20 Dunedain and a Dwarf 1.0

• Versions
• 1.0

[Fellowship is here.]

This is a relatively straightforward multiplayer Dúnedain build with the mild spice of using Balin; at the time I write this, there are only two other aggro Dúnedain decks that use him on RingsDB (using Heir of Valandil as an indicator card for the archetype). Balin gives you two very useful things:

1. Shadow mitigation on the table from the get-go. Dúnedain decks that aim to keep a lot of enemies engaged and that do not employ the likes of Forest Snare take so many attacks over the course of a game that crappy shadow effects are bound to come up.
2. Access to King Under the Mountain and its consistent filtered card draw. I mulligan for this card. If things are going well—you have a lot of engaged enemies and Heir of Valandil out—then it's good to have that extra draw because the massive cost savings of the Heir means that you'll want to have cards on which to spend the resources you do accrue. If you haven't found Heir yet, King Under the Mountain obviously helps you find it. If you don't have a lot of engaged enemies, stop killing them so quickly, silly. (As Odin said, are you the god of hammers?)

And he quests for 2! I even find that, once questing is covered by the other deck, equipping him with one of the -boosting attachments and a spare Armored Destrier can wipe away any last doubts about dealing with defenses. What a guy.

Defense

Speaking of the Destrier: it's a major attachment for Amarthiúl, simultaneously granting you action advantage to use both of Marty's best stats, and the ever-powerful shadow discarding. Combine with Captain of Gondor for extra enjoyment.

The rest of the defensive attachment suite comes in the form of other 1-costers, of which only Gondorian Shield is restricted—the fact that it and Captain of Gondor are can be quite nice, as it means that on turn 1 you can plunk down King Under the Mountain and still shore up Marty's defense before even engaging anyone. With him being so squishy, you'll definitely want the boost.

2x Dúnedain Warning and 1x Hauberk of Mail: these two cards have slightly different features, so I think a mix is useful. The Warnings can stack, and occasionally the ability to move them to other heroes can be clutch. The Hauberk can go on allies, and even if there's only one target in this decklist, the Redwater Sentry with a (free!) Hauberk is a beast of a defender for the big boys. If you're not so lucky as to draw the Sentry early enough, just throw the Hauberk on Amarthiúl, no harm, no foul.

Incidentally, an excess of Sentinel may seem at cross-purposes with the aim to engage everyone, but in my experience enemies will slip through the cracks, so I don't mind having a surfeit. (Scorpagorn will pull them all over eventually.) Feel free to tech in some other cards instead.

Allies

The Dúnedain allies are standard. Throwing down a Dúnedain Hunter, pulling an enemy you'd struggle with, then immediately neutralizing him with a free Andrath Guardsman is one of the great pleasures this game can offer. Shout-out to Vigilant Dúnadan: powered by the side quests and Arwen ally of the partner deck, he defends for 3 endlessly, which is frankly kind of insane and lets him deal with hordes of mid-size enemies, particularly with Balin/Destriers backing him up. (I also like laughing at "defender cannot ready this round" shadow effects.)

A few non-Dúnedain allies… Halfast Gamgee (remember, the partner deck is side quest focused) and Grimbold help out with , plus the emergency button of Grimbold's ability. Westfold Outrider is also an emergency button, as he can pull out that revealed high- enemy from staging before quest resolution, or just quietly chip in 2 until he is sacrificed to the cause.

Odds & ends

• Aragorn gets no toys! Well, there's the Legacy Blades in the other deck. But generally the characters and Amarthiúl contribute plenty of for your enemies' lowered . His most underrated stat is his 5, which often lets you be particularly aggro in the early game and take an undefended attack.
• Wait no Longer is an amazing card for any combat-oriented build.
• Secret Vigil synergizes well, as holding off on killing a high- enemy in order to attach it is not a disadvantage for the Dúnedain.
• Dúnedain Remedy contributes a spot of healing when the other deck can't find medics.
• Hidden Cache is in there for fun. About 2/3rds of the time it'll get discarded by King Under the Mountain and infuse you with sweet cash. The other 1/3rd of the time you'll sigh and pay 1 resource to draw a real card, which 100% of the time will be the other Hidden Cache.
• 1x Ranger Summons because Ranger Summons.

The sideboard I've listed is mainly some other cards you might consider if you're feeling short on or want to throw weapons on Aragorn.