Treebeard and Hobbits 1.0

• Versions
• 1.0

Brief Deck Description

A Treebeard deck, with the Hobbits to avoid starting threat being too high. I chose Pippin for the extra engagement cost on enemies possibly buying more times to get attachments and allies in play. I chose Sam Gamgee because I wanted access to Steward of Gondor, but I could see a deck working with Merry instead.

This deck is made using cards from the first 2 full cycles, some of Against the Shadow and the first 4 saga boxes.

I've been playing through Shadows of Mirkwood and Dwarrowdelf two handed with this deck and a mono-spirit Rohan deck and plan to play through the Against the Shadow quests I have and the saga quests. For full details see the Fellowship description.

Deck Strategy

I normally mulligan for Steward of Gondor or Asfaloth, and sometimes for a Warden of Healing depending on the quest. Rivendell Minstrel can be nice to see early on if the quest doesn't ramp up really quickly.

I usually will commit both Pippin and Sam to the quest, along with some of the 2 willpower allies if necessary.

Treebeard defends against strong enemies and when equipped with A Burning Brand is reliable. He is almost always the preferred target for Self Preservation (and Unexpected Courage from the spirit deck). I will also put an Ent Draught on Treebeard, and often also on Sam. If I get a Hobbit Cloak and a Fast Hitch on Sam he can defend against some weaker enemies if needed.

I rely on allies for attack quite often, but Treebeard is great if he isn't needed to defend or has Unexpected Courage attached. Quickbeam, Gimli and Anborn are usually used for attacking along with Gandalf.

Asfaloth is for Glorfindel in the spirit deck, and Celebrían's Stone can go on Pippin, Glorfindel or Éowyn as they quest almost every round. Steward of Gondor goes on Sam or Treebeard depending whether I have more expensive lore or leadership cards in hand. Then whoever gets Steward of Gondor will get the appropriate Song, Song of Wisdom for Sam or Song of Kings for Treebeard. I try to use Elf-stone to get any of the 4+ cost allies in this deck into play or a Northern Tracker from the spirit deck.

I will exhaust Pippin and Sam Gamgee for Peace, and Thought, which is often not much of a problem if I have or draw Fast Hitch.

Changes

The sideboard contains cards that I have used for some quests so far. I used the healing cards for A Journey to Rhosgobel and extra copies of Haldir of Lórien as well as Dúnedain Cache. I used 2 copies of Shadow of the Past for The Dead Marshes.

I find that Hobbit Cloak is often not very useful, because the starting threat is high for hobbits. I also find Gléowine sometimes doesn't feel needed if I get Peace, and Thought early on.

I welcome any feedback on the deck; I find this deck suffers from direct damage to exhausted characters, and anti-ally effects. This deck is also weak at coping with lots of low engagement cost enemies early on in a quest.