Sideways to Victory! 1.0

• Versions
• 1.0

Aggressively turtle your way to victory! This deck is meant to be played with another deck, ideally a combat deck that can help you quest the first turn. I paired it up with a Hirgon-Eowyn deck that works perfectly with it, and you can check out that combo in the Fellowship version of Sideways to Victory!

I built this with one core set. You could make a few substitutions in here if you have more core sets (more A Test of Will and Unexpected Courage).

In your starting hand look for Elven-light so that you can keep drawing into events throughout the game. Thurindir allows you to start with Scout Ahead in your hand, so that after the first quest phase you can get your victory display shenanigans going. You are going to aggressively turtle, blowing through side quest after side quest until you feel like you're set up and ready to go. Using The Road Goes Ever On can help you get more side quests early. Double Back and Gather Information are good ones to grab as they can help you prep for the main quest, but if a partner has Keep Watch, that's even better. Turtle and side quest until you simply can't any more (whether you are out of side quests or the quest is putting pressure on you to move on) then blast through the main quest.

This deck depends on you knowing the encounter deck. You're going to be reacting to what the encounter deck does more often than not, and could be sitting on a lot of events and resources playing nothing on some turns. That's okay, because you are going to quest like crazy every turn, and you're just setting up to lock down the encounter deck when you really need it. You can outright cancel the When Revealed effects of five encounter cards, and can dismiss three cards totally with The Door is Closed. You will have opportunities to work your victory display magic even in two players because you are going to extend the game.

If the scenario has a lot of enemies, Rossiel is a capable defender and you can add some readying for her. But again, in most of the scenarios I've played, I haven't found it to be necessary. Same for the Wardens of Healing, they're there if you fell like you really need them, but I haven't so far. The Long Defeat gives a really solid burst of healing for one resource, and you'll get to use it at least once every game. The Elf-stones are for you to drop in Firyal, but you can also use them to be a good teammate if you really feel like it.

There's lots of variations you could make of this deck, but I like it as it is because it performs consistently. Even if you're struggling to get your main cards (Leave no Trace, None Return), you should be able to put enough cards in the victory display that you can work your magic. And, again, you are going to quest for a lot and lock down the encounter deck.

Have fun moving sideways!