"Sam Wins!"

Questlogs using this decklist
None.
Fellowships using this decklist
Sam wins Against the Shadow
Derived from
None. Self-made deck here.
Inspiration for
None yet.
Card draw simulator
Odds: 0% – 0% – 0% more
The gameplay simulator is an experimental feature and is currently only available for those that support RingsDB development on Patreon.
Gameplay simulator
Round
0
Threat
0
Hand
In Play
Deck
Discard Pile

banania 1819

Played as part of a 2-player Fellowship.

This my gf's first deck. I advised her to go for any mono-sphere deck, and she ended building a Gondor Pillars-deck. My player card binders are organized thematically (for example all Gondor cards in one place) and sub-organized by sphere, so it actually greatly facilitated her deckbuilding.

I would have made a few modifications myself, but I wanted her to experience her own deck and tweak it if necessary.

It plays like your usual Gondor Pillars swarm deck:

Then, as she says every time we win: "Sam wins!"

PS: Prince Imrahil is there in the sideboard to play Blood of Gondor and The Morgul Vale (swap in for Faramir).

2 comments

Aug 16, 2020 Imrahil13 1254

A good first foray into deckbuilding! I love playing Valour Gondor, and you've got to appreciate the theme of the Steward and his sons!

As your gf continues to learn the game and starts to tweak this deck, there are some potentially useful cards for this deck you might want to make sure she has an opportunity to consider (but may not be sorted with the Gondor subtheme):

We Are Not Idle & Campfire Tales -- card draw for Leadership, and increase the likelihood that Pillars (and Steward) get found on Turn 1. Campfire Tales is very affordable for a Denethor deck, and would boost all the players at the table to boot. We Are Not Idle is particularly hard for new players to recognize as card draw, because it seems at first blush that it only works with Dwarf heroes (but, since you can do it with 0 Dwarves and still draw a card, it's essentially always free Card Draw that thins the deck).

If Threat becomes a persistent issue for the deck, maybe help your gf discover the section of theme-less Neutral cards, where she'll likely discover Favour of the Valar and Gandalf, either of which can help round out Pillars as reliable threat control.

Aug 16, 2020 banania 1819

I am personally a big fan of Campfire Tales and I also include A Very Good Tale in my own version. What I find amusing is that she's got her own take on cards, and she for instance doesn't like AVGT because of the frustration it can provide, discarding your Steward of Gondor when you're waiting for it.

Favor of the Valar is a good call, but since you can reduce your threat with Pillars of the Kings, I find myself not including it anymore in my Valour builds.

I know the trick about We Are Not Idle but I really don't like it (IMO a happy side effect of a poorly worded card but I could go on and on about how Dwarrowdelf is the worst cycle of the game), and never use it outside of a Dwarf build.

Thanks for your input!