Varsity Quarterback and The Benchwarmers 1.0

• Versions
• 1.0

I built this deck because I needed to finish 500+ with the two hobbits on each of the missions. I only play hard mode, so it was a fun challenge!

I went through all 11 missions with this deck, generally scoring 550 with a few 500-540 sprinkled in. I only failed to hit 500+ five or six times. Twice dying due to the Sauron card of tapping all your injured dudes at the worst possible time and once hitting 470 due to low health and poor fate. Carrion took me 3 tries on hard with this deck.

I ended up settling on a Tactics pairing for the extra damage. Hobbits just don't hurt a fly. At least both powers are pretty decent, particularly early. That first turn is generally the hardest.

You're aiming for Star Brooch or Unexpected Courage turn 1. You need that on Legolas to help survive early as you have so little damage. An extra Ally is also helpful, particularly an early Veteran of Nanduhirion. You're going to take a bunch of damage early. It's just going to happen. Even Tommy Boy and The Fat Man's powers can't stem the pain quickly enough.

At some point, the all star of the deck is going to come into play. Imladris Minstrel. She scores points. Without her, you'd lose too many points to hit 500+ on character health. She's the only health bump in the deck. She's all you need. Protect her at all costs. You're going to cycle through a lot of allies in this deck at times. A Veteran Axehand or an Ithilien Lookout with a shield and sword and multi-guard with The Fat Man and Minstrel backup simply wins attrition wars. Or a 7/1 Bear God.

Even though this deck starts at the lowest possible threat, it's painfully slow. You're going to need to stall early most games for a turn or two to get some fate on the board. You have 4 threat events to stem the tide and also to throw away to Sauron Cancel to protect your holy-word Houses of Healing (should an early hobbit fall) or any other special events you find along the way.

It's a fun deck. It takes a skilled hand to pilot. Leaving up that last obstacle or small monster for a turn or two early to get the train rolling is sometimes needed.

Pic of a 100% perfect King of Carrion hardmode run with this deck.

All hazards completed. All enemies vanquished. All fate events used. 100%+ Hero health. < 30 threat.

As for a sideboard, I honestly have no idea what a sideboard is in this game. Maybe something for co-op? No idea. Other decks appear to have sideboards for some reason. This one does not.