Dunedain of the North 1.0

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• 1.0

The Dunedain of Arnor in the north of Eriador are a stern and secretive people. Amarthiul and Beravor are numbered among them. They have labored long years protecting the inhabitants of the land from various threats. Damrod, who can trace his lineage to the line of Southern Dunedain that once inhabited Gondor, has joined Amarthiul and Beravor for this adventure, as have many of the Northern Dunedain that remain. Damrod has brought healers and rangers of Gondor along with him on his journey and Craftsman from Imladris, where knowledge of the Dunedain has been preserved, have offered their aid. The Dunedain have great knowledge of the land and skillfully employ traps to waylay their enemies, making them vulnerable and easy to deal with. Their steeds give them advantage in battle, keeping them one step ahead of their foes.

I saw someone play a deck similar to this at Con of the Rings 2023 and decided to build my own take on it. I've always had an affinity for Dunedain characters in LOTR and Beravor and Damrod are two of my favorite heroes in the game. This deck is slow to get going until you can keep 2 enemies engaged and get Heir of Valandil in play, but by mid-game you should be pumping out the Dunedain allies pretty quickly.

The main goal of the deck is to stay engaged with as many enemies as possible. It's not uncommon to have 4+ enemies engaged at one time. Forest Snare, Entangling Nets, and Subdued all help you keep enemies engaged along with a few Armored Destriers on Amarthiúl. Beravor, Damrod, Sarn Ford Sentry, and Master of the Forge provide good card draw. Steed of the North and Wingfoot provide Beravor with readying so she can use her stats in addition to her ability.

Favor of the Valar is the only threat reduction in the deck. If the quest really punished you with threat, you may need to include additional copies. At least through the Dreamchaser Campaign, I haven't found I needed it yet. Knowledge of the Enemy provides resource acceleration along with Amarthiul. Dúnedain Watcher provides protection against bad shadows. Eldahir could be another option if there is a quest with especially bad shadows. Ioreth and Warden of Healing provide healing which I find I often need since undefended attacks happen quite frequently and Amarthiul may take some damage before boosting his defense with Dúnedain Warning.

Athelas is a side board if you need to remove condition attachments. Outmatched is also in the sideboard for additional readying on Amarthiul if needed.

A great starting hand has both Heir of Valandil and Forest Snare. Armored Destrier is also nice to see early as is any sort of card draw (including readying for Beravor). The deck is a bit slow to get going but once it starts rolling it picks up momentum fast. Questing is below average, especially at the beginning of quests so this deck is better paired with a strong questing deck, or in a multiplayer setting. Attack strength takes a bit to ramp up as well. Luckily, you want to keep the enemies engaged anyway so that isn't typically a problem. Much of the attack power, Fornost Bowman and Northern Bowmaster, have Ranged and so can help out other players.