Trollhunter - We Must Away Ere Break of Day 1.0

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• 1.0

Fairy tales are for kids. Trolls are animals. Predators. They eat, shit and mate. Eat anything they can. - Hans, Trollhunter

Put on your Boots from Erebor and grab your Dwarrowdelf Axe. We've got trolls to kill.

(Warning, here be quest spoilers)

This deck is designed to beat We Must Away Ere Break of Day solo, by putting down the three trolls, whilst also being as thematic as possible. It has minimal questing power, so can't burn through the encounter deck to win. The way out is through those three Trolls.

During the first stage of the quest, build up a mighty Dwarf army, whilst questing just enough to stop your threat getting over 33. Nori helps with keeping the threat low and Free to Choose can stop a No Campfire from hurting too badly. Kili can go and find Fili to get Óin generating both and resources to smooth out any resourcing issues. Three copies of Kili to maximise the chances of getting him early and two of Fili to prevent the issue where drawing Fili stops Kili from finding him. Mulligan any starting hand that doesn't have either Kili or Erebor Battle Master. The dream opening hand is both and a Dwarrowdelf Axe.

The goal is to have a Dwarf swarm powering Erebor Battle Master to 7 Attack (or 6 Attack with Dwarrowdelf Axe) and a Heavy Stroke in hand, before tipping over into Stage 2 before the threat dial hits 33.

Once in stage 2, the real fun begins. Bert will almost always engage immediately, but he'll fall to a single pumped Erebor Battle Master attack + Heavy Stroke.

Nori, boosted by Dori's ability can defend four attacks from a troll, five with Boots from Erebor. If either dwarf has Ring Mail, then the pair can defend away with impunity (shadow cards permitting).

Now, it's a case of taking out Tom, ideally without hitting 38 threat and William getting involved. Tom will fall to Gandalf damage (you have to keep Tom engaged with you for Gandalf to get him) and Erebor Battle Master attacks.

Threat becomes a bit of a concern, as the trolls have 3 and this deck doesn't have much willpower to stop threat rise via failing questing. Gandalf and The Galadhrim's Greeting can be used to reduce threat. Free to Choose means that No Campfire only causes it's Doomed 1 threat rise. These are really only going to buy a turn or two. The deck needs to go fast, and use anyone not essential to defending attacks or killing trolls to quest to try and minimise threat rises. Don't panic about defending - you only need Dori and Nori to defend the Trolls - the only other enemy in the set is A Suspicious Crow, which you can leave undefended without much trouble.

Bilbo's job is to de-sack Heroes once the Troll Camp is out, quest to keep threat down or kill any Suspicious Crows that might appear. Dori getting hit with A Large Sack is a definite weak-spot in this deck. Veteran of Nanduhirion costs 4 and so can help prevent Erebor Battle Master being hit with A Smelly Sack, much like Veteran Axehand protects the Erebor Battle Master from A Strong Sack. Sadly, unlike in Conflict at the Carrock, these sacks aren't conditions and can't be countered with Power of Orthanc. Boo.

A Test of Will is here mainly to stop Wind-whipped Rain ruining Dori and Nori's fun, but could also be used to stop Hungry Troll causing issues. Sometimes though, all Hungry Troll does is make you fight a troll one turn ealier than you had planned. Unexpected Courage probably goes on either Dori or Nori, depending on whether defending multiple trolls (Dori) or getting extra willpower on the quest (Nori) is the priority. Bilbo Baggins is a solid choice, to keep him available for taking dwarves out of sacks.

Once Tom is down, William should fall to a dwarven pile-on and then it's just a case of blasting out some Kvelertak as the credits roll.