Keeping Count ! 1.0

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Have you considered including Proud Hunters for resource generation?

@Alonewolf87As far as I can remember, the main issue with this deck was not resource generation (deck is rather cheap) but card draw. If I I had to add economy, I’d rather add 1 copy of Steward of Gondor, the main resource drain being Gimli’s ability.

But thanks for the tip !

I'm not sure I like Elven Spear (especially not given your latest comment). I'd pick something that boosts your attack consistently and without putting preassure on your card-draw. I'd go with 2x Mirkwood Long-knife or Dagger of Westernesse depending on your preference.

I'd also put in 3x Raiment of War to help you trigger Foe-hammer more consistently. They can boost Gimli both in defence and when he readies and strikes back, and a second copy can be played on Aragorn in a pinch (even if it conflicts with Celebrían's Stone). I'd take out Ring Mail and the 2x Westfold Horse-breeder to make the room for it, and then swap the Armored Destrier for Unexpected Courage to balance the use of restricted slots (and add flexibility). As a bonus this will add consistency to your Sterner than Steel.

For even more consistency ont the Sterner than Steel you can consided a second copy of Hauberk of Mail. It can allways be placed on Aragorn if you pull both. And a third copy of Ancient Mathom seems obvious if you lack card draw.

-To make room for those I'd take out Fili Kili and Erestor as I think they're over-priced.

If you feel this leaves you with to little ally-support to willpower or attack i'd still take them out, and add something more cost-efficient like Galadriel's Handmaiden, West Road Traveller, Ceorl, Galadhon Archer or Greenwood Archer. Ceorl is my favorite of those for this deck (but unique so perhaps just 1 copy).

Ethir Swordsman should off course be on the list for possible ally-inclusions

@Goggen Thanks for the tips! Armored Destrier is restricted, so I don’t like Raiment of War on Gimli. Plus Gimli doesn’t need to strike back until late in the game (with Keeping Count boosting him). Speaking of Armored Destrier, I think it is a beast of a card (no pun intended), I’d be very reluctant to let it go for Unexpected Courage, and is a repeatable cancel contrary to Sterner than Steel.

If I remember correctly, resources are most precious in this deck, so Mirkwood Long-knife was ruled out after several iterations. I could however see Unexpected Courage in the deck, because Steed of the North cannot ready Aragorn unconditionally.

Fili and Kili have a lot of hit points, it helped a lot against archery and direct damage in the Harad cycle, plus they each get +1 from Sword that was Broken. I like Erestor a lot in an Elven-light deck, and he’s a one-off who can quest in the sphere.

Ancient Mathom is great, but sometimes there is no active location when you need to play it (I mostly play solo, so that can happen quite a bit). But if there’s a lack of card draw, sure, I’d include another copy.

Thanks for the comments, keep ’em coming!

@Goggen Regarding Elven Spear, I chose the greater upside over the guarantee of Dagger of Westernesse. The discarding is actually a plus if you have Elven-light in hand. Plus its zero cost is quite welcome in situations where you only need it for Foe-hammer, as Legolas actually hits strong enough to kill many enemies without triggering it.

Honestly it's a bit hard figuring out what you really want with this deck.

You initially asked for way's to make it more consistent, but seem to be arguing in favor of cards that "on occation are better".

Your comment asks for card-draw, but at the same time you have cards to spare for Elven Spear?

You also find resrources precious (so much that you opt out of nice spirit-cards like Mirkwood Long-knife), but at the same time you have enough resources to pay for elven light multiple times within the same round AND pay for the cards you draw? If not I still don't see Erestor in this deck (nor that spear).

Without play-testing myself I'm kind of dependant on your input if my suggestions are to make much sense... but I'm allready invest now so I'll take a stab at it:

I'm aware that Armored Destrier is restricted. That's the very reason why i pitched Raiment of War in combo with Unexpected Courage. I'd also imagined that the bonus to hitting back wasn't a big thing (just an extra cherry), but I would give it a second look all the same. With a starting value of only 2 on Gimli my main point was it's defencive qualities as well as the above mentioned Foe-hammer. Here we off course touch on the core of the matter. My experience is that only 3 weapons total is not consistent with Foe-hammer (which seems to fit with your own comment that the deck lacked consistency and draw), but if you find it consistent enough during testing you can ignore that particular suggestion.

Yeah Fili and Kili have hit-points, as all cards have some kind of advantage, but I still don't think that's worth the cost on it's own (and if you suffer with archery I'm even more pussled at your rejection of Raiment of War). They are off course great with Sword that was Broken, but you only have two copies of that. For me this is a classic "on occation better" that goes against consistency.

If you don't want to add more armor I would drop the Sterner than Steel completly. You don't have to add more armor, but I would say it's one or the other. With only 2 copies of armor I'd say it's likely unplayable when you draw it, and the probability of it being playable AND more usfull than another card you could have draw instead is even less. Off course "there will be occasions", but again we touch on consistency.

There will as you say be occations without a location for Ancient Mathom (so you can argue against a third copy), but it's consistently usefull which I sorta tought was the issue here (and often if you've cleared all locations you have sufficient controll that it doesn't hurt you much to wait a round or two for your card-draw). Again there will be occasions where that is not the case....

One final note: If you're not removing Ring Mail to make room for Raiment of War I'd still swap it with Raven-winged Helm. It's not restricted and opens Gimli for 2x Destriers AND works with archery.

I'd also add Halfast Gamgee to my list of possible ally-inclusions if you take something out (perhaps even as my favorite).

@Goggen

-> Your comment asks for card-draw, but at the same time you have cards to spare for Elven Spear?

It's not contradictory : Elven Spear is used to fulfill Foe-hammer's condition first. Hopefully you draw enough before the stronger enemies show up.

-> You also find resrources precious (so much that you opt out of nice spirit-cards like Mirkwood Long-knife), but at the same time you have enough resources to pay for elven light multiple times within the same round AND pay for the cards you draw?

I pay for Elven-light with resources, and pay the cards from other spheres I draw. The problem is that until Celebrían's Stone is in play, Elven-light eats the resources, and I have to juggle with other cards such as Envoy of Pelargir to distribute the resources around.

I really think Fili and Kili are a great package regardless of Sword that was Broken, if you can trigger their ability. 1 resource for a 1-1-1-1 stat line is a good deal for any sphere, but they do more for 1 more resource : they add a card draw, more hit points and one more (reliable) chump blocker.

Dropping Sterner than Steel makes sense. I included it because there is always that one nasty shadow effect that would go through Armored Destrier. I'm always happy when I see it, but I wouldn't be happy if I had more than 1 because I lack armor, as you noted. It's the kind of one-off that saves you games. It's unreliable, but sometimes you need that X factor to get you over the finish line. Now that I think of it, Hasty Stroke probably makes more sense.

-> and often if you've cleared all locations you have sufficient controll that it doesn't hurt you much to wait a round or two for your card-draw

It's tight. If you don't have locations, then you probably have enemies which the Gimli/Legolas combo needs resources and card draw ASAP to deal with. If you don't have that card draw, board build-up stops to a crawl. That's a real problem with this deck.

Raven-winged Helm is quite good, but there's a greater need for this +1 . I wouldn't put archery on the main defender. If I have Raven-winged Helm, I would use it as a form of +1 , but then it's a one-use-only +1 .

As you noted, only 3 weapons is not reliable for Foe-hammer. I could add more weapons but the problem now is : which cards do I take out ? Difficult balancing act, because of the hero lineup.

@Goggen We didn't mention it, but Sneak Attack Gandalf could solve a lot of problems, but it would be nice not to rely on this overused combo.

-> It's not contradictory : Elven Spear is used to fulfill Foe-hammer's condition first. Hopefully you draw enough before the stronger enemies show up.

It's this second "hopefully" I find contrary to your desire for even more card-draw. The first is fair enough, but perhaps a bit week imo. Using an entire card purely to trigger Foe-hammer will in itself dig in to your net-card total. I would prefer something that add's strength to your board-state (and preferably from the start). I think i'd prefer the Dagger of Westernesse.

-> I pay for Elven-light with resources, and pay the cards from other spheres I draw. The problem is that until Celebrían's Stone is in play, Elven-light eats the resources, and I have to juggle with other cards such as Envoy of Pelargir to distribute the resources around.

I get that you'll mostly pay for elven light with , and mostly for the cards drawn from other spheres, but that still doesn't explain how you plan on paying for elven light multiple times, and without that you don't need Erestor (or at least very rarely /unconsistently have use of him).

-> It's tight. If you don't have locations, then you probably have enemies which the Gimli/Legolas combo needs resources and card draw ASAP to deal with. If you don't have that card draw, board build-up stops to a crawl. That's a real problem with this deck.

I get that, but Ancient Mathom isn't displacing any other card-draw possibilities that would be better in those situations. And if you have 1x location and multiple enemies the opposite is true, so I'd add the third copy.

-> Raven-winged Helm i...

Yes it will often be a one-use +1 , compared to a constant +1, but you're not that often doing multiple defences and even fewer times where none of them have any margin on the to ratio (and if that isn't the case we come back to me not understanding why you're rejecting the defensive qualities on Raiment of War), so i'd say the flexibility it add's is worth it - but off course it is a trade-off. If you're taking out Sterner than Steel I would now modify my suggestion to pitching Honour Guard in place of the mail.

-> As you noted, only 3 weapons is not reliable for Foe-hammer. I could add more weapons but the problem now is : which cards do I take out ? Difficult balancing act, because of the hero lineup.

Well yeah! That's why I'm arguing against Fili, Kili and Erestor. Not because they're bad, but because it's kill-your-darlings time.

@Goggen

-> Using an entire card purely to trigger Foe-hammer will in itself dig in to your net-card total.

It’s not purely used to trigger Foe-hammer. I’m just saying it’s very convenient in the early game to have a 0-cost weapon for this effect. As I said, in the early game, you’re only forced to engage the weaker enemies (most of the time) which Legolas can usually one-shot. There’s a ramp-up in enemy strength that gives you a bit of leeway to set up your draw engine. Once the engine is going, Elven Spear pays off.

-> I get that you'll mostly pay for elven light with , and mostly for the cards drawn from other spheres, but that still doesn't explain how you plan on paying for elven light multiple times, and without that you don't need Erestor (or at least very rarely /unconsistently have use of him).

Moving resources through card effects, or Celebrían's Stone. Erestor has been quite helpful activating Elven-light. At the very least, he’s been very good as a win-more/keep-ahead card.

-> I get that, but Ancient Mathom isn't displacing any other card-draw possibilities that would be better in those situations. And if you have 1x location and multiple enemies the opposite is true, so I'd add the third copy.

I’ve had unpleasant situations with 2 or 3 Ancient Mathom and no way to play them, so it’s the first drawing card that I sack when I need slots.

-> Yes it will often be a one-use +1 , compared to a constant +1, but you're not that often doing multiple defences and even fewer times where none of them have any margin on the to ratio

I’d have to disagree. Having played through the entire Harad cycle with this deck, I can guarantee Gimli NEEDS to defend multiple times with consistently high defense.

-> If you're taking out Sterner than Steel I would now modify my suggestion to pitching Honour Guard in place of the mail.

This one’s a great suggestion! I recently learned to love Honour Guard, and he would fit there, as the resources are usually available.

-> Well yeah! That's why I'm arguing against Fili, Kili and Erestor. Not because they're bad, but because it's kill-your-darlings time.

At some point, you need bodies to chump block or quest with the Sword that was Broken bonus, and there are only 14 allies, so I would very reluctantly cut into that. Fili and Kili are a great package (unless both are in your hand). Erestor is a one-off in the right sphere, great for card draw, quests for 2 to 3 , and has hit points. He’s not a problem in this deck, IMO.