100% Fellowship - "Out of Thin Air" 1.0

• Versions
• 1.0

This is part of a two-deck fellowship designed to beat every quest in the game while avoiding any losses. To check out the Fellowship, where I go over more broad details and the playthrough results, click here. To check out this deck's partner deck, click here.

1. Concept

2. Heroes

3. Individual Cards

4. Opening Hand and Gameplay

1. Concept

Out of the two decks, this is the big, flashy payoff-deck. Elrond is your central hero, receiving Vilya and Steward of Gondor to become an ally-conjuring, all-conquering tempo-powerhouse. The other heroes provide very strong questing, a manageable starting threat and (through Éowyn) the power to dispatch any enemies early on. This deck is built overall to have a very good chance for a good outcome on a blind Vilya, being stuffed with high-impact cards and low on cards that are "bad" to see with Vilya.

Of course, even better than a blind Vilya-trigger is a controlled one, which is where Imladris Stargazer comes in. Furthermore, the nature of this high-cost oriented deck allows you to run A Very Good Tale, a card providing further tempo and stats. Even if you miss out on your key attachments however, you still have plenty to play considering the fact that you also run lots of cards around the two cost range. This is of course further helped by having the unparalleled resource smoothing of Elrond at your disposal, coupled with other supporting effects in that regard like Envoy of Pelargir and Arwen Undómiel (who is included in the other deck).

2. Heroes

Elrond

The best hero in the game. Elrond just has everything - sole access to the most powerful attachment in the game in Vilya, the best resource smoothing ability in the game and one of the overall best healing effects as well. Add to that his amazing stats and you have a hero who is above the curve in pretty much every conceivable way. There is not much to say here - I understand if you find him boring or broken, however his power just cannot be denied. He is - as they say - him.

Éowyn

A strong contender to runner-up when debating the question of most-powerful hero to me, Éowyn is also really, really, really good. Her textbox could be blank and she would be awesome. Add to that her threat discount and she enables even more, like having a manageable starting threat in a deck running Bond of Friendship and Elrond. Also, running an essentially 6-threat hero with a printed threat cost of 9 is great for Helm of Secrecy. Now, with all that being said, please excuse me as I use the next part of this description to gush about her action.

Her action is so key to this fellowship and one of the strongest effects in the game. Disposing of not only one but potentially two huge enemies early on is a tempo boost that is without peer in the hero pool. And late on, it can also be very useful of course. Also, it does not even have to be used to kill an enemy. I had games where she just solved battle questing for me (absolutely crucial in quests like "The Battle of Carn-Dûm" or "The Battle of the Five Armies") or where I just used her willpower twice for a nasty test (extremely prevalent in a quest like "Mount Doom"). I have nothing bad to say about her, she is just that good.

Gildor Inglorion

Gildor Inglorion is probably the hero out of all 8 heroes I would rate lowest, I still enjoy him however. His starting threat is ok, his willpower really useful and his ability very good. He seldom thrilled me, however he was overall a very useful tool I wouldn't miss. His Noldor trait is also very handy with Arwen Undómiel on the table.

I did face the question to go with Erkenbrand as my main defender (who would have been my preferred choice) and Denethor for leadership, however that would have left me with virtually no tactics hero I liked apart from Éowyn. This is why I settled for Gildor Inglorion and overall, this was a good choice I find, with him providing more value than I could have seen any tactics hero apart from Éowyn providing (and the dropoff between Erkenbrand and Beregond being relatively minor I think.

Glorfindel

Glorfindel is amazing in a very simple way: You get a huge payoff (in terms of stats) for a very little cost. His willpower and attack are obviously elite, however what I also really appreciate is his 5 hit points. This allows him to routinely take undefended attacks (which can be an extremely useful tempo boost), makes him a prime target for Vigilant Guard and allows him to tank various annoying encounter effects (like "Gollum's Bite", "The Master's Malice" or " A Foe Beyond"). His tailor-made tools (being Light of Valinor to counter his drawback and Asfaloth as the best location control available in lower player counts) further make him a juggernaut who was a no-brainer to include.

3. Individual Cards

The allies in leadership fall essentially into two different categories. First, you have Flexible allies who are always useful (namely Angbor the Fearless, whose ability is often activated and Halfast Gamgee, who is often close to free, free, or even nets you a resource). Merry could fall into both categories to be honest, the second one being high-end willpower-boosting allies that can enable genuinely insane questing numbers (in the form of either Merry for a temporary push or Faramir for a more permament solution).

With the amount of amazing targets here, running ally-centric events like A Very Good Tale and Sneak Attack was a pretty easy decision. Sneak Attack I like in particular here, being really awesome and flexible with a variety of targets, be it Gandalf, Meneldor, Beorn or even someone like Faramir or Merry for some post-staging quest adjustment.

The only card in either deck I ended up not being overly happy with is to be honest Armored Destrier. With two copies already in the other deck (which I really like), I found the third and especially the fourth copies in here to be overkill, which is not helped by the fact that is often sours in your hand since you use Gildor Inglorion's resources for his ability. I would therefore at least replace one copy (with Gimli, Heir of Mardil and Faramir being the choices I probably like most).

Beorn, Déorwine, Legolas, Vigilant Dúnadan and Yazan are all very good allies (especially with your insane resource production in form of Vilya, Steward of Gondor and Arwen Undómiel). They are a big part of the combat output you need to get ahead of the encounter deck. Pippin is a 2 willpower for 2 cost at worst and sometimes even better. Meneldor I like pretty much always, in decks with Sneak Attack however, he becomes especially great.

Gondorian Shield I also liked to have a third copy of (the other two are in the other deck), since you have 2-3 great targets (between Beregond, Denethor and Elrond wit Steward of Gondor). This leaves me with the 2 copies of Nori (which I included for "The Fortress of Nurn" and "Under the Ash Mountains"), however I won both of those quests comfortably without needing him. I still like him as a 2x, however I could also see him being replaced with something else, maybe another Vigilant Dúnadan. Ultimately, I think it doesn't make a huge difference and think you can go either way.

There are quite a few staples in spirit that should be self-explanatory. A Test of Will, Double Back and Unexpected Courage are generally insane while Imladris Stargazer and Jubayr are staples in any Vilya deck. The last slots go to Rider of Rohan, who is extremely useful and efficient in any side quest deck and who I am never sad to see. Unexpected Courage goes usually on Beregond or Denethor (once he has received Thorongil), only very occasionally on Elrond. This ended up being a very competitive and high-quality set of 10 cards.

Again, this is a pretty competitive and staple-orientated set of 10 cards. Daeron's Runes and Warden of Healing were pretty uncontested slot-ins, Firyal, Scout Ahead, Halfling Bounder and The Long Defeat were also very easy includes given that this is a side quest and Vilya deck.

This means I only really had one slot remaining, which went back and forth between Heed the Dream and another The Long Defeat. And while I love The Long Defeat here (being 4 cards for 1 cost and fantastic healing as well if combined with Elrond), I ended up settling on Heed the Dream, which I really like for "Escape from Mount Gram" to fetch Strider and can sometimes be a vital fetching tool for a select few quest. I therefore prefer Heed the Dream for a One Deck, with The Long Defeat probably being better in general here.

Gandalf, Thalion, Gather Information and another copy of Vilya (to maximize the chance of seeing it in either opening hand) all went into the deck immediately. Envoy of Pelargir was also an easy include for me, she is just great, being resource smoothing, decent stats and a useful chump at once. She is also especially great with Vilya, making you a resource in the process immediately. Helm of Secrecy I ended up using almost never (but if I did was often game-saving), it should simply be in every One Deck, being the ultimate card to set you up for all eventualities.

Favor of the Valar is most often overkill, with two copies of Double Back and four copies of Gandalf between the decks (not to mention the option to use Helm of Secrecy to swap into powerful threat-controlling tools like Galadriel or Aragorn), however I still like it, especially in combination with Nori to recycle it. Strider is really only there for being a silver bullet in "Escape from Mount Gram", where it does amazing work against one of the most tricky quests in the game. In other quests it is far less useful of course, however I still like it with the other deck running very few allies and either deck relying on their attachments a lot. This means, if you have to discard an attachment, Strider can just be discarded to save your much more vital Vilya, Steward of Gondor or Unexpected Courage.

4. Opening Hand and Gameplay

In my opening hand, I usually target either Imladris Stargazer or Vilya (if the other deck didn't draw it that is). There are some exceptions to that rule however: Depending on the quest, I might target other cards. If the other deck sees Steward of Gondor, I often don't look as aggressively for Vilya/Imladris Stargazer, sometimes even then preferring hands with impactful allies early on to get tempo going this way.In roughly 80-90% of cases however, the two key cards mentioned above are what I want to see. Other cards I really like to see early on are The Long Defeat and Gather Information.

From there on, you just play your deck. Even if you missed out on Steward of Gondor/Vilya first round, you can usually get them with Gather Information and set them up round 2, meaning resources are often not an issue. It is then all about assessing your options, the quest's demands and reacting accordingly. If you see Vilya and no Imladris Stargazer early on, I go for the blind trigger of the ring most of the time, however there are exceptions (if you are in danger of not completing your side quest round 1 for instance).

ENJOY!!!