I Think It's Time We Blow This Scene 1.0

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• 1.0

Get Everybody and the Stuff Together
Okay... Three, Two, One, Let's Jam!

If you don't get the above reference, then please click here.

Playing a deck with Fellowship makes me feel like I'm part of a little musical group, having jam sessions with my fellow band-mates, exploring the sounds and seeing what comes from it. Sometimes it's great, sometimes you feel like you've discovered something entirely new, and sometimes you come out feeling a little embarrassed - and yet... you still had a good time.

By the way, I'm hardly a musician - so please excuse the metaphor :P

Originally forming around a janky brew that would have included Fatty Bolger, the original deck I had in mind was pulled in a few too many directions. One of those directions was the aforementioned contract card, a new type introduced to the game that asks the player to participate in a deckbuilding challenge. In this case... no non-unique allies.

The catch? After you control 9 unique characters, you flip the contract over and rejoice as all your characters receive +1/+1/+1. There is a "downside" that you are now unable to bring in new allies, but we'll get to that later.

Deck Summary This deck revolves around getting 9 unique allies out and flipping over the Fellowship contract. A combination of Frodo Baggins, Merry, and Pippin will ensure that you have some time to kill before enemies start coming down. Keep your threat low and, worst case scenario, toss in Gandalf. Once the contract is flipped, a plethora of readying abilities will make for a smooth (but interesting) ride to the finish line.

Opening Hand / Mulligan Quite simply, Timely Aid or Resourceful are the two cards you want to see in your opening hand. Timely Aid will get the ball rolling, and while Resourceful won't necessarily guarantee you an ally, it works well with Frodo, ensuring you have a spare resource for his ability (and therefore keeping your threat low). If neither of these show up, then Drinking Song will act as another mulligan for you. Having Gandalf make an appearance isn't bad either - if you're against a quest that gives you a couple turns, then biding your time and getting the wizard out slowly will give you some early-game strength.

Early-Game The early-game mostly revolves around keeping your plays "small," embracing the Hobbit nature of this deck and keeping enemies far away unless absolutely necessary. If an enemy does come down sooner than expected, then Pippin helps mitigate this little upset.

Otherwise, take your time, settle in, and play cards like Timely Aid and A Very Good Tale to increase your ally count.

Mid-Game Once you've started to draw through your deck, some common interactions you will see revolve around Frodo, Gandalf, and Merry.

Frodo will ready another questing character. If there are no other juicy targets, then I find Merry to be very suitable. Ready him up and leave him free to reduce your threat. As you bring out allies like Rosie Cotton, Súlien or Firyal, you'll find more targets for dear ol' Frodo.

Gandalf, on the other hand, will hopefully be gaining his attachments, the most important one probably being Narya. Between Frodo and Narya, (and the Fast Hitch's you'll hopefully have), you'll be exhausting and tapping characters from phase to phase, triggering a plethora of effects.

Late-Game Alright! You flipped over Fellowship, now time to watch the deck sing. Your same readying shenanigans are available, except now you'll feel unstoppable. Watch as Gimli quests for 3, readies from Frodo Baggins's ability, receives a defense buff from Arwen Undómiel, and then defends for 5 against two attacks (since you readied him with Narya as well).

If you need some breathing room and want to play newer allies, you have a couple outs. For one, you can let Gandalf be discarded at the end of the round. Otherwise, Gaffer Gamgee, Ceorl and Ghân-buri-Ghân have ways to leave play* and reduce your character count. The sideboard also includes a copy of Bulwark of the West as another way to swap out characters (and get rid of some nasty conditions in the process).

And that's it! Churn out unique allies, ready and exhaust and ready again, and take advantage of the bounty of stats Fellowship provides.

Conclusion and Sideboarding You will enjoy this deck if you want to watch your deck become a Rube Goldberg machine. You will enjoy this deck if you like Frodo Baggins. You will enjoy this deck if you like running Hobbits!

You will not like this deck if you dislike ally swarms. You will not like this deck if unique allies aren't your style. You will not like this deck if you hate being "Gandalf Guy."

All in all, I think this deck is just a joy to run, and I can't wait to see what others do with the contract.

And it's all thanks to Fellowship.