Beorn's Path 2 - Journey Along the Anduin 1.0

• Versions
• 1.0

Just FYI: Based on the article, I believe the two Radagast's Cunning in here should actually be Secret Paths.

Thanks for all your awesome work!

Or do you mean Valiant Sacrifice should be replaced by Secret Paths? This is the same exact deck used in the Passage Through Mirkwood first scenario. Also, is it legal to use a 40-card deck playing solo?

By the way, this deck is AWFUL for beating this scenario. In the first round ALONE, one hero got killed and I had to instantly forfeit the game. I used all 3 characters to quest while the Hill Troll was in the staging area. Wound up failing the quest stage and my threat had to be raised by 2. This put my total threat to 30, so the Hill Troll wound up coming down. I had no characters to defend, so one of them had to take the full damage undefended. That's SIX damage from the hill troll; therefore, one character died. This is NOT a good deck!

Words really cannot express just how SHITTY this deck is for this scenario. I tried it 4 times with your deck here and failed miserably every time! You really should know better than to give practically the same deckbuild as the first Core scenario! Shame on you! I have NO CLUE how this deck got a lot of likes. Simply mind boggling. It's useless!

You have so much anger, I wonder when was the last time someone gave you a hug. As a giant bear, and mindless killing machine, I can appreciate anger. I typically try to channel it into more constructive pursuits, like slaying trolls.

I don't know whether you read the series of articles of which this deck is but one part. You can find them here: hallofbeorn.wordpress.com

This deck was designed as a teaching tool, to illustrate the fundamental building blocks of the game. The articles go into greater detail, but the idea is that good decks are comprised of three pillars: resource acceleration, card draw, and action advantage. You then sprinkle in support elements like combat control/boosts, healing, threat reduction, location control, staging area control, etc., depending on the thematic and strategic goals of your deck.

I know this is going to blow your mind, but the deck is intentionally not the MOST POWERFUL deck I've designed using only the Core Set. I don't know if you're old enough to drive yet (your frequent use of CAPS LOCK makes me skeptical), but there's a reason why your dad doesn't teach you to drive in his Pontiac Firebird. He uses the old beat up Honda Civic that your family used to pile into back when your parents still loved each other. That way, when you inevitably scrape the neighbor's car learning how to park, it ain't no big deal.

This deck is a Honda Civic. Apparently, everyone else on my blog and RingsDB who's bothered to click/read/comment understands this. You @pd187540 are the one magical unicorn on which this concept was lost. More importantly, the other reads and players understand the fundamental principles in the articles that I wrote to accompany these decks.

With those principals in your toolbox, you have the power to create your own deck, more efficient and consistently effective than this one. Many players have progressed from reading Beorn's Path and done just that. In the five years since I started writing my blog, I've received more positive feedback for Beorn's Path than anything else I've written on the internet.

So we've established that you, @pd187540 are the world's smartest LotR player, and this deck is sadly beneath you. I was going to point you to powerful Core Set decks by other excellent deck-builders. Those decks are not Honda Civics, they are fine luxury automobiles. Assuming you are any good at the game you will find a more favorable win ratio with power decks - even limited to the Core Set. But I'm not going to link those, because it is obvious to me that you have had one too many people in your life just give you what you wanted. No more capitulating to antisocial narcissists for this giant bear.

Here is my challenge to you: take your intimate understanding of just how SHITTY this Honda Civic is, and build a better car. Then, after you've tuned it and road tested it thoroughly against the first two Core Set scenarios, write up a detailed article explaining your decisions. You can give painstaking detail about why they were so much wiser than that idiot Bear, who rants about Honda Civics and how a finger pointing at the moon is not the same as the moon. Bear in mind, you're going to have to find some way to abate your pre-pubescent fondness for ALL CAPS. You also might want to expand your vocabulary just ever so slightly. But I have faith in you @pd187540! You are a born winner and everyone on the internet likes you. Once you have that article all polished up, I will happily post it on my blog, with a title like "11 Reasons Why Beorn's Path is Literally the Worst Deck Ever Built" or "Bear's Hate Him for this One Killer Deck" or "How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Trust the Honda Civic" or some-such pithiness.

All fun and games aside, your comments do not meet the community standards of how we talk to each other in this community. This style of "communication" may be acceptable for YouTube, or Facebook, or Reddit, but it will not fly here. People have spent hundreds to thousands of hours of their lives to build something in this community. All are welcome to enjoy the fruits of the these many labours, but there is one simple rule. Don't be a dick.

@BeornThe fact is that if you're saying that this deck is a Honda Civic, then advertise it as such! This is a deck guilty of false advertising. When you list decks for each scenario, the deck is designed to be most suitable for beating the scenario in question. From what you just told me, this is a deck on training wheels from which people can build even better decks from, which might be true; however, this deck is not compliant with being able to conquer this particular scenario. And I can tell you right now that a Honda Civic definitely isn't enough to plow through the tumultuous waters of the Anduin, that's for damn sure! The engine will blow out before the tires even hit the water.

Oh, and no need to give me the deets on what those fine, luxury decks are. A simple search on here doesn't take much work at all.

@pd187540 The deck is described as being from the blog series ‘Beorn’s Path’, with a clear link to the related blogpost attached. Nowhere does it claim to be the best deck to beat the scenario, it merely states it one of two decks used for that particular quest in the particular instance of the Beorn’s Path series. Why is that so difficult a concept for you to grasp?

I correct myself, the second deck is introduced for the third core set quest.

My main point still stands though. This deck is not described as a power deck, or as the best deck to beat the scenario. Instead it is clearly described as being from the blog linked.

@pd187540: I'm guessing you don't get a lot of hugs in real life, so definitely take the bear hug you're receiving here. You don't deserve the patience or the grace Beorn's reply offers you. Cheers!

@pd187540 I implore you to reconsider the communication style you have been using in our online community. That kind of tone and language is in contrast to the social convention of respect and friendliness we have here. I assure you, your interactions with people will be better off if you adopt a considerate and agreeable manner. Rather than telling someone that their deck is "shitty", how about asking questions to better understand the deck-builder's choices or offering some suggested alternatives and adjustments to their build? That would contribute much more useful discussion than an anger-filled, insulting comment. And if you have anger and frustration, please look for other outlets that don't involve taking it out on other people in spite. Mára mesta.

As this deck is high rated i also expected it to be strong, but after 3 or 4 loses i stopped using it. Once i was near end of card 2B, but i just had too much cards in staging area (and some of them annoying like this land for 5 danger or the one you must travel to and has 6 quest points) and wasnt able to quest properly and i just ended with 50 threat. But it was my best attempt, the rest usually ends at 1B card and troll, because without really lucky first hand draw i cant kill him. Even if i block him with weak characters he still manages to increase my threat by 3 or 4 per hit, and when other strong enemies like orc captains appear and attack me its game over. The same with annoying treacheries increasing threat or dealing dmg. I appreciate effort put in building this deck and writing articles, but i was rather annoyed and disappointed when playing this scenario and using it.

This deck was designed to be a teaching deck, not to be the strongest deck possible with the Core Set. I'm sorry that you struggled to defeat the quest with this deck. You might have better luck with a deck that has lower starting threat, like Xanalor's Back to Basics Deck. Best of luck on your adventures through Middle-earth.

When I first starting playing this game (not long ago), I read through the entire Beorn's Path blog. It was extremely helpful and time well-spent. Learning the deck-building concepts and then reading a play-through transcript made an excellent teaching tool. I don't think I actually tried using the decks, though. The tutorial was the main take-away for me.

Another not-so-obvious source I use for finding deck ideas is the Quest Logs feature here on RingsDB. I like it because generally the log title includes the scenario name, and I like playing decks for specific scenarios. If I had to choose between a deck named "Journey Along the Anduin - 1 Player" and "Scraping Paint with My Honda Civic", I would choose the former because I know it has been played against the scenario I am facing next. And the quest logs include unpublished decks which is nice.

As a proud Honda Civic owner - I find these comments quite hurtful.

That said, this blog article really helped me get to grips with the core concepts of deck building in this game.

I also find that this is such a well-crafted game that losing is quite fun and never feels frustrating. I can't wait to get into Khazad Dum and the accompanying adventure paths I bought for it - but I promised myself I wouldn't until I beat Escape From Dol Guldur.

Thank you for the Beorn's Path articles!