For Manwë to whom all birds are dear, and to whom they bring news upon Taniquetil from Middle-earth, had sent forth the race of Eagles, commanding them to dwell in the crags of the North, and to keep watch upon Morgoth; for Manwë still had pity for the exiled Elves. --The Silmarillion.

An Alternate Art Starter Deck

Inspired by AutumnRose's work on her two incredible alt-art starter decks (Flight to the Ford and Where the Stars are Strange), I am releasing my second attempt at a starter deck. This deck is mainly focused on Eagles who, on behalf of Manwë, are watching over the exiled Noldor in Middle-earth.

Right off the bat I want to point out some crossovers that my deck contains. Of the 30 different cards I have included there are six repeated cards between the Core Set and Autumn's work. Of those repeats, two different cards (Unexpected Courage and Sneak Attack) are repeats of the Core Set. The other four (Gildor Inglorion, Glorfindel, Arwen Undómiel, and Light of Valinor) are repeated from Autumn's two starter decks. Having six repeated cards (twelve copies of cards) is on par with the repeated number of cards in the official starter decks, but still worth noting. With that said, onto the deck itself!

Eagles

The Eagles are creatures of Arda, said to be devised by Manwë Súlimo, leader of the Valar. They were sent to Middle-earth to watch over the Noldor. Their archetype features some incredibly powerful cards that bounce in and out of play, often triggering cascading effects.

Gwaihir the Windlord is the lord of the Eagles during the Third Age, and is an incredibly powerful card that can defend and attack with ease and even pitch in questing if needed. Eagles of the Misty Mountains is the second most powerful Eagle, one which captures the other Eagles leaving play and uses them to power itself. Eagle Emissary, Vassal of the Windlord, Wilyador, and Winged Guardian are all low cost cards you can enter play quickly but are at risk of leaving just as fast. Descendant of Thorondor sticks around longer, but dishes out some damage whenever he enters or exits play. IN the sideboard, Landroval is an option if you find your heroes at risk in a given quest.

Figuring out how to bounce these allies in and out of play to ready Gwaihir, boost Eagles of the Misty Mountains, dish out some damage, or chump block is the driving force for the Eagle trait. Born Aloft, Meneldor's Flight, and Sneak Attack all help with this. The Eagles Are Coming! will allow you to rapidly find the Eagles you need, often drawing you two or three cards for free. Support of the Eagles is an incredible combo that you can play on Gwaihir (or any hero with Song of Battle), getting even more use from any supercharged Eagles of the Misty Mountains you have in play.

Noldor

The Noldor were the second clan of Elves to leave Valinor to travel to Middle-earth. Although they revolted against Manwë to do so, the King of the Valar still sent his dearest Eagles to watch over them and their mutual foe Morgoth.

The Noldor have one of the most interesting heroes in the game in Glorfindel. If you can get Light of Valinor on him you can quest for 3 and attack for 3 in the same round, and his low starting threat pairs well with Gwaihir. Gildor Inglorion is also powerful when questing, and his resources can be used to fuel your card draw. Whenever you find Song of Battle it can be played on Gildor, boosting your ability to play your Eagles. The remaining Noldor cards are included to aid with questing (Arwen Undómiel, Eregion Survivor, and Lay of Nimrodel) or to help you gather more information each turn (Imladris Stargazer and Silver Lamp).

Utility Cards

Unexpected Courage is one of the more popular core set cards and pairs well with Gwaihir to ready him even more. The Day's Rising also goes on Gwaihir and helps with resource acceleration. Miruvor and The White Council are multi-purpose utility cards that can fill multiple roles for you depending on what you need. Erestor can be added if you need more willpower or card draw. Parting Gifts can be used for even more resource smoothing, and Watcher of the Bruinen can give you more defending allies.

Customizing the deck

The (expected) upcoming re-release of the Ered Mithrin cycle will grant players access to a handful of great Eagle cards. Meneldor would help greatly with location lock. Flight of the Eagles and Eagle of the North help stuff the encounter deck with beneficial allies (and also bouncing your own Eagles). Radagast, Radagast's Staff, and Gwaihir's Debt are all Eagle-adjacent cards that would easily fit into this deck. Elrond and Vilya is an incredibly powerful combo that happens to fit the Noldor-Eagle theme if you wanted to include Radagast and switch to a Lore-Tactics deck - just beware your starting threat! The revised content, especially the Dream-chaser Cycle and the Elves of Lorion starter deck, include a good number of Noldor cards that you can use to tweak this deck to play a variety of different ways.

If you are interested in fan-made content there are even more options for you. The team working on A Long-extended Party have created a good deal of Eagle cards, including some in the Leadership sphere, as well as some Noldor cards. My favorite possibility from ALeP for this deck is the The Last Alliance contract, which is a fun card for any pair of traits but does seem to fit smoothly into the bouncing and chain reaction nature of this starter deck.

Print this deck

I have set up a Make Playing Cards project with ALeP backs that can be found here. If you wish to use official backs, a PDF of the deck that can be sent to MBPrint can be found here. A photo album with high-res versions of each individual card is available here.