Almost Thematic Gondor 1.0

• Versions
• 1.0

This is a power deck. Almost thematic because it uses Erestor, but every ally and attachment is either Gondor traited or would be found in Gondor. This deck simply explodes out of the gate and never slows down. Denethor provides the starting resources to play, ideally, Steward of Gondor and at least one ally from your starting 10 cards (thanks to Erestor). The Herald of Anórien and Envoy of Pelargir further accelerate your board, and it's not uncommon to get a Citadel Custodian out in the first round for 1 or 0 resources, at which point they can tell Tales to their hearts' content, which is also a good fallback in case Steward of Gondor didn't make it to your starting hand.

For defending, you can chump if needed, defend with a Knight of the White Tower, or use Denethor, whose base 3 can be augmented by Armored Destrier, Ancestral Armor, and/or Blood of Númenor, as your need dictates and your deck allows. I originally put in Squire of the Citadel, but I found I would rather chump with a Citadel Custodian because a rogue shadow dealing one damage won't leave you with an undefended attack, and if you get a Knight of Belfalas you can get a Custodian who's already chumped back into your hand to play him again for free.

Attack is solved by the mass of allies out, plus Erestor if needed. Knight of the White Tower, Knight of Belfalas, Veteran of Osgiliath all have solid attack strength, and Envoy of Pelargir and Soldier of Gondor chip in effectively as well.

Willpower is solved by Visionary Leadership and having too many allies out. Early on, you can use Lothíriel and Erestor to contribute. With the 3x Elrond's Counsel and 3x Will of the West, threat is easily managed, so you don't necessarily need to succeed at questing at the beginning, and can instead just focus on dumping allies on the board for the first round or two and then take control and move forward at your own pace.

Lothíriel is mainly included for her early and access to Will of the West. However, her ability works excellently with Erestor: if you have an ally you can't afford but want to play later (like a Knight of the White Tower), commit her and that ally to the quest, and then you can shuffle it back into your deck to play it another round.

This deck is fairly weak against Battle questing, though that's not to say it's not entirely viable against that keyword. Boromir and three Songs of Travel are in the sideboard to swap in if you want to more easily take this deck against such quests.