Something of Everything in Rivendell 2.0

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"In all the days of the Third Age, after the fall of Gil-Galad, Master Elrond abode in Imladris, and he gathered there many Elves, and other folk of wisdom and power from among all the kindreds of Middle-earth, and he preserved through many lives of Men the memory of all that had been fair; and the house of Elrond was a refuge for the weary and the oppressed, and a treasury of good counsel and wise lore." -The Silmarillion

There were people of all sorts Who travelled to Rivendell, for it was a welcoming place to stop and take a break from roaming. Though mostly an Elven society, Rivendell also saw a fair share of visiting Dwarves, Men from various kingdoms, and Hobbits as well (Bilbo at the least). Something of everything could be found in Rivendell. It was also the place where Elrond raised young Aragorn, the heir to the throne of Arnor and Gondor. Here too did Aragorn first see Arwen, and was immediately captivated by her beauty.

In this deck, I wanted to capture a sense of Rivendell as a refuge for various people who weren't necessarily Noldor. So of course it has many traits in it, Dwarf, Rohan, Silvan, Outlands, and Dale. It features a deploy and protect approach and has very strong heroes with high threat. This deck plays several strong and affordable allies and has just enough protective measures to survive if the game runs long. Either way, the allies will pretty much win you the game in the end.

Heroes

A Lore/Sprit/Tactics combination can be difficult for a deck, but Elrond helps afford allies quicker so as to not be stuck with a stifling resource curve. Arwen Undómiel provides additional help with her resource generation ability, which can be applied to Elrond as well as Aragorn who makes enemies a little easier to kill with his debuff to their defense. This makes for a team of heroes that grant access to a wide variety of great allies and events from the three spheres.

Allies

It has quite the mix of allies, but they basically fall into two categories with the Spirit questers and the Tactics attackers. With the number of these allies included in this deck, we are sure to draw some early on. Rather paying for Lore cards, Elrond will usually be contributing his resources to the usually off-sphere ally purchases so that a reasonable squad can be assembled. Galadhon Archer, Knights of the Swan, and Azain Silverbeard make up the main attacking force of this deck. With enough of them, it may even be alright to have Aragorn quest while they handle the combat. On the questing side, Ethir Swordsman, West Road Traveller, Rhovanion Outrider, and Galadriel's Handmaiden which should be enough to power through many quests, especially with several Outlands allies on the table. Anfalas Herdsman and Glorfindel can flexibly serve to quest or attack (or both in the case of Glorfindel).

Events

The events are mainly for either guarding the board state or for card draw. Events like A Test of Will, Feint, Elrond's Counsel, and Revealed in Wrath can all protect against various effects that can harm heroes and allies in different situations in the game. The draw events, Daeron's Runes, Elven-light, and Heed the Dream bring more allies or other protective cards to our hand. A Good Harvest serves mainly to bring out Sword that was Broken as a potential trump card for questing, but I have also simply used it to make it easier to play an ally when the sword didn't show up.

Attachments

As said before, Sword that was Broken can boost the willpower way up, and can be a good mid or late game play to rush the quest with high willpower. Yet there are other good attachments in this deck, Cloak of Lórien gives Elrond a more sturdy 4 defense and The Long Defeat can give decent card draw or give some Elrond boosted healing to the ranks so they can push on.

Concluding Thoughts

This deck has a somewhat unorthodox sphere combination, which I like. You won't find droves of decks with heroes that are straight up Spirit/Lore/Tactics since it can be challenging enough for tri-sphere decks to always afford cards and build tempo in a timely manner, let alone if you eliminate the Leadership sphere. What I like most about this deck is that it makes the Spirit/Lore/Tactics tri-sphere build work without it being stuck as a slow deck. The whole deck became an interesting affair to me, it ended up being neither a turtle deck or an aggro deck in my opinion, but somewhere in between. Having the raw stats and great events of Spirit/Tactics as well as the card draw and healing of Lore is fun and formidable, and it keeps me coming back test its limits again and again. So far it bested The Steward's Fear and Celebrimbor's Secret and I'm sure I'll get several more adventures out of this one.