Red Eagle, King of the Reach, is a Tales of Tribute Patron in Elder Scrolls Online whose main strength is manipulating one’s own deck.
Of the eight Patrons players can pick from in Elder Scrolls Online's new card game Tales of Tribute, Red Eagle is one of the few names players might recognize. Red Eagle is known among TES fans for his namesake quest and sword in Skyrim, and his deck is tied to trimming the fat from one's strategies.
In Elder Scrolls Online's deckbuilder players take turns gaining cards from a shared pool. This means your deck will sometimes become bloated with cards you don't need, so having ways to cut cards and get to the ones you want faster is incredibly useful. To earn this deck, you must progress fully through the questline and ranks of the Roister's Club.
The Red Eagle deck in ESO has a very clear focus on trimming the fat of one's deck to make Combos and interactions happen much more frequently. The majority of cards in this deck have effects that let players either remove cards from the Tavern or destroy their own cards outright. This seems counter-intuitive, but being able to get rid of cards you don't want can make a Tales of Tribute deck extremely efficient.
The Patron abilities of Red Eagle, King of the Reach are the same at each level of the Favored status. By paying 2 Power, players can draw a Card, and when the player is either Neutral or Unfavored their status is moved up a tier. This simple interaction works wonders with the Deck itself as it lets players get more Combos for their buck each turn, as long as they can generate Power.
The main benefit of using the Red Eagle deck is its ability to thin out your cards and let your primary Patron decks trigger Combos much more often. The Hagraven Matron and Karth Man-Hunter cards each let players destroy a card in play or in their hands in addition to generating Power, which can be used to draw Cards with the Patron ability and trigger even more Combos.
The Blood Sacrifice Contract card is one of the deck's most versatile, as it creates 3 Power, destroys a card, and lets players draw a card – all with just a Combo 2. The Imperial Plunder card is much cheaper and lets players manipulate the Tavern as well as gain more Coin to spend with their new options. The Midnight Raid card is only four Coin and lets player gain up to six power on a turn when they play just one other Red Eagle card, and is worth picking up earlier than later.
The main flaw of the Red Eagle deck is also its main strength. Most of the cards have the effect of removing cards from play in one way or another, but eventually your deck will not have any more useless cards to get rid of. At this point, the Red Eagle cards become a bit useless. It's a good idea to pick another Patron first and branch into Red Eagle later down the line, as it gives more time to choose a path before trimming the fat.
Red Eagle works well with just about every other Patron but especially well with Patrons with lots of card draw and high-end Combos. The Duke of Crows and the Rajhin, the Purring Liar decks are just this, both full of cards with Combo 3 and 4's and ways to continue the Combos with card draw. When playing with the Red Eagle deck, don't commit to a second Patron too early and thin out cards that could be useful later on. Wait a few turns to see what form your deck is taking before committing to Red Eagle cards and removing the ones you no longer need.
The Elder Scrolls Online: High Isle is available for PC, PlayStation 4 and 5, Stadia, and Xbox One and Series X|S
Elden Ring and Elder Scrolls Specialist, and sometimes Newswriter, at Game Rant. Basically, if it’s an RPG that starts with Elde-, I probably write about it.
