The Maiden & the Serpent 2.0 3.0

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General Description

How would Middle Earth's fate have played out, if Saruman never became the jealous and ambition-driven power-hungry enemy, but instead had proven to be an honest advisor and friend to the kingdom of Rohan and the forest of Fangorn? And following that thought, how would this have changed the tragic life of the traitor Gríma Wormtongue?

This is a mostly thematic 'what if?' - approach to a Strider / Secrecy deck starring Éowyn, the brave maiden of Rohan and King Théoden's loyal advisor, Gríma Wormtongue, leading an alliance of Rohan, Isengard and Fangorn.

Éowyn should receive Strider and the Golden Shield for being able to quest for and defend for 7. In the late game her second ability should make sure that a powerful enemy goes down.

Gríma receives the Keys of Orthanc and Resourceful. His doomed ability should make sure that I'm able to set up a sturdy collection of allies and mess with the encounter deck via Risk Some Light and Out of the Wild during the first three turns. Make sure to keep Vanish from Sight in your hand to be able to exploit secrecy later in the game.

The Ents should be able to quest, defend and attack as the situation requires, while Dúnedain Hunter and Westfold Outrider provide more attack for very few resources. Saruman is in there to provide a late game solution for tough enemies, when threat doesn't really matter anymore. Of course he's also included for thematic reasons, which holds true for the Isengard Messenger as well. Still both should be able to play their role. Gléowine and Daeron's Runes take care of card draw.

I am really looking forward to testing this solo as well as in multiplayer, and I hope it proves to be as fun as building it has already been.

Experiences and changes I

I tried this deck solo against 'Journey down the Anduin' (Core Set 2) and 'Into the Pit (Khazad-Dum 1)' and was able to beat the second one while losing to the first, mostly due to two encounter cards per round in the second phase of the quest. But it was fun that Éowyn was able to slay the troll with an Unseen Strike, also using her special action.

Issues I encountered were direct damage while not being able to heal, multiple high-threat locations (due to surge) as well as not doing enough damage when enemies pile up, as both my heroes have only very low attack stats.

In quests that are heavy on direct damage I plan to tag in Warden of Healing for Isengard Messenger. Quests with nasty locations may be better dealt with by Thror's Map and/or Secret Paths. As for general changes I included one copy of Gandalf, as resources are not a problem, and another copy of the versatile Westfold Outrider while bringing one less of Keys of Orthanc and Risk Some Light.

Experiences and changes II

This deck managed to beat 'Road to Rivendell', 'The Long Dark' and Foundations of Stone solo as well as beating 'To Catch an Orc' in Multyplayer on the first try. I partnered up with a friend of mine who brought along his Spirit Noldor Discard deck, which contained lots of threat reduction, so Doomed was no problem. I still made some changes, which will be tested soonish. Namely I took out Ent Draught, a copy of Resourceful, which isn't super important thanks to Grímaand the Keys of Orthanc, and the Dúnedain Hunters, who did a good job but didn't feel very thematic. I'm keeping them as part of the sideboard. Daeron's Runes were taken out in favor of Deep Knowledge. Treebeard and the Wellinghall Preserver joined the fray as well. I'm very much looking forward to start collecting the Harad Cycle, so that I get my hands on Steward of Orthanc as well.

Anyway, thanks for reading and following my thoughts and ramblings. As always, comments, likes and favouritism would be very much appreciated.