I've played so many variants on this thing, I wanted to establish a baseline for, what is THE essential Three Wise Men deck? Here it is, one-player edition.
The basics are what they've always been. Vilya accelerates by playing all the expensive stuff, and Elrond eventually becomes the main blocker with A Burning Brand. Gandalf lets you see it before you Vilya it, and also plays cheap events (and occasionally, cheap allies and attachments). He himself is the jack-of-all-trades, helping out with quests or defense or attack as needed, with Flame of Anor in tight spots. Glorfindel is low threat to balance the other two, and with Light of Valinor becomes quester and attacker, also doubling Asfaloth's ability to clear location jams.
Most of your extra money is fed to Elrond, from Steward of Gondor, and from Zigil Miner throwing away Hidden Cache and spare copies of Vilya. Don't be afraid to lose a card or two that you needed: every card is needed, so when you throw away some things you'll gain others. Keep one or two resources handy on Gandalf, for the flexibility he brings when playing off the top, but don't overdo it. Heir of Mardil is definitely for Elrond.
About Blocking
- Elrond is the best. He can have A Burning Brand, and with a boost from Arwen Undómiel he blocks for 4. If you need more than that, chump with someone unimportant.
- Beorn is often next, with his bazillion hit points. Mostly he wants to kill things and shuffle back into the deck and be played again with Vilya, but often he can soak up some damage first. Shuffling in is like healing him for free.
- Gimli is like a pressure release valve, because he pops up as a blocker exactly when you need him most. For that reason, he's my favorite blocker for little stuff.
- Gildor Inglorion is here, along with Imladris Stargazer and Wizard Pipe, to ensure you have what you need on top. Still, he makes a good blocker in a pinch. Especially with Narya, so he gets the same 4 defense as Elrond, except you don't care if he dies.
- Jubayr, who was just recently previewed in upcoming set The Mumakil. https://images-cdn.fantasyflightgames.com/filer_public/93/36/9336ee0a-b5c2-47c8-94ca-1b9992b702fa/mec56-jubayr.png. Fantastic blocker, but that's all he does, and I'm all about synergy.
- Eldahir is also a pretty good blocker, and spends green money to peek at shadows and gain +2 defense. By the time you have the extra money to mess around with that, you won't need it much.
- Déorwine is a slightly better blocker than Eldahir, but not in this deck, because he needs Narya to be able to spend Gandalf's money to cancel shadows.
About the Rest of the Sideboard
- Power of Orthanc: the ONE card in here that's truly a sideboard for swapping in and out. Sometimes Conditions are just that bad.
- Beorn, Imladris Stargazer, Warden of Healing, Unexpected Courage, Flame of Anor: at times I've run more copies of these than are in this version. The current balance seems best.
- Hasty Stroke also fits into that category, but the current balance has zero of them. Occasionally they can save you before you have A Burning Brand up, but mostly they just get in the way.
- Landroval, Fortune or Fate: I don't like to include cards that are only useful if I'm already dying. At some point, I may as well just resign and start over.
- Grim Resolve, Elf-stone: likewise, at some point if I'm already winning, there's only so much I can do with these. I don't need them to win, they just make me win bigger. Rather than use up space on these, I'd rather run cards that make the difference between win and not-win.
- Word of Command: searching for the crucial card only goes so far in this deck, because it cycles through itself so fast. Also, frequently an untapped Gandalf is worth more.
- Shadowfax: this is only relevant when adapting the deck for multiplayer, at which point it's pretty awesome.
- Sword-thain: in theory a great Vilya target, it mostly comes in too late to do much good. It makes a great combo with Gildor Inglorion and Unexpected Courage, and maybe even A Burning Brand, but with Narya available to untap him, that specific combo is no longer worth the effort.
