"For thus is it spoken: Oft hope is born, when all is forlorn." But what hope he saw from afar he would not tell. When night came it did but deepen the darkness, and our hearts were hot, for away in the North we saw a red glow under the cloud, and Aragorn said: "Minas Tirith is burning.’" -- Legolas, The Return of the King

An Alternate Art Starter Deck

Inspired by AutumnRose's work on her two incredible alt-art starter decks (Flight to the Ford and Where the Stars are Strange), I am releasing my sixth alternate art starter deck, Hope is Born. This deck is inspired by The Battle of Pelargir. Our heroes Aragorn, Gimli, and Legolas led the Dúnedain of the Grey Company through the Paths of the Dead, winning the Dead Men of Dunharrow to their cause. They emerged and gathered some scattered forces of Gondor, together driving the Umbar Corsairs from Pelargir and continuing on to join the Battle of Pelennor Fields. This deck is focused on providing the remaining Aragorn-focused attachments to help him fulfill his destiny, as well as rounding out most of the remaining Dúnedain cards. It also includes a handful of the cards that require you to have two characters with unique traits, plus a selection of Gondor cards left out of the Defenders of Gondor starter deck.

For those keeping track, this deck features five repeat cards. Gimli was included in my Masters of Stone starter deck, Aragorn, Dunedain Lookout, and Thorongil were included in Autumn's Flight to the Ford deck, and Elven-light is included in the Dream-chaser hero expansion. All repeated cards feature new artwork.

Aragorn and his Attachments

There are four attachments that provide a bonus if attached to Aragorn. Two (Celebrían's Stone and Roheryn) were included in the revised content, but two more were left out. Sword that was Broken is an incredibly powerful card that provides a boost to all of your characters if attached to Aragorn. In this deck the ability to grant Aragorn a icon is also incredibly valuable, as it frees up Gimli to use his resources for his Response ability and constantly ready Legolas for combat. Ring of Barahir's bonus ability is one of two ways this deck gets access to . Its primary ability of boosting HP for artifacts is supported by some additional attachments the deck includes such as Stone of Elostirion and Palantir. Thorongil will allow you to double up on Aragorn's abilities and grant him access to another sphere's resource icon. In this deck I have included Aragorn as his pairs with the Ring, and his ability to reduce you threat is helpful in a pinch - especially if you like gambling with Palantir.

Aragorn is probably the least popular of all Aragorn versions, but he can still be useful in the right deck. If you can provide him with reliable readying his ability will help mitigate location lock, or even help you avoid a nasty travel effect. Even without the ability, his solid stat line makes him a valuable jack-of-all-trades hero, especially when it is boosted with his attachments.

Dúnedain

Most of the Dúnedain cards were included in the Angmar Awakened hero expansion. The ones left out are largely focused on preventing something bad from coming out of the encounter deck. Andrath Guardsman stops an enemy from attacking you after he enters play, which can buy you valuable time while you search for a solution. Dunedain Lookout and Dúnedain Watcher can be discarded to cancel when revealed or shadow effects respectively. Greyflood Wanderer can be used in a pinch to help clear out location lock. Misty Mountain Journeyman is a cheap 2 ally that should be easy to play, considering how much Dúnedainr decks love having engaged enemies.

Dúnedain Wanderer is an expensive card out of secrecy, but does have solid stats if you can afford it. Knowledge of the Enemy can provide you with a massive resource boost if using a deck that likes to leave enemies engaged and should slot into any deck featuring Amarthiúl.

Gondor's Spirit

The Defenders of Gondor official starter deck was mainly and , with some in the sideboard. Not a single card was included. While there aren't many such cards, this deck includes a selection of them to reflect the brave warriors of Gondor who fought to slow down the Corsairs before eventually helping to drive them off. Derufin is a source of threat reduction and solid attacker, although he must be discarded to trigger the threat reduction. That's not a problem if you have Knight of Belfalas to return him from your discard pile to your hand, an ability which also makes Derufin a solid target for Legolas's ability if you do not have Elven-light yet. Pelargir Shipwright is best in a mono- deck but even with two heroes he provides value, as his 2 and 3 make him a much sturdier ally for questing than most other options. Blood of Númenor is both a Gondor and Dúnedain card that can provide a much needed boost to .

"Another Unique Characters"

The Haradrim cycle introduced cards that can only be played if you control two unique characters with a specific set of traits. Eventually nine such cards would be printed, with three (Coney in a Trap, Oath of Eorl, and Gwaihir's Debt) being included in the revised content. This deck features three of the remaining six cards. Hunting Party can provide you a magic bullet method of clearing out any non-unique enemy from the staging area, Unlikely Friendship grants card draw and resource acceleration, and Well Warned is another source of threat reduction.

Other Cards

The Paths of the Dead are a location most would agree should be avoided, or at least traveled through quickly. This deck is well-built to deal with problem locations such as that. As discussed above, Aragorn and Greyflood Wanderer both help chip away at location lock. Warden of Arnor can't target a specific location, but does provide reliable and repeatable location progress that helps them be cleared more quickly. Strider's Path will allow you to avoid any nasty travel effects by switching up locations.

Stone of Elostirion provides extra card draw as well as boost. You can gamble and play A Desperate Path in a pinch when you need one final questing push. Flight to the Sea lets you sneak Wind from the Sea into the encounter deck, which can provide a huge bonus that swings your fate if luck is on your side.

Print this deck

I have set up a Make Playing Cards project with ALeP backs that can be found here. If you wish to use official backs, a PDF of the deck that can be sent to MBPrint can be found here. A photo album with high-res versions of each individual card is available here.