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| Single Core Series: Danger in Dorwinion | 4 | 2 | 5 | 1.0 |
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Mortendall 549
My first attempt at a solo deck with Radagast and Grimbeorn. Eowyn is not a great choice thematically, but she provides valuable tactics resources and allows you to quest for more right out of the gate, thus making the deck viable for true solo. The main strategy of the deck is ally spam through Radagast's Staff. With that, you can play eagles every round. The staff can also be used to pay for Giant bear, and radagast's own resources can be used to play Loyal Hound or Messenger Raven. The discount from the staff and the leaning towards mono tactics allows you to save resources on Grimbeorn, triggering his ability. He is incredibly strong in combat, especially if you follow up on his counter attack with a swarm of eagles. Keep in mind that you cannot use the staff to reduce the cost of Riddermark's finest, and you therefore need to accumulate two resources on Radagast. They are mostly included as a fun afterthought, and to streamline the deck, I recommend adding a Beorning Skinchanger and another copy of Beorn. I like the Beorning subtheme of this deck, and skin-changing into a Giant Bear or Beorn is incredibly satisfying.
For your opening hand, you want the staff or a Word of Command. A cheap ally like Vassal or Messenger raven is also preferable, as this will trigger Radagast's ability, allowing him to quest without exhausting. Word of Command is a perfect inclusion, as Radagast will surprisingly often be ready at the end of combat, allowing you to play it for minimal cost. The same utility goes for Healing Herbs. Cards like Deep knowledge, Word of command and the Eagles are coming should keep your hand full of cards, allowing you to play a creature ally every turn. If you somehow run out of creature allies, messenger raven can always be returned to your hand during the refresh phase.
I have not included any side quests, as I was a bit hesitant about the questing power of a deck that is so tactics based. But during testing, it performed very well. The major pitfall is if you somehow cannot find the staff or a Word of command. In that case, use card draw and messenger raven to dig for it. It is a fun solo-viable eagles deck, and it smashed Fate of Wilderland in the first attempt. So far, I have tested it against Wizard's quest and Escape from Umbar with great results.
| 8 comments |
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Oct 16, 2019 |
Oct 17, 2019Two paws, way up! |
Dec 05, 2019Why can't Radagast's Staff be used to reduce the cost of The Riddermark's Finest? |
Dec 05, 2019It's a case of printed text vs intended text. Radagast's ability says that you can spend resources as if they were of any sphere, not that he gains all spheres when playing creature allies. So when the staff reduces the value of riddermarks to 0, he cannot play them as he does not have a spirit sphere. Caleb has said that this was an oversight on cardboard of the rings, so you can argue for playing it as intended. |
Dec 05, 2019Thanks, I'll definitely go listen to that episode. Just to help me understand: does this mean that Radagast can only reduce allies to 0 cost and play them? This seems odd to me both thematically and mechanically, but if Caleb said so... |
Dec 05, 2019Nevermind, I saw on Palantir that it's the opposite situation - it was intended to be able to play 0 cost allies from all spheres. I would argue that Radagast is still paying resources for the creature ally, it's just that the number of resources happens to be 0. I guess it could come down to some kind of philosophy of math debate about "what is zero really?", which is beyond me, but I'm good with playing it as intended. |
Dec 05, 2019He was intended for that, correct. It is not even a math debate (though I see your point), but something that is addressed directly in the Rules reference under the Resource match entry: That if a card costs 0, you still need a resource match. That rule is obviously meant to prevent everyone from playing cards like Daeron's runes without lore, but as written, it has consequences for cards like Radagast. |
Dec 06, 2019Yeah, I tried to logic my way to the intended use with the existing rules, but even Caleb admitted in the podcast that he, his colleagues, and all the playtesters simply missed it - the intended use was so clear they forgot about that little rule, which apparently also affects Elrond and A Good Harvest. Any idea why FFG hasn't errata'd the card or modified the rules yet? For Radagast, they could simply add the word "printed" to the rules in order to fix the problem (at least for the current card pool, which does not have any 0 cost Creatures): "Cards with a printed cost of zero do not require a resource to be spent in order to pay their cost, but they do require at least one hero under that player’s control to have a resource icon that matches the card’s sphere." I think the even more obvious solution is to make Radagast's wording nearly identical to Bard son of Brand, replacing Item attachment with Creature: "While playing a Creature, Radagast is considered to have the , , and icons." Why didn't Caleb word it that way in the first place? Am I missing something? |
Love the look of this deck, thanks for sharing, I'm excited to try it out on my next session!