A Very Good Tale of Elrond and Dwarves 1.0

• Versions
• 1.0

Overview

Do you enjoy having 35 mana in allies and attachments, 23 quest power, 18 attack power, and still 2 resources left floating? ALL BY TURN 2!? Then this may be the deck for you, albeit, that is from a nuts draw I'll talk about later.

This deck features a series of strong synergies revolving around going wide and going wide fast, with decent early game strength and the ability to nut draw by turn 1 or 2. Consistently, you will find yourself with at least 7 allies and several key attachments in place all by turn 3, with later turns only escalating that further.

The key cards of note here are A Very Good Tale, Dáin Ironfoot, Elrond and Vilya, with support from Legacy of Durin and Steward of Gondor. All of these cards work super well in a Dwarf deck, specifically because almost all dwarves cost 3 mana, or close to 3 mana, which is quite expensive for a typically mediocre value card. All of these cards either help cheat in these expensive cards, or make existing cards more valuable and worth their cost.

Synergies:

A Very Good Tale - The core card of the deck, and the main stem of most of the nut draws you are going to see. The deck is mostly based on minions, all of which easily cost to a sum of 6, so you will consistently hit 2 targets for this 90%+ of the time based on my plays. This card is ludicrous, and probably my favorite card unlocked so far. Draw and play 6 mana in allies... all at the cost of exhausting 2 allies, yes please! This is enabled very easily by the over populated presence of Kili and Fili, which you should consistently see at least 1 copy of before your first few turns, and by sneak attack combined with a couple of the high costed cards. Even when playing slowly, this card is absolutely incredible, with the potential to chain multiple together to build a super powerful board by turn 2.

Elrond - This hero was a trialed addition to this dwarf deck, and turned out to be almost as invaluable as Dáin Ironfoot in some cases to how this deck functions. Elrond adds a very important piece to the puzzle of this deck, and that is color consistency. In addition, he allows us to use the super powerful Vilya, which also compliments our expensive costing deck, allowing us to fundamentally draw 1 gain 3-5 mana at the cost of exhausting Elrond. This becomes nearly flawless once you setup a Imladris Stargazer or Gildor Inglorion, allowing you to select Gandalf or a 3 costing dwarf every single time. This is the target for your Steward of Gondor, as he will allow you to play your powerful Erebor Battle Master or Kili in a pinch.

Dáin Ironfoot - The obvious addition, giving this wide deck even more quality to the quantity of cards it spits out. Dain makes for a great blocker early, and allows you to quest aggressively if need be while you setup.

Legacy of Durin, Steward of Gondor, We Are Not Idle - These are incredible support cards, and allow the deck to quickly get ahead, and consistently stay ahead into the late game, giving near infinite energy and draw. We Are Not Idle is a core piece to some early game nut draws as well, giving you that 1 energy you need to play Steward of Gondor or Fili so you can play A Very Good Tale turn 1.

The rest of the deck is filled with dwarves, as well as other support cards such as Faramir that just make the deck even more nuts than it needs to be. Some note worthy dwarves are; Erebor Battle Master with his insane attack allowing him to take out a threat a turn by himself, Fili/Kili for the reasons mentioned in A Very Good Tale, Dori who's situational impact can save the life of a hero. In general, all of the dwarves are quite great when complimented by Dáin Ironfoot, so you should never struggle for quest points or chump blockers.

Example Nut Draw

Here's an example of a nut draw that I have actually experienced while testing this deck.

Hand - x3 A Very Good Tale, We Are Not Idle, Steward of Gondor, Kili

1) Draw Legacy of Durin and play it with Ori's energy. Play We Are Not Idle +1 card (exhausting Ori) giving Dáin Ironfoot energy to play Steward of Gondor on Elrond giving him energy to play Kili. Following that, exhaust Kili and Fili to play A Very Good Tale discarding 5 and putting into play 2x Erebor Battle Master, exhaust them to play A Very Good Tale discarding 5 and putting into play Gildor Inglorion and Erebor Record Keeper, exhaust them to play A Very Good Tale discarding 5 and putting into play Glóin and Dori. INSANE TURN, and you can still quest for 8 leaving Dáin Ironfoot back to block!

2) Hand - Erebor Hammersmith, +1 card. Draw 2 cards thanks to Ori. Play Erebor Hammersmith returning the last discarded attachment which was a Vilya, +1 card from Legacy of Durin. Play Vilya, exhaust Gildor Inglorion finding a Faramir to put on top, and play that with Elrond/Vilya.

End of it all, you are left with Kili/Fili, Erebor Battle Master x2, Dori, Erebor Record Keeper, Glóin, Faramir, Erebor Hammersmith and an exhausted Gildor Inglorion. You also have 2 energy on Elrond with 4 cards in hand and all 3 attachments in play (Vilya, Steward of Gondor, Legacy of Durin).

You have 2 Erebor Battle Master who can hit for 9 each, enough chump blockers to feed an Orc army, and the ability to quest for up to 23 with Dáin Ironfoot and Faramir's help THIS TURN. NUTS!!! Oh, and next turn obviously just keeps getting better with infinite draws, predicted Vilya thanks to Gildor Inglorion and spare energy with Steward of Gondor.

Other More Common Nut Draws

Imladris Stargazer, We Are Not Idle, Vilya - Turn 1 and forever, place 1 of the top 5 cards into play and organize your draw.

Fili, A Very Good Tale, We Are Not Idle - Turn 1 four allies in play.

Gandalf, Sneak Attack, A Very Good Tale, Erebor Record Keeper - Turn 1 draw 3, put 3 allies into play.

Other notable combos

Imladris Stargazer and A Very Good Tale/Bofur - When Stargazer finds cards you don't want to draw, A Very Good Tale or Bofur allows you to shuffle them away.

Sneak Attack and Gandalf - Staple combo, and simply allows for some good card draw.

Erebor Hammersmith and A Very Good Tale - Hammersmith can be played after, allowing you to return a discarded attachment. Considering the attachments are incredibly powerful, this is utilized quite frequently where possible.

Best Early Game Cards

We Are Not Idle is a great starter, but is useless without a combo piece to go with it. If you can ramp into Kili/Fili, or play Steward of Gondor turn 1, it's great.

Steward of Gondor in hand almost always means keep. The cost of your cards, and the sheer amount of draw present make this card one of the most valuable.

Vilya and Imladris Stargazer/Gildor Inglorion - Free played card turn 1 and forever, and with Stargazer or Inglorion, you will be able to make it consistent. Definitely a powerful start.

Legacy of Durin and Erebor Record Keepers - Legacy makes Record Keepers incredble, and gives a good way to dig deeper into your deck and enabling Ori with dwarf numbers. Plus Record Keeper quests for 2 for 1 mana which is a pretty great start thanks to Dáin Ironfoot.

A Very Good Tale and Fili - Or any other means to get to 6 mana of allies in play turn 2 (such as help from Vilya, We Are Not Idle or Steward of Gondor), as it will add another 2 allies into play almost guaranteed.

Summary

Enough said, this deck is incredibly fun and powerful, and can be quite complicated to play. With so many synergies and possible outcomes, you have lots of room to play efficiently and improve, so I recommend drawing the simulated card draw a couple times until you get to turn 2 or 3. You will find that most of the time you finish with most of your attachments in play and 5-7 dwarves on the field.