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| Gandalf and his toys | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2.0 |
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warlock000 4155
I'm still experimenting with this deck, but so far it's been a lot of fun to play. It's risky and a bit unpredictable, but that's what makes it exciting.
You want a copy of Gandalf or Timely Aid in your starting hand (preferably both, but mulligan if you don't neither of these). Resourceful is always nice to have early on, but the two extra resources from Denethor will allow you to play Gandalf on turn one. The most important thing is to build a strong table presence during first round or two, so try to make the most of Timely Aid when you are still in secrecy, even if this means delaying playing Gandalf for one round (hopefully Merry should help you remain in secrecy for a few rounds and give you more time to play your secrecy cards). Send for Aid and Gather Information will also help you grab some key cards (obviously grab Gandalf if you struggle with drawing him).
The basic idea is this: Gandalf and his attachments will do much of the heavy lifting. Keep him in play as long as you can. He doesn't exhaust to quest and with the help of Gandalf's Staff and Shadowfax he will be very useful in combat (especially in multiplayer games, as he receives ranged and sentinel from Shadowfax). He and Éowyn will quest for 8 by themselves, and if you engage some nasty enemy early on you can always defend with Denethor or Gandalf and use Éowyn's ability to make a finishing blow.
Once you manage to play two expensive allies feel free to use A Very Good Tale - there's a high chance of drawing a strong ally or two.
The sole purpose of Merry is to keep reducing threat constantly, which mitigates the major drawback of having Gandalf around all the time (obviously The Galadhrim's Greeting and Double Back are also used for the same purpose). I almost never quest with him. I was considering putting Common Cause in this deck to use it on Merry to ready Denethor (or other player's heroes) during combat if no enemies were revealed during staging, but that's optional.
Ever Vigilant is always nice to have in a deck with such strong allies (especially if you use it to instantly ready Treebeard or ready Beorn after using his ability).
The sideboard contains some potentially useful cards. Flame of Anor is a nice toy to have, but it can be unreliable in this deck. I was also considering experimenting with Sword-thain (since there are many unique alies in this deck), but this is totally optional and probably not that effective (unless other players would be able to play some nice attachments on your newly-created hero or you just want some more resources from a given sphere).
Feel free to experiment and modify this deck to your taste ;). Let me know what you think ;).
/update:
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As suggested in the comments, feel free to include Narya in this deck: swap one Errand-rider, Flame of Anor or maybe Shadowfax for one or two copies of Narya, it will be very useful considering how strong the allies in this deck are. Also, being able to ready other players' allies could be invaluable when they get overrun by enemies.
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Hobbit Pony is a great option if you want to utilize Merry for questing when no enemies are revealed from the encounter deck. I wanted to include more allies in this deck though to make the most of Timely Aid and A Very Good Tale.
| 7 comments |
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Apr 17, 2020 |
Apr 17, 2020Yes, I had Narya initially, but I decided to put a few more allies in this deck as I felt I had too many attachments and "dead hands" when I didn't manage to draw Gandalf early enough. But you are right, Narya would be very useful here. Perhaps it's a good idea to swap [Flame of Anor] (/card/142007) for Narya, even for just one copy. |
Apr 17, 2020Yes, I had Narya initially, but I decided to put a few more allies in this deck as I felt I had too many attachments and "dead hands" when I didn't manage to draw Gandalf early enough. But you are right, Narya would be very useful here. Perhaps it's a good idea to swap Flame of Anor for Narya, even for just one copy. |
Apr 17, 2020I believe the best swap is to swap Shadowfax for Narya, especially for solo. In multiplayer, you can easily swap one shadowfax for narya for less dead draws. |
Apr 17, 2020
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Apr 17, 2020I would take out Súlien and 1 copy of Shadowfax to add 2 copies of Narya Also a couple of Hobbit Pony for those rounds where you will not use Merry might be useful. |
Apr 18, 2020
Another option worth considering for Merry in a multiplayer game is Common Cause - I wanted to include a copy or two just to be able to ready other player's hero when not using Merry for his ability. Being able to ready a strong defender with sentinel or strong attacker might be a viable alternative for a Hobbit Pony - everything depends on the quest and the number of players at the table I suppose ;). |
You might also want to consider Narya so that Gandalf can go into the combat phase with 5 Attack/Defense and you can ready another ally too (perhaps a newly played Treebeard for maximum value)