Killer Thematic Three Hunters 1.0

• Versions
• 1.0

When I first saw the Forth, The Three Hunters! contract, I immediately thought of this hero combo. Who would have thought that after a few modifications to the initial designs, it became one of the best decks I ever built. If someone says to me "Bring your strongest deck" this is one of the first I think of. It doesn't have any major tricks or surprises, but can handle some very difficult quests and is just well rounded.

There's so much synergy with these characters and contract that it's just fun to play. It's the only deck I know that within a few rounds can generally quest for 18-20, defend from anywhere on the table, and then strike back with 6-9 attack easily.

A good starting hand contains Elven-light, which you can discard with Legolas's ability to ready Gimli, allowing you to quest for 6 the first round with a ready defender. If you don't spend Gimli's resource, you also have the ability to ready up an attacker, which can vary from round to round, depending on which restricted attachments you decide to get on Aragorn, who generally starts out as your dedicated quester. If you get Celebrían's Stone on him, you'll have resources to also afford your Unexpected Courages. If I don't find Elven Light, or if the quest requires instant combat, I will look for helpful restricted attachments. I can use my other card draw to find it.

Getting restricted attachments for your characters is easy--there's 5-6 which are unique for each hero in your deck. plus 3x Dagger of Westernesse which can go on anyone in a pinch and 3x Raiment of War which is a great early game card to get Aragorn or Gimli up and running ASAP (can be kept late game too depending on the quest). Late game, if you find a character's specific attachment you can discard either of the general restricted to find the best needs. Generally I am ready to flip the contract to side B by turn 3 or 4, and am usually pretty close by the end of round 2 and am just waiting on one.

Thorongil is just a fun inclusion, because you can use it on any hero, which you can change up depending on the quest. In most of the games I've played, though, I use it to bring out Lore Aragorn to reduce threat, but the option to bring in Legolas to clear your active location each round or Aragorn to have an extra action is always nice. Strider is included for thematic reasons, and also in case one of your heroes dies, you're not stranded.

The deck's main downside is early questing. so if it's paired with a support deck that handles early questing, it can take and kill a boatload of enemies. and then will help fend off the rest later on. I haven't played much solo, but since it does a little of everything well, I imagine it wouldn't have too much troubles.

Overall, it's just a fun thematic deck to play!