The Mirror's Gaze 2.0

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"What you will see, if you leave the Mirror free to work, I cannot tell. For it shows things that were, things that are and things that yet may be." - Galadriel, The Fellowship of the Ring

This questing deck is one that I have continued to use since I last posted it here, simply because it is SO good. Of course it has lots of willpower, but the decent helping of location control and cancellation recursion with a side of healing and threat reduction makes for a much more secure ride in an otherwise brutal Middle Earth. Those common ways the encounter deck really screws up players all have an answer here. Without further ado, here is the list of what this deck has.

Resources: Arwen Undómiel, Silver Harp, Nenya

There is not a lot in the way of resource acceleration aside from Arwen Undómiel's action which has no drawbacks when a Silver Harp is available to bring the discarded card back. Nenya simply helps with accessing the Lore sphere, the use of its other ability is rare.

Card Draw: Galadriel, Elven-light

Card draw from Galadriel and Elven-light is essential to accessing more of the deck. Elven-light can be discarded by Arwen Undómiel or Éowyn's actions. Drawing through the deck at 3-4 cards per turn is fairly normal.

Deck Searching: Mirror of Galadriel, Gather Information

Mirror of Galadriel is wonderful for accessing particular cards in the deck, such as A Test of Will or Northern Tracker, and with Silver Harp the problem of the random discard is eliminated. Gather Information lets all players search their decks for a card! I've often used it to find Silver Harp to combo it with the mirror.

Cancellation: A Test of Will, Hasty Stroke

These core set cancellers have been saving people's bacon since 2011. Not only are there still treacheries that can send you for a loss, but shadow cards can sometimes be a real burden on the combat players.

Recursion: Dwarven Tomb, Galadhrim Weaver, Map of Earnil

With these, the deck is able to play the 2 cancellation events many times over. Dwarven Tomb brings them back to our hand and Map of Earnil plays it from the discard pile and puts in the bottom of the deck to be grabbed by the mirror later on. But the Galadhrim Weaver can also shuffle them back into the deck to be pulled back by the mirror later. This mirror-fetching of cancellation and recursion led to the deck's signature name.

Location Control: Northern Tracker, Greyflood Wanderer, Thrór's Key

Northern Tracker explores locations en masse so they are not blocking the questing attempts. His friend, the Greyflood Wanderer can help speed up the exploration if needed. If the scenario interferes with the tracker's progress placement too much for it to be viable, Súlien works as a substitute. Thrór's Key is for those locations that are better off being pacified due to the significant difficulties they pose.

Willpower: Ethir Swordsman, Anfalas Herdsman, Galadriel's Handmaiden, Pelargir Shipwright

Most of the deck's allies are for questing, but these are the ones that really tow the line in willpower. Pelargir Shipwright is at his full 3 willpower in this deck, but can easily be outdone by Ethir Swordsman and the Anfalas Herdsman that buffs along with him.

Threat Reduction: Galadriel's Handmaiden, The Galadhrim's Greeting, Double Back, Galadriel

While Galadriel will usually keep our threat nice and low, the other threat reduction cards help fix other player's threat. Whether it's just to avoid an enemy engagement or save a player from the brink of threating out, we have a few tools for doing that.

Healing: Warden of Healing

Once Nenya has ben played this guy can make an appearance. He may be keeping our own questing party alive or helping a combat oriented player recover. He is always a nice healing card to have when damage is sure to come.

This deck has been such a helpful questing deck for me, it excels in its specialized role. I hope it captures the power of Galadriel's Mirror and how it can interact with other cards in strong ways. The Mirror shows many things as she said, will you see your comrade's fate and save them in time? Do you dare look into the Mirror?