Pay the Troll Toll 1.0

• Versions
• 1.0

That Grimbeorn is so hot right now!

This is my take on a solo deck for Grimbeorn. At first, I was looking at running him with two Spirit heroes, but then I realized Spirit/Tactics is my most used solo combination, to the point that it has become a bit of a crutch, so I decided to mix things up a bit instead. Instead, I've brought in Leadership, which will help with both resource generation and a balance of questing and combat. For the other two heroes, I've chosen Sam mainly for his 3 willpower and Balin because he has relatively low threat and can deal with pesky shadow effects that might ruin my combat plans with Grimbeorn.

Here are the piloting instructions:

1) Mulligan for Steward of Gondor. Not groundbreaking advice, but absolutely true in this deck. If you don't get Steward right away, then look for card draw to try to dig for it.

2) In terms of card draw, Balin's presence is handy because it gives access to King Under the Mountain. The old faithful combo of Sneak Attack/Gandalf also can provide valuable card draw. Against scenarios with a moderate-to-slow pace, I usually get close to drawing through my deck.

3) Grimbeorn is the primary defender (and attacker). The Dunedain Marks and Warnings go on him, as well a copy of Hauberk of Mail. He usually gets up to around 6 or even 7 defense. The 3 copies of Weather Hills Watchman help to find the signals more quickly, as do the 3 copies of Galadriel. You can also put a Bow of Yew on Grimbeorn to help him deal even more damage. Don't forget to put an Armored Destrier on him for even more action advantage.

4) The remaining Hauberks of Mail can go on the Guardian of Esgaroth, as can the Bows of Yew. It's not a key part of the deck or anything, but gives a place to go for the extra attachments, and makes the Guardian great value for the cost.

5) There aren't many Tactics cards here, so eventually Grimbeorn will have extra resources. Thus, the Song of Kings.

6) Faramir is the key component for questing once you get to the middle and late game so make sure you get him out by that point.

Overall, I have found this to be a solid and well-balanced deck that can handle both questing and combat. As with most decks, the shakiest time for this build is in the early game, but Grimbeorn does a lot to cover for any weaknesses at that point. Once the deck gets rolling, it is fairly resilient and most of the allies can soak up quite a bit of archery/direct damage, which is nice as well. The main obstacle in the early game would be questing, as you pretty much start out with 5 willpower between Balin and Sam. That's mainly an issue for scenarios that demand high willpower quickly. Other than that, though, I've found this to be a fun build!