Dunedain Deck for Solo Escape from Mount Gram 1.0

• Versions
• 1.0

Goal / Constraints: Get a reasonable win rate against Escape from Mount Gram using the three heroes Amarthiúl, Aragorn, and Halbarad and revised core and Angmar cards.

General Approach

The key to this quest solo is to survive the opening, which is generally achieved once you’ve cleared the first active location and take back the captured hero from the quest card.

There are other tricks like being careful with questing so that you have a good army when you move to Stage 3, and when you go to Stage 3, it should be a simple quest with lots of allies that can take out Jailor Gornakh straight away.

Mulligan:

• The best opening cards are probably the combat cards: Quick Strike and Feint are probably the best followed bySwift Strike and Blade Mastery.

Approach:

• Aragorn is the starting hero
• Halbarad is my top card hero, because of the two willpower, which is the key need early on.
• Amarthiúl is mixed into the deck.

Captured Deck:

The general approach is to make sure that every rescued card can add value in the opening (i.e., prior to the first quest deck hero rescue). In many cases, the cards come into play without having to pay resources, so high-cost allies are good. Willpower is critical in the opening, so allies with willpower, and ideally 2 willpower, are valuable. It’s not good when cards rescued in the opening are duplicate reveals of a unique card, a card you can’t play because you don’t have a hero with that sphere, or a card that seems like a waste (e.g., often Gandalf without Sneak Attack).

• Beechbone: 2 willpower ally with decent attack; but unique so one copy.
• Beorn: Has 1 willpower; good defence and attack; will sometimes get played in for free.
• Derndingle Warrior: Non-unique with 1 willpower and in tactics so Aragorn can play.
• Dúnedain Hunter: Often useful because he brings out a second enemy that can be destroyed to give another card. In the opening, you are sometimes desperate for enemies. That said, there is a risk that the top 5 cards will have no enemies, and he will be discarded; that said, if you’re desperate to rescue cards, you’d still get the benefit of shuffling the cards, so you don’t have to deal with 5 rounds of no enemies (although there is the treachery card that reveals enemies).
• Éothain: Powerful ally (2 willpower); unique, so only 1 copy. Also, leadership sphere, so a little risky that you won’t have resources to pay, but sometimes he comes in directly.
• Faramir: Powerful for questing; some risk because leadership sphere; some risk of getting a second copy because unique. He is also generally useful for questing safely and ultimately powerfully in the later game.
• Gandalf: Handy with Sneak Attack to do a big quest and maybe combine with an effect. But that’s only possible once you have a leadership hero. Absent that, sometimes Aragorn will have five resources, and a one-time quest boost might be enough to get over the opening hump. But often this is high risk. Many of his effects are useful as the game progresses. For this reason, I think 2 copies is enough.
• Ingold: Good quester, but mostly once you have more allies.
• Lórien Guide: A key solution location lock in the opening. While you can only get in play in opening through direct methods, there are still enough opportunities to make it worthwhile.
• Northern Tracker: The other solution to location lock in the opening. Even better than Lórien Guide because also has combat abilities.
• Ranger of Cardolan: Generally awesome ally for this quest. Two willpower, neutral sphere, non-unique.
• Celebrían's Stone: Placed on Aragorn. This provides access to spirit resources and two extra willpower. It’s a leadership card, which can create sphere challenges for putting into play in the opening. I think it’s important enough to include 3 copies, but that can create issues with duplicates.

Which card to choose on Round 1 travel to Prison Cell?

• Northern Tracker followed by Lórien Guide are probably the number 1 choice, because they protect you against the greatest risk in the opening (location lock combined with an inability get heroes and allies in play).

After that, there are a range of good options:

• Celebrían's Stone is another option that will allow you to play Northern Tracker or Lórien Guide if you didn’t have the option in the opening, and also gives you 2 willpower.
• Amarthiúl is a good option because it provides additional resources and ability to play leadership cards.
• In general, a 2 willpower leadership card such as Faramir or Éothain is quite good, because it opens up the potential of promoting to a hero. And 2 willpower is often good.
• Other 2 willpower characters are also good, such as Beechbone or Ranger of Cardolan
• Dúnedain Hunter can also be a strong play as you might get another enemy that can give you a card.

Non-captured deck:

• Favor of the Valar: Provides a neutral sphere card for surviving should it take a while to clear the opening.
• Steward of Gondor: Great when and if you can get a leadership hero.
• Sword-thain: This provides a backup way of getting a leadership hero. I.e., you put a leadership ally into play, and then promote it. That then opens up the ability to pay for leadership allies, as well as Sneak Attack Gandalf, and Steward of Gondor.
• Unexpected Courage: If you get Celebrían's Stone on Aragorn, then this is a way of getting what is somewhat equivalent to another ally (i.e., another action) without having to rescue a card.
• A Test of Will: Handy when it becomes possible to use, particularly against the treachery that steals allies.
• Blade Mastery: Useful when you need a boost to defeat an enemy with one hit.
• Feint: Very useful when you are questing with all characters and you get an enemy. Also useful against various enemies, such as the one that steals your allies if it does damage.
• Quick Strike: Many enemies can be defeated with one attack, especially with Aragorn’s effect in operation. Quick Strike is very useful to making this more efficient.
• Sneak Attack: Great with Gandalf; but the main issue is that much of the time you really need it in the opening, you don’t have a leadership hero.
• Stand and Fight: This is a bit of a long shot, but there is a treachery that sends captured cards to the discard. So if you have Celebrían's Stone on Aragorn, then you can pay to put these discarded allies into play. This would also work for the side quest after it times out.
• Swift Strike: 2 damage is enough to destroy Dungeon Guard.
• The Galadhrim's Greeting: This is another way to survive a longer game, but it does rely on Celebrían's Stone.

Performance

In general, if you can get past the opening, the quest is pretty straightforward. The opening varies widely based on what encounter cards you get in the opening rounds.

• In general, if you get, Patrol Room (3 threat) before you clear the opening, things are tougher. And if you get two Patrol Room, it’s extremely difficult. Prior to adding Lórien Guide and Northern Tracker, the double Patrol Room would destroy me. But with these location control allies, I have won each time.
• The side quest can also be brutal if you’re ina holding pattern waiting for enemies, and can result in losing 5 cards and a 15 threat increase.
• Alternatively, if you get a treachery in the opening reveal (about 1 in 3 chance), you get your hero (and one card from Prison Cell) straight away, and then quite a bit of willpower to get a good hand of cards for the next round.

After I added the location control allies, the deck performs well under almost any opening draws. I think, if played well, this deck should have a very good win rate (> 90% and perhaps >95%).