Ents are bonkers. Stat-wise, they are fantastic for their cost, though the tempo hit can be a hard pill to swallow. When the hero leadership iteration of Faramir was first spoiled, I think we all saw his potential in an Ent deck. The catch, as many pointed out, is that leadership cannot boast a single Ent.  In fact, to get the most out of them, you need access to both tactics and lore; though a tri-sphere deck would then have problems paying for all the allies. An alternative option, of course, is to spread the Ents out across a Fellowship.

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Someone must have spiked my tea, because I’m spotlighting a two-hero deck… Wait! Don’t run away yet, because this one’s worth trying out!

Yes, in general, I’m not a big fan of 2-hero decks. The big problem that I have with them is that they tend to be overly-dependent on certain cards, be it a first-round resourceful or a particularly impactful Timely Aid. Sure, when all the stars align, these decks can pack one helluva punch. The problem is that they fail utterly just a little too often for my tastes. Nothing hurts more than exhausting Gimli and Gildor Inglorian to play A Very Good Tale, only to pull out a single Rivendell Scout for your efforts. That’s hard to recover from, especially considering you’re already behind in resources from the lack of a third hero.

Yet, despite my usual arguments, here I am looking at a 2-hero deck list that works. How does it do it? Let’s find out!

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Now that Sands of Harad has been out for a while, this is a good time to look at an Unlikely Friendship build. Legolas and Gimli make a very powerful team, but also present some deck building challenges: How do you consistently pay for Gimli’s kicker? How do you consistently pay for Legolas’ kicker? Who gets to be the third wheel?

The thematically obvious choice for the latter question is Aragorn, and I highly recommend Beorn’s The Three Hunters Aggro deck if you like Voltron hero builds. Other interesting decks include The Third Knife by chrsjxn and Leglimvor by Seastan. Each of these decks take the unlikely friendship concept in a different direction, but did you spot the similarities? All three utilize Steward of Gondor for Gimli, and Elven-light for Legolas. Their kicker costs are high enough that we are forced to build around them, and these cards make for obvious staples.

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RingsDB has been quite active over the past couple of weeks, and it is times like these where gems fall through the cracks. Today’s feature got buried, not once, but twice by the recent flurry of submissions (because two versions were published).

So why resurrect this particular deck? Because it showcases how the latest Dwarven toys, Dwarf Pipe and Erebor Guard, do wonders for the dwarven miner archetype.

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It’s amazing what diamonds you can find in the rough: As of this writing, today’s feature deck is four months old and has a grand total of zero likes, zero favorites, and zero comments. How good could it possibly be?

The answer is “really good”, and not only is it a capable solo deck, but also quite multiplayer-friendly.

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In case you haven’t heard, the game is not dying. Seriously, go check the forums on your favorite board gaming site, and count the number of threads that have been started by newcomers asking about purchasing advice, deck-building fundamentals, or just how to get started. What you’ll find is that, six (!) years in, this game is attracting new players every day. We have a vibrant community, and gamers on the outside looking in can see that. They see all of the fun that we’re having, and are naturally curious as to what all the fuss is about.

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