The North United 2.0

• Versions
• 2.0
• 1.0

Concept

This is a semi-thematic deck that represents the joint efforts of the Dúnedain and brave Hobbit folk to keep the North free from evil. Both the hero and ally line-up are heavily dominated by these two traits and they go together surprisingly well. This not only makes the deck feel cohesive, but also results in a very potent combination as the Hobbits and Dúnedain perfectly play off each other's strengths.

While the Dúnedain are not normally associated with secrecy, I think it actually fits thematically when I imagine them teaming up with some brave Hobbits. In terms of gameplay, the secrecy component of this deck achieves two things:

• It helps to keep our threat lower than our enemies' engagement costs so that we can better control how combat plays out. Additionally, this enables us to reliably use Sam Gamgee and Hobbit Cloak.
• We can make use of Timely Aid and Resourceful to quickly and cheaply bring out many of our powerful allies. Along with A Very Good Tale and allies that can reduce their own cost, like Bill the Pony and Halbarad, we can assemble a large army in no time.

Synergy

The two main factors that glue these two archetypes together are engagement and side quests. On the engagement side of things we obviously have Sam Gamgee who can ready himself and boost his own stats. Hobbit Cloak helps turn him into a reliable defender, especially as he starts racking up a few copies of Fast Hitch. Halbarad and Robin Smallburrow (more on him later) can help to further increase enemies' engagement costs so that these effects are almost sure to trigger.

As for the side quests mechanic, it's less pronounced here but definitely useful. This deck isn't about stacking as many side quests in the victory display as possible, as we only run the 1 copy of Gather Information. For our purposes 1 completed side quest is enough, as this already buffs Thurindir to a very respectable 3 , and it sets up Halfling Bounder and Halfast Gamgee. Running more side quests would slow the deck down too much I think, but Scout Ahead is still definitely worth considering.

Strategy

So, what about the actual strategy of the deck? As I said before, the main aim of this deck is to quickly amass a strong collection of allies to take over the game. The most important cards in this respect are Timely Aid and A Very Good Tale.

For Timely Aid we obviously want to be in secrecy mode, but the deck starts out at 21 threat. This is however not a problem thanks to Folco Boffin. In your first turn you generally want to keep Folco Boffin around to quest. One of my favorite opening plays is to use his resource during the first turn for Peace, and Thought. On the next turn, when he starts out exhausted anyway, we spend his second resource on a ally, Fast Hitch or Dúnedain Pipe and then discard him.

This leaves us with a ton of cards in our hand and only 15 threat! From this point onwards the deck really starts to roll. Ideally you'll have 1-2 copies of Resourceful and/or 1-2 copies of Timely Aid. These both help play some of the more costly allies during the early game already. Once you have a few of them, you will want to start playing A Very Good Tale to extend your advantage. This card is especially strong in this deck, not only because you can easily drop high-cost allies thanks to Timely Aid, but also because there are so many allies that can lower their own cost.

Consider for example Bill the Pony, who counts as a 2-cost ally that you can actually play for free. Similarly, you can put Ranger of Cardolan into play for just 1 resource whenever you engage an enemy. While he is shuffled back into the deck at the end of the round, he will ready during the refresh phase just prior to that: the perfect opportunity to exhaust him one last time before he leaves play! The same strategy can be used when you play Gandalf from your hand. He, too, leaves play at the end of the round, but also readies just before he goes. Finally, there is also Halbarad, who always counts as a 4-cost ally but can be played at a discount depending on the number of engaged enemies.

Common challenges

With the general strategy explained, it's time to consider how the deck deals with the basic challenges this game throws at you.

Combat

The deck is quite capable of handling itself in combat. First off, its low threat allows you to generally avoid the more problematic enemies until you have enough allies on the board to deal with them. In the meantime, Sam Gamgee is more than capable of defending against the weaker ones, especially once he gets a Hobbit Cloak and a few copies of Fast Hitch. There's also Rosie Cotton who can boost Sam Gamgee's stats during combat to make him even more effective.

The deck doesn't have that much , so it may take a while before you have enough allies to really start putting a dent in tougher enemies. This is where we have to make some thematic sacrifices to fit in Eryn Galen Settler and Quickbeam. However, we also have enough in-theme allies like Ranger of Cardolan and Halbarad with solid stats all around. Not to mention there's always Sneak Attack + Gandalf if we find ourselves in an emergency situation.

Questing

Right away, this deck can quest for 7 with all its heroes combined. While not extraordinary, it is usually enough to get through the first round of questing. Once the allies start coming out, questing becomes quite easy. Most of our allies have at least 1 with many actually having 2 , so there's no shortage there.

The only problem this deck faces is that it is quite uncommon for you to play an ally on your very first turn, and during your second turn you generally want to be playing Resourceful. If you find that you have to deal with a lot of in the staging area early on, definitely try to mulligan for Timely Aid so you can at least play that during turn 2 for a "free" ally.

Other good cards to look for in such cases are Bill the Pony and Henamarth Riversong, both of which can be played very cheaply and provide some additional . And here too Sneak Attack + Gandalf can really help you out during the early game. Don't be afraid to use it if you must!

Threat

I hope that it's pretty clear that threat is hardly an issue for this deck. Our starting threat is incredibly low already, especially after Folco Boffin is discarded. Even if you happen to run into threat problems for some reason, there is still Gandalf who can lower it again for you.

When Revealed effects

While not a deck, we can actually cancel some treacheries after some setup thanks to Halfling Bounder. While it is obviously more beneficial to keep him around, some treacheries are so nasty that it may absolutely be worth it to discard him.

Other aspects

Other factors every deck should at least take into account are card draw and resource acceleration. This deck manages to excel at both! For card draw our most important card is Peace, and Thought. This is absolutely amazing with Folco Boffin, as it allows you to get as much use out of him as possible before discarding him. But even later in the game without Folco Boffin around, you should be able to manage a turn without Thurindir (you can usually ready Sam Gamgee thanks to Fast Hitch or his own effect anyway).

Other (but less reliable) card draw comes in the form of Dúnedain Pipe. This card has a dual purpose here as it can also return allies to your deck to fuel Timely Aid and A Very Good Tale. While the deck runs quite a large amount of allies already, it is still possible for these cards to whiff. It's therefore never a bad idea to help turn the odds in your favor.

For resource acceleration we obviously have Resourceful, which helps compensate for the loss of Folco Boffin. We also have A Very Good Tale and Timely Aid which help play allies at a discount. Combined with the built-in cost reduction that some of the allies have, resources shouldn't be a problem.

The Prince Imrahil factor

Now for one of my favorite gimmicks of the deck: Prince Imrahil. He may seem completely out of place here, but he's just too much fun not to include. Since Folco Boffin should be in your discard pile quite early on, it's not a problem to meet the conditions of his effect. Despite not playing any heroes, it is actually incredibly easy to get him into play thanks to Timely Aid or A Very Good Tale.

But what if you draw him, you may ask. Well, first off there is always Dúnedain Pipe to put him back in your deck. The infinitely play, however, is to bring him out with Sneak Attack. It has been ruled that when an ally you put into play with Sneak Attack becomes a hero (through Sword-thain for example), it doesn't actually return to your hand at the end of the phase. By the same logic, Prince Imrahil will stay in play as well!

Not only is this an incredibly cheap way of putting a very capable character out on the field, it also helps with your resource acceleration. He now collects a resource each round as well, and while we don't run any other cards, he can still pay for all our neutral cards like Gandalf, Resourceful and Ranger of Cardolan. He also provides the necessary resources for Robin Smallburrow's effect, which may not be that impactful, but it's still incredibly fun when you manage to pull it off.

Closing remarks

This deck is immensely fun to play, being both thematic and very strong. The varied ally line-up makes playing the deck a unique experience each time (and prevents multiple unique allies from clashing). It requires some serious decision making as well, which is always a pro for me personally. I'm not a big fan of autopilot decks and this certainly isn't one.

It's also very multiplayer friendly, containing very few popular unique cards. Other players are still completely free to play Light of Valinor, Steward of Gondor and many of the more often used heroes. The most likely conflict may be as a result of you playing Prince Imrahil.

When playing the deck, make sure to mulligan for some cards that benefit off of being in secrecy or some allies that can easily play from your hand. Peace, and Thought is especially good to have in your opening hand, as it sets you up nicely for the rest of the duel. If you can combine it with Fast Hitch and/or Timely Aid you should be off to an amazing start.

Other options

• Daeron's Runes: a very good choice for more consistency during the early game, and also helps getting rid of dead copies of Timely Aid, Dúnedain Pipe and Hobbit Cloak later in the game. The only problem is that it's hard to find room for it, and it hampers the effectiveness of Timely Aid and A Very Good Tale.
• Wingfoot/Steed of the North: allows Thurindir to both quest and attack, which improves the offensive capabilities of the deck somewhat. However, given the deck's heavy focus on allies, you're probably better off playing an ally with 2 .
• Scout Ahead: another amazing side quest that could work wonders in this deck if you feel the single Gather Information is not enough.