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Xanalor 5795
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Yes, this is a 44-card deck. Why? Because IMHO these are the only cards in the core set worth including in the deck. Just about everything else in the box (not including Tactics cards) is of situational use at best, and will just dilute the deck. if you're going with the constraint of a single Core set, you really shouldn't be handicapping yourself by forcing a 50-card deck. If you really want a 50-card minimum, get another Core set and add extra copies of Sneak Attack, Steward of Gondor, Northern Tracker, A Test of Will, Unexpected Courage and Henamarth Riversong, or start adding cards from expansion packs as you get them.
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Against some of the Mirkwood quests, one of my favorite tricks with this deck is using Stand and Fight to bring a Snowbourn Scout into play during the encounter phase... AFTER cards have been revealed from the encounter deck, but before you resolve the quest. For example, suppose a comes off the encounter deck... That's 5 threat you're facing, and could cause you to quest unsuccessfully. But if you bring a Scout into play you can immediately explore it (without having to wait for the travel phase) and not have that 5 threat count against you.
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Even after all the expansions, Sneak Attack/Gandalf is probably still the best combo in the game, giving you a big ally to quest, defend or attack and also letting you deal an extra 4 damage, reduce your threat or draw cards, all for just one measly leadership resource. Try to save the combo for when you really need it, like when you're facing down a big enemy or need a lot of willpower to blast through a difficult stage of a quest.
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Keep in mind that, due to one of the most nonsensical rulings in the history of card games, Stand and Fight does NOT work with Gandalf, since he does not belong to "any" sphere. (Seriously... that "hero can be any sphere" is supposed to be clarification text, not a rules override.) However, you can use S&F to bring #beorn](/card/01031) into play, and that's why Beorn's in the deck. Alternatively,kyou can Sneak Attack #beorn](/card/01031) in for an 8-strength attack, though generally Sneak is best saved for Gandalf. Note that you can pitch Beorn to Eowyn's special ability to get him into your discard pile.
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Speaking of Éowyn's ability, a nice little card-conserving combo is to pitch an attachment to her ability if you've got Erebor Hammersmith in hand. Then next turn you can play the Hammersmith and get that attachment back.
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Henamarth Riversong is the MVP of this deck when playing pure solo. But resist the temptation to exhaust him the moment he comes into play. Instead, wait until after the combat phase. Then you can get a sneak peek at next turn's encounter card without risking any ill effects. If you exhaust Henamarth at the start of the turn, the encounter card could be something that damages exhausted characters and then Henamarth would be toast. On rare occasions, I've used Henamarth to peek at the top card before dealing a shadow card, to know if I can take an attack undefended or not. But usually I save him for the end of the turn (before the refresh phase) so I can have perfect information (barring a surge or guarded card) for the next encounter phase.
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Steward of Gondor will usually go on Eowyn, since the more expensive cards in this deck are the Spirit ones. However, I have played it on Theodred if I have Faramir and several other leadership cards in my opening hand. In that case, you need to be sure to always quest with Theodred and Eowyn and give the resource to Eowyn so she can build up her pool.
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In most quests, on the first turn you'll quest with Théodred and Éowyn (giving the resource to Eowyn unless you have Steward of Gondor in hand), leaving Beravor back to defend or attack if need be. Then if you don't need Beravor for combat, you can (and should) exhaust her to draw two cards.
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Unexpected Courage goes on Beravor, always. With the errata you can only use her ability to draw cards once per turn, but that's fine. The Unexpected Courage allows you to also use her to quest (useful if you need her to grab an extra resource from Theodred) or in combat.
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Tempting as it might be to get that Northern Tracker into play ASAP, be wary of spending all your spirit resources if you have A Test of Will in hand. Usually it's better to wait an extra turn to accumulate resources so that if a nasty treachery comes up you're not left with an unplayable Test of Will.
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Don't play Hasty Stroke on any old shadow effect. Taking an extra damage on a defender or having to raise your threat isn't necessarily a big deal; save Hasty Stroke for when you really need it.
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Speaking of which, Hasty Stroke / Lore of Imladris can be a very useful combo. For example, let's say it's the first turn of Passage Through Mirkwood and you have no allies in play, but really want to take care of that Forest Spider ASAP. You can quest with Eowyn, ready her by traveling to Old Forest Road and have all your heroes at the ready, Engage the Spider and take its attack undefended. Since you have Hasty Stroke in hand, you can afford to do this -- if a shadow effect that would give the spider a bonus to its attack comes up, you can just cancel it. Drop the 3 damage on Beravor and then attack with all three heroes to kill the Spider. Actually, against many quests you don't even need to have the Lore of Imladris in hand to do this. The reason you put the damage on Beravor and not Theodred is because you're usually going to want to quest with Theo, making him susceptible to damage from Necromancer's Reach. Beravor, on the other hand, will usually stay back to attack or draw cards, so she's effectively immune to that treachery. Later quests can deal damage to characters whether they're exhausted or not, but nothing in the base set. Knowing the encounter deck is key.
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In most cases you'll want to use Dwarven Tomb to get back A Test of Will or The Galadrahim's Greeting. With Test of Will, make sure you do this BEFORE you reveal encounter cards, since one you reveal a card you cannot play Dwarven Tomb to get A Test of Will back before the When Revealed effect resolves. (Dwarven Tomb is an action, not a response, so you have to do it ahead of time.) By contrast, you can usually afford to wait until the engagement phase to play the Dwarven Tomb/Galadrahim's Greeting combo to lower your threat by six.
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And speaking of The Galadhrim's Greeting... Watch our for Treachery cards which nail you when you're up to 35 threat. In those cases, you'll want to play the Greeting before revealing cards since, once again, Greeting is an action, not a response. Most other times you can just save the Greeting for when you actually need the threat reduction, but also be aware of encounter sets that have effects that make you discard event cards. (In those cases, just play the Greeting as soon as you have the resources, unless you have A Test of Will to protect your hand.)
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Miner of the Iron Hills is your first and best defense against nasty conditions like Caught in a Web. When playing a quest that has conditions, try to hold on to your Miners until if and when these condition cards appear. Again, knowing the encounter deck is key; for example, there are no condition attachments in Journey Down the Anduin, so against that quest you might as well play the Miner as soon as you have the available resources. Also note that if need be a card like Caught in a Web can be canceled by A Test of Will, though only as it's revealed from the encounter deck.
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Since I've mentioned just about every card, I'll fill it out with a couple quick call-outs:
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For Gondor! is there for when you need that one big attack, against the likes of Chieftain Ufthak, Hill Troll or Spawn of Ungoliant.
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Faramir is awesome for questing; always keep him ready during the questing phase and only exhaust him for his ability AFTER revealing cards from the encounter deck, if you actually need the added willpower. Otherwise, he makes a very good defender if need be.
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Guard of the Citadel is a nice cheap, all-purpose ally. He can quest, attack, and take it on the chin as a chump defender if need be. There are better allies in future expansions, but if you're limited to the Core set, he's your best option for cheap utility.
- Forest Snare's use is obvious, though remember you have to take at least one attack from the enemy first, since the Snare can only be played during your planning phase. Chump blocking the Hill Troll with a Snowbourn Scout and taking a 4-threat increase isn't so bad as long as you have the resources to play the Snare on the following turn.
77 comments |
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May 02, 2016 |
May 03, 2016Mirroring Kirha's thoughts here. I don't specifically want to copy any deck but the commentary helps especially to identify synergies in the core set. Much love. |
May 20, 2016Thanks for sharing this deck !! |
Nov 14, 2016Really useful deck! Thanks so much for all the info on how to use it, like the other people I find it crucial. Thanks! |
Dec 07, 2016I am a VERY casual player (grad work takes a lot of my time), but I have been playing Journey Down the Anduin solo with just one core set...and I have lost many, many times. However, I recently used this deck with some additions (Elfhelm and Dunedain Watcher) to journey down the Anduin yet again. I finally succeeded. The commentary was helpful and the deck suggestions kickstarted my brain into thinking through deck building concepts. |
Dec 27, 2016Such a great help for new players, both for getting a working deck out of the core set and for the tips. I love the versatility of this deck - it manages to handle a lot of different situations with just the basics. I would love to see how this deck would evolve as more expansions were added to the available pool. Not jumping to present day and swapping all the super powerful stuff in, but slowly and using the first few expansions. |
May 02, 2017Thx for deck! i add Son of Arnor to combo with Forest Snare and Fortune or Fate to back one killed hero. |
Jun 05, 2017For the record, which card did you mean to say comes off the Encounter deck in the Snowbourn Scout discussion here: "For example, suppose a comes off the encounter deck... " |
Aug 10, 2017This is a great deck. I would say however that you are missing some great cards that could be included to bring you up to a 50-card deck. Firstly, Wandering Took - this is the single most cost effective ally (excluding Henamarth) in the core set. It costs the same as your favoured utility card: Guard of the Citadel and is more likely to survive an attack with its 1. It also serves well in multiplayer but as we're focusing on Solo play here, I'll not go into that. Secondly, Ever Vigilant has to be the most underrated card from the core set but it's potential is awesome. Readying effects are as important to winning a game as resources and card draw. I recently realised that Faramir's ability is repeatable, so for 1 resource, you can add 2 to each of your characters. Still need convincing, I often use Ever Vigilant in conjunction with Sneak Attack/Gandalf in the combat phase so that I can make use of both his awesome 4 and . That's a total of 8 stats for just 2 resources! For 1 more, you can draw 2 cards when the wizard then subsequently leaves play if you include Valiant Sacrifice. Remember, this only requires a character to leave play, so it is quite a consistent form of card draw. Coming back to readying effects though, I would also include Grim Resolve. It may be expensive but it is a game changer - think about Journey along the Anduin, you have snared the hill troll and spend a few rounds amassing allies before defeating it and moving onto the next quest card. You are going to need to quest aggressively to clear this stage before that extra encounter card each round starts to take its toll. You can commit everyone to the quest to complete it this turn but then you'll have nobody ready to face any enemies that might be arriving in the next quest stage - grim resolve removes any uncertainty from the equation. Obviously, the inclusion of these cards would change the shape of your deck somewhat but I would argue that it could work by playing SoG on Théodred and using his ability to give Éowyn the resources she needs. Sure, it might take a while longer to get Northern Tracker into play but it'll be easier to play Faramir and it'll ensure that you have enough resources to pay for For Gondor! when you need it. |
Aug 15, 2017
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Aug 15, 2017
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Aug 26, 2017@Arion, great analysis! |
Aug 26, 2017@corbs, thanks, I suspected as much but always good to get confirmation. |
Sep 18, 2017Hi there, deck is lovly. But I have to ask. How Beorn is going to discard pile. Since you wrote, 'stand and fight' for Beorn, but you wont be able anyway to play him earlier right? Except what, sneak attack? And he need to die in one attack. But you said that is optional, so I wonder what I am missing there. |
Sep 18, 2017Ok I got this by Eowyn. Now I cannot delete my comment. Shame will last forever. SOrry!! ;) |
Sep 23, 2017@Sarseth It's a really great deck. It took me a few plays to figure it out many of the combos. |
Feb 01, 2018Hi, please be patient... I’m new in the game. I have a simple question, it’s legal to get Beorn in this deck? I mean, this deck has 3 different sphere heroes, none is from Tactical sphere. So, how is possible to get Beorn there? He’s from Tactical sphere. |
Feb 01, 2018Hi |
Feb 01, 2018Hi |
Feb 01, 2018Yes Q: Can a player have cards in his player deck from a sphere that doesn’t match the sphere of one of his heroes? A: There is nothing in the rules that disallows this, although a player will need to find clever card interactions to make use of such cards. Happy playing! |
Mar 03, 2018
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Mar 03, 2018
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Mar 05, 2018
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Mar 09, 2018So far, I crushed Passage Through Mirkwood and Journey Along the Anduin back to back. One game each. This deck is tremendously powerful, at least in those 2 scenarios. For Anduin in particular, the train of cards never got too long, and I was able to put 12 progress markers on Stage 2 (out of 16 total) in one turn. Beravor's draw 2 cards ability is crazy useful. Now the question is how it will fare on Escape From Dol Guldur. Will it be possible using just this deck while making Beravor prisoner, or will it have to be played 2-handed? |
Mar 09, 2018I was able to beat the entire Khazad Dum and Angmar Awakened cycles, so this deck definitely holds up beyond the core set. You CAN beat Escape from Dol Goldur single-handed, though it may take several tries. (I won 1 out of 4 using Beravor as prisoner.) Works best with Beravor as prisoner, as you need the extra resource generation from Theodred and the willpower from Eowyn to have any hope of advancing. Although I feel Escape from Dol Goldur is poorly balanced for solo play. Here's a variant I recommend for a more enjoyable true solo experience on that particular scenario, that actually scales fairly to one player.
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Mar 09, 2018Just to clarify, when I beat Escape solo, I played by the normal rules (no resources from prisoner, all three objectives), so it can be done. Just saying it's more appropriately balanced if you tweak things. |
Mar 10, 2018
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Mar 10, 2018
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Mar 11, 2018I love your deck, for me that starts and thank you for the additions of information, I play better and I understand better. I apologize in advance for the rest. Eh! critics of the last scenario of the basic box, Ok, it is almost impossible but if we add cards and an easy home-made mode, maybe it will be "fingers in the nose", so stop taunting and you can test to succeed. In my case, this game is interesting for the deck construction if a quest is too easy it does not interest me and very quickly. So, I will advance on other quests and build decks before killing me several times before finally succeeding this famous quest ... The game is good if it's too easy it is not much ... |
Mar 24, 2018
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Apr 02, 2018Newbie here. Tried the deck against Anduin. Draw three under-20 enemies in the first two round, no allies in my hand. Am I just unlucky or is there a way to deal with this situation (two or more 2-attack enemies engaged) with only these 3 heroes? |
Apr 03, 2018
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Apr 07, 2018
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Apr 07, 2018
Note that it requires 2 core sets, which you'll need another core set anyway at some point. |
Apr 08, 2018
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Jul 08, 2018Incredible; I’ve just used this deck, with |
Apr 03, 2020I wrote a quest log of my experience playing this (in 44 and 50 card versions) against Escape from Dol Goldur - definitely possible, definitely still very brutal. |
May 16, 2020Started playing recently and finding it difficult as I’m not used to deck building games. This was really helpful. Thank you. |
Aug 03, 2020
Single Solo deck (similar to this deck) beating this quest. |
Oct 24, 2020This deck isn't even legal. |
Oct 24, 2020my brother added 6 cards and played flies and spiders and lost like 15 times. |
Nov 29, 2020Thank You for sharing this deck! I was finally able to beat the Anduin quest on my first run with this deck after many failed attempts. Cheers |
Jan 02, 2021Someone recommended this deck to me when I was despairing of being able to win with just one sphere from the core deck (having only acquired the game recently). It has opened my eyes to what the game is really about and made it much more enjoyable! Looking forward to having a go at building my own now. Thanks so much! |
Jan 13, 2021Thanks for this, the explanations are very helpful! |
Feb 03, 2021youtu.be video I made using this deck to help new players to the game. Enjoy! |
Feb 07, 2021I have no idea how this is hall of fame...I used it and failed all four times in passage through Mirkwood. |
Feb 07, 2021@sp1cychick3n - you must be doing something wrong/had terrible luck. The deck is the best I have used from the core set. Having said that, don't expect to beat Dil Goldur with it - nothing out of the core box can defeat that! |
Feb 07, 2021
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Feb 07, 2021
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Feb 08, 2021
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Feb 08, 2021
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Feb 08, 2021
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Feb 15, 2021it is a good deck. Many have said it and I'm just adding to it. Added a few cards to get it "legal". I mean I play the game solo so, who cares if it's legal in that sense. Some people even add a forth Gandalf and I don't see that as cheating. Solo is difficult as it is. Anyway. Added Celebrain's Stone to make Eowyn even better at questing, sometimes she's the only one needed with 6 willpower (7 with discard). Also two Wandering Tooks added because of the slightly better stats compared to Guard of the Citadel. Son of Arnor makes sense to combo with snare, but a bit pricey combo. But fills its role during "Journey down the anduin" to keep the staging area under control. Lastly added another For Gondor! to make it complete. You often draw 3-4 cards (Beravor + Gleowin each turn and with steward of Gondor you'll have a lot of resources. So that's also a reason to play cards like Celebrain's Stone and Wandering Tooks. You will go thorugh your deck with quite the speed, so it feels good to have other options to either fill the board or boost. This works for me quite well. Playing through the whole cycle and have no issues so far. There are a few steps where you can make errors, so even if the deck is good you can't make too many mistakes. So the guides above helped out a lot. I've been looking to get another core set and also adding the cards from the APs in the cycle. There are some fine cards there to "complete" it even more. Last note, if you really want to make it legal, just follow the added cards in the guide as proxies. |
Apr 22, 2021Great deck. Thanks a lot! |
Jul 20, 2021Hello. Thank you for this deck. Really appreciated the deck. It helped me get an very easy success on the quest "Journey Along the Anduin" (Solo Deck). I will test it on the following quests ie "Conflict at the Carrock" = the last quest available (with my collection) except "Escape from Dol Guldur" that is difficult with Solo Deck. I added some cards to reach 50 cards & more with 55 cards. |
Aug 21, 2021You wrote up in BGG about making two decks from the core set. Can you you provide the OCTGN download for those? Did I maybe miss a write up here about them? Great work!!! |
Oct 18, 2021How do you use Wandering Took action in solo play? As I don't have anyone to pass it onto, I have been exhausting it to reduce my threat by three, then refreshing it at the end ready for the next round, but am not sure if this is correct, as I'm fairly new to the game. Thank you!! |
Oct 18, 2021
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Nov 29, 2021Hello everyone! I ask which non-core cards you would add or change to improve or complete the deck. Thanks and congratulations to Xanalor for creating this deck |
Jan 10, 2022I love this! Any chance or a rebuild of this deck using the new revised Core Set (2022)? I’ll be playing through the new campaign with my wife and would love to see a few killer starting decks using the new set, for all of us newcomers! |
Feb 20, 2022Either this deck has super powers or I magically improved my skills since the last time I played. I'm consistently winning the first and second core scenarios just as you said. Thanks for the great deck! |
Apr 18, 2022You said:@…and not have that 5 threat count against you…” Why not? That location still is in the staging area and its threat of 5 still counts”. That progress token doesn’t change that |
Apr 18, 2022
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Apr 18, 2022
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May 23, 2022Most helpful content I’ve seen as a new player. Thank you! |
Dec 01, 2022I really appreciate all the notes that go along with this deck explaining how you play! Kudos! |
Apr 09, 2023Fantastic deck, I just beat Escape from Dol Guldur with it! The key was scooping until I got a decent hand (w/ steward of gondor and northern tracker), not terrible starting encounter cards, and beravor as the prisoner. Took about 30 minutes of shuffling to get to that point, haha. |
Aug 30, 2023Amazing deck topped up by your excellent suggestions. I'm new to this game and I have learnt a lot thanks to you and your great deck. |
Sep 15, 2023I’m new to the game and nearly gave up. In fact I shelved it after my madden games and finding it so so brutal. All that changed after finding this deck and your description on how to use it. I’ve just played through the 5 scenarios of core/Mirkwood (Dol Gildur) and learned so much on how the game works and how to make the deck work for me. Thanks for the description on your deck it really helped. |
Feb 19, 2024Just beat The Fords of Isen with this deck. |
May 14, 2024What a beast. Unstoppable. |
Oct 18, 2024This deck is useless if it has 44 cards. I don't know what it's doing in the Hall of Fame. By the rules, it can't be played because the minimum is 50! What's next? A 20-card deck because they're the best ones? |
Oct 18, 2024Maxlum is a badass, watch out |
Oct 18, 2024
When the Revised Core Set was released, the rules were changed to up the minimum to 50, BUT that set also includes 3 of every card, so you can just follow the guidelines in my very first note up top and add those 6 extra cards to get to 50. |
Oct 18, 2024Lol Maxlum had so much critisism for a 8+ year old deck posting and just had to let everyone know how he felt about it. All the while he was horribly wrong. Good stuff. |
Oct 18, 2024ooof typo! crticism*** Sorry it was bothering me. |
Oct 26, 2024I'm slowly easing myself back into the game and this looks like a great deck to start with to familiarise myself with the rules again! |
Wow. The deck itself is exceedingly helpful, but the commentary helps me a great deal... I've always had trouble coming up with good combinations, and your details help me understand WHY it works, not just which cards to put together.