Voilà! In view, an Osgiliath veteran in valor vein... 1.0

• Versions
• 1.0

I, like I guess most people into the hobby, was born a Timmy player to the card game world. I dreamed of nearly impossible, although spectacular combos. Then I learned to build decks. Nevertheless, when I first saw the Veteran of Osgiliath, the Timmy boy in me was naturally once more awakened for good. The Veteran of Osgiliath, plus Visionary Leadership on Leadership Boromir (while having some resources on him, of course), and at >40 threat, meant you had an ally with 3/4/2/2 stats. Even for 3 resources, it was a very good deal, especially if I could manage to put the three of them in play at the same time. Someone had to try it. And I did. And found some problems. The first one was that it was complicated to manage my threat. Either I didn't manage to hit 40 and thus my Veterans didn't reach their potential, either my threat rocketed and then I was out of the game in a few turns.

Enter Galadriel. Though in most decks she's getting advantage of her Noldor synergies and her fabulous Mirror, in this deck she's in mostly for her ability to control threat: ideally, once we hit 40, we remain there thanks to the lady of Lorien. If things go south suddenly, we included a couple of Galadriel's greeting, just ICE. They are costly, but typically you'd need to play them towards the end of the game anyway, and the rest of the spirit cards costs 2, 1 or 0. The resource advantage for spirit in the deck are the ones built in the Envoy of Pelargir and the Pelargir Ship Captain, and Legacy of Númenor (Errand rider didn't make the cut in the end, he was too slow - no pun intended). Together, they should do the trick more than not.

So, being eliminated was no longer a problem, but what about hitting 40 when it mattered (not too soon, not soon enough), with or Veterans on the table? That one was easily solved by resorting to the Doom keyword on player cards, along with Ohauh Gandalf and his threat increase. Having those powerful card in hand allows you to either power draw or max out resources, or even fully heal everyone on the table (that's why I favoured the Pelargir Captain: 2 hit points are interesting when you can absorb damage, then heal it, and that's something the Envoy cannot do, sadly. The extra cost seemed worth it, having leadership Denethor and Steward aboard. Power of Orthanc didn't make the cut, but could be included nonetheless if the quest asks for it. The same was true for its Keys.

A second problem was that I tried to simultaneously get advantage of Valour events, since my goal was to be above 40 anyway. That strategy didn't work out in the end, partly because those events are not worth their cost, partly because I couldn't find room for them, and I didn't want to jank even more including the Tactics sphere. I left the leadership ones in the bench, waiting for a better mind than mine (I remember Seastan triggering a combo with Rallying Cry and the Squire / Emery).

The third problem was choosing my heroes. Boromir was a no brainer due to his natural synergy with Gondor and the Veteran. Galadriel was solving our threat problem. At first Leadership Faramir came out like a good fit, since he allowed me to ready my Veterans. Then I tried him and realised one important thing I had missed but you, my reader, could have already thought about: I had not a single good defender in my deck. So, a good defender was naturally imposed (plus that way, the ally Faramir version was available again). That was particularly important, since hitting 40 threat meant pretty much everything was coming down on me, and I better had something better than 2 shields or a chump blocker to stop them. Beregond came to mind, of course, but then I had to play with all the 4 spheres or mostly give up on healing. That was out of my league and I couldn't afford my Veterans easily enough with just one leadership hero. I tried Lore Denethor and while he gave me easy access to the Burning Brand, again I was short on Leadership resources, even with songs and the Steward. My prayers were answered when Leadership Denethor came out: even if his ability to transfer resources is wasted in the deck, a strong start, leadership sphere and access to heir of Mardil were key. The decisive factor to hire him showed up when I realized that I could have a Ohauh Gandalf first turn, to help with quest when I most needed it.

As my primary and almost only defender, I wanted Denethor to be able to ready on demand in order to defend as much as needed. This was easily granted thanks to Unexpected courage, but Steward of Gondor (place it always on him, as well as Blood of Númenor, a no-brainer) and Heir of Mardil work wonders too. A second copy of Courage could go on Galadriel if we find her ring in time, to use her twice per round if needed. The third copy goes on Boromir, in order to have him sharing the party of double duty (he could defend in a pinch, particularly with Dúnedain warning, then attack, or just attack twice) or again on Denethor if we really are overwhelmed against lots of foes and defense is a must.

The ever important Burning brand can be attached to Denethor once he receives first the Song of wisdom. This is a jank piece we have to pay at the cost of having him on the leadership sphere, but we need it, since our almost single defender with just 3 hit points cannot take the risk of adding shadows to attacks perpetually. If he's hit by treacheries or shadows too early in the game, pass the Warnings to his son and let him relieve his father for a moment: his 5 hit points should endure while reinforcements are on their way.

About matching spheres: even if Galadriel may help with Lore once she gets her ring, it may well happen that you couldn't play the Master of the Forge (which in turn is key to find the attachments you need to make the deck work) or the Warden. That's why the Herald is in for. Use him to benefit from the Doom keyword and play for free the Master of the forge, disregarding sphere matches. Then use the Master to fetch the attachments you need most at every moment.

Last, I'm well aware that some key pieces are included just once (notably, Faramir and the Brand). That's because card draw kind of compensates for it, and there was no need to include more uniques than the essential ones. Between Daeron's Runes, Deep Knowledge, the Master and Galadriel herself, the Rod of the Steward is not actually needed: card draw, while not on broken levels, is formidable in this deck and you're more or less guaranteed to see the attachment you look for sooner than later.

So here you are: the janky dream of having your Veterans at full power, constantly at >40 threat, may come true. For even more Timmy power, add Ever vigilant or Grim resolve and double dip them in the quest and combat. Oh, and be sure to try it against an easy quest. Have fun!