Engage - Ready - Kill. 2.0

• Versions
• 2.0
• 1.0

This is an upgraded version of one of my favourite decks. All cards in the deck are placed with the idea of sinergize between them and reinforce the main purpose of the deck: Kill enemies in the most eficient possible way.

Our strategy starts with our heroes Aragorn allow us to kill enemies without having to engage them. In order to maximize his ability, we have Faramir, which can ready a Dúnedain Hunter, Treebeard or any other ally we need. As his response is limited to once per phase, we'll be able to use it in the encounter phase, and then again in the combat phase. Even, we can use it in the planning phase if we play a Dúnedain Hunter when we have an exhausted ally (Treebeard I'm looking at you). The third in discord is Sam Gamgee, which can ready and get +1 to every stat if the engaged enemy has more engagement cost than our threat. That's possibly the weakest point of the deck, as it's starting threat (31) is relatively high, but that's why Halbarad is here (also the sempiternal Sneak Attack / Gandalf). It can even happen that some enemies engage us due to it's threat cost, but still they trigger Sam Gamgee's response thanks to Halbarad.

If you end killing an enemy and engaging another one which you cannot defeat this round... do not panic, Andrath Guardsman is here to chit-chat that enemy while you prepare your killing blow the next round.

Faramir is your main defender. He can wear a Gondorian Shield, an Armored Destrier and up to 3 Dúnedain Warning, raising his defense up to 7.

Aragorn should mount a Steed of the North and wear a War Axe (though, a Warrior Sword is ok, specially if you have Foe-hammer in hand). We even have a little amount of healing thanks to Dúnedain Remedy.

The rest of the allies are mainly there to provide willpower. One of the unexpected sinergies I discovered with this deck is Sword that was Broken + Rosie Cotton + Faramir. You can Engage an enemy, ready Sam thanks to his response, ready Rosie thanks to Faramir, and use Rosie to give +3 attack (thanks to Sword that was Broken) to Sam, which now is blowing for 5. If you can kill with Aragorn, and ready him thanks to Steed of the North, engaging another enemy... is just bonkers.

While the deck has it's flaws, is soooo fun to play, and it can easily manage the combat in 2-3 player games, specially if paired with a deck which can reduce its threat, and cancel some game-ending treacheries.