WAB Series #8: Twin Hunters 1.0

• Versions
• 1.0

Here is the link to the original post, which explains the goal of the series and the collection so far:

https://www.reddit.com/r/lotrlcg/comments/1kla99q/deck_building_series_what_a_bargain/

I now move up to the two-hero combination of At the End of All Things. This behaves differently than The Grey Wanderer, as it becomes impossible to run a two-hero secrecy deck (The contracts alone accounts for 12 threat). I originally started finagling with the At the End of All Things contract and deck before landing on the most natural pairing in the Living Card Game (the blue wizards notwithstanding), Elladan and Elrohir. With the AEAT contract, this pair becomes absolutely insane -- Elrohir opens as a defender of 4 and Elladan an attacker of 4. With some finagling, you could outfit them with both Strider and Light of Valinor. Which begs the question, why would you need any other characters? Forth, The Three Hunters! it is!

Whoa, buddy, is this deck fun. For me, it is hard to not auto-include The One Ring in a Hunters deck. That means you are three attachments away from flipping the Hunter Contract. You want to see at least Strider in your opening hand, but Song of Travel is pretty important, too. That being said, these guys are so buffed out the gate that they can usually survive until round 4, when you flip the AEAT contract. At that point, you want to fetch 2 out of the three of Strider, Light of Valinor, or Song of Travel, whatever you are missing. You can only play Well Preserved with A Good Harvest, and can only trigger it after the AEAT contract flips. Otherwise, load these boys up with restricted attachments and have fun with all of the actions you can get out of them. They can handle both the swarm and the big bosses. This deck cleared through my usual gauntlet of deck testing that I had to throw some other unusual quests at them like Conflict at the Carrock and Foundation of Stone, both of which they handled (albeit with some luck).

This deck does have an absolute ceiling, but I haven't hit it yet in the scenarios I've tested. It's incredibly quick, which is unusual for AEAT decks -- all the decks I've played with required a little bit of turtling before flipping the contract. Here, I am usually flipping the hunter contract before the AEAT, and thus have the willpower, attack, and defense needed to hold my own and the AEAT fetches cheap missing pieces... which allows that huge influx of resources to be kept for any incoming swarm.

Try it out. You won't be disappointed. Just watch that threat dial... it'll get away from you before you know it. (Thanks, Favor of the Valar for saving my butt a few times)