Secret Lorien Protectors - Thorongil Merry 1.0

• Versions
• 2.0
• 1.0

== Tweaks ==

This is a slightly tweaked version of my previous deck: https://ringsdb.com/decklist/view/23951/secretlorienprotectors-1.0

I added Thorongil and one Elven Spear, removing Gamling (because I misread it and thought it liked Gondor Allies) and Galdor of the Havens to do so.

== Deck Goal ==

Stay in Secrecy as long as possible so you can engage enemies on your own terms (i.e. when you have enough fire power to engage, block, and then one-shot an enemy).

Merry's ability, Galadriel's Handmaiden, Woodmen's Clearing, and Elrond's Counsel help keep threat low, and Pippin's ability raises engagement costs.

Glorfindel is going to raise your threat a bit until you get Light of Valinor on him, so getting it as early as possible is a priority.

Soldier of Isengard also raises your threat, but he's got a killer stat-line and often still won't knock you out of Secrecy because of the other stuff you have at your disposal.

== Attack Combo ==

You have plenty of attack power in the deck, but you won't really need it after you get Thorongil attached to Merry.

Thorongil lets you grab Merry and give its resource icon and card text to your Merry. The icon lets you play Elven Spear on Glorfindel, and the card text gives Merry +2 and creates a wicked attack chain with Glorfindel. The combo gives Glorfindel an additional attack plus one more for each Fast Hitch on Merry as long as you're destroying an enemy with each attack (and you should be if you have Elven Spear attached to Glorfindel).

== Draw Engine (which aids Questing, Defending, Attacking and Healing) ==

The combo here is (Protector of Lórien / Song of Healing / Elven Spear) + Elven-light. Discard Elven-lights to Protector of Lórien early (or Song of Healing / Elven Spear later), then spend to bring it back to hand and draw a card. When you have enough resources each round (see Resourceful) you're drawing several extra cards per round.

Ancient Mathom and Pippin's ability also draw you cards.

If a game runs long (which is thematic since you're "slowly sneaking around") Will of the West will let you re-shuffle once. Wait until you absolutely have to, and make sure your Elven-lights are in your hand when you play it!

== Attachments ==

Resourceful is important because there are more cards in the deck than (so Pippin gets the first one), but then you'll also want more resources for your Elven-light recursions. Ideally you'll have one on all three heroes by the end.

Obviously Glorfindel gets the Light of Valinor, and he'll also get the Unexpected Courage, allowing him to Quest, Defend, and Attack (or Quest and Attack twice) all in the same round with both of them.

Elven Spear also goes to Glorfindel (the only valid target).

Merry gets BOTH copies of Fast Hitch so he can Quest and still use his ability, AND attack (ideally with Glorfindel once you have Merry's card text). Alternatively, don't Quest or use his ability and make multiple attacks (see Attack Combo above).

Asfaloth helps defeat locations and I considered Woodmen's Path to make that an instant kill combo, but Woodmen's Clearing is cheaper AND reduces threat. I had several iterations of this deck with Path in, but I always ended up cutting them.

Master of the Forge helps you get to your attachments, and is basically an additional draw each turn.

== Knowing is half the Battle ==

Henamarth Riversong, Celduin Traveler, and Ithilien Lookout let you look at the top of the encounter deck and even if you don't use the Traveler or Lookout to discard the card, you know what it is. That's SUPER powerful in a deck that engages enemies on its own terms, because you'll know exactly how much (and which characters) to Quest with, and how much to keep back for defending and one-shoting an enemy).

== Gondor Synergy (not a lot, but what's here is useful) ==

Knight of Belfalas is here to recur Ithilien Lookout. The best use is to engage a big hitter, block with Lookout (killing it), get it back during your next Planning Phase with the Knight, and play it again for its ability. You could also discard Lookout for an effect and get it back with the Knight.

The Knight can also recur another copy of itself in the discard pile. So you could block with one on the board (killing it) and play another from hand to get the dead one back from discard. That's not as ideal, but late game when you just need a blocker every turn this is a decent option.