Quest 56: Desert Crossing

Victory on the second attempt!

The Deck

I am an Outlands fan. I know; I'm a terrible person. But extreme synergy appeals to me. This preference has made the Haradrim deck one I have really wanted to try out, even though the deck is not "complete" yet (with two more packs still to be released as of this writing).

Unlike the ally swarm of Outlands, the goal here is to simply have a few very strong allies pared with action advantage. Elrond was a no-brainer hero of choice, allowing me to pair with Kahliel to get Harad allies out much faster. This also allowed me to throw in Ally Arwen to beef up Jubayr's defense of three. Faramir was included to increase the action advantage of my allies.

Then we have Core Gandalf, Daeron's Runes, and Heed the Dream for card advantage. A huge strength of the Harad deck is having a use for duplicate unique cards in hand, which are usually dead cards you can only hope to get rid of with Daeron's Runes or a Noldor discard outlet. Now you have action advantage!


Strong Allies for Strong Heroes

Heroes
Elrond (Shadow and Flame)
Faramir (The Land of Shadow)
Kahliel

Allies
Firyal x3
Henamarth Riversong x2
Ioreth x1
Kahliel's Tribesman x3
Arwen Undomiel (Watcher in the Water) x2
Jubayr x3
Yazan x3
Southron Refugee x3


Attachments
Celebrian's Stone x1
Dunedain Remedy x2
Haradrim Spear x3
Steward of Gondor x3
Kahliel's Headdress x3
Vilya x3

Events
Daeron's Runes x3
Heed the Dream x2 A Very Good Tale x3
Captain's Wisdom x2
Sneak Attack x3

RingsDB Link

I held onto the Headdress for a few rounds, focusing on getting allies down, and loved it once it hit the table. One possibility for a future version of this deck is switching out Faramir and adding in Leadership Aragorn + Sword that was Broken for ridiculous willpower.

Dunedain Remedy never hit the table and would have been more desirable in hindsight than Ioreth. I would remove her and add a third remedy. I would also cut down Vilya to at least a two-of, maybe even a one of. Additional copies of Captain's Wisdom and Gandalf would be likely inclusions, although Ever Vigilant may have a place here.

The Journey

My first attempt began on a terrible foot. I thought I had the encounter deck licked at the start with with two Sneak Attacks, two A Very Good Tales, and Jubayr + another ally in my opening hand. Except I whiffed on A Very Good Tale two times in a row, only getting a Kahliel's Tribesman to the table and ruining my early advantage. Now low on resources and cards to spend them on, I gave the quest a team try but was quickly overwhelmed by enemies that I did not have the means to deal with.

Attempt #2 was more cautious. When I began whiffing with Vilya, I shut down that strategy and focused my efforts elsewhere. Sneak attacks where held in hand to get Jubayr where he was truly needed: defending (until I had enough stored up to pay for him). Once I had the Big Three down (Firyal, Jubayr, Yazan), the encounter deck still stood a chance but was at a significant disadvantage.


Final Scoring
5 Completed Rounds x10: 50
Ending Threat: 39
Total Damage on Heroes: 4 (Faramir)
Threat of Defeated Heroes: 0
Victory Display: 0
Total Score: 93

The spice must flow!

The Recap

Once again, it was the small thematic elements that sold this quest for me: Temperatures rising, desert creatures that felt well balanced, locations that were often punishing but still needed to be passed through. I truly felt like my heroes were traveling across the deadly lands of Arrakis. And there was an interesting variety in the various stages: Increasingly hot weather was always detrimental, but in unique ways. I look forward to undertaking this deadly journey again.