Rangers are strangers 5.0

• Versions
• 5.0
• 3.0
• 2.0
• 1.0

People are strange when you're a stranger. Faces look ugly when you're alone.

This deck brings a classic Dúnedain “turtle and trap” strategy. The goal is to control the board, build up defenses, and turn the enemy’s presence into our greatest weapon.

Heroes

Amarthiúl

• Ancestral Armor + Armored Destrier + Dark Knowledge + Self Preservation
• Tactical Wall: Our main blocker and provideer, able to soak up attacks and stay healthy with healing and shadow protection.

Beravor

• Wingfoot
• Deck Scout: The heart of our card draw, able to ready for multiple actions and contribute with multipurpose stats.

Thurindir

• Heir of Valandil + Gather Information (setup pick)
• Quest Specialist: Fetches key side quests and gives us reliable access to crucial cards, making our early game much smoother.

Having two heroes makes expensive cards like Sarn Ford Sentry and Forest Snare viable.

Mulligan & Setup

Mulligan for Heir of Valandil or Wingfoot.

Rumour from the Earth is also a great card to see in the opening hand, since turtling is our main strategy. Don’t be afraid to spend 1 resource every round on it.

Thurindir's setup action is a key part of our opening. Gather Information should be his preferred choice, as it lets us fetch any card we need to get our engine running.

Strategy & Card Interactions

Engaged Enemy Control:
This deck has several ways to deal with engaged enemies. Being able to snare three of them before moving on is our best possible scenario.

• Heir of Valandil then lets us play any ally for, at most, one resource per round.
• Amarthiúl won’t need to face nasty shadow effects from long-term engaged enemies.
  Until then, Armored Destrier and Dark Knowledge help keep him as safe as possible.

Entangling Nets + Outmatched is another strong combo for handling tough enemies. Followed is a great card for addressing the lack of willpower that Dúnedain decks often face.

Knowledge of the Enemy resources should always go to our heroes.

Ally Roles and Value:
Dúnedain Watchers are mainly here to preserve Amarthiúl's health, and their ability is worth the cost.

Halbarad's ability doesn’t really matter for this deck, but his stats are solid and I really like his built-in cost reduction.

The Rangers of Cardolan are not unique, share stats with Halbarad, and (best of all) act as the Dúnedain version of Sneak Attack! Another great card to see in our opening hand.

Vigilant Dúnadan has great stats and a strong ability. With Heir of Valandil and a few engaged enemies, we shouldn’t have much trouble getting him into play.

Deck Thinning and Card Draw:
If Wingfoot is already on Beravor, delay her card-draw ability until after the questing phase to take full advantage of the Rumour from the Earth + Wingfoot combo.

Sarn Ford Sentries are another great option for deck thinning once our enemy engine is up and running. Then we also have our side quests...

Side Questing Notes:
When triggering Gather Information, our top picks are:

• Rumour from the Earth → My preferred pick if we didn’t find it with our mulligan.
• Thalion → Comes with built-in readying from the start and is a step closer to become a hero later in the game!
• Ancestral Armor, Armored Destrier, or Self Preservation → Anything to keep Amarthiúl safe.
• Any other side quest or key card we missed in our opening hand.

Keep Watch is a strong side quest for handling engaged enemies, making our Vigilant Dúnadan more effective.

Prepare for Battle is one of the best card draw accelerators in the game, letting us keep our hand full and maintain momentum as the board develops.

Scout Ahead is cheap, can permanently remove an unwanted treachery, and is another solid option for scrying (and manipulating!!) Sauron's deck.

Sideboard

• Gandalf can be useful if our single copy of Favor of the Valar isn’t enough for threat reduction, but I find he’s a bit expensive for this deck.
• Eldahir's stats are solid, but this deck already has two good defenders and several 4-cost allies.
  • Plus, when it comes to spending resources on special actions each round, we already have Rumour from the Earth.
• Weather Hills Watchman and Dúnedain Mark/Warning are included in case we want to shift our strategy toward signals.
• If we want to go with a rainbow-Aragorn approach, Thorongil is here to make it happen.

In summary: This Dúnedain deck is all about control, defense, and slow, steady board development. Mulligan for our key attachments and events, use traps and side quests to manage enemies, and let our band of strangers finish the job.