Khazad-dum Minimum Purchase 2 1.0

• Versions
• 1.0

This is a deck built from just Core Set + Khazad-dûm cards for Path Less Traveled, an ongoing series on my blog, Darkling Door.

Played Against: The Seventh Level

Working with the deck

This is a Dwarf-focused tempo deck that treads water until it can do big flashy things every couple of turns.

Most of the deck's comes in trickles, with Allies adding only 1 at a time. At best that's enough to keep up with the encounter deck, but not really enough to make much in the way of progress. Fortunately, the deck has several Events that can help me to place progress (or clear an active Location). Untroubled by Darkness is definitely the most impactful of these Events, but things like Ancestral Knowledge or Secret Paths can be a big help, too. Later in the game, I can put Protector of Lórien on Thalin to help quest, too.

Combat works in much the same way. Thalin gets all of the Enemies started with a single damage, with Dwalin playing the role of the primary attacker (hopefully with the help of a Weapon of some sort). That's not a ton of damage, but it's enough to take out the smaller Enemies in one hit. For anything larger, I have Khazâd! Khazâd! or additional direct damage from things like Swift Strike. None of these things dish out a ton of damage at once, but I have enough options to be able to layer them on until whatever I'm facing is dead.

And when things start to look bleak, there's always Gandalf, the ultimate tempo-fixer. He's useful in any deck, but I have found him to be especially useful in this one where I might need his direct damage and willpower to clear out the Staging Area so I can get things back under control.

It's a tenacious little deck that's capable of pulling victory from the jaws of defeat!

► For more analysis, check out my blog post on this quest.