One Toolbox

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Mythik 202

This is a toolbox deck, designed to give access to everything you could ever need against a specific quest. It's based on the same principles as this deck I've published previously and though it uses many of the same cards and heroes it wasn't a starting point. But when selecting cost efficient allies and cards with abilities useful in this style of deck, you come up with many of the same choices. It also felt really different playing, so I was bemused when I looked up the old one and discovered how similar it was.

The basic idea is to build Erkenbrand up so he can weather a storm, while Beravor draws into the rest of what you need to pass the challenge of the quest you're facing. There are enough defensive attachments that can be played turn one that you should usually have one in opening hand after Beravor's draw, and from there just weather the storm until you can build a board state to roll the quest.

During the game the focus should be on denying the encounter deck a chance to build any sort of board state - don't quest if it means you can kill enemies, use a Destrier to allow taking undefended attacks to ensure killing enemies, use Éowyn's ability after not questing so she can get rid of two enemies, even if they don't require the full force of her attack. Getting that early foothold can really open up quests and give you time to build your own board to the point the quest has nothing on you.

It was surprising first testing it out as I was easily beating some of the Nightmare variants of quests I'd found difficult on standard difficulty - Into Ithilien being the eye opening quest on that front.

So I took it against all of the quests on the Reduced Quest Gauntlet and was able beat all 16 quests therein. So it's also a One Deck! A One Toolbox, if you will.

This surprised me greatly again, and really I think it speaks to power of the combination of Bond of Friendship and Beravor allowing you to go find all the tools you have at your disposal with all of the upside and very little down. There's also an element of my growth as a player, but I was very surprised at how easily it took on some of the quests.

I had a big description written out for some of the card choices etc, but reading it back felt a bit self-indulgent, so if there's anything about it you want to know feel free to ask!

8 comments

May 15, 2022 doomguard 1923

for what use is Bilbo Baggins here?

would it not be better either to take a Galadriel's Handmaiden or a Westfold Horse-breeder (you have 4 horses all of good use in the deck)?

Protector of Lórien not much doublecards you want to discard. would a Lembas not be better?

May 15, 2022 Mythik 202

Good question! Bilbo's use here is to go find the Dúnedain Pipe. I preferred Bilbo here because he can go find the Pipe irrespective of where it is in the deck. The Westfold Horse-breeder was one of the cards I had in consideration for that slot, and realistically the deck would probably function similarly.

The Pipe though gives more broadly applicable searching once it's in play, where after the first Destrier the mounts aren't core for the deck, so may not get played.

For Protector there are a number of cards I don't mind discarding - in most quests I'd only play one of the threat reduction cards Favor of the Valar, The Galadhrim's Greeting, Gandalf, so any of the rest can be discarded fairly confidently. Same with Power of Orthanc, if there are no conditions this is the best use for it, and Helm of Secrecy, it's an emergency valve so if the best play right then is to discard it, then it's not an issue. The same goes for the card to put on the bottom of the deck with the Pipe as well.

The main reason to have Protector in the deck though is to provide an additional turn one play that can increase Erkenbrand's defence, so it may only be one or two turns before I can get some permanent defence boosts and I no longer need to discard cards. it's not something I ended up doing that often at all.

May 15, 2022 doomguard 1923

i would imagine, that beside the Armored Destrier Asfaloth is also very important. but solo perhaps not this much.

@firstrounddefense, i think the Lembas would also do it. i cannnot remember a quest where you get more than a str6 attack 1. round, and that he can absorb. even (worst case) with bad shadow (cancel shadow, heal and then take the 6)

May 15, 2022 Mythik 202

Asfaloth is important in some quests that are location heavy or where they have nasty travel effects, but outside of that in solo it's nice to have but not something I'd feel the need to go looking for.
If you were playing this multiplayer, it would be a higher priority (although you've got most of the popular/strong uniques so the rest of the table may not appreciate it).

The Lembas suggestion is valid - Erkenbrand loves readying and healing, and it provides both.
I think I'd rather have Protector because even though you lose the defense buff at the end of the phase, you can keep discarding cards to get the benefit after that first turn if you need to, where Lembas gets discarded. Beravor does a good job keeping cards in your hand, and there are plenty of cards in the deck we don't need every game that I can live with being discarded.
Anecdotally as well, this saved me in NM Shadow and Flame because this was the only attachment to show up in the first 3 rounds, before getting Hauberk of Mail, Shield, and Arwen as the three cards in turn 4 and I was able to go from there.

I think this is a good example of the restrictions for Bond of Friendship - if I could drop Captain of Gondor for Lembas I probably would. Or maybe a Favor? But the balancing out across the spheres is a real waterfall effect that can be difficult to get right.

Potentially something like Mablung out for Pippin, and Lembas in for Captain of Gondor? Increases the number of turn one attachments, provides some late game benefit and extra healing, at the cost of conditional bonus, the 1 Mablung always has for battle questing, and losing the ability to pull enemies out of staging?

Mablung is definitely the weakest Lore card overall, and I don't remember his ability having a huge effect, but that was why he was in the deck to start with.

May 15, 2022 doomguard 1923

thx for your explanations. with beravor in mind i think Protector of Lórien is the better choice.

but perhaps Lembas is better than Mablung

2 Favor of the Valar yes. what about replace 1 with Keen as Lances? a bit more expensive, but more options.

if you do not see Windfola as important, waht about a Miruvor ? not only the readying is good, also the option to switch a ressoursse could be important.

a question i wanted to ask, but forget, what about the Giant Bear ? paying him normally seems expensive. for Sneak Attack seems uneffective with nly 1 attack and 1 bear. so what is the plan with it?

if you have no genius reason, i would replace it with either Legolas or Galadhon Archer

May 15, 2022 Mythik 202

So the answer to both the Favor/Lances and Windfola/Miruvor questions is due to the fact it's trying to take on the RQG, and both of those choices are made with a specific quest in mind.

In NM Return to Mirkwood the difference between the threat reduction costing 3 and costing 5 is significant if Steward isn't out, and given you have absolutely no time to build any kind of board state the extra resources is probably stopping you from playing something else.
To be fair here, I do think NM Return to Mirkwood is an absolute lottery for non Vilya decks as there is no time to build up and if you get more enemies early or the Tantrum that discards cards discards your threat reduction, there doesn't feel like a lot you can do. So having Keen as Lances here may not have had an impact overall.

In Mount Doom you're being punished for characters on the table, so you really want to have permanent attachments to boost willpower where you can. So while for most quests Windfola isn't important, it's crucial for this one. Silver Circlet is probably a better choice for this specific quest, but given that it can't go on Éowyn I think Windfola is a better choice overall.

May 16, 2022 Mythik 202

For the Giant Bear, there's a bit of train of thought here so please bear with me (pun intended).

What I like about the Bear is he has a way of readying himself, which on a 4 , 3 , 4 character can be powerful. Two defences? Defend then attack and kill an enemy? Attack twice to ensure two dead enemies? While it does shuffle him away, that's the big draw. Even if you're not using that in a game, he's still an archery sink and capable of taking a decent hit if necessary, which is something most attacking allies can't do. Being able to have another defender (along with Treebeard) that can take a hit when you need it even though it's not their primary role is valuable in and of itself.

Even shuffling him away can have its own benefits - taking some archery damage and then disappearing, shuffling the deck to get a second look at the cards put on the bottom of your deck Nori or the Pipe.

Tactics has the least pressure for resources in this deck so it's not uncommon to sit on 3 or 4 resources. It doesn't necessarily feel like wasting resources to play him. He was initially in the deck as a sneak attack target (along with Beorn), but didn't actually get used much that way.

I tried a few iterations with cheaper allies in those slots for a bit (Marksman of Lórien, Dúnedain Hunter, Riddermark Knight) , but when I ran into quests with Siege questing I found myself wishing for the Bear's 3 and ability to ready in an emergency, which I did use a couple of times to decent effect.

To your point about Legolas and Galadhon Archer, I just don't need the card draw and it's rare that I wouldn't be engaged with an enemy at the start of a round that wasn't immune to player card effects, so they're really just there for the attack value. That's why the Westfold Outrider is in the cheap ally slot, because he's as much a 2 cost 2 ally as others, but he has 1 , 2 , and an ability that I could trigger if needed, so he adds more flexibility overall with Siege questing and archery soak.

May 16, 2022 doomguard 1923

o.k. if you say you have the res to pay him, and that in round 5+ it makes a big difference, i will believe ;)