The Might of Berethorbrand 1.0

• Versions
• 1.0

What began as a "concept deck," a fun deck idea intended to take a single aspect of the game--sentinel defense--to the most extreme implementation, ended up being a viable and hilariously fun deck that I've kept around. Let's just get one thing straight before we get too far: this deck is really, ridiculously good at providing sentinel defense, and really, ridiculously bad at most anything else. It can't quest to save it's life. It struggles to defeat any enemies in front of it. It can't cancel treachery cards revealed from the encounter deck. But that's OK because this deck isn't intended to be a general purpose deck. Rather, it's single purpose is to serve as a defensive support deck in a three or four player game.

Meet the team: Beregond the ultimate, out-of-the-box macho defender with a street discount on bling; Erkenbrand the mighty canceler of shadow of effects, but only when he takes one for the team; and Denethor the eccentric steward known for extra resources and setting himself on fire (at least in the movies). This deck uses these three heroes as the backbone of a strong support deck that provides an abundant amount of sentinel defense, resource sharing among all players via Denethor's ability (for Gondor characters) and Errand-rider, and even some healing via Dúnedain Remedy.

Beregond and Erkenbrand are two of only a handful of heroes with the "Sentinel" keyword, but don't let the fact that Denethor is not inherently sentinel imply he is any less important to this deck. The 2 extra starting resources that he provides, coupled with Beregond's weapons and armor discount, can kick your economy into high gear from round 1.

Half of this deck is attachments, and at the start of a game, you want to mulligan hard to find and purchase key attachments: Steward of Gondor for Denethor, Gondorian Shield and perhaps Raven-winged Helm for Beregond, and Raiment of War for Erkenbrand.

From there, the deck is mostly self-explanatory as the game progresses and you draw cards. Attachments are free, or cheap, on Beregond. Since Beregond has the Gondor trait, you can use Denethor's ability to send an extra resource over to fund the purchase of cards. Allow others, when possible, to engage enemies, and provide sentinel defense from afar. Get your allies out, particularly the ones with sentinel, to increase the number of sentinel defenses available to the team. If Denethor is generating resources from an early game purchase of Steward of Gondor, use Rod of the Steward to burn those resources for card draw.

I believe the perfect starting hand to be a Steward of Gondor, Gondorian Shield, Raiment of War, Raven-winged Helm, Errand-rider, and Rod of the Steward. Using the abilities on the heroes, you can immediately purchase all 6 cards, which will set you up for long-term success.

I've had a lot of fun with this deck, and I hope someone else is able to enjoy this one as well. As long as your friends agree to bring questing and attack decks to the table, you should enjoy a decent amount of success.