[hero; vs. hero] Coast Deck

[Thrain II]

Hi there!

Here is my first attempt to build a Coast Deck. Any comments are welcome.

Starting company:

Cirdan (Cram)
- Elrohir
Imrahil (Horn of Anor)
- Anborn

Wizards:

Pallando
Pallando
Alatar

Characters:

Thrain II
Theoden
Balin
Gloin
Boromir II
Elladan
(Annalena)
(Damrod)

Resources:

Noble Steed
Noble Steed
Southrons
Knights of Dol Amroth
Elves of Lindon
Men of Lebennin
Scroll of Isildur
Wormsbane
Durin's Axe
Glamdring
Sapling of the White Tree
Precious Gold Ring
No Strangers at this Time
No Strangers at this Time
Forewarned is Forearmed
Forewarned is Forearmed
Risky Blow
Risky Blow
Dark Quarrels
Dark Quarrels
A Friend or Three
A Friend or Three
A Friend or Three
Lordly Presence
Belegaer
Belegaer
Belegaer
Marvels Told
Marvels Told
Longbottom Leaf
Longbottom Leaf
Longbottom Leaf

Hazards (vs. Hero & Fallen Wizard):

Adunaphel
Uvatha the Horseman
Mouth of Sauron
Wargs
Wargs
Wargs
Dire Wolves
Dire Wolves
Dire Wolves
Wolves
Wolves
Wolves
Wolf-Riders
Wolf-Riders
Wolf-Riders
Doors of the Night
Doors of the Night
Doors of the Night
Wake of War
Wake of War
Wake of War
Snowstorm
Snowstorm
Snowstorm
Long Winter
Long Winter
Many Sorrows Befall
An Unexpected Outpost
An Unexpected Outpost
Twilight
Twilight
Twilight

Hazards (vs. Minion & Balrog):

Adunaphel
Uvatha the Horseman
Mouth of Sauron
Nameless Thing
Nameless Thing
Alatar the Hunter
Gandalf the White Rider
Pallando the Soul-Keeper
Radagast the Tamer
Saruman the Wise
Elf-Lord Revealed in Wrath
Elf-Lord Revealed in Wrath
Elf-Lord Revealed in Wrath
Dwarven Travelers
Dwarven Travelers
Dwarven Travelers
Foolish Words
Foolish Words
Chill Them with Fear
Chill Them with Fear
Chill Them with Fear
River
River
Revealed to All Watchers
An Unexpected Outpost
An Unexpected Outpost
Heedless Revelry
Heedless Revelry
Returned Beyond All Hope
Returned Beyond All Hope
Twilight
Twilight

Sideboard:

Tom Bombadil
Nenselde the Wingild
Tower Guard of Minas Tirith
Men of Anfalas
Orkrist
The One Ring
Dwarven Ring of Bavor's Tribe
Wizard's Test
Old Friendship
Cracks of Doom
The White Tree
Sacrifice of Form
Vanishment
Smoke Rings
Smoke Rings

Durin's Bane
Nameless Thing
The Way is Shut
Smaug
Itangast Ahunt
Earcaraxe Ahunt
Daelomin at Home
Mordor in Arms
Mordor in Arms
Fell Winter
Fell Winter
Foul Fumes
Foolish Words
Call of Home
Muster Disperses

[Dam]

Um, checked and checked but didn't see Sentinels of Numenor anywhere on that list. Since you have couple of the "Men of..." factions as well as Knights of DA in sideboard, those would offer extra MPs with Sentinels.

Also, maybe Aragorn II + ROTK, since you hanging around that area anyways (partly anyway)?

[Jambo]

Nice deck, I have something very similar in fact.

One suggestion I might make it to cut down the size of the resources and hazards from 35 to around 30 if you can. Most of my better decks are between 30-32, and you may find 35 a little slow.

For example, you could take out one of more of the major items and the Precious Gold Ring?

Cheers

[Thrain II]

I was not sure whether to include Sentinels of Numenor or not. I have three factions in my deck which would benefit from that card but the influence check gets -2...

I agree with the size of the deck - 32/32 would be perfect. Right now I am not sure what to take off, so I first want to make some matches to get an idea how it works. The Precious Gold Ring is important because I was wondering to destroy the One Ring with Gandalf - crazy, I know. It might suprise my opponent when I play the One Ring at Southron Oasis and move to Mount Doom the same turn.

I do not like Aragorn II, so I rather prefere to take Thrain II...

Thanks,

Timo

[Bandobras Took]

It looks like you're playing the Palantir of Amon Sul just to store it -- and your Align Palantir is in the sideboard. That may be a little too slow to pull off. You might consider instead using the Stones (I'm assuming that's where you would play the Palantir of Amon Sul) to get Wormsbane (in case of Earcaraxe attacks). It's a certain 4 MPs vs. a slow 5 MPs, and it helps against at least a couple of hazards that can come up from the sideboard.

[Thrain II]

Yes, I wanted to store the Palantir of Amon Sul with Align Palantir. Wormsbane might be a good replacement regarding Earcaraxe but if I have bad luck, my opponent will play this item first. It is unlikely that he has the Palantir, so I thought it might be better to use this one. Also, I would have less problems with corruption. However, I have to try out how it works...

Thanks!

Timo

[Zarathustra]

I expect you'll be wanting Dark Quarrels and/or Forewarned is Forearmed (more than one). go with the former if you want to duck your way out of Assassins, Ambushers, Corsairs, Sellswords, and Pirates (all of which hit your deck...), with the latter if you want to try to kill em. I'd suggest probably both (3 DQ, 2 FiF).

[Strider]

IMO Forewarned is Forearmed is a must in a deck like this. And I would also reccomend putting in at least Goldberry and 1 or 2 Noble Hounds to keep safe and keep the opponent from doubling their ally MP's.

[Thrain II]

Thanks, I have done some changes to improve my deck:

Palantir of Amon Sul Wormsbane
Align Palantir (sideboard) Orkrist (sideboard)
Fellowship Lordly Presence
2x True Friendship 2x Dark Quarrels
Torque of Hues Forewarned is Forearmed

I still have no idea how to cut down the deck size. Any ideas how to improve the hazard deck?

Timo

[Sly Southerner]

Personally I think Longbottom Leaf is very overrated. It actually slows your deck down considerably by increasing deck size. Effectively your resource size is actually 41 with your 35 resources and if you use Longbottom Leaf 3 times. This will be very slow.


I would put the resources you really want to play in the deck. I tend to use the sideboard mainly for hazards, and if I desperately need a sideboard resource then I can always tap the wizard once eg if opponent plays Wormsbane and you need to get Orcrist.

The best use for Longbottom Leaf I have seen is to put one in the deck and play it to bring two smoke rings from the sideboard if you need them. You then have the ability to sideboard effectively at the expense of only one initial deck slot.

[Sauron]

Sideboarding is a very important part of the game, that takes a bit of time to learn. It's about timing.

Lets say you're doing the sapling/white tree combo in your deck. Would you want to draw the white tree on turn 1 and hold it all game. Or would you prefer to use your 2nd or 3rd longbottom or smoke ring to put it into your deck later in the game after you have the sapling?

[Bandobras Took]

I still have no idea how to cut down the deck size. Any ideas how to improve the hazard deck?

Timo

Dwar of Waw isn't so spectacular that you have to have him in your hazard deck. Also, Shelob and Morlat don't enhance wolf attacks. Consider dropping the wolves and putting in another Lesser Spider (with all the spider enhancers you have, they become brutal). A Watcher in the Water is pretty nasty with Full of Froth and Rage -- of which I would include more than one; your opponent could get lucky. Every character faces one stike at 10 prowess. Eleven with Shelob. I don't think you're getting full mileage out of your attack enhancers by including the wolves.

Also, if your deck is going to be slow, consider using Alatar to slow down your opponent's deck. -1 card draw during the M/H phase for your opponent is not too shabby.

[Lord Leuber]

Southrons
Men of Anfalas
Wormsbane

Hazards:

3x Snowstorm
2x Long Winter

Maybe I'm missing something, but Lond Galen, Southron Oasis and The Stones are in regions, and the latter two even have :w: in their site path. Wouldn't you get in trouble from your own hazards?

Granted, Belegaer takes care of the Snowstorm, but you might not have one every turn, and it doesn't help against the Long Winter tapping...

[Sly Southerner]

Sideboarding is a very important part of the game, that takes a bit of time to learn. It's about timing.

Lets say you're doing the sapling/white tree combo in your deck. Would you want to draw the white tree on turn 1 and hold it all game. Or would you prefer to use your 2nd or 3rd longbottom or smoke ring to put it into your deck later in the game after you have the sapling?

I'm not saying sideboarding isnt important, I just think that you shouldnt need to bring in six resources from your sideboard. This will really slow you down. At most one or two resources from the sideboard should be enough for combos such as Sapling/White Tree. This can be accompished without filling 3 slots with Longbottom Leaf. One Smoke Rings in the deck and two in the sideboard can do it if you "smoke for smokes" until you are ready to grab your White Tree. Smoke Rings can also pull a card from the discard pile so is more verstaile.

It also depends on your style of play. I like to have a very quick hero deck and one way to achieve this is to minimise sideboarding. I also think if your deck is trying to do too many things/combos you will end up doing none of them well.

Incidentally I would also ditch the One Ring idea. It just isnt going to happen often enough to be worth a slot in your deck. After that you dont need Gandalf either, so I would go with Alatar and Pallando.

[Thrain II]

Personally I think Longbottom Leaf is very overrated. It actually slows your deck down considerably by increasing deck size. Effectively your resource size is actually 41 with your 35 resources and if you use Longbottom Leaf 3 times. This will be very slow.

Yes, this might be true. On the other hand I have done good experiences with 3x Longbottom Leaf. Especially for this deck I need a good access to my sideboard [additional Ally, Haradrim if I fail to recruit the Southrons, Orkrist if my opponent has Wormsbane first, either the One Ring or the DR with Wizard's Test, The White Tree, ...]. For me it is important to have a variety of opportunities depending on what I need to win the match. Destroying the One Ring seems rather crazy in this deck but that's exactly why I have included it. No one expects that. I am fan of scenario games and I am not mainly fixed on winning the game under all circumstances...

Lets say you're doing the sapling/white tree combo in your deck. Would you want to draw the white tree on turn 1 and hold it all game. Or would you prefer to use your 2nd or 3rd longbottom or smoke ring to put it into your deck later in the game after you have the sapling?

I would not put the White Tree in my deck because I have done bad experiences with pulling to wrong cards. I need the Sapling first before I take the White Tree from my sideboard.

Dwar of Waw isn't so spectacular that you have to have him in your hazard deck.

Indeed. I think I will take him off the hazard deck.

Also, Shelob and Morlat don't enhance wolf attacks. Consider dropping the wolves and putting in another Lesser Spider (with all the spider enhancers you have, they become brutal).

Are there any other spider creatures I can include to my deck to replace the wolve creatures? I already reached the creature minimum of 12, so I can't simply take the wolves off this deck. Wake of War gives a nice bonus for wolves if Doors of the Night are in play, so I don't think they are useless.

Also, if your deck is going to be slow, consider using Alatar to slow down your opponent's deck. -1 card draw during the M/H phase for your opponent is not too shabby.

Alatar, hmm. As long as I stay with my One Ring option, I will keep Gandalf in the deck. I am free to choose where to reveal him (in example to play the Elves of Lindon) which is not bad.

Maybe I'm missing something, but Lond Galen, Southron Oasis and The Stones are in wilderness regions, and the latter two even have wildernesswilderness in their site path. Wouldn't you get in trouble from your own hazards?

Well, I think 3x Belegaer is well enough to avoid that my own Snowstorms can hit me. I also have enough sites without a wilderness on it's site path, so I think this won't be a hugh problem.

Thanks for your suggestions!

Timo