This is one of my favorite decks, and apparently others like it too: it won one of the rounds of the deck-building contest I held a while back. Hopefully
you'll like it as well!
FREE PEOPLES (39 cards):Frodo, Old Bilbo's Heir w/
The One Ring, Isildur's BaneGimli, Dwarf of the Mountain-race (starting)
Legolas, Greenleaf (starting)
Aragorn, Heir To The White City (pull with
The Prancing Pony)
Gandalf, Friend of the Shirefolk x4
Bilbo, Retired Adventurer x2
Frodo's Pipe x2
Gimli's PipeAragorn's Pipe x2
Gandalf's Pipe x2
The Gaffer's PipeStingGimli's Battle AxeLong-knives of LegolasRanger's SwordAragorn's BowArmorGlamdringOld Toby x4
Longbottom Leaf x4
Servant of the Secret Fire x3
Sleep, CaradhrasFireworksDurin's SecretOrc-baneNotice that all the companions (except Frodo himself) have the Frodo signet. We use and abuse this fact with our pipeweed;
Frodo's Pipe can heal anyone here besides Frodo himself, and with as many as five pipes around (or potentially even MORE using the ability of
Gimli's Pipe), that means you can heal up any one of these companions from exhaustion to fully healthy with a single pipeweed. That turns
Greenleaf and a bow-equipped Aragorn into archery monsters, enabling you to use their wounding to the fullest and then heal them up completely later.
Aragorn's Pipe can spread the healing around if you're taking more widespread wounds...and again, with all your pipes out, he can heal your entire fellowship this way with a single pipeweed. Not bad, not bad.
Gandalf's Pipe lets you remove mass burdens,
The Gaffer's Pipe lets you remove lots of twilight (and chokes very effectively when paired with
Aragorn HttWC), and
Gimli's Pipe generates extra pipe spotting when/if needed...and remember, you can then heal Gimli up with
Frodo's Pipe (this time without having to wait until a later phase), so the exerting required by
Gimli's Pipe is virtually meaningless.
The companions also get their normal toys to play with, and fully loaded, their base strengths come in at 5 for Frodo, 8 for Gimli, 7 for Legolas, 10 (and tough to overwhelm with
Armor) for Aragorn, and a whopping
12 for Gandalf. (Always LOVED
Friend of the Shirefolk!) You might not win all your skirmishes, but with the healing you'll have at your disposal, you don't have to...you just have to survive until the next fellowship phase.
And the strengths here should be high enough to pull that off consistently. If you DO end up in a bind, though,
Servant of the Secret Fire can be a lifesaver.
Sleep, Caradhras can be a lifesaver, and doesn't hurt you since you have NO conditions here.
Orc-bane can lay down extra pre-skirmish wounding if Aragorn and Legolas aren't enough.
Durin's Secret can be a nasty surprise for your opponent if sprung once your pipeweed support system is fully in place.
Fireworks and Bilbo pull back your pipeweeds and/or
cards you want back from discard.
Let's see...massive deck...Fellowship block...wonder what my Shadow side could be?
SHADOW (39 cards):The Balrog, Flame of UdunCave Troll of Moria, Scourge of the Black PitAncient ChieftainUlaire Nertea, Messenger of Dol GuldurGoblin Runner x4
Goblin Scavengers x3
Goblin Scrabbler x3
Goblin Wallcrawler x3
Moria Scout x3
Goblin WarriorGoblin Scimitar x4
Moria AxeGoblin Armory x4
Goblin Swarms x3
Relics of MoriaGoblin DomainHost of Thousands x4
Nothing too out of the ordinary here. Draw and create twilight like mad with the scimitars (and Scavengers to get them back) and armories, swarm with your goblins, tackle big companions with your heavy hitters like The Balrog and the Cave Troll. Rinse and repeat as necessary each turn to wear your opponent down and simply overwhelm them. At the very least, you should be able to slow them down enough for
HttWC's twilight saving to come into play several times.
So that just leaves....
SITES: The Prancing Pony Ettenmoors Rivendell Waterfall Mithril Mine The Bridge of Khazad-dum Dimrill Dale Silverlode Banks Shores of Nen Hithoel Summit of Amon HenPretty self-explanatory for the most part.
The Prancing Pony pulls Aragorn, so make sure you bid enough to go first (the burdens should be no issue once you get
Gandalf's Pipe out).
Rivendell Waterfall can change the course of the game if you set up early enough.
Mithril Mine is awesome if your Shadow is set up early with a couple scimitars and armories.
Dimrill Dale is obvious with
.
Silverlode Banks can only help as long as Aragorn is still around, so if things start falling apart, try and hold onto him at least until then.
Shores of Nen Hithoel pairs nicely with all our goblins.