I built this deck around my favorite duo in the card pool: Glorfindel and Idraen. Traditionally I would use Glorfindel, but I wanted to change things up a bit and challenge myself to use the Core Set version. This opens the door for a true tri-sphere deck.
These heroes are great together because their traits, abilities and associated cards compliment each other so well. Idraen can pay for Light of Valinor. Glorfindel can grant additional readying to Idraen through the use of Asfaloth. They can boost each others stats with one of my favorite cards; Tale of Tinúviel. Throw Éowyn into the mix and this deck has questing and combat covered.
The rest of this deck is a Noldor build. Since it doesn't have the kind of draw provided by Erestor, the discard mechanic is very secondary. Most of the allies are fairly cheap, so you shouldn't feel pressured into discarding too aggressively. The heroes will hold your early game board state so you can take your time to establish ally presence. To the Sea, to the Sea! and Guardian of Rivendell are mostly here to help you ditch duplicate uniques and copies of The Evening Star.
P.S. Let's rap about Tale of Tinúviel for a second. I don't see this card discussed often and I feel that it is overlooked. Many of you who read this deck list probably consider it an expendable card. I disagree. I want to highlight how powerful this card can be in a deck like this by stepping through a, not so uncommon, turn. For the purposes of this example, assume Glorfindel has Asfaloth and Light of Valinor equipped, and you have Tale of Tinúviel in hand.
- quest with Idraen and Glorfindel.
- clear a location by questing successfully and ready Idraen.
- engage a big enemy.
- defend with Idraen.
- play Tale of Tinúviel and exhaust Glorfindel before enemy attack resolution to grant +3 and ready Idraen.
- defend another attack with Idraen or attack the enemy back with +3 .
- for bonus points, use Asfaloth to clear a location and get another use out of Idraen's boosted stats.
Remember: Tale of Tinúviel lasts until the end of the phase. I hope I made a good case for this card. Thanks for reading.
This looks very interesting! Glad to see good ol' Lorefindel played. No doubt about the usefulness of Tale of Tinúviel, anything that boosts all three stats like that adds adaptability to the deck.