Bard and the bard 1.0

• Versions
• 1.0

My favorite archetype is Dale, but it has two main weaknesses: early defensive power and card draw (even though Brand is often drawing you extra cards, the nature of Dale is that every ally should be thought of as ally+attachment(s) so you need to draw at least two cards on average per round to compensate for that).

I started out playing Mr. Underhill's excellent Starter for Dale (and his modifications to that deck) which of course fixes the card draw issue but makes the early defense issue more pronounced since that deck starts at a pretty high 29 threat.

I've been experimenting with other third heroes for the Dale archetype. I prefer to stay with Lore for the card draw options and to be in-sphere for Bartering, though there are several non-Lore options around that are pretty great (Arwen Undómiel, Dáin Ironfoot,...). I've really enjoyed (MotK) Haleth and Galdor of the Havens but this version with (MotK) Gléowine is definitely my favorite.

This deck is a pretty vanilla Dale good stuff deck that unapologetically uses both Steward of Gondor and Sneak Attack+Gandalf (though neither is really necessary, and it's pretty easy to replace those with other cards if you're lucky enough to be playing with a friend). But where it really shines is it's 22 starting threat and extra card per turn (2 extra cards once you get Unexpected Courage on (MotK) Gléowine) which is usually enough to buy you a few turns to get set up.

Once all of your allies are set up with their toys, the Spare Hood and Cloak combo between North Realm Lookout, Guardian of Esgaroth, and Long Lake Trader is nearly unstoppable.

You'll probably draw your whole deck before the game is over but by that point you've already won and it's just a matter of crossing the i's and dotting the t's.