The First Attempt: The Three Trials

I frequently see players asking how others take on a quest for the first time: Do they look at the encounter deck in detail? Skim over it? Or go in fully blind? I am in the "fully blind" camp, preferring to be taken fully by surprise the first go-around and then giving pertinent parts of the quest a look-over afterwards (usually the text of any quest stages I did not make it to). This often makes for a brutal, short first attempt and shows that my deck needs to be massively re-tooled. Much to my surprise, this first attempt against The Three Trials went surprisingly well and I figured (as I had been recording it anyway) it might be worth keeping as a sample of what an initial attempt looks like for me.

The Deck

"I want to beat this one with mono-Lore."

That was my thought going into The Three Trials. I love that the card pool is rich enough where brazen statements like that can be declared. Okay, maybe it's not that brazen. Saying "mono-Lore" is still leaving a wide range of options open. Am I playing pure Silvan? Pure Noldor? Rangers? Gondor? Secrecy? Honestly, I think Lore is most well-rounded sphere and it is a joy to go back to it when I get the itch.

In initially tackling a quest, I draft up a fun deck with the expectation that it will need quite a bit of re-tooling later. For this attempt, I wanted to play around with Rossiel, Ents, and some ranger tricks. The goal would be narrowing the focus to one or two synergies the second time around. I actually came up with a v.2 of this deck before the first attempt, but already had this version built.

Legend of the Three Trials

Heroes
Treebeard
Rossiel
Damrod (The Land of Shadow)
 
Allies
Henamarth Riversong x2
Galadhirm Minstrel x3
Erebor Hammersmith x3
Gildor Inglorion x1
Elrond (The Road Darkens)  x1
Quickbeam x1
Wandering Ent x2
Willinghall Preserver x3
White Tower Watchman x3
Gandalf (Over Hill and Under Hill) x1

Attachments
Self-Preservation x1
Asfaloth x1
Wingfoot x1
A Burning Brand x2
Lembas x3
Ranger Spikes x3
Ambush x3

Events
Don't Be Hasty x2
Distant Stars x2
Out of the Wild x2
Leave No Trace x3
None Return x3
The Door is Closed x3

Side Quests
Scout Ahead

Sets Used
Core Set
Conflict at the Carrock
The Hills of Emyn Muil
Over Hill and Under Hill
Road to Rivendell
Heirs of Numenor
The Druadan Forest
The Road Darkens
Trouble in Tharbad
Celebrimbor's Secret
The Antlered Crown
The Treason of Saruman
The Wastes of Eriador
Escape from Mount Gram
Across the Ettenmoors
The Treachery of Rhuduar
The Land of Shadow


The Journey

Player Setup
Starting Threat: 29
Draw: Henamarth Riversong, Out of the Wild, Lembas, Asfaloth, Distant Stars, Wingfoot
This is basically a magic Christmas land opening hand for this deck. I have an event for Rossiel, Wingfoot + Henamarth to keep Damrod ready and me fully aware, healing & readying for Treebeard in Lembas, and Asfaloth to help with those initial locations. Let's do this.

Encounter Setup
Stage 1A. Set aside all three Guardian enemies, all three Key objectives, all three Barrow locations, and Hallowed Circle.
Flip to 1B. Advance to a stage 2A of my choice.
Let's take a look here. I have trials of Intuition, Perseverance, and Strength. Strength is out for now until I get my ents built up. Intuition says it shuffles the key to the bottom of the encounter deck, so I need to burn through some cards before getting that. Perseverance attaches a random Key to a random Barrow, so likely has a question element. Let's go for that. 
Advance to: The Trial of Perseverance. Randomly choose Stone Barrow and add it to the staging area. Randomly choose Key of the Boar and add it to the staging area. Find Boar's Guardian and add him to the staging area. Add two time counters to Boar's Guardian.
Looks like the Boar's Guardian is going to be brutal towards my allies, so I may hold back those a little more. We'll see. 
Advance to stage 2B. Boar's Guardian engages me. 

Round 1
Resource Phase
+1 Treebeard (1), +1 Rossiel (1), +1 Damrod (1)
Draw: Wandering Ent
So I'm looking over my game plan for the planning phase and it just hit me how amazing Distant Stars is for this quest.

Planning Phase
Play: Lembas (Treebeard -1). Attach to Treebeard.
Play: Henamarth Riversong (Rossiel -1).
Play: Wingfoot (Damrod -1). Attach to Damrod.
Exhaust Henamarth Riversong to look at the top card (encounter): Grim Foothills

Quest Phase
Commit: Damrod (2)
Total Willpower: 2
Name (Wingfoot): Location
Reveal: Grim Foothills. Doomed 2 (raise threat to 31).
Ready Damrod
Total Threat: 3
Raise threat to 32.

Travel Phase
Travel to Stone Barrow.

Encounter Phase
No engagements.

Combat Phase
Deal shadow card to Boar's Guardian.
Play: Distant Stars. Exhaust Damrod. Discard Stone Barrow. Attach Key of the Boar to Damrod. Add Boar's Guardian to the victory display (2). Discard shadow card (Spirit of the Wild). Search the encounter deck and make Cursed Forest the active location.
Advance to a new stage 2A: The Trial of Strength. Randomly choose Raven's Guardian and Cave Barrow,  adding them to the staging area. Attach Key of the Raven to Raven's Guardian.
Add 4 time counters to Raven's Guardian. 
Flip to side 2B. Raven's Guardian engages me.
Raven's Guardian attacks! No shadow. Rossiel defends (+2 defense). No damage dealt.

Refresh Phase
Ready all. Raise threat to 33.
Remove 1 time counter from Raven's Guardian (3/4).

Round 2
Resource Phase
+1 Treebeard (1), +1 Rossiel (1), +1 Damrod (1)
Draw: Wandering Ent

Planning Phase
Exhaust Henamarth Riversong to look at top card (encounter): Tangled Woods.
I want to play a Wandering Ent to get Raven's Guardian taken care of soon, but I'm a little wary of how much the staging area is building up. One option would be to play "Out of the Wild" right now and give Rossiel +4 willpower against Forest locations. Nope.
Play: Wandering Ent (Rossiel -1, Damrod -1). Enters play exhausted.

Quest Phase
Commit: Treebeard (2), Damrod (2)
Name (Wingfoot): Location
Total Willpower: 4
Reveal: Tangled Woods
Ready Damrod
Total Threat: 5
Raise threat to 34

Travel Phase
No travel.

Encounter Phase
No engagements.

Combat Phase
Deal shadow card to Raven's Guardian. Attacks! Rossiel defends. Shadow: Tangeled Woods (no effect). No damage dealt.
Discard shadow cards.

Refresh Phase
Ready all. Raise threat to 35.
Remove 1 time counter from Raven's Guardian (2/4).

Round 3
Resource Phase
+1 Treebeard (2), +1 Rossiel (1), +1 Damrod (1)
Draw:Gladhrim Minstrel

Planning Phase
Exhaust Henamarth Riversong to look at top card (encounter): Spirit of the Wild.
Play: Wandering Ent #2 (Treebeard -2).
Play: Asfaloth (Rossiel -1, Damrod -1). Attach to Rossiel.
Exhaust Asfaloth to place 1 progress on Grim Foothills (1/3).

Quest Phase

Commit: Damrod (2). Name (Wingfoot): Enemy.
Total Willpower: 2
Reveal: Spirit of the Wild
Ready Damrod
Total Threat: 8
Raise threat to 41

Travel Phase
No travel.

Encounter Phase
Engage Spirit of the Wild.

Combat Phase
Deal shadow cards to Raven's Guardian, Spirit of the Wild.
Raven's Guardian attacks. Rossiel defends. Shadow: Turned Around (no effect since attack is defended). No damage dealt.
Spirit of the Wild attacks. Wandering Ent defends. Shadow: Spirit of the Wild (+1 attack). Wandering Ent takes 1 damage (1/3).
Treebeard + Damrod declare an attack on Spirit of the Wild, destroying it.
Discard shadow cards.

Refresh Phase
Ready all. Raise threat to 42.
Remove 1 time counter from Raven's Guardian (1/4).

Round 4
Resource Phase
+1 Treebeard (1), +1 Rossiel (1), +1 Damrod (1)
Draw: Leave No Trace

Planning Phase
Exhaust Henamarth Riversong to look at top card (encounter): Wild Tenacity.
Do I get rid of this with Out of the Wild? No threat would be added to the staging area if I keep it, but I loose Henamarth. Still, the reveal could be much worse and I should just go with it.

Quest Phase
Commit: Rossiel (2), Damrod (2).
Name (Wingfoot): Treachery.
Total Willpower: 4
Reveal: Wild Tenacity. Remove final time counter from Raven's Guardian.
Deal 1 damage to Treebeard (1/5)
Deal 1 damage to Rossiel (1/3)
Deal 1 damage to Damrod (1/4)
Deal 1 damage to Henamarth Riversong, destroying him.
Deal 1 damage to Wandering Ent #1 (2/3)
Deal 1 damage to Wandering Ent #2 (1/3)
Place four time counter on Raven's Guardian.
Ready Damrod.
Total Threat: 6
Raise threat to 44.

Travel Phase
Exhaust Asfaloth to place 1 progress on Grim Foothills (2/3).

Encounter Phase
No engagements.

Combat Phase
Deal shadow card to Raven's Guardian. Attacks! Treebeard defends. Shadow: Cursed Forest (remove time counter if a character is destroyed). No damage dealt.
Deal two damage to Treebeard to give him +2 attack until the end of the phase. Discard Lembas to ready Treebeard and heal three damage. Deal two additional damage to Treebeard (2/5) to give him an additional +2 attack until the end of the phase.
Treebeard + Damrod + Wandering Ent #1 + Wandering Ent #2 declare an attack on Raven's Guardian, destroying it and adding it to the victory display (6). Attach Key of the Raven to Treebeard.
Advance to new stage 2A: The Trial of Intuition.
Add Wolf's Guardian and Barrow of the Wolf to the staging area. Shuffle Key of the Wolf into the bottom ten cards of the encounter deck.
Place 3 time counters on Wolf's Guardian.
I took the liberty of noticing that there were only 16 cards left in the encounter deck at this point.
Flip to stage 2B. Wolf's Guardian engages me.
Now that I get to see what the Trial of Intuition is really like, I should have gone here second. There was plenty of questing power available to me, held back for the needs of especially that final round).


Refresh Phase
Ready all. Raise threat to 45.

Round 5
Resource Phase
+1 Treebeard (2), +1 Rossiel (2), +1 Damrod (2)
Draw: Ranger Spikes

Planning Phase
Play: Gladhrim Minstrel (Rossiel -2). Search top 5 cards (player) and add nothing to hand. Shuffle.
Ouch.
Play: Out of the Wild (Treebeard -2, Damrod -1). Search top 5 cards (encounter) and add Ancient Forest to the victory diplay. Shuffle.
Exhaust Asfaloth to place final progress on Grim Foothills, exploring them.
Play: Ranger Spikes (Damrod -1). Add to the staging area.

Quest Phase
Commit: Treebeard (2), Rossiel (4), Damrod (2), Wandring Ent #1 (2), Wandering Ent #2 (2)
Total Willpower: 12
Name (Wingfoot): Treachery
Reveal: Grim Foothills. Doomed 2 (raise threat to 47).
Total Threat: 10
Deal Treebeard 1 damage to give him +1 willpower (3/5).
Place 3 progress on Grim Foothills, exploring them.

Travel Phase
No travel.

Encounter Phase
No engagements.

Combat Phase
Deal shadow card to Wolf's Guardian. Attacks! Deal additional shadow card (Hill Barrow). Gladhrim Minstrel defends. Shadow #1:Spirit of the Wild (+2 attack). Shadow#2: Curse of the Wild Men (+2 attack). Gladhirm Minstrel is destroyed.

Refresh Phase
Ready all. Raise threat to 48.
Remove 1 time counter from Wolf Guardian (1/3).

Round 6
Resource Phase
+1 Treebeard (1), +1 Rossiel (1), +1 Damrod (1)
Draw: Gandalf

Planning Phase
Commit: Treebeard (2), Rossiel (4), Damrod (2), Wandring Ent #1 (2), Wandering Ent #2 (2)
Total Willpower: 12
Current staging area is 9. Hopefully I can survive, then boost Treebeard and see what is next. Can't quest with just 3 and make it. Wandering Ents die 
Reveal: Ancient Forest. All forest locations in the staging area get +1 threat and +3 quest points.
Total Threat: 15
Raise threat to 51.
Defeat!
Looked for the fun of it and found the final key was three deep in the encounter deck. It would have been revealed next round, had I survived!


The Recap

As soon as I saw the randomization possible in this quest, I knew I was in for a treat and The Three Trials did not disappointment. When I can lose a quest and still think, "That was a blast!" then we have a winner on our hands. The key here is being challenging but not overly and being open to a wide variety of decks and strategies. That is what makes a good quest in my book.

Now to analyze the play through. This was a close one and could have been a win if I switched the last two trials I attempted and did not do that crazy under-questing in Round 3. Rossiel seems like a perfect hero for this quest, with Guardian enemies and Barrow locations going into the victory display, but her actual events did not come up and could be done without. I would rather have had "Risk Some Light" vs "Out of the Wild" and may make such a change next attempt. "Distant Stars" is amazing here, but I may cut out Damrod and his traps in favor of another ranger. All in all, pretty happy with the performance here and a little deck tweaking should produce a win after just a few more attempts.