Quest 52: The Drowned Ruins

Victory on the First Attempt!

The Deck

The idea of taking on a modern quest with just the core set (and a single core at that) has intrigued me ever since I heard of Xanalor's deck. I tried this deck out towards the end of the Angmar Awakened cycle and was stomped by the encounter deck. This time around I stomped back.

This deck is a great reminder of how many cards in the core set are still relevant in decks today. Guard of the Citadel is really the only card I would not consider putting in a modern deck, and even that may have a place in a dedicated Gondor build (which I have not experimented with much).

It was funny to be expecting additional copies of cards, having owned two cores since the first month of the game and three since last year. I had three Gandalf's in my hand near the end of the game and was waiting for my "final" Sneak Attack to come up, forgetting that I had already played the only two in the deck.

Back to Basics - A Killer Deck Using Cards From 1 Core Set
by Xanalor

Heroes
Beravor
Eowyn (Core)
Theodred

Allies
Erebor Hammersmith x2
Gelowine x2
Henamarth Riversong x1
Miner of the Iron Hills x2
Eowyn x2
Faramir (Core) x2
Guard of the Citadel x3
Beorn (Core) x1
Gandalf (Core) x3
 
Attachments
Forest Snare x2
Unexpected Courage x1
Steward of Gondor x2

Events 
Lore of Imladris x3
A Test of Will x2
Dwarven Tomb x1
Hasty Stroke x2
Stand and Fight x3
The Galadhrim's Greeting x2
Will of the West x2
For Gondor! x1
Sneak Attack x2

Check Xanalor's notes on the deck at RingsDB
RingsDB Link


The Journey

Round 1

Thought I was toast right away and almost scooped. First quest phase had an Ancient Depths revealed, causing a Twisting Hollow to enter the staging area. Loosing one ally each turn seemed unbeatable, but then I realized I could keep in the staging area and quest around the threat. Location lock was a real thing (especially now that I had three double sided locations) and I hoped I could start building up some serious forces.

Round 2
I had taken a hand full of two-drops and no Steward. Pretty risky for a deck I had not had success with before. The pay off came this round when I was able to drop Gleowine, Unexpected Courage, Sneaky Gandalf (for card draw), and put a resource on Captain Sahir. I was able to get over the initial threat of location lock and Beravor began filling up my hand with sweet cards.

Round 3
Steward finally makes it to the table, as well as a few more allies (another Guard and a Northern Tracker). Another resource on the Captain. I'm still keeping locations on their Grotto side with the hopes of building up an ally army before progressing to stage 2.

Round 4
More allies, another resource on the Captain, but this time I decide to flip the active location over and reveal a Sunken Temple.

Round 5
Sneaky Gandalf comes in to drop my threat and help my team quest for 21, moving the Sunken Temple to the victory display!


Round 6
Gandalf is gone, but Faramir drops in so willpower has basically become a non-issue and location lock is not a threat hovering over me. My first enemy, Throngs of the Unfaithful, comes out and surges into a Curse of the Downfallen that does some damage to most of my allies (and kills off Riversong). Na'asiyah easily defends the Throngs (This is a great enemy for a Dunadain deck to go against, btw).

Round 7
Another Curse of the Downfallen decimates my ally forces, but Faramir (and the very high willpower Captain Sahir) comes through for me. Two locations in the victory display!


Round 8
The third location gets added to the victory display and Captain Sahir, my questing all-star and steady resource sink, shows his true colors and takes out Faramir. A Drowned Dead comes out to cause trouble as well.

Round 9
Faramir #2 hits the table and Gandalf shows up to one-shot the Drowned Dead (Modal Gandalf should be the name of this play-through). Shrine to Morgoth gets 15 progress on it.

Round 10
It's just a matter of seeing if a nasty surprise comes off the encounter deck at this point. No surprise and victory is mine!

Final Scoring
9 Completed Rounds x10: 90
Ending Threat: 41
Total Damage on Heroes: 3 (Eowyn)
Threat of Defeated Heroes: 0
Victory Display: -11
(Sunken Temple: 2, Sunken Temple: 2, Twisting Hollow: 2, Shrine to Morgoth: 5)
Total Score: 123


The Recap

Like Temple of the Deceived before it, The Drowned Ruins keeps you on your questing toes. And, also like the preceding quest, choices are given to how you proceed through the quest. Yet both quests feel very distinct and thematically separate in spite of that. I'm a fan of variety, including having the encounter deck hamper me in creative ways, so this was an enjoyable one to tackle. Definitely one for the questing decks, at least based on my play through.