Jon's 5th Starter - Guardians of Eriador - CotR Episode 218 1.0

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Listen to the 5th Starter Deck segment in Episode 218 of Cardboard of the Rings

"Make a 5th Starter Deck," they said. "It'll be a good segment on the show!" they said. Reader, I bring the dad jokes on the show, not the deckbuilding advice. Nevertheless, here we are. So to make it interesting, I set two restrictions for myself in this deck:

1) No repeats from the reprints.

2) Few, if any, repeats from the other Starter Decks.

2a) No Hobbits, because Chad is probably doing that.

I wanted to create something that gave new players access to some key cards that won't be reprinted, but could still be a functional deck that beats a quest. Let's see how I did.

Heroes

Aragorn and Glorfindel were two auto-includes for new players who only have access to Revised Content. (How do you say RCO? Rico? Uncle Rico? We're going with it. Uncle Rico.) But what about that third spot? Considering how much of Uncle Rico's output includes Side Quests (especially when compared to the OG card and quest pool), a low-threat utility hero like Thurindir made sense.

Allies

Arwen Undómiel is a must-have, along with Treebeard and Warden of Healing. Master of the Forge, Imladris Stargazer, and Ethir Swordsman are utility cards that do their thing in this deck, and that thing is something Uncle Rico is missing. Firyal and Jubayr are both excellent allies from the Harad cycle, and Wilyador swoops in to fill Yazan's role since we don't have access without shenanigans.

The Dunedain allies are there entirely for flavor, though I have used both of their abilities in testing. Are they must-haves? Nah, but within the restrictions I gave myself, they have been useful.

Attachments

Light of Valinor and Asfaloth were easy adds, and don't miss sticking a Legacy Blade and/or a Silver Circlet on Glorfy. He does the heavy lifting in this deck. Aragorn's just around to make eyes at Arwen, defend the occasional attack, and summon his self via Thorongil for the late game readying or his self in the sideboard for more resource smoothing.

Yeah, I know, Thorongil is a niche card, but I love the theme. Speaking of theme, tossing Loragorn A Burning Brand is always a hit.

Events

Here we find some repeats, but who among us doesn't want extras of Daeron's Runes and Elrond's Counsel? Exactly. A Good Harvest helps more in other decks than this one, but even a suboptimal play with it gets a body or an attachment out at least one turn earlier. And with all this threat reduction, Deep Knowledge isn't scary. But you could swap it out in 4-player for something else.

Side Quests

Only two, because Exlame Lamecret Laymes isn't worth it. Choose the one you think you might need with Thurindir for the particular quest you're playing, and then be pleasantly surprised if you see the other. Uncle Rico already provides the best side quests, but these have their uses.

Piloting

Can this beat a quest? Actually, yes. I've reliably handled the Hill Troll and made it out of Umbar. Is it top-tier? Of course not, but none of the starters are. You'll need to lean on the card draw and tutoring to get the right cards in hand. With no resource acceleration or cost reduction (because of the aforementioned restrictions), you'll need all that card draw to give you options for your limited resources.

Ultimately, Glorfindel is your key piece. Lean on Master of the Forge to fish out Light of Valinor, Asfaloth, Silver Circlet, and Legacy Blade, in that order.

When Treebeard hits the table, things begin to get easier. "What's he doing in Eriador? For that matter, why are Firyal, Jubayr, and a gaggle of Ethir Swordsmen there?" Hush. They're on vacation, ok? Do you want the new folks to have good cards or not?

This is a deck that relies more on low-cost options than big combos or novel strategies.

Sideboard

The real Starter Decks include a smattering of other cards, so I rounded off the 1- and 2-ofs from the main deck.

In addition, I tossed in Mirlonde and Resourceful. She would replace Thurindir, and you could spend most of the game waiting for Resourceful and Elrond's Counsel to land in hand at the same time. Fire Aragorn in the last action window of the Refresh phase, and then next turn you get into Secrecy with Elrond's Counsel (tough luck on the WP boost), and get Resourceful for 1 cost.

I'm not saying I'd personally do that, but it's a play, and it gets our new players 3x Resourceful for future use and a Hero card they'll slip into the binder.

Conclusion

There are definitely some compromises made in this deck to fit the brief and the restrictions. Enemy swarms (3+) or multiple rounds of boss enemies tend to overwhelm it, and it doesn't do any one phase of the game exceptionally well. But, as a prospective 5th starter deck, it's playable without having to remember a bunch of oddball triggers. It can beat quests, and it adds some key cards to a new player's card pool. By that measure, I'd call it a success. And so would Uncle Rico.