Patrolling Scouts 1.0

• Versions
• 1.0

The concept of this deck came from looking at three cards: Astonishing Speed, Scouting Party, and Lay of Nimrodel. I wondered, "Is it possible to build a deck that used them all?" The answer is yes- yes, you can.

Getting good use out of those three cards was the basis of the deck design, and I'm happy to report it does work as intended. You can use these cards to great effect in the mid- to late-game to put up incredible questing numbers to get you past difficult circumstances.

What I didn't expect was how well some of the other parts of the deck would work- particularly how often cards stay ready. To maximize the usefulness of the deck, I knew I needed to look for Rohan and Scout characters, and quickly settled on a Leadership/Spirit mold so that I could put Steward of Gondor to work on a Spirit Hero. But the three heroes all come with easy access to post-quest readying- Legolas with Light of Valinor (I love playing Light on non-Glorfindel heroes- Elrond is a particular favorite for this), Idraen with her native ability, and Elfhelm with Snowmane- plus Rider of Rohan, and the Naith Guide can keep a Hero straight on the turn she enters.

For that reason, all the other readying in this deck is meant for its partner deck, Scout's Protectors- particularly Unexpected Courage (first on Beregond, second on Haldir) and Armored Destrier (Beregond). This deck should be optionally engaging enemies as much as possible, knowing that Beregond will block, and in most cases 2 or even all 3 of your Heroes will be ready to pool their attack in the counterattack.

A few more notes:

-Gather Information should be the target of beating your partner deck's Gather Information, because of how much it helps the partner deck get online. The second Gather (which you will hopefully complete by turn 2 or 3) you can grab toys with.

-Surprising no one, the most important card is Steward of Gondor. It makes Lay of Nimrodel incredible, it opens up massive card draw with Elven-light, it allows this deck to skew slightly expensive in Spirit. I would hard mulligan for it. I don't love using it unless the deck literally cannot work without it, and that's the case here.

-I know, I know, I did the Sneak Attack/Gandalf combo, too. Not the most unique deck, but this is just too powerful and the utility is too important.

-Tighten Our Belts is a lovely thing to see turn one, but in later turns you'll have to pick your spots, and it becomes one of the more interesting choices this deck offers. Occasionally, it may make sense to play it on your partner deck, instead.

-Don't sleep on Steed of Imladris and Elfhelm! You're paying one resource for a +1 Willpower boost that can go on both Legolas and Idraen. Then, you can trigger Steed's discard ability to get Elven-light into your discard and make it easier to trigger Idraen's ready. Surpisingly, it's probably the second-most important card in this deck, after Steward!