Starter - Ithilien

Format: King Standard

Author: Phallen

Ring-bearer: Frodo, Tired Traveller
Ring: The One Ring, Answer To All Riddles

Adventure deck:
Steps of Edoras
West Road
Hall of the Kings
Anduin Banks
City Gates
Minas Tirith Sixth Circle
Pelennor Grassland
Cross Roads
Dagorlad

Free Peoples Draw Deck:
1x Faramir, Captain of Gondor
4x Gondorian Ranger
2x Mablung, Soldier of Gondor
1x Ranger of Ithilien
1x Sam, Proper Poet
2x Gondorian Merchant
3x Banner of Westernesse
1x Faramir's Cloak
4x Ranger's Bow
2x Sword of Gondor
2x Hobbit Sword
2x Dagger Strike
1x Stand to Arms
3x Swordsman of the Northern Kingdom
1x Light Shining Faintly
2x Power According to His Stature
1x Ancient Roads
2x Ithilien Trap

Shadow Draw Deck:
1x Army of Haradrim
3x Desert Lord
3x Desert Soldier
3x Desert Stalker
3x Southron Bowman
1x Southron Commander
2x Southron Invaders
3x Southron Traveler
2x Southron Wanderer
1x Troop of Haradrim
3x Mumak
1x Raider Halberd
1x Discovered
2x On the March
2x Red Wrath
1x War Towers
1x Whirling Strike
1x Arrow From the South
1x Ithilien Wilderness

Notes


Faramir's rangers ambushing Mumaks. Another straightforward FP with a slightly tricky Shadow.

Free Peoples: (Starting Faramir and Ranger of Ithilien)
One of the strongest starts in the game, you're all but guaranteed a strength 9 and strength 8 companion at site 2. Broadly speaking, Ring-bound Rangers can be oriented towards direct wounding or skirmishing. Since these decks are intended to give people a taste of the game in the most thematic way I've tried to get both of those directions in here, and I don't know if I've picked a balance or done both poorly. We'll see!

My philosophy on Ring-bound Rangers is that Gondorian Ranger is more consistent than Ancient Roads, reflected here. Faramir, Ranger of Ithilien, and Mablung are your only "real" companions in a sense, though I generally will redshirt the Ranger of Ithilien to fit 2 Gondorian Rangers in the fellowship.

Should be able to put away minions and double one way or another. Thinking about Gondor's Vengeance.

Shadow:
Most of my Southron builds have conspicuously low minion counts, which wouldn't pair well with a FP that has no intentional cycling. I really wanted mumaks though, so I've created sort of a "Southron Greatest Hits" deck here that showcases a bit of everything that they can do without relying so much on supporting cards.