Brains Over Brawn

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Swordthatwasbroke 724

Many decks are designed to be able to steamroll any type of scenario by including the heaviest hitters or the most broken combos. This deck does the opposite. Although it does include two household staples in Galadriel and ally Glorfindel, it does its job using more subtle combinations and techniques. This deck will not take you through the Battle of Carn Dum. It will however take you through many another less violent quest, and is also an excellent support deck if that is what you need. In fact, one advantage of this deck is that it includes many cards that are not commonly used in other decks, making it an easy compliment to your favorite trio.

As with any Galadriel deck, mulligan for Mirror of Galadriel. On the first turn, fish out Nenya. Use a lore resource to pay for this. The next order of action is on turn two, go and find Glorfindol. On turn three slap him down and you should be off to a running start. Paired with Galadriel, he will be able to handle questing, and paired with Idraen he will be able to knock off a few enemies. Rossiel will be the main defender. With Cloak of Lórien and her boost she will be able to handle most of what comes her way. Lembas is always there to clean up the collateral damage.

Some other notable cards include Curious Brandybuck. He will be only used for chump blocking. Never pay for him with resources; he should only be put into play via his ability. Leather Boots will go on Rossiel to provide at least a small amount of readying. Eryn Galen Settler is very important to give just enough attack boost to take out some of the nastier enemies. Last but not least is Ride Them Down. This is a very underrated card. In a deck that struggles to generate damage but is rife with willpower, this can be a game changer. In addition, there will be a buildup of Spirit resources later in the game. Because of this feel free to sacrifice Glorfindel as a chump blocker. He can even defend multiple attacks in a turn if need be.

If you are looking for a power deck than this should not be your first choice. But if you want a deck with some fun, not-so-common mechanics that requires a level of subtlety to play, than give this one a shot.

11 comments

Apr 27, 2021 bane 73

This seems very cool indeed. Nice line-up!

Apr 27, 2021 Truck 1409

I think Out of the Wild would help with Rossiel.

Apr 27, 2021 Swordthatwasbroke 724

@TruckNormally I would agree except for two reasons. One is that in this deck, Lore resources are relatively scarce. By the time you have enough resources to pay for it you will want to spend those on some of the other victory display events or on Eryn Galen Settler. The other reason is I don’t currently have the card, but that is unimportant

Apr 27, 2021 Truck 1409

@Swordthatwasbroke, Ok, understandable, both reasons.

Apr 28, 2021 doomguard 1963

have you considered to make it a secrecydeck? with 2 heroes, cutting idraen. you play a discardpile-deck, and for that the mentioned Out of the Wild is a heavy startboost (for many cards, door is closed, keen as lances, rossiel) in secrecy you could not only add out of the wilds, you could add Resourceful an will not have less ressourses.

if you do so, you do not need Well Warned and Warden of Arnor reducing Ride Them Down and you have the place for 3 Resourceful and 3 Out of the Wild

Apr 28, 2021 nelloianiro 1014

What @doomguard said makes a ton of sense, since this isn't supposed to be a combat deck lower threat means engaging less enemies, and then Ride Them Down works even better.

Apr 28, 2021 Swordthatwasbroke 724

@doomguard @nelloianiro These are interesting suggestions. My main worry is that with removing Idrean the deck loses almost half of its combat power. Since the deck is now in secrecy the only way to really deal with enemies is Ride Them Down. But you will definitely need some way of recurring the event because if you don’t you will inevitably be engaged and the deck won’t have the power to kill the enemy.

Apr 28, 2021 doomguard 1963

for combat you can include this guys: Ithilien Lookout cheap and 2 of them attacks for more than idraen. together with glorfindel they attack 5-9

the sattler attacks also for 2 the pathfinder and henemarth for 1. think that should be enough for a secrecydeck. if you are worried , you could include the swissknife of allys: Treebeard

Apr 28, 2021 nelloianiro 1014

O Elbereth! Gilthonial! is a good add for dealing with enemies.

Apr 28, 2021 Swordthatwasbroke 724

@doomguard @nelloianiro Something like this?

ringsdb.com

It’s not really the same deck anymore, but I can see where there are benefits. It’s much less of a location love deck because Idrean enables a lot of the Eryn Galen Settler and Dunedain Pathfinder combos. As a solo deck it might be difficult but it looks like a very solid support deck.

Apr 29, 2021 doomguard 1963

i think that version is stronger with discardshenanigans. would include Unexpected Courage at least for galadriel, both of her actions are great.