Forth, The Three Hunters! - Aragorn, Gimli and Legolas 5.0

• Versions
• 5.0
• 4.0
• 3.0
• 2.0
• 1.0

My latest iteration and take on a Three Hunters deck using the Forth, The Three Hunters! contract.

Pairs with this deck: https://ringsdb.com/decklist/view/45730/thewhitecouncil-elrondgandalfandglorfindel-4.0

This deck is extremely combat focused but also capable of contributing a ton of via the boost that the contract provides combined with readying effects.

Due to the low cost of attachments, lack of any allies due to the Contract and varying resource generation cards this deck ends up with a plethora of extra resources pretty quickly. This allows you to actually pay for and use both Aragorn and Gimli's abilities very often providing two reliable readying effects. This also allows you to easily pay for cards like Hour of Wrath and Captains of the West when you actually need them. Ideally Steward of Gondor goes on Gimli so that Gondorian Shield provides him with +2 rather than only +1 but it can easily be placed on Aragorn instead as he makes great use of Gondorian Shield as well and also needs resources for his ability.

You want to get two restricted onto the three heroes as fast as possible to flip the contract and receive not only boosted cbut also the insanely strong healing effect that can be used every single turn (with Elrond hero in play it heals 2 damage at a time off all three heroes rather than 1). Other decks using this contract that I have built in the past tended to really rely on flipping the contract ASAP and when they failed to do so it would often spell trouble or even disaster. I find that with this particular three hunters deck however flipping the contract doesn't seem nearly as key or important - most of the time. Legolas can still place progress via attacks (often multiple times a turn thanks to Gimli's readying effect, Hands Upon the Bow, Swift and Strong or Hour of Wrath), Aragorn can still quest and ready himself and you can still do a big quest push with Captains of the West even if the contract hasn't flipped yet.

Ideally you would want the following restricted attachments on each Hero (assuming they have a Golden Belt attached):

-Legolas - War Axe, Rivendell Blade, Bow of the Galadhrim (x1/2) and Valiant Sword/Dagger of Westernesse. This results in Legolas having a whopping 9 Base that can potentially be further boosted in three possible ways depending on which weapons he receives; if attacking an enemy engaged with the other deck or in the staging area, when attacking an enemy with higher engagement cost than your threat or if you have 40 or more threat. The Rivendell Blade will also reduce the of any enemy he attacks by 2. Obviously any combination of these weapons works extremely well but War Axe is the key one you eventually want especially if you can get a Golden Belt and four restricted on him. Two copies of Bow of the Galadhrim can also be extremely strong if you manage to draw and use multiple copies of Hands Upon the Bow or if you simply have the companion deck engage most enemies - Gimli and Aragorn can both still defend for the other deck via Sentinel.

-Gimli - Gondorian Shield, Ancestral Armor, Armored Destrier and Dwarven Shield/Dagger of Westernesse/Valiant Sword/Dwarrowdelf Axe. Gimli becomes an absolute beast of a defender once you get him loaded up. If you get lucky and also draw one of the Dunedain Warnings and a Hauberk of Mail you could potentially get his up to 9 while also boosting his by 3 as well. Even just at 6 or 7 he still becomes near indestructible especially when you can heal him for 2 every turn thanks to the flipped contract. You can even throw a weapon on him as often he is ready for counter attacks (Light the Beacons, Armored Destrier, UC etc) after defending.

-Aragorn - Aragorn is a bit more flexible than the other two and doesn't have a specific set of restricted you want for him. Instead you can mix and match from Gondorian Shield, Ancestral Armor, Armored Destrier, Valiant Sword, Sword of Numenor, Dagger of Westerness and War Axe (can be placed on him if he gains the icon via Roheryn or Thorongil). Aragorn basically gets turned into a strong jack of all trades who can quest for up to 6 (with four restricted ), ready himself and then also potentially defend or attack multiple times. You can defend with him and ready him via Gimli's response so that he is also available for offense or even a second defense. Armored Destrier also allows him to ready and provide a counter attack or even a second defense without Gimli's ability. Basically Aragorn fills any gaps he is needed for and is a strong quester, defender and attacker across the board sometimes fulfilling all three duties in a single turn.

A few of the restricted are also fantastic when played across the board on the companion deck's heroes. A copy of Gondorian Shield goes great on Gandalf especially if he has Shadowfax, same goes for Dagger of Westernesse or Armored Destrier (Shadowfax allows Destrier). Similarly if you want to use Elrond as an additional/emergency defender Ancestral Armor and Gondorian Shield work great on him as well. Even Glorfindel can benefit from Ancestral Armor turning him into a 3 and 7 wall. Spare weapons work great on Glorfindel or Gandalf especially if they have Light of Valinor or Shadowfax attached. Finally, additional copies of Bow of the Galadhrim or Rivendell Blade fit perfectly on the Haldir ally or a Marksman of Lorien.

Thorongil is a card that up until recently I had not realised just how good it can be. It is frankly insanely strong transforming one of your heroes into another version while still retaining any abilities and the original sphere that they had. Gaining or Aragorn's abilities on top of Aragorn's readying ability is crazy good. The vast majority of the time I use Thorongil to bring out Aragorn to give the deck yet another combat boost reducing all engaged enemies by 1 and providing his "Get over here!" ability as well. In quests with tons of threat raising mechanics or cards I will use Aragorn instead for the big threat reset. Thorongil also provides a second way for Aragorn to gain the icon giving him access to War Axe. Giving him the Warrior trait this way also allows him to receive a spare Hauberk as well.

Sideboard

-Gildor Inglorion is basically there for when I eventually reach the part of the Saga Campaign in which Aragorn is a Fellowship hero and would need to be replaced. Gildor's card draw is insanely strong and helpful for this deck and he is basically a perfect replacement. He can receive all the that can only be attached to Nobles or characters and the same goes for Rivendell Blade given he is Noldor. Even with his subpar starting stats he still makes a very reliable defender when given Ancestral Armor and perhaps a Gondorian Shield or Destrier as well. He is a fantastic quester as well with his stellar 3.

-Dunedain Remedy is subbed into the deck for quests that feature a crazy amount of direct damage, archery etc. Mid to late game with plenty of additional unneeded resources this deck can easily move the Remedy around several heroes in quick succession healing them all for 2 instead of 1 via Elrond's boosted healing.

-Durin's Axe and Orcrist are absolutely insane when attached to Legolas or even Aragorn but you simply cannot take Guarded player cards into every quest and can be severely punished or even potentially lose a game due to playing one at the wrong time. They are only really included in the decks during easier or more casual quests and games.

-Roheryn was originally in the main deck but it just has not been performing well at all. Aragorn doesn't get buffed to anywhere near as high an value as Legolas and in many games may cap out at 4 or 5 especially if you can't get a Golden Belt on him. There are simply not that many enemies that you can take out in one go with 4 or 5 strength. Roheryn does however provide that icon allowing you to get that second War Axe on Aragorn should you draw it. I now only really include Roheryn in the deck during quests that feature a ton of enemies with low and giving Roheryn the chance to actually shine and be useful. Taking out an enemy before it even gets a chance to attack can be huge especially if the enemy has a nasty effect that triggers on attacks. Roheryn is tricky, it either shines and allows you to take out multiple smaller enemies throughout a quest essentially cancelling multiple attacks at the same time or it does very little to nothing at all.

-Unseen Strike is basically just a replacement for Hands Upon the Bow in quests that shut down or see very little use from Hands. Enemies in staging may be immune to damage for most of a quest or it may be a boss battle quest that features very little to no other enemies aside from the boss etc.

-Gather Information is just a fantastic card and can help both decks get their engines set up much faster (or help flip the Contract faster) or simply get you a key card you need to overcome a specific hurdle the quest is currently throwing at you. Much like Guarded cards however you cannot just include Player Side Quests whenever as some quests will severely punish this.