Let's Build It: Three Hunters

Surprise! I am a mediocre deck builder.

On one hand, I hope that is an encouragement to others that you can get really far in this game without having amazing deck building chops. I could realistically finish up the remainder of my quest backlog without significantly changing the types of decks I bring to the table. But I want to see my skills improve and I want to take advantage of new cards in ways that will lead to new strategies in my play. This has led to my recent adoption of playing through top decks on RingsDB. I can see how those decks work and experience what exactly about them gives a greater advantage over a quest vs. the mid-range decks I gravitate towards.

But this time I would like your help.

Many of the deluxe boxes have been coming with a "Hey, you should build this deck" pool of player cards (The Black Riders, The Land of Shadow, The Flame of the West, The Lost Realm, The Sands of Harad).  I've taken a crack at a Three Hunters version of the player cards included with The Sands of Harad. It's a passable deck that I would be happy to give a spin. But could it be significantly better? That's where you come in.

Let me know (here or @RingsDB):

• What improvements you would suggest and what cards would you remove to make room?
• What quest in Angmar Awakened, Dream-chaser, or Haradrim you would like to see this ran agains?

 And now onto my first draft...

TEMBD Three Hunters v.1

Heroes
Aragorn (Core)
Gimli (Sands of Harad)
Legolas (Sands of Harad)

Allies
Faramir (Core) x1
Fili x1
Galadriel (The Road Darkens) x3
Arwen Undomiel (Watcher in the Water) x3
Dunedain Pathfinder x2
Kili x1
Gandalf (Core) x3


Attachments
Celebrian's Stone x2
Dunedain Mark x3
Dunedain Warning x3
Dwarven Shield x2
Roheryn x1
Steward of Gondor x3
Sword that was Broken x1
Mirkwood Long-knife x2
Unexpected Courage x3
Strider x2


Events
Sneak Attack x3
Unlikely Friendship x3
A Test of Will x3
Elven-light x3
Inspiring Presence x2

Sets Used
Core
The Hunt for Gollum
Conflict at the Carrock
The Watcher in the Water
Over Hill and Under Hill
The Road Darkens
The Dread Realm
The Drowned Ruins
The Flame of the West
The City of Corsairs
The Sands of Harad
Race Across Harad

RingsDB Link

I called this version 1, but there were a few adjustments made as I went along. Originally there were two copies each of Dwarven Sellsword and Weather Hills Watchman. I wanted a cheap ally and the ability to pull more signals in my deck. These went out in favor of Galadriel, who can give me a one-turn ally and get my attachments equipped faster. Her higher cost combines with the free attachment to be a net value in my mind, especially considering Voltron is a goal of this deck. The forth spot went to the one-off of Roheryn.

Before publishing both this post and deck, I decided to do a quick search on RingsDB to make sure there was no obvious archetype utilizing these three hunters that I was missing. Only a handful of decks came up and most of them had the same essential framework listed. A few notable additions among different versions would be King Under the Mountain and Envoy from Pelargir, both great ideas to consider (although it would be an interesting move for me to not include Envoy for once). A notable exclusion from the other decks was Inspiring Presence. Yes, it is pricey to get the full use out of it, but giving Gimli +2 defense and Legolas +2 attack in a crucial round is nothing to lightly pass up. But that's the trick for me in deckbuilding: It is not hard to find good cards for a deck, but hard to determine which good cards to leave out and which to keep. Captains Wisdom, Dunedain Remedy, and many other cards could have made the cut. I want to hear from you which ones actually should have.