Morgul Vale (solo progression) 1.0

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• 1.0

A deck that is purpose built to beat Morgul Vale solo, using only cards released until the Against the Shadow cycle, no saga cards and one Core set.

My goal was to build a deck that beats the scenario three times in a row. This deck has only managed two times in a row, but I’m happy with the deck and can’t really see how to improve it further. Can you? At the moment, this is the best deck I can manage against this scenario, and it wins regularly.

This completes my personal Against the Shadow challenge, of building decks that can beat every scenario consistently. I only failed the tree times in a row goal against this scenario, but The Steward’s Fear required a lot of attempts, so I’d rate those two scenarios the hardest to beat consistently.

The idea is to make Denethor impervious to attacks, using Resourceful, Blood of Numenor and Burning Brand. He also gets Protector of Lorien and UC, and Miruvor for extra readying. Mulligan for Resourceful, Secrecy will likely only be in effect on the first turn. Paying 4 for it later hurts, but is still worth it. Glorfindel gets Light of Valinor, Asfaloth and Song of Wisdom. The Song lets you get better use of his resources, and also makes The Master’s Malice do nothing.

The deck has lots of draw to make sure you find all your toys. Master of the Forge should keep digging until everything is in place and can then serve as backup defender. You should have time to dig because of the low starting threat. Murzag engages at 30, so keep building until you hit that treshold. Elrond’s Counsel can buy more turns, and early threat reduction is probably the best use for Gandalf as well.

Glorfindel, Mirlonde and Erebor Record Keepers do early questing. Warden of Healing and Gleowine can help if they have nothing better to do. The first turn can be tough, expect to fail questing unless you get lucky. Secret Path is in the deck for turn 1 and for Orc Warcamp.

When the deck fails this scenario it is likely because of the starting Morgul Vale location. It can form a lock in the early game, in particular with Orc Vanguard. The Vanguard prevents you from playing cards while in staging, and if you engage it Morgul Vale will bounce it back to staging. In the early game, you can’t be sure to have enough WP to clear the Vale or enough attack to kill the Vanguard. An early appearance of Orc Warcamp can have a similar effect, but then at least you can play Secret Path or Asfaloth to get out of the lock. You might not have drawn your answers yet though. An early Morgul Spider can also be tough, or even an early Morgul Tracker, if Glorfindel is exhausted when it appears because he doesn’t have Light of Valinor yet. Those 3 or 4 threat bouncing back to staging because of the Vale can be devastating in the first couple of turns.

The best answer to these early game risks is Denethor’s ability. It’s extremely satisfying to just move Orc Vanguard to the bottom of the encounter deck f.ex. Denethor isn’t always ready to use his ability though. You probably want to keep him back to defend if a smaller enemy engages (in particular Morgul Sorcerer) so he’ll be using his ability after staging and only if he didn’t defend. After he gets UC he can peek almost every turn, but by then the early game is probably over anyway.

Once you get past the first couple of turns you should be left with only Murzag in staging, or maybe with another low threat enemy. Resources are accumulating on Denethor and you keep improving your board while dealing with one encounter card per turn. You will still be low on attack power, often taking more than one turn to finish off enemies, at least until you find your Mirkwood Runners. That’s not a big problem though, Denethor can soon defend against anything. He commonly has at least 5 resources and often more, making him defend for at least 8. Many enemies have higher engagement costs than Murzag, so you can engage them one at a time. Warden of Healing deals with any archery or direct damage that appears.

You want to find Forest Snare before you hit threat 30, because if you do, you can snare Murzag with it and keep on building even after the treshold. You won’t advance to stage 2 until you kill him, so this allows you complete control. The way this usually plays out is that you spend a lot of turns on stage 1, and once you’re ready to go on you complete stage 2 and 3 in one turn each. It’s often a good idea to save a Hammersmith on hand to return Forest Snare if you need to play it on another enemy (Orc Vanguard) before Murzag engages.

Once you have all your toys in play, enough attack power to kill Alcaron in one swing in play and Infighting on hand, you’re ready to go on. Often there are only a couple of cards left in the deck at this point. There is only one copy of Infighting in the deck, but you have so many turns and so much draw that you should always find it.

Killing Murzag triggers stage 2 and makes Alcaron appear. Miruvor for Denethor is in the deck mostly as insurance against his attack ability, in case he keeps on attacking. You will also have plenty of chump blockers at this point, but it can be risky to block with them because Alcaron may be returned to staging from the shadow card. Keep 8 attack ready to kill him, triggering stage 3.

Stage 3 can add a lot of threat to staging. This will probably not matter, as you can afford to fail to quest. Threat is usually around 30-35 at this point.

Denethor defends against the Nazgul and any other enemies that appear. Between the extra encounter card from stage 3 and the regular staging, you are bound to get another enemy. Attack that enemy for 4 damage and move the damage to the Nazgul with Infighting (his ability prevents damage being dealt, not damage being moved). Then attack him with Mirkwood Runner, killing him and winning the scenario. I find the Infighting shenanigan to be hilariously thematic, evil turning on itself. It’s funniest if you get Bodyguard in play, as you can deal 5 damage to it and move all of it to the Nazgul. I’ve played the scenario lots of times and have never had a situation where the Nazgul appears alone (that would prevent Infighting). If that were to happen, I’m confident the deck can handle a couple of turns to take him down. Mirkwood Runner is the perfect attacker against his ability, leaving all your other characters free to deal with other enemies.

Notably, Test of Will is not in the deck, the When Revealed effects aren’t that bad in the scenario.

Have you made another progression style deck that can reliably beat this scenario? If so, I’m impressed! Please tell us about it in the comments!