by hoover2701
As in solo play there's no one else who can help you out the one thing you want the most is control. Control of what will happen next, control of who you attack and when, control of nasty shadow effects when fighting and control of your own deck (card draw).Of course "total control" is not achievable (to be honest that would be quite boring) but nevertheless I tried to design a deck that gives me enough control to let me take the initiative. Action instead of reaction.
Heroes:
Glorfindel
Denethor
Bilbo Baggins
Allies (16):
Bofur x1
Arwen Undomiel x1
Northern Tracker x2
Gildor Inglorion x1
Haldir of Lorien x1
Henamarth Riversong x2
Rivendell Minstrel x3
Master of the Forge x2
Gandalf x3
Attachments (20):
Light of Valinor x3
Unexpected Courage x2
Ancient Mathom x2
A Burning Brand x2
Asfaloth x2
Healing Herbs x2
Fast Hitch x1
Resourceful x3
Song of Travel x2
Song of Wisdom x1
Events (17):
The Galadhrim's Greeting x3
Dwarven Tomb x2
Will of the West x1
Elrond's Counsel x2
Expecting Mischief x3
Word of Command x2
Risk Some Light x2
Needful to Know x2
Starting threat: 22
Total card count: 53
Deck was built using 2 Core Sets and all available expansions.
Strategy:
"Denethor" is the backbone of this deck. His ability of removing the uppermost card to the bottom of the encounter deck is great. Even better, with "Unexpected Courage" he can block attacks in the same round. "A Burning Brand" attached to him makes shadow effects dealt to enemies attacking him worthless and with "Arwen Undomiel" committing another point of defense to him (4 in total) he is a real defensive tank. Did I mention his low threat (8)? Great for keeping threat low from the beginning.
Spirit "Glorfindel" comes with a threat of only 5. This is due to the fact that threat rises by one whenever he exhausts to commit to a quest. "Light of Valinor" keeps Glorfindel from exhausting when doing this so it does feature prominently in this deck. Another must for Glorfindel is "Asfaloth" giving additional control while traveling.
"Bilbo Baggins" first and foremost task is to draw two cards in the resource phase. This is 100% more cards than you'd get without him. Attach "A Burning Brand" and a "Fast Hitch" and he becomes a versatile hero who might quest, attack or defend and thereby giving you some flexibility.
The starting threat of these guys is 22. That's a good place to start from if you want secrecy.
The allies are standard fare I think. Honourable mention goes to "Henamarth Riversong" as he is a valuable partner for "Denethor" in the beginning stages of the game. If the uppermost card of the encounter deck is not an unwanted card "Denethor" can spare his ability and might instead block attacks as long as he has no "Unexpected Courage" attached to him.
"Gildor Inglorion" gives further deck-control as do "Master Of The Forge" by giving you faster access to attachments and "Rivendell Minstrel" by letting you fetch the "Songs of Wisdom and Travel". "Bofur" and "Arwen" mostly quest giving you some flexibility in resource-management and blocking by their abilities. "Haldir" simply is a good allrounder and the "Northern Tracker" - although expensive - helps exploring locations and has an attack value of 2.
Core "Gandalf" serves two main purposes. He helps you keeping your threat low and in combination with "Word Of Command" he gets you that card you most desire at the moment.
Attachments have mostly been mentioned above with three exceptions: Healing Herbs can be attached to two of your heroes. This and the fact that you have good control over who gets hit when and with what effect led me to the conclusion that I won't use any other healing allies, attachments or events. Then there is "Resourceful" giving another resource token to your hero in the refresh phase. At a cost of 4 this one's expensive. With a threat below 20 (which you'll achieve easily) it's cost is 1 - a bargain! Finally, "Ancient Mathom" gives you further card draw opportunities.
Let's get to the events. "Galadhrim's Greeting" is your threat reducer / secrecy provider #1 (you can even play it more than three times using "Dwarven Tomb" to get it back off the discard pile) . "Elrond's Counsel" is #2 and "Needful To Know" is #3. This one's great with "Risk Some Light" and "Denethor's" ability: Play "Risk Some Light". Look at the top three encounter cards. One has a threat of 5. Put it on top. Play "Needful To Know". Raise threat by 1 - lower threat by 5! Exhaust "Denethor" to get rid of that card - it has fulfilled it's duty. Considering their non-existent cost when your threat is below 20 these are very cool events. Automatic damage to enemies comes from "Expecting Mischief" from the new Saga Expansion (The Hobbit). This event deals 2 damage to the first enemy revealed during questing. Together with "Henamarth Riversong" or "Denethor" or even "Risk Some Light" this is a welcome auto-hit-point-reducing card.
That's it. Control the encounter deck, decide when you want to fight which enemy and keep your secrecy high / threat low. Have fun! attached to him makes shadow effects dealt to enemies attacking him worthless and with