Deck Testing Report – Core Set

While I wait to actually get over a rather annoying cold (so that I can actually record on the narrative campaign for Journey Down the Anduin), I decided to report back on how the deck testing has been coming.

So far, the results are highly encouraging. I could talk about the Passage Through Mirkwood tests, but those don’t actually reveal much about the decks since the quest is such an easy one. If the decks had failed to win consistently, that would reveal some stark weaknesses, but since they have consistently beaten the quest, it doesn’t say much. The potential weaknesses of these decks just aren’t tested particularly hard in this quest.

I do want to share one particular test run, though. It was actually a candidate for the writeup run, but on review I found a significant error that disqualified the run. Unfortunate, because this test was much more epic than the one that I ended up using.

For starters, the T1 reveal was a Dol Guldur Beastmaster and Ungoliant’s Spawn. Between the threat gain from losing the quest and a Doomed 2 from Deep Knowledge, I was only 1 threat under the engagement cost of the Spawn. Luckily, I had gotten a Gondorian Shield out on Eleanor and a Cloak of Lorien on Rossiel, so I could safely defend against the starting Forest Spider. None Return ensured that Rossiel would have 5 defense against Spider enemies from then on, so from Turn 2 through the end of the game, Rossiel just defended against Ungoliant’s Spawn.

Due to difficulty getting willpower out, it took several turns to finally clear Scout Ahead, and even longer to clear the first stage of the quest, and the encounter deck never really let up. But in spite of that all, I got the quest under control and by the end of it we killed Ungoliant’s Spawn and quested through the 10 quest points on Beorn’s Path to victory in a single round.

It was certainly an epic playthrough – and it was a situation that could easily have caused problems for even a well-tuned deck. But, even a run like this one wasn’t really suited for stress-testing potential weak points.

So, on to the testing for Journey Along the Anduin. I haven’t kept an official record, unfortunately. But out of at least a dozen attempts, my overall impression is that I win somewhere between two-thirds and three-quarters of the runs.

So first, let’s talk about the deck changes. For Anduin, I’ve removed the 2 copies of A Test of Will from the Eleanor deck. I’m just not too concerned about the treacheries in this quest. The two that really bother me are Necromancer’s Reach and Evil Storm. Evil Storm can be easily managed by keeping your threat underneath 35, and I have Eleanor for Necromancer’s Reach. Pursued by Shadow can be dangerous in certain circumstances, such as when it pushes your threat above 35, but I’m not worried enough to cancel it most times.

In addition, I have Out of the Wild in the Rossiel deck. The enemies in this quest are far less cohesive in their Traits. We’ve got a scattering of Creatures, some Orcs, and – of course – everybody’s favorite Hill Trolls. The lack of a cohesive theme in the traits means that I can prioritize pulling treacheries out of the encounter deck instead of enemies. In addition to reducing the number of copies of those treacheries that I see, I can use The Door Is Closed to cancel future copies as well.

So, instead of Test of Will, I’ve included 2 copies of Ride Them Down!, which lets me convert progress tokens placed on the quest into damage placed on an enemy. Just one more way of dealing with the Hill Troll. In addition, I’ve added the side quest Double Back, as an option to reduce threat. At only 1x, it isn’t consistent, and I’m not planning my strategy around it, but it is certainly a boon when it does show up.

In the Rossiel deck, I’ve only made one major change – and it was mostly for thematic reasons. I’ve replaced the 3 copies of Gandalf with 3 copies of the Galadhrim Minstrel. Gandalf just doesn’t fit too well with the narrative I’ve started (after all, Eleanor’s whole purpose in this journey is to find her mentor). In addition, he very often was too expensive to justify playing. I found that there was almost always something better in my hand to play at any given moment. Hence the Galadhrim Minstrels. In addition to improving my card draw – especially given that the events are what make the Rossiel deck function – they provide a little bit more long-term willpower.

So, on to analyzing my losses. Generally, when I’ve lost to this quest, I can narrow it down to 2 reasons. Either I don’t have cancellation on-hand when the Hill Troll gets dealt a copy of Despair as a shadow card, or I don’t find the cards I need to take out the Hill Troll before I hit 30 threat and engage it. The second reason is by far the most common, of course. Sometimes it’s aided by not getting my willpower out fast enough. Other times I have willpower but setup reveals East Bight and Brown Lands at the same time and I don’t have my location control. And there was one instance where setup revealed a Goblin Sniper and the Marsh Adder right to start with, and never really let up. Eventually, I had to engage the Marsh Adder because I couldn’t quest past it, but I didn’t have enough attack power to kill it fast enough, and then I had to engage the Troll, and then I just didn’t have enough of anything.

However, like I said, those type of runs are not too common. Most of the time, I end up pinging the Hill Troll with Argalad once or twice, maybe supplemented by a Galadhon Archer. Then I engage it, either Feint it or defend the attack (Rossiel + Elven Mail or Eleanor + Gondorian Shield can both survive at least one hit, and if I have an Honour Guard, then even an attack-boosting shadow won’t kill them), and then kill it with some combination of Legolas, Lanwyn, Black Arrow, and a weapon attachment or two. My favorite runs are the ones where I get a willpower ally or two and Ride Them Down! in the opening hand. Eliminating the Hill Troll without ever engaging it is a very wonderful feeling.

The direct damage combination of Thalin and Argalad makes managing the other enemies in the deck a simple affair. Goblin Snipers – which can often be an annoyance if the staging area gets clogged with enemies – are dispatched on the turn they show up. Wargs can be immediately killed if you have a Gondorian Spearman out. Or, if they go back to the staging area, you just ping them with Argalad the next round and they’re dead. The Crows, unfortunately, don’t get to trigger Lanwyn’s response, but they do just get shuffled back into the deck, increasing the odds of a blank encounter deck draw the next round. I’m satisfied with my willpower levels also, and I’m finding myself generally able to handle defense as well. The fact that the Hill Trolls have victory points means that I don’t really have to worry about the second one – Rossiel gets her defense boost against it if it decides to show its face. I tend to remain under the engagement cost of Beastmasters and Chieftain Ufthak (although I like to send him to the victory display if I can, just to power up Rossiel).

All in all, I’m feeling good about these decks and their chances against this quest. As soon as my voice recovers enough and my schedule gives me some time to record away from my children, I’ll record and post the official run of Journey Along the Anduin. Then I’ll write an article or two preparing for Dol Guldur while I write up the narrative to go along with the video. The ride has been fun so far, and I hope it will get even better in the future.