Easy Mode

Questlogs using this decklist
The Fate of Wilderland - 1 Player - 2019-08-25
Mount Gundabad - 1 Player - 2019-08-30
The Temple of Doom - 1 Player - 2019-08-23
Danger in Dorwinion - 1 Player - 2019-08-22
The River Running - 1 Player - 2019-08-21
Journey up the Anduin - 1 Player - 2019-08-31
Lost in Mirkwood - 1 Player - 2019-08-31
The King's Quest - 1 Player - 2019-09-03
Fellowships using this decklist
None.
Derived from
A Three Hour Tour 14 8 3 1.0
Inspiration for
None yet.
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Denison 618

I've been using this hero lineup in various forms since the Dreamchaser cycle. With the new Fellowship contract I threw out all the non-unique Noldor allies in favor of more uniques. The results have been great, with a successful run through the new deluxe box quests. The Fellowship contract can come together in just a few rounds.

Galdor's selective mulligan ability is the key to success. The ideal starting hand has Gandalf and Steward of Gondor. The only other card I will keep is A Very Good Tale. Elven-light, Glorfindel, The Evening Star and Lords of the Eldar are especially nice to pitch early.

To the Sea, to the Sea! is very helpful in the mid-game getting rid of duplicate cards and triggering Galdor of the Havens's second ability.

Gandalf, Glorfindel, and Treebeard are the early allies I'm aiming for that help trigger A Very Good Tale without much loss of action advantage. These heroes produce 6 resources in the first round allowing for a good board state right away. Pity the encounter deck that gives this crew additional resources to start the game (looking at you Mines of Moria and Temple of Doom!)

Managing threat with Gandalf is an issue. He's great early to get ahead of the encounter deck, but I will let him go once I get the fellowship set up and I have a replacement waiting in the wings. Elrond's Counsel and Will of the West is the other way to manage threat.

Steward of Gondor goes on Arwen Undómiel to help pay for the draw engine that Elven-light provides. Resources can pile up quick for her. If there is a lot of archery or the need to chump block, I will often use Glorfindel to take the hit and bring him back the next turn.

Denethor has the option of passing his resources to Arwen (once she has Steward) or building his own largess to employ with Blood of Númenor and quickly become a big-time defender.

Once the deck is emptied out it's possible to play Lords of the Eldar more than once in the same round. Combine that effect with the contract and you start to get the picture why this deck is called Easy Mode!

8 comments

Aug 22, 2019 Alonewolf87 1908

Since it seems Lore resources are scarse and relying on A Very Good Tale is not always a sure shot you could think of having a couple of Stand and Fight to bring back the Lore unique allies that may end up in the discard pile (voluntarily or not).

Aug 22, 2019 TheChad 12616

@Alonewolf87Arwen's ability can pass her resource to Galdor. So you could easily build up some Lore resources if you needed to.

Aug 23, 2019 Marcelf 1347

Nice deck! Did you consider Narya and/or Gandalf's Staff with Gandalf in the deck? And why all the copies of unique cards, why don't you play Daeron's Runes? isn't The Evening Star a bit situationnal ?

Aug 23, 2019 Denison 618

@Alonewolf87TheChad has it right. Lore resources are not that scarce with Arwen's ability. To the Sea, to the Sea! also helps with paying for for the two Lore Noldor allies. Firyal is certainly the best result from A Very Good Tale.

@MarcelfThanks! Treebeard and Glorfindel already have their own readying effects, the contract and Lords of the Eldar cover global boosts, and Jubayr handles shadow cancellation, so many effects of Gandalf gear are represented in the deck. I love that gear, but not enough room here.

In order for this deck to function at its best, A Very Good Tale needs to be very reliable, so even though Daeron's Runes seems like an easy 51-53 card inclusion for any deck, it does water down the effectiveness of AVGT. I typically only use AVGT once during any given game, but when it's played, it really needs to work.

The Evening Star is completely situational, but every game I seem to have one of those situations. I can't count the number of times I have discarded a card to give a resource to Galdor and paid for a copy of The Evening Star with one or two copies in the discard pile. Dropping 4-6 progress and taking out one or two locations with such minimal effort is very rewarding!

Aug 24, 2019 doomguard 1923

i would add at least one erestor-ally

Aug 25, 2019 Denison 618

@doomguardAlly Erestor is a solid recommendation for this deck. I will drop one copy of Lindor for him. Thanks!

Oct 19, 2019 eldub 686

Hey, @Denison, would you suggest any changes for multiplayer? Thinking two-handed specifically (and obviously the other deck won’t have unique conflicts).

Oct 19, 2019 Denison 618

@eldub This deck is obviously a unique hog and is my go-to solo deck. That said, I brought it to Con of the RIngs and it played very nicely alongside two hobbit decks where we beat Nightmare Across the Ettenmoors. Steward and Gandalf are the two most unfriendly multi-player cards in the deck, but they are key to the machine. Somehow adding ranged and more sentinel among the allies would certainly help. Ally Haldir would be a good addition.