Model UN 1.0

• Versions
• 1.0

I can't remember that last time I built a deck with more than 50 cards, and this deck is a departure from my typical style in more than just that regard. Between arguably the three best Lore card draw events (Runes, Knowledge and Dream) and the laughably overpowered Legacy of Durin, this deck should have no problem drawing through the extra 10 cards. As far as what to do with all of those cards, the 27 dwarf allies provide a clear and concise answer.

Dwarven swarm is nothing new, but there are two wrinkles here that should make this deck tremendously powerful against the right scenarios. First of all, Galadriel's passive ability has amazing synergy with Dain as it allows Dwarf allies to both quest and attack the round that they enter play. In particular she works well with the Dwarven Sellsword, allowing you to quest and attack for 3 from turn one, even if you don't plan on paying this greedy Dwarf at the end of the round. Her ring is less critical here, with Dwarves carrying most of the questing load, though the Lore icon it provides does help with resource smoothing (we don't have nearly as many Spirit cards as Lore). In any case, her threat reduction and yet more card draw can help get the ally engine online while slightly offsetting all of the the Doomed cards.

The one other secret weapon in this deck is Aragorn with Sword that was Broken. For such a critical card it would seem logical to include 3 copies, and it is understandable if players want to sideboard in a third copy. However, this deck should have no problems tracking down Aragorn's famous heirloom and with it attached your Dwarven army is transformed into a massive questing force. The 10 extra cards allowed me to include quite a few fun little combos to help smooth the ally ramp - Mirror of Galadriel and Silver Harp being just one example. Zigil Miner and Imladris Stargazer compliment the lone copy of Steward (not entirely necessary here). Between Legacy of Numenor (fantastic in any deck with Lore Aragorn), We Are Not Idle, and Hidden Cache we have plenty of resource acceleration - an essential pair with card draw for quickly mustering our army.

After treacheries and all of the Doomed cards have raised our threat to untenable levels, Strider is here to return us to our starting threat, essentially resetting the game clock. Like any tri-sphere deck, this can take a few rounds to get ramped, but Dwarves really are absurd once they get rolling. A Test of Will, Armored Destrier and Dunedain Remedy are included in the sideboard to handle quest-specific issues. I am curious to hear any feedback on this deck.