Initiative Abuse

[Imrahil]

A while back I was playing a forest elves deck that utilized the City of Trees/Glimpse of Fate combo to create some frustrating situation for my opponent.  So I asked myself, how can I abuse this further?  This deck is the result.

34 cards

Starting:
Ringbearer: Galadriel BoW with The One Ring RoR
Arwen, Echo of Luthien
Gimli, Lively Combatant

Companions:
Shrouded Elf x2
Elrond, Witness to History x2

Possessions:
Banner of Elbereth x3
Ring of Retribution
Dwarven Axe
Nenya, Ring of Adamant x2

Events:
Out of Darkness x2
Final Shot x3
Seclusion x2
Still Needed x3

Conditions:
Glimpse of Fate x4
Mallorn Trees x2
Memories of Darkness x2
Dwarven Skill x3

The point of this deck, obviously, is to lose initiative as many times as possible in one turn.  This makes it very weak against any minion deck capable of capturing initiative, but that's why I'm posting it in the casual format.    The deck revolves around the Glimpse of Fate/ Still needed combo.

This deck has gone through a number of revisions.  I originally started a Rohirrim Guard alongside Gimli, then switched to Smeagol, then Forest Guardian before settling on Arwen.

As for mechanics, this deck revolves around Glimpse of Fate and Still Needed.  Arwen or Nenya gets the freeps hand down to 4, and then the Still Needed/Banner of Elbereth combo allows initiative to be lost and gained multiple times.  Memories of Darkness and Dwarven Skill allow Gimli to become a beast against large minions, and both Elrond and Shrouded Elf allow elven pumps to be "fixed" on top of the draw deck. Out of Darkness was meant to be a way to lose initiative twice in the same skirmish, but as I'm not really a believer in the "pay the cost for no effect" rule, I would like to find a card to replace it.  I am also interested in Into a Dream as a way to both lose and gain initiative with a single card, although I realized it would require a different deck.  Criticisms are welcome, although bear in mind that I play nothing past Bloodlines.

[legolas3333]

well yeah and Memories Of Darkness is banned in everything but open...

[Imrahil]

well, The Old Took and I allow it because neither of us have the cards that broke it.  And as we are own PC, we basically do whatever we want. :-)  It's fun.  Although I am open to alternative dwarven strategies because replaying Dwarven Skill a bazillion times adds a ton of twilight.

[legolas3333]

city of the trees for fierce minions nazgul etc...

[Imrahil]

I was thinking of using that card, except this isn't really a wounding deck, so it would be entirely useless until the fierce skirmish (unless my opponent is so kind as to exert his minions for me).  Also, Glimpse of Fate's effect lasts until regroup, so any minion coming back for more is probably already significantly weaker than it was.