Minimum Purchase - The Siege of Cair Andros 1.0

• Versions
• 1.0

Video: https://youtu.be/POCmdQfubI8

Built with a single Core Set and the Heirs of Númenor deluxe expansion.

Basic Strategy

Mulligan for Defender of Rammas. On turn 1, leave Gimli ready to defend an attack so that you aren't forced to take the damage on The Banks (3 questing points). Use Beravor to draw, especially if you didn't find your Rammas with the mulligan. Travel to the The Banks on turn 1 and clear it turn 2 by questing with everyone. This might force you to take some undefended attacks and damage the other locations, but that's ok. You mainly just care about getting stage 2 (willpower questing) out of the game. Radagast's Cunning and Secret Paths can help you with this big push, especially if a Mumak or an Orc Camp shows up.

Next, clear any other Battlegrounds that you can, while trying to collect damage on Gimli and drawing constantly with Beravor. Ideally you'll get out a second Rammas and you should be able to maintain status quo by questing with 2x Rammas, defending with Beregond, killing with Gimli, and drawing with Beravor. Quick Strike and Feint help to alleviate your defensive needs while the defenders quest, and if you've got these cards in hand, or a chump blocker in play, you can afford to send Beregond on the quest as well.

Later in the game, if it switches to Battle, Gimli should be damaged enough to handle most of the questing, with help from Beregond+2x Dwarven Axe and the occasional Gandalf/Beorn for a big push. But with Gimli on the quest he'll be unable to kill enemies, so you don't want to stall too long or you will get overwhelmed. Your Traps can help here because they can put enemies out of commission without needing any attack.

Or, you can aim to only complete The Banks (3 progress) and The Approach (7 progress) and let the Citadel (11 progress) fall to undefended damage. This will allow you to stay in Siege the entire game.

You should be able to survive a single Master's Malice by naming Lore, but you won't want to get hit by more than that. If you are really worried about getting hit by another you can put a Citadel Plate on Beravor, or include some Lore of Imladris.

It's a pretty hard quest, and even with this deck my win rate is only 3/7. I found it much easier to win when I managed to get a second Rammas out early. So while the deck works, it's not a hard counter to the quest. You can't really ask that much of a Minimum Purchase deck.

Hope this strategy guide helped, and I hope you enjoy the quest!

P.S. If you are just trying to beat the quest in progression mode and don't care about Minimum Purchase, swapping out the Gondorian Spearman for Winged Guardian can help your consistency quite a bit because then there are 6 cards that are good to have in your opening hand (also swap out Spear of the Citadel for Daeron's Runes).