A Friend or Two 1.0

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• 1.0

A FRIEND OR TWO

"I was coming over the mountain with a friend or two..." said the wizard.

"Or two? I can only see one, and a little one at that," said Beorn.

"Well to tell you the truth, I did not like to bother you with a lot of us, until I found out if you were busy. I will give a call, if I may."

"Go on, call away!"

--The Hobbit, p.122

DECK OVERVIEW

This deck is built around several interlocking combinations:

1. Gandalf's player deck scrying + discard-from-deck effects like Expert Treasure-hunter, King Under the Mountain, Flame of Anor, Hidden Cache, Taking Initiative & Well-Equipped. Wizard Pipe fits in here, too.
2. Discarding high-cost cards like Gimli, Sword-thain, Citadel Plate & Tome of Atanatar from the deck for Flame of Anor & Taking Initiative.
3. Small company size + Strider & Taking Initiative.
4. Gimli (ally) + Sword-thain + Durin's Song
5. Glóin (hero) + hit point bonuses + healing
6. Action advantage with Gandalf + Strider + Shadowfax + Flame of Anor; Gimli + his readying effect; and allies + Narya.

The idea is to start with two heroes and a low threat, then play Gimli & Sword-thain to create a third hero with 0 threat. The small starting threat eliminates the need for threat reduction, and the small company size facilitates Taking Initiative & Strider. Early in the game, Strider will provide both action advantage and a boost, while after Gimli is knighted and other readying effects for Gandalf are in play, it'll still provide the boost. At most, the permanent company size will be 4 as Galadriel & Saruman won't stick around after dropping in to contribute their stats & effects.

Resource acceleration comes primarily from Glóin & Hidden Cache, and card drawing comes from Expert Treasure-hunter, King Under the Mountain & Taking Initiative, while the equipping effects of Galadriel & Well-Equipped essentially provide both. Gandalf's Staff can also provide resource acceleration or card drawing when not needed to cancel shadow effects.

Glóin will usually be the primary defender in order to gain extra resources to pay for the expensive cards in the deck. Citadel Plate, Hardy Leadership & Boots from Erebor raise his hit points, while Self Preservation keeps him healthy. Use Well-Equipped & Galadriel to play the out-of-sphere Citadel Plate & Self Preservation, as well as other high-cost attachments. Optionally, Narvi's Belt could be included for this purpose.

Other than the discard-from-deck effects, the real power of this deck lies in providing action advantage on Gandalf, Gimli, and allies with Narya. Since Gandalf & Gimli will be questing every turn, they receive Strider & Celebrían's Stone to boost their . With Strider (mulligan for it), Gandalf can quest and take a second action right out of the gate. With Flame of Anor, he can also attack (usually at +4 ) in the same round. Once mounted on Shadowfax, he can take yet an additional action each round. Once a couple allies are in play, one of his extra actions should be using Narya to ready & boost two allies. This and Flame of Anor can make Saruman into an attacking powerhouse, allowing him to attack for 5, 6, and potentially 10 , all during one Combat Phase.

Ally Gimli comes with his own ability to ready when an enemy is revealed. So, why not just play him as an ally, you may ask? Mostly as an excuse to use Sword-thain (attached at 0-cost with Well-Equipped, of course). But, additionally, those extra copies of Gimli & Sword-thain make good discards for Flame of Anor & Taking Initiative. And, as a hero, Gimli can use Durin's Song (recycled with Tome of Atanatar). Durin's Song can only be played on a hero, but lasts the entire round. So, combined with his readying effect, Gimli can quest at +2 , ready when an enemy is revealed, then defend at +2 or attack at +2 . Brok Ironfist can be an alternate beneficiary of Sword-thain or enter play if and when Glóin or Gimli are killed.

Alternately, especially if Narya comes out early, you can opt to let Gimli remain an ally. He can quest, ready when an enemy is revealed, commit to defend, ready with Narya, then attack. When Narya is played at the right time, he should get its bonuses for both defending & attacking. Sword-thain won't be wasted, as it can be discarded from the deck for Flame of Anor & Taking Initiative. Nor will Durin's Song, as it can be played on Glóin. Both character states for Gimli have their advantages and disadvantages. It's your call, really.

CARDS BY FUNCTION

7 Resource Acceleration/Cost Discount: Glóin, Gandalf's Staff, Hidden Cache

13 Card Drawing: Expert Treasure-hunter, Gandalf's Staff, King Under the Mountain, Hidden Cache, Taking Initiative

4 Player Deck Scrying/Control: Gandalf, Wizard Pipe

13 Discard From Deck: Expert Treasure-hunter, King Under the Mountain, Flame of Anor, Taking Initiative, Well-Equipped

3 Card Recycling: Tome of Atanatar

6 Equipping: Galadriel, Well-Equipped

0 Mustering:

7 Willpower Boost: Celebrían's Stone, Strider, Durin's Song

8 Attack Boost: Narya, Durin's Song, Flame of Anor

5 Defense Boost: Narya, Durin's Song

6 Hit Point Boost: Boots from Erebor, Citadel Plate, Hardy Leadership

2 Engagement Control: Saruman

0 Treachery Control:

3 Shadow Control: Gandalf's Staff

3 Direct Damage: Taking Initiative

10 Readying: Gimli, Narya, Shadowfax, Strider

2 Healing: Self Preservation

0 Condition Control: