Hobbit Tribal 1.0

• Versions
• 1.0

A deck centered around hobbit heroes and allies and their powerful tribal payoff cards. This deck also has a resource-control subtheme.

It has a slow start, but the main idea is to use Sam and Bilbo's Cloak to greatly reduce the amount of resources that Sauron gains each turn while Frodo gathers extra resources by resolving hazards and objectives. The deck incorporates a good amount of card-draw as it will often end up with extra resources. You generally want to take your time completing each location without letting the Looming Threat appear. The idea is that you will eventually outvalue Sauron by gaining more resources and board state than him! This strategy makes good use of the Hobbit heroes' low threat statistics. Pippin's ability lets you focus on maintaining board control while he passively charges the fate meter.

A rundown of the cards and why they are included is as follows:

• Bilbo's Cloak: A very helpful payoff card that denies Sauron a resource each turn. You will generally want to put this on either Pippin or on an ally (so that Sauron can't get rid of it with Greedy Fingers).
• Halfling Determination: Another important payoff card. Your hobbits will often take a lot of damage in the early game. Try to spread it around evenly so that you will get the most value from this card. It also heals your Hobbit allies!
• Shire Brewmaster: A powerful payoff card whose value should not be underestimated. You will usually buff your entire board over the course of multiple turns. At the time of writing, its power does not actually cost you a resource (despite what the card's text says).
• Hobbit Champion, Wise Gaffer, & Raise the Shire: Well-rounded Hobbit allies with more than 4 health (for maximum value from Halfling Determination). Raise the Shire will usually get you a hobbit with decent health as well.
• Wandering Took: A decent one-drop that fits in with the deck's resource-control theme. This card can be replaced with Second Breakfast if you have it.
• Forest Snare: A handy tech card for large troublesome minions. Very helpful for buying this deck some time and often a necessary card in the opening hand for challenging quests and encounters.
• Raven-winged Helm & Mithril Shirt: Powerful armor attachments that should be played on either Sam, your Hobbit Champions, or Gandalf.
• Star Brooch & Unexpected Courage: The Stalwart package. You will find these in many decks that play Spirit cards as they are a great cost-effective way to get extra actions.
• Mithrandir's Advice & Heed the Dream: The card-draw package. You will find this in combo decks or (as in this case) decks with extra resources to spend. Resourcefulness is not included as the deck does not include Faramir and has Frodo for gaining extra resources. Heed the Dream's threat cost is irrelevant thanks to your Hobbit heroes' low threat statistics.
• Gandalf & Narya: The Gandalf package. You will find this in a lot of decks as Gandalf is a nice Swiss-army knife for a variety of problems. Only one Gandalf is included as the deck generally plays Gandalf for his stats. The deck will usually use Gandalf for his card-draw ability but sometimes may want his threat reduction (for location-specific threat events).
• Against the Shadow: Just a very strong overall card that you'll find in most decks that play Expert difficulty.