Telepathy
Telepathy is an 
Elven strategy, usually meshed with other strategies like Elvents or Gil-Galad Looping. It originated in Movie Block, but remains strong throughout the rest of the formats. Telepathy focuses on manipulating the top cards of the deck with tools like Gandalf, Manager of Wizards (7R37)
and Back to the Light (18R6)
, then using your tailored top cards to win skirmishes with Forearmed (6U16)
and similar cards.
Core Cards[edit]
Most versions of telepathy rely on the classic Gandalf, Manager of Wizards (7R37)
and Forearmed (6U16)
combo. Paired with a high-costing shadow like Sauron Besiegers and Sudden Strike, you can place a high-cost minion such as Sauron, The Lord of the Rings (9R+48)
on top of your deck. Usually the starting fellowship in Movie Block consists of Glorfindel, Revealed in Wrath (9R+16)
and Legolas, Archer of Mirkwood (5P121)
so you can forego Forearmed (6U16)
against Nazgul and keep your fellowship healed.
Once you get to post-Shadows formats, however, the starting companions become more varied. With the rise of Gil-galad, High King of the Noldor (18R12)
, meshing telepathy with his token looping abilities became the standard telepathy deck. As a bonus, he can recur your Forearmed (6U16)
at the cost of threats. As such, threat removal such as Glorfindel, Eldarin Lord (18R13)
or Into the West (7C23)
is necessary. In addition, the powerful Elrond, Witness to History (12R17)
can help to fuel Into the West (7C23)
or even recur your Elven cards.
Building the Deck[edit]
Movie block[edit]
For a strong Movie Block telepathy deck, you generally will want either Galadriel, Bearer of Wisdom (9R+14)
or Frodo, Courteous Halfling (4R301)
as your Ring-bearer. If you start with Frodo and intend to run other Elven events, Galadriel, Lady Redeemed (10R11)
can be helpful. You will also want to start Glorfindel, Revealed in Wrath (9R+16)
. That leaves you room for a two-cost starting companion. Legolas (e.g. Legolas, Archer of Mirkwood (5P121)
or Legolas, Greenleaf (1R50)
) and Arwen (e.g. Arwen, Echo of Luthien (10U5)
or Arwen, Queen of Elves and Men (10R6)
) are both popular. Some decks incorporate Saved From the Fire (8R20)
-based strategies by starting with Gandalf, Leader of Men (8R15)
, then burning him to retrieve Sent Back (9R27)
and Manager of Wizards.
Gandalf, Manager of Wizards (7R37)
is the core of the deck, as are four copies of Forearmed (6U16)
, since there are no practical recursion methods for the latter in this format. Nenya, Ring of Adamant (9R20)
is a useful supplementary tool for rigging your deck. Vilya, Ring of Air (9R23)
can serve as additional copies of Forearmed, but the fact that it discards the revealed card makes it less useful, and forces you to use it after any copies of Forearmed in your hand.
This deck is also a good candidate to (ab)use Glimpse of Fate (10U12)
. Manager of Wizards allows you to activate Glimpse of Fate at will. Banner of Elbereth (6U14)
can even let you refill your hand for more activations of Manager and Glimpse.
The rest of the deck is typically high-power, generally-useful Elven-culture cards. Círdan, The Shipwright (10R8)
is popular and powerful if you're running many events, and you probably are. Gil-galad, Elven High King (9R+15)
and Aiglos (9R+12)
are always strong, and Gil-Galad is a high-Twilight card in a pinch. Elf-song (1C39)
may be more useful than the typical Sam, Son of Hamfast (1C311)
because of Cirdan and Lady Redeemed, or you may want to go with Narya (3R34)
. Depending on your meta, playing counters to popular Shadow strategies like Southron Archery, Nazgul Corruption, or Corsairs can be beneficial, if you can find the space.
A variant of this deck also includes cards that want to find Elven cards on top of your deck, such as Elrond, Venerable Lord (10R9)
, Celeborn, Lord of the Galadhrim (10R7)
, and Into the West (7C23)
, along with cards that place themselves or another Free Peoples card on top of your deck, like Still Needed (7C29)
, Fleet-footed (10C10)
, and On Your Doorstep (8U19)
. However, placing Free Peoples cards on top of your deck is not very useful with Forearmed (6U16)
, so this version of the deck ends up being more complicated and more vulnerable to misplays or interaction.
Post-Shadows formats[edit]
In formats such as Expanded and Standard, the archetype changes dramatically. Forearmed (6U16)
and Gandalf, Manager of Wizards (7R37)
are still keystones, but there are more options for the other cards. Galadriel, Bearer of Wisdom (9R+14)
is usually the Ring-bearer, and you start Gamling, Defender of the Hornburg (11R147)
to tutor Erkenbrand’s Horn
to grab Celebring, Elven-smith (18R7)
(which in turn grabs Galadriel's Silver Ewer (18R11)
) and Woodhall Elf, Exile (18C17)
. Arwen is usually the other starting companion, either Arwen, She-Elf (15R11)
or Arwen, Royal Maiden (19P6)
. Most cards from the Gil-Galad Looping strategy are incorporated, covering burden and condition removal, plus an infinite card draw loop. Círdan, The Shipwright (10R8)
is rarely used, as you rely only on a few events, namely, Forearmed (6U16)
and Attunement (12C16)
.
However, if you choose to mesh telepathy with Elvents, you often will take a different route. Most likely, you will start a similar fellowship, or you will play Elladan, Son of Elrond (14R2)
and Elrohir, Son of Elrond (14R3)
. While you will probably still use Gil-galad, High King of the Noldor (18R12)
, you will probably not use his loopable ability. After that, you will pack your deck with Elven events, plus Gandalf and Círdan, The Shipwright (10R8)
.
