This deck is part of Mormegil’s Deckbox, an effort to create an extensive catalogue of decks for the different archetypes, themes and playing styles available to players. Click here to check out the whole project.
Preferred Player Count: 2-4
Rating:
Premise
This is quite a different deck to all my other Eagle decks in the box. Where the others are more concerned with bringing Eagles in and out of play, boosting your Eagles of the Misty Mountains while doing so, this one relies more on swarming. To ensure a strong start, you are running one of my favorite heroes in Galdor of the Havens, who ensures that you see your resource acceleration (such as Radagast or Steward of Gondor early on. He also helps setting up Gwaihir, who does serious work in this deck, often being active through Galdor from the get-go and being a great target for cards like Sneak Attack or Horns! Horns! Horns!. He can then even snowball into A Very Good Tale which provides just an awesome burst of swarming.
How To Play
I say this in almost every deck description for Eagle decks but it remains true here - THE Achilles-heel for Eagles is resource acceleration. I therefore look for swarming tools in my opening hand mainly in terms of resources - Steward of Gondor is great to see, as is Radagast, Legacy of Númenor/The Seeing-stone or any setup for a decent A Very Good Tale play. Getting an impactful Eagle in your discard pile with Galdor of the Havens to set up Gwaihir is also something I often look for.
Considerations
Elrond is fantastic for very high player counts of if there are any nasty Condition attachments in the quest, Man the Walls and The Wizards's Voice are also amazing tools for 3-/4-player games. Warden of Healing and Captain's Wisdom are a little more situational - the former I like to include in quests with big pressure in terms of healing, the latter is a great replacement if anyone else is running Steward of Gondor (in which case you could then also consider turning this deck into a deck with The Burglar's Turn).
Enjoy!!!