Powerful Guide
http://lotrtcgwiki.com/forums/index.php/topic,5881.0.html
-Normally sets up with Saved from the Fire. Very tough, once established.
-Weaknesses: Skipping Maneuver, Forest Nazgul, direct wounding, and minions with lots of vitality.
-Encounters: //2
-Rating: *****5
I played PG a lot. Mostly the list that you linked, and mostly with physical cards, and not on GEMP (although I have a 100% winrate with it on gemp with about 10 games), and I'd like to comment on those weaknesses.
Skipping maneuver: what the deck does in maneuver is activating
Grimbeorn and attaching
Pallando, it is completely fine without that. The problem is
Demon of Might at
cavern entrance, one or the other are not really threatening separately, but if you shut down both
Dale Counselor and
Grimbeorn, it will lose both ways to recycle spells for Gandalf.
Forest Nazgul: You hit one of them with
Enraged Shepherd to exert all of them once (
SOTSF first if required), then they all fall to either stronger fighters or activations of PG/
Radagast's Herb Bag. Forest nazguls are a walk in the park more often than not.
The decks's weakness is that it's very reliant on Gandalf (no
SOTSF, no
Strength of Spirit, no
Intimidate without him).
A generic
SFTF setup for PG is disadvantegous in my opinion (burning
Leader of Men with the first
SFTF is the equivalent of giving 9 twilight to search for a single card of value). The
Long-Stemmed Pipe variant on the other hand could work exceptionally well.