Wise and Powerful Order 1.0

• Versions
• 1.0

Emmissaries they were... but clad in bodies of Men, real not feigned, but subject to the fears and pains and weariness of earth...

Premise

This is a deck that sets out explicitly to wield the combined might of the three Wizards of the West. There's not a lot of synergy between the three Istari, so it's an interesting puzzle, and there's enough hidden synergies to force it. For instance, Radagast's Messenger Ravens are automatic card draw with Gandalf's ability to always see the top card of the deck, and Saruman's doomed Horns! Horns! Horns! can be great for putting into play one of Radagast's creature friends, such as a Giant Bear, Meneldor, or even Gwaihir. Gandalf's ring Narya can be useful to ready and buff two of the creatures, also.

Card Draw

This deck has a lot of card draw, which can hopefully help get the "house of cards" combos set-up. Expert Treasure-hunter and Messenger Raven offer perfect knowledge card draw thanks to Gandalf, and Daeron's Runes and Word of Command offer powerful draw as well. The lone Steward of Orthanc (who is a fine quester and my stand-in for a Grima ally) can give additional card draw (and Saruman readying) to the aforementioned events, also, and will not raise your threat if you've gotten Saruman's Staff into play. The staves of both the Gray and White wizards also feature their own card draw.

Resource Engines

You'll need to use Gandalf's ability to play your off sphere cards like Steward of Gondor, Gondorian Shield, or Unexpected Courage. With Steward of Gondor, Radagast's Staff, and Gandalf's Staff you have resource-generation to help play the big creature allies. Steward of Gondor should go onto Radagast so that he can help pay for the Tactics creatures.

Combat

Defense can be covered by any of the Istari, but Radagast + Steward + Gondorian Shield + Burning Brand is an excellent defender. Gandalf's staff can also discard a shadow card, and a second Brand can go onto Saruman should quests pose a lot of small swarm attackers. In a pinch, the Giant Bears and Eagles of the Misty Mountain can pick up some defensive slack, and Horns! Horns! Horns! in conjunction with a Giant Bear is an exceptional way to get two emergency blocks, an emergency block+attack, or two attacks (since the Bear can ready itself for another combat task). In a pinch, Loyal Hounds can save your wizards from would-be fatal damage.

Readying

The deck has a decent amount of readying available, to try and make use of the limited bodies. Radagast can quest unexhausted, Saruman can ready with a Doomed card, and Shadowfax, Unexpected Courage, Narya, and Radagast's Staff offer additional routes to readying.

Threat

This is the biggest challenge for the deck. You start with fairly high threat, and using any of the Doomed cards without Saruman's Staff yet in the mix shortens your clock even more. Still, using a Horns! Horns! Horns! for an early emergency is usually worth it. Unfortuntaely, Saruman's cap on your threat reduction means that, without thematic access to a reusable threat-reducing card every round, the deck relies on the Helm of Secrecy gimmick to switch to Aragorn and reduce your threat back to your starting 37 (you could also swap to someone like Galadriel to try and keep a more "Council of the Wise" theme going).

Healing

Healing is, perhaps, the biggest weak point of this deck. One could easily drop in a few Wardens and/or Ioreth, but it was far enough off-theme I didn't include them in this deck. There is Waters of Nimrodel, which might be valuable as an emergency one-of card, but it is 3 Doomed and expensive. Still, probably worth a copy (or two) pending the quest, if you don't want to go the Gondorian Healers route.

Takeaways

The deck is a little clunky in the service of theme, but I must say it's performed better than I had expected as there's just enough synergy between what the three wizards bring to the table. The deck's got a lot of room for tweaking and refining, especially with regards to the Doomed cards Saruman might bring. Pending the quest, a Power of Orthanc or two could be really valuable, and in multiplayer swapping in Deep Knowledge would certainly be appreciated by the group (as might a Legacy of Númenor or two).

One could forgo the hounds to double down a bit more on the Eagle subtheme, perhaps bringing another EotMM, VotWL, and WG in their stead. Quest pending, a Support of the Eagles could be fun as well, though it's a bit expensive for a deck that's already got three heroes with excellent stats and allies that are generally great at combat.