Lords of the Noldor 1.0

• Versions
• 1.0

This is the questing deck for the One Elven Fellowship. It also features location control, threat reduction, cancelling and healing, so it is the usual supportive role of lore and spirit, but it can also hold its own in combat, especially in the first few rounds when its the most important.

There are two cards you really want to see in your opening hand or at least very early in the game: Nenya and Light of Valinor. Both incredibly help with questing and allow for some progress in the first round already, and Light of Valinor keeps Glorfindel ready for combat. Together with Legolas from the partner deck, this allows for taking out a nasty enemy in the first round by defending with Elrond and attacking for 6, the magical number for killing enemies. And if you end up not needing to use Nenya, Galadriel keeps the threat low and draws cards.

Another great attachment to see early is the Mirror of Galadriel, which allows to react to the specific requirements of the staging area: If you fear a game-ending treachery to show up, grab A Test of Will, if your starting to get locked with locations, go for Asfaloth or a Northern Tracker. If one player needs some threat reduction, look for The Galadhrim's Greeting.

Healing is done via the Warden of Healing and Elrond's ability (which also fuels the Silvan Tracker in the other deck). Elladan and Elrohir help with combat, although you do not need them most of the time, since the partner deck becomes a combat monster pretty quickly. They are fun, though, when boosted by a Wild Stallion each.

Most of the other cards are self-explanatory. The Ethir Swordsman is for crazy questing, and Arwen Undómiel gives a nice defense boost and sentinel, which can be useful from time to time. The first Unexpected Courage should go to the partner deck (I most often give it to Legolas to allow for even more kills and thus more progress). The second can go to Elrond for either an additional defense (he becomes very viable with A Burning Brand and a Dúnedain Warning or even Ancestral Armor from the other deck) or a use of Vilya.

Speaking of the ring, it is actually not a centerpiece of the deck, but rather a way to save some resources and accelerate everything a bit. You can save up for a Northern Tracker, but it is more fun to just put it into play. Same goes for Haldir of Lórien. I sometimes even use it if I do not have an Imladris Stargazer out yet, since it can do little harm (all cards in this deck are useful), even if it does only find a unique you already played, at least it puts it at the bottom of your deck so you won't draw it next round.

Overall, this deck really shines in questing and supporting the partner deck. We often found ourselves ending up with a lower threat than we started, and after very few rounds of setup, these decks can beat (almost?) every quest, clearing locations almost always after one or two rounds, even if they remain in the staging area, questing for absurd amounts, healing everything on the table and defending without worrying about silly shadow effects. If you have questions or ideas to improve the deck, feel free to comment. Every suggestion is welcome!

Sideboard Notes: Miner of the Iron Hills is just there for discarding condition attachments. He also make for a good chump-blocker.