Mono lore traps [official content only] 1.0

• Versions
• 1.0

This is a mono lore traps deck using official content only. While ALEP has released a series of cards that significantly boost the traps archetype, I tried creating a competent mono-lore deck using ony official content. While the deck has some significant weakenesses (see below) is has proven more capable than I initially expected. It is also very fun to pilot!

Hero lineup

Damrod is the cornerstone of the traps archetype. He provide essential cost reduction and card draw. He is mainly used for questing and, in the lat game, can become a good attacker once he is fitted with one or two copies of Ranger Spear. (MotK) Firyal is arguably one of the most powerful allies to turn into heroes with Messenger of the King. She provides +3 willpower from the get-go and a very strong way to control the encounter deck to (a) avoid nasty treacheries and (b) control what cards are revealed so that we get enemies into the staging area to be attached to traps. Pippin is chosen to (a) keep our starting threat at a reasonably low level and (b) allow us to draw cards once we engage trapped enemies.

Game plan

This is a slow burning deck. In the initial phases, we want to play traps in the staging area to control the flow of the game and the encounter deck, and gain time as we amass our unstopable army of ents. Traps will provide us with card draw and keep the enemies at bay, either by reducing their threat and removing their encounter checks (Ranger Spikes) or by nerfing their attack power (Entangling Nets). As such, we want to have one or two low-cost traps in our initial hand to get the plan going.

Resource aceleration

Resource aceleration is a weakness of mono-lore decks. This is somewhat mitigated by the fact that all heroes are lore. Later, once Treebeard is in play, he will help us with paying for ent cards. The two main sources of cost-reduction are Damrod and Elf-stone.

Card draw

Getting a steady flow of cards in our hands is important, otherwise the deck can stagnate. This is key in the early stages. In addition to the heroes, there are many other cards that will help up dig thorugh our deck and keep the card-draw flowing, including Daeron's Runes, Drinking Song, Gléowine, Entmoot, and Master of the Forge. Erebor Hammersmith allows us to recycle our attachments from the discard pile. He can also serve as a chump-blocker in the early game as we build our army of ents.

Ents

Ents are a sub-theme of the deck. Ents are very powerful and efficiently-costed allies, and will be the main source of attacking, questing and defending as the game goes on and we build our boardstate. Their main disadvantage, of course, is that they come into play exhausted. This is mitigated by the low starting threat of the deck and the effect of traps, allowing us to - hopefully - control the pacing of the game and engage enemies in our own terms.

Controlling the encouter deck

We want to be in control of the encounter deck as much as we can to avoid game-breaking treatcheries, get location-locked, or be faced with emenies we cannot deal with. Cards that allow us to manipulate and peak into the encounter deck to know what will be coming our way are very important. These cards are (MotK) Firyal, Interrogation, Henamarth Riversong, Scout Ahead. These cards will allow us to prepare in advance and time the placement of traps to maximise their effects. Woodmen's Clearing is very helpful at keeping our threat low, to avoid having to engage nasty enemies too early. Gaffer Gamgee is also a very powerful control cards. He will provide a repeatable way to prevent nasty enemies from attacking us, as long as our threath remains reasonably low.

The great hunt

The Great Hunt is such a cool card. I love its dreamy art and theme. I cannot help myself from including it in a mono-lore deck! And it can come very hand at times!

Weaknesses

There are some scenarios that will pair poorly agains this deck. Notably those that:

• Require a fast deck capable of questing and combat from the get-go.
• Have many enemies that are immune to player card effects or who cannot have player attachments.
• Have very nasty shadow cards, as there is not much in terms of shadow cards control. A potential addition to the sideboard for scenarios with game-breaking shadow cardws is A Burning Brand. However, the included heroes are not very good defenders. I usually try to (a) avoid attacks altogheter via low threat + traps, (b) take attacks undefended if the enemies are attached with Entangling Nets, or (c) use ents as defenders. And as ents cannot have restricted attachements, I have decided not to include A Burning Brand in the deck.

This is an ongoing project. I will probably be making some adjustments as I try the deck across more scenarios.