Eyes of the White Tower 1.0

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• 1.0

"Didst thou think that the eyes of the White Tower were blind? Nay, I have seen more than thou knowest." - Denethor, The Return of the King

Theme: ‘After [Finduilas'] death Denethor became more grim and silent than before, and would sit long alone in his tower deep in thought, foreseeing that the assault of Mordor would come in his time. It was afterwards believed that needing knowledge, but being proud, and trusting in his own strength of will, he dared to look in the palantír of the White Tower.'

‘In this way Denethor gained his great knowledge of things that passed in his realm, and far beyond his borders, at which men marvelled; but he bought the knowledge dearly, being aged before his time by his contest with the will of Sauron.' - The Return of the King, Appendix A

Deck: This is a multiplayer mono-Lore deck built around leveraging the power of scrying and encounter deck control. The centerpiece of the deck is Denethor, who will become a powerful defender while also scrying the encounter deck and helping to neuter its most potent efforts. A strong Traps subtheme helps to extend the ability of the deck to manipulate the encounter deck, while a number of Gondor Ranger allies contribute to questing and combat.

Using his Palantir, Denethor can see the next 3 cards to come off of the encounter deck. Between his card ability and Firyal's response, if either of the first two cards is unacceptable, they can be either discarded or moved to the bottom of the deck. All of this requires multiple actions out of the son of Ecthelion. This particular setup is designed to be played with a partner deck which can play multiple copies of Unexpected Courage onto Denethor, and so Heir of Mardil is the only readying included in the deck. Together with Steward of Gondor and A Good Harvest, it is a 3-card combo that is not guaranteed to hit the table - although the hefty card draw available to this deck makes it more likely than you might otherwise expect.

In multiplayer settings where partner decks aren't able to provide extra readying, Heir of Mardil should be replaced by Unexpected Courage, for better consistency. It should also be noted that Steward of Gondor isn't central to the functionality of the deck although it is wonderfully thematic, and the resource acceleration is helpful. In case of uniqueness conflicts with a partner deck, it can easily be dropped.

The use of the Palantir implies large threat raises over the course of the game. The partner deck in this particular build also contributes a great deal of threat reduction, but in a setting where the other decks in the fellowship don't have threat reduction to spare, Gandalf should be subbed in to provide control over threat raises.

Questing: Although this deck cannot carry the whole weight of the quest phase on its shoulders, with a little bit of setup, it can still offer a sizeable contribution. Ranger Spikes and Ithilien Trackers help control in the staging area, while Emyn Arnen Rangers (proxied here by Miners of the Iron Hills) can put up respectable willpower after a medium enemy is caught in a trap. But this deck's most important contribution to the quest phase comes from helping to pick and choose what cards come off of the encounter deck and which ones do not.

Combat: This deck offers a number of ways to deal with enemies. The heavy emphasis on scrying and deck control allows you to make every Trap hit where it will be most useful. Enemies that aren't debilitated by one of the Traps can often be avoided using Denethor or Firyal to ensure they don't come up.

For those enemies that cannot be avoided, Denethor offers a potent answer. With A Burning Brand and Gondorian Shield (paid for via A Good Harvest), he defends for 5 while ignoring shadows - enough to stand firm against all but the most powerful attacks. Protector of Lórien can boost him up to 8 in an emergency situation, and the Wardens of Healing mean he can even tank a heavier hit, and then heal up to face it again the next round.

Ithilien Archers and Anborn can usually muster enough attack to strike back and eliminate the foes that end up engaging. If not, they can at least send the enemy back to the staging area, where it can be targeted by Guardians of Ithilien or Ithilien Trackers armed with Ranger Bows.

Against quests where direct damage is ineffective, or in a fellowship that requires this deck to take a heavier share of the combat, Ranger Bow and Forest Patrol can be dropped in favor of Ranger Spear, which directly increases power.