The Folco Eomer Experience 1.0

• Versions
• 1.0

NOTE: Orc Disguise should be Guthwine. I have no idea how Orc Disguise ended up in here, it wasn't published that way.

Intro

This deck is meant to fulfill a challenge of creating a deck with both Folco Boffin and Éomer, two of the latest heroes to be released. My first thought with Folco in this deck was to try a pseudo-secrecy build - guaranteeing low enough threat that Eomer will have enemy targets in the staging area. So to round out the heroes, Fastred seemed like a perfect fit in that he can push an enemy up to the staging area while simultaneously keeping our threat low.

Early Game

I'm looking for the lore draw cards (Daeron's Runes or Peace, and Thought) as well as some secrecy items in the opening hand. Strider and/or Resourceful are the most important, however secrecy allies will help build up the board quickly. Cheap allies like Silvan Refugee will also help you quest successfully the first few crucial rounds. The biggest challenge with this deck is figuring out exactly when to discard Folco. I've usually ditched him within the first two rounds, however there are times where he is more useful to stick around and play any further lore (mainly Peace and Thought) or neutral cards you draw into during the first few rounds. He has never stuck around more than 4 rounds in my test plays. Starting at 25 threat, a round 1 discard will get you down to 18 threat. Fastred can help keep you at that level (or lower) by continuously blocking a wimpy enemy you push back into the staging area. Steward of Gondor will go on Eomer so he can pay for his toys and Faramir, while the first Resourceful will go on Fastred. Further Resourceful placements will be dependent on the cards on hand. [Note: once Folco leaves, you no longer have any access to but those cards can be discarded to fuel Glorfindel once he arrives. If you discard the allies, Stand and Fight can bring them back!]

Mid Game

Once Folco is discarded, we want to continue getting cheap allies out quickly as possible to build up our willpower and also play down the secrecy cards. A Very Good Tale and Timely Aid are there to help bring out the high cost allies and when that fails, Stand and Fight can grab one out of the discard (again, this is also a nice way to get the few lore allies into play after Folco leaves). Sneak Attack Gandalf is always good card draw. In fact, once Folco leaves it is the only card draw (other than Gléowine).

Getting out Prince Imrahil at this point will get you another resource each round.

After 2-3 rounds, you'll want to focus on getting the Dúnedain Marks and/or Gúthwinë onto Eomer so he can consistently kill an enemy in the staging area. While he maxes out at 7 , I generally wind up with 6, which is still enough to kill the majority of enemies you'll come across.

Late Game

Continue spitting out allies, using Gandalf when needed to draw cards or reduce threat. Escort from Edoras is there to capitalize on Guthwine's effect, so you can continue recycling their 4 .

Final Thoughts

While this deck ends up in the state of being a general ally swarm, the first few rounds are extremely crucial as it starts with such low and I find those early decisions make this deck interesting to navigate.

This deck can handle a variety of easy quests in solo: Passage through Mirkwood, Journey along the Anduin, Conflict at the Carrock, Encounter at Amon Din, and Trouble in Tharbad are all quests I was able to beat handily with this deck. I do not expect it to hold up as well against tougher quests, as the deck can start pretty slow and has its best results by turtling the first half of the game.

I would find it interesting to adopt this deck to a multiplayer setting, because you could remove some of the questing elements and have a heavier focus on powering up Eomer's and . The sideboard contains Celebrían's Stone since I wasn't able to fit it in for a solo deck - a high ally count was needed more. You could also make Fastred a more suitable defender for tougher enemies, Dúnedain Warning is just one of the possible options. Bringing a wider selection of discard-able Rohirrim allies could give more interesting choices with Guthwine too (such as Westfold Horse-Breaker or West Road Traveller).