Into the West + Every Other Contract

Part 9

With the release of Beyond the Original Bargain, I am now working on a follow up to my original article on Into the West from over two and a half years ago. For that original article I built a bunch of Into the West decks--this time I'm building a bunch of decks that combine Into the West with every other contract. When I've published that article I will update this deck description with a link to it, and that article will have all my thoughts on this particular contract combination.

Playing this Deck

The focus of this deck is to get out the whole tableau of Harad allies as quickly as possible while keeping your threat as low as you can. Use secrecy discounts to get Celduin Traveler, Ithilien Lookout, and Rivendell Scout into play at a discount, then use Into the West to refund them for their printed cost, pouring all of that profit into Kahliel so he can afford all the big Harad allies. Do not let your Harad allies pass into the West unless you have no other choice, that's what all the non-Harad allies are there for!

Defense is mainly handled by Jubayr and Knight of the White Tower. Both allies can be readied or boosted by Elessar and can have a Hauberk of Mail, although Jubayr is the preferred target for those.

Later in the game you will have the second copy of your unique Harad allies in hand. Don't be afraid to use Kahliel's ability, you can use Kahliel's Headdress to shuffle them back in and draw them again for more readying. You will also likely have fat stacks of resources on the Chieftain, which you can use for extra willpower via Song of Hope or for card search for yourself or the table via Heed the Dream.