This deck is part of Mormegil’s Deckbox, an effort to create an extensive catalogue of decks for the different archetypes, themes and playing styles available to players. Click here to check out the whole project.
Preferred Player Count: 1-4
Rating: .5
Premise
An Outlands deck without Hirluin the Fair and Steward of Gondor built around A Very Good Tale. You will explode even more quickly than a lot of conventional Outlands deck with the insane opening round that Denethor and Erestor provide, the output will however slow down quite a bit after that first round. Early attack can be an issue if you don't get a Knight of the Swan in early.
How To Play
You usually want your cheap allies (in particular Sam Gamgee and Bill the Pony) in play early. You then want to play as many Very Good Tales as you can. Therefore I usually mulligan for a solid ally-foundation for your first AVGT (most notably Sam Gamgee, however Legacy of Númenor or Envoys of Pelargir can fulfill a similar role) with Heed the Dream also being extremely useful in your opening hand to find what is missing.
I then try to find as many AVGTs as possible - be it already in hand, by your cheap draw or Drinking Song. A very important card in that regard is Heed the Dream as well, I almost always use its full effect round 1 with Denethors starting resources to get 1 or hopefully even 2 AVGTs (or another combopiece if that is missing like Sam or Bill if you need more enabling allies).
Considerations
This deck plays relatively unchanged in terms of strategy and decklist a lot in multiplayer. Cards like Double Back and Faramir become very attractive prospects and should be brought in! Henamarth Riversong can be removed, as can other non-Outlands allies (apart from Sam and Bill) depending on the situation. Deep Knowledge can also be cut if there is another player worried about his early threat. The deck is of course better with it, however it is not as important as Legacy of Númenor.
Enjoy!!!