Saga Quest 14: Helm's Deep

Victory on the first attempt!

The Deck


Building a brand new deck for a quest usually gives me pause: Will the basic fabric of this quest and the deck I'm building even be compatible? Fortunately I went with a three four hunters build that did not include Tactics Legolas (who would have gone to waste here). Still a very tactical build, even if there is a rainbow of spheres present. A big goal here is to get two additional races out (Ents being a one) and play The Free People's for value. Only one trick, but a fun one to pull off.


Emo Helm

Heroes
Boromir (The Dead Marshes)
Gimli (The Sands of Harad)
Legolas (The Sands of Harad)
Aragorn (The Treason of Saruman)

Allies
Bofur (Over Hill and Under Hill) x1
Derndingle Warrior x2
Skinbark x1
Arwen Undomiel (Watcher in the Wather) x1
Warden of Healing x1
Envoy of Pelargir x3
Gandalf (Core) x3
Treebeard (The Antlered Crown) x2

Attachments
Captain of Gondor x1
Gondorian Shield x3
Rivendell Blade x2
Narvi's Belt x2
Steward of Gondor x3
Light of Valinor x1
Unexpected Courage x2
A Burning Brand x1
Banner of Elendil x1

Events
Foe-hammer x3
Hands Upon the Bow x3
Captain's Wisdom x2
Sneak Attack x3
Unlikely Friendship x3
A Test of Will x3
The Free Peoples x3


Sets Used
Core
Conflict at the Carrock
The Dead Marshes
Khazad-dum
Road to Rivendell
The Watcher in the Water
The Long Dark
Foundations of Stone
Shadow and Flame
Over Hill and Under Hill
Heirs of Numenor
The Steward's Fear
TheAntlered Crown
Escape from Mount Gram
The Land of Shadow
The Thing in the Depths
The Flame of the West
The Sands of Harad
Beneath the Sands

RingsDB Link



The Journey

Note: I thought I had kept my OCTGN notes on this one somewhere, but apparently I was wrong...

This was a good example of reaping rewards for persevering just a little bit more even when the game seems over. Due to being a bit over-eager with my Boromir use, I came super close to threatening out. I was about to fold & start over, when Gandalf poked his little grey head out. He gave me just enough threat reduction to make it through one more quest stage, get the last progress on The Defense of Helm's Deep, and see those sweet words for a Boromir deck: "If there are no enemies in play, the players win the game." While Boromir won the day, the general victory felt thematic with Ents + The Free Peoples pulling some serious weight.


Final Score
8 Completed Rounds x10: 80
Ending Threat: 49
Total Damage on Heroes: 4 (Aragorn: 3, Boromir: 1)
Threat of Defeated Heroes: 0
Victory Display: 0
Total Score: 133





The Recap

Changes in the basic mentality of the game are always welcome to me, so reversing who is trying to advance the quest (you or the encounter deck) was a neat twist. Definitely not a quest for decks trying to win by speeding through!