Now that the new cards from A Long-extended Party are out, I felt like I sould do another update of my Beravor Grey Wanderer deck, so here we are!
Strategy
The strategy itself has not changed, of course. Build up Beravor with all the attachments, try to avoid enemies in the staging area or engaged with you. This deck really likes locations more. The most important attachment is of course Resourceful as it will greatly boost your combat via Gondorian Fire and Blood of Númenor and also your questing via Song of Hope if necessary. Use Beravor to draw cards every round to advance your board state. As games with this deck tend to take some time, you will more often than not get through your entire deck. Once everything you need is on the table, this deck performs inredibly well. But remember to play out of sphere cards like Blood and Fire or Unexpected Courage first each round!
The ALeP cards
Featuring in this deck are some cards newly designed by A Long-extended Party (ALeP). Although they do not vastly change how this deck is played, they can amke it run smoother. A Lesson in Caution is a great way to play more cards with a secrecy discount and also to get them in your hand sooner. Fear! Fire! Foes! is an incredibly versatile card. Need a little wuesting boost? Target the of an enemy. Do you not have the ability to deal with an enemy yet, but still have to engage it? Target its . Are you still missing your Gondorian Fire and can’t kill an enemy? Try reducing its to 0!
Half-pint might seem like an odd inclusion, but its value is in its versatility again. First, it provides healing. Second, if you got another nasty Condition attachment on Beravor after discarding the first one with Athelas, just use Half-pint to get those herbs on the top of your deck again and repeat the trick!
What is this “ALeP FAQ”
A Long-extended Party also offers a so-called Free to Choose List, “a set of optional balance tweaks that players may use, in whole or in part, if they want suggestions to rein in some powerful combos.” Affected by this list are Gondorian Fire and Blood of Númenor, with both of them getting a limit of 1 per hero and the text “Limit +3 /”. I think that this suggestion is very good for about every other deck, but it would require a complete rework of this deck. Also, as you typically need to wait many rounds with this deck until you can use Fire and Blood (not the novel) to their full extent, I feel like a player of this deck deserves the satisfying reward of crushing the Eastern Crows with Beravor’s 20 .
Why’s Thalion in there?
Thalion is in the sideboard for quests where having an additional hero is important, as after completing your three side quests, he will become one. He is especially meant for Journey in the Dark from the The Road Darkens Saga Expansion. There, in order to kill the Balrog, you have to discard a hero. As you would lose the game discarding the obligatory Frodo and don’t want to kill Beravor and lose all her attachments, good old Thalion will go down with the fire demon for you.