Mining 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).

The main roles of those Decks #2 in this series is to cover the weaknesses of the other deck or tackle particular cycle from mechanical point of view. This deck is probably the best example of this. When I think of Ered Mithrin mainly two things come up to mind. Huge boss enemies that need attention turn one and possibly game-ending treacheries in the late game. For the second problem the obvious answer is A Test of Will and to guarantee its appearence this deck brings some recursion too. With an access to what is a better defender than Dáin Ironfoot himself. Being able to defend for 6 on turn one greatly insures you won't be caught off guard by some nasty troll or a dragon. But Dáin Ironfoot is just the main piece of this deck which revolves around mining archetype. You discard card from your deck through various abilities to gain effects and even some boons like Hidden Cache or Ered Luin Miner. The most important question is probably when to mine. You could theoretically discard card every time you have an opportunity hoping you hit something. Even though you will rarely run out of cards (that's why no Will of the West) you might miss out on some cards this why. That's why I would argue you should activate those abilities only when needed (to prevent a damage to Dáin Ironfoot, to injure some enemy with Thorin Stonehelm) or do some extra when you have Dwarf Pipe. This deck also cover Dale's weakness of early game in terms of combat but on the opposite you don't develop that much. To be fair this deck is 100% functional from the beginning. You also don't have any card draw since you will be advancing mostly through mining. Another issue is but it's fine with Dale's global boost from Brand son of Bain and high stats allies.

Starting Hand

You really don't have a particular card you have to mulligan for. On the opposite you need to mulligan against. That means you don't want Ered Luin Miner or Hidden Cache in your starting hand since you will benefit more when you discard them from your deck.

Heroes

Dáin Ironfoot is your main enabler of mining strategy. In my opinion easily the best defender in the game, period. 5 is also great to soak up damage from the mightiest foes. His 1 won't be much of use but 2 might come in handy when you have Unexpected Courage on him. He gets all the armor which is Armor of Erebor and Ring Mail. If you manage to claim it Ring of Thrór works well with him. Any Unexpected Courage you draw should go on him first as well.

Óin seems like an odd ball here since he has no synergy with dwarf mining. That's because there are only two heroes, Dáin Ironfoot and Thorin Stonehelm, that actually have abilities directly refering to it. Gandalf is probably the most popular pairing for those two since you always see the top card of your deck. The issue with him is that you start with a very high threat. Also he suffers from what I like to call "suffering from success" syndrom. He combos with so many cards and even has his own dedicated kit (Gandalf's Staff, Shadowfax, Flame of Anor etc.) that you are left with very little room for other cards and creativity. For other dwarves, Nori seems like a good candidate since he can lower your threat. Thing is you won't be playing that much allies with this deck and Ered Luin Miner come mainly through their ability. Also I really wanted to include ally version of this dwarf, since he has very good ability to recycle your deck. Óin is surprisingly good here. 2 is okay and he is your main quester. His ability grants him +1 and icon when controlling 5 dwarf characters. The latter is most noticable since quite a few here are costly.

Thorin Stonehelm is your main attacker. He attacks for 3 with one direct damage making him quite formidable from the beginning. However this deep into the game's cycles you will mostly encounter sturdier enemies. That's why you want some weapons like Dwarven Axe or Dwarrowdelf Axe on him soon.

The Deck

Allies in this deck aren't its main focus however they fill some niche roles. Erebor Guard is a mini-Dain with sentinel that costs basicallt two resources. Erebor Toymaker is your only dedicated questing ally that can decrease cost of the next attachment played. Zigil Miner doesn't achieve its full potiential here since you have no way of knowing what's your top deck looks like but still he can provide you with some resource accelaration. Most cards here cost 1 or 2 so aim for that number. 3 unique allies help mostly in attacking in some way. Azain Silverbeard has a cool direct damage ability allowing you to take care of other enemies, notably Goblin Snipers in the first scenario of the cycle. Bofur has 2 which is great in itself. He also allows you to find some axes more easily. Nori has a great ability to slowly recycle your deck. Ered Luin Miner was mentioned before and it's one of the cards you want to discard from your deck since you will get him for free then. Otherwise he is not too great with all ones in his stats. But it's still a chump or 1 more . Lastly I put one copy of Gandalf mainly cause I didn't have a clue what else would fit. Since this cycle offers a lot of threat-increasing treacheries it's not wise to play him soon and keep for the majority of the game. Still if you manage to keep him for two-three rounds he brings his value.

Armament attachments are pretty straightforward. Armor goes on Dáin Ironfoot and weapons go on Thorin Stonehelm. Apart from that we have Dwarf Pipe that will be main source of recycling the deck. Unexpected Courage grants more actions from already strong heroes. Ring of Thrór is a guarded attachment that functions basically like Unexpected Courage but it suits really well this mining archetype.

Other strategy, apart from early game combat, that this deck aspires to is to cancel any horrible treachery you migh come across with A Test of Will. To ensure you won't lose it forever when wildly discarding your deck, Dwarven Tomb can bring it back to your hand. So it's sometimes a smart move to not recycle discarded A Test of Will with Dwarf Pipe or Nori since you can grab it later from your discard pile with Dwarven Tomb. Hidden Cache is another boon you can get from discarding your deck, this time in a form of 2 resources. Finally, Well-Equipped is a great early game accelaration card that can get you some great attachments.

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!