The Eagles Are Coming!

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The Eagles Have Landed 1 1 0 1.0
The Eagles Are Coming! BN Edit 0 0 0 1.0
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radAGHAST 452

As my username may suggest, I've been awaiting Radagast eagerly. This deck is just so dang fun.

Hirgon makes so much sense here, allowing eagles to flood the board, and Eowyn adds the best threat cost to will power ratio in the game, no brainer.

Starting Hand:

The ideal card in your starting hand is Radagast's Staff, however the deck is still potent without it. Daeron's Runes, Gandalf (perhaps via Gwaihir's Debt), or Word of Command will help you retrieve it in due time.

Running the deck:

This deck can run solo, but its weakness is willpower. Consistently, you can send 6 to 8 from Hirgon, Eowyn and sometimes Radagast, though unless he's going for his Response, I prefer to keep him back to defend.

Once 2 allies like Eagles of the Misty Mountains, Meneldor and Gwaihir come into play, your available will go up, and you can get extra actions out of those soon-to-be-stacked Eagles of the Misty Mountains with Radagast's Staff. It's important to quest successfully consistently, though, to get Hirgon's ability going.

You can amass an incredible fleet of eagles between the reduction conferred by Radagast's Staff and Hirgon - minus 3 to the cost of any eagle is tremendous. This means a free Meneldor, or a 1 cost Eagles of the Misty Mountains every turn.

Eagles of the Misty Mountain is the heart and soul of the deck, easily powering up to massive combat stats (my personal best is 15 and 15 *). But how do you get those allies in and out?

  1. Vassal of the Windlord and Winged Guardian do it themselves.
  2. Chump block with Descendant of Thorondor and Meneldor and also trigger their abilities as they go.
  3. Use Gwaihir's ability to bring in an eagle from the discard pile, when it leaves at the end of the round, relocate it to under Eagles instead of your hand.
  4. You can replicate #3 with Flight of the Eagles and Gwaihir's Debt.

*N.B.: While it is fun to get an ultra beefed up Eagles of the Misty Mountains, it may not make the most strategic sense. In all likelihood, two Eagles running at +4 and each will be more effective than one running at +8.

Other fun nonsense:

Word of Command

This card allows you to fetch that critical piece you need - like Radagast's Staff - or something silly and awesome like Justice Shall Be Done. When do you trigger it? Perhaps after Radagast commits to the quest without exhausting, or perhaps by exhausting Gandalf during the refresh phase.

Gwaihir's Debt or Gwaihir and Flight of the Eagles

Gwaihir and his debt both require you to return the eagle you fetch to your hand at the end of the round. But if they're not in play, no worries! So, before the round ends and they go away, return them to your hand with Flight of the Eagles. This mitigates the cost of Flight - that eagle ally was going away anyhow!

Bard son of Brand

I think this works, would love your thoughts on it... If another player is controls Bard son of Brand and your beefed up Eagles of the Misty Mountains perishes, I believe all the eagles underneath it go back to your hand. That is a fun - though excessive - way to rejuvenate your game.

Thanks for reading and happy playing!

12 comments

Jun 09, 2019 TheChad 14467

Thank you for making this deck. I knew someone would make this hero line-up! Can't wait to try it!

Jun 09, 2019 radAGHAST 452

Thanks @TheChad! Yeah it's obviously not the most ingenious lineup. Happy playing!

Jun 09, 2019 ellipticaltable 230

Do Radagast's Staff and Hirgon combine to make Meneldor free, or does it still bottom out at 1? I suppose it comes down to which discount gets applied first.

Jun 09, 2019 radAGHAST 452

Hi @ellipticaltable! My assumption is that is works similar to how Théoden's ability, when combined with Hirgon, allows a tactics Rohan ally to come into play for free. While Theoden specifies "to a minimum of 0" my assumption is that because the staff doesn't stipulate any minimum, the minimum could be 0. Anyone else think anything different about it?

Jun 09, 2019 TheChad 14467

You would reduce by 3. It's a great combo.

Jun 10, 2019 Tegyrius 126

@TheChadCan you do an action within a response to questing? Please explain why staff and Hirgon would work together. Or if you start with the action, you are not responding to questing…? If the staff was a response, it would make more sense.

Jun 10, 2019 radAGHAST 452

@Tegyrius the wording of the staff allows you to trigger its action anytime during the quest stage prior to questing successfully and still benefit from the discount (“the next creature”). There are several action windows in which you could do so. So that isn’t an issue. However, your question does raise another: does the sequence in which discounts are applied matter in terms of discounts? In my example above, Theoden and Hirgon’s discounts are both happening at the same time. But because the staff has to come before the response, maybe Hirgon’s minimum does indeed apply? I’m not sure.

Jun 10, 2019 TheChad 14467

The more I think about it, the more confusing it is. Perhaps you should ask Caleb to avoid us getting it wrong?

Jun 10, 2019 Tegyrius 126

I understand now. The staff has to be triggered beforehand (in the quest phase).

Jun 10, 2019 Tegyrius 126

There is an action window after encounter cards are revealed but before you resolve questing. That's the last opportunity yo use staff's action if you want to combine it with Hirgon. Don't know in which order they trigger, though.

Jun 10, 2019 Tyrion Gru 1

I'm gonna go with the 3 discount, until somebody tells me I can't. Even then, I'll probably still take the 3.

Nov 05, 2020 bane 95

Hirgon's ability limits the discount, Meneldor won't come free unfortunately.