Last Ride of Theoden 1.0

• Versions
• 2.0
• 1.0

This is a solo thematic deck, built around the idea of Theoden's last ride at the Pelennor Fields. The primary focus of this deck is exploiting the high stats of its heroes, especially Théoden. The core setup is Théoden and either Snowmane or Unexpected Courage. This lets Théoden quest for 3 and either defend or attack in the same round.

Combat power is provided by Herugrim and Golden Shield, allowing this deck to translate high willpower into boosted combat. Either Éowyn or Théoden would be good targets for either attachment; which hero gets the attachment should be determined by the gamestate at the time. These attachments gain a significant boost from Théoden's ability and make the variant the preferred choice for this setup.

The ideal setup would give Éowyn the Golden Shield and Unexpected Courage, with Théoden receiving Herugrim and Snowmane, because Éowyn's can use the extra restricted slot to boost her up to 6 with Windfola (thus boosting her up to 7), while Herugrim has a reduced cost when played on Théoden; however, if a defender is needed early and readying has already been played on Théoden, then it might make sense to either reverse the order, or even to play all of the attachments onto Théoden.

Because the largest limitations of Golden Shield and Herugrim are that they only apply to one attack or defense, Dúnhere is the third hero, to help manage enemies in the staging area. Dúnhere should be given the second Unexpected Courage, and Quick Strike should generally be saved to allow him to eliminate an enemy during the Quest Phase, to reduce threat in the staging area.

The allies are a mixed group - Grimbold and Guthlaf provide some permanent questing support, while Escort from Edoras and Gandalf can contribute for an explosive single turn. Déorwine is a decent defender, but is mostly included as a 1-of for thematic reasons (he was the captain of Théoden's knights during the battle of the Pelennor, and died there). The Horse-breeder helps dig for the important mounts, and can be used as an emergency chump-block. The Westfold Outrider is a cost-effective attacker, and can provide even further quest assistance if required, by engaging an enemy after staging but before quest resolution.

The remainder of the attachments, events, and side quests are largely self-explanatory. This deck suffers in threat reduction - running the risk that Dúnhere becomes less useful as the rounds drag on. As a result, Gandalf should almost always reduce threat upon entering play.

This deck is quite strong right out of the gate, able to quest for 8 without any attachments being laid down, and quite capable of handling combat with only a little setup. The greatest defense in the early game, before combos start clicking together, is to remain low threat and kill enemies in the staging area with Dúnhere. Between Grimbold and Feint, enemies with low engagement costs can be prevented from killing a hero, and Éowyn's readying and boosted attack can be used to eliminate them.

The most prominent weaknesses of this deck are location control and archery or other direct damage effects. Against quests where location lock is a danger, Ride to Ruin can provide a little bit of control. Against archery or direct damage effects, this deck's best chance is just to power-quest past it as fast as possible.

This deck also functions decently against Battle quests, although it's much less consistent than against standard questing. Éowyn should use her ability turn 1 to quest for 10, allowing the deck to push past any initial location and put a large bust of progress on the quest. For a battle quest, readying ought to be played preferentially on Dúnhere instead of Éowyn, as she can be kept back from the quest on later turns for defense (with Golden Shield) or attack (with Herugrim) with almost no drawback. This deck is not recommended for Siege questing.