Saruman, Giftmaker 1.0

• Versions
• 1.0

This is, by far, my favorite deck that I took to Con of the Rings 2025. It is perfect for a convention setting, too: it is fun to play, it is leads to memorable experiences at the table for all the players, and the other players will love to have you around!

The central idea of this deck is to combine the following three archetypes into one seamless whole: the Isengard ally-swarm archetype, the Saruman "Free Artifacts For Me" archetype, and the new Gift-Giving archetype that is possible through the new The Gifts of Galadriel contract.

In your opening hand you are looking for these key cards: Master of the Forge, Lord of Isengard, and Keys of Orthanc (the first two are more important than the Keys). These cards will ensure you have enough card draw and resource acceleration throughout the game. The Keys go on Saruman.

Unless you are playing a quest that is extremely heavy on threat-pressure, you can be very liberal with your use of Doomed effects. Use Tower of Orthanc to ensure that nobody at the table pays for your use of Gríma and all the ally Doomed effects. In playing this deck, I have found that thanks to Castellan Wilhelm and A Perilous Voyage, I cannot threat out even when I try my damnedest to.

Build up a board of allies and combine their defense stats together using the Ring Walls. You can even build up your allies to be even more formidable with attachments like Hauberk of Mail, Ancestral Armor, and Raiment of War .

With Saruman you are aiming to have exactly 1 Artifact attachment on him for the vast majority of the game. Even if you have several artifacts in hand, only attach one per turn to him so you can ensure that you have quad-sphere access every turn. Once you get to the end of the game and you know you won't need many more turns of sphere access, you can start loading him up with more than 1 artifact. Some of the artifacts (like The Arkenstone) can even be used for post-staging willpower adjustments in a pinch. In total there are 20 artifacts in this deck that can attach to Saruman.

And finally, go crazy on giving out gifts. Use The Gifts of Galadriel to make your teammates very happy. Put Fatty Lumpkin on a teammate's suped-up Eagles of the Misty Mountains. Put a Fast Hitch on a teammate's Treebeard. Give Legolas a Dwarrowdelf Axe. In total there are 27 attachments in this deck that you can target with the Gifts contract.

Have fun and happy gifting!