Aggro Gondor 1.0

• Versions
• 1.0

This deck focuses on two ideas which have captured my imagination lately: Aggro decks, and making a viable thematic Gondor deck. Prince Imrahil is not as strong here as he could be by splashing Non-Gondor allies like Beorn, Legolas, et. al, but I wanted this deck to stay as close as possible to the Gondor trait. The only two exceptions are Gandalf and Galadriel, both of which fill vital roles in an archetype with relatively weak Card Draw and Threat Reduction. In any case, every deck which features Sneak Attack is begging for the do-it-all wizard.

Appropriately for Gondor, the strategy is solid and straight-forward, without much trickery. Steward of Gondor is obviously what you want to mulligan for, and it goes on Boromir along with Visionary Leadership. First and foremost, Denethor helps with the fast early setup, vital in an ally swarm deck. His second ability is underrated, as he can smooth your resources - allowing you to play two-cost Tactics cards like Honour Guard, Defender of Rammas and Raiment of War. The latter card is a perfect fit for Knight of the White Tower, Veteran of Osgiliath or even the afore mentioned Defender.

Ideally, you will be playing two allies each round, which makes the extra card draw from Gandalf and Rod of the Steward vital to maintain momentum in the middle-game. Sword-thain could probably be dropped for a third copy of Rod for more consistent card draw, but I find the combo with Sneak Attack too fun to pass up. Ally Faramir is a particularly great target for Sword-thain if you haven't yet played Steward. By attaching Steward and Heir of Mardil to Faramir you can consistently use him twice each round - which is tremendously powerful in a swarm deck like this. Just don't forget to leave a resource on brother Boromir so that your allies keep their bonuses.

Prince Imrahil helps you fetch an extra ally most rounds (don't worry too much about saving extra Tactics resources when Denethor can help as-needed). Armored Destrier and Gondorian Shield will turn Denethor into a super-defender, but this is one of the rare decks where your allies can also help in that regard. This deck can work in solo against some quests, but as with all Gondor decks it plays better in multiplayer with decks that focus on other aspects like Location Control, Cancellation, Threat Management and Staging Area Control. The Gondor archetype is definitely getting better over time, and thanks to Imrahil there are more interesting decisions to make - beyond just playing all of your allies each turn.