Dreamchaser

Overview

Hi everyone,

I've decided to share some of the decks me and my friend group play with for particular cycles. This fellowship is meant to be played by 2 players for Dreamchaser cycle. For more in-depth review of those decks check out their descrpitions :)

Each of those fellowships for each cycle contains two decks - one for players that I'm introducing to the game (Deck #1) and the other one for myself (Deck #2). Each of those Decks #1 is meant to represent the most fleshed out archetypes in the game, while Decks #2 are either some more niche archetypes or specific mechanics (think of Doomed keyword or Staging Area attack).

For additional flavour and some deckbuilding challenge I set up some rules regarding those decks:

Deck #1:

• most represented archetypes in the game, for each cycle they were chosen either for theme or what player cards were developed during this time (mostly both),
• strictly sticking to the theme,
• most powerful cards combination, while keeping in mind the rule above (so e.g. no Steward of Gondor in Silvan deck even though it is probably the most powerful card to include there),
• no card repetition (this means, that even though A Test of Will is no doubt really powerful and technicaly fits the theme of many decks, it can be only included in one of those Decks #1)

Deck #2:

• niche and underdeveloped archetypes in the game, for each cycle they were chosen either for theme, what player cards were developed during this time or what is the best approach to beat those particular quests,
• sticking to theme as much as possible (it was sometimes not possible to make a functional deck around a niche archetype while only including thematic cards),
• also the most powerful card combinations, while keeping in mind the rule above,
• no restriction on repetition (meaning even when previous Decks, either #1 or #2, used A Test of Will, it's possible to include them in every Deck #2 - I'm not a masochist. I hope.).

Also, while appreciating what this community can create but being a bit of a purist, I've decided to include ALeP cards only to a minimum (heroes), when it's either necessary to complete the archetype or it makes obvious thematic and mechanical sense.

Another thing I forgot to mention in first two fellowships is that no changes can be made for those decks while playing for consistency's sake. So no swapping heroes or other cards between the quests.

Cycle

Dreamchaser was a second choice of FFG to reprint a cycle in a new format. I think it was regarded by the community as the best of them, being both fun to play and no too hard on new players. I can certainly go behind that, the theme here is very unique, story is engaging, new cool mechanics were introduced. It's only the last parts that bugs me a little. While I would say Angmar Awakened is comparable to Dreamchaser, scenarios there were a little bit too demanding at times. Here, on the opposite, encounter deck rarely posses a real challenge. There are a few quests on the harder side but even then they are nothing like The Morgul Vale, The Dunland Trap or The Battle of Carn Dum. So playing chronologically this cycle might feel like a breeze (no pun intended) comparing to previous endeavours. What will definitely make your head spin sometimes are new mechanics and to name the most important: sailing. We have our ships, enemy ships, boarding raiders, going on/off course and sailing tests. Maybe for the better the quests aren't that hard since it's quite a lot of to grasp going in blind. While sailing isn't present in every scenario here it surely dictates what kind of decks you should bring to tackle those quests and those are typically swarm decks. Sailing tests require a lot of bodies (stats are meaningless) on the board to pass so you should definitely consider bringing those type of decks that can quickly and cheaply play allies. With that in mind, both the Noldors can dig quickly through their deck to play low cost allies and Outlands are probably the most infamous swarm deck in existence, so this fellowship suits mechanicaly nicely in this cycle. Thematically they make perfect sense too (apart from the Haradrim I guess) since action revolves around Elves and Gondor-Outlands. Here is a quick overview for each scenario while using this fellowship:

1. Voyage Across Belegaer (Difficulty 2/5) - following the trend of almost every cycle, the first quest serves as an introduction to some new mechanics, which is in this case sailing. The scenarios itself is rather easy and one can give only one simple advice, which will aply to every scenario with sailing keyword. Pass. The. Sailing. Tests. When on-course life is so much easier you rarely have to worry about anything. Most shadows don't apply, encounter cards are milder and some even whiff completely. Those tests go harder with every subsequent quest, however in this one I would say committing 3 characters is enough. I usually give Dreamchaser as flaghship to the Noldor deck and for the Outlands pick Dawn Star, since card draw might be their biggest problem.
2. The Fate of Numenor (Difficulty 2/5) - this scenario introduces us to uncharted locations. Shame they only appear in two quests and while the second one is probably the most uniqe scenario in the game, this one may fall a bit short, espiecially in difficulty. It would seem those undead would do a number on a decks such as Outlands (that is filled with cheap allies) but even that direct counter shouldn't be a problem here.
3. Raid on Grey Havens (Difficulty 4/5) - now this is probably the hardest scenario of the bunch. In two player game you start with 5 threat, including nasty enemy, + 2 locations which can vary from 1 to 4 . And that just the setup. Then you have to keep up with Aflame keyword. No big deal if a few of locations end up burning, sometimes you can't save them all. The most difficult part is to keep up with the encounter deck at the beggining. When you make enough of a boardstate and clear most of the enemies you can advance to the next stage. Sahir might have a lot of resources but by then both your decks should have enough firepower to melt through him in 1-3 turns.
4. Flight of the Stormcaller (Difficulty 2/5) - the more I play this scenario the more I'm astonished how easily and quickly you can beat it. I don't really think there is any point in trying to sink Stormcaller apart for some style points. With enough luck, which to be fair isn't that much luck, you can cruise through this scenario in 3 rounds since this fellowship has very high starting . Again though, sailing tests are important. They are just a little bit harder this time, I think 3-4 characters per tests should be sufficient.
5. The Thing in the Depths (Difficult 3/5) - the real difficulty comes here during the early game. Encounter deck is very thin so chances of finding enemies are high and early combat is definitely a weakness for this fellowship. You don't have to build a massive boardstate before travelling to the Helm though, just enough to finish of the first stage. The Thing part of the quest is much easier, it might even seem like a drag. Kill of as many of those tentacles and that's it.
6. The Temple of the Deceived (Difficulty 3/5) - really cool scenario that shakes up completely travel part of the game. In terms of difficulty there isn't much to say though, enemies aren't that tough, some treacheries with direct damage later on might be problematic. Try to locate where the Cursed Temple is before going there so to not be surprised by the Guardian.
7. The Drowned Ruins (Difficulty 2/5) - I think this is one of the easiest scenarios in the game. Sure, the Underwater locations seem scary and not playing allies and attachments while they are active might be a problem. But this scenario puts 0 pressure (again, pun not intented) on you. Quite contrary, while not underwater you get some benefits from the locations and enemies and treacheries are milder. So don't be afraid to stall for a few rounds before taking a dive. Last stage is just one big push towards the quest which shouldn't be difficult by then.
8. A Storm on Cobas Haven (Difficulty 4/5) - while I appreciate what this scenario tries to depict, which is this big sea battle, all in all I don't enjoy it too much. It seems like a step-down, reminding me of early game quests. You can reveal a 1 beneficial location or massive Warship. So the lack of consistency is real difficulty here. You can also get unlucky in some cases where Raider Flagship attaches to a guarded location and on the second stage you have to defeat it which is quite hard. So the best advice here is to not get unlucky. Maybe you can try to stall a bit on the first stage and then sprint to the end. Sailing tests are also harder here, commiting on average 4 characters now would give best odds.
9. The City of Corsairs (Difficulty 4/5) - similiarly to The Thing in the Depths, difficulty comes here from the early game but now it's cranked up to 11. As I see it there are 4 choices. Firstly, you go secrecy route to avoid Stormcaller, though it's not plausible in this fellowship. Secondly you can play "normally" though both sailing tests and encounter cards here are quite brutal, so while probably possible it might be a long and gruel attempt. Another popular option is to nuke Stormcaller, though it requires decks with a lot of . Finally you can try to rush the quest with and this approach suits the best decks here. Problem is you can only place progress on the quest while on-course and sailing tests are really hard here, requiring about 4-5 characters commited to success. But I still think it's the best approach: try to pass first sailing test, quest with everything and leave something to defend for Outlands deck that will be engaging Stormcaller and one Raider from the boarding keyword. Then push the Stormcaller back to the staging and quest with everything hopefully clearing the stage. A lot of damage will spill from undefended attack on the ship but usually you can survive this. Third stage will be easy now since there is nothing stopping you from stalling and stabilizing your boardstate. I've also noted that shadows here are basically non-existant and few that are here are non problematic. When ready advance to the last stage and defeat Sahir, which shouldn't be difficult. Shame this fight can end so quickly; I haven't played campaign mode but I saw they might have fixed that a little bit.

Conclusion

So this pretty much sums up the fellowship. Keep in mind it's designed for this particular cycle and with some rules that I stated at the beginning of the description. Feel free to try those decks out!