Secret Lorien Protectors 1.0

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== Deck Goal ==

Stay in Secrecy as long as possible so you can engage enemies on your own terms (i.e. when you have enough fire power to engage, block, and then one-shot an enemy).

Merry's ability, Galadriel's Handmaiden, Woodmen's Clearing, and Elrond's Counsel help keep threat low, and Pippin's ability raises engagement costs.

Glorfindel is going to raise your threat a bit until you get Light of Valinor on him, so that's important to get out as early as possible.

Soldier of Isengard also raises your threat, but he's got a killer stat-line and often still won't knock you out of Secrecy because of the other stuff you have at your disposal.

The cost chart for this deck is misleading because it's pretty easy to stay in Secrecy mode most of the game: six of the seven 3-cost cards are really 1-cost, and three of the four 4-cost cards are really 1-cost.

== Draw Combo (which powers Questing, Defending, and Healing) ==

The big combo here is Protector of Lórien (and / or Song of Healing) + Elven-light. Galdor of the Havens is a nice addition to the combo, but you only get one draw off of him per round (which is STILL an extra card per round, plus he also has a great stat-line). Discard Elven-lights to Protector of Lórien, then spend to bring it back to hand and draw a card. When you have enough resources each round (see Resourceful) you're drawing several extra cards per round.

Ancient Mathom and Pippin's ability also draw you cards.

If a game runs long (which is thematic since you're "slowly sneaking around") Will of the West will let you re-shuffle once. Wait until you absolutely have to, and make sure your Elven-lights are in your hand when you play it!

I had Lindon Navigator in this deck for a while because it likes to discard Elven-light, but I frequently found myself not having it (or any card I wanted to discard) for the ability, so I'd keep it in hand. For the most part I want to be playing an ally every turn if possible.

== Attachments ==

Resourceful is important because there are more cards in the deck than (so Pippin gets the first one), but then you'll also want more resources for your Elven-light recursions. Ideally you'll have one on all three heroes by the end.

Obviously Glorfindel gets the Light of Valinor, and he'll also get the Unexpected Courage, allowing him to Quest, Defend, and Attack all in the same round with both of them.

Merry gets the first Fast Hitch so he can quest and still use his ability.

Asfaloth helps defeat locations and I considered Woodmen's Path to make that an instant kill combo, but Woodmen's Clearing is cheaper AND reduces threat. I had several iterations of this deck with Path in, but I always ended up cutting them.

Master of the Forge helps you get to your attachments, and is basically an additional draw each turn.

== Knowing is half the Battle ==

Celduin Traveler, Henamarth Riversong and Ithilien Lookout let you look at the top of the encounter deck and even if you don't use the Traveler or Lookout to discard that card, you know what it is. That's SUPER powerful in a deck that engages enemies on its own terms, because you'll know exactly how much (and which characters) to Quest with, and how much to keep back for defending and one-shoting an enemy).

I considered Cautious Halfling as well, but I wanted more attack power. I has Loyal Hound in that spot because it can Quest a bit, attack for 2, chump block, or cancel some damage from a hero.

== Gondor Synergy ==

Edit: Gamling replaced with a second Galdor. I was thinking Gamling was for Gondor allies, but he's Rohan (lame on my part)

Knight of Belfalas is here to recur Ithilien Lookout. The best use is to engage a big hitter, block with Lookout (killing it) and get it back during your next Planning Phase with the Knight. You could also discard Lookout for an effect and get it back with the Knight. That's not as good, but you can turn it into a card draw too if you have Galdor of the Havens on the board.