Revised Silvan Synergy (#RCO)

This is my Revised Content Only (#RCO) Elven fellowship designed to tackle some of the more challenging quests this game has to offer with a combination of the martial progress of Silvan archery and the questing support of Galadriel's entourage.

Spirited Silvans

Hero Lineup

-Arwen Undómiel provides the almost-unmatched synergy of resources to cards via Elven-light. She will almost always be giving a resource to her grandmother and then contributing her 3 to the quest (give her Steed of Imladris for extra questing power).

-Haldir of Lórien plays several crucial roles, not least of which is providing instant access to for those quests when Nenya doesn't want to show up. He also combines with (MotK) Legolas from the archery deck to bring 6 to bear on turn 1, which is often sufficient to take out an early enemy and maintain tempo. Once he is powered up with Bow of the Galadhrim and/or Dagger of Westernesse from across the table, he can put his sniping ability to good use as well. He will also take Wingfoot once it shows up to contribute his 2 to the quest (almost always name enemy!).

-Galadriel does what she does, controlling threat, providing card draw, and giving allies a free first turn of questing. After Nenya shows up, she is typically my first target for Unexpected Courage to allow full usage of her potential.

Questing

Nenya is the most critical piece for early questing (you can provide 7 once you have it), but if it tarries you still have plenty of Silvan allies that can pick up the slack (all boosted by Celeborn across the table). You may not be bringing obscene levels of to the quest each round, but 2 copies of Host of Galadhrim allows for huge strategic pushes at the right moment (time these carefully!). Between Steed of Imladris, Lórien Guide, and Woodland Courier, locations are rarely an issue, and so I've never felt a strong need to include Hithlain, though it could be slotted in as a nice sideboard card.

Defense

Hopefully, you are keeping your threat low enough (via Elrond's Counsel, Double Back, and Galadriel) not having to engage too many enemies, though the archery deck can assist with Defender of the Naith and attack cancellation. In general, you should have a consistent stream of chump blockers thanks to Galadriel's ability to allow allies to quest w/out exhausting. In a pinch, Silvan Tracker can defend and potentially survive to fight another day.

The real contributions of this deck to the common defense are healing (via Silvan Tracker and Galadhrim Healer) and shadow cancellation (Quicker Than Sight). These may not always be flashy, but they are critical cogs in the machine of the combat deck. Because of this, I am usually happiest to see a Silvan Tracker pulled out with The Tree People.

Attack

Aside from Haldir of Lórien, this deck is not going to blow anyone away with its attack power, but this is rarely a problem given the plethora of ranged characters across the table. If needed, a handful of your allies can contribute 2 on the round they enter play and Mirkwood Runner is always guaranteed to hit for at least 2 damage.

Resources

In addition to Lady Undómiel, you can take advantage of The Tree People and O Lórien! from across the table to get your cards into play (and the overall cost-curve of the deck is pretty low). Besides throwing Arwen's extra resource to Galadriel, one fun trick to get your allies into play more quickly is to discard them w/Arwen and then use Stand and Fight to play them with resources instead.

Miscellaneous Strategy

Nenya is the main card you want to see early, followed by questing allies (or Galion) and The Tree People. Gather Information, Galadriel's action, and Elven-light are there to help you dig for Nenya in the early game. Try to time your Galadhrim Weavers to recycle your key cards (A Test of Will, The Tree People, Quicker Than Sight, Host of Galadhrim). The main goal is to build up a board of at least 3-4 Silvan allies and then to drop Host of Galadhrim for a big push. The archery deck should be grabbing most enemies, but it is usually wise to keep at least one ally unexhausted to block unexpected attacks.

"Leithio i Philinn (Loose the Arrows)!"

Hero Lineup

• Celeborn is self-explanatory in any Silvan build. He will be almost exclusively questing and granting each of your Silvans his enters play boost (and this works across the table for other Silvans as well).

• (MotK) Legolas is the key to this deck's success because he immediately solves the problem of card draw that plagues most / builds. Once he is equipped with a Bow of the Galadhrim and/or Dagger of Westernesse, he can mow down enemies anywhere on the table and keep your hand stocked with options. As a result, this deck practically never lacks for cards to play. Note: If you prefer not to proxy Messenger of the King (which is the only non-RCO card here), you can sub in core set Legolas and compensate for the loss of innate card draw by including Foe-hammer x3 and Valiant Sacrifice x2 (sub out ally Legolas, Pursuing the Enemy, and Elf Guide). This version does not flow as well, but otherwise maintains the deck's same overall framework.

• Thranduil remains my favorite hero in the game, mainly because he allows you to wait until the combat phase to decide which Silvan ally you need to drop into play. Short on defense on your side of the board? Bring in Greenwood Defender! Need to bail out another deck from an attack? Summon the Defender of the Naith! Need more attack power? Marksman of Lórien can essentially bring 6 to the table the round she enters play! Need to ready any hero? Greenwood Archer says "Mae g'ovannen"! The options are almost endless. And in doing so, Thranduil provides a near-constant source of resource smoothing, which will keep this deck running efficiently. As the game goes on, you can even give him whatever combination of Ancestral Armor, Armored Destrier, and/or Round Shield show up first to turn him into a decent defense option. He also provides a way to get Silvan Tracker into play to allow your heroes to soak up some direct damage and heal it off each round.

Questing

Aside from Celeborn's 3 , this deck is not going to shoulder much of the load in willpower questing. However, between Naith Guide, Orophin, Hands Upon the Bow, and the trusty Sneak Attack/Gandalf combo, there are plenty of ways to provide support for neighboring decks.

Defense

Thranduil does a decent job of holding down the fort in the early game, but between Feigned Voices and Feint, you should have plenty of tools to deal with the nastiest enemies. For anything that is immune to player cards, you may find yourself having to chump, but the good news is that you can usually muster up enough raw to take out the enemies that engage with you during the same round. Defender of the Naith provides sentinel support across the table, and if you can get Thranduil equipped with Ancestral Armor and a Silvan Tracker or two out (bring them in from your sideboard if you are not playing across from other Silvans), The Elvenking becomes quite capable of weathering repeated attacks from larger foes. Greenwood Defender is not the sturdiest of allies, but he can be absolutely clutch against a swarm of small to moderate enemies (it's not unheard of to drop this guy in to handle 3+ attacks in the same round).

Attack

The plethora of ranged characters allows you to pepper any foe with arrows and to lend your martial prowess wherever it is most needed. Once Legolas is armed up, he can use Hands Upon the Bow to great effect. For tougher enemies, there's always Gandalf or a late game Rúmil bomb. For quests that reward direct damage, Galadhon Archer + Pursuing the Enemy forms a nice repeatable combo.

Resources

I prefer relying upon a combination of O Lórien! and Thranduil's smoothing ability to avoid just defaulting to Steward of Gondor (this has the added benefit of not blocking other decks from access to Steward). However, feel free to add it back in for more challenging quests :). Man the Walls can also be a nice option from the sideboard if you need a bit more of a resource boost.

Miscellaneous Strategy

Since you start off with a source of card draw and solid attack power, look for some combination of a weapon, attack cancellation, and Naith Guide in your opening hand. Questing will be slowest during the first few rounds, so the more enemies you can engage and dispatch, the better you can keep tempo with the encounter deck (and the more cards you can draw). Of course, you will want to pair this with a strong questing deck and lend as much ranged support across the table as you can. Sadly, there are not a lot of good ways for Silvans to gain sentinel with just the RCO pool (no Elven Mail, Dúnedain Signal, or Arwen Undómiel), so a combination of attack cancellation and Defender of the Naith will have to suffice. Just make sure that anything that gets through to hit your fellow player(s) doesn't live long enough to attack again!

Final Thoughts

I have had a lot of fun piloting this fellowship two-handed. It doesn't always quest well right out of the gate, but with the / Silvans keeping combat locked down, the / Silvans can catch up in a hurry and drop large amounts of when needed. One of the reasons that Silvans are one of my favorite archetypes are all of the decision points that they provide and to multitude of tools they have to counter numerous quests. Hope you find them helpful and enjoyable!