Deck 13 : The Firstborn

To fulfill a scenario a player has to meet all deck building requirements during the whole game, and additionally the winning requirements for a certain scenario at the end of a game. There are 16 wizard scenarios and 6 ringwraith scenarios...

Moderator: Darksatin

Post Reply
Fangorn
Ex Council Member
Posts: 362
Joined: Sat Jan 31, 2009 10:57 pm
Location: Nantes, France

This deck is designed for The Firstborn scenario.
Deck requirements : none.
Winning requirements : Cirdan, Elrond, Glorfindel, Galadriel and Thranduil are in play.

Character Pool

Starting Company
Thranduil (+ Elf-stone)
Elrond
+ Rumours of Rings

In deck
Glorfindel II
Cirdan
Galadriel

Not in deck
Annalena
Arwen
Gildor
Haldir
Orophin

Wizards Characters
Gandalf
Gandalf
Saruman

Resources
Beautiful Gold Ring
Beautiful Gold Ring
Beautiful Gold Ring
Fair Gold Ring
Fair Gold Ring
Fair Gold Ring
Emerald of Doriath
The Iron Crown

Wood-Elves

Gwaihir

The Windlord Found Me

Vilya
Vilya
Vilya
Flatter a Foe
Flatter a Foe
Flatter a Foe
Dark Quarrels
Dark Quarrels
Old Friendship
Marvels Told
Marvels Told
Marvels Told
Test of Lore
Test of Lore
Test of Lore
Smoke Rings
Smoke Rings
Smoke Rings
Longbottom Leaf

Hazards
Elf-lord Revealed in Wrath
Elf-lord Revealed in Wrath
Elf-lord Revealed in Wrath
Galadhrim
Galadhrim
Galadhrim
Wandering Eldar
Wandering Eldar
Wandering Eldar

Anarin
Elwen
Nimloth
Dror
Fori the Beardless
Lobelia Sackville-Baggins
My Precious

Chill Them with Fear
Chill Them with Fear
Chill Them with Fear
Near to Hear a Whisper
Never Seen Him
Nobody's Friend
Good Sense Revolts
Call of Home
Twilight
Twilight
An Unexpected Outpost
An Unexpected Outpost
An Unexpected Outpost
Revealed to Watchers

Sideboard
Magic Ring of Words
Magic Ring of Words
Lesser Ring
Lesser Ring
Wizard's Test
Wizard's Laughter
Wizard's Voice
Wizard's River Horses
Elves of Lindon
Leaflock
Three Golden Hairs
Nenya
A Chance Meeting
A Chance Meeting
Pledge of Conduct
Elf-song
Ireful Flames
The Roving Eye
Durin's Bane
Bane of the Ithil-stone
Diminish and Depart
Spider of the Morlat
Mordor in Arms
Call of the Sea
Wormtongue
Twisted Tales
Will Not Come Down ?
Pilfer Anything Unwatched
To Get You Away
Your Welcome is Doubtful

Sites
Ost in-edhil, Bandit Lair, Gladden Fields => Gold Ring
Isengard, Goblin-gate => Gold Ring, The Windlord Found Me
Moria => Gold Ring, The Windlord Found Me, The Iron Crown
Gondmaeglom => Gold Ring, Emerald of Doriath
Mount Gram, Sarn Goriwing => The Windlord Found Me
Carn Dum, Mount Gundabad, Dead Marshes => The Windlord Found Me, The Iron Crown
The Stones, Caves of Ulund, The Lonely Mountain => The Iron Crown
Thranduil's Halls => Wood-Elves
Eagles' Eyrie => Gwaihir

Grey Havens => Elves of Lindon
Wellinghall => Leaflock


Deck description
2 Elf-lords are in the starting company.
Firstly Thranduil, which is the only ranger among the 5 Elf-lords, and which may be used in another scenarios.
Secondly Elrond, which is a powerhouse with his Ring of Power, Vilya.

In case opponent plays same scenario and those 2 are bounced, prefer Cirdan to Glorfindel because deck relies on diplomat.
Nethertheless prefer Glorfindel to Galadriel because she's too weak to begin with.

Thranduil starts with Elf-stone, which guarantees auto-influence for the Wood-elves.
Otherwise Rumours of Rings is in play.

The Wizards are Gandalf and Saruman.
Gandalf is better because of his home site in Lorien and his ring-test ability.
Saruman has home site where rings are playable, and his spell drawing ability may be useful.

Characters in deck are the 3 missing Elf-lords (Cirdan, Glorfindel and Galadriel).
Never add to deck any other character, because of influence shortage.

Items are mostly Gold Rings.
Nice item is Emerald of Doriath, which is the only way to increase general influence.
Otherwise, the Iron Crown is almost a trump card for desperate attempt to fulfill scenario.

Ally and faction are reduced to minimum, only one, just to avoid opponent doubling MPs.
Gwaihir and Wood-elves are in ring area.
The Windlord Found Me, if drawn first turns, is a must to play quickly Wizard, mostly if opponent play Gandalf first turn !

Resource events are for most 3 times in deck :
- Vilya makes Elrond as strong as a Maia, and allow him to control an Elf-lord
- Flatter a Foe gives diplomat Elf-lords a very high chance to cancel drake and men attack
- Dark Quarrels is useful for men attack and attack before The Windlord Found Me
- Old Friendship is needed for cc and to influence an opponent Elf-lord
- Marvels Told negates corruption and annoying hazards (Stormcrow, Diminish and Depart, Shut Yer Mouth)
- Test of Lore is prefered to Test of Form for Magic Rings
- Smoke Rings is used to recycle cards rather than sideboard
- Longbottom Leaf must normally be used for A Chance Meeting
As a side note all Elf-lords are sage !

Hazard part is an heavy Elf/Agent theme.
Elves hazard are for delaying whereas agents are for attacking (best with Chill Them with Fear) and influencing.
But naturally no Master of House for recycling Elves !


Play Notes
Scenario is difficult to fulfill.
The 5 Elf-lords have a combined mind of 44 !

With 6 characters in play (with Wizard), the goal is to move 3 characters under direct influence.
Wizard can easily control one of them.
Elrond with Vilya can control one of them, but only for one turn.
All "greater" Elf-lords (Elrond, Galadriel and Cirdan) are diplomat and thus can control one of them with Magic Ring of Words and Elf-stone or Lesser Ring.
Very dangerous due to corruption, but still possible, a greater Elf-lord can control with the Iron-crown Cirdan or Glorfindel.

Ideally situation at the end of game is :
- Wizard controls Elrond
- Galadriel controls Thranduil with Magic Ring of Words and Elf-stone
- Cirdan controls Glorfindel with Magic Ring of Words and Lesser Ring

But more realistic (if all works well) this will be :
- Elrond controls Thranduil with Vilya (who was recycled with Smoke Rings)
- Wizard controls Galadriel at Lorien for sideboard, extra hand size and Marvels Told
- Cirdan controls Glorfindel with Lesser Ring and Elf-stone

The huge problem come from general influence, which must be saved as protection against Call of Home.
Ideally unused general influence is only 3 !
Although being a minor hoard item, Emerald of Doriath on the Wizard is a must for deck with +2 GI.

It's very important to draw very quickly the Wizard to allow playing characters.
Revealed to all Watchers gives more chance to draw him sooner.
Another way is The Windlord Found Me, but it consumes time to play, store and untap, are Dark Quarrels is almost required.
The Windlord Found Me must thus be played on first or second turn only, unless opponent played Gandalf (in this case it's worth playing it latter).

Primary goal is to search for Gold Rings and test them.
Reorganize companies to free GI when Gold Rings are tested.
Beautiful Gold Ring is better for Magic Ring of Words (roll 8 or less with test of Lore).

Be wise (or mad !) with The Iron Crown because of huge corruption.

Vilya is great help : use Smoke Rings to recycle it.
Thus never sideboard with Smoke Rings, which must be used to recycle discarded or corrupted Elf-lords if needed.
Longbottom Leaf must be used to sideboard both A Chance Meeting, which is useful mid-game to bring Elf-lords into play, when other one has enough DI.
Note that if Elrond has no follower, Vilya and Flatter a Foe is a great combo for auto-cancel.

Save Old Friendship to influence an opponent Elf-lord if any, or else use it for cc.

Otherwise, be sure to play the only faction and the only ally.


Hazard creatures cover most regions :
- Elf-lord Revealed in Wrath for deep wildenerness and shadow-land
- Galadhrim for each company leaving a haven
- Wandering Eldar for safe lands, even Gondor
- agents are spread out

When agents are in area of scenario of opponent, recycle Chill Them with Fear or sideboard agent influencing cards.
Don't forget the posssibility to play Elves with agent at his home site.
Never Seen Him and Nobody's Friend speed up low movement of agents.
Twilight the Doors of Night for Elf-lord playability.


Use sideboard as following :
- Wizard's Test, Wizard's Laughter, Wizard's Voice and Wizard's River Horses to discard pile if Wizard is Saruman
- Elves of Lindon and Leaflock as back-up for only faction and only ally (Elves of Lindon is too far but better for thematic)
- Three Golden Hairs for Elrond if Galadriel is near
- Elf-song if all Elf-lords are at a haven
- Nenya and Pledge of Conduct for council


MP overview (expected / max)
Characters : 15 / 15
Items : 7 / 16
Factions : 3 / 5
Allies : 2 / 4
Miscellanous : 3 / 3
Kill : 0 / 2
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Total : 30 / 45
Hrum, Hoom ! Do not be hasty, that is my motto.
User avatar
CDavis7M
Posts: 2816
Joined: Fri Jul 20, 2018 3:10 am
Location: California

Hi Fangorn. I have not been to Lure and I am not familiar with the Hamburger scenarios. But I saw some chatter about the scenario matches and got interested in the idea. So far I have only read the International Rules post. But, I realized that I have already built some decks that follow these guidelines. So, I hope you don't mind, but I thought I'd share my qualifying deck here along with your post.

This deck is actually an Elf-Song shenanigans deck. You can play characters beyond general/direct influence but if you don't have enough influence at the end of the Organization Phase, the played character returns to your hand. I use Elf-Song and Echo of All Joy to keep the Elf-Song going. If Elf-Song is in play, then characters beyond influence cannot be returned to your hand, as long as they are at a Haven.

The trick is that you need to keep Doors of Night out of play for Echo of All Joy to stay in play. And then you need to keep an Elf-Song in your hand and then preemptively play it the turn BEFORE you or your opponent exhaust you deck (because Echo will be discarded on any deck exhausting). Obviously this works best if you can exhaust first so you can play Elf-Song and then Call the Council.

You can still collect MP in the beginning before you over-GI with the Firstborn. Then you will be forced to only go adventuring with 1 character under Gandalf's DI. Another trick is to use Great-road, so that the entire company of Firstborn can go out and then return to the Haven on the same turn (ie before your next Organization phase).

Vilya is essential here for recycling Elf-Song, Echo of All Joy, Gates of Morning, and Marvels Told. On top of that, Vilya gives Elrond enough DI to play the other Elf Lords while Gandalf is gone. If your opponent exhausts first, you can try stay over 5 card in deck and try to recycle the Elf-Songs.

I have actually got this deck to work. But obviously it is going to be difficult to pull off. Although, if you do lose Elf-Song. Your elves return to your hand and you can still try again.

Pool
1 Dagger of Westernesse
1 Elf-stone
1 Elrohir
1 Elrond
1 Legolas (elf-stone)

Characters
1 Aragorn II
1 Gimli
1 Elladan
1 Galadriel
1 Glorfindel II
1 Celeborn
1 Círdan
1 Thranduil
3 Gandalf

Resources: 30

Ally (1)
1 Tom Bombadil

Faction (2)
1 Elves of Lindon
1 Wood-elves

Greater Item (2)
1 Orcrist
1 Palantír of Amon Sûl

Long-event (5)
3 Elf-song
2 Star of High Hope

Major Item (1)
1 Glamdring

Permanent-event (6)
3 Echo of all Joy
3 Gates of Morning

Short-event (11)
3 Great-road
2 Marvels Told
2 Smoke Rings
1 The Evenstar
3 Vilya

Special Item (2)
1 Palantír of Elostirion
1 Palantír of Minas Tirith

Hazards: 30


Creature (12)
1 "Bert" - Bûrat
1 "Tom" - Tûma
1 "William" - Wûluag
3 Assassin
3 Cave-drake
3 Winged Fire-drake

Permanent-event (7)
3 Lure of Nature
2 No Way Forward
2 Shadow of Mordor

Short-event (11)
3 An Unexpected Outpost
2 Call of Home
1 Muster Disperses
2 River
3 Twilight

Sideboard: 30

Hazard (10)
1 Fell Turtle
1 Itangast Ahunt
1 Lost in Free-domains
1 Nameless Thing
1 Ren the Unclean
1 Sea Serpent
1 Siege
1 Smaug Ahunt
1 The Ring Will Have But One Master
1 The Will of the Ring

Resource (17)
3 Align Palantír
2 Balance Between Powers
2 Narya
2 Nenya
2 Old Friendship
1 Palantír of Osgiliath
1 The Mithril-coat
1 Treebeard
1 Wizard's Ring
2 Wizard's Voice
Post Reply

Return to “Hamburger Scenario”