Mount Doom - Specialist Deck Series 1.0

• Versions
• 1.0

For this edition of the Specialist Deck Series, we have two decks designed to be used together to beat the Epic Multiplayer version of The Black Gate Opens and Mount Doom.

This is the Mount Doom deck. In the spirit of the story, we'll be trying to sneak to Mount Doom as quietly as possible, while the other deck fights desperately at the Black Gate.

A note at the top that this deck is heavily influenced by the Epic Multiplayer version of the quest, specifically the Special Rules that allow us to reduce our threat by 3 every turn, and thus counter the additional threat raises due to The Tower of Barad-dûr. In this way, we can realistically stay in or near secrecy for quite some time, and enjoy the benefits of keeping a low threat throughout the whole quest, a tactic that is generally prevented outside of epic multiplayer by the Dire keyword.

We start, as many Hobbit decks do, with Sam Gamgee. His high is of extra use in this quest, and since we are restricted on using Frodo, he's the only Hobbit we have access to.

Next is Folco Boffin, thanks to his ability allowing us to begin the game with less than 20 threat, which is hugely beneficial. His stats are decent enough as well, and helpfully he gives us access to things like Fast Hitch.

Finally, we are using Pippin, which honestly I don't think I've ever done before. He ended up replacing Merry in testing for 2 reasons. Firstly Merry's ability is significantly hampered by Dire, although it can provide small amounts of threat reduction all the same. It basically never got used. Secondly, Pippin's ability is actually something we could use, so long as it's done sparingly, which in fact did happen in one of the test games.

For our deck and strategy as a whole, we are leaning very heavily into combating the quest mechanics. We will have a low number of characters to keep our threat low. We also focus on readying and boosts to pass Fortitude tests and also power through the quest stages as quickly as possible. With a good draw we can make it in 6 turns, and hopefully the Partner Deck at the Black Gate can hold out for at least 8.

Basically everyone will be questing as much as possible, leaving behind enough to pass fortitude tests. Hopefully we have readying like Fast hitch so these characters can also quest. We'll look to load up a couple of heroes to be our test takers, with the others mainly focused on questing. Having multiple options will help us if we ever run into a Heavy and Tired from the encounter deck.

We really want to avoid enemies completely if possible. The lowest engagement cost in the encounter deck is 33, which we can remain below with good luck. If it creeps too high by the end, that's where Pippin can give us a turn or 2 of breathing room. We might get unlucky and reveal Gollum, in which case we might try to hold him off with some combination of Sam, Rosie and Faramir. The effort needed to defeat him is probably too much for us to try.

The good news is that any Nazgul that are revealed won't hang around for too long as we'll let them move over to the Black Gate quest. We don't mind too much about the Eye of Sauron effect, as with our low threat we should have no problem passing the tests.

Despite adding several cards to address it, card draw ended up being a bit of a problem for the deck sometimes, especially as we'll want to see a lot of cards by the end. In testing this mostly seemed to hinge on finding a copy of Frodo's Intuition early. Sometimes this meant spending one turn taking the bonus card draw instead of the threat reduction from the Epic Multiplayer special rules. This is one of several reasons we'll choose Old Water-course as the starting location. In any event, playing a copy of Drinking Song early to find more card draw is probably a good idea if the opportunity arises.

Lastly, we get a hero for the quest. Once again, I'll recommend the Land of Shadow Frodo Baggins since his boosting ability plays right into our game plan, and we don't have to choose to use the ring until after staging. There are encounter cards we definitely would rather avoid, so the Black Riders version is a fair choice too. The only one I will advise against is the Road Darkens one.

On to the cards:

Faramir - One of the few allies that's worth playing for us. With readying effects he can end up effectivelt contributing 5+ every turn easily, and we want as much help as possible to clear the quest stages quickly. As a bonus, he's sturdy enough to take an attack or two in an emergency.

Galadriel - Galadriel offers several benefits to this deck. She can give a burst of for questing without sticking around to cause additional threat raises. She'll dig through our deck to find attachments, hopefully ones that boost . Lastly, as we get to rearrange the top cards of our deck we can plan for future turns or prioritise any card draw.

Rosie Cotton - The one ally no Hobbit deck should leave behind. Her ability to boost our heroes' is especially beneficial with Fortitude tests at stake. Additionally, Rosie herself benefits from several of our boosting effects, even though we don't have any shenanigans like Sword-thain. Even without any tests, her ability to effectively quest twice with a Fast Hitch makes her invaluable.

Ancient Mathom - A cheap and effective card draw effect. This is one of the most efficient available to us, and we should have plenty of locations throughout the quest to explore.

Celebrían's Stone - There's no real competition for restricted attachments, and this is one of the best boosts available.

Cram - We want Readying effects, but we are also quite tight on resources, so this is a big help, especially early in the game. Great for readying when you know a Fortitude test is coming up, less useful if not, since you have to gamble on the ready before the staging step.

Fast Hitch - Our best readying effect by a mile. Cheap, repeatable, and can be played on Rosie as well as our heroes. The first copy should probably go on Sam, then Rosie. If we get a third, whoever is most likely to pass a Fortitude test.

Fellowship of the Ring - A great card as it will boost the of each of our 4 heroes. We're unlikely to need to discard, and if we do we're probably not doing so well anyway.

Miruvor - Another handy readying effect, this time with a bonus on top. We do have the option of using the other options as well if needed.

Protector of Lórien - Giving up to +3 is huge, and we can tailor the discard as needed for the situation. The boost is big enough that it can have a big impact on getting though the quest stages, we just need the cards to fuel it.

Red Book of Westmarch - Another global boost that we desperately want. This one has the benefit of affecting Rosie too, and we should be getting an extra resource as well. It is expensive, so we'll need some luck to play it early.

Resourceful - Well, this is one of the ways. Ideally we'll have at least one of these in our opening hand in order to get our deck going, although it's possible to stay in secrecy for quite a few turns so not totally wasted if drawn later. Sam wants this the most, and Pippin and Frodo both have good claims to the other copies.

Silver Circlet - Much like Celebrían's Stone, this is an efficient booster, with the only relevant difference being it must go on Pippin.

Strider - This is a nice boost to get early, and we can even benefit with one ally in play as well. Very nice for ensuring we pass early Fortitude tests. Hopefully by the time we play our second ally we won't miss the boost.

Windfola - Another permanent boost that is limited to Pippin, but at least this can be played alongside Silver Circlet.

A Good Harvest - The resource requirements for this deck are quite awkward, particularly early on. This can provide a turn 1 Red Book, or help to pay for one of our allies. We're less likely to need this later on, in which case we can always discard to Protector of Lórien.

Drinking Song - An extremely valuable card draw effect. We'll always get the bonus card, and we can use this effectively as a selective mulligan. A very nice compliment to our other card draw.

Elwing's Flight - Another card that does exactly what the deck wants. This one gets more potent as the game goes on, and it's not hard to imagine a scenario where we quest with everyone on the last turn and the heroes are all still ready for Fortitude tests. The only downside is this can be quite expensive to play. A small combo is to discard the first copy to Protector of Lórien so we get the stronger version without having to pay extra resources.

Frodo's Intuition - Such an explosive card for the deck. The card draw alone would mean we took the card, the fact that it's also a massive boost just puts it over the top. Definitely another card we want to see early to keep the cards flowing.

Heed the Dream - This is basically the deck's 50th card, and seemed to be the next best card draw available. We should have plenty of resources, so the cost is very low for a great effect - we should be able to find something we need in the top 5 cards. It's possible, if unlikely, that Sam ends up with an excess of resources as the game goes on, in which case this card gets even better.

We Are Not Idle - There's no dwarf synergy here, these are in simply to thin out our deck and let us find our good cards a bit quicker.