Best deck at 1 hero for solo: Mono Sam Gamegie

Questlogs using this decklist
None.
Fellowships using this decklist
None.
Derived from
Best deck at 1 hero for solo: Mono Sam Gamegie 15 8 2 2.0
Inspiration for
None yet.
Card draw simulator
Odds: 0% – 0% – 0% more
The gameplay simulator is an experimental feature and is currently only available for those that support RingsDB development on Patreon.
Gameplay simulator
Round
0
Threat
0
Hand
In Play
Deck
Discard Pile

Rouxxor 1860

A long time ago someone told me about a one hero deck that someone play in US. You can see his post here: https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/1076754/samwise-brave-single-hero-solo-deck Back at this time this was very rare and I thought that Sam Gamgee was a pretty good hero to do this. My first test told me this deck was awful. So I change cards, one after the other and I come to this deck who he can even challenge half of the nightmare packs.

The purpose is easy: because we don't have heroes we will have allies. Tons of them. The most important cards to have in beginning hand are resourceful, steward of Gondor, Timely aid and a very good tale. We even play tome of atanator to replay a very good tale for 3.

About the allies I try to have some of them really cheap and some other with good abilities or one big stat. No one is essential but knight of the white tower, Erestor and Faramir help a lot.

We are not idle is use only to cycle so you will draw more faster the cards you need. Strenght for arms is really good since you can send everyone in quest then beat two ennemies. With Faramir ability it is also very useful to win straight even if 40 of will is needed.

Gandalf is very great here. He can make you back on secrecy, draw cards to get the event you need, kill an enemy and be exhaust on a very good tale (on the restoration phase, right before he died, this is very cool).

Until recently a small package of off-sphere allies were played (Beorn, Fyrial, Gildor, tracker of the north) since I don't need to play them with event, Beorn is good too with sneak attack and with Gildor I can put them back on my deck. I can still discard them on Erestor if I don't have any of this options. In some scenario winning is very hard without one of them. But since it is hard to get them in play and because of new good allies I replace them from now.

I don't play any attachment that boost Sam. Strider don't work since Sam already ready and 5 character are in play very soon (or you will die, strider or not). Hobbit cloack and staff than cancel shadow are better but since I have no heal I get to a point where I can't block with Sam. So I prefer just to play more allies and block with them.

Thanks for reading me.

2 comments

Nov 29, 2019 brian@d6pack.com 96

This is a nice mono deck, but maybe update it to support the Fellowship contract or even The Grey Wanderer contract from the recently announced Challenge of the Wainriders (if you are not familiar with it, look it up on FFG's website). Side A of the The Grey Wanderer contract forces you to start with only 1 hero, but allows you to attach a 1 cost attachment to start the game. Side B allows you to increase your threat by 1 to (pick TWO): ready starting hero, give starting hero 2 resources, or heal 3 damage from starting hero. It also allows you to play 1 non-unique card during the planning phase that doesn't require a resource match. Definitely a game changer for anyone wanting to do solo hero decks.

Nov 29, 2019 Rouxxor 1860

Sure the grey wanderer is a game changer in the one hero deck environement. It is an obvious include, that require only a 1-cost equipement (strider or leaf brooch) to work with. But grey wanderer also have a larger impact, making the very choice of the hero controversial. I select Sam because it was the best one hero option at this time, but it may not be true nowadays, so I need to figure the full issue at once and then I will be back with a one hero deck (or decks perhaps) to show the best of it. Thanks for your comment and suggestion :).