The Ents are ready 1.0

• Versions
• 1.0

Introduction

I love true solo decks with the heroes Gandalf + Pippin + Merry to lead an army of Ent allies. However, this setup has two problems: the early game is as fragile as the two Hobbit heroes, and the deck relies as much on swarming allies as it does on quickly equipping Gandalf with a large number of attachments (Gandalf's Staff, Narya, Wizard Pipe, Shadowfax...). This creates a significant initial pressure on resources and drawing, which is prohibitive in scenarios that don't give us time to settle in. Another paradigm exists: the Ents + Readying theme.

The starting point for my deck is Faramir, an often disdained hero, who really shines here thanks to his ally-readying response. I drew inspiration from Rouxxor's Ents for Solo deck, whose general mechanics I significantly modified in the following areas: draw, resource optimization and transfer of excess resources, readying, and threat reduction.

Strategy

• Hard mulligan for Steward of Gondor or Narya. Treebeard is really nice to see in hand early game too. In that deck he's like a 4th hero and the most important one
• Pay Narya first, attach it to Cirdan. Then pay Steward of Gondor and attach it to Elrond. Trigger Envoy of Pelargir's resource transfer if needed to pay SOW faster
• Attach Light of Valinor to Cirdan
• Swarm using Entmoot and the draw options Daeron's Runes and Heed the Dream. With spending mainly on Elrond's budget, Faramir has ample opportunity to pay for the 3 resources in the second part of Heed the Dream's action, as well as the draw of Rod of the Steward, which fits well with the Gondor secondary micro-theme of this deck. Cirdan's excess resources could be moved to Elrond or Faramir through Parting Gifts, once Cirdan is equipped with Narya and has been hoarding resources for several turns
• I added two unique Hobbit allies, Sam Gamgee and Robin Smallburrow who allow the readying theme to be extended via The Dam Bursts and who allow Cirdan to spend his resources wisely: when faced with encounter card effects that increase the threat, Sam can ready himself; faced with strong enemies already present in the staging area at the start of the game, Robin can give us a break
• From the mid-game Elrond and Faramir will focus on the quest, Cirdan on the quest and on the Narya's readying engine, while the Ents and other allies will quest and fight
• Treebeard is a monster here and a great target for Narya's bonus. Usually he quests at 2 (3 with Elrond's Counsel), be readied thanks to Faramir, defends at 3, be readied thanks to Narya and Cirdan for defending again at 4, then he attacks at 5 with its own readying built-in action, and can attack again another ennemy with The Dam Bursts.

General Notes

• Note that Faramir's ability here does not allow us to ready an Ent before phase 5. If we don't want to waste Narya's ability to ready in phase 2 or 3 an Ent that has entered play in phase 2, we can use the resources and action of Treebeard or The Dam Bursts
• Ent Draught is attached to Derndingle Warrior and / or Beechbone
• Since there are many readying and drawing options, there is no need to have tons of allies simultaneously in play. Treebeard + 1 x Wellinghall Preserver + Quickbeam + 1 x Derndingle Warrior + some other non-Ents allies is usually sufficient to win. So don't be afraid to discard allies with Cirdan's Forced effect. The fifteen Ent allies are included to increase the odds of drawing several Ents with a single copy of Entmoot
• The multiple means to readying tend to open the Treebeard's resources management. So he can spend them more likely in a manner that help Elrond's budget by paying for new Ents cards
• Dwarven Tomb is used to recycle either Elrond's Counsel, A Test of Will, or Light of Valinor, depending on the scenario's challenges. Compared to Rouxxor's deck, I removed Helm of Secrecy (which called for Aragorn) because there are too many scenarios that discard cards from the hand or confiscate cards from the deck. Basing the greatest threat reduction on a single card, with no recycling possible, is often very risky. Two copies of Dwarven Tomb increase the likelihood of being able to overcome this constraint, in addition to being multi-functional. Moreoever, I like the idea of keeping Elrond's recruitment and healing solutions long-term
• Elrond's healing response is optional. So if you want to keep some advantage related to damaged Ents, you can trigger the Wellinghall Preserver response a minima, without boosting it with Elrond's one.

Circumstantial adjustments

• In scenarios that allow for side quests, I recommend replacing Dwarven Tomb and Heed the Dream with Gather Information, Prepare for Battle, and Double Back
• In scenarios that feature Condition attachments, add Bulwark of the West (then you could discard Envoy of Pelargir for example).

Feel free to try it on different scenarios and tell me what it gets. Have fun !