Forth, the Sniper! 1.0

• Versions
• 1.0

This deck is a glass cannon. It can do some delightfully powerful things and deal tremendous damage but if it takes even one hit the whole thing might just fall apart. You'll be best off using it across from a deck that has a sentinel hero on the table.

Based off my "Haldir Shot First" deck, the Forth, The Three Hunters! contract allows us to boost up Haldir of Lórien's sniping powers to even more dizzying heights. With The One Ring, Strength and Courage, and a couple of Bow of the Galadhrim and/or Dagger of Westernesse attached he can snipe for up to ELEVEN attack. That'll kill almost anything out there! Hands Upon the Bow allows you to use that attack in the quest phase (or whenever) to help with questing and take something out in the staging area, and Quick Strike allows you to hit something in front of you before it hits you or to take out an additional enemy before it attacks once Haldir gets an Unexpected Courage on him. Haldir also gets Light of Valinor and Song of Travel. There's very little to spend Lore resources on here so you'll want to use him to buy the neutral cards and help out with the more expense Spirit cards when you can.

Galadriel is the glue for the deck. Her Mirror of Galadriel is essential here and is the card you mulligan for. You'll want to use it to get a Silver Harp asap. Once you've got them both in play your card draw should be set for the rest of the game. She also gets Silver Circlet when you find it and eventually another Silver Harp, which is useful to save a card from Daeron's Runes or Protector of Lórien, as well as give her an additional willpower once you flip the contract to side B. There are only two copies of Nenya, surprisingly, but I haven't found it essential early on here and space is tight. Feel free to add another copy if you think differently.

Éowyn quests all game long and becomes a ridiculous defender by late game. To start with, she can get her willpower up to a whopping ten with a max of 13! That's four willpower from her base stat, two from Strider, one from Windfola, three from side B of the contract when she's get three restricted attachments, and possibly three more if needed from Protector of Lórien. Golden Shield can turn all that willpower into defense so once you've got it and either Snowmane or Unexpected Courage on her she can defend most any boss attack in existence, though only once per round.

It usually takes about three rounds to flip Forth, The Three Hunters!. Galadriel is usually the toughest to get to 2 restricted attachments, due to the higher cost of her cards. Don't forget you can play Dagger of Westernesse on ANY hero, so either Galadriel or Eowyn can take one to get the contract flipped. You can always replace it later with a different restricted attachment when you find one that was meant for that hero.

There's not much nuance to playing this deck. It's mostly just quest for a bunch and use Haldir to murder enemies while staying as far away from them as you can. There are all sorts of cards in the sideboard that might solve specific problems a quest might present, but this is the best general version of the deck I can make. There are some quests where going without an early defender just isn't going to work, the latest adventure pack (Challenge of the Wainriders) being a perfect example of that, but other times the focused power this brings to the table is pure fun to wield. This is Haldir at his finest.