The Oliphaunt in the Room 4.0

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• 4.0
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• 1.0

Disclaimer: This is not a secrecy deck...

Middle-earth academics believe that, if you want to go deep into Mordor without raising any suspicion, giant bears and eagles are not recommended as your first choice. However, Radagast has never paid attention to the people behind the desks.

Just a minor (big!) change from the last version: Meneldor's Flight is out, and Born Aloft is in. It takes a little anticipation to play, but being able to use it on Gandalf makes it totally worth it.

Heroes

Radagast

• Radagast's Staff + Wizard Pipe + Burning Brand + Expert Treasure-hunter
• Brown Wizard: Creature specialist and engine for resource smoothing, card draw, and key attachments. Handles defense and questing with ease.

Gwaihir

• screeeeeech!!
• Winged Captain: Readies outside planning with eagle tricks. Your aerial attacker and combo enabler.

Beorn

• roarrrrrrrr!!!
• Fierce Guardian: Indestructible wall and powerhouse attacker. Can be revived by Landroval for extra value.

Mulligan & Setup

Mulligan for Radagast's Staff. It’s our main engine for resource acceleration and creature deployment.
Early access to Wizard Pipe or Expert Treasure-hunter is also helpful for card flow.

Strategy & Card Interactions

Radagast’s Strengths:
Aside from his Staff, Radagast is often ready during combat, making him a reliable defender, especially with A Burning Brand for shadow protection.

His ability to pay for Creature allies (Eagles and Beornings) is crucial for getting big allies into play quickly. With the Staff, we can reduce the cost of our first Creature each round, making expensive allies much more affordable.

Gwaihir Tricks:
Gwaihir can ready outside the planning phase with Meneldor's Flight, Flight of the Eagles, or Gwaihir's Debt. This allows him to attack, defend, or quest multiple times in a round.

In addition, these cards also trigger “leaves play” effects for Meneldor and Descendant of Thorondor, dealing direct damage to enemies or locations.

We also can use these effects to avoid losing allies due to forced discards (Vassal of the Windlord, Winged Guardian, Wilyador).

Born Aloft works similarly, and can even be used on Gandalf to get multiple uses from his enters-play ability!!

Note: None of these cards can prevent Eagle Emissary's forced discard effect.

Beorn's Handicap (?):
Beorn is not immune to Landroval's response, which is a good thing!

If Beorn is destroyed, Landroval can bring him back with just one damage, and this also readies Gwaihir. This combo gives us a “healing” ability for Beorn and lets us keep our offense going even after a big hit.

The attachment — Wizard Pipe:
Wizard Pipe turns Gwaihir's Debt into a Sneak Attack: move a card from your hand to the top of your deck, then play it for 1 resource.

The Pipe also works with Expert Treasure-hunter: after staging, swap a card from hand to the top of your deck for a guaranteed safe draw at quest resolution.

The event — Word of Command:
Word of Command is our tutor for key attachments like A Burning Brand, Wizard Pipe, or Radagast's Staff. If threat is becoming an issue, we can also fetch Favor of the Valar.

Since Radagast often quests without exhausting, he’s a reliable target for Word of Command. This means we don’t need to wait for the obvious choice to use the event.

The ally — Gandalf:
Gandalf is our main tool for threat reduction, with Favor of the Valar as a solid backup.

He’s also a top contender for card draw, though with a bit of luck, The Eagles Are Coming! can outpace him in that department. The Pipe+Treasure-hunter combo is perhaps more consistent for drawing cards, but it does require a bit more setup.

Don’t forget: Gandalf’s abbilities can be triggered multiple times in a game by using Born Aloft or Gwaihir's Debt to replay him.

Sideboard

• Descendant of Thorondor is on the expensive side, but its enters/leaves play response can provide significant direct damage.
• Messenger Raven synergizes with Wizard Pipe in the same way as Expert Treasure-hunter.
• About A Burning Brand:
  • Beorn (especially in the early game) and other strong defenders like Winged Guardian or Giant Bear can often handle defense. If you find you’re not relying on shadow protection, consider swapping out the Brand for another utility card.
• Support of the Eagles was originally in the deck, but I swapped it for Favor of the Valar to prioritize threat reduction. With so many strong defenders and attackers already, the extra boost from Support is less critical than keeping our threat under control.

In summary: This deck is all about Radagast’s wild approach to stealth: giant bears, eagles, and wizardly tricks. Mulligan for the staff, use eagle and bear synergies to control the board, and let Radagast’s shenanigans keep us one step ahead of Mordor’s watchful eyes.