Fine Guthwine 1.0

• Versions
• 1.0

Gúthwinë has fascinated me ever since it came out. Such a powerful effect for such a reasonable price! I like to deck-build by starting with one card and building from there so I thought I'd see what I could do to make it pop. It didn't take long to discover Guthwine is an incredibly tricky card to build around. You can throw it in most Rohan decks and it will be helpful in one way or another, but to truly get the most out of it is a real deck-building puzzle. Here are the requirements it throws at you:

~ It must be paid for with Leadership resources.

~ It has to be attached to a Rohan hero.

~ Attached hero has to be used for attack.

~ It only benefits you for one attack a round.

~ That attack needs to destroy an enemy in order to return an ally from your discard pile to your hand.

~ Returned ally must be Rohan.

These requirements lead to several deck-building questions to work through:

1: How do you find it? If you build a deck around its effect but don't draw it, your deck is in trouble.

2: Which hero does it go on? If that hero isn't a Leadership hero, then who pays for it?

3: How do you ensure that you can kill an enemy each round with it?

4: How do you ensure there's a Rohan ally in your discard pile to return to hand?

5: How do you afford to pay for that ally again the next round once it has been returned to your hand?

I have gone through MANY different decks, trying to answer those questions. It is fair to say this (Guth)wine is well-aged! My first several tries all stayed entirely within Rohan heroes and cards. But no matter what I tried, I couldn't find Guthwine consistently. Those decks all worked great when I found it and just fizzled when I couldn't. But rather than go into what didn't work with those attempts, here's how this deck solves those problems.

Galadriel, specifically the Mirror of Galadriel finds Guthwine. So in your first hand you want to mulligan for one of Gúthwinë itself or Mirror of Galadriel. Add in a Silver Harp when you can and you can find and keep whatever you need in the deck. Between this combo and Galadriel's own card draw we have a solution for the card draw problems most Rohan decks run into. Guthwine and Gamling works effectively as card draw too so once this deck is running you could be adding as many as 5 cards a round to your hand, not even counting Gandalf.

Théoden and Prince Imrahil are the two other heroes and they solve most of the rest of the problems. Imrahil provides Leadership access and Theoden uses Guthwine and helps you pay for all the Rohan allies you need to keep this deck running. Between the two of them and Guthwine you can attack for 8, enough to take down the majority of enemies in the game.

To ensure a Rohan ally in the discard pile, you need to plan to chump block. That can be dangerous, either because of shadow effects or because of certain abilities on the enemies, like most trolls. But I think, on the whole, recent cycles have been easier for chump blockers than the game was for a while. Just make sure you have a Hasty Stroke in hand. I've found it to be a high priority grab with Mirror of Galadriel and have regretted when I didn't have one in hand. Or for the times you need to have a big defender you've got Gandalf, Háma, or Protector of Lórien to help you out.

Some final thoughts:

~The Rohan allies chosen essentially give you a toolbox to choose from for whatever your quest or fellowship needs. The only thing you really want to find early is one of your chump blockers, either Westfold Horse-breeder or Snowbourn Scout. Galadriel allows allies to quest without exhausting when they enter play so you should have a defender ready most rounds, even if you don't find the chump blockers.

~It's strange to see just one copy of Steward of Gondor in any deck, but I actually like this both for gameplay AND thematic reasons here. On the gameplay side, it's a lesser priority here than Guthwine is, so if things are working well the earliest you'll play it is round four. You also don't really need it until mid to late game anyway, when all your card draw is online. I also like the thematic moment that gives you, when Imrahil decides to bring the full resources of Gondor to bear on behalf of Rohan, as a gift to his new friend Theoden.

~Unless urgently needed elsewhere, I put Unexpected Courage on Galadriel.

~Some options on the sideboard in case you want or need something different. Helm! Helm! is great for the trolls and mumaks of the world. Will of the West is a throw in when you know you're in for a long quest and want more than three plays of your events. If you are against a damage heavy quest and don't mind the thematic considerations, you can throw in Warden of Healing.

All in all, this is a very solid, reliable bottle of wine, the kind that gives you a sense of comfort and peace when it hits the table. It will quest and fight and has a few tricks up its sleeve. There are quests out there you wouldn't want to throw it against but against the majority it will prove effective, and a welcome addition to your fellowship.

Santa Theoden says Merry Questing to you all!