[Thematic Nightmare] In Pursuit of Gollum 1.0

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• 1.0

This is a thematic deck built as part of my Thematic Nightmare series on my blog, Darkling Door.

The theme for this deck is "Aragorn's search for Gollum" and it was built to defeat Nightmare The Hunt for Gollum.

Strategy

The key cards here are Light of Valinor, Strider, and Gandalf. Due to the low Ally count there's a pretty low ceiling on how much this deck can put out at once, so I can't afford to let Enemies or Locations build up in the staging area. The earlier I get Gandalf out, the better chance I have of being able to both quest successfully and kill enemies as they appear. He's expensive though, so Light of Valinor and Strider help to keep my Heroes ready in the early game until I can afford to put him down.

The number one biggest threat the encounter deck has to offer are Hunters from Mordor, especially as the game runs on. Since there's very little healing in this deck I can't afford to tank big attacks more than a few times, and the only chump blocker I have is Mirkwood Pioneer. At 8 combined hit points + , it takes Aragorn, Gandalf, and one other character with at least 1 to be able to kill the Hunters the round they enter play, so they can be difficult to take down. Quick Ears is great insurance against the Hunters, and when I have it in hand I save it exclusively for them.

I often strategically underquest in Stage 1 to avoid getting overwhelmed with extra encounter reveals too quickly. That generally changes around the time I manage to get Gandalf down; as long as I have found a Clue by that point I quest as hard as I can until I reach Stage 3, when I no longer have to deal with extra reveals.

Once Signs of Gollum is attached to a Hero, it counts as a Condition Attachment, which makes it possible for Elrond to discard it. I used this trick a few times to reduce the number of Clues in play, making the Hunters from Mordor much less harrowing.

I save Elrond's Counsel and Resourceful for the mid-to-late game, after Gandalf has been in play for a little while. Once my threat is somewhere in the range of 42-45, I use Aragorn's ability to reset it, and only then do I drop my threat into Secrecy using Elrond's Counsel so that I can play down a Resourceful or two to help carry me over the finish line.

For more analysis, check out my blog post on this deck.