Land of Shadow - Crossroads 5.0

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• 6.0
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I ended up building this due to Campaign constraints as well as my own thematic reasons. I'm confident that outside these boundaries I can build a stronger response to Journey to the Crossroads.

Whats working pretty well is Ambush with Damrod. It provides action advantage by allowing your heroes to attack prior to assigning defenders. This provides action advantage. If Anborn can get into play then its all that much better as you can recurse Ambush.

If Ambush is absent then Forest Patrol combined with Poisoned Stakes will kill most things in the encounter deck. If your threat happens to be low enough you can avoid engaging and still pull this off.

Card draw is a big part of the deck. All the traps fuel card draw with Damrod's ability. The high number of attachments in the deck means Master of the Forge will usually pull something useful.

Then there is Beravor who is required for card draw. To keep her engine going I tossed in a couple copies of Cram. What really works is Wingfoot. Every round The Cross-Roads is going to reveal an enemy which makes Wingfoot an auto-include.

The Oliphaunts are troublesome as they prevent chump blocks the moment they engage. Protector of Lórien and Warden of Healing help with hero survival here. Beravor is an obvious recipient of Protector which means she can get a bit overworked.

My preferred way of dealing with Oliphaunts is to let them go to The Black Gate. This doesn't always work out. I usually end up engaging one of the three as its likely a treachery or shadow will toss another enemy under The Black Gate and I'll have to adjust.

Man of Harad with his surge really sucks against an encounter deck thats already throwing two cards a round at you. I pick this fellow whenever a treachery makes me fetch an enemy to put into play engaged.

Faramir is critical as the threat coming from The Cross-Roads is significant. I found I needed 3 copies so I could get him early enough to make a difference.

Mablung fills an interesting niche. Many times i'll hold him in hand until I find i've left an enemy in the staging area I couldn't engage or get to for whatever reason. Next planning phase he can bring that enemy down before it gets to The Black Gate.

I've been using The Land of Shadow version of Frodo Baggins. Theres not a lot in Journey that punishes you from using the Ring so he can fill a questing or combat role, or both with Fast Hitch.

It was pretty common for this deck to lose to The Dark Lord's Summons which tosses an engaged enemy beneath The Black Gate. I originally attempted to Song of Travel to gain access to A Test of Will but this was very inconsistent.

The best fix I found was Risk Some Light. It may seem expensive but playing one on the last round to avoid The Dark Lord's Summons is well worth it.

Despite all the positives this deck still has an uphill battle against the scenario. The victories I've achieved with it come from knowing the scenario and playing it with care.