Galadriel Plays Gandalf Every Turn 1.0

• Versions
• 1.0

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.