Guardians of Rivendell 2.0

• Versions
• 2.0

This could be a One Deck (or at least a good ol' Power Deck). Now, I don't have close to all the quests in the game, but I've created an alternative Reduced Quest Gauntlet and scoring method that is the rough equivalent of Seastan's Reduced Quest Gauntlet. I've brought other decks against this Alternate Gauntlet, and most have flopped miserably.

On the first try, this deck smashed two of the hardest quests on the list.

First of all, this is a Vilya/Elrond deck, so getting Vilya out early is very important. Imladris Stargazer, Heed the Dream, Master of the Forge, and Gather Information should help with that (the Master can also grab you Light of Valinor and thin your deck of extra copies of those cards. It's very important to get Light of Valinor early on!).

Once your pieces are in play, it's actually an extremely simple deck to pilot. Try to set up the top of your deck as best you can with Imladris Stargazer; use Gildor Inglorion instead if you have a big ally like Beorn or Boromir in your hand.

Boromir is really fun in combination with Pippin, and since your threat is very low, they usually can do their abilities. You can even keep Gandalf for a couple rounds in safety.

Speaking of threat, there's lots to help stay low. Gandalf, The Galadhrim's Greeting, and Double Back are usually sufficient, but if you find yourself struggling you can always add in another The Galadhrim's Greeting. There's not much card draw or resource acceleration, but frankly, it's not really needed. Sure, you can add in Steward of Gondor if you want. But I decided to go for the extra allies instead.

And that brings me to the keystone of this deck: the contract Messenger of the King. Obviously you could grab a lot of different allies (Pippin or Boromir would be fun), but the best option is Ioreth. For one extra threat, she gives you repeated healing plus the money to afford it. You can even safely take lots of undefended attacks, as in combination with Elrond, Ioreth will heal 4 damage. And you can do it every round!

Since your threat starts so low (19!) you have (in most cases) plenty of time to build up your boardstate before overwhelming the quest with your horde of allies.

(this is also the first deck ever published to use Elrond and Glorfindel in combination with (MotK) Ioreth, which really surprised me...you should try it!)

Happy questing!