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| DáinIronfoot |
![]() Posted: Wed Apr 02, 2008 11:42 am |
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Joined: 12 Jan 2007
Posts: 4594
Location: Beltsville, MD, USA
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I’ve always wanted to make a good Gandalf BoO/ deck, but I’m worried Gandy will be too easily overwhelmed for it to really work.
I assume the best (and probably only) way to prevent this is Merry, Swordthain with as many copies of Home and Hearth as I can legally squeeze in.
Going off that idea, I have two different deck ideas:
Gandalf, Bearer of Obligation w/ The One Ring, The Ring of Rings
Theoden, King of the Eorlingas (starting)
Merry, Swordthain (starting)
Eomer, Third Marshal of the Riddermark
Eowyn, Lady of Ithilien
Elfhelm, Marshal of Rohan
Erkenbrand, Master of Westfold
Eored Warrior
Riddermark Javelin x4
Rohirrim Shield x2
Erkenbrand’s Shield
Eomer’s Spear, Trusty Weapon
Herugrim
Shadowfax, Unequaled Steed
Radagast’s Herb Bag
Home and Hearth x4
Sword Rack x3
Hearken To Me
Traveled Leader x4
Servant of the Secret Fire x4
Nine-fingered Frodo and the Ring of Doom x4
The idea is to abuse Merry to the fullest, simultaniously removing tons of burdens (through use of Home and Hearth and NFFatRoD) and pulling your javelins and other gear back to recycle lots of lots of archery and some healing. Gandalf is key, helping turn Theoden into a beast with Hearken To Me, making other companions better by using Servant of the Secret Fire, and perhaps most importantly, helping you control the sitepath with Traveled Leader to ensure you have plains and battlegrounds to make the javelins as deadly as possible. (And if necessary, you might get lucky with 2  cards you can discard when moving to prevent burdens.) With the wounds they provide, Eomer and Eowyn really help mop up, and Elfhelm uses all the plains sites to become a beast when needed; the Warrior gains a lot from the specific site choices too. Erkenbrand is just in there for the possible combo with his shield and to help save twilight by playing later in the turn.
I think this could work, though it all falls apart if Merry bites it. I’m worried especially about early on, since only Gandalf and Theoden are around to protect the poor little Hobbit.
I currently have it paired with  archery that also uses and abuses plains sites, as well as an adventure deck made up entirely of plains sites (5), battlegrounds (1), or both combined (3). I’d probably need to bid a little to ensure my opponent goes first, eh?
Anyway, another idea I had was this:
Gandalf, Bearer of Obligation w/ The One Ring, The Ring of Rings
Eomer, Northman (starting)
Merry, Swordthain (starting)
Eowyn, Northwoman x2
Theoden, Northman, King of Rohan x2
Jarnsmid, Barding Emisarry
Riddermark Javelin x3
Eomer’s Spear
Eowyn’s Sword, Dernhelm’s Blade
Herugrim, Sword of the Mark
Rohirrim Shield x2
Glamdring, Foe-hammer
Firefoot, Eomer’s Steed
Rider’s Mount
Shadowfax, Unequaled Steed
Radagast’s Herb Bag
Home and Hearth x4
Watch and Wait x2
Hearken To Me
Servant of the Secret Fire x4
Nine-fingered Frodo and the Ring of Doom x3
King’s Advisor x2
Wielder of the Flame
Have Patience
The key burden removal here is mostly the same, though Jarnsmid, Watch and Wait, and, to a lesser extent, Glamdring, Foe-hammer now help out as well. There’s a slightly better chance of limping along should Merry fall, as long as it doesn’t happen too early on.
This deck doesn’t rely on any particular site, but it DOES have lots of something else: mounts. With a mount under him and his spear in hand, Eomer is just plain scary. Especially when you have Gandalf assigned, which really helps out all the other companions here. All hail the Northmen!
Could either of these actually work, though? I have a nagging fear they’d fall flat on their face.
Has anyone else out there made a good, powerful Gandalf/Rohan deck? I’d love to see it, if you don’t mind sharing.... |
Last edited by DáinIronfoot on Thu Apr 03, 2008 10:21 am; edited 1 time in totalBest regards, Dáin, Vice Aftokrator of the Chosen Ones
Check out Lasting Alliances, The Road Ahead, and Ages of Middle-earth, three of my five dream card sets that make up Wars of the Ring. Oh, and I have a trade list now!
Also, if you're into DCs or RPGs (or even if you're not!), check out Realms of Middle-earth, the sequel to CG's "DC Adventure", Realms of the North! |
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| Thranduil |
![]() Posted: Wed Apr 02, 2008 12:59 pm |
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Joined: 01 May 2007
Posts: 2256
Location:
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Either could work. Problem of using the Northmen without Frodo is you don’t get to use Where now the horse.
It makes more sense to me to just use cards so that you can discard them to prevent the burdens in the first place rather than depending on Home and Hearth to remove them after the fact. Then you could combine it with Ents, Erland, dale counselor and look to my coming.
Nevertheless, given your prerequisites, I don’t see much reason why you’re not using watch and wait and glamdring, foe-hammer in your first deck. Take out some rohirrim shield and the Eored warrior, neither of which are particularly good, certainly when compared to those awesome burden removal cards.
With only 1 Hobbit, i would be tempted to add WoBaS to get the most effect from Home and Hearth and nffatrod and especially with your site path control, why not Inspiration? That’s much better when combined with the Merry/Pippin combo than Servant of the Secret Fire, though I suppose the latter is good for the herb bag.
WoBaS + Swordthain + Erland + Inspiration = Fun for all the family 
Thranduil |
'We do what we do because of who we are. If we did otherwise, we would not be ourselves.'
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| TheJord |
![]() Posted: Thu Apr 03, 2008 7:12 am |
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Joined: 16 Feb 2007
Posts: 486
Location: UK
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Dain you are stealing my deck idea!!
Although mine is a standard deck.
I used my Gandalf, BoO with Rohan deck against NB and I won.
Gandalf, Bearer of Obligation with The One Ring, The Ring of Rings
1x *Eomer, Northman(17R95)
2x *Eowyn, Northwoman(17R96)
2x *Erkenbrand, Master of Westfold(0P59)
1x *Merry, Swordthain(7R321)
3x *Radagast, The Brown(9R+26)
4x Home and Hearth(12C122)
2x Watch and Wait(12R35)
2x Ease the Burden(11U29)
2x Nine-fingered Frodo and the Ring of Doom(10C112)
3x Unheeded(8R115)
1x *Pallando, Far-travelling One(13R37)
1x *Eomer’s Spear, Trusty Weapon(15R124)
1x *Eowyn’s Sword, Dernhelm’s Blade(7R230)
1x *Erkenbrand’s Shield(18R97)
1x *Firefoot, Eomer’s Steed(7R232)
2x *Glamdring, Foe-hammer(11R35)
1x *Radagast’s Herb Bag(18R26)
2x *Shadowfax, Greatest of the Mearas(17R24)
1x Coif(12R111)
2x Riddermark Javelin(11U151)
1x Rider’s Bow(13U135)
2x Rider’s Mount(15C133)
Strategy, use Eowyn to make easy kills for Gandalf with Glamdring. Gandalf fighting makes Eomer big and Eowyn unkillable. Watch and Wait on Eomer, you can get 2 burdens off.
You will be surprised how this deck doesnt throw out tons of twilight like Rohan tend to do.
Pair this with Forestguls and place burden removing sites ahead of you, like Osgiliath Reclaimed or Caves of Aglorand. |
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| NBarden |
![]() Posted: Thu Apr 03, 2008 2:26 pm |
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Joined: 28 Dec 2006
Posts: 5468
Location: I don't know...
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| DáinIronfoot |
![]() Posted: Thu Apr 03, 2008 2:32 pm |
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Joined: 12 Jan 2007
Posts: 4594
Location: Beltsville, MD, USA
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NBarden wrote: TheJord wrote: Dain you are stealing my deck idea!!
Although mine is a standard deck.
I used my Gandalf, BoO with Rohan deck against NB and I won.
Because I was incredibly stupid, the deck should never have survived.
I dunno. Against anything but corruption, looks like it has at least a fighting chance to me. |
Best regards, Dáin, Vice Aftokrator of the Chosen Ones
Check out Lasting Alliances, The Road Ahead, and Ages of Middle-earth, three of my five dream card sets that make up Wars of the Ring. Oh, and I have a trade list now!
Also, if you're into DCs or RPGs (or even if you're not!), check out Realms of Middle-earth, the sequel to CG's "DC Adventure", Realms of the North! |
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| NBarden |
![]() Posted: Fri Apr 04, 2008 9:49 am |
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Joined: 28 Dec 2006
Posts: 5468
Location: I don't know...
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I do know. I could have doubled to nine, but I didn’t, cuz I forgot he had Radagast. My fellowship could have handled his wargs easily.
Decent deck, though. It doesn’t have a chance in expanded, though, so try for standard.
On the first, cut Eored Warrior for Elite Rider. Or Hrethel. If you’re not fighting a wounded minion, something went REALLY wrong and you’re toast anyways.
And I don’t know why you love NFFatRoD. It really does stink bad. You’d be better off with 4x Watch and Wait. Or if you insist on using it, at least pack Shadowfax, GotM.
I can’t wait to play this deck with Greed.  |
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As I lay in bed staring at the stars last night, I thought to myself, "where the heck is the ceiling?"
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