a little bit.

Before that, I found Gandalf and Keen as Lance's cost a ton of resources I didn't have at my disposal.

Good deck though. When it gets rolling it is unstoppable but in the quests I tend to play threat is a major concern. I will try it against others.

May 02, 2018 Mad Morderan 135

Hm, yeah I haven't tried that scenario yet with it. All the others I had I was able to use Gandalf and Keen to lower threat by being stingy with resources since I knew I was going to need to.

Another option might be Loragorn in for Treebeard, so you can reset threat x1, and then add the Treebeard ally in place of something. That might be worth trying. Or we could add Resourceful since in the long run it would pay off in resources and it's a slower deck anyway.

May 02, 2018 Raiderjakk 58

All makes sense. I had a blast for playing it. Thanks for putting it up here!

May 02, 2018 Mad Morderan 135

Glad you liked it! It's a very - hoom! - unhasty deck!