From the Trees (Thematic Dúnedain & Silvan Fellowship)

Thematic Dúnedain & Silvan Fellowship

Going into making this fellowship, I wanted to create a thematic group of heroes to take on Shadows of Mirkwood. Given the characters in the Mirkwood area, I wanted to use Dúnedain and elves around the central pair Aragorn and Arwen. While deckbuilding, I realized that I could build synergy (and work with the theme) around the Ranged keyword for the enemy management focused deck. From there, I wanted to put together a support deck using only the Dúnedain and Silvan traits (with the exception of Noldor Arwen who, of course, makes sense thematically).

In practice the decks feel very well paired, even if I sacrificed some standard powerful cards in favor of more thematic choices (i.e. no Gandalf + Sneak Attack, no A Test of Will, no Unexpected Courage - not that any of those couldn't fit the theme;just thought there were other choices that felt more interesting like the archery events in the deck or the traps in the deck).

Some combo highlights:

• Haldir really sings in this fellowship when the other deck is successfully managing enemies and engagement. In my playthrough of Journey Along the Anduin, I never had to engage enemies with the deck, leaving him open to contribute to enemy management via his ability. This gets even better when he can get the Bow of Galadhrim equipped.
• Amarthiúl and Arwen help with resource smoothing and Beravor helps keep cards in hand. I almost exclusively use Beravor for her ability.
• Celeborn is key in keeping all of the Silvan allies' stats boosted, however briefly.
• Playing campaign mode with Mendor adds to the thematic fun with an additional ranged Silvan!

Additional Notes:

• This is my first real attempt at solid deckbuilding that I thought was worth sharing. I've only been playing for a little over a year with less than 20 games under my belt so far.
• These decks are built from mostly revised content. As a new player, the only old packs I've been able to pick up are the Shadows of Mirkwood cycle, the Hobbit saga boxes, and a few stray adventure packs I found on sale.
• Anyone else think like Haldir hero decks kind of feel like playing Skyrim with a stealth archer? He's addictive, fun, and definitely OP in my experience using him.