My Challenge part 1

The Challenge

I have a personal puzzle to solve and I think that it might be interesting to write about it. So there it is: I have to build 4 deck since I am the only player that have cards in my playgroup. So what the problem? There is some rule that I want to respect.

First, I want that each deck feel different.

Second, each deck must be strong on his own.

Third, I must take in consideration that I only possessed 2 core set, 1 hunt for Gollum, 1 conflict to the Garrock, 1 journey to Rhosgobel and 1 Hills of Emyn Muil. And since I'm not sure when I will get the new adventure pack, those are the only one I can rely on (sorry, no Boromir),

With those restrictions, I have chosen a strategy to achieve my goal. Since every sphere have a different feel, I first thought that I could build mono sphere deck. But since my card pool doesn't really allow it, I have chosen to build 4 deck each based on a respective sphere with a little splice for another one. Also, I have chosen to not include unique cards in more that 1 deck to allowed the player who has it to play it when he wants. The only exception to this rule is Gandalf. Each deck will have 2 Gandalf in it.

The deck

So today I'm going to show you the first of these 4 deck. You might recognise it since it is a variant of the deck I already posted, Imrahil Rohan's commander.

Hero (3)
Dunhere (Core) x1
Frodo Baggins (CatC) x1
Prince Imrahil (AJtR) x1


Ally (24)
Lorien Guide (Core) x3
Northern Tracker (Core) x3
Escort from Edoras (AJtR) x2
The Riddermark's Finest (THoEM) x3
Westfold Horse-Breaker (THfG) x3
Eomund (CatC) x2
Keen-eyed Took (THoEM) x3
Snowbourn Scout (Core) x3
Gandalf (Core) x2


Attachment (7)
Unexpected Courage (Core) x2
Ancient Mathom (AJtR) x3
Steward of Gondor (Core) x2


Event (19)
Fortune or Fate (Core) x1
Will of the West (Core) x2
Ride to Ruin (THoEM) x2
Dwarven Tomb (Core) x2
Hasty Stroke (Core) x3
Stand and Fight (Core) x3
The Galadhrim's Greeting (Core) x3
A Test of Will (Core) x3

The strategy

Like the last time, this deck focus on lowering your threat level and to use your cards to sacrifice your ally when you need it to ready Imrahi.


Does it work?

I try this deck solo again the Conflict at the Garrock adventure. I had a good board to beat it. When I enter the Garrock, my threat level was lower than 34 and my board had a good amount of ally. So I decided to engage Stuart. I didn't kill him on the first turn, but it only had 2 wounds left. But on my next turn, I flip an orc with surge and then a hill troll join the party. Since my threat level was high enough to get the troll and the orc attention, I had been overwhelm. I still kill Stuart and the orc, but even with Gandalf help, the troll ability to increase the player threat level had been my downfall. On the twelfth turn, I wasn't able to quest successfully and my threat level increase over 34 and the 3 others troll joined the fight which leads to a slaughter.

Overall, I think that this deck works well. If it wasn't for the hill troll, I'm sure that I would have been successful.

Stay tuned for next week deck when I will explore the possibility of the Lore sphere,