This is my jam! I've played this theme so many times back in the day and have made some
discoveries that may tip the scales for you:
First is to understand the win conditions for this deck. There are two:
1. Shadow: You add enough burdens and discard enough cards to win by Irresistible Shadow.
2. Fellowship: You discard enough cards to move to 9 with no resistance.
1 is very difficult but not impossible.
2 is actually much more feasible; even if your opponent is at 8 and you are at 6 a triple move may be possible if they have few or no cards to play.
So you need to discard their deck asap, hard and fast, with as little setup as possible. The most efficient Freeps cards for this are
The White Arrows of Lorien and
Nobody Tosses a Dwarf. Note, however, that White Arrows has two weaknesses : It depends on your opponent playing minions and on having cards in hand to discard. If I were playing against this deck I would deny you minions except on a second move.
So Personally I focus on
NTAD instead — especially because multiple copies can be played off a single win trigger.
Here's my
NTAD formula:
1x
Gimli Son of Gloin2x
Dwarven Axe1x
Dwarven Bracers1x
Hand Axe1x
Endurance of Dwarves4x
Nobody Tosses a Dwarf1x
Axe Strike1x
Greatest Kingdom of my People — Moria is perhaps the hardest Shadow to outrun, and this helps.
1x
Thrarin, Dwarven Smith — (can catch an extra axe, but is more important than that for a reason I'll come back to)
1x
Merry, Friend to Sam — Get him with
Farmer Maggot's Fields if you go first.
The idea is to beef up Gimli so he can win skirmishes and play
NTAD. No other dwarves are necessary. Gimli only has to survive to site 6, but you must have
NTAD when you need them, so keeping your deck slim (60-64) is very helpful.
You could also run
Gimli's Helm, another Dwarven or
Hand Axe, or another
Axe Strike depending on your preference.
Even if you manage to play all NTADs on 4 different skirmishes that's only 16 cards discarded. So you do need elves, too.
But similar to Gimli, the idea should be all-in on one elf companion: Legolas. Which Legolas you choose honestly doesn't matter too much.
Greenleaf may seem like a bad choice at first glance but I've found that he provides flexibility in a pinch. Like you,
Son of Thranduil is my go-to for the extra archery at Rivers and Forests, but I do also like
Prince of Mirkwood because he can help you survive vs Nazgul when Gimli is exhausted and can't win on a Fierce.
This assumes you're going balls to the wall White Arrows. I do like the idea of
Ancient Enmity but in practice it is hard to pull off, and even if you hit it 4x it's only 8 cards. White Arrows, on one elf can reasonably discard 12 or more cards in a game before you move from site 6 (4 before/at 3, 4 after 3, >2 via Elrond, 1-2 via Tale, 2-4 at site 6).
No other Elf companions are needed, IMO, but you are right to take advantage of Allies. Here's my own White Arrows formula:
1x
Legolas, Son of Thranduil3x White Arrows of Lorien
1x Tale of Gil-Galad
1x
Orophin, Lorien Bowman1x Rumiel,
Elven Protector1x
Curse Their Foul Feet1x
Foul Creation — In a tournament setting I definitely will play 2x
2x
Elrond, Herald to Gil-Galad1x
Vilya — important to increase healing on Legolas or Gimli, and not a bad substitute for 1x
Secret Sentinels when paired with White Arrows.
The extra White Arrows go on Rumiel and Orophin for site 6, of course. If you do play Galadriel, I like Lady of Golden Light better for the healing.
With this setup (and decent luck) your Fship can reliably discard nearly half the average deck by site 6.
The remaining Freeps card slots can go several ways. Assuming your plan is to go for a triple move to 9:
1.
Gift of Boats: Easy to set up (requires
Valley of the Silverlode at 6) but is subject to discarding if played too early.
2.
Durin's Secret. It does require Gandalf (FotSF or Grey Pilgrim are both great choices in this deck), but otherwise it's a bit more flexible because not only can it sit in the discard pile until you need to get it with Barliman, you can play it twice with Barliman if moving from 5. Yes, I have quadruple-moved in a tournament from 5 to 9 against an empty deck, but just once
Oh, and it works with Thrarin and your elven allies after Gimli and Legolas die (they will).
No matter what, you'll want to finish the Free Peoples side by setting the late game odds in your favor with some splashes:
Aragorn, Ranger of the North,
Sam, Proper Poet,
Boromir, Son of Denethor,
There and Back Again, O Elbereth! — these are all great choices to help you get you from 6 to 9.
Last point on the Free People's side: You do want to go first, imo. Farmer Maggot's Field should let you bid at least 2, since you can get
Pippin, Hobbit of Some Intelligence. Realistically, you can bid 3 — if the discard strategy works, any burdening deck will struggle to set up and execute.
I'm going to pause here and come back to the Shadow side in a separate reply, which I also have strong opinions about
Topic: Elf/Dwarf with Sauron Mill (Read 4179 times)