Keep Your VD a Secret 1.0

• Versions
• 1.0

Funny name for a deck that does funny things to the encounter deck.

I just wanted to know how low I could get my threat to be able to ensure discounts on Secrecy cards and the Victory Display nonsense. This current list is definitely more multiplayer oriented, but I imagine you could adapt it to solo, if you were so inclined.

I'm honestly not a huge fan of Rossiel unless the quest is just loaded with enemies and locations that share Traits, and even then, I've slotted her into a deck a grand total of once, for a single game.

Deckbuilding

It all started with the hero lineup. I sometimes forget that Mirlonde exists, but I got to thinking about her after I finally got my copy of Dungeons of Cirith Gurat with Folco Boffin. Prett nuts cost reduction on setup with Pippin on board.

Base cost: Folco 7, Mirlonde 8, Pippin 6 = 21.

Mirlonde reduction for 3 heroes (-3) = 18

Folco reduction for 2 Hobbit heroes ( -2) = 16

16?!

I'll take that any day of the week to have a couple extra turns of insurance to draw into Resourceful and a couple of the other Secrecy / Victory Display chicanery. Then, you can pop Folco in an emergency. In short, though, the heroes offer absolutely nothing in terms of in-game mechanics other than the conditional draw from Pippin (which you hopefully never trigger) and the threat pressure valve of Folco...It's just 6 or 5. That's it.

Basically, the deck has tech to deal with the following:

• Removing stuff from the encounter deck with the standard VD suite (Leave No Trace, None Return, and Out of the Wild)
• Scrying and discard from the encounter deck (Firyal, Henamarth Riversong, Ithilien Lookout, Gildor's Counsel, Risk Some Light, and Scout Ahead)
• Enemy Management (Lookout, Mablung, Advance Warning, Ranger Spikes)

It contributes a decent amount of and has a small healing package with Ioreth and Warden of Healing.

Gameplay

Key cards to see early are Resourceful and Out of the Wild to jumpstart your own econ and to get a problem card out of the encounter deck and into the VD early.

This thing has no business in combat, with absolutely no strategy for or , so I suppose the opening consideration is whether or not to put the thing on the table in the first place...

Firyal is also a clutch card to see, along with any draw.

Honestly, other than that, it kinda just plays itself...two copies of the Scroll of Isildur so you can potentially get multiple uses out of the bomb cards in key spots like Gildor's Counsel and Advance Warning, or if you're in a pinch, to replay a draw event in order to dig.

Other Considerations

I'd consider maybe having a pre-made location control package in your sideboard to swap in -- I don't generally sideboard in LotR, as I build for scenarios when playing, for the most part, unless I'm experimenting with certain mechanics. One could consider Distant Stars and more copies of Thror's Map, but I dunno; it's fun the way it is, for me.