The Best Deck 1.0

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• 1.0

Strider in a four hero deck is an interesting choice. I never would have thought to do that.

I know, right? It entered the deck as a silver bullet for NM Escape from Mount Gram, but it ended up being a great draw early game in almost every quest. After I get my sixth character, I can use it as the target of a shadow effect that forces you to discard an attachment you control. If I draw it late game I usually just throw it on Beregond to give a little extra protection from shadow effects that specify discard an attachment from a defending character or keep it in my hand in the hopes it is the target of a forced discard, depending on the quest.

Interesting deck. What are your main targets for Helm of Secrecy?

Is Daeron's Runes better than Heed the Dream? Or perhaps Gleowine?

@alandorTypically I target Grima with Helm and switch him for Galadriel, either Eowyn, Balin, or Folco depending on what I need.

@dreadeaper It's possible. IMHO I think heed is better because I often have to search and grab a threat control card. I also need Gleowine to help plow through my deck to set up Nori.

I'm starting out as newcomer to lotr lcg would this deck still work great in multiplayer like if it was in solo

@Legion5150 probably not, because Gríma would increase the threat of the other players without giving them any benefit.

True ur probably right seem like a great deck use but guess I'll stick to one deck that can be use for more than 1 player

Cool deck! I didn’t expect to see this combo. I have a one deck that’s close to ready for publication with Gildor, Spirit Beregond, Tactics Eowyn, and Haldan. It’s been working quite well, and I see some similarities.

A few questions: Do you really need Golden Belt for Beregond? I guess Shield + Destrier, and then either Brand or Spear. Seems like it would take a while to come together.

Do you find that you actually get Song of Wisdom + Burning Brand frequently enough to make it worth it?

Do you have enough card draw? I guess Gildor draws a lot, but otherwise I don’t see much. I guess Helm into Galadriel? Once you do that, do you have enough questing power?

Helm of Secrecy seems valuable. I don’t have that in my deck, and I’ll definitely try to find a place for it. Cool idea!

Is Ranger Spikes worth it? Seems like something like Quickbeam could be better? I’ve only used Ranger Spikes in a trap deck, not in a “normal” deck, but maybe it’s worth reconsidering.

I’m surprised to see Warrior Sword over War Axe. I’m surprised no Feint. Is Revealed in Wrath better than Feint?!

Do you like 1 Ioreth + 1 Warden of Healing vs. 2 Wardens? I’ve considered both, but I have 2x Wardens in my current deck.

Does Nori matter? I guess for something like Under the Ash Mountains? It seems like you’d rarely run out of cards.

How did you do on Mount Doom? I guess with Strider, Celebrian’s Stone, and Silver Circlet you can get enough willpower without too high of a character count, but it seems tough... I guess Helm of Secrecy into Eowyn...

Lots of cool ideas in here! I’ll publish mine and perhaps you can take a look...

Here's the One Deck that I've been working on: ringsdb.com

I'm currently stuck on Mount Doom (e.g. I tried once, the first time I ever tried the quest, and lost). So, not really "stuck," but definitely need to try it again to see how tough it really is with the current build.

I haven't had serious problems with others. Mount Gram was a little tight, but Eowyn could do it. NM Journey to Rhosgobel was also a bit tight, but I can cycle fast enough to get to the Warden + either Meneldor or Outrider (I'd expect your deck to have similar challenge with that quest, if you don't draw 1x Asfaloth.)

Either way, if you're willing to answer some of the questions above and look at my deck, I'd love your thoughts on my current build, since there are definitely some similarities! Thanks for posting a cool deck!

@ira212 Hi Ira! When I was deciding on heroes I knew I was going to end up with either Sp Glorfindel/Ta Beregond or Sp Beregond/Ta Eowyn, so great minds think alike, haha!

I love Golden Belt for Beregond. I have four amazing restricteds for him and usually draw at least three in one game. Early game it's also a great free attachment to choose when I have to discard one.

I do get Song + Brand a lot. Two Heeds plus Gather helps me force my combos together, depending on which ones I need for the quest at hand. Many times I need to hold an enemy to use Thorongil Beregond, and I like having the Brand to minimize risk while I do so.

I find Gildor/Gleowine/Legolas is enough draw to work through my deck in most quests. If I do helm into Galadriel it's for threat. I usually have more than enough questing power with Celebrian's Stone Gildor/SIlver Circlet Glorfindel/Angbor/Firyal, but honestly, I often find myself questing completely unexhausted with Glorfindel and Angbor while I build. My playstyle is definitely to create an impenetrable board state.

Helm of Secrecy has bailed me out many times! I highly suggest it!

I like Ranger Spikes to pin those enemies with terrible engagement or “when attacking” abilities. I can scrye for them with Hennamarth or just take a chance when I know they are in the encounter deck. I can also hold an enemy in staging until a turn I desperately need to trigger Thorongil Beregond, Legolas, or Nori. They're also great to throw out before advancing to a quest stage where you know a horde is coming. I definitely see the merits in Quickbeam, and they feel pretty comparable in power. I went with spikes though.

Warrior sword usually goes on Legolas, Nori, or Angbor since Glorfindel reserves his slots for Valiant Sword/Silver Circlet. So in those situations, it's always better than War Axe.

I do think Revealed in Wrath is better than Feint because Tactics Beregond is a beast early and usually I will have no need of a Feint. Revealed helps me cancel the effects of engaging terribly annoying enemies like an Ungoliant Brood or Hummerhors, as well as allows me to kill "invincible" enemies like the Orc Trickster or Crazed Prisoner. And when I do get to use it well, it's so, so satisfying lol.

I like Ioreth + Warden over two Wardens because Ioreth is so perfect for encounter effects that make you exhaust a character you control. Also, when searching for a healer with Heed or Gather I can choose between spike healing or spread healing. With one of each I can pretend both are unique, too, which gives me great joy haha.

Nori is my favorite and probably best ally in this deck. He sets up some really broken combos when the deck is empty, like cycling Favor of the Valors, Sneak Attacks, Test of Wills, Revealed in Wrath, etc. He can also throw a Gandalf or Favor under the bottom of my deck that I can search for with Heed or Gather if I'm desperate.

When I beat Mount Doom I used Unexpected Courage/Light of Valinor and willpower boosts like Strider, Silver Circlet, and Celebrian's Stone. I remember not playing allies for a really long time. You are right, I do remember helming Grima into Eowyn at some point. I also took Seastan's advice to use the Willpower boosting Fellowship Frodo. It's a necessity! I don't remember needing to but I could also cheese a few extra turns out of Mount Doom with Favor of the Valors, since they're the only big threat reduction that works with Dire. Defintely a hard quest, though. Took me awhile to get the hang of it.

I like your deck! It’s definitely the ally-centric brother deck to my attachment-centeric deck. I highly suggest giving Light of Valinor, Celebrian’s Stone, and Strider a try. They’re great for Mount Doom.

Thanks for all the answers!

I missed that Warrior Sword goes on non-heroes, so that makes sense.

I’m still not convinced on Nori, but I could easily be wrong. Can you tell me more about it? How often do you really get to the bottom of your deck? It seems like that would happen really rarely. Maybe you’re doing Heed the Dream for 3 leadership?

And on that note, how often are you spending the 3 leadership on Heed? I’m assuming Gildor gets Steward, so maybe you have the extra 3 pretty often. I should likely consider that...

You make a good argument for Ranger Spikes and Revealed in Wrath, especially with Henamarth Riversong in mind.

I like Feint because it stops all the “when this event attacks” effects, and it gives action advantage. Beregond can only defend if he’s ready, and sometimes I get 2-3 enemies before he’s powered up with Destrier and Unexpected Courage. Your deck has more consistent 5-6 attack early game, so you can clear out enemies. That’s harder for me to muster unless I use Eowyn’s ability, so it might make sense that I need the Feints more.

I like your idea about Ioreth + Warden, especially when you consider Heed. I’ll give that a try.

I also need to think more about fitting in Golden Belt, second Destrier, Brand, and Song of Wisdom. That could be good.

I’ve been thinking more about Helm of Secrecy. If you trade Grima for Galadriel, you’re giving up 2 for 1 threat per turn. But why not play something like Keen as Lances to just save 5 threat all at once? I guess the flexibility of Helm is worth the extra cost? I’ll play around with it more.

How does your deck handle some high threat quests, like Nightmare Return to Mirkwood? I guess you can get through it pretty quickly, avoid using Grima too much, and Heed into Gandalf for threat reduction. I think Heed seems pretty important.

Thanks again for the ideas. I think the biggest thing my deck has that yours lacks is The Free Peoples. It’s just super powerful and solves many quests. But overall, the ideas are similar - Bond, have a buff defender, quest and attack respectably, and win. :)

I think you will have a problem with two quests: the first quest of the voice of Isengard and the Treason of Saruman. These quests already include Grima, which I believe will force you to use a different hero for those quests. Did you already think of this?

As long as those quests are beatable without using Grima at all, then it's OK, I think!

@ira I can't say enough great things about Nori. Even just for player morale he's fantastic. Forced to discard a 1 of? No worries, Nori can get it back eventually. I almost always pay 3 leadership for heed too, unless I'm really desperate. It's true I don't always get to the bottom of the deck, but when I do is usually when I need Nori the most.

I think I beat Return to Mirkwood fairly easily which was surprising even to me. Staple Elfhelm to Gollum, Helm to Galadriel, Thorongil Beregond and your threat's only going up 1 a turn. Sneak Gandalf, play Gandalf, and Favor while you build.

@ira The Free Peoples does seem like a fantastic addition. I just don't know where I fit it in my version.

@alandor I can beat those quests without Grima. Not the most pleasant experience but it's worth his acceleration in all the others.

@Legion5150If you're worried about Grima in multiplayer you could always switch him for Thurindir or Bifur. Both work well.

I looked again, and Nori only works on the top card of your discard pile. So, that seems pretty tricky to get all the timing to work right. But maybe I'm still underestimating it. Maybe it's a bit like Strider - plenty of times when you draw it, it's not going to be that useful. But, you still include it in your deck because when you need it, it's awesome.

For The Free Peoples in your deck, maybe you'd need to add a few more allies to hit it reliably, since you start with only 6 traits. But if you wanted to try it, I'd probably cut Blood of Númenor and replace it with Elrond's Counsel, which could free up 1x Favor of the Valar to be a Free Peoples instead. But obviously you know your deck best. It seemed to me that Blood of Númenor was most likely the card that was overkill and could probably be cut/replaced. :)

@Glamcrist Did you consider Treebeard?

@GreenWizardI did. He's a fantastic ally but usually if I need defense or attack power I'm pretty desperate and an ent that enters play exhausted wouldn't help me too much. He is cool though and I wish he could fit. He's probably 13th down the list for Neutral, Keys or Orthanc and the Free Peoples being 11th and 12th.

I’m having a great time playing this deck, it’s really quite a cool machine! I’ve pretty much waltzed through the Angmar Awakened cycle ... and then I hit Fortress of Nurn and it is chewing me up and spitting me out. Did you make any swaps for this quest specifically? The Hero layout isn’t strong for an important turn 1-2 Battle Quest against 6-8 threat in the staging area. Very curious to get your thoughts on this one. I’ve lost in pretty much every way you can lose - threat to sorceries, orc swarm beyond what Beregond can handle, location lock. Thanks in advance for your advice!

@HuckmanT I'm glad you are enjoying it! You're talking about Battle of Carn Dum and not Fortress of Nurn, right? The best advice I can give you is to play the long game. Don't worry about questing successfully too much at the start, you want to be in stage 1 for about 12-14 turns. Since you're playing the long game the most important card to mulligan for is usually Steward. Maybe Asfaloth the accursed battlefield if that's giving you trouble. Do the sidequests. Clear enemies when you can to avoid shadows and destrier the ones you're going to take undefended. Once you've built a Beregond that can tank a flipped Thauridir the quest kind of loses its teeth. Question - are you playing it nightmare or standard?

@Glamcrist Yes, Battle of Carn Dum is what I meant - it was late when I asked the question (oops!) - that is very helpful advice, thank you! I was trying to go too fast through stage 1 for sure. I am playing standard - this deck is a ton of fun to play, but still learning how to best pilot things like Thorongil and Helm of Secrecy. I’ll try all that and let you know how it goes!

That worked thank you! Very exciting - I lost once more and then trounced it. Beregond + Shield + Song of Wisdom + Burning Brand = lockdown and roll. Thanks again for this very fun deck.

A very nice and interesting effort, I really enjoy some very clever deck building decisions! I played a couple of quests and there are some really great techniques against a lot of difficult quests in here.

The quest(s) I find almost impossible to beat is NM Lonely Mountain (and to a lesser extent NM Dungeons Deep and Caverns Dim) ... what is the strategy you used against those quests? I have probably missed some Helm-interplay or something of the like, so I would be very thankful if you could help me out there

Also, you metion in your video about Dol Guldur that a first-try-win is atypical for this deck, so having played it much more than me, what would you guess is your approximate "win-rate" for this quest? I am interested because I am trying to find the ideal BoF combination for this quest at the moment and I would therefore be really happy if you could help me out with your experience concerning this combination.

I am also looking forward to the rest of your videos, I really like them, I find the way you comment your gameplay very pleasent and enjoyable! I am also curious to discover how the numbers turn out to be compared to the other playthroughs out there!

@HuckmanT Congratulations! A lot of people think Standard Carn Dum is harder than Nightmare, so very well done. Burning Brand on Beregond is definitely worth it's weight in mithril in that quest.

@The MormegilThanks for watching, trying the deck, and for the kind words!!! So the dreaded nightmare Hobbit quests, huh? (I think I'm alone in loving those quests, though admittedly the Best Deck is especially good at them).

NM The Lonely Nightmare - This quest becomes far easier when you realize Gildor (and Gleowine) is a master thief. There is an action window between Step 2 and Step 3 during a burgle where you can spend Baggins resources to draw the card and reveal the next. Only do this if that particular card is vital to your build. Instead, use Gildor to draw that card and discard it to complete the burgle. Sweet, sweet cheese.

NM Dungeons Deep and Caverns Dim - I find this the harder of the two, but far from impossible. Be super selective about which riddles you answer and which cards you stage. Build up Baggins resources and wait for an easy riddle like White Wargs and go hard. Use Honour Guard to tank an incorrect riddle whether it's just too hard or you just don't want to stage the card (cards in the riddle area are immune to player card effects but the damage is not). Since you probably don't have the deck memorized like me I'd suggest printing the list out and crossing them off when you draw and discard. As far as distribution I know off the top of my head there are 37 attachments, 17 cards cost 1, 17 cost 2, 6 Ld 2 cost cards, 5 Ld cost 2 attachments. As one decks go, it's far from being the worst for answering riddles. You definitely want to build the progress on the attachment ones. Good luck!

For both quests there is a helm trick (there's always a helm trick, isn't there?) if you run out of cards. Switch Grima to Tactics Merry. Build up two enemies and use Nori to kill them both and stack up a two card deck. You'll draw the first card and you'll know what the next one is!

@The MormegilI would like to say Nightmare Dol Guldur takes me about 5 tries. Totally dependent on the flops though.

Thank you, that really helps! I was aware of the action window, but only ever used it for Wizard Pipe/Stargazer etc. ... I never realized that drawing and choosing the same card was possible but after looking into the rulebook, I see nothing preventing you from doing it, very fun interaction! I judged this quest to be a lot harder for my One Deck playthrough then, I should probably update my deck description :D.

That explains a lot, because even though I looked at the list while burgling, I couldn't handle the random burgles coupled with either the major questing deficit or the attacking pressure by Smaug. And I found Nori not that helpful there because there are only 6 enemies in the encounter deck. But the insight into how to use the action window makes it much easier of course, even if some of the Burgles are still difficult to solve, a lot of them become auto-successes or really manageable.

Concerning Dol Guldur, that sounds somewhat realistic (I do not know the deck that well, but it is by far my most played quest so I know the quest by heart) ... of course, if you build for that quest in paticular, your 50 cards would look somewhat different I would guess :). Revealed in Wrath is a great idea for this quest and went straight into my current deck, thanks for the idea!

Amazing deck. love how it plays. Id say its borderline broken, though. Or at least it maks some quest simply too easy. I just ran through stuff initially. now im stuck at the dun land trap, though. three tries in and im getting smashed on the last stage. I think ill manage in a few tries, so no biggie.

a few questions:

• I feel the deck needs condition removal. at least just one out to remove something nasty. maybe even something simple like a miner. I mean, the deck needs chump blockers for some quests, Imo, so he could fill that role too. how do you deal with bad conditions normally?
• I simply can't get through my deck to get any ue out of nori ever. so now he is finally being cut. what tactics ally would you exchange him with?
• where do you mostly put steward? gildor, right? I find elf helm super hard to get out as I rarely have 4 (3 with grima) spirit.
• I would love some more allies. just a few like 1-2. Reason is that I've had several situations where beregrond and my team isn't really ready for defensing vs an early big guy. any suggestions? a feint could be cool to maybe.

thanks again for a great deck.

*sorry for all the typos. for some reason the interface won't let me edit my post..

@Scoundrel I have found that I most often get Elfhelm out through a Thorongil on Beregond combined with Grima discount, or through Sidequest to allow non-match for Ally play. I frequently get a good use out of Nori, and he is also a good option for the Warrior Sword if Legolas doesn’t hit the table. I was playing against Grey Havens last week and was recurring sneak attacks for Gandalf with the Nori trick and that was awesome. I agree with one option for condition removal for sure. I typically put Steward on Gildor (>90%) but I have put it on Grima to get out Firyal quicker and to allow Grima to run Blood of Numenor or Gondor Shield for particularly defensive scenarios. It’s such a fun deck!

@Scoundrel I'm glad you're enjoying the deck! In Dunland Trap, I usually choose Boar Clan stalker in setup since he's easy to take undefended and try to get all my conditions, titles, etc. out while in Stage 1. So Unexpected Courages (definitely on Beregond), Steward of Gondor, Light of Valinor, Blood of Numenor, Favor of the Valar, Song of Wisdom, and Ranger Trap since they are all “permanent.” I don't go too fast as I like to build up my resources and work through my deck to get as many of those attachments as I can. Then if possible, you want to advance to Stage 2 with a Shield, Destrier, Mail, or Helm in your hand. You can also save a Gather Information in the staging area for after you advance to stage 2 to grab the most important card you just shuffled back into your deck. The ally I save in Stage 2 ideally is Angbor, but if I don't have him Legolas or Nori. After Stage 2 happens, I go nuts trying to get as much back on the board as possible. I just realized you didn't actually ask for tips, haha, but I hope this might help I guess.

To answer your actual questions:

• I usually just eat the conditions. I could be misremembering but I can’t think of a quest where I was continually sunk by a condition. If it’s a condition where the hero can’t ready, I usually stick it on Glorfindel and just use light to quest every turn and pick up the attack slack with my allies. If it’s a condition that deals a damage a turn I usually stick it on Beregond and try to get him a helm. If it’s a condition that raises threat 1 every time X happens, I try to counter it with Elfhelm. If it’s just a terribly awful condition that can’t be played around I usually stick it on Grima since he isn’t necessary mid-late game. I can take an undefended with him or Helm him into Caldera or Folco to discard him and the condition. You can also Helm a hero with a Condition that says “Attach to a hero committed to the quest” or something like that during planning and the condition gets discarded since it’s no longer an eligible attachment. So there is a fringe amount of condition removal. I do admit conditions are very annoying and it would feel super good to have a miner to remove them, but I just couldn’t fit one into one of my ten lore spots. I was trying to build the best deck for every quest and felt very strongly conditions were just too rare to worry about.

• Nori is really good for Under the Ash Mountains. There are also some quests that empty your deck quickly. It is possible to draw 4 a turn with Gildor/Gleowine/Legolas, and there are some long quests out there, so working through your deck is not out of the question at all. Nori just gives me peace of mind, too. If a card makes me discard a really good card from the top of my deck or my hand, I can relax knowing that Nori can possibly bring it back. The cards you’re getting back during the game are usually the ones you want shuffled back in, too. Sneak Attack, Test of Will, Gandalf, Favor, and Revealed in Wrath are all likely to be at the top of the discard at any given moment. You can then pull them out with Heed the Dream or Gather Information, or at the very least shuffle them back closer to the top. I will say you are not alone in being skeptical of Nori. Ff you’re looking for replacements Defender of Cair Andros or Ramas wouldn’t be bad. I personally am clutching on to my Nori and never looking back haha.

• I Steward Gildor 99% of the time. I try to put it on Beregond and combine it with Blood of Numenor in Nightmare Nin-in-Eliph, but that’s really the only time I can think of where it doesn’t go on Gildor. Thorongil’ing Beregond, Helming Grima to Galadriel, completing The Storm Comes are good ways to get Elfhelm out, but I realize those options won’t always be available.

• Allies that used to be in my deck that I was sad to cut were Minas Tirith Lampwrights. They worked very well but in the end I couldn’t squeeze them into my final 50. I feel like Mount Doom was a paradigm shift for my deck, and I ended up with a little less allies and a little more attachments. Considering every quest at once, I’m very happy with my ratios. But I feel you that in some certain quests I wish I had one or two more allies.

• Just a little additional aside here, you mentioned you thought the decks might need chump blockers. Ideally, Beregond does the lion share of blocking but I do understand there are quests where he gets overrun. Strategies I use are usually to helm Grima into Leadership Denethor since he can have a shield and a destrier as well, use an Honour Guard/Raven Wing helm to eat undefended’s, use Faramir or Elfhelm to block, or any of these strategies combined with spam healing. Hope that might help a bit.

Thanks for playing the deck!

@HuckmanT Wow, I never thought of putting Steward and Blood onto Grima. That's brilliant! And a great way to get Firyal out, too.

Thanks, glamcrist for that nice breakdown. I just banged through the trap. Finally. Fifth attempt! I managed to get the timing right with the discards not hurting me too much and chilled through the first stage. enemies get crazy with all the drawings and surging and buffing, tho, and I almost lost again after the trap was sprung, but a well timed/luky ranger spike on the dun land chieftain (power 5) bought me enough time to get beregrond set up with all the buffs and even though he was a 3 dam he was now untouchable. love the lock with branch, shield, destrier, the mail thing, unexpected and a helm maybe. then finally I got healing out and could control 3 enemies in a turn. with out the spies I would have been battling both him and the main chieftain AND what ever else the deck can show at me.

I did however swop a few cards and I will continue playing it like this as I dont own mountain of doom for now. I dont feel I have damaged your decks concept with these changes; blood of numenor for the 6 threat reducer, nori for skinbark, a neutral card for treebeard. Old beardy was so key in this playthrough and he was the one I kept when the trap sprung. skinbark (he was the only red ent dude I could find) will probably go out again, but the synergy with treebeard was so good here and the extra attack power from those two helped me win.

Nori is still an Amazing, amazing card and I totally agree with you; top decking key stuff is so bad and he totally neuters that dreadful mechanic. so yeah, I love him too as a mental crutch. thing is In reality I have never used his text! its super hard to pull of right and the timing rarely comes up in my games.

one question: what do you typically helm into? Galadriel, denethor.. who else? Eowyn too. what sphere? also, do you helm every game or rarely?

@Soundrel Skinbark and Treebeard are some good choices. I typically helm into Galadriel, Eowyn, Denethor, and Folco. It's mostly for emergencies and I don't do it too often. On occasion I Helm twice a game after using Nori, so that's pretty cool haha.

I know you've been telling me about this deck for awhile @Glamcrist, but I finally just tried it for myself and WOW, what can't it handle? So many answers baked in, and there's no real "house of cards" set-up required to get it firing on all cylinders out of the gate.

Hey @Glamcrist - I promise I won’t spam this thread for tips for the rest of my life, but I need a little tidbit on how you handled Solo Raid on Grey Havens. I’m not even getting out of the first few turns intact - I got a great questing set up with first turn strider and silver circlet as well as asfaloth and warrior sword and I still couldn’t stay afloat. Can this deck start fast enough to keep from losing this one?

@HuckmanT By all means keep it coming I very much enjoy when people come for tips! I just wish I had better advice for this one haha. It’s a tough nut to crack. Try to focus down the Ravager by questing light or using Gandalf. Be very strategic about which location you travel to since the active doesn't burn at the end of the turn. Make sure you have a location to sacrifice if a Ravager starts racking up the tokens. Reveal in Wrath him as a last resort. Henamarth is good at letting you know if a Raid Leader is coming and you should spend all your resources. Try to build up a Beregond (helm/mail/shield/honour guard) that can tank a Nai’sayah with a stack of tokens. Go for the explosion cards early like Light and Steward. Sneak Attack Gandalf is great if you can pull it off. I never beat this quest with less than 3 cards underneath The Havens Burns. The “cancel” cards (Test of Will / Asfaloth / Gandalf) are great at slowing the deck down when it’s revealing extra cards due to the effect on the aforementioned card. Once you get set up to kill a raider a turn it can feel a lot less terrible. Good luck!

@Glamcrist ok, I finally beat it! After 10 losses I decided to tweak it a little bit for my own frustration tolerance, here’s what I did:

Tactics out: Nori, Golden Belt, Legolas

Tactics in: Feint x 2, Spear of the Citadel (for turn one kill on the Corsair)

Spirit out: Elfhelm, Blood of Numenor

Spirit in: Westfold Horse breeder x 2

Lore out: Firyal, Ranger Spikes, Burning Brand, Warden of Healing

Lore in: Daeron’s Runes, Master of the Forge, Asfaloth

Neutral out: side quests x 2, Thorongil

Neutral in: Magic Ring, Strider (second copy), A good harvest

Was able to win two times in a row, second run with no locations under The Havens Burn!

Your tips on game strategy were very helpful, and I just needed the extra speed to get over the hump of the first 3-4 turns and stabilize. Fun! Thanks again.

@HuckmanT Well done, nice swaps! I'm glad that it seems like the bones of the deck work as a flexible template, too.

@Glamcrist, if you don't mind me asking, what is your solution for Fords of Isen and Treason of Saruman?

@GlamcristWas about to watch the latest episode on You Tube and it says the account is terminated? What happened!? Anyways, fun series while it lasted, hope everything’s ok!

@Glamcrist yeah, I just noticed that, too.

Love the series, BTW. And just like @YeuelRulez said, I really hope everything's ok!

@Truck I have beaten them without Grima though it isn't pleasant, especially Nightmare The Uruk Hai. Also, since deckbuilding stops at 1-3 heroes and 50 cards and contracts technically aren't part of your deck but are chosen to be played or are not played after the game starts, you can treat your lore hero as a wiggle hero and use almost any other lore hero. I'd go Haldan in Fords of Isen, Bombur in the Uruk-Hai, Pippin in Helm's Deep, and Elrond in The Road to Isenguard.

@YeuelRulez @GreenWizard I received an email today that my account's been terminated. I assume it's just a mistake since I've received no prior strikes and warnings. I've sent an appeal and hopefully it will be back up soon. Thanks for checking in! It has definitely been fun!

Whew! Glad the channel's all right. Can't wait to watch more episodes!

@GreenWizard``@YeuelRulez

Yes, to elaborate a bit on what Jeff said, it seems like an automatic algorithm at YouTube may have terminated the channel (I'm the other host of Lords of Gondor).

The only cryptic reason provided by the automated termination message was that YouTube does not allow scams or spam. So, either the YouTube AI think's Jeff's BEST Deck numbers have been so good it's a scam (heh), OR else because we upload new content in batches something may have triggered an automatic 'spam' filter yesterday, since @Glamcristuploaded about a half dozen new videos yesterday.

We have submitted a review, so hopefully (fingers crossed) YouTube will restore the chanenl soon. But as far as we're concerned, the BEST Deck and the Lords of Gondor series are still alive and well with plans to (eventually) document runs through the entire quest gauntlet.

Thanks for watching and it's always good to know others are enjoying the videos as well!

Cheers!

Dudes, what happened to your YouTube channel?? Been loving your videos

Great deck! And love the videos. It inspired me to make my own version of a bond of friendship deck.

Hey guys the channel is back up! As suspected it was taken down by mistake. Thank you all for your support, it really does mean a lot.

@GertjeBE Love to hear it! Bond of Friendship is 133% the heroes and the fun is it not?

I did not expect to like it so much. :) It is great fun, indeed.

did you try hunt for the dreadnought on hard yet?

@doomguard I have not. I have the Hunt for the Dreadnaught pack but haven't opened it yet. It's the last official quest I haven't played and I feel a strange urge to save it, haha. Think I'll have trouble with it?

only on hard (there are 3 different plymodes inside it, easy, normal and hard) the hard one seems to be developped in the same breath like fortress of nurn. you start with very limited options.

looking at your deck here i would say you will get problems with thread, because you are (the whole game on hard) only allowed to reduce your thread by 1 per round. with 3 gandalfs, 1 sneack and 2 favour of the valar, you can 5 times reduce by 1 at enormous costs (and the limit is 50 as usual)

change beregond to the spiritversion would solve that problem (then glorindel has to be changed with a tactic-hero), or gildor to frodo what would be the fewest changes, but at all, it would be hard to get the benefit that grima offers, what makes a big part of this deck.

@doomguard I know it doesn’t seem like there is enough threat management when you look at the deck conceptually, but I have now played through 4 cycles with this deck (not on nightmare), and have very very rarely lost to threat. Thorongil allows for Spirit Beregond to show up when needed, and the card draw/search built in allows for rare instances where you don’t have either a Gandalf or Favor ready to roll. With 4 heroes and steward and Grima, asking 3-5 neutral for a card payment doesn’t feel expensive at all in this deck. I won’t say threat can’t be a problem, but I have had full part wipes more often than threat losses, and honestly, this deck mostly just wins.

u dont understend. it is not about standartnightmare-szenarios (for those i see enough thread reduction, for the most you perhaps do not need some, making it in 10 turns is common andtherefor you often do not need threadreduction). we talked about hunt for the dreadnought "hard" . and there from the beginning to the end you are only allowed to reduce thread by 1 per round (like mount doom and black gate but NOT with increased thread-barrier to 100). that means: if u want to reduce with gandalf or favour of the valar, id does not reduce full by 5 it does only reduce by 1 and gives you (with luck there is cursed and other shenanigans) maximal 1 round more. thorongil beregond in could help, but it should happen early.

@doomguard

I don't want to speak for @Glamcristtoo much here, but from what I understand of the BEST Deck it will be easily be able to reudce it's threat by 1 / round. In addition to the Thorongiled-Beregond option (which is pretty easy to set up when direly needed, thanks to the card search of this deck), there's also the Helm of Secrecy which could grab either Leadership Frodo or Galadriel. So there are multiple options for the deck to set up it's "1 threat reduction per round" engine.

Also, if you play under the technical per-Caleb timing ruling of how Contracts work (see Glamcrist's intermission video in his series), then the Lore hero in this deck isn't technically choosen until Step 7 of set-up, which means you could grab someone like Smeagol so you'd only have a 27 starting threat. Of course, even if one ignores the technicalities of contract setup timing and wanted to run against Dreadnaught on Hard with the default lineup (Grima), I think the deck would be able to fare pretty well as obtaining it's 1-reduciton-per-round goal has several routes (and against quests like that you can hold back on Grima'ing the Doomed 1 if so inclined).

caddraw will also be punished from the start of the game ;)

we do not need to discuss further, if anybody made it, i am interested how it have been done with this deck.

we talk about this: hallofbeorn.com (and tolfalas landing let you (each) increase thread for caddraw through playercardeffect)

My deck does rely heavily on readying so raising your threat by 1 when you ready sounds rough. You can not play the contract at all and start at 24 threat and hope for song of wisdom or Thorongil to open up Lore. Either way sounds like it will be a fun challenge. Look forward to day I finally crack it open!

yea, playing with 3 heroes and not the contract is not the same deck. that it is possible overall solo is no doubt, but with this deck, i doubt.

@doomguard

I was curious, so I threw the BEST Deck against Hard Mode Hunt the Dreadnaught this evening.

I won on the second attempt, and in my opinion it's a substantially easier quest than either NM Flight or the Stormcaller or NM Storm on Cobas Haven.

The first game, I lost after flipping back-to-back sea monsters and then a Corsair Ram ship that kept unengagnig via Shadow Effects, which ultimately sunk my objective ship.

In the second game, it was a pretty simple win.

(1) I chose the Twilight's Call for my ship, since it's both the toughest ship (important in solo to have a tough ship) and the ability to ignore a sphere match was very valuable.

(2) I slow-rolled through Stage 1, and having the three Tolfalas Landings in the Staging was pretty nice to help me progress more slowly by always having a location to absorb progress. Ally Faramir was helpful in controlling how much progress I placed, so that I could clear locations without doing too much progress to the quest.

(3) Because of the threat reduction cap, I never triggered Grima's doomed (but with the ability to ignore a sphere-match per round, Grima's ability is far less needed).

(4) I didn't use any card draw abilities until the third Tolfalas was the active location, at which point I began using Gildor's draw and Secret-Helmed Grima into Galadriel, who drew and made sure I had the -1 threat / round easily met.

(5) By this point, Henmarth, Firyal, and Faramir allies meant I could control the Encounter deck, and I kept slow-rolling Stage 1 while avoinding any ship enemies. I was sitting on a Revealed in Wrath the whole game, but never needed it (it would have allowed shutting down a Boarding and triviliazing any ship enemy that did sneak through).

(6) I managed to upgrade my ship via the Shipyard location, at which point I healed it back to full and had a 5 Def ship with 22 HP and the ability to ignore spheres for every card I played. At this point, I felt confident progressing to Stage 2.

(7) Once I got to Stage 2, the upgraded Twilgiht's Call and an Honor Guard were able to easily tank the Dreadnaught's attacks for a single damage. The Dreadnaught tried to run via it's Shadow Effects, but I had drawn a Hasty Stroke by this time to pin it with me.

(8) It was easy, at this point, to deal the maximum damage each round to the Dreadnaught, and the captain that boarded me was Varjax. I had a built Beregond who was able to tank Varjax, Armored Destrier (riasing my threat 1 for the ready) to discard the Dreadnaught's Shadow (it would have tried to run again), and then I had enough attack power to kill Varjax and still be able to put the requisite damage onto the Dreadnaught to kill it.

I felt entirely in control during the entire quest, and finished at 44 Threat with 22 resources worth of allies, 25 resources worth of attachments on the board, and 13 cards in my hand. I never needed to draw cards before removing all Tolfalas' from the starting staging, I only readied once in the final round (for +1 threat), and I never needed to heal (the Honor Guards are a nice work-around here).

In my opinion, the BEST Deck would likely be able to beat Hard Mode Dreadnaught more often than not (especially when piloted by @Glamcrist, I'm sure, who has far more understanding of the deck than I). It's substantially easier than other boat quests, especially NM Storm on Cobas Haven (which BEST deck can beat).

Still, a super fun quest and I hadn't actually played Dreadnaught on Hard Mode yet, so that was a nice excursion!

1. gz
2. i think you have luck, getting (without carddraw) the helm early so you can change to galadriel
3. its allowed that the honour guard can tank the damage dealt to an immune to playercards ship-objektive? id that a "character"?
4. i am reletevely sure you cannot take a shadowcard from the dreadough,because it is immune to playercrdefects (and armored destrider is one)

with helming in galadriel at the right time and have the luck to have drawn and payd fyrial to avoid ships, it seems possible. but imo that is not a small margin of luck without carddraw get these 2 cards within your lets say first 10-12 cards. take the ship that lift sphererestrictions is a smart move or a 4-hero-deck.

@doomguard

A couple of notes:

(2) It is not that lucky to get Helm early. First of all, the deck has Heed the Dream, which you can do to fish the deck for whatever you want (and it is not card draw), so grabbing Helm that way is very easy. Even with the standard card draw effects (Gildor, Gleowine, Gandalf ally, etc.) the only thing punishing you for it are Tolfalas Landings in the Staging Area, and by Turn 3 you should be traveling to the third one, which means you can use all of your card draw without penalty by the tail end of Turn 3 ( If you wanted, you could even use the ACTION of the objective ship to play Gandalf in the Encounter or Combat phase of Turn 3 and still get his card draw that early if you felt it was really needed, but this would be a bit wasteful in my opinion, best to just wait until Planning phase of Turn 4, I'd say). So you're really only barred from card draw for 2 rounds (and you're not barred form Heed at all). So I don't think it takes much luck to get something like Galadriel set up via Helm, say. I'm confident this deck could beat Hard Dreadnaught more than it lost... it was one of the easier quests I've played thus far using the BEST Deck (though I've been selectively throwing it against the harder side of quests, to be fair).

(3) I'm pretty sure Honor Gurad is allowed to cancel the damage (e.g., see the old rulings on Honor Guard or ally Dori & hero Beorn). If if you couldn't use the Honor Guard, I only canceled two points of damage to the ship over the course of the game, and I finished with over 16 HP remaining on the boat.

(4) You can cancel the Shadow Effects of an enemy immune to player card effects, since you are targeting the Shadow Effect and not the enemy itself (same way you can target hero Beorn's resources / resource pool but not target him). Even if you couldn't, it just would have resuted in the Dreadnaught going back to staging twice (and thus adding two rounds to the game), but the very built board state (encounter scrying plus over 20 resources of allies and over 20 resources of attachments) was handling everything and I still had at least six more rounds (of threat) to work with.

I'd recommend trying the quest out yourself.

@honour guard, it has no problems with immun to playercard effects, but i do not know, if a "ship-objective" is a character. characters are heroes and allies.

@destrider, do u have a reference? would be pleased if thats right

@luck, you have 3 card (if i asume you pay heed the dream full, else 1 and 2 "half2 cards). i have played many games, where i not get one of 3 copies in the first rounds. i would say, it is about 50%

get rid of 1 tolfanas landing in 1 round depends on the encouterdeck. quest succesful with +5 is not common the first 3 rounds. and have fyrial out,before the 1 ship arrives i name also luck. (specially if you use the possible head the dream for the helm). give it also generously 50 % so, all in all it is my opinion that the combined probability to get it running the way needed is about 25 % that is in my terms much luck.

Agree to disagree, I suppose. If I had to bet, I'd wager the BEST Deck would clear Hard Mode Dreadnaught at least 50% of the time, if not more. Sure, you might stage a bunch of back-to-back Sea Monsters or Boats, but that's a statistically unlikely scenario that would sink not just the BEST Deck, but pretty much any and every ONE Deck taking on Dreadnaught.

re: luck -- It's not that hard to to clear a location per round against the Dreadnaught Encounter deck, seeing as you have the ability to quest for 11 WP right out of the gate (since the boat can and should quest too in the early game, in my opinion. The odds of staging an enemy boat are low, and you can roll the dice so that even if you do happen to get a boat that can see you at 33 Starting Threat you can soak the first undefedned attack on the boat's hull and try to rally in future turns.

Good point about the Ship-Objective: You may be right about the Ship Objective not being a character, I'd have to look back through the Dreadnaught insert to make sure -- but, I know that rules inserts for some other quests like Dead Marshes clarify that Gollum is a character controlled by the player, even though Gollum's card type as printed is only "Objective." Either way, it's only tangential here, as the Honor Guard being able to protect the boat was the difference of finishing with 16 HP remaining on my boat or 14 HP... either way wouldn't have any practical effect to a convincing win.

re: Armorded Destrier ... I don't have a reference link handy but check for Destrier rulings against like the Balrog and the Rider of the Mark against Smaug from Lonely Mountain, for instance. For a long time, Rider of the Mark was taken as the best answer to Smaug from Lonely Mountain being dealt Shadow Effects (and Smaug is, like the Dreadnaught, Immune to Player Card Effects himself).

@doomguard @Imrahil13 You guys are making me super excited about the day I finally crack the Hunt open! Also I think I can shed some light on some rulings.

I know from Grey Havens: "Ship-objectives function in the same way as objective-allies and are considered to be allies (and characters) for all purposes..."

Also armored destrier specifically targets the shadow card and not the enemy so it works on enemies that are immune to player card effects. I know this distinction is there for a fact because the Balrog from the Sagas goes out of it's way to say "The Balrog and shadow cards dealt to the Balrog are immune to player card effects." So the shadow cards on any enemy just immune to player card effects are definitely fair game.

thx for the rulesclarifications.

@luck, it is not necessary that in the end all have the same opinion. we have both pointed out why we are thinking our percentae is right (and i believe it is understood on both sides), and give light about the difficulties. everyone should build his own opinion.

Hi @Glamcrist! Love your videos and have been having a great time with your deck. I published a version of your deck with a sideboard full of the other heroes who can be pulled into the deck so that it plays easier on Dragncards. I hope you're ok with that. I gave all credit to you in the decklist notes but and linked it to your deck. Let me know if you'd prefer me to make it private. If you don't mind, let me know if its missing any other cards you can pull into the deck for use.

Love love love your videos! Been spreading the word in forums, keep up the great work! Truly The Best Deck!

@Aoshi312 Glad you've been enjoying the deck! Totally cool with your Dragncard version being public. Other helm targets I can think of off the top of my head are Lore Denethor, Tactics Merry, and Erkenbrand. And if you treat the Lore Hero as a Wiggle Hero Lore Aragorn, Bifur, Lore Faramir, and Lore Pippin. I know I'm forgetting some if I remember them I'll post again!

@D100superfan Thanks for your feedback, it really does mean a lot to me! And thanks for spreading the word!

Hi glamcrist. Im starting Black Riders to night and plan to go through all the sagas. As you know i love your deck. Is It good for saga play too?

@Scoundrel It's great for campaign play! I don't want to say too much for the sake of not spoiling anything but If you're playing campaign mode and you have to lose a hero at some point remember to use Helm of Secrecy first! And you can't use Grima during the Treason of Saruman box so I like to switch the lore hero at Rivendell where you don't incur the +1 Starting Threat penalty. Also I play the very last quest stand alone because it's basically impossible in solo campaign mode haha. Have fun and let me know how it goes!

I really try to helmet as little as possible as I find the mechanic a little bit clumsy : ) it has a touch of "cheating" to it, Imo. I know thatsaI silly thing to say. its neat, makes pretty good sense thematically and is suuuuper powerful. It just feels wrong to me somehow. having to cycle through relevant heroes from you collection DURING a game! nah, id rather avoid that. dont get me wrong. I do do it if its the only way to get through a quest but up until now I have only done it once for +9 eowyn : ) yeah, I wanted to ask about the grime thing In treason. how does that all work? you just start the game with one less hero, right? should be a good deck still especially with the ring bearer as an additional hero. thanks for the fast reply, btw, and thanks again for the deck.

Hey @Glamcrist just wondering, has this deck has beaten CoE? I know it probably hasn't beaten Aldburg, because it wasn't out when you released this.

@Truck I have not tried it yet but am looking forward to it one day! Anything in there that you think might cause some problems for THB?

@Scoundrel I feel you about the helm thing. I totally just imagine a tag team scenario where one hero calls on another instead of helmet borne identity theft haha.

How do you generally approach Journey to Rhosgobel and Shadow & Flame? For the former, I use Shadow of the Past + Asfaloth + Honour Guard + Lore of Imlardis + cards to make Heroes ranged which isn’t an option with your deck. For the latter, I hope for a perfect opening hand and then lament fate most of the time.

I’ve learned a lot reading this thread, thank you! My friendship variant is Erkenbrand + Tactics Eowyn + Spirit Glorfindel + Lore Denethor and will tinker with replacing the Leadership Hero with Frodo (making Denethor into a One Ring defending machine to pick up the slack) when I fill out my card pool.

Hi @Nystrum! For Rhosgobel I have Firyal, Aslfaloth, Honour Guard, Gandalf Direct Damage, Legolas Ally, and can helm Beregond into Brand or swap out Lore heroes for a ranged one with the contract. For Shadow and Flame I helm Grima into Galadriel or use Thorongil Beregond to keep my threat at 0. When it's time to fight the Balrog I grab a goblin and Destrier the Barlog's Shadow effect every turn. That's a strong lineup you got! Beregond is definitely jealous of Erkenbrand's shadow cancelling.

Sorry, more questions …

1. Did you pick Raven-winged Helm + Honour Guard over 2 Honour Guards because of your Beregond discount? Would you have done so otherwise?
2. Did you give consideration to The Day's Rising over a second copy of Steward of Gondor?
3. You have a lot of Valour cards. What % of the time are you in that state? Super expensive but did you give consideration for Hour of Wrath? I have that as my ultimate contingency.
4. I’m guessing that unless you have a specific quest need, your Gather/Heed priority are Steward of Gondor and A Storm Comes. What next after that? What is your priority for card draw?

Based on your explanations, I’ve added Helm and Nori to my deck. The former being strange I hadn’t added previously because Thorongil is my favorite card. Anyway, today I used Helm to change Erkenbrand to Beregond (+ Gondorian Shield) in Journey Down the Anduin as the only way to handle 2 Hill Trolls and a Marsh Adder during the first few rounds of the initial stage. It worked! The quests where everything goes wrong but you still barely win are by far the most exhilarating.

@Nystrum sorry to take so long to reply! I've been away for a bit.

1. Yes! A second Honour Guard is always better without the discount. It is one of the best quest tech cards in the game, absolutely hard countering a good 5+ of the hardest quests. It's almost better than the Helm even if the helm is free. The fact that they are the same cost is ridiculous. Helm should have easily costed 1, haha.
2. I did. It's no secret Beregond is my favorite hero and in this deck often ends up with three spheres. I love giving him Day's Rising because it's like leveling up my favorite character. It's just a little bit slow and a little too much of a win by more card instead of a win more often card. It's around 12th in my list of leadership cards, Path of Need being 11th.
3. I'm in Valour a lot. Grima and Glorfy help me get there. Depending on what I can get away with in the quest, sometimes I just don't commit anyone turn 1 and get to valour immediately. Hour of Wrath is a great card. It was tied with and could easily replace Spear of the Citadel in my 10th spot.
4. That's a tough one to answer. It's very quest or situation specific. It's usually like a Test of Will, Light of Valinor a lot of times, maybe a Destrier, maybe Song of Wisdom or Brand to complete the set. I can say I don't think I've ever searched for A Storm Comes unless I needed to desperately stall the quest. Usually I complete A Storm Comes and forget it's there, haha. But any less then two side quests and I think you'll find yourself questing way too fast sometimes.

Well done on Journey Down! Beregond doing some masterful enemy juggling for you I see! I love those quests where you barely win. Like when you get a terrible flop and think about quitting but press on out of spite and end up surprising yourself. It's funny that you changed Erkenbrand to Beregond to win the Anduin, because sometimes I change Beregond to Erkenbrand to win Dol Guldur! Haha. If only Beregond could have Erkenbrand's ability, or if Erkenbrand could have Beregond's stats. The hero we need but don't deserve, haha.