Swiss Army Knife Caldara (true solo) 1.0

• Versions
• 1.0

Introduction

After a few modifications, I found a versatile and effective Caldara deck in true solo to face most of the game's mechanical configurations. Like other Caldara's decks, this one is even more accepting of a certain amount of randomness and frustration in the early game, as hope and expectation are often rewarded by a Caldara burst, or even a serial burst thanks to A Very Good Tale.

It's one of these decks types that got a kind of swarm without being no-brain : you have to think and plan during the game.

Mulligan

The mulligan may depend on the scenario's pace. If it turtles, you can do it too and just look for some future drawing source like Elven-light. If time is crucial or if there's a combat engagement right from setup, mulligan for Prince Imrahil. Narya and Light of Valinor are also important.

Unlike most decks, you do not need to mulligan for Steward of Gondor. The deck includes three copies of it and, while thematic, it's not the driving force of the deck at all. I often win games with this deck without using Steward of Gondor, and without it really slowing down the game.

Triplicate uniques, are you serious?!

A Caldara deck is one of the rare occasions where the counterpart of Círdan the Shipwright's draw isn't a constraint nor a difficult dilemma. On the contrary, it's an advantage : it allows for triplicate unique cards to be included without qualms or opportunity costs. The two redundant copies of Narya, Steward of Gondor, and Light of Valinor are discarded by Cirdan to draw an additional card. Likewise, Glorfindel and Jubayr are present in triplicate to increase the likelihood of drawing them early in the game, without wasting valuable deck space. Furthermore, Glorfindel himself will later usefully discard his copies for readying.

Note that triplicate can be very useful too when you're playing a scenario with lot of attachments discarding effects.

If you have not drawn at least one Prince Imrahil + one Jubayr + one Glorfindel during the setup and first round, do not worry : it is just normal. The odds for that are approximatively only 5%. If you hear "yeah Caldara's decks are cool ! Thanks to their effect, they set up at 1st or 2nd round !" translate by : "that's the ideal way, not the usual way" ;-)

Candidates for Caldara's effect

While Damrod and Derufin could be nice and thematic choices for Caldara's action, they have not the impact of the other great candidates : Elfhelm and Northern Tracker. Rhovanion Outrider is good too, but his three survival stats (1 defense + 2 hit points) make him less usable in combat than Northern Tracker, and his potential and conditional one more willpower point doesn't bring anything new and substantial to the deck, while Northern Tracker consistently reduces the risk of location-lock, accelerates general exploration and may give informational advantage (like in the cycle 6, facing the Uncharted cards).

Prince Imrahil will take over from Caldara, while Glorfindel and Jubayr are the two usual allies, one for attack and questing, the other for defense. Narya will most often target them, but Treebeard may also benefit from Narya's effect.

Balancing Outsiders

Once Glorfindel and Imladris Caregiver are established, the discard rate is often higher than the draw rate. To refill your hand, Lindir is not only thematic (Noldor), but its effect also applies when it comes into play via A Very Good Tale. Likewise, Eregion Survivor is Noldor and compensates for any draw gaps with its boosted versatile stats.

Gandalf is interesting in the early/mid-game to optimize A Very Good Tale without opportunity cost. Then, its threat inherent cost will be too high (and cannot be offset by Elfhelm) to keep it in play. However, once your board is in place, you have enough other options available to manage all areas of the game.

Readying and versatility

Not only are there many allies at the table, but several very strong allies are capable of either changing roles or multiplying their assets (with or without Narya's support) : Glorfindel (quest, attack(s)), Treebeard (quest, attack and / or defense), Jubayr (defense, shadow cards discarding, occasionally quest or attack), Gandalf (quest, attack or defense), Northern Tracker (locations progression and combat), Elfhelm (threat-reduction and combat). Therefore, the hardest part of this deck is to choose the right timing to trigger Caldara's effect, the right candidates for Narya's effect (which won't always be Glorfindel and Jubayr), and to exhaust the right allies at the right time.

Big Bosses

Even though there are ways to recycle allies, we don't really want to lose Jubayr once we've put him into play with Caldara's effect. Narya and Wild Stallion will help make him the main defender of our deck (5 defense). However, there will be times when his defense isn't strong enough to keep him alive for long against big bosses. In this case, Elven Jeweler will serve as chump-blockers while we deal with these enemies.

Will of the West or Dwarven Tomb?

Both ! Dwarven Tomb is multifunctional : it will be useful to you occasionally to recover A Test of Will in scenarios that involve very punishing treacheries, to recycle Elrond's Counsel in scenarios that quickly increase the threat, to fetch Will of the West back or Prince Imrahil if encounter card effects have discarded it, and you want to have it in play before triggering Caldara's action and you don't want to waste a copy of Stand and Fight to first put it into play.

Will of the West will also recycle your cards, feeds the discarding of Glorfindel and Imladris Caregiver, and avoids certain elimination conditions (like in Deadmen's Dike).

I put 1 copy of each in the decklist, but feel free to adjust that ratio and number to your playing style and to the scenario you're facing.

Adjustments and substitutions

In general you won't need to adjust this deck to the scenario. But if you want some thematic variation, you can switch Knight of Belfalas for Eregion Survivor if the scenario delves your deck or heavily targets your allies. As Knight of Belfalas has the Gondor trait, it can bring itself, Pelargir Shipwright or especially Prince Imrahil back to your hand if you want to play him before triggering the Caldara's effect. Personally I often like to play with 1 x Lindir, 1 x Eregion Survivor and 1 x Knight of Belfalas, to just have great flexibility without having to change my deckboard between two scenarios.

If the scenario has some nasty Condition attachment, you can include one or two copies of Power of Orthanc in your deck.

Obviously (and even if I did not write them in the side-board), if you like to play with side-quests and the scenario's pace is low or invites side-questing, you can add some. Gather Information and Double Back are the classic ones here.

Despite it is not a straight or entire Noldor-oriented deck, you could replace Will of the West with one or two Lords of the Eldar if you want, but it's not required at all. Likewise the 3 x Elrond's Counsel most of the time are enough to not add some The Galadhrim's Greeting.

To look even further : alternative Caldara's decks in solo

• Lothíriel / Caldara is now a pretty classic alternative, whoever is the third blue hero. It allows the thematic and budget efficient combo between Lothiriel's effect and Imrahil free jump
• Dáin Ironfoot / Caldara / Arwen Undómiel (with or without the Burglar's Turn contract), which is great to face prime encounter engagements effects
• Bi-sphere with Galdor of the Havens that help speeding the Caldara's effects up, to the detriment of the conventional mono-spirit decks with the "three allies burst" package.

Have fun !