Elrond's pocket book 1.0

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• 1.0

After struggling to beat The Fortress of Nurn, I put this together. It did quite well against some of the toughest quests including Nurn, Mount Doom, and Carn Dum. It is a fairly straightforward Vilya deck to pilot, but selecting the right cards for each sphere did take some work to get sorted. This alliance of Elves and Men (and Harad, and creatures) is clearly funded by Elrond. He can frequently get 9-10 resources worth of cards into play per round.

cards: Selecting the spirit cards to include is probably going to be the toughest part of any Bond of Friendship deck. There are just so many good ones. Elven-light is essential in this deck to fuel card draw and to generate additional resources for Elrond. A Test of Will was not an auto-include, but in order to have an easier time against the toughest quests like Nurn, it is a good idea to have two. Jubayr is an excellent defender, and Glorfindel is one of the best cards in the game. His flexibility of getting multiple readies per round is very helpful. In a pinch, he can sail, ready, quest, ready, defend a little attack, ready, defend a big attack and die, be played from the discard pile again, and get some attacks in. Imladris Stargazer adds so much consistency to Vilya that it is worth the tempo hit, especially since this deck can play both cards on turn 1. Light of Valinor, Snowmane, and Unexpected Courage are all great cards to see in one's opening hand, and they are extremely helpful in the early game and against Mount Doom. It would be great to fit in some Northern Trackers and Elrond's Counsel, but I couldn't find room for them in this build.

cards: is probably the most straightforward set of cards to choose from. Gandalf is excellent to see either via a Vilya or by paying 5 resources. In this deck, I typically find myself triggering his threat reduction rather than drawing cards or dealing damage. Two copies of Vilya are certainly included. Gather Information is great for helping to find Vilya or Steward of Gondor. Treebeard can be played on turn 1 for a quick start, and Wilyador is actually quite good. He is very flexible, and I frequently find myself paying the extra resource to keep him around if he does not have to defend a huge attack due to the fact that there are so many resources floating around on Éowyn and Denethor that can end up unused. Favor of the Valar helps to mitigate the high starting threat. Even with all these great cards, without a doubt, the MVP of the cards is The Free Peoples. The deck can easily afford to play it, and one typically has the nine required traits after only a couple turns. This is a must-find for Mount Doom, and it was extremely helpful in The Fortress of Nurn as well.

cards: is also a straightforward sphere to choose. Putting a Gondorian Shield on Denethor gives you a 5 character very easily. Golden Shield on Éowyn can do the same thing as long as one finds Snowmane. Revealed in Wrath is an excellent card that is extremely helpful with dealing with enemies like Mumaks. The remaining cards are all big allies. Yazan can actually quest while providing attack and some direct damage. Boromir is a great defender against some of the high-threat enemies. Beorn and Giant Bear frequently get multiple attacks a round due to The Free Peoples and Grim Resolve. Triggering their abilities is not a huge loss since they are likely to find their way back into play with Vilya. Legolas provides additional card draw, and solid for battle quests or enemies.

cards: Two copies of Steward of Gondor are included in this deck. It is very convenient to be able to play on turn 1 thanks to Denethor's extra resources. It goes on Elrond allowing him to gain 3 resources per turn. Thanks to Arwen Undómiel and Denethor's ability to be able to give Elrond an additional resource each (because he will have the Gondor trait from Steward of Gondor), he can have 5 resources per turn to play any ally. Two copies of Faramir are also essential for Mount Doom. Erestor is a great choice since he can help dig for the most important cards in the deck and provides solid . Gimli is very flexible. Ancestral Armor and Shining Shield both help build Denethor into a defender capable of dealing with the nastiest enemies in the game. Grim Resolve and Captains of the West were actually a bit of a toss-up for me when initially constructing the deck. Long term, I found that the cheaper cost of the latter was irrelevant because Denethor's resources were typically being given to Elrond. For that reason, Grim Resolve was kept since it is far more likely to be helpful when found with Vilya. Ranger Provisions, Captain's Wisdom, and Tighten Our Belts were all tested for slots in the deck but were ultimately passed over for higher-impact cards. I tested Sneak Attack, but the other included cards gave more consistency to the deck.

cards: That brings us to . Heed the Dream is a great option to find either Vilya or Steward of Gondor. (I have also frequently used it to find Faramir or The Free Peoples to help finish a game). Two Warden of Healings are worth including and can help sustain Denethor if he ends up taking damage from big enemies. Firyal is incredible in solo. Galdor of the Havens is almost always able to trigger his ability for extra card draw. Master of the Forge and Haleth are both great ways to dig for the key attachments to set up. Woodmen's Clearing may seem like an odd choice, but I found the threat reduction to be quite key. Using a slot instead of one of the extremely valuable slots to include Elrond's Counsel is a very worthwhile trade off.

Starting hand: Getting Vilya and Steward of Gondor onto Elrond is priority number one. Look for those as well as ways to find them including Heed the Dream, Master of the Forge, Imladris Stargazer, Haleth, and Elven-light. Starting defense and extra readies are also very valuable against most quests, so prioritize hands with Gondorian Shield, Snowmane and Golden Shield, or Light of Valinor. Starting with Treebeard can be very strong, depending on the quest. Other valuable cards to see early include Woodmen's Clearing, A Test of Will, and Gandalf.

Weaknesses: The deck has a few weaknesses. The lack of location control is certainly one of them; however, that is typically not an issue. The deck can usually explore a location each turn due to the very high amount of . High starting threat is another weakness. Playing Gandalf a couple times or finding the Woodmen's Clearing early will help to avoid engaging enemies until one is ready.