Doomed alliance 1.0

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• 1.0

Two ring-lovers take the Captain of Gondor hostage, and march off to their doom... um...

Thematic wobbles aside, this is basically an attempt to make the most of Saruman's amazing built-in Doomed card readying. Sméagol keeps initial threat nice and low, and Beregond's threat-lowering ability should draw things out for a bit longer (it should be firing most rounds, since he'll be your main defender). Then, when things start getting a bit too sticky, use the Helm of Secrecy to swap out Saruman for our favourite threat-muncher Aragorn and flip yourself back to 26. I realise the deck's a bit big (and suggestions to thin it are definitely welcome), but with the amount of card draw on offer it's rare that I haven't had the Helm when I've needed it. This is my first Doomed deck and I love the whole premise – it really gets the adrenaline pumping when you get up to 48 and then sub in Aragorn just in time...

A few more notes:

• Mulligan for a hand with a few decent Doomed cards, a bigger ally to work towards, and Saruman's Staff and/or Keys of Orthanc so you can make the most of the Doomed goodness.
• Crazy as it sounds with so many Doomed cards in play, I do generally use Sméagol's ability to get a bit more card draw and a better chance of getting the Helm in time.
• Managing Sméagol tricksiness is a bit of a concern, but Firyal and Henamarth Riversong will help you keep watch over the encounter deck, and Far-sighted is an absolute boon since it also gives you some tasty readying for Saruman. A Test of Will is the final line of defence, so try and hang on to a copy if you can. In reality, I've barely ever had Sméagol flip in a way I can't avoid somehow.
• Desperate Defense and Blood of Númenor are there to help Beregond handle bigger enemies; I usually put the Keys of Orthanc on him instead of Saruman so he can pay for these as well as Jubayr.
• Self Preservation usually goes on Saruman so he can defend a bit better, or take some attacks undefended.
• Horns! Horns! Horns! goes great with Gandalf, as you might expect. I like Defiant Challenge too because you get two ready characters for the price of one, thanks to Saruman's ability.
• I haven't ended up using the weaker allies (Isengard Messenger and Soldier of Isengard) that much and am thinking about cutting them, but I don't want to end up with so few allies that I can never get to any of them.

I've played a fair few scenarios with this by now and had a pretty good hit rate (and a lot of fun). When it fails it tends to be either location lock (if I've not managed to get Firyal out) or poor threat management before I can get the Helm set up. I do think I probably need to get it down to 50 cards for maximum impact, though. Suggestions welcome!