The Siege of Cair Andros Nightmare Solo Progression 1.0

• Versions
• 1.0

DECK NAME - Immovable Object

https://youtu.be/3rbA_2buEkE

OVERVIEW - The thought of a nightmare SoCA is indeed nightmare-inducing, but surprisingly I don't feel like the difficulty is that much harder than the original quest. I was hoping they would do something about the annoying Battering Ram (which always seems to target The Banks location for me), but alas it is still an ever-present danger.

The key concept of this deck is in Gandalf's Staff's ability to discard a a shadow card from a non-unique enemy. There are loads of enemies in this encounter deck, but it is the chaining shadow effects and the constant extra attacks that are the biggest issue. So a combination of 3x Feint, 3x The Wizards's Voice, and Gandalf's Staff are an effective way to neutralize that threat.

Despite the deck name, loses can occur. Mainly through the occasional Battering Ram hell-bent on destroying The Banks and forcing us to go to stage 2. I'd say this deck wins every 2 out of 3 times and requires active and forward-thinking piloting. It's really fun!

HEROES

• Beorn - used for attacking, very occasional defense, and battle questing for the win in stage 5
• Beregond - attach Gondorian Shield and Unexpected Courage; focuses on siege questing until a few rounds in
• Gandalf - attach Gandalf's Staff, Healing Herbs, Miruvor, 2x Unexpected Courage, and Wizard Pipe; his roles are many in this deck

STRATEGY

• OPENING HAND - hard mulligan for Gandalf's Staff; not getting it doesn't result in a loss, but win percentage goes down
• STAGE 1 - clearing the 3 unique Battleground locations is the priority; try to cancel every enemy attack using Feint or The Wizards's Voice; if you can't, use Gandalf's Staff to discard shadow from attacking enemy; destroy each enemy as they come out - don't let them build up; use Gandalf's bag of tricks to get off-sphere cards out; try and get your up for siege questing; having readying effects on Gandalf and Beregond is also important
• STAGE 2/3/4 - stage 2 is the only challenge for this deck and usually means a loss
• STAGE 5 - if you make it here you likely have it in the bag unless you threat out (rarely occurs)
• Defender of Rammas and Winged Guardian - get them out in stage 1 if possible
• Eagles of the Misty Mountains - I usually only get to play 1 but 3X is good for card draw (The Eagles Are Coming!); if you run out of attack cancellation, you can chump with Winged Guardian and make EotMM more powerful
• Knights of the Swan and Vassal of the Windlord - good early chumps if needed but mostly useful for stage 5
• Gandalf's Staff - all 3 options are needed based on the state of the game
• Healing Herbs - can either heal Gandalf from Master's Malice or Beregond if he has been damaged; not enough room to include Gondorian Discipline unfortunately; obviously has to be played from top of deck during Planning Phase using Gandalf's ability
• Miruvor, Flame of Anor, and Unexpected Courage are necessary for readying due to constant combat
• Wizard Pipe - does its thing; usually needed to be able to play a crucial The Galadhrim's Greeting; using Wizard Pipe to event to top of deck and use Gandalf's ability to then play them is functionally card draw
• Feint and The Wizards's Voice - cancel every single early attack as shadow chains can kill you dead early
• Shadow of the Past - made the deck much better when I added it
• The Eagles Are Coming! - always great to play off the top of the deck using Gandalf's ability; if in hand make sure there is a face-up eagle before playing
• The Galadhrim's Greeting - usually playing 1 is enough