Ancients of Arda 1.0

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• 1.0

Here is a deck I have been tweaking for the last week or so. It focuses on having Elrond defending, Treebeard questing and/or attacking, and Glorfindel and Gandalf supporting. These are some of the oldest beings in Arda which works quite nicely as a theme.

Let's start with Elrond - he will get the Cloak of Lorien when it shows up, and the defence boost from Arwen ally should go to him. This means he is defending for 5 once setup. I have added some protector of Lorien to the sideboard should you need more defence than this. If an Unexpected Courage shows up then he is a good target for it as this will allow him to do multiple defences. He is also a great target for Ent Draught if you can get it.

Glorfindel gets Light of Valinor as usual, as well as Asfaloth fi you draw it, but also Necklace of Girion. I have always been a bit dubious of guarded player cards, but Necklace works really well in this deck because whether you guard it with location or enemy, Treebeard can handle it swiftly. The extra resources are really handy for getting the spirit cards into play, and questing for 5 without exhausting is not to be sniffed at.

Treebeard is the main player of the deck. Lembas goes onto him for readying and you can heal 4 damage when it is used thank to Elrond's healing ability. He is also a good target for the second unexpected courage to allow multiple attacks, or to allow a round of questing then attack. Warden's of Healing, Ioreth and Wellinghall Preserver all help with keeping Treebeard alive. If you can get 2 Warden's out then you are healing 2 characters for 4 each time - no mean feat! Dori is in the deck as a backup in case you get overwhelmed and it looks like you're going to lose an important character.

I haven't played with OHaUH Gandalf so wanted to include him in this deck. Raising your threat by 3 at the end of each round can quickly cause you to threat out, so have included loads of threat-lowering cards such as Woodmen's Clearing, Elrond's Counsel, The Galadhrim's Greeting and Galadriel's Handmaiden. I have also included a copy of Double Back which can easily e smashed through using Treebeard's ability. With these I have been able to get my threat right down and keep Gandalf in play for many rounds. His ability to quest without exhausting is great when combined with Glorfindel's eventual 5 questing without exhausting. Load Gandalf up with Gandalf's Staff and Shadowfax and you have some readying and card draw/resource generation. I have included a copy of To Arms!, and added more to the sideboard shoudl you desire some extra Gandalf readying.

Lastly is Erebor Hammersmith who will let you recycle Lembas a bit shoudl you need to get that readying on Treebeard. This is especially useful in the early game whilst you are waiting to get Glorfindel and Gandalf setup.

There is a lot of power in this deck once running. Questing for 15-20 with only a few allies exhausited is great.