The Dead Marshes 1.0

• Versions
• 1.0

A solo deck capable of beating The Dead Marshes with regularity, using only core and Shadows of Mirkwood cycle cards.

Heroes

Éowyn is, as always, here for her willpower (questing and escape tests). Attach Unexpected Courage to her if it surfaces - she can then quest as well as do escape tests. Attach Celebrían's Stone to Éowyn too if possible.

Frodo Baggins is mainly here for his defending. Attach Fast Hitch to him as a priority - he can then quest as well as defend (or quest and escape test). Attach Dúnedain Warnings to Frodo, but it's not a priority. A single Dúnedain Warning enables him to soak up any Giant Marsh Worm attacks nicely.

Bilbo Baggins is mainly here for card draw. He can assist with questing or escape tests too. Attach Fast Hitch to him, but this is a luxury move only if we have spare resources and Frodo Baggins already has Fast Hitch attached.

Scenario

Our main tactic here is to prioritise willpower to escape tests while trying to progress through stage one as fast as we can. Avoid travelling to locations unless they have high threat, we want progress tokens on the scenario asap.

We want Steward of Gondor on Bilbo Baggins as soon as we can. Our strategy with choosing Bilbo Baggins is to get as many allies out as soon as we can. Having the resource generation of Steward of Gondor obviously helps this.

West Road Traveller is a great card to get out early. With two Spirit heroes we can get a traveller out each round. Their willpower for such low cost really eases the burden on Eowyn for questing/escape tests.

Elfhelm shines in this scenario if we can get him out (threat reduction for both questing and escape tests).

Henamarth Riversong can also really help our planning. Saving his exhaust ability until after the combat phase to see what happens next round is a game changer.

Forest Snare is here essentially for the Hill Troll. This deck isn't built for combat, so trapping the troll is a great ploy.

Haldir of Lórien and Gildor Inglorion are obviously great cards for this scenario (willpower and damage) but are expensive. Getting Steward of Gondor onto Bilbo Baggins as early as possible helps here.

The Galadhrim's Greeting + Dwarven Tomb, Sneak Attack + Gandalf are our methods of reducing threat if necessary.

Lastly, the inclusion of Shadow of the Past is here as a kind of "get out of jail free" card. If things go badly early on and Gollum ends up back in the encounter deck there is a good chance he will reappear as a shadow card or escape test card. Shadow of the Past enables us to put him back to the top of the deck and hopefully back into play.