4P Progression Cycle 1 Spirit 1.0

• Versions
• 1.0

Part of a four player fellowship. See notes on full fellowship. The sideboard is cards of interest when later cycles unlock.

Fellowship decks:

• Spirit: https://ringsdb.com/deck/view/631697
• Tactics: https://ringsdb.com/deck/view/631682
• Lore: https://ringsdb.com/deck/view/631700
• Leadership: https://ringsdb.com/deck/view/631692

Card/synergy notes in approximate priority order:

• Ancient Mathom (as many as possible)
• A Test of Will
• Northern Tracker
• Hasty Stroke
• Unexpected Courage
• Everything else as needed
• If using my house rule for Will of the West (once per round for the group, isn't removed from game) and want to grind for a perfect score (zero threat), then the priority shifts to card draw and threat reduction as detailed below.

Put Steward of Gondor on Blue (from the start). Gléowine and Beravor give cards to whoever needs them (focus on Blue first), making sure no one ever has a wasted draw (from an empty deck). Théodred passes money to Éowyn during questing (total income $6/turn on Blue). Play Ancient Mathom as often as possible and such that Blue gets the draws. Play The Galadhrim's Greeting as often as possible. Get Blue to empty deck as soon as possible, then use the loop below.

Blue Loop (with +card each turn from Bilbo or Gléowine or Campfire):

• Turn A1: 2x Greeting
• Turn B1: Greeting, WotW ($2 banked)
• Turn A2: 2x Greeting ($2 banked)
• Turn B2: Greeting, WotW ($4 banked)
• Turn C: Receive Beravor (+3 cards total), 3x Greeting, WotW
• Repeat cycle, 72 threat/cycle (52 net).

Total reduction needed depends on the quest flow (Doomed X, failed questing) and how fast you can get to endgame (empty deck). Starting threat is 107. 3x Greeting (first pass through deck) knocks off 24 (83 remain). Tick up (at least) 4/turn (115 remain at start of round nine). Two loops lands you at round 19 with 13 threat remaining, which can likely be cleared by each other player having had at least one Gandalf along the way.

The primary restrictions are (Blue) card draw and money, so Green should mulligan for Gléowine, while Purple should mulligan for and give Steward of Gondor to Blue, along with all Théodred money, then focus on Campfire, which implies also using Sneak-Gandalf-Sacrifice for card draw to get more Campfire. With focused fire, Blue can deck out by turn six: 50 cards minus six starting minus 18 (6x Mathom/Tomb) minus two (Campfire) minus 4/turn (basic draw, Beravor, Gléowine or Bilbo Baggins). However, this pacing is likely not optimal because even with accelerated money Blue will run dry (needs to play 3x Greeting, 3x Tomb, 6x Mathom, and Will of the West by the time the deck is empty) and the team will likely need at least one Northern Tracker, A Test of Will, and/or Hasty Stroke along the way. A more realistic target is probably turn eight, giving some excess card draw to Purple (for more Campfire) or whoever needs it. A zero-threat game will probably take 16 to 20 rounds.

Obviously the above will vary with quest dynamics and details, which will often force the players to spend money/cards on something other than the threat engine.