A try at Standard Dwarves

[uncle_elrond]

So this is what I'm trying to work on.  I wanted to make Dwarves work in Standard so we'll see what you think.

Gimli, Bearer of Grudges
The One Ring, Ring of Doom
Gloin, Son of Groin
Durin III, Dwarven Lord

Grimir, Dwarven Emissary x3
Axe of Kazad-dum x4
Dwarven Bracers x2
Arod, Rohirrim Steed x2
Well-Crafted Armor x3
Ring of Fury
Ring of Guile
Ring of Retribution
Chamber of Records x2
Mountain Homestead x3
Run Until Found x3
Still Twitching x2
Thorin's Harp x3
Durability x4
Blood Runs Chill x2

The Balrog, Demon of Might
Sauron, Dark Lord of Mordor x2
Shelob, Her Ladyship x4
Gollum, Threatening Guide x2
Saruman, Servant of Sauron x2
Web x2
Fat One Wants It
Promise Keeping x2
Not This Time! x2
Slippery as Fishes x2
Deceit x2
Hidden Even from Her
Final Strike x2
Captured by the Ring x4
Led Astray x4
No End of Wickedness x2
Strange and Terrible x3


Strategy is to set up the dwarves then make every site a mountain with Thorin's Harp.  Once set up, each dwarf will be strength +6 and are tough to beat.  I can see myself dying horribly to condition removal.  I'm thinking of add Linnar from extra healing and maybe cutting a few cards to make it smaller.

Shadow uses Gollum to change sites and add twilight.  He uses the mountains to replay minions.  It's fun if you get Gollum, Shelob, Sauron, and The Balrog out at one site   I think it's too light on minions and there are too many events, but I'm not sure how to fix it to make it run better and more powerful.

[SomeRandomDude]

I wanted to make Dwarves work in Standard.

Dwarf/Corsair was considered the best deck until Horn, and even post-horn, Dwarf/Corsair is highly viable.

Except that you need, NEED 4x No Pauses, No Spills.

More Ring of Fury, its your best healing. I wouldn't run the Harp package, its too vulnerable. Also drop Still Twitching, its counterproductive to the point of dwarves (cycle) and in general the most useless card ever. Awkward Moment is your best pump in this deck too.

Heavy Axe is a must for the deck. Proud and Able is good. Honed is as well. Bloods Runs Chill becomes epic when you have Proud and Able down with Ring of Fury.

If you want to develop the token strategy, there's a dedicated token variant based on The Fortunes of Balin's Folk and The Ring of Guile that's fairly potent.

[King89]

I wanted to make Dwarves work in Standard.

Dwarf/Corsair was considered the best deck until Horn, and even post-horn, Dwarf/Corsair is highly viable.

Except that you need, NEED 4x No Pauses, No Spills.

More Ring of Fury, its your best healing. I wouldn't run the Harp package, its too vulnerable. Also drop Still Twitching, its counterproductive to the point of dwarves (cycle) and in general the most useless card ever. Awkward Moment is your best pump in this deck too.

Heavy Axe is a must for the deck. Proud and Able is good. Honed is as well. Bloods Runs Chill becomes epic when you have Proud and Able down with Ring of Fury.

If you want to develop the token strategy, there's a dedicated token variant based on The Fortunes of Balin's Folk and The Ring of Guile that's fairly potent.

Solo dwarfs are fun to play until dark horseman, corruption or direct damage hit the table. because of that they weren't and aren't one of the top fellowships.
That's why i start dain with durin and adding grimbeorn + gandalf (best would be gandalf, returned + shadowfax, gotm) + maybe radagast, the brown. Moreover dwarven warrior is a nice splash too; i run 2-4 of them in every dwarven deck.

The rest SomeRandomDude already said.

[uncle_elrond]

So I liked the suggestions I got so I decided to nix the Mountain Homesteads (as fun as they were) and change it around.  This is what it looks like now:

Gimli, Bearer of Grudges
The One Ring, Ring of Doom
Gloin, Son of Groin
Durin III, Dwarven Lord

Grimir, Dwarven Emissary x3
Gandalf, Returned x4
Arod, Rohirrim Steed x2
Shadowfax, Greatest of the Mearas
Heavy Axe x4
Well-Crafted Armor x2
Ring of Fury x2
Ring of Guile
Ring of Retribution
Chamber of Records x3
Run Until Found x3
Proud and Able
No Pauses, No Spills x3
Awkward Moment x4
Blood Runs Chill x2

It's built more on the token strategy.  I was thinking of adding some more support for Gandalf so he can reinforce more tokens, but I'm not sure what.  I was thinking of a Pallando or some followers, but I'm sure how well that'll work.  Any good ways to remove threats with these cultures?  I know there's something, but I can't think of what.

Any opinions on the shadow?

[SomeRandomDude]

Dwarf/Corsair was considered the best deck until Horn, and even post-horn, Dwarf/Corsair is highly viable.

Solo dwarfs are fun to play until dark horseman, corruption or direct damage hit the table. because of that they weren't and aren't one of the top fellowships.

Dark Horseman is rarely run, except as a meta call. Because of cycling, Corsairs ravaged the opponent before the other side could score a win. Even still, Ring of Fury goes on Gimli, that's 9 resistance + whatever Proud and Able has, Ring of Fury has a decent amount of healing, enough to cover whatever gets through the choke (this is the key, Dwarves cycle and choke, meaning your shadow has the advantage, and their fellowship is clogged up behind freeps cards).

But yeah, it was Dwarf/Corsair that always scored kills, not Dwarf.

If you wanna argue with me, I'd just like to say that back when tournaments were going, both physical and IRL, Dwarf/Corsair almost always won and/or got in the top 3.

That's why i start dain with durin and adding grimbeorn + gandalf (best would be gandalf, returned + shadowfax, gotm) + maybe radagast, the brown. Moreover dwarven warrior is a nice splash too; i run 2-4 of them in every dwarven deck.

The rest SomeRandomDude already said.

That's why you lose. Way too much twilight getting thrown out.

[legolas3333]

not to be insulting... but you're out of touch, everyone runs 1-2 copies of dark horseman to kill mono-culture decks

[SomeRandomDude]

Again, except as a meta call. I played for quite sometime after Age's End and I'd be surprised to hear that playing styles have changed that much. You could devote those 1-2 cards to develop a shadow strategy?

Still. 1 or 2 copies is easy to deal with with Gimli... Win the first skirmish and d+a lot.

[King89]

Again, except as a meta call. I played for quite sometime after Age's End and I'd be surprised to hear that playing styles have changed that much. You could devote those 1-2 cards to develop a shadow strategy?

Still. 1 or 2 copies is easy to deal with with Gimli... Win the first skirmish and d+a lot.

I'd be very pleased if you get your argumentation a bit smoother and not that entusiastic.
And i'm not sure if you play really standard nowadaws because many decks run nertea, not even pure nazgul and during the last 3 years no dwarf deck reached top 3 at all european tournaments. (i e.g. bashed all dwarfen decks i faced last years, even the ones with your strategy)

moreover is dain in the starting the best way to choke your opponent.

edit// direct damage + corruption + decks with nertea are more than 50% of the standard shadows these days, now you my friend

[Witchkingx5]

our German guy is right, indeed...

when I play Standard (against good players), I see Nerteas everywhere, besides in Decks like Troll Swarm. But you can easily avoid it by adding a Thorongil or HttToG in Dwarven and/ or Elven Decks. Gandalf, Returned is also a nice Splash, as is Eldarin Lord. But mono-cultural Decks don't stand many chances in Standard if they don't have directed wounding (which leads us to Decks that use both Dark Horseman and Demon of Might).

[King89]

our German guy is right, indeed...

when I play Standard (against good players), I see Nerteas everywhere, besides in Decks like Troll Swarm. But you can easily avoid it by adding a Thorongil or HttToG in Dwarven and/ or Elven Decks. Gandalf, Returned is also a nice Splash, as is Eldarin Lord. But mono-cultural Decks don't stand many chances in Standard if they don't have directed wounding (which leads us to Decks that use both Dark Horseman and Demon of Might).

well spoken. 

[legolas3333]

Nertea, DH and Lemenya, ET standard what shotgun enquea is to movie

[MuadDib85]

Nertea, DH and Lemenya, ET standard what shotgun enquea is to movie

Although less played, I think Ulaire Enquea, Dark Threat is a better example of shotgun enquea.

But agree that Dark Horseman gets used a lot and mono-cultures are generally not a good idea.

[legolas3333]

I meant in terms of splashability/playability

[MuadDib85]

In that case I'd say Ulaire Enquea, Duplicitous Lieutenant. One of him plus Buckland Homestead should be in nearly every standard deck for a condition removal splash.

[SomeRandomDude]

Fine. But the fact is, even if everyone runs Nertea, Nertea is hardly a "roll over and die" card. Any of your companions, in a Dwarf choke, can survive a Nertea and, the choke strategy should be able to clog your opponent long enough to pull off a win with the shadow. Dwarves aren't designed to run to site 9, they're designed to waddle along to site 4-5 and then have the shadow kill off your opponent.

Also, I never stated that Dwarves are the be-all, end-all. I said they were the best deck until Horn. And then yeah, the broken decks can probably crush them. But that doesn't mean they're not still viable.

[Imrahil]

Do not underestimate dwarven cycling.  Having an 8-card shadow hand every turn is not to be sneezed at.

It makes a lot of shadow sides work that would otherwise be considered laughable.

[uncle_elrond]

Having an 8 card shadow hand with the Shadow side of this deck is definitely helpful.  I like the extra cycling that Dwarves bring to the table.  They're definitely not the strongest fellowship in standard, but they will last long enough for the shadow side to bring down your opponent.