Legolas and Gimli after the War 1.0

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• 1.0

The friendship between Legolas and Gimli has always been one of my favorites in The Lord of the Rings. They bicker and banter but at the end of the day they are fast friends united in their quest to aid Frodo in destroying the One Ring. After the War of the Ring, Legolas and Gimli traveled together, visiting places such as Fangorn Forest and Aglarond (The Glittering Caves). Legolas eventually settled in Ithilien and Gimli in Aglarond, both with a contingent of their folk.

Together, Legolas and Gimli helped to rebuild Minas Tirith after the war. I like to imagine that during this time, the two had ample opportunities to spend time together. Since evil didn't evaporate overnight when Sauron was defeated, maybe they even went on the occasional mission to defend the city from some threat. This deck seeks to capture the adventures of these two after the war of the ring, each leading a group of their people.

Legolas and Gimli's friendship was so enduring, that at the end of his time in Middle-earth, Legolas brought Gimli with him when he sailed to Valinor. It is said this was the first and only time a Dwarf was admitted to the undying lands.

Apart from my love for Legolas and Gimli, I was also inspired to create this deck by a campaign I ran in Journey's in Middle-earth where I took Legolas and Gimli and pretended they were meeting for the first time sometime before the events of the War of the Ring. It was a fun little exercise in fan-fic and I wanted to recreate something like it in the card game. Lastly, I was inspired by another deck I recently created using Argalad and Thalin. I thought I'd continue the Silvan + Dwarf theme by publishing this deck as well.

Apart from the two main heroes, Legolas and Gimli, I picked Ori* for card draw and The Last Alliance for cost reduction and to do some fun things with the Silvan and Dwarf traits interacting. Legacy of Durin and O Lórien! can both be used for either trait. Before you have 5 Dwarven characters out, you could use the contract on Ori to count both Silvan and Dwarf characters. Silvan Tracker can now heal Dwarves as well. All the events can target either trait. Erebor Record Keeper can ready Legolas if needed.

Gimli is the main defender for the deck, at least until Longbeard Sentry or Soldier of Erebor are in play. Gimli will typically get the first armor attachment. I don't really use any of the dwarven discard mechanics, though you could if needed. Orophin can get an ally back and Erebor Hammersmith can get an attachment back from the discard and Relic of Nargothrond can be played from the discard. The Elvenking is included mainly as a way to repeatably pick an ally up so you can play it again for its enter play effect (I'm looking at you Miner of the Iron Hills).

*A note on Ori: I tried to keep this deck as thematic as possible by avoiding characters that were not alive in the 4th age. Ori is the exception. I know he perished in Moria along with Balin, but mechanically, he makes the most sense as the 3rd hero. If this is a sticking point for you, Bifur is probably the easiest substitution. The date of his death is not known precisely, but was sometime during the early 4th age.