Cheese Passage Through Mirkwood and win on round 1

ShiraHata 142

Description

I built this fellowship mainly with the goal of beating Passage Through Mirkwood as fast as humanely possible. I also wanted the decks to function outside of that one quest, so there are some cards that aren't specifically tailored towards that goal. I know that others have come up with similar concepts in the past, but I wanted to use only cards from the revised content (Core, Angmar, Starters).

The most important card to see in your starting hand is Tale of Tinuviel. Most turn 1 wins will rely on it, although it is possible to win without it in some cases. Usually, you want to take a mulligan in order to increase the chance of finding it.

The plan works as follows: You always send Elrond, Celeborn, and Eowyn questing, which gives you 12 willpower (10 plus 2 from Eowyn's ability). In order to beat stage 1, you usually need 15 to 16 willpower. This means that your starting hand should have some cheap allies that can contribute at least 3 extra willpower (better 4). Silvan Refugee is great because it quests for 3 with the boost from Celeborn.

Assuming you manage to beat stage 1, you skip travel and engage the Forest Spider with the Warrior deck. Take the Spider's attack undefended (the damage goes on Aragorn), and hit back with Aragorn and Legolas. The Spider dies and the triggering condition on both Response effects goes off. You first resolve Legolas's effect, placing 2 progress on stage 2b, which is enough to defeat it. The Forced effect on it gets triggered and takes precedence over Aragorn's reaction because of the timing rules. You hopefully flip "Don't Leave the Path!" as your stage 3b. If you do, its Forced effect triggers and again resolves before Aragorn's Response. You search out Ungoliant's Spawn as well as another Forest Spider and add them to the staging area. Now finally, Aragorn's response triggers and allows you to engage Ungoliant's Spawn right away.

Since enemy attacks have already passed, the Spawn won't attack you this turn, but you can attack it. This is where Tale of Tinuviel comes in handy. Exhaust Galadriel to ready Aragorn, bossting his attack to 7. His constant ability means that you only need 3 more attack to defeat Ungoliant's Spawn. This can be achieved in a number of ways: Riddermark Knight, Rohan Warhorse on Legolas, Greenwood Archer, Sneak Attack + Gandalf... As soon as the Spawn bites the dust, you've won!

There are a few more tricks you can use to defeat the Spawn even without Tale of Tinuviel. Sneak Attacking in a Greenwood Archer allows you to ready Aragorn or Legolas mid-combat. Hands Upon the Bow! can be used to defeat Forest Spider before engagement checks, so that you can engage Ungoliant's Spawn naturally without using Aragorn (although this requires a weapon on Legolas and you will need to defend the Spawn's attack). Similarly, Westfold Outrider can be used to engage the Spawn instead of Aragorn.

I am sure that these decks can still be improved. I feel like Protector of Lorien might increase the chance of getting enough Willpower to defeat stage 1. Against certain quests Feint might be valuable. I am also skeptical about the inclusion of Dunedain Hunter, since in my limited testing it often felt too risky. I haven't had time to test any fo those ideas yet.

Since I only have two old cores, I am also limited on how many copies of A Test of Will and Unexpected Courage I can include. Running more might be beneficial. When playing the decks against quests that don't require as much willpower, you might consider switching out Eowyn for Arwen. Anyway, I would be glad to hear some of your suggestions!

4 comments

Jul 29, 2022 banania 1813

A very fun idea and achievement! You could even swap Galadriel for Círdan the Shipwright and a couple Light of Valinor. If you do not get the light in your starting hand, Cirdan is just an inferior Galadriel. But if you do. It's 4 for 1 spirit resource, geeting you exactly what you need while still having Cirdan ready for Tale of Tinúviel.

Jul 29, 2022 ShiraHata 142

Good idea. I only used the revised card pool, but Cirdan seems interesting indeed. I might have to step it up and see how many quests in the game you can cheese in a similar way, most likely including the full card pool.

Jul 30, 2022 Jesulao25 1

Que juegas con 2 manos en solitario

Jul 30, 2022 BlackArrow 309

nice deck! I had the same idea and made a solo deck that can do the same thing! (I think its easier to do in multiplayer, but whatevs)

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