Dooming Dale for the Win 1.0

• Versions
• 1.0

As a preface, a while ago, Seastan published his fantastic effort to create a power Dale deck that he tested against many of the hardest scenarios ordered in what he calls the “Reduced Questing Gauntlet“, where you take the hardest quests by category in the game (such categories being for example the hardest quest that requires early willpower, or the quest that taxes you the hardest on threat control etc.) and assign the deck a score, the so-called (Power Deck Score) according to its win-rates. I do not want to get into that system too much, Seastan has a wonderful write-up in the description for his deck which you should definitely check out.

https://ringsdb.com/decklist/view/12498/daleforcewins-1.0

So if you already have a fantastic Dale deck that has a great PDS and is extremely fun to play, why should I publish another? First of all, I really enjoy a challenge and I wanted to build a deck that features both Bard and Brand while still retaining a satisfactory PDS and being a true tier one “power-deck“. Also, I realised that I never saw a deck that marries the themes of Dale and Doomed gaining much attention. There are, in fact, only two other deck on ringsdb with this specific hero-lineup and both run very different cards than this deck (both are great in their own right btw).

Testing (PDS)

So which of the 15 quests (I didn’t sideboard for any of them I should add) of the Gauntlet was the deck succesfull against in solo-player according to the rules of the PDS? Here is the list:

Successes:

1. (NM) Escape from Mount Gram
2. (NM) A Storm on Cobas Haven
3. (NM) Encounter at Amon Din
4. (NM) The Three Trials
5. The Ruins of Belegost
6. (NM) A Journey to Rhosgobel
7. (NM) Shadow and Flame
8. (NM) The Battle of the 5 Armies

Failures:

1. Battle of Carn Dum
2. (NM) The Lonely Mountain
3. (NM) Return to Mirkwood
4. (NM) Journey to the Cross-roads
5. (NM) The Nin-in-Eilph
6. Mount Doom
7. (NM) Escape From Dol Guldur

So overall, the deck (according to the PDS rules) beat 8 of the 15 quests (and would have beaten maybe a few more with the sideboard) and therefore achieved a PDS of 53.33 which I am quite happy with as these are basically the hardest quests in the game. Dale in general also has a high skill-cap, so better players might win more quests than me. On the other hand, I was only able to beat some of the quests because I played a ton of Dale recently … without these games, I would have never won some of the quest either so I have to warn you that there is a steep learning-curve with this deck (as with the archetype in general). I do not want to write a write-up for every quest (some, both, successes and no successes, were really close) but feel free to ask me about specific quests in the comments.

General Strategy and Heroes

Dale decks, espescially if you run Bard and Brand, often need some time to set up but once they are set up, they often crush the encounter deck mid- to late-game. However, if we are talking about the hardest quests in the game, the one thing they do not give you is time to set up so we need an accelerator during the first couple of turns. The best acceleration of tempo we have in this game is the extremely undervalued doomed mechanic. Once you reach the late-game, your Guardians of Esgaroth should be fully beefed up and your army of allies can usually take care of the encounter deck.

On a quick tangent, if you ask me what are the five best non-hero player cards (excluding combo decks from the discussion) my answer is A Test of Will ,Daeron's Runes, Vilya, Deep Knowledge and Legacy of Númenor. Drinking Song (along with trivial answers like We Are Not Idle) is up there too, as are Northern Tracker and Henamarth Riversong in specific player counts. Yeah you heard right, no Steward of Gondor, fight me! So why do I consider Legacy of Numenor a vastly superior card in terms of power level than SoG? Which turn is the most important turn in the game? Usuall turn 1. How many resources does SoG net you on this turn? 0. How many does LoN net you? Up to 12, up to 13 in saga quests. Yeah it has Doomed 4, but with a LoN on turn 1 you get cruising much faster which means that you will usually win faster, thus often negating a ton of the Doomed 4 cost since you save turns that would further raise your threat. The same argument applies to Deep Knowledge. Doomed is insane.

So I think it becomes apparent why Doomed for the most part covers up the biggest weakness that Dale has, not being able to gain enough tempo during the first few turns. With that realisation out of the way, one hero was a no-brainer. I wanted lore for card-draw (Deep Knowledge) and I wanted my already crowded deck not having to run a bunch of threat reduction. Aragorn was my go-to-guy.

But what about Brand son of Bain and Bard son of Brand? Brand is the cornerstone of the Dale deck, no explenations needed here. And I think Bard is really great too! He gives you access to Spirit, Dale wants Spirit for King of Dale and nearly every powerdeck (at least for singleplayer) needs Spirit because A Test of Will is just that good. He also basically always has 3 WP and draws you an extra card due to his daddy and his trait. Plus his ability synergizes very nicely with Dale in general, so I preferred him to say Arwen as the third hero. Plus, building a deck running Bard and Brand while retaining a good PDS was basically the point of the deck ^^.

The biggest strength of the deck is its ability to draw a ton of cards and I mean a ton. My rule of thumb (and there are very few instances in which I do not follow that strategy) is always prioritise playing attachments on Dale characters which have no attachments. The extra draw is in this deck in most cases much more useful than the bonusses Guardian of Esgaroth or King of Dale give you. Also, Long Lake Trader and Spare Hood and Cloaks can ensure you still get bonusses on said cards in addition to the initial draw of Brand‘s ability. There are exceptions to this rule of course, as I said Dale decks usually have a high skillcap in my opinion. Playing a Dale deck to its full potential is not something I have seen from many players, I often find that I still make strategic mistakes after more than 30 games with this deck.

Mulligan

Your two most important cards early on are King of Dale and Legacy (or The Seeing-stone as a stand-in). Steward of Gondor is nice early too as is a lot of draw. I cannot give you a definite rule of thumb for a good starting hand but you should get a feel for it after a few games. It also (as always) depends on the quest since different quests require different strategies when it comes to tempo management. Allies in general, Test of Will and Valiant Determination are not that important in your starting hand (although some quests just need you to have AToW), with the amount of draw the deck has you will gain access to them soon enough. Usually, Steward goes on Bard although that can change if your hand is flushed with Leadership´and by default KoD goes on Brand to get the maximum amount of draw from your "Dale-Slots".

Sideboard

While I did not use the sideboard for the PDS, I still wanted to include one with a few options. They should be self-explenatory and they depend on the quest and player count of course. With the amount of Doom, Desperate Alliance is a must-have for MP-games while a card like Will of the West can become crucial in some quests (NM Lonely Mountain e.g.). I could write a whole essay about the sideboard but I think most choices should be fairly obvious.

WHY …

… No Wild Stallion? Not a big fan of the card, too slow and no draw for Brand.

… Mariner's Compass instead of Map of Rhovanion? The Compasses are generally less useful, but I do prefer them in NM as some locations are just really nasty. Crucial for defeating NM Rhosgobel for example.

… Ioreth instead of more Dale allies? She is a beast. Single-handedly won me Journey to Rhosgobel with the Compass, and fantastic just about in every situation. I almost put her in as a 2x.

… no WANI? What to cut? Suggestions are welcome….

Ok so that much for my Dale deck, which is by far the strongest Dale deck that I built. I am really having a blast with it and I hope you will too!

Take care and, as always, ENJOY!!!