Ride them Down (with Hobbit Ponies) 1.0

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• 1.0

i would add (at least) 1 emery and 1 swordthain (arwen, bilbo,sam, and if u take, emery as possible targets. additionally to the res it reduces the map to 0 ).

@doomguard I did think about adding Sword-thain but you really don't need the additional resource once you have 1 or 2 copies of Resourceful out. Not sure about Emery. Don't really see how she fits as you could end up discarding Arwen Undómiel or Bofur, or one of the crucial attachments. Also, I was trying to keep it fairly thematic as a hobbit deck (I originally had Wandering Took but went with Westfold Horse-breeder in the end to get the ponies out quicker).

if u discard a value cards with emery, u can use the dwarven tomb. or, if it is a event, the map helps (perhaps one more).

"thematic" o.k. if u say so. i think its not very "thematic" to charge down a hilltroll with hobbits ;) but if it fits your scheme, its yours. to have emery early in the game can help to defend early enemys.

with more res (and perhaps more maps) u can play multiple smoke rings in a power-round and ride down perhaps more than one enemy and quest enough to finish.

Sword Thain is definitely not good resource acceleration unless you can somehow cheat it in (Vilya, Bartering, Well-Equipped, and so on). Otherwise it takes 4 turns just to pay itself back, which is awful value.

It's really only worth playing otherwise if you want to do something with the ally that requires them to be a hero, or you want to do something that scales with the number of heroes you control (Merry's attack bonus, or Caldara).

@Aurionsorry, I replied to a comment on your deck without actually responding to your deck itself. I like it a lot! It's very similar to a hobbit deck I posted not too long ago - I love the spirit hobbit archetype.

I'm just curious - what do you plan on using the ponies for, other than insurance against direct damage?

@Onidsenswordthain helps, to make the map cheaper, u forget that in your list. with only one map it is not worth it, i agree, but i would use more maps. and, in addition: there is one hero more, to put undefendet damage to it. that could either be nice to rescue a valuable hero or could be nice to use bilbo more often. most times bilbo go questing and with swordthain u can sacrifice him to play him again for onother pipe if u have to few of them.

@Onidsen Thanks! I think in my head I needed mounted heroes to make use of Ride Them Down. It really is just to keep the hobbit heroes out of harm's way though as they are pretty flimsy. They also get a boost from my Elfhelm deck in multiplayer. Are there any other cards that boost for heroes with mounts? The only one I can think of requires the Rohan trait I believe. I suppose you could use Elevenses for more threat reduction but it puts the hobbits at risk and I don't think it's really necessary as you generally end up with very low threat as it is.

@doomguard even with 3 maps, I don't think Sword-thain fits as you'd need to include 3 copies or a way of searching for it to get it out soon enough to make an impact. The only purpose it would serve in this deck is resource acceleration as I don't have any attachments that would benefit the new hero. I suppose you could put a pony on Sam Gamgee but that would leave another hero vulnerable to direct damage. I would rather see him leave play as there's another copy and he can be replaced very cheaply with Frodo Baggins in play. Bilbo, I use as a chump blocker to get further use of his ability and Bofur spends most of his time in hand. That only leaves Arwen but what would be the point other than for Unexpected Courage? Don't get me wrong, it's a great card and I use it a lot but I just don't think it's a must here.

The boost from Elfhelm is definitely worthwhile, and the trick with Elevenses is really fun - I actually prefer it to Smoke Rings, due to cost, although I prefer a few more Hobbit characters in the deck to make that work right. For me, a lot of the threat reduction I play with this style of deck is more for the card draw with Hobbit Pipe rather than actually lowering the threat. I found it worth a look to put Song of Eärendil into the deck so that the superfluous threat reduction can help out other decks while still drawing cards. I still wonder if I can't find a way to make Fireside Song work in that deck.

Other than Elfhelm and Charge of the Rohirrim, there aren't any cards that interact with Mount attachments in play.

@doomguard, those are certainly true statements. I still don't think that either of them actually makes it worth putting Sword-thain in the deck. If I want to play a second copy of Bilbo Baggins, I just use him as a chump blocker or kill him with Archery or other direct damage. In fact, if he had Sword-thain on him, I would be even less likely to take undefended attacks on him, because of how much was invested there. The Map trick is actually worthwhile, but even still, I don't see that you would get enough benefit from it fast enough to be worth the 4 resources you are investing. Without attachment recursion, you are at most playing 3 maps, and you only get the reduced cost if you saved up and played Sword-Thain before you play them. In the most ideal circumstances, you could break even on round 2, but the vast majority of the time for this deck, Sword-thain will be something you never play because you'd rather be playing something that actually improves your board state.

with the map its is

1 possible to play that chosen event 2 times if u manage to draw your deck

2 with dwarventomb u could get back a map and use more than 3 and can smoke very much more in the engame

3 IF you have a bilbo with swordthain another in your hand and only 1 pipe, you can choose, what u want to do.

but you are right, there is not enough carddraw to draw the hole deck.

at all, its more a long-term-deck (need many rounds to win) to be shure if a swordthain its worth it, i have to play few times with, and without to figure it out.

This deck is bleedin' lethal. Awesome, awesome work here fella.

Thanks @scotblue. I've had some great fun with it so far. It's not going to beat every scenario but will definitely surprise you.

Just revisited this deck for the first time in a couple of years and it is still fire. Just beat Escape from Dol Guldur at the first attempt!

The idea of hobbit cavalry riding down a bunch of orcs is chef's kiss

Interesting.

Does your threat ever become an issue? You have Merry and a few events, but it seems like your threat could go up quite a lot between your other two heroes and ally Gandalf. Also, not sure if you own it, but the Shirefolk could be a good include.

@GreenWizardYou're kidding right? In the last 10 or so playthroughs, I don't remember my threat going over 20. Merry tends to be enough to counter Gandalf's additional threat increases and there's enough threat reduction via The Galadhrim's Greeting and Smoke Rings that threat is never an issue. I spend most of the time with a threat of less than 10, so you very rarely use Pippin's ability except for those enemies with an ultra low engagement cost. If the enemy isn't too nasty, I'm inclined to defend with Frodo rather than use Pippin's ability.

@GreenWizardIn solo, I would definitely recommend The Shirefolk, though I prefer The Galadhrim's Greeting in multiplayer as it gives you more options. I'll publish my latest fellowship in a min

@GreenWizard Here you go ringsdb.com

@Aurion You're threat rarely goes over twenty? Wow! You must be doing something right. One of my favorite decks is the same hero lineup with OHaUH Gandalf, and it struggles with threat. I can't ever seem to get below 35-40, even with Merry. Sorry if my comment above was offensive to you, I didn't mean it to sound that way. Overall, great deck. I'll probably add a couple of your ideas to my deck, if that's alright with you. :)

Your deck is probably also a lot better than mine. (I'm not a very good deck builder, and from what I've see you are a great one!)