Edited: 08.03.2022
I changed my mind on the most optimal decklist: The only change is switching out 2x Henk Ekkelstone for 2x Edgar Hasthaum. I updated the guide to include my reasoning for this change.
Edited: 07.07.2022
I changed my mind back on the most optimal decklist: I switched back 2x Edgar Hasthaum for 2x Henk Ekkelstone. Timberwolf and Erbol changed my mind about how strong Henk is.
Introduction:
Hello everyone! I am Cookie, a relatively new player to A Glimpse of Luna who started out two weeks ago. I exclusively play Nordur as my favourite race, whose biggest strengths lie in their versatility and flexibility. Today I want to share with you my take on a Nordur Deck Guide that only consists of cards from the Nordur Starter Deck. There are strong and cool cards in the Starter Deck already, which help create a nice first deck. This Nordur Deck Guide consists of the Decklist, going through all cards in the deck and sharing tips and mulligan strategy.
Decklist: Here is the DECKLIST: DECKLIST: Erik Ironstrong - Helga Jargald - Night Prince, Rudolf Berlof, Volgar The Seer - Ador Icestar, Bjrn The Pathfinder, Cyrill Whitehorn, Janis Seiberg, Jesper Jorgath, Knut Knartau, Konrad Dorning - Elmar Wolkrenn, Elmar Wolkrenn, Frallga The Sea Woman, Gantur Laubrock, Gantur Laubrock, Harivald Bonnesheim, Henk Ekkelstone, Henk Ekkelstone, Henk Ekkelstone, Henk Ekkelstone, Paul Knopfer, Runa The Seeker, Runa The Seeker, Runa The Seeker, Ulfrik The Fisherman - Allmanns Potion, The Grey Bear Armor, The shoes of the Shieldbrothers
Hero and Guardian:
Erik Ironstrong: Erik is a very strong hero. With 2 movement he has a normal amount of mobility, with 11 defense he is difficult to be killed and with 11 attack and his Spinning Attack ability (dealing 3 damage to all enemies on hexes adjacent to him) he lets you do a nice attack that cripples their defenses, and big counter-strikes if your opponent overextends. I picked Erik over Otis because with 11 defense he is just out of reach from Alnarasz' 11 attack (with the fellowship bonus) and his ability let's you deal a lot of damage: He deals 14 or 17 damage himself if he is surrounded by 2 or 3 enemy units. Erik is also the hero I personally use in my constructed decks together with his fellowship Ygridd Icestorm that gives both of them +1 attack.
Helga Jargald: Helga with 16 defense is the tankiest guardian in the game, which means you don't necessarily have to heavily protect her during your games. She buffs the attack value of all female units by 1. With only 4 attack and 1 range she can only attack the 4 hexes around her and she won't be able to kill bigger units. Radiana on the other hand has 10 attack and a range of 2, which means she can reach 9 hexes around her and she will be able to kill most units, so why Helga over Radiana? In the Nordur Starter Deck you have access to only 4 female units: 3x Runa and Frallga, more on Runa later in the warrior section. Because guardians can't move around, having guardians that can attack well is less important than having guardians that can't easily be killed. With only 9 defense, Radiana can be taken out with two or even one high attack 3 movement unit, whereas even two high attack 3 movement units most of the time can't deal the necessary 17 damage to Helga. I believe that Helga's defensive nature and her attack buff to the 4 female warrior units is more valuable than Radiana. Helga is the guardian I personally use in my constructed decks together with other female units you can unlock later.
Masters: You can't yet choose to run different masters, but I believe the three masters you have access to are very strong if used correctly.
Night Prince: Night Prince is one of the strongest masters in the game. With the assassination ability you can take out any annoying master of your opponent and a movement of 3 is very valuable. His mobility lets you even threaten their hero or guardian; this works especially well if you combine him with your other 3 movement units Runa or Jesper. He is very flexible, gives you board control, works well with your other units and you can reposition him to better hexes very easily. Night Prince is the master I personally use in all my constructed decks.
Rudolf Berlof: Rudolf with 9 attack can deal massive amounts of damage to units 2 hexes away, and with a movement of 2 can still deal 5 damage to units that are 3 hexes away (as a Marksman he deals 50% damage rounded up in close combat). His abilty Less Reinforcements means that everytime he kills a unit, your opponent can only deploy 2 units. This ability lets you get value when you and your opponent trade other units near him. Because he only has 5 defense, you need to be a bit careful not to place him too close to enemy units that can attack him, but he is the perfect unit to stand behind your less valuable warriors and pioneers, that can support them with his ranged attack. His high attack damage dissuades opponents from attacking you without taking proper precausions around Rudolf. Later on, if you unlock and equip The Bow Of Portheim on Rudolf, he will have 7 attack and 3 range, which combined with his ability makes him a force to be reckoned with. Personally, I don't use Rudolf in my constructed decks because I prefer a bit of a different playstyle and I don't yet have The Bow Of Portheim, but he has won my opponents many games.
Volgar The Seer: Volgar is a very nicely statted master with 7 attack and 7 defense. He can kill most pioneers and even threaten other masters. His ability is Anti-Hermeticists, which, as the name implies, makes him immune to any attacks by hermeticists. There are a lot of strong hermeticists in the game, like the aforementioned Alnarasz, which Volgar can advance on and threaten, without being in any danger himself. Try to play him on the side your opponent has the most amount or the most valuable hermeticists on and see them run away in fear. Personally, I use Volgar because he is a very annoying unit to deal with and because he scares away hermeticists.
Pioneers: I believe Nordur has access to strong pioneers in the Starter Deck, which are excellent to be placed in your 2nd line of units, that can also advance themselves and threaten their units if the opportunity arises.
Jesper Jorgath: With 5 attack Jesper can offer decent ranged support to your warriors, but with only 3 defense he can be threatened by enemy warriors or units with 3 range, so try and keep him at a safe place. His biggest advantage however is his 3 movement: He does only deal 3 damage in close combat, but even 3 damage is very dangerous on a 3 movement unit. Even standing far away he can take out units with low defense either alone or with support of other units, or can make the difference between having to retreat or being able to kill the unit that came too close. 3 movement units are very valuable. He has a fellowship with Yvar Broadaxe, giving both +1 defense, but even without that he is already a strong unit.
Cyrill Whitehorn: As a hermeticist with 5 attack, 5 defense, 2 movement and 2 range Cyrill is an amazing pioneer that can be used very flexibly. He is not easily threatened by warriors or other pioneers, he can offer ranged support to warriors in the frontline and in general 2 movement units are the backbone of your army. His attack can also be buffed to 6 if your opponent kills your Harivald who often joins the frontline next to Cyrill. 6 attack lets you threaten a lot more pioneers since a lot of them have 5 defense. He is an allround amazing card.
Janis Seiberg: As a warrior with 5 attack, 5 defense and 2 movement, Janis is, like Cyrill, an amazing pioneer that can also be used very flexibly. He does not offer ranged support, but he can be equipped with two of your items, which lets you play in a flexible way. The Shoes Of The Shieldbrothers gives him 3 movement . 5 attack on a 3 movement unit is amazing for threatening masters or even heroes and guardians together with your other 3 movement units. His attack can be buffed to 6 with the equipment Allmanns Potion, or if your opponent kills Paul Knopfer who often joins the frontline next to Janis. Like with Cyrill, 6 attack lets you threaten a lot more pioneers.
Bjrn The Pathfinder: Bjrn is exactly the same as Janis, except he has 4 attack and 6 defense. Having 6 defense means he is safe against most pioneers and most high-attack warriors, like an enemy Jiro with the fellowship bonus of +1 attack. This means that he does not benefit as much from The Shoes Of The Shieldbrothers, but he can often safely advance onto enemy warriors and threaten them without being in danger himself. Paul Knopfer and Allmanns Potion can also buff his attack to 5.
Konrad Dorning: Konrad is the exact same as Janis, except he has 1 less defense but an ability instead. The Tactician ability reduces your opponents time budget by 30 seconds, which makes them get in time pressure more easily. With 4 defense, he is more easily threatened by enemy 5+ attack pioneers, but he benefits the same way from The Shoes Of The Shieldbrothers as Janis. Most of the time, 3 movement units attack once and then die, which means that Konrad having less defense than Bjrn doesn't really matter as he did his job just as good. Paul Knopfer and Allmanns Potion can also buff his attack to 6.
Knut Knartau: Knut with 7 attack hits hard, but what makes him strong is his ability Riposte. Riposte means that any unit that attacks Knut in close combat takes 7 damage. His ability makes it incredibly difficult for your opponent to kill him in close combat in a favourable way: They have to attack him with a unit that has at least 7 defense for the unit to survive, and most pioneers with 7 or more defense won't have the necessary 5 attack to kill him. However, he dies easily to ranged attacks, so be careful not to approach them when they have a 3 range unit closeby. Oftentimes they have to sacrifize a pioneer to take out Knut. He can be equipped with The Grey Bear Armor that gives him 2 more defense, which protects him from most 3 ranged attacks and most pioneers, making him into a nice tank. With the Armor, he is only lacking 4 defense to be on the same level as the master card Martin, who is even more difficult to kill in a favourable way. Knut can also be equipped with The Shoes Of The Shieldbrothers which lets him threaten some enemy masters with his now 2 movement. Paul Knopfer can also buff his attack, meaning that any unit that wants to kill him in close combat needs to now have a defense of 8 or higher.
Ador Icestar: Ador has very nice stats but is a slow unit like Knut. With 8 attack he hits very hard, and his ability means that he can deal 11 or even 14 damage if he is surrounded by three enemy units. His 5 defense means that, like Cyrill and Janis, he is not easily threatened by enemy warriors or pioneers. He can be equipped with The Grey Bear Armor, which puts his stats to an amazing 8 attack 7 defense, which is on the same level as masters, albeit still a slow unit with 1 movement. He can also be equipped with The Shoes Of The Shieldbrothers, which, like Knut with 2 movement, lets him threaten enemy masters with a defense of 7 or lower, or heroes in combination with your 3 movement units. If you equip both the Armor and the Shoes, he is truly a very dangerous master-level card. Paul Knopfer can also buff his attack, meaning that with The Shoes, he can threaten enemy masters with a defense of 8 too.
Omissions: Fred The Gregarious One and Jochen Bock. Too many 1 movement units can render your deck very inflexible, because 1 movement units can get threatened by 2 movement units, without threatening them back. Both Fred and Jochen do offer a lot of stats, but are worse than Ador and Knut. They are more defensive units who need to be carefully positioned, need equipments and fellowships and a more dedicated deck to work optimally. With the guardian Fabyor and with The Bow Of Portheim, Fred can become a 4 attack 7 defense 3 range unit, which makes Fred as a pioneer very similar to the Naphas Master Drakan. Jochen can become a 6 attack 9 defense unit if you use the guardian Fabyor and his Fellowship Jonaas Munzer, which now is not only difficult to be killed, he can also approach and threaten enemy pioneers, like an enemy Janis, Ador or even kill Knut and survive.
Personally, I use Cyrill, Janis, Bjrn and Knut from the pioneers in the Deck Guide, but I have used all of them to great success in the past and have seen all of them used in competitive decks. It mostly comes down to both other cards you run and personal preference.
Warriors:
2x Elmar Wolkrenn: Elmar is a strong warrior with 3 range, that as an individual unit can threaten enemy warriors with 1 defense like Viho or Exodus. As a troop they will have 4 attack and 4 defense, making them safe from most 3 movement warriors and they can threaten most enemy warriors. In general, 3 range units offer you a lot of board control and they let you deal additional damage and trade units you otherwise could not have traded, like most high defense 1 movement pioneers, or they let you trade a melee warrior for a pioneer with ranged support. Personally, I run 4 Elmar in all of my Nordur decks, as he is very strong even without buffing his attack to 3 with Fabyor.
3x Runa The Seeker: Runa is one of the units whose attack gets buffed by Helga. As a marksman, her 3 attack will only deal 2 damage in close combat, but she has 3 movement, which is incredibly strong for a warrior. Without Helga's buff, she would only deal 1 damage in close combat in 3 movement, which is a reduction of 100% compared to having Helga's buff. She can also offer ranged support to other warriors and help you take favourable trades. 1 Runa can, like Elmar, threaten enemy warriors with 1 defense (like Viho or Exodus) and 2 Runa can threaten units with 3 or less defense, like the pioneers Lorik or Ygridd, two very strong units. Trading 2 Runa for a pioneer might seem like an equal trade, but because these pioneers are incredibly strong, it is still a very favourable trade for you. Together with your other 3 movement units she can threaten enemy masters and even heroes as well. Personally, I run 3 Runa in all my decks with Helga, as the only other 3 movement warrior is Maaro. Maaro's also deals 2 damage on 3 movement, but Maaro's advantage over Runa is that he can be equipped with the Allmanns Potion to increase his attack to 3, and with 3 defense he dies less easily to enemy warriors.
Frallga The Sea Woman: Frallga is one of your strongest warriors and gets her attack buffed by Helga. She has 5 attack that can become 7 if you attack a non-warrior unit. She can threaten most enemy pioneers, and trading Frallga as a warrior for a pioneer is very favourable for you. If an enemy master or hero wanders off too far out, she can also threaten them with the help of some of your other units. Her attack can be buffed to 6 with Harivald, which lets her single-handedly threaten 7 defense masters. She is the best unit to trade up into more valuable units and I personally run her in all of my Nordur decks.
2x Gantur Laubrock: Gantur Laubrock might seem like a weak unit with only 1 defense, but having 3 attack is good to have. Gantur can threaten enemy units with 2 defense or less, like Jiro, or as a troop with 2 units becomes a unit with 6 attack and 2 defense, that can threaten pioneers units with 5 or less defense. I personally run him in allmost all of my Nordur decks as he is an important part of threatening their high-value warriors.
Harivald Bonnesheim: Harivald is a cool unit that can threaten warriors with 1 defense or less, and that can trade for other warriors while also buffing the attack of your Volgar, Cyrill or Frallga to let them trade more favourably. He can also offer a little bit of ranged support. Try to keep him next to your other hermeticists so you get the buff on them. I personally don't run Harivald in my decks, but he can be used to great effect in constructed decks that utilize hermeticists more heavily.
Paul Knopfer: Paul Knopfer is a cool unit and the equivalent of Harivald for warriors. He can buff the attack of Erik, Janis, Bjrn, Konrad, Ador and Knut and let them trade more favourably. He can also advance on and threaten enemy warriors like Gantur, without being in danger himself. Try to keep him next to your other warriors so you get the buff on them. I personally use Knopfer in almost all of my decks as buffing the attack of my melee units lets them threaten key units.
4x Henk Ekkelstone: Henk is one of the weaker units, but you don't yet have access to better ones. He has an attack of only 2, meaning he can threaten fewer cards than Gantur. The way to use him is as additional cards similar to but weaker than Paul or Harivald. Use him together with your high attack units to make threats that would not be possible otherwise, to protect the advance of enemy units and as a troop he can be a cheap and effective blocker that require at least 3 damage each to be removed. You can stack him as a troop but be careful; there are a number of units that can threaten to trade your troop of Henk Ekkelstone unfavourably for you. He might be slightly understatted, but with some support from your other cards he can threaten enemy pioneers without being in danger himself most of the time. His 2 movement make him a strong pick for a beginner deck, because he is very mobile, flexible and he lets you threaten slow units that only hav 1 movement. I personally don't use Henk in any of my decks, he is the first card to be cut from the deck, but a 2 movement warrior is still better than running too many slow 1 movement warrior cards that get easily outmaneouvered.
Ulfrik The Fisherman: Ulfrik is a slow unit with only 1 movement, but with 5 attack he can offer excellent ranged support from the backline and can slowly advance and threaten enemy warriors or even pioneers and force them to trade for your Ulfrik. Too many 1 movement units are bad, so there is only 1 in the deck. If you earn some gold and can unlock cards like additional Elmar and Gantur, Maaro, Liv and Fyora, you can run more Ulfrik because he does threaten warriors and even pioneers and force them to trade into you. But as it stands, run as few 1 movement cards as possible because you don't want to be outmaneuvered easily.
Omissions: 3 Edgar Hasthaum, 4 Mats The Huntsman, 2 Ulfrik. I did not put Edgar in the deck because I wanted to avoid having too many 1 movement units. A single Edgar has a hard time threatening enemy warriors without being vulnerable to ranged attacks. 2 Edgar form a 6 attack 8 defense troop which is similar to a 6 attack 9 defense Jochen, but Jochen has a very strong ability and can be picked in the starting 5 as 1 card, whereas Edgar will take 2 / 5 cards, leaving only 3 slots left. 3 Edgar form a 9 attack 12 defense troop which might seem strong, but he still only has 1 movement which can be taken advantage of and being worth 3 morale makes him aworthy target.
Mats has the same stats as Henk, but since he is a marksman, only being able to deal 1 damage on 2 movement is very bad and the benefit of offering ranged support doesn't make up for it. At least Henk can deal 2 damage on 2 movement. I personally don't run Edgar or Mats in any of my decks.
The last two copies of Ulfrik are omitted because this type of deck works best if it has as few 1 movement units in it as possible. Once you start to unlock some key cards, you can run more copies of Ulfrik but right now he is simply too slow to run 3 copies of. Personally, I still ran 1 copy of Ulfrik in my Nordur decks for a long time because I had not yet unlocked all the warriors I want, and 5 damage on 2 range is still very nice ranged support.
Equipments:
Allmanns Potion: The Allmanns Potion is a very flexible card that can make the difference between enemy units barely surviving on 0 defense or dying. Use it on your melee pioneers to reach certain threshholds against key enemy cards. You can also combine it with your other items to make the unit even stronger.
The Grey Bear Armor: The Great Bear Armor is ideally used on Knut or Ador as these units already have 1 movement and the movement reduction will be nullified. Using it on Knut lets you get more value from his ability, and makes him survive attacks that otherwise would kill him, and using it on Ador lifts his stats to master-level. You can also equip both the Armor and then the Shoes to make Knut or Ador a force to be reckoned with. However, be careful about the ordering: Always equip the Armor first and only then the Shoes, otherwise you will reduce the movement down to 1 again after you buffed it to 2.
The Shoes Of The Shieldbrothers: The Shoes are your strongest equipment for Nordur. Movement is very important and this card is very flexible and very strong. Improving slow 1 movement units to average-speed 2 movement units is very strong, and so is improving average-speed 2 movement units to fast 3 movement units. If you need a 3 movement unit, try to equip Konrad or Janis with the Shoes, otherwise you can equip Knut or Ador. In rare cases, 3 attack is enough, which means you can equip Paul with the Potion and the Shoes, making him into a 3 attack 3 movement unit. But if you do, you likely won't get value out of his ability.
Omissions: Equipments should help improve your units and let you make both more threats on key enemy units and threaten more favourable trades. Equipments should be either very flexible, very strong for your deck's strategy or ideally both to be taken. The three equipments are the most flexible and very strong, the omitted equipment Hrulfs Heritage is a lot weaker. Hrulfs Heritage adds 1 defense to a hermeticist, which can be either Volgar, Cyrill, Frallga or Harivald. The defense buff only makes sense on Volgar or Cyrill and protects them from 8 or 6 attack respectively. However, Volgar ability means we should ideally use him to push on enemy hermeticists and in that case the defense buff won't matter as much. And Cyrill is one of the best pioneers to start with, which means you can't equip him with the defense buff. The equipments are still the same ones I use today, as they are very flexible and also because I still lack The Bow Of Portheim. However, for my style of play, the Bow is not a requirement, which means that the equipments from the Nordur Starter Deck are very strong already.
Mulligan:
For your starting 5 slots, if you go first I recommend taking Night Prince, Cyrill, Bjrn, Frallga and Gantur and going second I recommend taking Night Prince, Cyrill, Bjrn and 2x Elmar. If you are first, deploy your units in the top row and if you are second, deploy your high-value units in the back row and your warriors in the front row. Usually starting 5 selection will depend strongly on your enemy, but this seems like the most solid standard start for a beginner against most decks. Better choices will come with experience. I prefer Bjrn over Janis because Janis benefits a lot more from your equipments than Bjrn.
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