Spirit of the White City 1.0

• Versions
• 1.0

This is a Gondor ally-swarm deck meant to be played in multiplayer alongside a mono- flexible combat control deck.

This deck provides a number of essential functions to the fellowship. Its primary purpose is to supply quest-winning amounts of through a horde of allies, boosted by Visionary Leadership and Faramir.

In addition, Beregond provides needed threat control for the other deck, which aims to take advantage of several valour effects, along with the sphere for treachery cancellation. Finally, through Steed of the North and Snowmane, it provides readying for the powerful heroes in the deck, along with additional combat control through Roheryn.

The allies are typical Gondor swarm fare, a number of 2-cost allies who can be put into play via Herald of Anórien, who should almost always use his Doomed ability, as it pushes the partner deck closer towards valour. Westfold Horse-breeder doesn't benefit from the Gondor synergy in the deck, but helps you dig for the Mount attachments, enabling Théoden and Aragorn to pull double duty with their high base stats. Ingold also helps with questing, adding potentially up to 5 to your questing efforts.

The Knight of the White Tower and the Veteran of Osgiliath provide extra combat punch to the deck, allowing it to engage and defeat enemies without needing to hold back the army of allies it needs for questing. Both are also capable questers in their own right after boosts are applied, and the Veteran gets additional boosts of his own when your deck hits valour range.

A Very Good Tale allows for even more ally-mustering in short order, and between it, Herald of Anórien, and the wealth of resources available to Denethor with Steward of Gondor, the Gondorian army should take shape within only a few rounds.

The Galadhrim's Greeting is largely included as emergency threat control for the other deck, as it intends to flirt with dangerously high levels of threat. If this deck direly needs threat reduction, Sneak Attack and Gandalf can provide, although they are primarily included for card draw.

Further card draw can be effected via Rod of the Steward and Prepare for Battle. Against quests that punish player side quests, a second copy of the Rod can be subbed in.

In the early game, before the questing army comes out, the deck will handle most of the questing. Beregond and Denethor can meet the defensive needs of both decks for the first few rounds, especially if one or both can be boosted by Gondorian Shield or Livery of the Tower. And between Boromir and a few boosted allies, early enemies shouldn't be too difficult to dispatch.

By the late game, you should be dominating the quest phase while your companion deck deals with most of the combat. Resources should be piling up on Beregond, since the deck is heavily weighted towards cards. Thus, Livery of the Tower can allow him to take undefended attacks on your side if needed, in addition to guaranteeing that his ability will trigger while defending. However, against quests that feature lots of direct damage or archery, Dúnedain Remedy is probably a more useful card.

This deck should be as good against battle quests as it is against normal quests. Although it can struggle against siege questing, it will often be able to help handle combat to let the deck handle the majority of the questing responsibility. Against such quests, one or more copies of Visionary Leadership can be swapped out for Unexpected Courage, to allow Beregond to both quest and defend.