Deck for New Players: Minimum Purchase Hobbits 1.0

• Versions
• 1.0

This deck is designed with newer players in mind, and is part of a series of decks that can be contructed using cards from only the Revised Core Set and one other purchase: The Fellowship of the Ring Saga Expansion.

The Hobbits have a lower starting threat of 20, but punch well above their weight. With most of their cards costing two or less, an even spread of sphere costs, and a decent draw engine with Pippin, this deck should have no problem in getting itself up off its feet.

The chief mechanic of this deck is interacting with enemies that have a higher engagement cost with your threat. This fuel’s Pippin’s card draw, as well as Sam Gamgee’s readying, the extra attack for Dagger of Westernesse and extra defence from Hobbit Cloak, not to mention a few others besides. Once your threat begins to creep up you can either use Take No Notice to make sure you still get to trigger your effects, or you can resort to using Gandalf to lower your threat back down to a safe level. To begin with, your heroes will need to handle questing, with Sam’s readying ability and a Hobbit Cloak ensuring you won’t be left without a suitable defender. Use Radagast's Cunning and Secret Paths as needed to make sure you are able to make consistent progress.

When it comes to combat, Sam Gamgee with a Hobbit Cloak should be able to defend against most enemies. Consider Boromir as well, who could ready after an attack if he takes damage and be able to help you with a counterattack. If you have them ready, Elrond or Galadriel are ideally positioned to block an attack from a larger enemy, they will be leaving the board at the end of the round in any case so it will be no skin off your nose if they were to be killed as a result. Similarly Barliman Butterbur and the Gondorian Spearman are all there to soak up attacks for you.

Your counteroffensive will be led by Merry. With two Daggers he will be swinging for 5-7 by himself, and that’s before we factor in any Halfling Determination, but ideally he’ll be attacking alongside someone else who he would be able to ready with his ability after they kill an enemy. Sam with the other Dagger could be attacking for as much as 4 alongside him if you engage an qualifying enemy, readying him after questing and boosting his stats for combat. Together that is an attack for 11 , and there’s not much that will stand up against that, and then Sam can go and attack a second enemy as well thanks to Merry. You will have other allies able to weigh in as well, like Farmer Maggot, Beorn, even Gandalf if you didn’t use him for questing, but the majority of your offensive capabilities will derive from your heroes.

For more decks that can be built with only the Revised Core Set and one additional purchase, check out this article on Vision of the Palantir here: https://visionofthepalantir.com/2023/01/13/ten-decks-for-new-players/