Quest 44: The Battle of Carn Dum

Victory on the Seventh Attempt!



The Journey

Attempt 1
Knowing the reputation of this quest, I wanted to bring something proven & powerful to the table. I asked on Discord if I should run Seastan's Boromir against this or The Dread Realm. Seastan himself said the deck could beat either quest, but something tuned better to the challenge would likely fair better. I figured I would try this #1 deck for my first attempt, realizing that I would need to come back a few more times, and would use the input I gained to plan my next attack. Not too much information was gained after Boromir died on round 2.

Attempt 2-4
A quick Google search for decks that have gone up against The Battle of Carn Dum pointed me towards Elrond's Ents by Xanalor. While a very powerful deck, the author gives a warning that this is hard one to pilot and threat is your biggest enemy. For all three attempts, this deck put up a fighting chance but ended up loosing ground to the encounter deck. Most of my attempts felt fairly close and I do think this deck could beat the quest (as it did for the author), but I wanted to explore a few more possibilities.


Attempt 5-6
Xanalor was the start of the show for the next deck I tried: Back to Basics. Attempt 5 never really had any traction, but Attempt 6 had Sneak Attack + Beorn in the opening hand, allowing me to blast past the questing stage of the first round. But Beorn wasn't around to help after that and enmies began swarming me.

It was getting late & time for a pause. I thought back on what type of deck would do well here. It would need to be able to have extremely strong attack & questing abilities. Defense was not as much of a problem as long as consistent chump blockers could be found. I thought of refining the Quad Sphere Dwarf Swarm with some of the newer dwarf additions. Attacking & questing is something a Dain-centric dwarf deck can do very well. I also thought of revisiting Seastan's Boromir and switching out Galadriel with Tactics Eowyn. This would give me the big punch I need that first round and consistent questing afterwards. Actually, I thought of Tactics Eowyn then pairing her with Glorfindel then realized I probably should just modify Seastan's deck at that point, with Boromir himself being the third wheel. Then, in the midst of my fatigue, I somehow remembered that I had not ran The Rapid Charge of Outlands! yet. I had been wanting to run that one against something really tough and, six attempts in, this quest fit the bill. Waking up fairly early, I decided to do one last attempt before the work day started...


Attempt 7
For the first six attempts, the burden was on me to play smart and hopefully get the right draws. Attempt 7 put the pressure on the encounter deck from the get-go and never let up. It only took me five rounds to destroy the quest. By the end I had twelve Outlands allies down and a few chump blockers (helped by the fact that the ally hate is not strong this time around). It trivalized the quest to the point where I am glad I did not start with this deck. I enjoy winning and I actually enjoy destroying a quest, but I am also glad I was able to get a clear picture of how truly tough The Battle of Carn Dum is before the decimation began.


Final Scoring
5 Completed Rounds x10: 50
Ending Threat: 34
Total Damage on Heroes: 2 (Erestor)
Threat of Defeated Heroes: 8 (Denethor)
Victory Display: -10 (The Power of Angmar)
Total Score: 84


The Deck

I know how powerful Erestor decks are and have heard Denethor touted as one of the best heroes in the game right now. Add them with Outlands and you are in pretty good shape to trample quests. I had enough resource acceleration to play my entire hand the first round and that became the norm for the remainder of the game.

The Rapid Charge of Outlands!
by 13nrv

Heroes
Denethor (Flight of the Stormcaller)
Hirluin the Fair (The Steward's Fear)
Erestor (The Treachery of Rhudar)

Allies
Errand-rider x3
Forlong x1
Warrior of Lossarnach x3
Anfalas Herdsman x3
Henamarth Riversong x1
Hunter of Lamedon x3
Warden of Healing x1
Either Swordsman x3
Knights of the Swan x3
Envoy of Pelargir x3

Attachments
Steward of Gondor x3
Lembas x3

Events
A Very Good Tale x3
Gaining Strength x3
Men of the West x2
Wealth of Gondor x3
Daeron's Runes x3
Heed the Dream x3
A Good Harvest x3

Sets Used
Core
The Long Dark
Foundations of Stone
Over Hill and Under Hill
Heirs of Numenor
The Steward's Fear
The Druadan Forest
Assault on Osgiliath
Trouble in Tharbad
The Treachery of Rhudar
Flight of the Stormcaller

RingsDB Link


The Recap

The Battle of Carn Dum is a seriously tough quest. But, in contrast to Escape from Dol Guldur, I found it to be a "Fair" tough. Escape starts you off at a major disadvantage with possible openings that are instant game-enders. Battle begins tough and never lets up, but strong decks can at least stand a fighting chance.

I don't see myself coming back to fight this Battle often in the future. The extremely tough quests are not always my favorites after the initial challenge of that first victory is past. But if I ever come up with a deck that I think is the end-all of player decks, then I know where to come to test that notion.