A Noldo and a Dúnadan – Who needs allies? 1.0

• Versions
• 1.0

Introduction

This is the deck I always wanted to build, finally made possible thanks to ALeP’s At the End of All Things contract. It is thematic, unique, and deceptively powerful.

I originally developed this deck to beat the new Angmar Awakened campaign using only my two favourite heroes and no allies while staying as thematical as possible. After nearly two years and lots of tweaking, I feel like I’m finally able to present the result. And it can do much more than just battle the undead hosts of Angmar!

The core of this decks strategy is the new contract, At the End of All Things, which is the card that has made two hero decks viable. But does it also make no-ally decks viable? The answer, as I have found out, is yes. Of course, you need powerful and flexible heroes. Fortunately, my two favourite heroes in the game, Glorfindel and Beravor, fall right into that category! But how well can such a type of deck actually perform?

Turns out, this deck is a powerful solo deck. It doesn’t work as well in multiplayer, but in one-handed play, this deck has already beaten all cycles up to Haradrim (in normal mode), needing no more then 1–3 attempts per quest. I was surprised myself how well it worked. But why does it work so well? Here are the reasons I have found so far.

What makes this deck so fun?

It is efficient. This deck doesn’t have to rely on many pieces work. Strider really is the onyl thing you’re looking for when deciding whether to take a mulligan. You’ll often find it on your starting hand, and if not, there are ways to get it out within the first or second round using Beravor’s card draw or one of the many other options the deck offers. With Strider alone, you’ll be questing for 6 with Glorfindel, defending for 3 (and 5 hitpoints) with Beravor and attacking for 7 (using the contracts action to ready Beravor). Alternatively, you can quest for 9, defend for 3 and attack for 4, or use the contract’s action to ready Beravor and draw cards. Wich leads me to my second point.

It draws insane amounts of cards. Cards are this deck’s resources, basically. Real resources are scarce when using this contract, and while Seasoned Forager remedies the most urgent need for money, it would by no means be sufficient, especially since you can’t play it during the first three rounds (because that would block the resources from the contract flip). Instead, this deck makes use of its massive hand size. Basically, you’ll be using Beravor’s ability almost every round. Add to that the fetching of Heed the Dream, Estel and Gather Information and the card draw of Daeron's Runes, and most of the times, you’ll be able to draw your entire deck at least once per game, if not twice. Of course, this means that you’ll end up with many duplicate uniques or cards that don’t fit your current strategy. But that’s good! They can be used to heal using Song of Healing, to boost defense or willpower with Protector of Lórien or to fetch additional cards using Estel. Having 10+ cards on your hand allows this deck to react to every possible situation the quest may throw at you. Which brings me to

It is extremely flexible and versatile. The deck is able to adapt to a variety of needs very quickly. While Glorfindel’s restricted spots will always be occupied by Silver Circlet and Legacy Blade, Beravor has a toolbox of weapons at her disposal. One of her spots should be taken by A Burning Brand, but the other one depends on the need of the quest. Is there a nasty cannot-be-engaged enemy in the staging aray? Chip away at it with Ranger Bow. Need some ranged to defend and kill those nasty bats? Equip her with Keen Longbow. Just need some more raw attack? Choose the second copy of Legacy Blade. Or are you in desperate need of more willpower? Glorfindel will lend her his second Silver Circlet. I like the idea of Beravor having a small inventory of weapons so that she can pull out whatever she needs most at the moment. Even more flexibility is provided by The White Council. The White Council basically functions as an additional copy of whichever card you need the most in any given quest, which means it is used most often for shuffling a card back into the deck. As you’re more likely to have emptied your deck by the time you play it than not, you’re almost guaranteed to see the shuffled-back card again in a few turns. So, when the game hits you with terrible Condition attachments, you can shuffle back a copy of Athelas. If you need more willpower, shuffle back Lay of Nimrodel. If you need more cancellation, shuffle back A Test of Will. And of course, you can use it so save your copy of Will of the West if a nasty encounter card effect discarded it. Miruvor is also incredibly versatile. In an empty deck using Seasoned Forager, it basically becomes another copy of Unexpected Courage. Since all the Unexpected Courages should go on Beravor for defense and card draw, you’ll often find yourself wanting some readying on Glorfindel to kill more enemies. While the aforementioned White Council can also get you out of a bad spot with a one-time readying, Miruvor is a much more reliable option, and can also work as an occasional willpower boost. Just remember to always put it back in top of your deck! Additionally, unlike many other low-threat, low-ally decks, this deck does not need to turtle. While turtling is still without a doubt the most efficient strategy (probably for the majority of decks), this deck can perform quite well under pressure. As long as you can find Strider early, you’ll be able to handle quite a bit of roughness from the very beginning. This deck beat Flight of the Stormcaller as well as Race across Harad on the first and second attempt respectively. And once you flip the contract, you’ll always find the keys missing to complete your quest!

In solo, this deck gains control of the quest. I usually feel confident about a win as early as the second or third round. Asfaloth can deal with the majority of locations while your heroes will deal with the enemies. Once you got A Burning Brand on Beravor, there are basically no surprises anymore. The Hidden Way and Scout Ahead also work to control the encounter deck. Between up to 8 cancels (using Will of the West and The White Council) and going fully without allies, most treacheries will deal little damage to your board state. Thankfully, attachment hate is much less common than ally hate and also mostly found on shadows, which can thankfully be consistently cancelled with A Burning Brand. And there’s nothing better than to laugh at an Angmar Marauder’s shadow effect completely whiffing!

I feel like this deck offers a lot of fun and interesting decisions during gameplay. Which cards do I search for when the contract flips? Shall I use my cards to heal or to boost Beravor’s defense? Which weapon should I attach to her? Should I play Lay of Nimrodel now or wait for more resources? What do I use The White Council for? And so on. While the main game plan is, of course, pretty straightforward, there are many small decisions to take that make this deck one of my favourites to play.

Coolest Moments In My Playthroughs (so far)

Finally beating Escape from Dol Guldur true solo with only Glorfindel making his way through the dungeons to rescue Mendor and Beravor. It only worked in campaign mode using Valor and took an insane amount of attempts, but it can be done!

Beating Murzag in The Morgul Vale by slowly chipping away at him using Ranger Bow, never engaging him, killing him after quest resolution to immediately engage Alcaron, hitting him with Coney in a Trap and killing him before he could make a single attack.

Finally beating The Battle of Carn Dûm (in campaign mode) despite being crippled by Thaurdir's Legacy. Taking on this quest without any allies (not even boon allies) and winning it was one of the coolest experiences ever!

Killing Smaug in Battle of Lake-town in a single strike using Lay of Nimrodel + Fair and Perilous

Beating The Dungeons of Cirith Gurat without an ally in the deck thanks to Will of the West on the starting hand

Winning The Crossing of Poros, completely avoiding adding additional encounter cards to the encounter deck

Beating ALeP’s The Horse Lord’s Ire using only Flinthoof to slowly kill the Orc Battalion

Caveats

Although this is a very potent solo deck, it is also very much a solo-only deck. The control you gain over the encounter deck drastically diminishes when adding more players. I have played this in a four player game more or less successfully, but I never felt like the deck pulled its weight for the group.

Games tend to take quite a long time. More often than not, you’ll be playing for 16+ rounds. The longest game I have played so far was 32 completed rounds – but that was trying to gain maximum XP in the Dream-chaser campaign. Still, if you just want a quick game, you should probably use a different deck!

Thanks for reading!

Do you have any suggestions? Leave them in the comments and I’ll be looking forward to reading them!