Introduction

This is my take on the deckbuilding challenge presented by Cardboard of the Rings. There are four heroes to choose from. The fourth hero is Elfhelm, but since I don't have a lot of experience with decks that rely on mounts, I've chosen Eleanor as my third hero. The other two options are rather obvious.

My main goal is to assemble a solo-viable deck, but it might prove to be fun in multiplayer as well. At first glance, it does offer 7 right from the start, while Eleanor should remain ready in case an awful treachery comes up and tries to ruin your day. I think the deck might be fun in certain quests, especially in those where you have a bit of time to set up your board state.

Main Focus

• #1: I've recently had a lot of fun playing with the Giant Bears, the Beorning Skin-changers, and Beorn himself in a mono spirit mining deck with Caldara, Dáin Ironfoot, and Éowyn. The whole combo relies on playing Stand and Fight to pull out the Skin-changers and later turn them into someone a lot scarier.

• How to get all those bears to the discard pile? You can use Cirdan's ability, put into play the Elven Jewelers for free, ready Glorfindel or a Wandering Exile, or while reducing the cost to play a Noldor ally with To the Sea, to the sea!

• #2 : The Knights of Belfalas are probably the second best source of attack. Their secondary purpose is to return the Envoys of Pelargir from the discard pile back to your hand.

• : Well, the Beornings are the ones you'll be looking for in this deck. But I also included one cheeky copy of Blood of Númenor. My idea is to attach Steward of Gondor to Eleanor so she might be able to have some resources available, and since I won't be sending her to quest a lot, she might become a good defender if the need arises.

• One of the most recent allies I'd like to try out is the Wandering Exile. Gildor's here so we have the leadership icon and the Noldor trait. I'm not sure if there will be enough cards in hand to use her ability, but it's worth to try this out. Including more copies of Elven-light may not be such a bad idea. Cirdan and Gildor can provide a lot of card draw already so it remains to be seen if it's going to work out in the end.

• An Envoy of Pelargir allows you to play Steward of Gondor right from the get-go.

• In this deck, you can also Sneak Attack Beorn instead of Gandalf, which is a nice alternative to have. Or why not even a Giant Bear and trigger its/his awesome ability!