Gandy exerting

[NappyKorn]

OK not even sure if this deck can work or if it will fall apart far to fast, but thought I;d get some advice on it and possibly a shadow to pair it with. Anyway the point of the deck is to use events that exert Gandalf to do nasty things such as Terrible and Evil and be Gone then move to a dwelling and heal him back up with Home and Hearth and the bouncing hobbits. Here is what I came up with in a hurry so not much serious sit down and think about it thought involved. Any suggestions will be appreciated.

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

Fellowship (36)  
2x *Gandalf's Staff, Ash Staff (11R34) 
1x *Narya (3R34) 
1x *Farmer Maggot, Hobbit of the Marsh (11U163)  (pull with Green Dragon Inn)
1x *Merry, Swordthain (7R321)  (starting)
1x *Pippin, Wearer of Black and Silver (7R324)  (starting)
1x *Sam, Great Elf Warrior (10P122)  (starting)
4x Home and Hearth (12C122) 
2x Scouring of the Shire (18R112) 
4x Be Gone!(15U27) 
4x Servant of the Secret Fire (1R83) 
4x Terrible and Evil (7R50) 
4x Traveled Leader (12C34) 
1x *Glamdring, Foe-hammer (11R35) 
2x *Radagast's Herb Bag (18R26) 
2x *Shadowfax, Unequaled Steed (11U40) 
2x *Sting, Weapon of Heritage (11R173) 

Streets of Bree (18U140) 
Buckland Homestead (11S230) 
Woody-end (11S266)   
(2) Hobbiton Market (12S189) 
(2) Westemnet Village (11S264) 
(3) Green Dragon Inn (11S242) 
(3) Trollshaw Forest (11S260) 
(3) Valley of the Silverlode (11S261) 
Not sure of the last site but maybe a forest or something that helps the shadow (I would try some kind of Nazgul deck so Buckland Homestead and Woody-end don't go to waste)


I know 36 cards is a bit of a bigger Freeps but when running Gandy as your RB you always have the option to toss cards for the move if you don't have room for burdens. Anyway fire away!

[DáinIronfoot]

Deck looks pretty good...I'd be curious to see if it peels off burdens well enough, but I think it has as good a chance as any other Gandalf RB/Hobbits deck.

For the last site, I'd probably recommend Osgiliath Reclaimed. One more burden removed certainly can't hurt! Other options (though they'd have to replace current sites) would be Imladris and Caves of Aglarond (both of which can remove 2 burdens in one pop) or Heights of Isengard, which would give you a tiny bit of potential condition control. Those would thin out your dwellings, though....

Other options for the deck would be The Gaffer, Master Gardener (very dangerous with the burdens added, but something to consider if you're finding healing isn't happening enough) and Concerning Hobbits and/or Habits of Home to use with Sam. Oh, and Ease The Burden is almost a MUST, as it trades one Gandalf exertion for 2 burdens removed at dwellings.

Toss some of those suggestions in, and I can REALLY see this standing a good chance.

[NappyKorn]

How could I forget Osgiliath Reclaimed  . Like some of the other ideas as well. Not to sure about ease the burden as gandy will be trying to kill himself with terrible and Evil (potential 6 wounds, 7 if a nazgul LOL) and with Be Gone! (potential -12 strength minion). Might try to fins a way to add in some concerning hobbits, but that means figuring out what can go and I hate that part LOL. Anyway back to sda for some more work. Thanks for the ideas

[DáinIronfoot]

Believe me, I know how hard it can be to squeeze cards in, but I'd try really hard to find a way to get a little Concerning Hobbits in there. You're adding hefty amount of twilight at times, and Sam and Maggot may end up having to fight more than you'd like. Could be a lifesaver in those cases.

I also understand the downside of losing an exertion if you use Ease The Burden, but I think it could really save your butt with all the dwellings you're using. Again, if you can find a way....

It looks like it could hold its own even as originally written though, as long as you don't end up with all your Home and Hearths near the bottom of the deck.

One suggestion would be going with Nazzies (as you mentioned) and using plenty of Third of the Nine Riders and a little Eighth of the Nine Riders. Then you could drop some of your Traveled Leaders and free up some room on the FP side for potential other cards.

Nazzies cycle REALLY well too, which would help you use Gandalf's discard-to-prevent-those-burdens clause and also ensure you get to the cards you need quickly. If you need/want some pointers with some semi-Forestguls (which would probably be good here), let me know and I'll throw a decklist together.

[NappyKorn]

so true hoping to get a good nazgul card drawing deck if possible. If not just splash Nelya into a drawing shadow deck. Wow just had an idea, maybe maybe run gollum with Not Easily Avoided (quick way to get shadow out of the deck and splash in Nelya. Gollum with Led Astray might be the key. What do you think?

[DáinIronfoot]

That might work, but in my opinion, pure Nazzies would be a little less convoluted and cycle well enough for you. I modified my last post, so read that when you have a chance....

[NappyKorn]

if you have the time to send that forestgul deck send it via PM or post here. I always tried to avoid building a forestgul deck as they were running wild and I like the other of nowhere styles of decks

[Thranduil]

I have to say that I really don't think much of Be Gone. Inspiration is a much better choice for you (which incidentally works well at Osgiliath Reclaimed) because with bouncing hobbits, it's just amazing. Then you need Erland to get your inspirations back. If you can fit it in, toss in a few ents (more than you think you'll want to play so that they can boost Inspiration) and 2 Ent Draught s (one for Gandalf, one for Erland). You can always use the muster from Ash Staff (and maybe With Doom We Come) to drop extraneous companions.

Thranduil

[NappyKorn]

It is a good card yes but an entirely different deck mechanic. I have a deck that use tons of extra comps. orc beater, inspiration and ents that toss comps for hand to boost strength after inspiration has done its thing. With this deck working on healing at dwellings I would like to get Be Gone to stay in.

[Thranduil]

I understand, but Inspiration is also an amazing splash when you're returning your companions to your hand anyway, and it's much more efficient than Be Gone. This deck is, in some sense, already built around it.

But I understand if you want a different deck if you already have one built around Inspiration.

Thranduil

[DáinIronfoot]

For 36 cards, I'd go with something like this:

The Witch-king, Captain of the Nine Riders x4
Ulaire Cantea, Fourth of the Nine Riders x2
Ulaire Enquea, Duplicitous Lieutenant x2
Ulaire Lemenya, Assailing Minion
Ulaire Nelya, Third of the Nine Riders x4
Ulaire Nertea, Dark Horseman x2
Ulaire Nertea, Ninth of the Nine Riders
Ulaire Otsea, Duplicitous Specter x3
Ulaire Toldea, Eighth of the Nine Riders
Ulaire Toldea, Black Shadow x2
Lost In The Woods x3
Hatred Stirred
Moving This Way
Shapes Slowly Advancing x2
In Twilight x3
Dark Approach x4

Nelya and the one Toldea help control your sitepath. Enquea gives you a little condition discarding. Black Shadow keeps your Dark Approaches coming back (I'd recommend playing forests ASAP on the sitepath), and Lost In The Woods uses forests to lay the big hurt on companions. Otsea and Moving This Way help you cycle, as does In Twilght, which doubles as a nice pump. The other Nazzies are in there because they're just generally good (Dark Horseman, Assailing Minion) or good specifically with forests and/or dwellings (Fourth of the Nine Riders). Wikkie is almost always cheap thanks to his toil 2, and probably will be your biggest bruiser. Shapes Slowly Advancing is just extra stress for your opponent if you pull one early enough; it can either just provide a nice distration or go as far as winning you the game.

I'd also strongly recommend trying to work The Angle in your adventure deck somewhere so you have another forest to work with. 'Twould help make Dark Approach and Lost In The Woods much more lethal, and would just generally help your Nazzies out with its text. That's all up to you, of course.

Since you're obviously going Expanded with this deck, also consider oldie but goodie minions like Ulaire Lemenya, Lieutenant of Morgul, The Witch-king, Lord of Angmar, and Ulaire Attea, Keeper of Dol Guldur.

[NappyKorn]

Ok thought of a shadow to throw with the deck I went with tentacles since you can discard them with no worries and play them later and for the extra deck space I threw in Gollum since you are running Evil-smelling fens anyway. Added in a few They Stole it so you can toss tentacles to wound compsanions if the swarm isn't ready. Discarding extra tentacles from hand also frees up space in hand for the freeps . Add a few Saved From the Fire to burn Fregar to grab a few Home and Hearth so you can start peeling those burdens and Heal Gandy quicker. Here is the updated Freeps with the added shadow, let me know what you think.



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

 
Sites 
Streets of Bree (18U140) 
Buckland Homestead (11S230) 
(1) Expanding Marshland (11S238) 
(2) Hobbiton Market (12S189) 
(2) Mere of Dead Faces (11U246) 
(2) Westemnet Village (11S264) 
(3) Green Dragon Inn (11S242) 
(3) Trollshaw Forest (11S260) 
(3) Valley of the Silverlode (11S261) 

 
Fellowship (36) 
2x *Gandalf's Staff, Ash Staff (11R34) 
1x *Narya (3R34) 
1x *Farmer Maggot, Hobbit of the Marsh (11U163) 
1x *Fradegar Bolger, Fatty (18R107) 
1x *Merry, Swordthain (7R321) 
1x *Pippin, Wearer of Black and Silver (7R324) 
1x *Sam, Great Elf Warrior (10P122) 
4x Home and Hearth (12C122) 
2x Scouring of the Shire (18R112) 
4x Be Gone!(15U27) 
3x Saved From The Fire (8R20) 
3x Servant of the Secret Fire (1R83) 
4x Terrible and Evil (7R50) 
3x Traveled Leader (12C34) 
1x *Glamdring, Foe-hammer (11R35) 
2x *Radagast's Herb Bag (18R26) 
1x *Shadowfax, Unequaled Steed (11U40) 
1x *Sting, Weapon of Heritage (11R173) 

 
Shadow (36) 
4x Evil-smelling Fens (5U22) 
2x They Stole It (6R46) 
3x Captured by the Ring (7C53) 
3x Foul Things (2U59) 
3x Led Astray (11U45) 
1x *Gollum, Dark as Darkness (9R+28) 
4x *Watcher in the Water, Many-Tentacled Creature (19P21) 
4x Foul Tentacle (2C58) 
4x Huge Tentacle (2R66) 
4x Reaching Tentacle (19P19) 
4x Strong Tentacle (19P20)