Imladris Singles

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Derived from
None. Self-made deck here.
Inspiration for
Council of the Wise 0 0 0 6.0
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GrandSpleen 1398

Beravor spent a lot of time in the wild. But when she needed to relax, she headed to Imladris. There, she could find like-minded adventurers just looking to unwind and have a good time. Most of all, though, a night at Imladris meant a chance to glimpse her. Word was that the daughter of Elrond was taken. But Beravor never let hope die. She asked her friend Gildor for advice. Did she really have a chance? He replied, “Go not to the Elves for counsel for they will answer both no and yes.”

This is a Council of the Wise deck, hence there is only a single copy of each card.

I'll start with the strengths and weaknesses of the deck: -It is a fun gameplay style, lots of decisions to make when your hand is full of events. Feels fresh and keeps you engaged. -It's flexible, does best at covering willpower, but has some combat ability with allies on the board. -It's definitely stronger if the quest allows you to turtle. It takes a while to build up allies. -It's very unique heavy and has high probability of ally conflict in multiplayer. -It has strong draw, which can actually be aimed at other players if you need to. -I have only done this via OCTGN so far. The physical cards would be a pain to assemble, especially if you keep multiple decks put together.

The design principles were as follows:

Aim to include 6 cards in the deck to fill any role you wish the deck to cover. I aimed for balance with this deck (among questing, attacking, defending), but could use the same approach and modify the quantities to tweak the balance of the deck.

6x allies who can defend at least one attack and survive, 6x allies with at least 2 attack power, 6x allies with at least 2 willpower. Then, add slightly lower quantities of other cards which fill less crucial functions. 5x cards that can reduce threat. As many repeatable readying effects as were available, to enable Beravor to do her work. 3x repeatable healing cards, presently in the sideboard. Also in the sideboard: The White Council. Excellent card for this deck (and good solo card in general). Not worth using for any multiplayer games.

Some cards pulled double duty, like Dwarven Sellsword, who can fill any role at need. Allowing some cards to count for multiple roles pulled the ally count down a bit, making room for more event cards to fuel the contract.

Then, fill out the remainder of the deck with events. Preference for 0-cost and then 1-cost events. 1-cost events can act like resource smoothers, performing their effect and letting you regain a resource in the sphere of your choice. 0-cost events can be resource generators. Even if you use the card for no other reason, like A Good Harvest, you could gain a resource (or a card, or reduce threat).

Playing 1 to 3 events per round means you can deplete your hand quickly, even with the draw effect from the contract. I went for heroes with draw effects to compensate. An earlier version had Círdan in Arwen’s place, but his threat is high, and forced discard in a singleton deck is painful. Still, he is in the sideboard to replace Arwen, and her ally can replace Elven-light if she is removed as a hero (note that Elven-light doesn’t combo with the contract, it’s just a card you want to have around when playing Arwen).

There is not a specific strategy for using the contract’s benefits. That’s the beauty of the contract: it’s a toolbox, and gives you decisions to make every round. In testing Passage through Mirkwood I was mostly using draw and resource, but when I moved on to Journey Down the Anduin I was using that threat reduction to stay under the Hill Troll’s radar.

The deck is very heavy on unique allies because they tend to have great cost-to-stat ratios, so you might have to make some compromises if playing multiplayer.

By the way, I recommend using some system of reminders to help you keep track of which effects you have used each round. It's very easy to forget. You find yourself playing an event during the combat phase and trying hard to remember whether you used threat, resources, or card draw when you played one during the planning phase.

Performance: Solo: Passage through Mirkwood: 1/1 Journey Down the Anduin: 1/1, turtled like crazy. This contract is good for turtling. Intruders in Chetwood: 0/1, this deck could win, but not every game. Had it well in hand until a bad round swung things in the other direction, and didn't recover.

2-player (paired with a combat specialist deck that contributed never more than 2 willpower): Treachery of Rhudaur: 0/1, failed to defeat Thaurdir. Singles deck had a hard time keeping up with location threat in early game. Road to Rivendell: 1/1, despite taking a Sleeping Sentry to the chin on round 2. 2nd copy never came out. Shadow of the Past: 1/1, questing for around 30 by end of game. Long game, 10+ rounds. Drew entire deck and then used Will of the West for more.

6 comments

Feb 21, 2020 kjeld 611

Why not Bilbo Baggins in place of the Ethir Swordsman? Bofur and Halfast Gamgee would also be decent choices for 2 WP and and some extra HP without much additional cost.

Feb 21, 2020 GrandSpleen 1398

Bilbo makes good sense. Of course, more conflict potential. Bofur and Halfast hurt the cost curve, and you do find yourself without resources while playing this deck. Bofur of course can enter play temporarily, but other options are permanent. Halfast gives a resource back but has an expensive entry point. Good sideboard card if someone else is running side quests, or if the encounter deck is.

Feb 21, 2020 Wandalf the Gizzard 2415

I don’t think the OP realizes Beravor is a she.

Feb 21, 2020 Wandalf the Gizzard 2415

Oh wait, I just re-read the description. Nevermind. :D

Feb 21, 2020 GrandSpleen 1398

It’s a wide world, Bilbo Baggins.

Mar 20, 2020 GrandSpleen 1398

Flies and Spiders true solo 1/1