Galadriel Plays Gandalf Every Turn

Questlogs using this decklist
None.
Fellowships using this decklist
None.
Derived from
None. Self-made deck here.
Inspiration for
Gandalf Carpet Bomb 16 5 10 1.0
Card draw simulator
Odds: 0% – 0% – 0% more
The gameplay simulator is an experimental feature and is currently only available for those that support RingsDB development on Patreon.
Gameplay simulator
Round
0
Threat
0
Hand
In Play
Deck
Discard Pile

dalestephenson 1706

What's even better than playing Gandalf every turn? Playing Gandalf every turn with Galadriel as one of your heroes! Not only do you get your choice of direct damage, cards, and thread reduction, but Gandalf will quest for four and then attack/defend for four.

To actually play Gandalf every turn, four things are essential: 1) Six resources 2) Gandalf and Elf-friend in hand. 3) The Elvenking or a Silvan event to get Gandalf back in your hand 4) Bard son of Brand to get Elf-Friend back in your hand.

That's a five-card combo at minimum, so it will take time to come together. Luckily, besides using Gandalf for card draw, Galadriel's ability to draw a card while lowering threat will help, as will the awe-inspiring Mirror of Galadriel, which can nearly always find a combo piece in the first ten cards. Of course, it's also prone to tossing combo pieces, but Reforged, Dwarven Tomb, Will of the West and Galadhrim Weaver can help get them back. Or you could wait to get Silver Harp in play and use the Mirror risk free. Gather Information can also grab a piece in quests where side-quests will work.

Steward of Gondor will get you two of the three extra resources you need. You can get the final resource from Resourceful or Necklace of Girion when you can afford the extra enemy or location.

With all the tools, getting the combo pieces are less of an issue than surviving until they are all available. Without Nenya Galadriel can help with neither questing nor combat, which means this deck can struggle out of the gate. While you want combo pieces in your opening hand, that's less important than things that will help you survive, such as the potent Sneak Attack/Gandalf combo, or cards like Light of Valinor for action advantage or Treebeard to help out with combat. Feigned Voices can be a lifesaver early. Many useful cards are 1x, so don't look for specific helpful cards -- the decision to mulligan should be based on asking whether the opening hand will help you survive. If you can, the pieces will come in time.

Celeborn will be the main defender until Gandalf comes online, with the help of Arwen Undómiel, Cloak of Lórien and Elven Mail he can become a 4/6 defender, 5/6 in a forest. He can be healed up by Elrond, who could also be played every turn if Galadriel has Nenya and generates 3 resources.

To kill tougher enemies Gandalf's direct damage is a big help, but additional attack power can be provided by the Greenwood Archer. In conjunction with Sneak Attack they can also save your bacon early in the game.

Quests that require a fast start can be a challenge with this deck, but you should never lose a slog! It's fun to see things come together, and when it comes together the poor encounter deck doesn't stand a chance.

4 comments

Apr 04, 2023 doomguard 1923

nice idea, i can imagine Horns! Horns! Horns! can help you to get throuhg the first rounds. the Elf Guide can make it cheaper and Captain's Wisdom gives money to start the gandalftrain a bit more earlier.

i think it would be hard to get Celeborn equipped and gandalf rolling, and having Celeborn equipped the gandalfthing is perhaps a winmore

overall, its an interesting but expensive idea. i think with the hobbit Gandalf you get his doubleactions cheaper and have more money to get a boardstate. (and use Shadowfax and Gandalf's Staff )

Apr 04, 2023 NERD 789

Have you played a solo game and won using the combo?

Apr 04, 2023 dalestephenson 1706

I published this to use in the April solo League, it went 2-0 testing against The Oath (not a difficult task) and then defeated Lost in Mirkwood for the first official quest in the league. That's a long quest, so there was plenty of time for the deck to come together.

I stayed away from Elf Guide because even though I need resources, I need permanent ones, not temporary. If you're not playing Gandalf every turn, it's actually a pretty cheap deck and resources can accumulate.

Getting Celeborn fully equipped isn't important, but having Celeborn survive is vital, and the defense aids dribbling in can help do that. I think Gondorian Shield would be a good substitute for Elven Mail, it's cheaper, buffs defense instead of HP, and could give 2 defense with Steward placed on Celebrimbor.

It's absolutely true that OHUH Gandalf can give you action advantage cheaper over time, and with Bard around you can even get Shadowfax and the Staff back in hand if you decide to let him go. But it's way less cool, and core Gandalf's enter-play options are what really makes him shine.

Speaking of cool factors, I also suspect a third Resourceful may be a better use of deck space than Necklace of Girion. I haven't felt safe playing it until my combo has mostly come together, while finding the resources to put a Resourceful down is easy when I haven't got the full combo together yet.

I don't think I want to use Horns! Horns! Horns! in this deck; I'd only get one phase of Gandalf if he's in hand, and I'd need both Elf-friend and a way of retrieving him before losing him into the deck.

Apr 06, 2023 Torien 1

You say it can't handle quests that need a fast start so well - but it just demolished Escape from Umbar. I think when you find Nenya, the fast start thing is pretty easy to deal with. This deck is the sort of deck I love to play and I wish I had made this combo myself!