Escort to Rivendell 1.0

• Versions
• 1.0

Harad is a rather fun archetype, with all the discarding for board advantage stuff that they do. So of course they pair well with Noldor Elves who also work with the discard theme. Combine this with Secrecy, and we have a deck that can build up its board state and quest while avoiding most enemies. This deck will do best when it is partnered with a deck that handles combat, while it provides the questing and some healing, as well as support from the awesome unique Harad allies. Thematically, I imagine Kahliel and some representatives from his tribe travelling to Rivendell to meet Elrond to provide him some tidings about Mordor and the East.

The Opening Plays

Ideally, Resourceful shows up in the opening hand, but it is still possible to skate by without it. There is also Captain's Wisdom (works well with Greenwood Archer), Gaining Strength, Timely Aid, and Magic Ring to help jumpstart the board state. Resourceful could also be played in later rounds if we are lucky to draw it with a Vanish from Sight. Necklace of Girion is another cheap option for resource acceleration. After getting some resource acceleration out of our starting hand, it is best to maximize the allies we can put into play before Erestor forces us to discard our hand. Southron Refugee is a key ally, since it makes it easier to play those 5-cost Harad allies we love so much.

Strategy

This deck feels somewhat like a slot machine, as you can't predict what Erestor will have you draw, so you just make the most out of what you draw each round. Thankfully, with all the resource acceleration in this deck, it is common to play the important allies without missing much. The opportunity to play Kahliel's Headdress should seldom be passed up, since it provides a crucial willpower boost to the Harad characters and lets us shuffle any that were missed/discarded back into the deck. Protector of Lórien is a way to get something out of the excess cards that would just be discarded at the end of the round, and it is a great play on Kahliel for those times when extra willpower or defense is needed. Faramir is definitely nice for boosting our questing army, but it's still possible to have plenty of willpower without getting him. Ioreth and Imladris Caregiver are the cheap options to mitigate damage to our characters, especially for keeping our heroes or Jubayr alive.

This deck will generally play it safe on the combat side until the mid to late game where it could fight some enemies on its own or merely assist the combat deck from afar with ranged and sentinel characters. All in all, it feels like one of the most successful secrecy decks that I have built, because it often overcomes the slow start that comes with having only 2 heroes. It's nice once in a while to experience something as unique as a Harad Secrecy Discard deck, and I love that our game has the space for creativity in deck-building.