Vision of the Golden Wood 1.0

• Versions
• 1.0

This is a Silvan deck built for the Wilderland United fellowship. It is a pretty straightforward deck, with just a few Woodman cards shading its main purpose.

Celeborn and Galadriel are the core of a successful Silvan deck, and require no explanation. Action advantage plus global stat boosts are a potent combination. Argalad is an interesting choice, though - I've chosen him instead of Haldir of Lórien in part because the ally version of Haldir is so powerful in this deck, and in part because I really enjoy his playstyle. Between his direct damage and the enters-play damage from the mono- deck's Galadhon Archers, you can actually put out a respectable bit of direct damage, and the ability to adjust the in the staging area post-staging but before quest resolution is extremely potent.

The attachments in the deck are fairly standard - Light of Valinor should go on Argalad for action advantage, Unexpected Courage can go on Grimbeorn the Old, Galadriel, or Argalad, as the situation requires. O Lórien! is this deck's target for Gather Information, and is something you want to see as early as possible. The remaining attachments are cross-table support for the Woodman deck, but they are useful in any situation.

The allies are, again, pretty par for the course for this type of deck. The Galadhrim Minstrel should be able to hit most times you play her, while the Galadhrim Weaver recycles the events. Both Legolas and Haldir of Lórien are good targets to bring in with The Tree People, but neither is particularly onerous to bring into play on their own after The Storm Comes has been cleared. In fact, the second side quest for this fellowship plays an incredible role in smoothing out resources for this deck.

The only really odd choice is the Defender of the Naith, who is normally a sub-par defender at the best of times. But with a Hauberk of Mail, he becomes a 3 /3 with sentinel, which is perfectly serviceable, especially with the repeatable healing available from the Silvan Trackers. Alternatively, Elven Mail gives him 2 extra hit points - putting him at 2 /4 , which works out about the same way with healing. If resources permit - and after Thranduil has been boosted as much as necessary - he could theoretically be boosted by Hauberk of Mail, Cloak of Lórien, and the Elven Mail for a total of 4 (5 if the active location cooperates)/5 , which is better than many hero defenders. His readying ability should also not be ignored - even if you end up needing to sacrifice the ally, he can often block two or more attacks in a single combat phase.

Finally, the events offer mostly Silvan support plus some standard support. Of particular note, however, is South Away!, which can provide incredible threat reduction for the whole table. Between the location attachments across three decks, it is not unheard of to get 3 or 4 threat reduction table-wide for 0 cost, which is incredible value. Not to mention that you also get to ignore a travel cost while you are at it.

The sideboard helps out if the fellowship needs even more threat reduction than South Away! and repeated Woodmen's Clearings can provide, or if the quest contains debilitating Condition attachments. Either Island Amid Perils or Power of Orthanc can replace Quicker Than Sight, unless the quest is filled with game-ending shadow effects.

Mulligan for a good suite of allies - especially Galion, who enables all sorts of shenanigans with the Silvan events. With only 1 copy of O Lórien!, you are unlikely to see an explosive first turn, but as long as the fellowship can clear the first side quest, your second turn and onward should be filled with good plays and interesting decision points.