Erestor Deck vs Random Quests 1.0

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• 1.0

I am not sure about Steward of Gondor, since you are relying on A Good Harvest to get it into play. Meaning you have to have both in hand at the same time. I can see you want the additional defense from the Gondorian Shield, but it seems a lot to pull it off! Usually with Erestor I have some spare cards, so Protector of Lórien would be an option to boost his defense?

Also I would consider some Unexpected Courage, so maybe Gríma and Erestor also have more options to ready. And Gríma could also take on A Burning Brand so I would increase the copies, if I had Unexpected Courage.

I usually do not really use Daeron's Runes in Erestor deck, but I guess that is a preference. I would potentially drop them and I would likely increase the number of Warden of Healing, the one can be tricky to pull off and while playtesting I was accumulating damage. And this would also put more strenght into Erestor's defense.

These are just some cards which come to my mind from what you likely have available. Not sure if there is something else you have access to.

I tried this deck, went really well. Steward is needed here, i can assure you.

this herosetup is strong in solo!

if the steward is so badly needed i would increase the chances to get it:

would rely on Song of Kings rather than A Good Harvest so u can get the song first and perhaps next or the round after get the steward. even if you get the song 1. round, you can pay with the help of Gríma the steward, or, if the song goes to Arwen Undómiel, she can do without grima and with her ability. thats not the only benefit. you can improve to get the song if you include Rivendell Minstrel (she can be payed with Gríma, or with Arwen Undómiel). with that, its easy to get the song 1 round. doing so, you can also include some Captain's Wisdom and be able to get it 1. round, else one of the folllowing rounds without neeeding a 2-card-combo on hand with erestor.

you can also, to increase Steward of Gondor 1. round, add Love of Tales. with it you are also be able to play steward 1. round without Captain's Wisdom (Love of Tales on erestor, than song, or minstrelwith grima +song (payed by #arwen) then #erestor get a res can get another by arwen and pay the steward.

so, the highest chance to get steward 1. round would be:

• +3 Rivendell Minstrel
• +3 Song of Kings
• +3 Love of Tales (not only in 1. round good for some res)

what would i cut for that:

• 1 Will of the West
• 1 Elven-light (you rarely can afford 3)
• 1 Keys of Orthanc (nice to have but with steward not soo important)
• 1 Light of Valinor nice but not essential
• 1-2 Silver Harp with so high chances to get steward early, harp is not this much needed. with steward on erestor, you can evan pay Gildor Inglorion within a round and still have Arwen Undómiel for flexible res-generation. i use Silver Harp in erestordecks only if i want tp play with A Test of Will
• -1 Gildor Inglorion he is good, but not so good, specially if you have some Rivendell Minstrel that can also do good questing
• -3 A Good Harvest

then i would replace 1 Gondorian Shield with a Cloak of Lórien and would consider 1-2 Song of Healing specially with Love of Tales around

keeping the A Good Harvest would even increase Steward of Gondor 1. round, but i think it might not be necessary with the alternative song-plan.

a complete other option, with little adjustments and with keeping the A Good Harvest -plan, is to include 3 Spare Pipe that help to finde the A Good Harvest and/or the Galadhrim Minstrel to find the harvest

i would choose 1 of the options above to get the steward more safly in play and add Treebeard. if you not get him your first cycle dont worry you can grab him on 2.

erestor improve heavily in defense from the start, getting The One Ring + Inner Strength

I never played this hero setup in particular, but the lineup is strong, I fully agree!

I even have a deck I am playtesting with Erestor as a defender, but I just do not like too many combos dependances to set him up, like in this deck. I love him as hero, but I do not like to play badly needed off sphere cards which require setup to work, as there is a good chance you would not get it because the deck got shuffled certain way. And I think between Arwen Undómiel , Gríma and Keys of Orthanc you should be fine. Just need to find different way to boost Erestor's defense, And I did play test this deck as it is setup and I was throwing third Steward of Gondor into discard as I did not get Silver Harp in play and actually that hand went to waste completely, which is not what I like playing Erestor. Hence my suggestion of Protector of Lórien as it is part of coreset, so will be available and the cards get some use when thrown away. And if I used that, I would likely put the Light of Valinor on him, rather than Arwen Undómiel, with Henamarth Riversong I could decide if i need his willpower or defense boosted.

While I agree with the above, not sure how much of the card pool they have available, all cards are to the 5th cycle.

Cloak of Lórien also came to my mind. Treebeard ally may also be good if you want to include Ents. Can help to pay for those allies and ready them as needed.

@doomguard, @Ageolite tks for reply! Certainly needs improvement to maybe not be so dependent on the steward and sound fun mix UP with more songs and Love Tale that I have never used yet. Still missing Celebrimbor secret and antlem Crown for cloak and treebeard

@cabinho96 tks for try! I hope I didn't take you play to a defeat using this deck

i do not know if you know, Erestor is often played with To the Sea, to the Sea! and then mainly noldor-allies. together with Arwen Undómiel and Gríma (and perhaps Love of Tales) you absolutely need no steward.

@diogoribeir no problem :-) Once you get larger card pool, it is easier to skip Steward. And not so much rely on the combination of the Gondorian Shield and Steward of Gondor. And I am not saying it is a bad deck, but it can be a bit of a miss and hit, depending on the way the deck is shuffled. And I even got a dead hand, which I absolutely hate, but I have found ways to make the dead hand useful in another way, like Protector of Lórien or Imladris Caregiver or the mentioned To the Sea, to the Sea! if there is an ally I can get into play via that.

It took me time to get used to discarding cards for other benefits and Erestor is amazing hero, just completely changes the way you build the deck to take advantages of his ability.