Ranger Bows, My Precious

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JYoder 338

What if a frenzy came over the heroes, where they needed Ranger Bows as desperately as Gollum needed the ring?

Pair this with another deck, such one below with Beregond, Thalin, and Éowyn that does direct damage, which Thalin kickstarts. Get enemies to 1-2 life so Spear of the Citadel on sentinel Spearman take out enemies as they attack.

http://ringsdb.com/decklist/view/8778

This deck starts a bit selfish, as rangers scramble to find their misplaced bows. (Apparently, Anborn didn't put them back where they belong.) How it works...

Mulligan for Steward on Balin for his ability and Heed the Dream to nab bows if draw isn't friendly and/or use Open the Armory. Get Gléowine in ASAP. Use Errand-riders to move resources. Only use Not Idle for card draw as Balin will quest. Set only one trap per turn, cheap via Damrod.

With a good starting hand and draws, you should have 2 bows armed fairly quickly on allies (not heroes). But up until then, it's not like this deck does nothing, as Haldir (with Bows of the Galadhrim from other deck) takes out enemies, Damrod sets traps to immobilize or weaken enemies... which he happens to use for card draw, and there Balin's ability.

Once you've armed at least 2 bows, this deck becomes very unselfish, using Heeds, Errand-riders, and Gléowine on the other deck. It feels very fun and thematic as the focus drastically shifts from lots of scrambling, to lots of aiding and damage, outright killing enemies or weakening them to get impaled on spears.

For more questing, add Steward of Orthanc, but if you don't plan to use his draw power and need location control, use Mirkwood Explorers. Lórien's Wealth is another (spendy) option to play on yourself early, but on other deck later. Master of Forge is in sideboard, but between Heed, Armory, and raw draw power, I didn't miss him.

This deck, with the other, dominates Journey Down the Anduin as Thalin takes out crows, Éowyn takes out initial Troll, then Ranger Bows and Haldir pick off enemies in staging as they try to accumulate. I've had fun against other quests too, such as Wastes of Eriador by taking out wolves, the recent Dungeons of Cirith Gurat, etc.

At times it can misstep, but even so, these may be the most "fun" decks I've played. Picking at enemies with Ranger Bows may not be uber practical, but when it clicks, it's incredibly gratifying as I catch myself miming that I'm firing arrows from afar. (Wait... did I really just say that?)

Now where's that Anborn so we can show him where we keep the bows!?

4 comments

May 24, 2018 ErstwhileNortherner 1

I like this deck a lot. Fresh Tracks might work well here with Gléowine when you spot a worse-than-usual type of enemy headed your way

May 24, 2018 ErstwhileNortherner 1

..and was thinking of Henamarth Riversong instead of Gléowine

May 24, 2018 ErstwhileNortherner 1

Plus of course Expecting Mischief

May 24, 2018 JYoder 338

My focus was single-mindedly drawing and arming Ranger Bows ASAP, but the deck can be tweaked to make it more well rounded. Good thoughts, and thanks!