The Door is Closed!

Questlogs using this decklist
None.
Fellowships using this decklist
Magic and Mayhem
Derived from
None. Self-made deck here.
Inspiration for
The Door is Closed! (secrecy edition) 3 2 0 1.0
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Snufflegator 310

Snufflegator has a newer deck inspired by this one: The Door is Closed! (secrecy edition)

This is a Staging Area Control deck with a focus on locations. If you can get the right cards in the victory display early, it is quite fun to play, though you may struggle otherwise. It is not designed for combat, as it is paired with a Aragorn deck that can handle all the fighting.

I've playtested the fellowship against Intruders in Chetwood and plan on using it for a full Angmar Awakens campaign.

Strategy

Light of Valinor is usually worth mulliganing for, as the deck is light on early, so using Argalad to both quest and cancel threat is important. It is also good to get either Out of the Wild or Leave No Trace in the first turn or two, so Rossiel can be boosted to 4 consistently. (This deck may not work as well if the quest has lots of locations that do not have common traits.) Ideally, you'll eventually jam the victory display with cards that have the worst When Revealed effects (and/or Doomed), so you can use The Door is Closed! on later copies.

For card draw, I have two each of Daeron's Runes and Heed the Dream, though you could just pick 3 of whichever is your favorite and drop the other. Heed the Dream is amazing once the other deck has resources to do the full-deck search, but you can't beat the 0 cost of the Runes. (If you want to go with triple Runes, consider dropping Asfaloth in favor of 3x of The Evening Star, which gives you a beneficial discard option.) Later-game card draw is no problem with Keen as Lances being played for cheap or free.

The Long Defeat is quest-dependent and could be cut for more allies and help, though you may want some healing as well. I have The White Council for flexibility but it could also easily get dropped. The sideboard has alternative allies and events that could be useful replacements. I tried using Scroll of Isildur to recover The Door is Closed!, but I found the cost isn't worth it, especially as you'll end up with an encounter deck that is mostly full of treacheries, which will likely end badly. The Scroll is more viable when used to recur the last Evening Star, but arguably still not worth clogging the deck.

The sideboard allies include a variety of 2 cost / 2 options that are all viable, as well as a few specialized scrying / control options that could come in handy.

Heroes

Argalad should also be an early target for a +1 weapon, which is usually a Dagger of Westernesse from the other deck. Ranger Spear is an alternative if you want to stay in-sphere. Mirkwood Long-knife is also a great choice but the 2 resources is a little tough in this deck. I'll usually also get an Unexpected Courage on Argalad so he can quest/cancel/attack, though usually a hero from the other deck gets UE first.

I typically don't boost Rossiel and just straight quest with her, though she has the capability to defend with 5 + sentinel once Arwen Undómiel is in play. Depending on the quest, it may be worth taking advantage of that. If so, consider bringing along A Burning Brand.

Eleanor is used almost exclusively for treachery cancellation; between her and A Test of Will, you can get through a whole game without needing to resolve the nastiest ones. She gets Spare Hood and Cloak, so she can ready another hero if there's a turn without treacheries. There's enough action advantage in the other deck that it can usually be bounced back to her on a later turn.

With Asfaloth, Mirkwood Explorer, and Rhovanion Outrider, by mid-game it is pretty easy to explore staging area locations, so Idraen is a decent alternative to Eleanor if you don't mind the additional . Her or Éowyn should be considered for quests that need more early-game .

Glorfindel is another potential Eleanor replacement, if you're going for raw power. And if you add Elrond's Counsel you may get a lucky draw and play Out of the Wild in Secrecy). But I like his ally in the other deck so I haven't tried him. Also you'd probably want to make him ranged, and of course he gets LoV, and then the whole thing becomes a Glorfindel deck, which isn't what I was going for.

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