Bill the Pony secrecy deck 1.0

• Versions
• 1.0

Have you ever dreamed of leading Bill the Pony on adventures by himself? Have you given up waiting for FFG to give us a Hero version of Bill the Pony? Have you ever thought, "Hobbit secrecy decks are fun, but you know what Sauron would really never expect? A pony secrecy deck!" Well, my friend, this is the deck for you.

This deck allows you to take Bill the Pony from ally to hero status while playing "The Weather Hills" (from The Lost Realm).

You start with Loragorn in secrecy mode. Use The Grey Wanderer to put Strider on him at the start of the game. "Wait, what about Bill?" Patience, my friend, patience. Mulligan for Northern Tracker. Then take your time and build up your board state. Turtle as long as you can on the first stage; avoid traveling and avoid engaging enemies as much as possible. Getting Gleowine out early helps, since you'll basically want to draw through your entire deck before moving on to the second and final stage. Play Bill the Pony at any time (you'll need Song of Kings or A Good Harvest, since The Grey Wanderer only works for non-unique allies).

Here's the tricky part. Bill only has 2 hit points, but you need to get 1 damage on him. Fortunately the quest has plenty of direct damage effects, so with patience it shouldn't be difficult. Once you have a strong board state, Bill the Pony in play with 1 damage, and Sword-Thain in hand, move on to the second stage of the quest. Be careful to avoid over-questing so you don't end the game too early.

Now the key is to turtle until you reveal Cold from Angmar from the encounter deck. (Use Firyal to find it faster.) Cold from Angmar reads: "When Revealed: Each player deals 1 damage to a hero he controls. Attach Cold from Angmar to the current quest. Counts as a Condition attachment with the text: Treat each damaged character's printed text box as if it were blank, except for keywords and Traits." Since Bill is damaged, his text box goes blank, which means you can now play attachments on him. Play Sword-thain, and Bob's your uncle, Bill's your hero.

Of course, you're still not playing a Bill the Pony deck. You're playing an Aragorn + Bill deck. Wouldn't it be unfortunate if something happened to Aragorn? If, say, he died valiantly from an undefended attack by an orc? Of if direct damage from a treachery card did him in? Then it would fall to Bill to finish the quest alone. The round before he dies, Aragorn offers a parting gift: he resets the threat. Now you're playing the deck of your dreams: a Bill the Pony secrecy deck.