Infinite Erland & Forced March Smith

[TheJord]

*The One Ring, The Ring of Rings (11R1) 
*Gandalf, Bearer of Obligation (RB)(13R33) 

 
Sites 
The Bridge of Khazad-Dum (12U186) 
Abandoned Mine Shaft (13U185) 
Crags of Emyn Muil (11S234) 
(1) Doorway to Doom (18U134) 
(2) Chamber of Mazarbul (11S233) 
(2) Moria Stairway (11S248) 
(3) Mount Doom (15R193) 
(3) Caves of Aglarond (13S186) 
(3) The Prancing Pony (11S256) 

 
Fellowship (32) 
1x *Aragorn, Thorongil (15R55) 
1x *Erland, Dale Counselor (11R30) 
1x *Merry, Swordthain (7R321) 
1x *Pippin, Wearer of Black and Silver (7R324) 
3x *Radagast, The Brown (9R+26) 
1x *Smeagol, Poor Creature (6C45) 
2x *A Light in his Mind (10U108) 
2x *Brooding On Tomorrow (10U15) 
2x Hearts Raised (7R103)
2x Home and Hearth 
1x Secret Paths (7R69) 
4x Shadowplay (10U114) 
2x The Shire Countryside (3R113) 
4x Servant of the Secret Fire (1R83) 
2x Traveled Leader (12C34) 
2x *Aragorn's Bow, Ranger's Longbow (15R56) 

 
Shadow (32) 
2x Demoralized (11U114) 
3x Forced March (13R108) 
4x Goblin Hordes (11R123) 
3x Unforgiving Depths (13C120) 
2x *Black Gate Sentry (15U98) 
2x *Black Land Chieftain (15R99) 
2x *Gothmog, Morgul Leader (18R80) 
2x *Mumak Commander, Giant Among the Swertings (15R86) 
2x Black Land Observer (15C101) 
4x Orkish Lackey (17C80) 
1x Orkish Smith (11C132) 
2x Watchful Orc (11R143)
3x Dread and Despair 

[SomeRandomDude]

Smith is restricted in Open. For no reason. But it is. It should be legal in standard for crying out loud. The shadow is decent in Open, but I found that the best deck in open includes 4 copies of Saruman's Power and Greed (timing so they don't kill each other), with one purpose in mind: Hose all those intricate condition based decks, infi Gandy, Fruit Loops, etc. Greed knocks off Treebeard in Fruit Loops, Saruman's Power knocks off, oh, everything else.

[TheJord]

Altered to Open format rules... added Dread and Despair for condition discard.

[Elf_Lvr]

Wait... for this infinite combo to work, don't you need a way to add more burdens? I mean, Erland only heals if you can remove a burden when you play the event and then use Shire Countryside, unless I'm missing something.

If you can find some other way to consistently get down to 3 (or 4) cards in hand to keep lose/gain-ing initiative, I'd suggest Smeagol, Slinker.

[SomeRandomDude]

Slinker is a sweet idea. Also try perhaps Rohirrim Guard. Great initiative manipulation.

I personally just use the Great Ring for my infi gandy deck. Works sweet.

[TheJord]

Vapour and Steam is a way to add burdens

[SomeRandomDude]

Don't see it in there. I'd prefer the Smeagol.

[Mythdracon]

So how does this deck work exactly?

[TheJord]

You use the following combination

Erland, Dale Counselor
Servant of the Secret Fire
A Light in His Mind
The Shire Countryside
Have 4 cards in hand, Smeagol, PC is there for this reason

1) Play SotSF to make a minion -3
2) Lose initiative, remove a burden with ALiHM
3) Heal X companions with The Shire Countryside, where X is how many copies you have out (healing Erland at least once)
4) Repeat steps 1-3. All minions made strength 0, all burdens removed and all companions healed.

@ EL, do you see who the RB is? No problem adding burdens.

[TheJord]

As for the Shadow, bwuhahaha... Forced March through Crags of Emyn Muil into Doorway to Doom... Use Travelled Leader to recycle Doorway to Doom, and Crags of Emyn Muil if you are lucky.

[Mythdracon]

Doorway to Doom would harm your own fellowship though, wouldn't it?

[TheJord]

With infi Erland healing everyone? Smeagol has 4 vitality, so does Gandalf and Pippin... plenty to soak up any damage being handed out. And thats what Travelled Leader and Unforgiving Depths is for.

[Elf_Lvr]

Well, Gandy does give you 3 burdens by moving, but it isn't infinite.

GR would solve that, though.

[Mythdracon]

Wouldn't the Great Ring make him even more burdened?

[Elf_Lvr]

Well, the point is to have infinite burdens to remove. You'll be able to remove as many as you want to if the combo goes right.

[SomeRandomDude]

Wouldn't the Great Ring make him even more burdened?

Yes. That's the thing with the combo. It WANTS burdens, so it can remove them to do nasty stuff.