Bear Traps of the King 1.0

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• 1.0

...or "AnBeorn Trap."

This deck is based on the memorable chapter from Tolkien lore when Beorn went tramping through the forests of Ithilien, blundering into traps carefully laid for the Enemy, and was set upon by Faramir and his rangers.

"You are in peril, and you would not have gone far by field or road this day. There will be hard handstrokes nigh at hand ere the day is full. Then death, or swift flight..." said Faramir.

"A very good tale! The best I have heard for a long while. ... You might be making it all up, of course..." replied Beorn.

"I would not snare even an orc with a falsehood."

"You must forgive my not taking your word."*

Beorn is of course known for his brash nature and equally sudden turns toward politeness.

*Mash-up quotes from The Two Towers and The Hobbit.

OK, so this deck is not based on theme, it was built originally as my Bear Trap deck as a solution for 2-handed combat in Raid on the Grey Havens, and has been my staple combat deck for years since that time for any game of 2 or more players. It normally uses Beorn, Damrod, and Aragorn, but is reimagined here as a Messenger of the King deck with (MotK) Anborn. It gives up Aragorn's very handy -1 defense ability in order to lean much more heavily into the traps mechanic with guaranteed recycling. Anborn has always been in the Bear Trap deck, but because he's expensive and in what is usually the minority sphere, he only hits the table in maybe a third of the games I play with it. Now he's here, providing lower starting threat and indirectly providing card draw (by ensuring Damrod's ability can trigger every round). He wants a Song of Battle and Rohan Warhorse so he can attack and then recur a trap, preferably Entangling Nets or Ambush.

Starting hand is meant to help Beorn survive longer. So I usually keep a hand if it has either an Honour Guard or a Defender of Rammas. Beyond that you want traps to soften up enemies, Vigilant Guard to siphon damage away from Beorn (it needs to go on a Defender of Rammas, Legolas, or Honour Guard), and in this incarnation of the deck you want to draw Song of Battle in a hurry.

It's definitely not a "traps deck" in the usual sense, which is to say "keep threat low, avoid direct combat with enemies." It instead uses traps to help Beorn survive and make enemies easier to defeat.

And just for my own fun, here's a list of quests I've kept a log of, in which Bear Trap was victorious. Mostly the Aragorn version. The Anborn version hasn't seen much play yet, on account of being new. This is only 2-handed solo play, and doesn't count any of the 3- and 4-player meetups I've done with this deck. This also doesn't include any of my 2-handed OCTGN plays, which usually would be done with Bear Trap in order to test a willpower deck against various quests.

Across the Ettenmors
The Black Serpent
Danger in Dorwinion
Desert Crossing
The Drowned Ruins
Escape from Umbar (Lore Faramir version replacing Aragorn)
The Fate of Numenor
The Fate of Wilderland
The Long Arm of Mordor (Lore Faramir version)
Over the Misty Mountains Grim
Raid on the Grey Havens
The River Running
The Temple of Doom
The Treachery of Rhudaur (with Elladan replacing Aragorn, Elrohir in companion deck)
Voyage Across Belegaer (Pippin replacing Damrod, my standard modification for ship scenarios)
Wrath and Ruin