Conflict At The Carrock Solo 1.0

• Versions
• 1.0

A solo deck capable of beating Conflict at The Carrock with regularity, using only core and Shadows of Mirkwood cycle cards.

Heroes

Glorfindel tends to do a lot of questing early on but becomes a significant part of our attack as we build out our allies. Attach all Dúnedain Marks to him. Steward of Gondor can either be attached to Glorfindel or Denethor - whichever we choose, we also attach Song of Travel to this hero too.

Denethor has a dual role. Ideally, we mainly use Denethor for his scrying capability. Therefore we never quest with him and only defend with him if necessary. The main strategy of this deck is scrying, particularly in stage 1. Attach A Burning Brand, Protector of Lórien and all Dúnedain Warnings to Denethor to build him into an uber tank. With all 3 Dúnedain Warnings and A Burning Brand he can completely negate any Hill Troll attacks.

Théodred mostly quests in stage 1. When he quests, we allocate his resource to himself. This is to ensure we can afford Grimbeorn as soon as possible. If a second Protector of Lórien emerges from the deck, we can attach it to Théodred which will enable us to use up duplicate unique cards to boost our questing. In stage 2, ideally Théodred switches focus to attacking.

Stage 1

As mentioned earlier, the main strategy of this deck is scrying. This is particularly important in stage 1. Our overall aim is to stay in stage 1 until we have a good set of allies at our side to take on the four trolls in stage 2. Also, we don't want to progress into stage 2 with a threat level near or above 34 (the engagement level of the trolls). Ideally, we want to hit stage 2 and bring down those trolls from staging individually and in our own time.

In order for this strategy to work smoothly we require Denethor's scrying ability. Once we know what is coming from the encounter deck each round we can carefully plan how much we want to quest (i.e. just putting enough willpower into each round so we don't put progress on the quest without raising our threat). Also, if a Hill Troll, a nasty treachery or other horrible card is revealed - we can send it straight back to the bottom of the encounter deck. Being fortunate enough to get Henamarth Riversong out into play early on is hugely helpful here - as there will be times when we really want to defend with Denethor, which would usually leave us blind.

Misty Mountain Goblins' ability can actually prove helpful in stage 1 strangely enough. There will be times when we feel we are still some way off being ready for stage 2 and removing unwanted tokens from the quest is no bad thing.

We bring most allies into play whenever we can afford them. Obviously, Gléowine is mainly here for card draw (useful early on). Gildor Inglorion is also helpful for card draw if we can manage a round without using him for questing or combat. We leave Miner of the Iron Hills in our hand until one of our heroes gets "Sacked". Lórien Guide is useful for pushing on through stubborn locations. It's possible to bring Erebor Hammersmith into play strategically to bring Ancient Mathom back into our hand - but is generally there to boost questing and a potential meat shield. Snowbourn Scouts are useful for picking off locations from staging and are also ideal meat for the trolls in stage 2.

We use any Sneak Attacks with Gandalfs for lowering our threat. Similarly, we use Dwarven Tomb to bring The Galadhrim's Greeting back into our hand for threat reduction.

When we feel we can quest for roughly 10 while defending a troll attack (meat, Grimbeorn or Denethor - in that order) and able to output roughly 15 damage we are ready for stage 2. This may take anywhere from 10 to 15 rounds. Also, most importantly we don't want to enter stage 2 with a threat close to or above 34. Having all the trolls engage simultaneously with The Carrock as the active location will probably finish us.

Stage 2

Our strategy is to take down Troll per round, and questing through The Carrock as soon as possible.

In terms of Troll priority, we ought to take down Louis as the final Troll. His threat boost could be a problem if our threat is near to 34. We don't want to accidentally trigger all the Trolls.

We continue to scry the encounter deck if possible at the end of each round. If a Hill Troll is about to appear in staging then it's very useful to know beforehand.

The majority of this scenario ought to be spent in stage 1 if things have gone to plan. Stage 2 should be a formality if the preparation has been correct.