Dúnedain Smash v2 2.0

• Versions
• 2.0
• 1.0

UPDATE This deck has been updated to win against almost all quests released so far in three or less tries (solo).

General Strategy:

Start the game by engaging as many enemies as you can to get them out of the staging area. Your powerful defenders make enemies very manageable. Use readying effects to always stay on top of combat and get Sword that was Broken and Faramir out to finish the quest.

Dúnedain are a fun archetype to play because the harder the encounter deck pushes against them, the harder they push back.

Strong against:

• Large swarms of weak enemies (7th level, Dread Realm etc.)
• Taking out powerful enemies in turn 1 (Blood of Gondor, Intruders of Chetwood)
• Battle and Siege questing

Weak against:

• Early location flooding (Antlered Crown, Sailing quests)

• Powerful enemies with 30ish engagement (Morgul Vale)

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The heroes:

Amarthiúl is the workhorse of the group. He smoothes resources, adds more, defends well and attacks back well if needed. Steward of Gondor and the Gondorian Shield go on him. Decide when his resource trigger is worth keeping two enemies engaged or when it's too dangerous.

Aragorn is the heart of the deck. His defense reduction 'plays the meta'. With that I mean that 3 attack is the 'maximum' for normal characters so the designers made a lot of enemies with 4 attack required to kill them so they wouldn't get one-shotted. With Aragorn on the table, they now do. This makes crowd control with our heroes and Dúnedain Hunter much easier. In multiplayer use his and Halbarad's ability to get the enemies to you. In solo, his action can pull certain enemies from the staging area.

Halbarad is your main quester at the start of the game. He can quest and block which gives you some leaverage in the early game. Give him Celebrían's Stone and your second Gondorian Shield. He becomes expendable late game.

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Combo's:

Dúnedain Hunter and Andrath Guardsman Dúnedain Hunter is a great card for this deck. You'll find that grabbing enemies without triggering their 'when revealed' effects is actually very powerful. And with Andrath Guardsman you can take enemies with nasty 'when attacking' abilities as well and still kill them in the combat phase.

Sneak Attack and Sarn Ford Sentry and Valiant Sacrifice You can only play the Sarn Ford Sentry though Sneak Attack. If you don't have Gandalf yet, this combo can often perform in the same way by drawing you cards and blocking an enemy attack. Feel free to cycle the Sentries to Erestor if they aren't useful yet. Valiant Sacrifice adds even more card draw.

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Questing:

Early game questing is clearly a weak spot with 5 measily willpower among all heroes. In order to boost questing early game, this deck features a lot of emergency readying and enemy blocking. Descendants of Kings, Feint, Sneak Attack, Ranger of Cardolan (ability) can all help stop enemy attacks leaving you free to quest with everybody without fear. Don't keep those Dúnedain Hunter and Guardian of Arnor back 'just in case' if you have readying effects! Also don't be affraid to play Andrath Guardsman if you need willpower but don't have a target for it!

Late game questing with Sword that was Broken and Faramir will be easy. Just make sure you live that long!

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Combat:

If the shadow effects of the encounter deck allows it, keep enemies engaged with you as long as you have blockers for them. You can use the extra resources Halbarad gives you.

Use Hour of Wrath and or Descendants of Kings to clean the enemies engaged with you.

Hour of Wrath + Aragorn let's you kill every enemy in the game in multiplayer games.

Be prepared to take a big threat gain if it means getting the enemies out of the staging area.

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Sideboard:

Switch Dúnedain Hunter with Fornost Bowman against decks that don't have enemies in the encounter deck.

Include Armored Destrier, Weather Hills Watchman and Dúnedain Warning against boss quests (Shadow and Flame) fights.

Add Armored Destrier against shadow card stacking decks (Against the shadow cycle).

Switch Steward of Gondor for Heir of Valandil in multiplayer.

Add Dúnedain Remedy to quests with lot's of direct damage.

Add Knights of the Swan for quests which require lots of allies (Sailing).

Add more copies of Favor of the Valar if you can't play Gandalf or against notorious threat quests (solo return to Mirkwood).