Starter - Edoras

Format: King Standard

Author: Phallen

Ring-bearer:
Ring:

Adventure deck:

Free Peoples Draw Deck:
4x
1x
1x
1x
1x
1x
1x
1x
1x
2x
1x
1x
1x
1x
1x
1x
1x
1x
1x
3x
1x
1x
3x
2x
2x

Shadow Draw Deck:
4x
3x
4x
3x
1x
3x
2x
2x
4x
4x
2x
1x
2x

Notes

The House of Theoden and the traitors in their midst.

Free Peoples: (starting Eowyn and Theoden. I recommend a low bid, 0-2)
I needed a Gandalf deck, which is tricky because he's everywhere yet rarely the focal point. Hearken to Me is always a fun one though, Theoden quickly becomes a towering 11 strength and 5 vitality. The condition makes him invaluable against the Edge of Fangorn and Shire shadow sides, who won't be able to cripple him with their conditions. When geared up, Eomer is another natural 11 while Gandalf and Eowyn are comfortable 10s.

Your allies put the "support" in "support area" and keep your companions ready to fight -- pumps, heals, replaying discarded stuff. Most of the time, the first card I would pull with Simbelmyne is Deor so you can cycle and get to your Gandalf cards. Hoping 4x Gandalf is enough. It's always risky not starting with a key companion though, and almost a third of the deck unplayable without him. Gandalf's also the swarm protection, so it's crucial that he and his staff can be played as quickly as possible.

All in all, should be a very sturdy Free Peoples pretty similar to the other Rohan deck. It's among the most stressed for cards though, it wants everything all the time. I made room for Mithrandir! Mithrandir! once I realized how potent the Moria deck could be, if that doesn't end up being a concern I'll be able to swap something else back in. Forth Eorlingas! is tempting for Eomer in particular, he has the support here to decimate 3 minions with it.

Shadow:
Isenmen aren't the best shadow I admit, but I think they're still underrated on the whole. Unferth is free wounds, you've got 6x -1 to apply to companions and 3x Wormtongue to annoy your opponent to no end. I'm hopeful about how they'll match up against most other FPs, even if it's unlikely to kill Frodo it will still do a lot of damage.

You've got some choices to make in where to play your conditions and how to use Wormtongue, but for the most part this deck is very straightforward. Cheap minions and lots of disruption, so there's few ways to do it "wrong." Your one surprise, Men Will Fall, affects companions rather than minions which makes it unique among skirmish events -- it can be used during Enquea's skirmish, for example. And once companions have their strength brought down a point or two by your condition, the -2 is really worth +4 on your minion and you can get some unexpected overwhelms. Unferth peppering your opponent will make wins enough to get kills so I probably wouldn't hold them in hand waiting for those opportunities, but there you go. Note that it can't be used on Frodo, Sam, or Faramir's Rangers since they're all Ring-bound.

This deck splashes Enquea, which initially I wanted to avoid for the lack of theme. There's charitably 15 cards in this subculture though and none of them are any help against a large fellowship, and the most thematic subculture to splash would be IsenOrcs who also don't really offer anything. So I'm looking at basically just Enquea or The Number Must Be Few. I actually prefer TNMBF for this deck, but I prefer it because of how it shuts down large fellowships which I felt was not a great direction for a starter deck. Nonetheless, Nazgul talked to people (and freaked them out) all the time, so even if it's not fully thematic for a Nazgul to be working so closely with Saruman it's not necessarily anti-thematic. I'll reassess once I play more games against big fellowships.