by ddubois
I was always a proponent of 2 core decks. I thought 2 was great, totally worth it, because you got extra threat dials, got 3 of most everything (being short 1 each stone, courage, swift didn't bother me), and got some redundancy on encounter decks allowing you to keep multiple scenarios put together. Three seemed like something only the most ridiculous OCD completest would do - just write Unexpected Courage on a copy of The Favor of the Lady with a sharpie and call it a day.But every time a new adventure pack would come out, I would say to myself, "Oooo, I want to build a deck around that!" Then my self would go to my stockpile and find one copy of Sneak Attack, or one copy of Test of Will, etc. "GDI!" What am I going to do with 4 Sneak Attacks?! Build two bad decks? Or be forced constantly tear down decks every time I got a new idea?
And my other issue is that if I want to get this on the table, I need to build decks for the other people. I pretty much need to bring this to game night with four pre-made decks, and if I want to play with a member of my family, I need to have a duo of decks ready to go. It became too tedious to be tearing apart decks constantly to rebuild something, when I needed to have the ability to play solo, duo, or multiplayer. And even making four decks with only 4 copies of Sneak Attack to go around was a hassle.
Now that I have 6 of the important core cards, so much has been opened up for me in terms of deck-building and convenience. I now have all of this built and sleeved:
==================================================================
This started when I saw Unseen Strike. I immediately thought "Aha, a reason to finally play Dunhere!". It ended up being very Rohan-theme heavy. I keep thinking maybe I should go the extra mile and get Ride to Ruin/Eomund in here somewhere, but it's very strong as is.
Dunhere
Hama
Glorfindel
Arwen Undomiel
Escort from Edoras
Gondorian Spearman
The Riddermark's Finest
Wandering Took
West Road Traveller
Westfold Horse-Breaker
Northern Tracker
Gandalf
Light of Valinor
Ancient Mathom
A Test of Will
Elrond's Counsel
The Galadhrim's Greeting
Unseen Strike
Feint
Astonishing Speed
==================================================================
This is a slight variation on the deck I used to finally beat A Journey to Rhosgobel, but I took out Denethor/Faramir/bad archers for Loragorn/Sword that was Broken/Mirkwood Runner. I'm not sure that's actually an improvement - an attempt at The Redhorn Gate was a dismal failure, but basic idea should remain strong - draw tons of cards, throw them away to Protector of Lorien (ala Necropotence/Firestorm of M:tG).
Beravor
Bilbo Baggins
Aragorn
Daughter of the Nimrodel
Erebor Hammersmith
Gleowine
Miner of the Iron Hills
Rivendell Minstrel
Gandalf
Warden of Healing
Mirkwood Runner
Henamarth Riversong
A Burning Brand
Forest Snare
Protector of Lorien
Steward of Gondor
Song of Kings
Sword that was Broken
Sneak Attack
Rumour from the Earth
=========================
"FOUR"
Totally experimental, haven't had a chance to try it yet. Eight ways to cheat that aren't Steward of Gondor.
Eowyn
Legolas
Beorning Beekeeper
Descendant of Thorondor
Eagles of the Misty Mountains
Elfhelm
Northern Tracker
Veteran of Nanduhirion
Imladris Stargazer
Zigil Miner
Winged Guardian
Landroval
Radagast
Vassal of the Windlord
Resourceful
Support of the Eagles
Citadel Plate
The Eagles Are Coming!
Stand and Fight
==================================================================
The good dwarf deck:
Bifur
Thalin
Gimli
Veteran Axehand
Erebor Battle Master
Erebor Hammersmith
Erebor Record Keeper
Miner of the Iron Hills
Longbeard Map-Maker
Gondorian Spearman
Gleowine
Daughter of the Nimrodel
Dwarrowdelf Axe
Blade of Gondolin
Horn of Gondor
Ring Mail
Khazad! Khazad!
Daeron's Runes
Feint
Strider's Path
=========================
The bad dwarf deck (with the uber broken hero that makes it all work). This is only for playing a duo to support the above deck, letting my 9 year old feel like a superhero. Don't try to solo anything with this.
Dain Ironfoot
Dwalin
Gloin
Bofur
Longbeard Elder
Gandalf
Faramir
Snowbourn Scout
Wandering Took
Longbeard Orc Slayer
Celebrian's Stone
Hasty Stroke
Steward of Gondor
Unexpected Courage
Durin's Song
Lure of Moria
A Test of Will
Sneak Attack
Untroubled by Darkness
The Galadhrim's Greeting
==================================================================
It's all three-ofs, for now. I think trying to tune them down to 2 of this, 2 of this, 1 of that would drive me nuts given that I'm trying to keep track of cards in five decks, but the next thing I'll do is surely to pull one of something for each deck and get it down to 50. The way it is now it's just easier to swap out en entire batch of 3 on a scenario by scenario basis.
Having 3 core sets has allowed me to hit pretty much every major archetype, without having to veer too excessively far from the optimal build. I'm overly pleased without myself right now.