"Loose the Arrows!" (#RCO + MotK) 2.0

• Versions
• 2.0
• 1.0

This deck is a Revised Content Only (#RCO) (+Messenger of the King) version of my favorite multiplayer Silvan combat deck. When humming, the Silvans are capable of bringing a significant amount of ranged to the table, ensuring that no enemy sticks around for long. I really enjoy pairing this with other Silvans, but it can hold its own in conjunction with just about any dedicated questing deck.

"Leithio i Philinn (Loose the Arrows)!"

Hero Lineup

• Celeborn is self-explanatory in any Silvan build. He will be almost exclusively questing and granting each of your Silvans his enters play boost (and this works across the table for other Silvans as well).

• (MotK) Legolas is the key to this deck's success because he immediately solves the problem of card draw that plagues most / builds. Once he is equipped with a Bow of the Galadhrim and/or Dagger of Westernesse, he can mow down enemies anywhere on the table and keep your hand stocked with options. As a result, this deck practically never lacks for cards to play. Note: If you prefer not to proxy Messenger of the King (which is the only non-RCO card here), you can sub in core set Legolas and compensate for the loss of innate card draw by including Foe-hammer x3 and Valiant Sacrifice x2 (sub out ally Legolas, Pursuing the Enemy, and Elf Guide). This version does not flow as well, but otherwise maintains the deck's same overall framework.

• Thranduil remains my favorite hero in the game, mainly because he allows you to wait until the combat phase to decide which Silvan ally you need to drop into play. Short on defense on your side of the board? Bring in Greenwood Defender! Need to bail out another deck from an attack? Summon the Defender of the Naith! Need more attack power? Marksman of Lórien can essentially bring 6 to the table the round she enters play! Need to ready any hero? Greenwood Archer says "Mae g'ovannen"! The options are almost endless. And in doing so, Thranduil provides a near-constant source of resource smoothing, which will keep this deck running efficiently. As the game goes on, you can even give him whatever combination of Ancestral Armor, Armored Destrier, and/or Round Shield show up first to turn him into a decent defense option. He also provides a way to get Silvan Tracker into play to allow your heroes to soak up some direct damage and heal it off each round.

Questing

Aside from Celeborn's 3 , this deck is not going to shoulder much of the load in willpower questing. However, between Naith Guide, Orophin, Hands Upon the Bow, and the trusty Sneak Attack/Gandalf combo, there are plenty of ways to provide support for neighboring decks.

Defense

Thranduil does a decent job of holding down the fort in the early game, but between Feigned Voices and Feint, you should have plenty of tools to deal with the nastiest enemies. For anything that is immune to player cards, you may find yourself having to chump, but the good news is that you can usually muster up enough raw to take out the enemies that engage with you during the same round. Defender of the Naith provides sentinel support across the table, and if you can get Thranduil equipped with Ancestral Armor and a Silvan Tracker or two out (bring them in from your sideboard if you are not playing across from other Silvans), The Elvenking becomes quite capable of weathering repeated attacks from larger foes. Greenwood Defender is not the sturdiest of allies, but he can be absolutely clutch against a swarm of small to moderate enemies (it's not unheard of to drop this guy in to handle 3+ attacks in the same round).

Attack

The plethora of ranged characters allows you to pepper any foe with arrows and to lend your martial prowess wherever it is most needed. Once Legolas is armed up, he can use Hands Upon the Bow to great effect. For tougher enemies, there's always Gandalf or a late game Rúmil bomb. For quests that reward direct damage, Galadhon Archer + Pursuing the Enemy forms a nice repeatable combo.

Resources

I prefer relying upon a combination of O Lórien! and Thranduil's smoothing ability to avoid just defaulting to Steward of Gondor (this has the added benefit of not blocking other decks from access to Steward). However, feel free to add it back in for more challenging quests :). Man the Walls can also be a nice option from the sideboard if you need a bit more of a resource boost.

Miscellaneous Strategy

Since you start off with a source of card draw and solid attack power, look for some combination of a weapon, attack cancellation, and Naith Guide in your opening hand. Questing will be slowest during the first few rounds, so the more enemies you can engage and dispatch, the better you can keep tempo with the encounter deck (and the more cards you can draw). Of course, you will want to pair this with a strong questing deck and lend as much ranged support across the table as you can. Sadly, there are not a lot of good ways for Silvans to gain sentinel with just the RCO pool (no Elven Mail, Dúnedain Signal, or Arwen Undómiel), so a combination of attack cancellation and Defender of the Naith will have to suffice. Just make sure that anything that gets through to hit your fellow player(s) doesn't live long enough to attack again!

Final Thoughts

One of the reasons that Silvans are one of my favorite archetypes are all of the decision points that they provide and to multitude of tools they have to counter numerous quests. Add to that a consistent source of card draw from round 1 w/(MotK) Legolas and I find a recipe for great enjoyment and success. And in the right fellowship, these elves are more than capable of holding their own against the vast majority of Revised Content quests. Hope you find them helpful and enjoyable!