Trollshaw Buzzsaw

Motivation

I enjoy trying to breathe life into underappreciated or forgotten cards, and especially so for those that are unique, weird, or a little unusual. Trollshaw Scout is one of those cards, and this deck looks to tap into his full potential while also bringing along some other longstanding binder fodder, like Grave Cairn and Unseen Strike.

Spoiler Alert: we're going to frequently get a Trollshaw Scout to around 8 with a -2 to his targets and let him clear the board every round. Though our ceiling is 27 for a single Trollshaw Scout.

The Caveats

This is intended to be a multiplayer deck. It doesn't quest terribly well, nor does it defend terribly well, so you're going to want to bring some friends along who can help shore up those aspects of the game. This deck will absolutely murder all the enemies on the table, so your partner decks won't really need to invest anything into attacking. Multiplayer also really lets the Trollshaw Buzzsaw shine, since you want a table full of targets to riddle full of arrows each round. Also, this is obviously not meant to be an optimal deck, but rather is meant to get optimal value from Trollshaw Scout.

The Gimmick

Trollshaw Scout is a meager ally, offering a modest 2 with ranged. He also requires discarding a card every single time he attacks, lest he discard himself... ouch, but he doesn't exhaust to attack so he can fire at every engaged enemy. This deck looks to build up one (or more) fully-powered Trollshaw Scouts in order to sling off a quiver full of arrows each combat phase.

For attachments, the Trollshaw can get a Rivendell Blade, War Axe, and Rivendell Bow giving him a permanent and respectable 5 while ignoring 2 on his targets. This alone is pretty good, but we can go further... we must go further...

Enter some binder-fodder events to the rescue:

Grave Cairn can be keyed off a Sneak Attack used on Gandalf or Giant Bear for a nice +4 bonus that will last the entire round (NOTE: you can use multiple Cairns in response to one Gandalf or Bear leaving play).

We're also blowing the dust off of Unseen Strike, which can similarly bolster the Trollshaw Scout with +3 for the entire combat phase (and, again, you can stack multiple copies in one round as desired). Unseen Strike requires having low threat, but with only 26 Starting , Galadriel's every-round reduction, 3x Elrond's Counsel, Double Back, and bouncing Gandalf a bunch this shouldn't be a problem.

Just for fun, we've also splashed in a Lords of the Eldar so that you can get a little additional Noldor boost going when you're built, bored, and flush with cash.

So, what does this mean? Well, it means that on paper it's theoretically possible to have a Trollshaw Scout who doesn't exhaust to attack and is sporting a potential 5+12+9+1 = 27 with a -2 reduction to each target. Get wrecked, agents of the Enemy!*

*of course you don't need to hit 20+ attack to be effectively clearing the board, but it's nice to know you can. In reality, a single Grave Cairn or Unseen Strike will get often get your Trollshaw Scout to 8 or 9 with a -2 reduction to targets, which is often sufficient to clear the board most rounds.

General Notes

Economy

This deck is very good at smoothing resources. Steward of Gondor should go onto Galadriel, as this allows her to have a huge repository of Spirit (and eventually Lore) resources. It also gives her the Gondor trait so that Denethor can pass her one additional resource as desired. Speaking of Denethor, he can also pass his resource to Hirgon to help pay for the Trollshaws' weapons. Hirgon himself can play a 1st Round Trollshaw by using his ability to drop one into play after questing successfully (NOTE: the Trollshaw Scout is also one of the few times I'd really consider using Hirgon's ability to bolster the attack of the ally he just played).

Card Draw

You'll be flush with cards once an Elven-light gets rolling for card draw. Galadriel's ability will also draw you a card every round, so you're in pretty good place until you find a Elven-Light. Gather Information can help grab an Elven-Light or a Trollshaw to get the basics setup as needed. You can also Sneak Elrond to help the table with card draw, and of course Gandalf is always ready to give you 3 more cards. So your Trollshaw Scout should never run out of arrows... err, I mean cards.

Sneak Attack

Note that you don't have to use Sneak Attack set up Grave Cairn combos. You can use it in the good ol' fashion sense, especially in the early game, to take advantage of Gandalf, Elrond, Glorfindel, and Giant Bears to help with early demands. Of course, don't be afraid to use a Grave Cairn on even a snuck Elrond, because +2 can often make a significant difference in setting up a kill for your Trollshaw Scout.

Location Control

Ally Glorfindel here can help set up an Elven-light engine, can be snuck for early efficiency and a +3 Grave Cairn, and can be Sword-thained to receive Asfaloth for amazing location control. Of course, you can also just stick Asfaloth directly onto Galadriel if needed, where he'll still do amazing work against locations. A Sword-thained Glorfindel will also help with your economy, offering additional resources to help fuel an Elven-light engine.

Conclusion

That's it, basically. If you ever wanted to really get mileage out of Trollshaw Scout or you'd like to free your Unseen Strikes and Grave Cairns from your binder, then this deck could be for you! Alternatively, if you ever wanted to have a single character mow down multiple enemies every single round like they were wielding a Gatling Gun... well this is a good place to start.

Have fun with it, make it your own, and feel free to share any tales of exploits and adventures with this deck.

Enjoy!