Longbottom Leaf Appreciation Society 1.0

• Versions
• 2.0
• 1.0

Inspired by recent innovations in pipe and smoking technology (Smoke and Think and Spare Pipes), lovers of the Longbottom Leaf have united to be merry and quest.

This deck is built on two ways of getting cheap allies into play. One is the pair of classic leadership cards: Timely Aid and A Very Good Tale. Both are natural fits for low threat decks. This deck can stay in secrecy pretty easy, letting you play Timely Aid for cheap even in late stages, and A Very Good Tale can be used on your high cost allies more easily when you know you don't have to engage any enemies. These cards are used to get the out of sphere allies into play.

The other is the new card, Smoke and Think. With 7 pipes in the deck, I routinely find myself getting 4-5 in play, and at least 2-3. This cost reduction lets you play the other powerful allies (or Red Book of Westmarch) cheaply. With these two mechanisms in play, coupled with the slow burn of a low threat hobbit deck, you can build up an army of devastatingly powerful allies.

There is a lot of threat reduction here - running Frodo's ability essentially keeps your threat frozen from normal increases, while Merry can contribute significant threat reduction by himself. On top of that, I run both The Shirefolk and Smoke Rings for threat reduction (and card draw with Hobbit Pipe).

Other cards of note:

• Smoke Rings: Spare Pipe really elevates this card. Now being able to run so many pipes in a single deck, this card is often giving me something like 3-4 threat reduction, 3 willpower, and 1-2 cards (comboed with Hobbit Pipe), all for two resources.
• Red Book of Westmarch: this card is not optimal in this deck, as there aren't that many hobbits. Even still, it often gives you +3 to +5 willpower a turn, and generates the resource needed to fuel Frodo Baggins's ability.
• Dwarven Tomb has a lot of targets here, but most often is a way to get recurring Smoke and Think for cheap allies.
• Hobbit Archer: this card is surprisingly useful, since it can either be a solid quester once you have the Red Book out, or contribute ranged attacks when played in multiplayer. That said, I'm partially driven here by trying out the new cards, and they could be swapped out for more beefy allies, or a second copy of a unique you really want to make sure comes out.
• Gandalf: of course, one good use of your super-low threat is to keep OHaUH Gandalf out on the board. He's an absolute monster, and makes it pretty easy to take out an enemy a turn without missing a questing beat once he's running.

The biggest weakness of the deck is against quests that throw a really strong enemy at you right off the bat. Hobbits are super-squishy, and it takes a little while to get your ally pool up and running. For those cases, I've put (MotK) Rosie Cotton and Frodo Baggins into the sideboard. Swapping in those heroes keeps your threat steady, and lets you tank some hits early. Of course, you pay for this in a slower start on your pipes, and it is harder to keep your threat in secrecy.