Today we are going to delve deep into the archives. Even though RingsDB is a relatively recent addition to the community, it still surprises me how quickly the card pool and meta-game have evolved since its inception; and yet, fascinating ideas and potentially meta-changing observations frequently fall through the cracks. I think today’s feature perfectly exemplifies why we started this spotlight series. This deck has been buried for a long time, and even though it is a whopping four months old (ancient in internet time), it still has some tricks to teach us.

Join us today, as CoTR shines a spotlight on…

Ready for the Storm [(mostly) Noldor Swarm]

by ransomman

http://ringsdb.com/decklist/view/70/ready-for-the-storm-mostly-noldor-swarm-1.0

Hero (3)
Bifur (Khazad-dûm)
Círdan the Shipwright (The Grey Havens)
Faramir (The Land of Shadow)

Ally (19)
2x Arwen Undómiel (The Watcher in the Water)
2x Elven Jeweler (Escape from Mount Gram)
1x Erestor (The Long Dark)
1x Galadriel (The Road Darkens)
2x Galdor of the Havens (The Treachery of Rhudaur)
2x Gandalf (Core Set)
1x Gildor Inglorion (The Hills of Emyn Muil)
1x Gimli (The Treason of Saruman)
1x Lindir (The Battle of Carn Dûm)
2x Lindon Navigator (The Grey Havens)
2x Sailor of Lune (The Grey Havens)
2x Warden of the Havens (The Grey Havens)

Attachment (14)
3x Light of Valinor (Foundations of Stone)
3x Narya (The Grey Havens)
3x Steward of Gondor (Core Set)
3x To the Sea, to the Sea! (The Grey Havens)
2x Unexpected Courage (Core Set)

Event (17)
3x A Test of Will (Core Set)
3x A Very Good Tale (Over Hill and Under Hill)
3x Daeron’s Runes (Foundations of Stone)
3x Elrond’s Counsel (The Watcher in the Water)
3x Elven-light (The Dread Realm)
1x Stand and Fight (Core Set)
1x Will of the West (Core Set)

The leadership hero version of Faramir has gotten mixed reviews, in part because building around him is not a trivial matter. He seems to be ideally suited for a Gondor swarm deck, but in practice, few Gondor allies are worth readying during the encounter phase. Because of this, the community is starting to realize that Faramir is far more potent when he is pulled out of his Gondorian comfort zone. His synergy with Ents is a good example; this deck offers an alternate approach.

Rather than shoe-horning leadership Faramir into an Ent deck just for his ability, Ready for the Storm uses his accompanying leadership icon to shore up the defense power of the Noldor archetype.

This deck relies on Arwen (ally) and Narya to turn reasonably strong allies into mighty defenders. The deck description details how to buff Gildor Inglorian up to a whopping 7 defense (via janky usage of A Very Good Tale), but he is far from the only target. Warden of the Havens can be made equally strong, and Gimli and Gandalf are close seconds.

If it wasn’t already apparent, I gave this deck the spotlight because it lets you get serious mileage out of leadership Faramir. Apart from that, it posits an alternative role for A Very Good Tale, in which you can reap the benefits of Arwen’s ability even if it whiffs. In addition, it uses “panned” cards to great effect; namely Lindon Navigator and Warden of the Havens, which conveniently also work very well together.

It may look odd at first glance, but there are some good ideas in here. If you had a chance to catch the Arwenian Brick Wall deck by emorlecallor (which, coincidently, is on the front page as I write this), you’ll find that Ready for the Storm starts with the same basic idea (Arwen jank), but takes it in a very different direction. This is certainly a deck worth looking at.

– WanderingTook