Company of Thorin Oakenshield 1.0

• Versions
• 1.0

Welcome to my thematic take on the company of Thorin Oakenshield! This deck is my take on The Hobbit, and a suprisingly potent deck in its own right.

Early Game: This deck starts (with thanks to Bombur) with five dwares in play, meaning all of the triggers that revlovle around that mechanic are active from the get go. This includes Thorin Oakenshield during the first round of the game, meaning you start with 5 resources on turn one. As is the case with most Council of the Wise decks, there isn't a reliable opening hand you are hoping to draw into, but most cards work well under whatever circumstances you draw them. There are a few cards that are amazing to see in an opening hand (King Under the Mountain, Glóin, Bilbo Baggins) but generally speaking this deck can work with what it gets.

Questing: This deck is not a questing powerhouse, but it can post decent numbers coming from a few sources. Óin and Thorin tend to be the early questers, pairing with whoever else you have managed to draw into. The Arkenstone is a great card to get out as it buffs all characters in this deck. Golden Horn is also potential source of questing, as is temporary boosts like Untroubled by Darkness and Durin's Song.

Combat: This deck is not a combat powerhouse, but it has the tools to stand up to most enemies. Bombur is the primary defender, as his only useable skills are his defense and his health, so he usually gets Dwarven Shield, Relic of Nargothrond, or Ring Mail as they show up. Damage can be dealt from most of the dwarves in the deck, and boosted with cards such as Khazâd! Khazâd!, Durin's Song, and Gandalf for some direct damage. Dori is well known and respected in the dwarven community as a good backup character. I usually use his two attack to help whittle down the enemies, but when the big bosses show up he can transition into two extra shields for Bombur. Dori is, unfortunately, the only tactics hero that is a part of the the company.

Threat Reduction This deck starts with sky high threat, so threat reduction is an immediate priority. There are good standby threat reduction cards (Favor of the Valar and The Galadhrim's Greeting) but the main source comes from Council of the Wise. The first event I play most turns goes into threat reduction to keep this deck in the low 40's. When used consistently and often, this deck rarely threats out.

Closing Thoughts I'm a thematic deckbuilder through and through, so this deck has been something of a project of mine for years trying to get a functional Thorin's Company deck to run. This deck is a blast to play, has many interesting decision points, and rarely dominates in any one field, keeping it an engaging game. This deck is probably a C in terms of powerlevel, it can clear most of the medium and easy quests in the game in an attempt or two, but struggles with higher difficulty quests. This deck is particularly fun when coupled with A Hobbit's Tale, just remember to replace Bilbo Baggins with A Burning Brand before you play.