Radagast's Zoo 1.0

• Versions
• 1.0

This deck is an attempt to maximize Thengel and it has gone through many iterations. The goal is to trade in cheap allies via their discard effects for larger ones. It didn't take long to discover the "Creature" type has the best options for this.

Let's start with the enablers:

Beorning Skin-changer: This will only let you use Thengel to get a Beorning, but it already puts a big body in itself and we have enough targets to make this worth it.

Loyal Hound: Cheap discard effect. You can use this to help Radagast block a big hit since he almost always quests untapped, or just take a small undefended attack and soak it with this.

The Riddermark's Finest: This one is nice since you can choose to do it whenever you like. It's fun when you get lucky and this can clear the location guarding Elendilmir.

Vassal of the Windlord: A very efficient creature for this deck. Once you get Eagles of the Misty Mountains out this is a solid ranged attack that discards, provides a stat boost, and triggers Thengel

Winged Guardian: Same effect as described above for Vassal.

Wilyador: This is another option for a discard effect if you choose not to pay the cost at the end of the round. This deck doesn't have a lot of cards so if I've already used Thengel's activation you can usually pay to keep it around with your resources.

Next we can list the pay-offs you're looking for when activating Thengel.

Beorn: The big guy, this can be found off Thengel if you discard a Skin Changer, Guardian, or Beekeeper. You're never paying for this card so I often will discard it to Daeron's Runes so a Skin Changer or (MotK) Birna can reanimate it later.

Descendant of Thorondor: Not much to say here, it's a big bird

Eagles of the Misty Mountains: This is a priority target early on so your other eagles can start boosting it as they leave play.

Giant Bear: Probably the most versatile hit. It can be found off Thengel via any of the enablers since it's a "Creature" and "Beorning" type. It's ready effect is useful in a pinch since Thengel puts it into play tapped.

Meneldor: another nice hit that is also reasonable to just play with your resources.

Lastly we have the Economy:

Beorn's Welcome: This lets you use (MotK) Birna's ability every round for free

Radagast's Staff: This does a lot in this deck, it can put all of your enablers into play for free, or it can ready a big creature like Giant Bear or a loaded up Eagles of the Misty Mountains.

Elendilmir: I've found it's not difficult to get 2 discard triggers most rounds, so this lets you use Thengel's ability twice a round.

Beorning Pony: This was a late addition that has become a core card. It's both a Creature and a Beorning, and it helps get some Beornings in the discard for (MotK) Birna to play with. I also use the ability to take back any of my economy pieces listed above I haven't found yet.

Everything listed above I would call a core part of this deck, the rest has room to flex. Word of Command helps find whichever economy piece you're missing, you want to mulligan for a staff or this. Stand and Fight is here because there isn't a lot to spend resources on so they can build up and this let's you play something big from discard. I needed a few more Beornings for Thengel to hit so there is 1 Beorning Beekeeper and 1 Beorning Guardian that aren't mandatory, but you can do some fun things with them.

Tips and Tricks:

Mulligan for Radagast's Staff or a Word of Command to find it. The creature discount is very powerful in this deck.

Aggressively use Beorn and Giant Bear's abilities, shuffling back in means you can just find them again with Thengel.

Use your resources wherever you can, Radagast's Staff and Wilyador should always be played using .

Sometimes you'll be able to generate 3-4 discard effects in a round. I'd suggest limiting yourself to 2 and saving the others for the next round. This way you have the best chance of getting 1-2 Thengel activation's every round.

I sometimes use (MotK) Birna to bring back a Beorning Skin-changer or Beorning Pony even if I don't need their ability, just so that they shuffle back into the deck and I can draw/Thengel into them again.

You can use (MotK) Birna to get two activation's of Beorning Beekeeper during the quest phase to clear out small enemies and lower the threat. This will also trigger Thengel twice if you've got that setup.

Sideboard:

You can swap out the Winged Guardian for Eagle Emissary if you feel you don't need the defender, I only play 4 player so a sentinel defender is always welcome. The dogs are interesting, you can tutor any creature off their ability and then use your resources to pay for something big, I haven't had a chance to play with these but they may be better than Stand and Fight. The rest is just encounter cancels if you need them.

While this deck doesn't make a lot of sense thematically, it's a really fun expression of game mechanics. There are many lines of play and I had a blast learning and refining it. Hope you enjoy the zoo!