Radagast the Bucolic 4.0

• Versions
• 4.0
• 3.0
• 2.0
• 1.0

Introduction

Here is a nice thematic deck built around Radagast, its staff and own ability.

Main themes : Creatures swarming / tutoring, Radagast versatility.

Sub themes : Hobbit, Noldor, player deck management, drawing.

Strategy

All attachments go to Radagast, except :

• Hobbit Pony to Sam Gamgee
• Steed of Imladris and Expert Treasure-hunter to Arwen Undómiel

Hobbit Pony is an incredibly good but underrated card. Do not commit Sam to the quest during the committing step, wait for the action window after the staging step. If you do not want to progress quickly towards the next scenario's quest step or if a treachery can be Bad for Sam, or if an ennemy is revealed with a lower engagement cost than your threat level and you miss an attacker, then do not exhaust the Hobbit Pony nor Sam. Otherwise exhaust the Hobbit Pony and Sam to commit him to the quest. Henamarth Riversong adds even more flexibility to your general decision-making power and, after the Pony trick, can scry the top card encounter deck to see which first shadow card is waiting for you.

Wizard Pipe synergizes well with Expert Treasure-hunter and Messenger Raven, but is not as much required here for Radagast as he may be for Gandalf. Radagast's Staff is the card we want in first hand (along with Steward of Gondor).

Radagast quests and he's immediatly a decent defender with The One Ring + Inner Strength. Ioreth, Magic Ring, Loyal Hound maximize its chances to stay alive. Of course, you could use some cheap ally to chump-block too.

Hounds are strong and important in this deck. Each unique hound calls for another hound or Giant Bear. So, since Radagast has Radagast's Staff and you have drawn one unique hound and / or Word of Command, the deck start growing and growling !

There are many drawing options : Daeron's Runes (that discards duplicates), Drinking Song (optimized by the presence of unique Hobbits), Word of Command (without tempo lost thanks to the Radagast response), Elven-light (whose discarding mechanics is helped by Arwen Undómiel and the thematic Steed of Imladris), Expert Treasure-hunter, Messenger Raven, hound's tutoring, Gandalf's ability, and Gather Information if the scenario is side-quest-friendly. So, these options and Steward of Gondor ensure you will always have something to play.

Thanks to Wizard Pipe and / or Imladris Stargazer, one or several Messenger Raven can be triggered every round without losing a card :

• this makes you draw at least 2 more cards every round (1 or more cards by the Raven(s) + the card drawn by Expert Treasure-hunter effect)
• this guarantees the Radagast response every round
• this allows Sam to spend his potential surplus resources

Arwen possible surplus will be spent by playing Elven-light.

Adjustments

Since The One Ring + Inner Strength are extracted from the deck during the setup, the deck counts 50 cards indeed. If the scenario turtles, you can include side-quests such as Gather Information and Double Back. If you're facing some bad Condition attachment, add Athelas to your list if you want to stay in the theme, Power of Orthanc otherwise ; if the scenario delves your deck, add Will of the West to it.

Have fun !