Book Club: Three is Company 1.0

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• 1.0

"The hobbits sat in shadow by the wayside. Before long the Elves came down the lane towards the valley. They passed slowly, and the hobbits could see the starlight glimmering on their hair and in their eyes. They bore no lights, yet as they walked a shimmer, like the light of the moon above the rim of the hills before it rises, seemed to fall about their feet. They were now silent, and as the last Elf passed he turned and looked towards the hobbits and laughed." - The Fellowship of the Ring

I've decided to build a series of decks that encapsulate a specific point in the Lord of the Rings books, so they're essentially broad "theme" decks and the cards within are selected primarily for 'thematic fit' than their 'raw power'. As such these decks probably won't work against every quest, and should probably always be played as part of a two-handed/two player setup, so plan accordingly.

This deck represents Frodo and Sam's meeting with Gildor Inglorion on the road to Bree.

Opening Hand:

This deck is primarily a questing deck to be used alongside a deck that's more combat focused, however we have enough threat control that we can make decent use of Sam Gamgee as a defender, and if we get Light of Valinor nice and early we can use Dúnedain Mark to make a competent attacker of Gildor Inglorion

We're using the normal Pipe-suite for our threat control and card draw so seeing pieces of that engine early, Bilbo Baggins, Hobbit Pipe and a threat reduction event will give you some breathing room.

At the Table:

This is a fairly straight forward questing deck, that can put out a respectable 8 Willpower on the first turn from just our heroes, while still having some combat protection either by readying Sam Gamgee or by soaking an undefended attack with Frodo Baggins ability. If you've managed to get Light of Valinor on Gildor in the first turn, he and Samwise can muster a decent 4 attack to handle some of the more minor enemies the encounter deck might through at you.

Errand-rider can throw some spare Leadership resources to Frodo, as the deck has a higher spirit cost curve than leadership, especially if you need a solid attacker in Glorfindel

Gather Information can help in a bunch of areas, fishing out your second copy of Friend of Friends to give you some great stat boosts to Frodo Baggins and Sam Gamgee, or pull up Magic Ring to help with resources for Frodo.

All in all it's not an especially complicated list to pilot, your primary focus is questing, you have a few options for the combat phase but for the most part your partner deck should be set up to handle the majority of that. It doesn't put out the staggering amount of willpower that some questing decks are capable of lately, but if you're looking for some theme. If you're playing the Saga campaigns, you can sub out Frodo Baggins for Merry and make a little room for some Hobbit Pony even though it's Pippin that meets the elves with Frodo and Sam, no one's going to expect you to play Spirit Pippin in Frodo's place

Sideboard:

We've got a couple of suitable thematic pieces in the sideboard you can sub in, especially if your partner deck has combat all tied up, dropping the Dúnedain Mark for Curious Brandybuck (to represent Pippin) and maybe drop Errand-rider for the songs as an alternative way of resource smoothing.

Campfire Tales is a great card to make room for in a multiplayer game, especially for 3 or more players and represents Gildor's fireside chat with the hobbits, about Bilbo Baggins, the Wandering Companies and naming Frodo 'Elf-Friend'