The Lore Rangers (card pool thru VoI/Ringmaker) 1.0

• Versions
• 1.0

This is a deck I made for solo play to explore the Ranger archetype after getting the card pool up through the Voice of Isengard/Ringmaker cycle. I tested it on the Khazad-Dum/Dwarrowdelf cycle, and it handled itself very well. (It beat every quest except Shadow and Flame, which demands a special build.)

I know many people didn't consider this archetype very playable until Damrod came along, but I wanted to give it a try after getting Wingfoot and Haldir of Lórien. Plus, I think publishing decks that use a limited card pool can be useful to those of us that don't have access to everything :)

I tried - I really tried! - to use Lore Faramir in this deck, but was coming up short on questing. I decided to add Leadership Faramir to help on that front, so sadly his Lore counterpart had to go. He's a decent all-around hero that I could use to quest, attack, or defend as needed - but Lore Aragorn has him beat as a ranger, especially when you can use Sword that was Broken to boost questing. This card is the main target for A Good Harvest, and you want to get this combo rolling as early as possible. Add in Wingfoot, and Aragorn can both quest and defend in the same round very reliably, with Henamarth Riversong on the table. Protector of Lórien will help him do both. Once the sword is on Aragorn, Leadership Faramir isn't necessary to get huge questing power, but I wanted to keep him in the deck for thematic reasons. Apart from his special ability, he's a decent defender, plus he can be a target for the Ranger Bow to get some direct damage on enemies in the staging area.

I typically hold Haldir of Lórien back from questing. If you can A Good Harvest a Bow of the Galadhrim (or two!) on him, then he can attack into the staging area for up to 7 - providing you've kept your threat low enough by questing successfully and judiciously timing Loragorn's reset ability.

Mirlonde will quest every turn. If you draw Asfaloth out, you can attach to Mirlonde for one extra quest point on a location per turn (not critical, but occasionally useful).

In your opening hand, you're looking for a A Good Harvest/Sword that was Broken combo, a Wingfoot/Henamarth Riversong combo, or possibly a couple card draw effects (Mithrandir's Advice, Master of the Forge).

The deck has a lot of draw power. You can recur Mithrandir's Advice or A Good Harvest as needed with the multiple copies of Scroll of Isildur.

And the Ents are strong all-around support, which it turns out this ranger/trap deck (working from a limited card pool) really needs.

Sideboard notes: If you attempt a quest that has a nasty condition attachment (such as Watchful Eyes or Freezing Cold), sub out the copies of Booming Ent (the most expendable of the three Ents) for a couple copies of Miner of the Iron Hills.

Sometimes you might find Poisoned Stakes a more useful trap than Forest Snare or Ithilien Pit - depends on the quest and its enemies.

One additional note: in solo play, you can do what you want as long as you don't break the game, right? You know how the errata on Master of Lore is frustrating now that Horn of Gondor's been nerfed? I've begun throwing a couple copies of the Master in this deck occasionally, just to see how he would have worked without his errata (that is, exhaust Master of Lore to reduce the cost of all Lore cards of a certain type - ally, attachment, or event - by 1), and he is quite useful. You can't reduce the cost of the card all the way to 0, but there are so many 2-cost cards in this build - and zero resource acceleration - that ye old Master really helps you afford things more quickly, which is one of the problems I've encountered in mono-Lore. I recommend including him even with his errata, in fact, because he can be of value if you get him out early enough.