Seastan's Boromir 1.0

• Versions
• 1.0

PSA: Several of Seastan's early videos feature this deck (or at least this archetype), including a very amusing vid for worst-possible-start Nightmare Journey along the Anduin. See them at www.youtube.com

@SeastanI know SoG+Harvest is a key piece to getting Boromir rolling, but needing one before you can play the other makes me nervous. Do you ever have games that stall because they don't show up? Does it hurt the consistency?

@AtaruSlashThanks to the Mirror, I normally get it into play by at most turn 3. Getting a Gondorian Shield on Boromir can help you stall for time.

This is the deck I've played more than any other. It's a masterpiece.

Seems ok..... :D

Yep, when a quest gives you trouble, you build this deck and CRUSH that nasty quest. ''Take that, game!''

Hands down the best deck I've ever used. The corruption of Boromir is reversed by the grace of Galadriel. I've beat almost every nightmare quest with this deck. 11/10

This deck is so good! Thanks Seastan. I had overlooked Boromir from Core Set, never realized how incredibly powerful he is until playing this deck.

@Seastan - I'm curious what you would do if you were building two decks to rule them all. Would you just make a strong support deck to pair with this, throw in Dunedain Cache, etc., and still have Boromir do most of the work, or would you revise, such as taking out A Good Harvest/Steward and running leadership in the other deck so they could just put it on Boromir? Maybe even Loragorn and 1x Desperate Alliance. The free slots could be put to good use, going up to 3x Daeron's, Test of Will, etc. Maybe it's as simple as running a dwarf deck but I think with some creativity you could have two decks that really integrate well.

@hon I do have a "Two Deck" version that is pretty much exactly as you describe. It's even more powerful than this one. Loragorn with all the doomed cards and Desparate Alliance, and a couple extra attachments to get Boromir Sentinel and Ranged. I'm still actively tweaking it though, so it's not published yet.

Just the thing needed to get me through Deadmen's Dike - and hopefully a few more adventures to come.

How are you playing Daeron's Runes without a resource match? A Good Harvest does not work with 0 cost cards.

Ignore my previous comment, I forgot that Nenya gave Galadriel a Lore icon

Except for 2x Dwarven Tomb, you can build this list with only one core set!

@jodudeitit uses 3x Steward of Gondor

This deck is so strong! Beats Deadmen's Dike like a piece of cake.

@danithacaGlad you like it!

@Seastanpls, share the two deck to rule them all :P

@barbalbero The two decks are over here: ringsdb.com

@SeastanAn epic display of brilliant deck building here mate! Chapeau bas!

I have also meddled with breaking Gondorian Fire and Blood of Númenor but I failed to do so in a solo deck. I was too dumb to appreciate A Good Harvest, which a monster of a card in this creation. Good job! =)

@qkieu Thank you! You may find that A Good Harvest makes it into many of my decks!

@SeastanYou surely have opened my eyes about that card. I considered it to be of a 'wallpaper' quality. Now I stand corrected (said the man in the orthopedic shoes ^^). What an embarrassing moment ^^

This deck is AWESOME. After around 20 failed attempts with various other decks, I finally beat Peril in Pelargir with this build. On the first try too!

Thanks for posting. I've been having a lot of fun with this deck. lately been getting destroyed and have been discouraged but this deck makes me feel like I have a chance. The mirror is kind of fun also but I find that if I only have one card in my hand it gets a little iffy. Anyway just wanted to share my thanks and thoughts.

@Raven614Yeah make sure you have a decent hand size before using mirror unless you're desperate! I always use Galadriel's card draw first. If you have Silver Harp, you could try putting that in the deck as well.

Before I say anything, I have massive respect for you, and think the decks you build are fabulous. That being said, I had a hard time with stewards fear with it single handed. The attachment hate ate both Asfaloth, and I had huge issues with questing. It's probably my playstyle but I had issues with having so little in play except 3 heroes loaded with attachments.

Having fun with this deck but wondering how to handle ranged enemies that can only be defended or attacked with ranged characters.

@bodasafaGlad you are enjoying the deck!

This is a good question. The deck has 2 methods of dealing with such enemies:

1. Ignore them, and heal off their damage with Warden of Healing
2. Kill them with Gandalf

Wow, thanks for the quick reply. I used those methods and it worked fine, thank you. Wondered if I could side bar a ranched ally but its so light on them already didn't know if I would mess up the synergy you crafted.

This is such a powerful deck. I have never played with so few allies but it works.

@bodasafaThanks to Galadriel's Mirror, throwing in just a card or two of your own won't mess with the synergy too much.

@MorgothsfootThanks!

@EarlyToBed My biggest problem with Steward's Fear was actually Local Trouble. If you don't cancel it, it's a game ender (it turns Boromir's ability into 3 threat per use). So I use the Mirror to make sure I always have Test of Will, and I also look to get Asfaloth out asap with Good Harvest so that he can prevent location lock. Thirdly, rather than focus on the Handmaidens for Willpower (because of the ally hate) I go for Unexpected Courage and Nenya on Galadriel.

It's still tough to win, but possible. Try to delay claiming any objectives until stage 2 so that you can get past it quick, making it so the plot is only active for a couple turns.

Here is a video (sadly no audio for this one) of the deck taking down the Nightmare version of Steward's Fear. I followed much of the strategy I just described, except for the part about delaying claiming objectives (the nightmare card prevents that).

Nice, thank you for the tips. Currently using your multiplayer bard deck, works nice, and fun to play.

I keep going back to this deck. I added Power of Orthanc for a few quests. Having three extra cards is not a problem because of the great card draw.

Why is Silver Harp not an auto-include in this deck?

@BenoitPoulinThis deck was built at the end of the ringmaker cycle, long before that card came out.

I played this deck, with a few modifications, against Siege of Annuminas. 16 turns, but Boromir successfully led the defense against the forces of Angmar.

Any update on the second deck to go with this one? Thanks for sharing!

@Julesringsdb.com

Great deck, although little boring after few games :) I wonder how would you make it a 4p deck? Maybe this is the way of beating "to catch an orc" in 4p game :D

Hi Seastan! Did you ever think of making a version 2.0 of this fanastic deck, with some recent cards and allies?

@LecitadinI have thought about updating it, but there isn't too much I would change to be honest. I just made a blind attempt at The Siege of Annuminas in solo with this deck as it is and won on the first attempt.

That being said, here are are my (untested) top picks for cards to try out in the deck:

• Silver Harp
• Sterner than Steel instead of Hasty Stroke
• Dunedain Pathfinder (upcoming card in the Race Across Harad AP) instead of Handmaiden
• Peace, and Thought. An old card, but with a lower resource curve from the above replacements I think it outshines Daeron's Runes.

Hello. this deck is fantastic. I tested against various levels of meetings decks and beats them all without problems, even those where you are forced to use only two characters. it is also very fun to try. thanks and congratulations for the way you built.

Was using this on Coba's haven in multiplayer last night, how can i get ranged on Boromir? Good harvest and dunedain cache?

Love this deck, question though' say you only have 1 core set (so limited to two Steward of Gondor. What other cards work well with this deck?

@DoctorTobogganThanks! I also only have 1 core set, so I just use a proxy. But if you are against that, then here is my recommendation:

-1 Steward of Gondor

-1 Dwarven Tomb

+1 Daeron's Runes

+1 Stand and Fight

@Seastan How do you do Journey to Rhosgobel with this deck? (aside from sick luck at finding Athelas after Athelas once every million games).

I'm in the process of building a solo deck myself and this is the quest that is really messing me up in core/mirkwood, more so even than dol gudur which I can at least beat every 6-8 games :)

The only thing I can think to do at this point is start sideboarding but I was hoping to avoid that as much as possible :)

@goram.browncoatA lot of generic decks struggle with Rhosgobel due to its need for healing. This deck is not ideal for it, but it can be done with a minimal sideboard (Healing Herbs, Athelas, Lore of Imladris), and you can watch it beat the nightmare mode here (no audio, sorry): youtu.be

Now if you want to be somewhat more sneaky about it, I think you could beat Rhosgobel with an even smaller sideboard: Ioreth. Then your strategy would be to get out Asfaloth and clear our Rhosgobel from the staging area, and keep Wilyador healed with Ioreth (using Nenya to give Galadrield lore resources). Just don't advance to stage 2 until you have a couple Athelas objectives (the stage 2 effect would remove Ioreth from play after healing). Once Wilyador is healed and you have some decent willpower down, just quest through stages 1 and 2 for the win.

@SeastanYes I did indeed see that youtube vid but since I saw Lore of Imladris I just thought it was a different version of the deck.

While my deck (http://ringsdb.com/deck/view/45895) is quite different from yours I just thought yours would have the same problem mine did (lack of healing, as you mentioned). So I was wondering if I was missing some obvious strategy to the scenario, that's all :)

As for the strategy you suggested: I thought it was impossible to heal the eagle on stage 1? (can't travel to rhosgobel before stage 2 and cant heal while rhsogobel is in staging area). If I'm misinterpreting something there (and I hope I am) then I'm pretty sure my Elrond + 3 Warden of Healing could get it done without sideboarding.

I haven't tried any nightmare scenarios yet (dont even own any). Not been playing for long so struggling enough with the normal ones for now :)

Hmm wrong deck link. They really should add editting of comments :(

ringsdb.com

You can heal in stage 1 if you use a card like Asfaloth to clear out the Rhosgobel location.

@SeastanThats so obvious that oh my god how didn't I spot that. Thanks! Still far from a sure thing but it smells like a fighting chance :)

What might you sub out for silver harp?

@Seastan Thanks for this deck! Really amazing one! What do you sub out for The Silver Harp? That card is amazing in this deck.

Didn't believe the hype but this truly is an awesome deck. It has completely changed my perspective on the game. My play style was always about trying to pace the game and minimise threat to carefully select which enemies to engage and when but with this deck (as soon as it is up and running) you can just batter every enemy in a single turn. Still struggling with Escape from Dol Guldur but tbh it all comes down to luck in solo play. The closest I got was when Galadriel was the prisoner and I got Light of Valinor on Glorfindel 1st turn but I got location locked before I could free the prisoner and with so few allies and so much of the card draw relying on Galadriel my threat reached 50 before I could get Asfaloth out. Smashed it two-handed, although it was my March of the Ents deck that handled most of the combat as Galadriel was taken prisoner again and Boromir wasn't up and running for much of the game.

All in all it is an amazing deck, although I subbed one copy of Hasty Stroke for Sterner than Steel and dropped an Ancient Mathom for a Silver Harp as I was fed up of discarding the wrong card when scrying the player deck with Mirror of Galadriel. I would probably also bring in a Northern Tracker as I don't feel like there's enough location control but not sure what to drop. With all the card draw though it probably wouldn't hurt too much having an extra card.

Just beat Escape from Dol Guldur (normal) solo with just one deck with this one. It is a beast mode deck. Im gonna replay all the quests with this one. Boromir is a savage! :)

Boromir need the errata on its ability: "only once per phase". No doubt

@Emilius : Nope.

@Lecitadin: most of character in the game have a limitation on their ability: limit once per phase or limit once per round:

Hero

Glorfindel lore

Beravor

Frodo Baggins

Prince Imrahil

Bifur

Eomer

Grima

Haldir of Lorien

Mablung

Galadriel

Denethor

Argaland

Prince Imrahil tactic

Gimli leadership

Legolas spirit

Kahliel

Fastred

Quickbeam

Faramir leadership

Beregond spirit

Aragorn fellowship

All these heroes and a great number of allies are limited in their actions during each phase or round. Boromir doesn't.

So he is too powerful and this deck is an example of this power ability , without limitation

He already has a limitation in that you have to raise your threat to ready him. That's why I think they shouldn't have errata'd Beravor as you have to exhaust her to utilise her power.

@Aurionthe point is that there are hundreds of ways to ready an hero or to reduce the player's threat. So, imo, the possibility to use a character's ability many and many times in a round is broken...

Guys, it is a non-competive game =) If you feel like something is broken etc. there is one simple solution - do not use it =) I have played this deck twice to see how powerful it is (it is REALLY powerful :) ) and just put it away.

How do you think the new errata (One of the Boromir abilities is now limited at once per round, and it is not the one who request to sacrifice him :p) impact the deck?

@RouxxorThats a shame tbh. Most Boromir decks focus around using the ability a lot and reducing your threat.

I suppose one could try to 'fix' this by taking out some threat reduction in favour of more unexpected courage. But there is no denying the deck is weaker after this errata.

Or you could, just hypothetically, ignore the errata and let tactics have something cool :) Not saying you should, but Ive always viewed errata for a coop game played mostly at my kitchen table to be more of a suggestion than a hard rule ;)

At least my elrond solo deck now makes up some ground to this one when playing with the errata. Not sure if it overtakes it but at least its closer! My Boromir eagles deck suffers hard though :(

Well, it finally happened. FAQ 1.9 limited Boromir's ability to once per phase.

This is a huge blow to the deck's power. It can still function if you just engage one enemy at a time, but has no real way to deal with a flood of enemies, which happens all too often in the harder quests.

Changing Unexpected Courage to 3 copies is a must, but in truth the whole deck would need to be reworked around this change.

Boromir now has little advantage over other heroes as a target of the Steward/Blood/Fire combo. A hobbit, such as Bilbo Baggins, might be a better option due to Fast Hitch and A Burning Brand access.

Rest in peace, deck to rule them all. With Caldara errata'd as well, we look to Vilya decks to carry the torch.

Yes, and with lower threat to start you have more options with picking and choosing your battles.

You'd still need some way to play tactics stuff though right? Relying on good tale for both steward and fire seems like it would be rough. Sound more like a total redo than a tweak is in order indeed.

@goram.browncoatI did not mean to suggest swapping Bilbo for Boromir here. I mean a whole new deck built around Bilbo.

Dont know about bilbo though. He would be soooo fragile until he has at least three or four attachments on him. So many cards deal half his hp even without attacking.

His ability is great but still.

Why ffg, why you do dis :-(

They should have errated Bilbo and give him 2 willpower. They so rarely do erratas on heroes...

Happy for this errata I was right :-P

rest in pepperoni

@Emilius, the prophet

Its a shame they nerfed boromir. But in all honesty this deck proved why it needed to be done :p

The only thing that's absolutely awful about this deck is that it requires you to get 2 core sets for only 1 or 2 extra cards! Maybe I'll contact FFG and say a core set I got didn't come with 1 card and that I need a replacement.

@SeastanSo I was reading the comments above, and Boromir was errata'd. This means your deck is complete garbage, I'm guessing? If so, then it won't be able to beat a lot of quests solo. In that case, is your 2-handed version of this deck also garbage? Or would you recommend using this deck here and another one, like ringsdb.com ?

Ok, I can officially confirm it: using Seastan's (now "dumbed down") deck here due to the errata, along with this deck ringsdb.com is perhaps the best combination to beat all scenarios.

@Emiliuswas likely the one responsible for ruining this deck. Somebody should take him out swiftly! But hey, I'm still playing Boromir as it was originally written unless FFG sends me a replacement card with the "limit once per phase" on it.

This deck is good at this moment?

rest in pepperoni.

How can boromir defend and attack in the same turn?

@013brunosantos He readies using his first ability.

I didnt know he could use his action because the is no action window on combat phase after defending. So thats very good

You can ready him during defending