The Fighting Elves

This Deck was build by Richard Peiper and was published first on "Lord of the Rings Online (lotrtcg.decipher.com)".

The Fighting Elves

Deck listing:

Hints & strategie notes for this Deck

Have you ever looked at the Elves and said 'If only they could fight they would be good!'? I thought the same thing, so I set out to make an Elf fighting deck. The first thing I looked at was the Naiths. They should be the fighting Elves, however Pengedhel is the biggest of the fighting Naiths and he is only an 8 with a bow. They also do not add to the archery total, which is one of the strengths of Elves, so I crossed Naiths off my list.

I then began to look through the various Elven skirmish events and ran across a theme that might work, targetting wounded minions. Elves are easily able to dish out wounds with archery, and are also able to take advantage of it with Blades Drawn, Valor, and Lorien Swordsman. This gives us a basis for a fighting Elf deck, but is it enough? Many cultures are able to fight, so why use Elves?

The very early decks I built were just a bunch of cards with no theme and no balance between Shadow and Fellowship. A few friends helped me to discover the joys of a deck which cycles through cards properly, and that is where the Elves can really shine. The Elven sword and Lembas give us a start for an excellent card cycling fellowship. Elven sword allows you to discard 2 cards to make a minion strength -1, so you can win fights and move unneeded cards out of your hand at the same time. Lembas allows you to reconcile your hand during regroup, allowing you to double move easier and to keep your deck moving smoothly. Alliance Reforged is a card which can draw as many as 4 cards in the fellowship phase if you can spot 4 Elves, combine this with the card cycling of Elven Swords and you are well on your way to a powerful fighting fellowship.

We now have the basis of a deck. We can draw massive numbers of cards, and use them effectively. We can dish out large numbers of wounds and double move when needed. 4 Elven Bows and 4 Elven Swords, I guess we need to add some Elves to use them. No Elf deck is complete without Legolas - I selected Elven Comrade because of his ability to help all the other Elves around him as well as work well with his best friend Gimli, Unbidden Guest. Gimli and Legolas together at the start make a powerful fighting force, and so make a good starting fellowship. If you bid to go first, however, it can be more effective to start Legolas and Haldir, also sturdy 7 strength at the start, and exert to bring in Gimli using Plains of Rohan. Sam is also a good addition to any deck with his ability to remove a burden when you play him with Frodo, Tired Traveller and protect Frodo from additional burdens.

The Lorien Swordsman is an often underutilized companion. He is not unique, so you can have as many as 4 in play at once. He is able to beat even the biggest minions when they are wounded with his innate ability to make each minion -2 for each wound on it. He brings the total up to 9 companions with 4 of him in the deck. Finally, we have to make some use of our massive card drawing, and our drawing during the regroup phase. Skirmish events make the best use out of regroup card drawing, and lets you keep your Elves on the victorious side of the skirmish. There are a few spots left in the deck, so I added a Hobbit Sword to help Frodo, and a single Severed his Bonds for that quick get away early or late with it's dual ability of canceling the skirmish or making Frodo harder to kill. The final card I added was a bit of a surpise to me as well as I had never heard of it before I saw it by accident during a draft tournament. That is No Orc Horn not only plays in regroup, so the extra twilight doesn't hurt you. It also heals a companion of your choice and liberates a site - how can you beat that for a dual purpose card.