The Second Coming 1.0

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• 1.0

Bravo!!! Great job sir! I Really appreciate the article

Wonderful post. I want more Gandalf in me and less Saruman.

no ring? because of thematic reasons i quess?

1-2 Unexpected Courage are thematic and would make it better and more multiplayerpotential (with shadowfax ther is ranged and sentinel)

would skip 1-2 good harvest and 1 flame of arnor for courages, if not for courages (whatever reason) Miruvor (have not read the article)

This is the last deck that needs The One Ring. I left out Unexpected Courage intentionally. I recognize the power of that card. I’m frankly a bit bored of it, and nothing about Gandalf’s courage is unexpected.

Magnificent, both deck and article. It is not the power you have that matters, it is what you do with that power. Saruman and Sauron arguably represented the industrial, imperialist view of power, where power allowed you to impose your will on others, even the land; Gandalf, though, and the Hobbits, represented what I would argue is the classical view of power, where power allows you to maintain yourself and your people within the boundaries prescribed to you. Saruman and Sauron wanted everything; Gandalf and the Hobbits wanted only to be able to do what they could. Personally, a card I would add, even if just as a 1 of, is Smoke and Think, to represent this more homely, quiet interest in power. Remember the last words of Thorin Oakenshield, and value good cheer and virtue more than gold or power; they will serve you better.

You, sir, are a poet yourself. Beautiful reflection. I'm building the deck to play as a meditation on how to live thoughtfully.

Nice deck and article. Too bad we never got an ally Aragorn for your sideboard, I assume you are using Eldahir for a proxy.

Yes indeed, Eldahir is a proxy for Aragorn. I’m hoping that ALeP can make an Aragorn ally at some point, as it is unfortunate that we never received an official one.

Concomitant! Just one of the many wonderful words in your post.

We could do a whole COTR episode on this deck. Amazing!

Why not glamdring?

Good call. I’ll add it to the sideboard in the next update. I don’t usually put Guarded cards in the main deck, especially in Grey Wanderer decks. If you draw it early, it can be difficult to deal with an extra enemy, particularly because Ents are a bit slower to get going.

I love this deck!

Am I right that Expert Treasure-hunter, Hidden Cache and Wizard Pipe together effectively give you an extra card and two extra resources every turn? You switch the top card of your deck using Wizard Pipe before questing, then discard Hidden Cache and take it back into hand with Expert Treasure-hunter. It's beautiful.

Could I ask, what is the purpose of A Good Harvest? I'm probably missing something obvious :)

Once per phase you can play the top card of your deck (Gandalf automatically gains the appropriate sphere) and the contract allows you to play one non-unique card per round without a resource match. Beyond that, Gandalf doesn’t have a sphere until you attach Narya, and even then he cannot play unique Tactics and Lore cards. With solid card draw, you will likely see these cards, and A Good Harvest allows you to play them without having to Pipe them onto the top of your deck (since you may want to save the Pipe for other cards).