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AtaruSlash 4588
I've struggled for a while to put together a Gandalf deck that A) feels satisfyingly thematic, B) is fun to play, and C) works. The Elrond/Vilya/Gandalf combo is unquestionably powerful, but also not that hard to figure out. I'm sure I still have many Gandalf variants to build in the future, but this deck, which focuses on the old guy's love of the halflings' leaf, has really been hitting those marks.
As you'll see from the decklist, it is largely a mono-spirit deck, with a few lore cards snuck in to actually make some use of Gandalf's rainbow sphere ability.
The deck's core competencies are thus:
-General Spirit Shenaniganery -Solid questing -Location control -Threat management amplified by ample card draw to get to your key pieces
Basically, you want to get the pipes out as soon as possible. Gandalf's Pipe is the priority, for all of the Gandalf shenanigans. Everything else is just synergy.
Some card choice justifications:
-General Gandalf toys: The pipe and staff and flame are all auto includes, and they all work toward what this deck does anyway.
-Stargazer: Obvious synergy with Gandalf. Arrange your cards just how you need them. Need to play the Expert Treasure Hunter in planning, have that Test of Will ready for Staging, and The Fortune or fate for Flame of Anor? Stargazer's gotcha.
-Zigil Miner: With a spirit based deck and Stargazer, why not? Great resource acceleration, and you can mill down your deck to get to your key cards.
-Hidden Cache: With a spirit based deck and Star Gazer and Ziggy, why not? More resource acceleration, and at worst, card draw.
-Expert Treasure Hunter: In a Gandalf deck with Star Gazer and Ziggy and Hidden Cache and Ganalf's Pipe... is this synergy overdone yet? Draws you cards or gets you resources, and you will always guess correctly.
-Bilbo: Gets your pipes, quests, and is generally awesome.
-Tracker: A solid all rounder ally, or just straight up location management.
-Horse Breeder: Cheap ally who can quest or chump block, and can possibly grab you Asfaloth.
-Fortune or Fate: A great clutch card to save a hero, or hold onto it for a big Flame of Anor swing.
-Light the Beacons: A very underplayed card. This card will singlehandedly save a game at the right moment, and that moment comes more often than you think. OR: hold onto it for a big Flame swing.
Now, I hear you asking: Why no Smoke Rings in the pipe deck? I had it in, and it can work, and when it works, it works well. BUT! as far as threat reduction goes, it is SOOOO conditional for the cost. For free I can get -3 threat and +1 willpower. Smoke rings would require a much bigger commitment to get to that level, requiring the pipes to be out, and require that the characters with the pipes be questing, which doesn't always happen. Also, it costs 2. That, right there, breaks it for me. I would rather pay the one more resource for Greeting and be sure it will always do its thing. That said, for the more thematically-minded, it could be slotted in prettily easily, and would do things. Not great things, but things.