Imrahil's Palantir 4.0

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“Tall ships and tall kings Three times three, What brought they from the foundered land Over the flowing sea? Seven stars and seven stones And one white tree. (The Two Towers)”

The seven stones are the palantiri, which the descendants of Numenor used to remotely observe the world and communicate with one another. After the fall of Arnor, the capture of Minas Ithil and sacking of Osgiliath during the Kin-Strife, many of these stones were lost. Of the few remaining, Denethor possessed the Minas Anor stone, and the visions he saw of Mordor ate away at his will over time. In a more sane mind, would Denethor allow others to use his precious seeing stone? Maybe other trusted individuals of Gondor? In this combat deck, Prince Imrahil has the stone to gain insight into the enemy's plans while he cuts down the dark foes confronting him. We make full use of defense/attack boosts, readying, resource shifting, and allies that will leave play. The Palantir will also be used, carefully.

The Heroes

Prince Imrahil is clearly the main attacker here. He gets Steward of Gondor, Gondorian Fire, Heir of Mardil, Dúnedain Cache, and the Palantir. With Heir of Mardil he has two actions per round and a third if an ally leaves play. He can use all these for attacking or to use the palantir for scrying and potential card draw.

Denethor is our main defender with a Gondorian Shield. He almost always gives his resource to Imrahil each round to ready him with Heir of Mardil.

Mablung is there as flexible body, giving a little attack/willpower or defending reasonably well with a Gondorian shield. The extra resource he gains when we engage an enemy helps afford Knight of Minas Tirith or can be shifted over to Imrahil or any other hero with Errand-rider.

Resources: Steward of Gondor, Squire of the Citadel, Mablung, Errand-rider, Denethor

Steward of Gondor is a major source of resource acceleration in this deck, but it is possible to live without it because of all the other resource acceleration cards. Denethor starts us off with extra in the beginning, and his resources can be given to Imrahil, Mablung, or other Gondor heroes on the table. Mablung turns our frequent engagements into a source of resource gain. Squire of the Citadel isn't really a net gain in resources, but he is a free chump block who lets us place that resource on Imrahil or Mablung. Finally, Errand-rider allows for the transfer of resources among the three heroes or gives an influx of resources to another player's hero.

Card Draw: Gandalf, Valiant Sacrifice, Palantir

Gandalf shows up here for . . . obvious reasons. That card draw is a good way to dig into our deck, and we might use his threat reduction to offset the consequences of the Palantir. That seeing stone can let us draw cards too, but it is better to view it as a scrying card rather than rely on it for card draw. And since the deck has a decent number of chump blockers and allies that leave play, Valiant Sacrifice is another good source of card draw with a similar effect to Daeron's Runes without the discard.

Defense: Denethor, Gondorian Shield, Winged Guardian, Squire of the Citadel, Feint

Denethor wielding a Gondorian Shield is the main plan for defense, but Winged Guardian is the sentinel defender of the deck. The tax for him to stick around is not too hard to deal with thanks to Mablung. For some of the more deadly attacks, Squire of the Citadel or even Errand-rider can chump block and Feint prevents the attack altogether.

Offense: Prince Imrahil, Gondorian Fire, Dúnedain Cache, Marksman of Lórien, Veteran of Osgiliath, Vassal of the Windlord, Tireless Hunters

If Gondorian Fire is drawn, then Imrahil can be built up to be the main attacker in little time with all the resource acceleration/shifting available. With Heir of Mardil or Vassal of the Windlord's assistance, he can also deal a crushing blow more than once during the phase! However, if we don't draw Gondorian Fire, there are still allies that can provide good numbers for attacking in place of the fire, namely Marksman of Lórien (who is even a good target for Sneak Attack) and Veteran of Osgiliath. When enemies engage other players, they can be killed off with ranged attacks from the allies or a suited up Imrahil with Dúnedain Cache. Tireless Hunters also pulls an enemy on over while triggering Mablung's ability to basically become a free event.

Scrying: Palantir

Now we come to it. This ancient artifact has quite the drawback, and must be tempered with threat reduction. Yet, a combat deck will shrug at the threat spike more so than other decks because it is all good as long as you can handle the enemies that will engage you and there is some way for you to avoid reaching 50. This card isn't thrown in willy-nilly here, the whole fellowship it is part of is made to readily benefit from the encounter deck scrying. This can let the group know how the round will go so they know what to play in the planning phase, whether or not cancellation will be needed, how much to commit to the quest, and so on. The Palantir enables good decision making because it shows you what you need to do in order to be successful this round.

Concluding Thoughts

This combat deck is quite capable and fun to play, it brought me through the quests of the Dream-Chaser cycle and The Sands of Harad. Imrahil's action advantage takes center stage in this deck, and it made me see what a delightful hero he is. Aside from cleaning up enemies, this deck easily grants resources to others and uses the palantir to know what is coming up. Both of these lend a major helpful hand to a questing deck that is working to guarantee quest progress, or even to help a trap deck enfeeble the encounter deck more effectively. If you are looking for a combat deck that plays well with others, you may want to give this one a try.