Into the West + Every Other Contract
Part 10
The Project
With the release of Beyond the Original Bargain, I am now working on a follow up to my original article on Into the West from over two and a half years ago. For that original article I built a bunch of Into the West decks--this time I'm building a bunch of decks that combine Into the West with every other contract. When I've published that article I will update this deck description with a link to it, and that article will have all my thoughts on this particular contract combination.
Overview
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|---|
| Complexity: |
★★★★☆ |
| Enemy Management: |
★★★★★ |
| Questing: |
★☆☆☆☆ |
| Encounter protection: |
★★☆☆☆ |
| Survivability: |
★★★☆☆ |
| Resources: |
★★★★☆ |
| Card Draw: |
★★★★★ |
Playing this Deck
It is a known fact that Rangers love riddles. Just ask Faramir. The Dunedain Rangers are also a very good home for The Riddle-game because it lets them start with an enemy engaged with them, letting Halbarad quest without exhausting from turn 1, and getting things like Heir of Valandil going more quickly. The sideboard has two options for Birthday-presents: Elendilmir and Stone of Elostirion. If you are playing multiplayer and can rely on other players to handle more of the questing, make Aragorn the Thief and attach Elendilmir to him. If you need more willpower or are playing solo, make Halbarad the Thief and attach Stone of Elostirion to him.
This is a very fun, and very strategic deck to pilot. Use Estel (which you fetch during setup) in the first few turns to dig into your deck for cards of all different costs, so that you are ready for the The Riddle-game. You can draw lots of cards with Elven-light, Gandalf, and of course Into the West so that you should have as many options as you need for the Riddles. Once you have won the The Riddle-game, instead of hording cards in hand you can spew them onto the table and overwhelm the quest. Use Heir of Valandil to get a cost reduction on incoming allies, then refund them for full price with Into the West. Find the right balance for your fellowship and for any particular quest of how many enemies to keep engaged with you. You have several tools to easily juggle many enemies: Armored Destrier, Outmatched, and Elessar.