Pride and Innocence 1.0

• Versions
• 1.0

Everyone complains about how bad Pippin is, so I wanted to show off a deck of mine that I really enjoy that utilizes (and particularly requires) him. This isn't a deck that's optimized for any role, but it does a little bit of everything. It can be great in solo, but if your group already has the bases covered then this can cleanly slot into the party and carry its own weight.

This is a Boromir deck. But unlike the cheesy Boromir decks you're used to seeing, this one plays pretty fairly: give him a sword and a shield and let him make knife-work of the enemy. Because he's always going to be locked at 5 attack / 4 defense, you're going to want to pair him with some healing to help make sure he doesn't get killed by any big trolls and Nazgul he encounters. You could include Fire and Blood, but as you'll see I don't want to bother filling the deck with resource acceleration.

This is a Hobbit Secrecy deck. While you're sneaking around in the countryside, Merry and Pippin and their questing buddies will give you some willpower to make a dent in the quest. Meanwhile, cards like Double Back, Elevenses, Free to Choose, and The Galadhrim's Greeting will keep your threat super low so you don't get swarmed with enemies. For those enemies that do show up, well that's why Boromir's here to protect the hobbits!

You might be asking yourself, "But Dav, why in the world do you have Curious Brandybuck in this deck? That card's horrible!" If so, you're correct. That's why I have a house-rule that says the text box is blank. What I wanted was a two-cost, two-willpower Spirit ally with two hit points... and that ally doesn't exist. So I'd gladly give up the option to play it for free if I also got rid of its forced effect. That it's a hobbit is a very strong thematic pull to make this house-rule. If house-rules aren't your thing, just replace it with Galadriel's Handmaiden and you're golden.

This is obviously a very thematic deck. Merry and Pippin need to make it from Rivendell to Mount Doom (or at least Minas Tirith) and it's Boromir's job to protect them. The reason I specifically need this Pippin is because I want two super low-threat spirit allies, Glorfindel notwithstanding because Glorfindel's boring. If tragedy befalls Boromir, you can still probably squeak your way through the rest of the quest aggressively using Pippin's ability to not die while you turbo-quest the rest of the way. Unless you need to beat a boss to win.

In that case... they'll be taking the hobbits to Isengard! >8D