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Derek Coon
United States
Redwood City
California
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(Aragorn, Gimli & Legolas)
I used these three when the game first came out, but found that unless you got the right cards early you were going to have a really tough go. So now that there are plenty of cards to chose from I'd like to see how better players would build a deck for these guys. Please don't limit yourself to one, or even two, core sets and all cards/expansions are available.
Have at it!
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Chris Corbin
United States
Tallahassee
FL
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I'm not an expert or anything and I've never played this deck. I just put it together with Zorbec's Deck Builder http://eric.minet.free.fr/lotrbuilder/index_en.htm
I don't have 3 core sets, but with 2 cores the only difference would be 1 less Celebrían's Stone, Horn of Gondor and Unexpected Courage; which brings it to 50 cards... I'm not sure which would be more efficient.
Deck title:
The Three Hunters
Heroes
• Aragorn CS 1
• Legolas CS 5
• Gimli CS 4
Deck
3x Durin's Song (KHD 4)
3x Sneak Attack (CS 23)
3x Valiant Sacrifice (CS 24)
3x • Celebrían's Stone (CS 27)
3x Dúnedain Quest (SOM 51)
3x • Steward of Gondor (CS 26)
3x Snowbourn Scout (CS 16)
2x • Faramir (CS 14)
3x Feint (CS 34)
3x Blade of Gondolin (CS 39)
3x • Horn of Gondor (CS 42)
3x Vassal of the Windlord (SOM 98)
3x Gondorian Spearman (CS 29)
3x Winged Guardian (SOM 4)
3x A Test of Will (CS 50)
3x The Galadhrim's Greeting (CS 46)
3x Unexpected Courage (CS 57)
3x • Gandalf (CS 73)
Total 53
Some Notes:
Steward of Gondor and Celebrían's Stone are what I'd be searching for in my opening hand and they would both go on Aragorn.
Most of the Allies are cheap because I thought these heroes would be getting into the thick of it pretty much right off the bat and would need to get them out quickly.
Willpower is abysmal and I'm not sure Legolas can compensate enough (even with two Blades of Gondolin), a few plays will let you know.
Some Combos:
Durin's Song + Gimli
Steward of Gondor/Celebrían's Stone + Aragorn
Blade of Gondolin + Legolas
Sneak Attack + Gandalf (I would probably use this in the questing phase for the extra willpower)
Vassal of the Windlord/Winged Guardian + Valiant Sacrifice/Horn of Gondor
Now that I've spent so much time on this I am interested in trying it out.
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Matthew Saloff
United States
Edinboro
Pennsylvania
A Lannister always pays his debts.
I'll Have Another WILL win the Triple Crown.
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Well, that team is a tough one. The starting threat is really high, the questing output isn't the greatest and there is almost an overload on attack. But in the exercise of fun, if we're seeing what we can do with this specific team, here's a build I'd do:
Aragorn
Gimli
Legolas
Gandalf 3x
Radagast 3x
Faramir 3x
Landroval 2x
Eagles of the Misty Mountains 3x
Vassal of the Windlord 3x
Winged Guardian 3x
Dunedain Watcher 3x
Steward of Gondor 3x
Horn of Gondor 2x
Celebrian's Stone 3x
Dunedain Quest 3x
Citadel Plate 1x
Born Aloft 3x
Sneak Attack 3x
Valiant Sacrifice 3x
Feint 3x
The Eagles Are Coming! 2x
Shadow of the Past 1x
Mini-themes are basically (1) a small Eagle/allies leaving play package for Horn of Gondor/Eagles of the Misty Mountains, and (2) Born Alofts/Sneak Attacks to get triple usage out of the Gandalfs to help the threat situation, card draws or other emergencies.
The best thing is you have easy access to both Steward and Horn of Gondor, so resources aren't a huge concern. I'd try to put Steward on Legolas as the deck has more red cards and Horn probably on Aragorn for purple cards and to pay for his ability.
Try to quickly boost Aragorn's wisdom with Celebrian's Stone and Dunedain Quests. Send him questing every time along with other allies you can spare. Faramir's ability helps here too. Remember that you can send the Dunedain Watchers questing and still use her ability later if needed. Use Aragorn's ability most turns to then help attack or defend, while Gimli (after getting a few damages) and Legolas be the primary attackers. Gimli can also help quest sometimes if attacking/defending is covered.
Be smart when ditching your allies. Wait for good opportunities when possible. Save Vassals for when they can help KO an enemy. I'd pay the upkeep on the Winged Guardians for a bit. Save Dunedain Watcher for the worst shadow effects where she'll be superstar. Another neat use for her would be to let an enemy go undefended, ditch Watcher if the shadow effect is bad (and triggering Horn and Valiant Sacrifice) and then take the undefended damage on Gimli who then lays a big hit on the enemy. Especially try to get an Eagles of the Misty Mountains out before discarding many eagles. The great thing is that the Vassals and Winged Guardians can hold things down while they're needed and then power up the Eagles of Misty Mountains into bigger beasts that don't go away. Hopefully hold Gandalfs until you get a Sneak Attack or Born Aloft so that you can abuse him multiple times. Even when being smarter with allies, resources should still be fine because of Steward.
Radagasts help pay for and heal eagles. Citadel Plate is to power Gimli. Feints for big enemies. Valiant Sacrifices for easy card draws. Shadow of the Past save for a perfect opportunity.
If anyone tries this, let me know if you like it. ^_^
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Derek Coon
United States
Redwood City
California
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Thanks guys. Keep 'em coming. I promise I'm going to try each deck posted and then try to combine the best of each.
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Derek Coon
United States
Redwood City
California
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As promised I played a marathon session yesterday, pitting both decks two times each against Passage Through Mirkwood and The Dead Marshes. The decks 'taste' quite differently...
I started with Chris' deck and the first round against Passage I didn't get Aragorn 'Stoned' quickly enough and lost due to location lock. The problem with these three heros is that if you don't get Celebrian's Stone on Aragorn in your initial draw (including mulligan) it might be a very short day. So it proved. The next time through Aragorn got Stoned and they won in 10 turns. In The Dead Marshes this deck won both times with Aragorn getting his rock early on both accounts. 12 turns and 7, with Gollum having slipped away the first time.
This deck opened my eyes to Valiant Sacrifice and Horn of Gondor, which I hadn't bothered to use before. And while I have been using Winged Guardian I didn't realize how much extra punch Vassal of the Windlord can add. I have also been undervalueing Faramir.
On to Matthew's deck, which got really unlucky in PtM. The first time through Aragorn got webbed on Turn 2 and Ungoliant's Spawn dropped down on turn 3. I had no allies in play at that point and it was Sayonara. The second time through though I won in 5 turns. Wow. This deck opened my eyes to an Eagles deck. Eagles of the Misty Mountains can quest for 2 and so can Radagast, while Dunedain Watcher is my new girlfriend.
Wading into Dead Marshes this deck got really unlucky both times with a series of unlucky early Treacheries causing Gollum to slink away (see what I did there?) and both games turned into slogs. In the first round I was able to quest just fine with my allies etc. but Gandalf made no appearance and I was unable to beat the threat down. I ended up losing on turn 15. In a way the second was even worse as it took me an endless 22 turns to dig the Stinker  out of the bottom of the Quest deck. By that time I had Shadows of the Past in hand and I wasn't going to let him get by. One tweak I might make to this deck is slipping a couple of Galadhrim's Greetings into it.
In conclusion, Chris' deck was certainly an improvement on mine, but Matthew's Eagles blew my mind. I have been reluctant to try them because they don't 'feel' right to me, but boy are they fun to play. I'm about to throw reason to the wind (haha) and take them into Khazad-Dum...
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Matthew Saloff
United States
Edinboro
Pennsylvania
A Lannister always pays his debts.
I'll Have Another WILL win the Triple Crown.
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Thanks for the session report!
Glad you liked the deck! Yeah, fitting in a couple Galadhrim's Greetings would maybe be nice but I'm not sure if I could cut out enough things, at least for me. But hey, have at it! I'd love to see it!
This is why LCGs rule. So much we can do and try out. So fun!
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Chris Corbin
United States
Tallahassee
FL
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Glad to hear they both worked, honestly I wasn't sure mine would work at all! I just put it together as an exercise.
I added the splash of Spirit cards as a bit of filler, if Aragorn has the Stone why not?
I think both of these decks could be merged into something pretty cool though if you want to tweak it... maybe drop Blade of Gondolin, Gondorian Spearman and A test of Will from mine, then add Radagast and Eagles of the Misty Mountains from Matthew's... maybe add a few Support of the Eagles attachments?
like Matthew says, there is so much to do and try out!
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