Discard 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 #2 in a 2-player fellowship, played by myself while other player gets Deck #1. 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).

Against the Shadow Cycle pushed really hard the idea of monoshpere decks either through demanding quest mechanics or growing card pool in that regard. The most infamous of the latter is probably Caldara creating obnoxiously powerful monospirit decks. Even though her potential was heavily shortened via an errata she still seemed to be a centerpiece of a very powerful archetype. That mostly came from more cards being added to the players' pool like Prince Imrahil, Knight of Belfalas or Dáin Ironfoot. So going back to the choice for this particular cycle, Caldara seems to fit both thematicaly (since she is Gondor traited) and mechanicaly. However there was a first major issue in creating this decks. Making a fully thematic Caldara deck, with let's say Beregond, Lothíriel or Eleanor would be the perect idea. But unfortunately Spirit Gondor doesn't really hold up Caldara archetype well. Yeah, there are some tricks like Damrod and Derufin discarding themselves, Lothíriel bringing in Prince Imrahil for free etc. But then Caldara stops being an early game accelator and becomes just an emergency button during mid-game, which in my opinion makes her quite underwhelming. But even then, there are no "thematic" or even viable ways in Spirit Gondor to draw cards (Spirit struggles mostly with that but there some powerful exceptions). So I decided to make a thematic expection for mechanical purposes. And so, making Caldara decks consists mostly of craming as many as possible strong spirit allies and calling it a day. Jokes aside, while above mostly holds true, piloting such decks can be quite tricky. There are a number of possible lineups for Caldara, however for this one I decided to emphasise heavily on a discard aspect of a deck. And the most known discard mechanics in the game probably belong to both Noldor and Dwarf Mining archetypes. From a thematic aspect, that way the deck isn't just some random guys and gals from all around the Middle-Earth but it represents support from both elves and dwarves. Hardly a thematic possibility but you can only do so much with some of those archetypes.

General strategy

The best mulligan would consist of at least Prince Imrahil and some other allies. Since for some reason he counts as hero during Caldara's action you can bring 3 allies at once and you can pay for him on round 1 due to Arwen Undómiel. However seeing other good allies for Caldara, like Damrod, Pelargir Shipwright or most notably Glorfindel is also fine. Emery is good to see to since she can fuel the discard pile quickly.

Arwen Undómiel makes an appearance mostly for her easy, beneficial and controlable discard ability. That way you can at least once a round guarantee to put some ally into discard for Caldara. Also her additional resource can be used to pay for Prince Imrahil on round 1. In the most cornerstone situation when you discard Caldara without Prince Imrahil the loss of a hero doesn't hurt so much. With her and with other player's Denethor you can pay for the Prince quickly when you finally see him. She will obviously quest given her stats and even her 2 can be useful during Siege quests.

Even though this deck's main "thing" is discarding cards in various ways for benefits, there is no lying that Caldara makes the most bang of this mechanic here. So the question is when should you discard her and the answer is almost alwyas as soon as possible. That means round 1 or 2, maybe 3 or 4 if you know you can setup something good. Obviously the best outcome is to have Prince Imrahil in play and 3 allies in the discard pile. That however can require some luck to setup reliably so don't shy away using her while there is Prince and some other ally in you discard. Since there can only max 3 copies of card in the deck by some unlucky shuffle all of those Princes can be lying in your bottom half of the deck. Even though you can mill quite effectively here you shouldn't be waiting forever in that case. Two good allies, espiecially if one of them is Glorfindel, are still good enough for this effect. Her stats can make her an early quester or maybe defender against some weak enemy. It's also great to put archery on her since you know you will be discarding her anyway.

Dáin Ironfoot functions here as a defender and main "miller" of the deck. While Arwen Undómiel can surgically place one ally at a time in you discard, Dáin Ironfoot mines 3 cards a round, although blindly. Still you should use his ability to the fullest even when defending against weak enemies. Sadly his ability can be triggered only during combat, so no siege-questing for 6, but even then he is the best defender in the game in my opinion, so we shouldn't complain that much.

General tips

Allies in this deck can be categorized by their traits: Noldor, Gondor and Dwarf as well as their funcionality. Elven Jeweler and Erebor Guard are cheap allies that can fuel your discard pile even more. Knight of Belfalas is a fantastic underrated ally that can bring back other Gondorians or even Prince Imrahil himself. Bofur, Damrod, Derufin, Pelargir Shipwright and Glorfindel are all great targets for Caldara. While some of the Gondor allies may seem a bit underhwhelming, remeber that other player's boosts from Boromir and Visionary Leadership are global! Emery is another great card here since she is free and dumps 3 cards into the discard pile. But where is Jubayr, Northern Tracker or other commonly used (and for good reason) allies in Caldara decks? Well as I mentioned above I tried to not make a mish-mash of every possible ally in this deck but even then they are really not that needed. Defence is covered by Dáin Ironfoot and chumpblocking (which can be actually a viable strategy in this deck as I will explain later) and locations are not that big of a deal in this cycle. While trying to make more rounded Caldara deck or maybe going in solo, the more popular allies should be definitely reconsidered.

The only attachment in this deck is Map of Earnil. It can allow to replay Stand and Fight or maybe to cast some needed The Galadhrim's Greeting. Also it's the reason why there is only one copy of Dwarven Tomb and Will of the West in this deck since Map of Earnil can play them from the discard and those events aren't that vital to the deck. I also passed on Sword-thain since in my opinion it takes to much setup. Maybe if you grab it and Emery in the starting hand it can work but then the chances are slimier than just getting Prince Imrahil. Also I normally like to sacrifice Emery over and over as I will describe below so finding and paying for another unique ally + Sword-thain is too big of a hassle.

Events in this deck consists mostly of staples. A Test of Will, Hasty Stroke and The Galadhrim's Greeting are arguably a must in this cycle. Too much horrible treacheries, shadows and threat increasing. Elven-light is the only and main source of pure draw and since Dáin Ironfoot will be discarding a lot of cards you can see them quite easily in the discard. Stand and Fight is a great form of recursion. Both with Knight of Belfalas you can bring back a lot of allies. And then you can play it again with Map of Earnil, good stuff. Probably the funniest combo is to chumpblock with Emery, play Stand and Fight, bring back Knight of Belfalas who brings back Emery and then you can put her into play the same phase. Dwarven Tomb is a one-off to bring back some needed event and Will of the West recycles those key cards if the game drags on, as well as is an insurance for one of the plots in The Steward's Fear. I also didn't see a need to include Fortune or Fate since you will be basically paying 5 resources for a 2/1/2/3 ally at that point.

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!