Bard, Heir of Girion really stands out as a humans/archers tribal commander who can run as a small built-in anthem or card draw engine. As Bard looses the fateful arrow to kill Smaug (spoilers…sorry), I wanted the deck to feel like you’re firing arrows at people by tapping archers at instant speed and pinging for damage on their turns! In addition to some archers (Dawnray Archer, Arbalest Elite, Stalking Leonin, Elite Archers) I’ve included other printings of Bard (Bard, King of Dale & Bard the Bowman), a few bows (Fyndhorn Bow, Short Bow, Viridian Longbow), the famous Black Arrow itself, and the classic, Walking Ballista for some extra archery shenanigans. Bard’s card draw engine is a little stronger than the anthem, so we will ramp to him and play him out quickly to start attacking and drawing cards. We have a ton of “whenever you draw your second card” effects to keep the train running, including Wizard Class, Prince Imrahil the Fair, and most uniquely, Homunculus Horde - which is effectively a blue Scute Swarm for this mechanic. I also managed to include great chase cards from the set including The Arkenstone and The Queen of Dale, for extra value. This deck likes to slowly build and eventually overwhelm the board, so we have a few protection pieces including three counterspells (Sound the Trumpets, Counterspell, Arcane Denial) and three anti-board wipes (Boromir, Warden of the Tower / Cosmic Intervention / Selfless Spirit). Pump out tons of tokens and cheap creatures (The Council of Four, Visions of Glory, Bard King of Dale, Horn of Gondor) and buff them (Bard, Heir of Girion, Thalia’s Lieutenant, Flowering of the White Tree, Moonshaker Cavalry) to win! The deck should cost ~$150, and avoids other universes beyond cards entirely, featuring LOTR and Hobbit cards where possible.