Gondor 1.0

• Versions
• 1.0

Overview

I've decided to share some of the decks me and my friend group play with for particular cycles. This is Deck #1 in a 2-player fellowship, given to a friend of mine, while myself I'm playing the other deck. For more in-depth overhaul regarding structure and thought behind those decks please check out the fellowship description! (e.g. no shared cards in Decks #1, sticking strictly to the theme).

An obvious choice for this particular cycle was Gondor trait. It was during this development period when we saw the first signs of synergy within this archetype. It was centered around gathering resources, spending them, keeping them, smoothing - lots of money going around. Later in the game's life Gondor found a new home in Valour and arguably that's when this trait started to gain real meaning and viability. I should mention specifically cards from the latest cycle, like Soldier of Gondor or Pillars of the Kings that really give an edge to Gondor-Valour decks, making them in my opinion one of the best trait oriented archetypes. With those remarks in mind, piloting this deck revolves around those two mechanics - resource accelaration and benefits from it as well as staying in Valour for even more ridiculous buffs. Another benefit regarding this deck is that even though quests get harder, newer players still have somewhat straightforward deck creating smooth transition between spiking game difficulty as well as more complicated (but more fun!) archetypes in later cycles.

General strategy

Regarding your mulligan, you should go for either Steward of Gondor or Pillars of the Kings. One or the other jumpstart above-mentioned mechanics of this deck. Steward of Gondor doesn't require introduction but Pillars of the Kings are also a real gem in here. For one this card gets you to Valour immediately and if you play it while having less than 31 you get 4 CARDS. FOUR. That's a lot, reminds me of popular Erestor and Denethor decks and for good reason. With all those resources you can flood the board with allies really quickly and this massive injection of cards also presents more options to open the game. I would even aruge Pillars of the Kings are the more important card here since they give an opportunity to fish out Steward of Gondor or other resource acceleration cards.

Boromir serves the role of the main attacker of the deck (or maybe quester during Battle quests). With 2 and 5 he can take a punch but more importantly makes excellent archery soaker. His real atribute is his ability though. You played Envoy of Pelargir and Pelargir Ship Captain? Normally doesn't seem like a great combat phase. But with Boromir those two alone attack for 4. And as you play this deck you can realise how easy is to spam so many allies, making in a process a fearsome army. Yes, it "robs" you of one resource for a round but with all those other resource acceleration cards it's not a big deal. Regarding attachments, he gets Valiant Sword to boost his attack even more and Visionary Leadership since you want to keep a resource on him anyways.

Denethor makes the centerpiece of this deck, similiar to how Théoden and Dáin Ironfoot did in previous cycles. His setup ability allows to get more bodies on the board quickly and offset Boromir passive condition. His action doesn't make much sense in a monosphere deck though, however you can pass a resource to another deck if you have too many anyways. With 3 it might seem a good idea to make him a dedicated defender but with only 3 and some nasty shadows in this cycle it might not lead to the best outcomes. Still, one copy of Shining Shield makes it more managable to defend with him. For other attachments, Denethor gets Rod of the Steward and Steward of Gondor making him a bank of the deck. Aside thematic reasons it makes almost no difference wheter you put those attachments on him or Boromir though Denethor makes a better target for Captain's Wisdom.

Ingold makes an apperance for several reasons. Firstly, this deck aims to be Gondor mono-leadership, so options for a third hero are limited. Faramir makes the most sense but he has to be since excluded in two scenarios (same reason there is no Faramir in this deck - apart from this it would be no-brainer to include him). Prince Imrahil would be a great choice too, given how often you will chumpblock with this deck. Unfortunately Prince's place is already taken in a partner Caldara deck. So that leaves us with Ingold and I would say he makes the best glue card of Gondor archetype. This trait really lacks consistent drawing - while Pillars of the Kings give one time boost and Rod of the Steward is arguably overpriced there aren't really theme-friendly ways to fix that. Apart from Ingold, whose ability could be summarized to drawing 2 cards a round. Almost alwyas choose the threat option since it either draws you closer to Valour range or if you are already above 40 you should consider some threat reduction anyways. His stats are also really good either making him a great quester with 3 or 2 for Sieges. For Battles his stats might seem underwhelming but you can hold him for a pinch defense.

General tips

Most of the allies in this deck aim to make snowballing even easier. You have Envoy of Pelargir and Squire of the Citadel somewhat returnig their cost, Herald of Anórien and Citadel Custodian playing into the swarm archetype and Knight of the White Tower benefiting from various resource accelaration cards. Then we have Angbor the Fearless, Soldier of Gondor and Veteran of Osgiliath who are gaining more power withing Valour range. I cannot stress how good Angbor the Fearless is. Even without his ability he makes for a good ally but with all the buffs available you have a 3/4/0/2 ally costing 2 resources. White Tower Watchman is kind of an odd-ball here, playing into monoshpere nature of the deck. Pelargir Ship Captain has an ability that will almost never come in play since Denethor does already the same thing, however he makes for standard Gondor ally here. You can replace him with Guard of the Citadel, probably wouldn't make a difference.

Most of the attachments were mentioned above however now is a good moment to talk about Favor of the Valar. Since the goal of this deck is to aim for Valour range you really need some threat reduction. Or what I like to call them insurance card, like Favor of the Valar. Once you hit 40 you need to think about playing one of those to stay alive or maximize those threat increasing effects like Ingold. It's also worth noting that Visionary Leadership being a staple in most Gondor decks only makes an appereance in two copies here since in first three quest it's likely a dead card.

For events I decided to only include staples since space in the deck was already going thin. Above mentioned Pillars of the Kings are a key card in this deck for jumpstarting Valour and providing a hefty amount of cards but it's not the only role of this card. Since it makes you set your threat to 40 you can also play it in reversve. Meaning while having 49 you can drop it by whooping 9. It's quite a hefty price, paying 4 resources since it's free only when you are playing it to increase your threat but still better than being eliminated from the game. Captain's Wisdom makes for a poor man Steward of Gondor however since defending with Denethor can be sometimes quite risky and his other stats are basically useless you can get some more useful allies with this card. Strength of Arms plays into monosphere archetype and it's probably the best of its kind. Not only it's comically cheap for 2 resources but it also readies ALL allies not only those under your control. Good inclusion for this cycle would be also For Gondor! however due to deck space and it having weaker effect in later quest in the cycle when it's mostly standard questing with it had to be cut off. In it's place is Send for Aid giving more opportunities to swarm the board. It can also give a nice break while Battle or Siege questing.

Conclusion

That pretty much covers the basics of this deck. Please keep in mind it is designed to play with the other deck in a fellowship and for a particular cylce in a game. This decks is meant to represent most powerful combination of cards in a given archetype, but feel free to leave a comment regarding them, as even after some years of using them I change them slightly after some thought :) Feel free to try them, even with new players as I did!