Quest 35: Celebrimbor's Secret

Victory on the sixth attempt!

The Deck

From the story section of The Nin-in-Eliph, I knew I would be going up against Orcs this time around. Great! Time to break out the tactics orc-hate! I put in Legolas and a few other Tactics-centric ways to get progress out. I did not realize how much questing strength this quest would actually require. Coming just 1-2 progress sort of clearing The Secret Chamber, I lost momentum and could not get that final progress on before the chamber was destroyed.

Separately, I have been working on some decks for my wife and I to use. After a crushing defeat vs. Shadow of the Past, I decided to do a bit of play testing to make sure the decks actually work well before we make another attempt. She's a fan of Elves so I went for a Silvan theme (even though two of the heroes are Noldor). While my eventual intent was to simply splash some spirit into my tactics deck for the next attempt of Celebrimbor's Secret, this seemed like as good a time as any to playtest the Silvan deck I was building for my wife. 

Silvan Survival

Heroes
Celeborn
Galadriel
Glorfindel

Allies
Naith Guide x3
Orophin x2
Galadhrim Weaver x3
Galadriel's Handmaiden x3
Silvan Refugee x3
Defender of the Naith x3
Gandalf (Core) x3

Attachments
Cram x3
O Lorien x3
Light of Valinor x2
Mirror of Galadriel x2
Unexpected Courage x2
Nenya x2

Events
Feigned Voices x3
Sneak Attack x3
Valiant Sacrifice x3
Fair and Perilous x3
Island Amid Perils x3

Sets Used
Core Set
Foundations of Stone
Over Hill and Under Hill
The Druadan Forest
The Blood of Gondor
The Dunland Trap
The Three Trials
Trouble in Tharbad
The Nin-in-Eilph
Celebrimbor's Secret
Across the Ettenoors
The Treachery of Rhudar

RingsDB Link

You're looking for Nenya or Mirror of Galadriel in your opening hand, along with 1-2 allies to get you started. Then bounce things, boost things, and recover things (via Galadriel's Handmaiden and the shuffle from Mirror of Galadriel).


The Recap

I do not mind loosing against a quest the first time. My goal is to take a deck I think will function well in most circumstances, combine it with a quest I know little to nothing about, and see what beautiful child they create. Usually it's a monstrosity.

I do take issue with miss-plays: Missing a line of text or keyword that results in a playthrough being invalidated. The above six attempts represent one standard failure (using mono tactics with low willpower), three missplays, one error in judgement (letting locations freely stack under The Orc's Search), and a victory.

Let's talk about the error in judgement, because I think it has some relevance to others going up against this one. My second attempt was a pretty handy win, but I realized I neglected to set out a location of my choice (I was playing on OCTGN and forgot that set up pieces with player input like that do not automatically generate). Figuring attempt three would be easy as well, I allowed a couple of locations to be damage unto destruction and placed in The Orc's Search. In fact, I encouraged it several times! My thought was that it would clear up the staging area (which it did) and I would rush to victory so fast that the increased threat of Bellach and the increase in my own threat at the end of the round would be negligible. Wrong! Very wrong. Painfully wrong. One of the biggest tips I can give is, as far as it is within your power, do not let locations build up under The Orc's Search. Fully prevent it if you can! With that, I wonder how brutal this particular quest becomes as you add players. The last thing I ever wanted was more encounter cards to be revealed, giving me either locations to be damage or effects to cause the damage.

This is a fresh and exciting quest for me. While the Time X keyword is used almost too much in the Ringmaker Cycle, I like that it has a bit more of an optional consequence here. Is it bad to run out of time? Depends. How does your staging area look? I also love the creativity of the encounter deck "questing" against you. Who will explore a location first? Will the enemy discover The Secret Chamber before you? And then it wraps up with a good old boss fight.

This does seem like a solo quest to me, though. Not that multiplayer can't win (or have fun). But if I am ever in a playgroup that wants to throw down Celebrimbor's Secret, I am likely going to cluck under my teeth, wrap my fingers on the table, take a deep breath, look my fellow players in the eye and tell them, "I need you to accept the fact that you're likely going to die." And be they willing, we will ride to ruin.