Requiem for Friendships Past

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kjeld 645

For me, the one saving grace of the Rings of Power show is the chemistry between a young(er) Elrond and King Durin IV as they work together to build the pinnacle of Noldor-Dwarf collaborations at Eregion, outside the gates of Khazad-dûm. Despite the evils that befall Eregion after the secret forging of the One Ring, I feel that Elrond must still look back on those early days with a certain nostalgia, which was the inspiration for this deck. The closest character to King Durin living during the War of the Ring has to be Dáin Ironfoot for his leadership, courage, and strength, so I've imagined Elrond teaming up with the King of the Iron-hill Dwarves for a final stand At the End of All Things.

This is a quite straightforward Elrond/Vilya + Dwarf Swarm/Mining deck. The advantage of At the End of All Things is that it lets you play the strongest early-game version of Dáin Ironfoot and then grab and play Thorongil for his strong mid-game version at the point in the game where you generally need it most (once you've got some dwarf allies on the table). For the second card, take whatever you need -- often an Unexpected Courage or Light of Valinor.

This is a slightly untypical Vilya deck as it limits what you're most looking to hit to just a handful of cards, most importantly Lay of the Nauglamír, but also Soldier of Erebor or even Glorfindel.

The contract combos well with Lay of the Nauglamír, as nearly all allies cost just 2, letting you play almost any of them turn 1. Note that Veteran Axehand is present for cheap attack power, but can only be played with the Lay or Elrond's passive ability.

There are certainly ways to optimize this further, but this was the best purely thematic build I could produce and it works reasonably well in solo.

6 comments

Sep 18, 2023 doomguard 2101

like the theme and heroesetup.

but i think u have a clunky start mostof the time. you can get only stargazer or vilya 1. turn and questing only with 3 first round?

Lay of the Nauglamír is the card i like the most from Alep-content, but i see its strength, to try to make it happen as early as possible.

Sep 18, 2023 kjeld 645

Can quest for 6 first round with contract. Dain can ready via contract for defense. The key to a decent start is really to mulligan for Imladris Stargazer, or Zigil Miner (just guess 2...). I generally mill through the deck with abandon, searching for Hidden Cache or Ered Luin Miners. If I dump a Light of Valinor, Vilya, or Unexpected Courage, then that's great b/c I can drop a Hammersmith to get those in hand faster.

I agree it's slow -- this isn't a power deck -- but I'm not sure what could be done to speed it up without breaking theme. Seasoned Forager could help, I suppose, though I've been trying to use that less.

Sep 18, 2023 doomguard 2101

what about Well-Equipped and Erebor Guard if one of them mine a Hidden Cache you are fine. and it thematic.

Sep 18, 2023 doomguard 2101

if you are interested, this is my Lay of the Nauglamír -deck. i usually can play lay 1. round ringsdb.com

Sep 19, 2023 kjeld 645

@doomguard Yes, I've seen your deck, which is a great optimization of Lay of the Nauglamír. That said, Lay is not really the focus of this deck, nor is speed. It's really about making At the End of All Things work, and within theme. This contract is very challenging to use, as it necessitates a slow start. The trick is to find a way to make up for that slow start at the flip. I think these two heroes do a decent job in that regard. They have very strong starting stats, allowing them to tank a lot of attacks the first couple of rounds while still questing. It's a matter of holding out until they get their momentum around turn 4 or 5. I know that aggro decks are all the rage these days -- especially since it's necessary against the most difficult quests in the game -- but this isn't that kind of deck. It's not going to beat Nightmare quests solo. But it's a lot of fun to take up against normal quests and see if you can puzzle out how to make that mid-game comeback -- very satisfying when it works!

My issue with Erebor Guard is that it doesn't help early game -- I don't need another defender -- and it doesn't work with Lay. Well-Equipped can only hit off 3 cards in the entire deck... hard to see how that's worth it.

Sep 19, 2023 doomguard 2101

Well-Equipped has a decent chance to hit a Hidden Cache or Ered Luin Miner thats the mainpurpose. if hitting "accidentially" an egliable attachement, the better.

same with Erebor Guard in addition, i play mostly multiplayer and there sentinel specially in early is a good thing. solo questionable.

i you have a Imladris Stargazer out the chances increase.