Gandalf's Mighty Steed and Unique Moria

[Cw0rk]

Frodo And Ring  
*The One Ring, Answer To All Riddles (4R1)  
*Boromir, Bearer of Council (RB)(9R+31)  

 
Sites  
(1R)Isengard Ruined (7U331)  
(2R)West Road (7U337)  
(3R)The Dimholt (8U117)  
(4R)City of the Dead (8U118)  
(5R)Crashed Gate (8U119)  
(6R)Minas Tirith Fifth Circle (7U346)  
(7R)Pelennor Grassland (7U354)  
(8R)Watchers of Cirith Ungol (10U120)  
(9R)Dagorlad (7U360)  

 
Fellowship (31)  
4x *Barliman Butterbur, Prancing Pony Proprietor (1U70)  
1x *Anduril, King's Blade (7R80)  
1x *Gandalf's Staff (2R22)  
1x *Scroll of Isildur (9R36)  
1x *Aragorn, Heir of Elendil (4C109)  
1x *Gandalf, Leader of Men (8R15)  (start)
1x *Gandalf, The Grey Pilgrim (2P122)  
1x *Sam, Son Of Hamfast (1C311)  
1x *Vorondil (7R127)  (start)
1x *I Will Go (7C105)  
1x Sent Back (9R27)  
1x Hard Choice (4U123)  
2x Might Of Numenor (3C43)  
4x Mighty Steed (8U17)  
1x Out of High Airs (10R17)  
4x Saved From The Fire (8R20)  
1x Sleep, Caradhras (1C84)  
1x Strength of Spirit (1C85)  
1x You Cannot Pass!(2U30)  
1x *Shadowfax (4R100)  
1x Footman's Armor (7U93)  

 
Shadow (31)  
3x *Durin's Tower (6R77) 
4x Dark Places (2C55) 
2x Fill With Fear (2U56) 
2x *Ancient Chieftain (1R163) 
3x *Cave Troll of Moria, Scourge of the Black Pit (1R165) 
2x *Guard Commander (1R186) 
4x *Host of Moria, Legion of the Underdeeps (9R+41) 
2x *The Balrog, Terror of Flame and Shadow (6R76) 
2x *Troll's Keyward (1R199) 
2x *Ulaire Enquea, Lieutenant of Morgul (1U231) 
4x Goblin Runner (1U178) 
1x *Cave Troll's Chain (2R53) 

Here is another fun deck I made...

First you need to burn some companions with Saved from the Fire. Before burning Gandalf, you need to have one of these card into hand Sent Back, Shadowfax, Gandalf's Staff or Gandalf, The Grey Pilgrim... so then you can grab the 3 cards you don't have. You also have to burn Vorondil to get Aragorn, Heir of Elendil, I will go and Anduril, King's Blade. You can also get Footman's Armor for Boromir if you already have one of those 3 cards. That should give you a defender +3 Aragorn. The idea of the fellowship is to assign as many minions as possible on Aragorn and then use Mighty Steed to have them fighting Gandalf and then cancel the skirmish with Gandalf's Staff.

The shadow is a beatdown moria deck using Unique minions that get bonuses from Dark Places and Durin's Tower. Dark Places if also nice to play your site 4 and get a cheap Troll out. I had to add the Balrog in there after I got whipped by Knights. Fill with Fear should be very helpful.

[legolas3333]

i saw a similar deck i think by dain, except it was in standard and he used gandalf, the white rider and sent back to discard all minions...

[Cw0rk]

i saw a similar deck i think by dain, except it was in standard and he used gandalf, the white rider and sent back to discard all minions...

That sounds quite efficient. However exerting Gandalf twice is a lower cost than killing him.

[ket_the_jet]

What do you think about Have Patience for extra Gandalf healing?
-wtk

[ket_the_jet]

Sorry to double-post (from phone), but does one copy of Hard Choice do the job? I would think a few of those (or a few Have Patience) would be pretty helpful.

You could cut the Saved From the Fire part and start Aragorn and run four A Wizard Is Never Late and some Gandalfs and that may conserve twilight a little better (at the expense of a slower set-up...)
-wtk

[Cw0rk]

Sorry to double-post (from phone), but does one copy of Hard Choice do the job? I would think a few of those (or a few Have Patience) would be pretty helpful.

You could cut the Saved From the Fire part and start Aragorn and run four A Wizard Is Never Late and some Gandalfs and that may conserve twilight a little better (at the expense of a slower set-up...)
-wtk

At first I had 2 Hard Choice but I decided to remove 1 and add Might of Numenor which can help healing Boromir if he gets assigned. I also sometimes drew 1 before having Gorn in play which jammed my hand a bit. The issue I have with Have Patience is that it cost 3 to play. I guess that defender +3 Gorn would be able to handle that but giving twilight is dangerous. I'll play more with this deck and if I feel I need more healing I'll definitely consider it.

I really need Saved from the Fire because I really need to have Gandalf's Staff and Shadowfax in play early as well. I also need Anduril and I will go to make gorn def +3. If I didn't use Saved from the Fire, I would have to add many copies of all those cards and it would take a lot of space.

[legolas3333]

If you're planning on canceling most of the time why not dump the have patience for citadel of minas tirith... also adding hearts raised would help kings blade from becoming useless... also fireworks might be a good back-up recursion in case you're not drawing barliman...

[Cw0rk]

Citadel of Minas Tirith would be a good idea but it only heals Gondor companions and Gandalf is the one who keeps exerting.

[Cw0rk]

Ok guys, this deck may looks OK in theory but it doesn't work very well in game.

I've played a few games with it and here is my conclusion:
- Adding a lot of twilight during the early site caused me to lose key companions.
- Boromir is a very bad ring-bearer for this deck and caused me issues.
- It's an automatic loss vs Shelob.
- Archery / wounding shadows caused me some trouble as well.

Things I could do...
Use Frodo as the RB.
Add Smeagol to my starting fellowship and kill him at site 2 or 3.
Add other companions like Legolas, GL, Boromir, SoD Faramir, SoD... etc.
Add a bit more healing.