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NBarden

Posted: Wed Jan 03, 2007 12:42 am

Joined: 28 Dec 2006 Posts: 5468 Location: I don't know...

--- description ---
Lord of the Rings is indisputably the funnest game ever. However, it gets even better if you run the craziest, most absurd deck out there...
--- end description ---

A game worth playing is worth having fun while being played. Although the Lord of the Rings Trading Card Game is a blast no matter what deck you use, it gets even better if you are running the craziest, most absurd deck out there. This article will highlight the oddball decks of Lord of the Rings Expanded play. These decks are not recommended for tournament play, but are some of the most fun decks you will ever play.

Free Peoples:
A Twist on the Ent Deck
The Solo Gimli Choke

Shadow:
Uruk-Hai site control swarm
The Moria Tank

Both:
Killer Grimbeorn

Free Peoples Deck: The New Ent Deck:

Big fellowships have always been at a disadvantage to cards like Greed, Ulaire Cantea, Black Assassin, and Ulaire Enquea, Lieutenant of Morgul. However, they can still be fun to play. This deck revolves around two cards from the not-yet-released Rise of Saruman Expansion, Merry, In the Bloom of Health and Pippin, In the Bloom of Health.

Ring-Bearer:
Sam, Bearer of Great Need
The One Ring, The Ring of Doom

Starting:

Merry, In the Bloom of Health
Pippin, In the Bloom of Health
Farmer Maggot, Hobbit of the Marish
Quickbeam, Bregalad
Skinbark, Fladrif
Host of Fangorn
Ent Horde

The Rest of the Deck:

Treebeard, Enraged Shepherd x 3
Shepherd of the Trees
Leaflock, Finglas
Gandalf, Defender of the West x 3
Glamdring, Foe-Hammer
Gandalf’s Staff, Ash-Staff
Sting, Weapon of Heritage
Mysterious Wizard x 2
Roused x 4
Hobbit Stealth x 3
Power According to His Stature x 2
Orc-Bane x 2
Sleep, Caradhras x 4
Hobbiton Brewer, Maker of Fine Ales
The Gaffer, Master Gardener
Pallando, Far-Travelling One
Radagast, Tender of Beasts
Warmed up a Bit x 4

You are pretty well set up before the game begins. As soon as you draw Warmed Up a Bit, discard Merry or Pippin. Keep Farmer Maggot for last. If your in a bind waiting for that copy of Warmed Up a Bit and can’t figure out which companion to play without breaking the rule of nine, the availability of pumps dictates which companion to play. If you have Gandalf, his staff, Glamdring, and 2 copies of Mysterious Wizard, you want to play him. However, if you have Treebeard with Ent Moot, and Roused in your hand, play him.

Make sure Treebeard does most of the fighting. If you are swarmed (which is very unlikely), don’t worry. Assign the lowest strength minion to Treebeard and drop the minions on Sam with Power According to His Stature.

Also, double move. If your Ents all win their skirmishes, starting with Treebeard, you can easily kill off every minion thrown at you, and no matter how much twilight is thrown out, your opponent will have a tough time using it all.

Do not, I repeat, DO NOT allow your hobbits to die. If they die, your extra companions never see play. If, under an extreme case, a hobbit does die, toss Shepherd of the Trees, if two, Leaflock, and if all three, Gandalf. Do not toss Treebeard.

Finally, Sleep, Caradhras is in there to get rid of cards like Greed, Blade Tip, and Black Breath.

Free Peoples Deck:The Solo Gimli Choke

Solo Smeagol has dominated the world of solo ring-bearer decks. However, there is another alternate ring-bearer that has the capability of running a killer solo deck. And who doesn’t love a damage +16 dwarf?

Ring-Bearer/Starting Fellowship:
Gimli, Bearer of Grudges
The One Ring, The Ring of Rings

The Rest of the Deck:
Ring of Fury x 2
Gimli’s Battle Axe x 2
Hand Axe x 4
Arod, Rohirrim Steed
Book of Mazarbul
Gimli’s Helm
Gimli’s Pipe
Dwarven Bracers x 3
Dwarven Armor
Lord of Moria x 4
Proud and Able x 4
Flurry of Blows x 4
Honed x 4

The Gimli ring-bearer is good for a solo choke, since the Dwarven

culture is geared towards choke. The only problem with Gimli’s text is that he adds burdens each time he fights. So, he needs to have an incredible resistance, or be able to pull off burdens. Pulling off burdens is not the dwarves’ specialty, but with Gimli’s text, it’s easy to make his resistance go through the roof. He starts out resistance 6 plus damage +1, for a total of resistance +1. Arod makes him resistance +1, and the Ring of Fury makes him damage +3, his battle axe, damage +4, Lord of Moria, damage +8. With the text of Proud and Able, you spot all of his possessions to make him a total of damage +16, or resistance 23. If he fights a skirmish every single site, he will have five resistance left at the end of the game.

You don’t have to worry about fierce, because if Gimli wins a skirmish, the minion dies outright from damage. And he will win skirmishes, because of Honed, a strength + 16 pump. Flurry of Blows is there for smaller strength pumps, and also gives a damage +1 bonus.

If you get swarmed, Gimli with dwarven armor can more than hold his own. If you run up against tons of vitality one minions, discard a hand axe, you’ve got three more.

This deck should be coupled with a deck-cycling shadow, to ensure you draw all the necessary possessions as early as possible.

Also, it is not advisable to double move. However, you can add a couple copies of Battle in Earnest to be able to compete with double-moving decks. Blood runs chill would be a good card for this to, as it would also discard conditions, possessions, or even artifacts! However, a deck revolving around Goblin Swarms, or Library of Orthanc, or another minion stacking deck would find it easy to circumvent this. Also, this card does add two twilight, and with a choke deck, that might just give your opponent the twilight he needs...

There are a couple possible variations on this deck. First, coupling it with Grimbeorn, Beorning Chieftain, and including two copies of Watch and Wait would ensure a firm resistance to corruption, and if you run a nasty tank deck, Grimbeorn could win a good share of skirmishes. Second, Pippin, hobbit of some intelligence could be run with 4 copies of Make Haste, with Daddy twofoot, next-door neighbor bringing them back. This would make a good minion discarding or choking engine, and Daddy Twofoot’s aid cost would be neutralized by Pippin’s ability. However, neither of these strategies seem to fit the idea of the solo deck, and, although fun to play, cannot be considered components of a Solo-Gimli deck.

Shadow Deck: Uruk-Hai Site Control Swarm:

There’s the Uruk-Hai swarm. And then there’s Uruk-Hai Site Control. When you combine them, you get this crazy Uruk-hai Site Control Swarm.

Decklist:
Attack on Helm’s Deep x 2
Uruk Foot Soldier x 4
Uruk Soldier x 4
Uruk Besieger x 2
Uruk-Hai Horde x 4
Uruk-Hai Mob x 4
Uruk-Hai Patrol x 2
Saruman, Servant of the Eye x 4
Sack of the Shire x 2
Banner of Isengard x 4

This deck is very easy to play. Get a copy of Attack on Helm’s Deep in play as soon as possible. Then add tokens each time you play a minion, and take control of sites with your remaining Uruk-Hai. As you take control of sites, your minions get cheaper. Use Saruman to assign your Uruk-Hai Patrol and knock off companions. And the Banner of Isengard softens your opponents companions up to knock them off with damage +1 minions.

Shadow Deck: Moria Tank

From the very beginning, Moria has been a culture geared towards swarms. With the exception of The Balrog, Moria has run tons of cheap minions. However, there are several high-strength minions from the Moria culture, and this deck takes advantage of them.

The Balrog, Terror of Flame and Shadow x 3
The Balrog, The Terror of Khazad-Dum x 1
The Whip of Many Thongs, Weapon of Flame and Shadow x 4
Final Cry x 4
Host of Moria, Legion of the Underdeeps x 4
Goblin Patrol Troop x 4
Goblin Flankers x 4
Goblin Scavengers x 2
Goblin Scimitar x 4
Goblin Armory x 4

Of course, the deck focuses around the Balrog, Terror of Flame and Shadow, combined with the Whip of Many Thongs and Final Cry for a strength 18, fierce, damage +2 monster that wounds a companion twice at the end of each skirmish. This combo kills almost any companion. The other Balrog is good against wounding or exertion. Host of Moria will allow you to play the Balrog or the Whip from your discard pile. Goblin armories add twilight as you play possessions. The Whip of Many Thongs also adds twilight. Goblin Flankers get pretty cheap if your opponent double moves, and Goblin Patrol troops can be tough to beat.

A twist to this deck, for those who enjoy taking risks, would be to add several copies of Dangerous Gamble. If it pays off, you may be able to get another minion or two in play, spelling disastrous consequences for the Free Peoples.

Free People/Shadow Deck: Killer Grimbeorn

This deck runs a shadow designed to supplement a killer fellowship. The shadow isn’t the greatest, but if your opponent gives you enough twilight to play your minions they’re toast. Meanwhile, a strength 28 Grimbeorn is nice to have...

Free Peoples:

Frodo, Weary From the Journey
The One Ring, Such a Weight to Carry

Grimbeorn, Beorning Chieftain (starting)
Aragorn, Strider (starting)

Gandalf, the White Wizard x 3
Radagast, The Brown x 4
Glamdring, Foe-hammer
Gandalf’s Staff, Walking Stick
Radagast’s Staff
A Wizard is Never Late x 4
Out of the High Airs x 4
The Flame of Anor x 3
Have Patience x 4
Ranger’s Sword, Blade of Aragorn
Sentinels of Numenor x 3
Hobbit Sword

Shadow:

Sauron, Dark Lord of Mordor x 4
Mountain Troll x 4
Host of Udun x 4
Siege Troop x 4
Army of Udun x 4
Olog-Hai of Mordor x 4
Wild Men of the Hills x 4
The Balrog, Terror of Flame and Shadow x 4

Grimbeorn takes advantage of these minions’ high natural strength to explode. With the wizards in play, the Flame of Anor can help you win your share of the skirmishes with Radagast and Gandalf out. Aragorn is just in there because he’s a tough 1 twilight companion you can start with Grimbeorn. He can also drop some Orcs and Uruk-Hai with his sword and Sentinels of Numenor. Radagast lets the fellowship double move (or triple move). Gandalf can easily be a strength 12 damage +2 companion when fully loaded. With the size of your companions, you may not have to use Grimbeorns special ability every turn, but Have Patience insures that you can.

The shadow runs without a set strategy, and is just designed to help Grimbeorn win his skirmishes. However, if given enough twilight, each of the minions can be played by themselves making your opponent think twice before double moving. Meanwhile, your killer Grimbeorn fellowship rushes to site nine and wins the game.

And a few other crazy ideas

Free Peoples: Killer Boromir

Play Boromir, Doomed Heir, and stack as many possessions on him as possible (especially ones that increase vitality). Then, play Heirs of Gondor and 4x Guarded City. With this combo, you can easily get Boromir over strength 100.

Shadow: Nazgul Swarm

Play cards that lower Nazgul’s twilight cost, like Ulaire Nertea, Servant of the Shadow, Dark Approach, and Morgul Gates. Ulaire Nertea, Messenger of Dol Guldur is x-ed for expanded play, but a good card for open. Then of course, Ulaire Enquea, Lieutenant of Morgul keeps the big fellowships small enough to launch the swarm.

Shadow: Moria Corruption

Run a deck with the Balrog, Terror of Flame and Shadow bearing a Goblin Spear. (yes, its crazy, but the Balrog can bear a Goblin Spear.) Then play four copies of must do without hope. Foul Things and Relics of Moria play the Balrog and his spear from the discard pile. Finally, Troubled Mountains with any decent swarming swarming strategy will throw a minion on the ring-bearer, to allow you to play lost to the goblins.

Take your Lord of the Rings gameplaying up a notch in fun and try out these crazy decks!

Have a blast!

~nbarden

Special thanks to:
My mom, for letting me stay up all night writing this article.
My Lord of the Rings club, especially Dan and Garrett, for pointing out most of my errors.
sickofpalantirs, AnxiousChieftain, and Mythdracon, for pointing out the rest.
Everyone who gave me enough gp to buy my sig and avatar

Last edited by NBarden on Thu Jan 18, 2007 12:10 am; edited 33 times in total Exclamation

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sickofpalantirs

Posted: Wed Jan 03, 2007 8:45 am

Joined: 23 Mar 2006 Posts: 7750 Location: somwhere, over the rainbow way up high. There's a land that I heard of once in a lullaby.

I read the first couple of paragraphs and realized a major problem. Denethor only allows you to take into hand 4 cards. remember the rule of 4? sorry. I will keep reading.

EDIT aside from that great article. You get a 5.

Sop's haves/ top wants Exclamation

(mm)"SoP: you will always be the Official CC Spammer in my heart"
"DáinIronfoot"
Spammers really are amazing creatures. You can learn all there is to know about their ways in a month. And yet, after a hundred years, they can still surprise you. Razz

Turin06

Posted: Wed Jan 03, 2007 9:14 am

Joined: 24 Oct 2006 Posts: 197 Location: Good Question

A Good original idea

Between the conception
And the creation
Between the emotion
And the response
Falls the Shadow

AnxiousChieftain

Posted: Wed Jan 03, 2007 10:48 am

Joined: 15 Jul 2005 Posts: 3947 Location: Maryland

Nice article!

Unfortunately, as SoP asid, Denethor has to abide by the rule of 4, and thus the strategy does not work.

The Ent deck was really cool, and I got a kick out of looking at the starting fellowship. Very very nice.

The Uruk deck didn’t really seem crazy or odd; I’ve played a similar deck, and I don’t consider it any odder than my other decks.

The Moria deck was definitely odd, but it didn’t seem very playable. Still, a good idea, it just needed a bit more work IMHO.

The Grimbeorn deck was nice, although you might want to include some healing for him.

All in all, a nice article, and I give it a 4.

P.S. I didn’t like this quote:

"These decks ... are definitely the most fun decks you will ever play."

While some of the decks are fun, I don’t think it’s correct to say that they are definitely the most fun decks I’ll play. It’d be better to say " ...are definitely some of the most fun decks you will ever play."

MODS RULE. - lem0nhead

NBarden

Posted: Wed Jan 03, 2007 11:40 am

Joined: 28 Dec 2006 Posts: 5468 Location: I don't know...

Thanks for the tips.

How exactly does Denethor violate the rule of four?

Last edited by NBarden on Wed Jan 03, 2007 11:55 am; edited 2 times in total

AnxiousChieftain

Posted: Wed Jan 03, 2007 11:49 am

Joined: 15 Jul 2005 Posts: 3947 Location: Maryland

From the Comprehensive Rulebook (Page 4):

Quote:

Some card effects allow you to draw cards in the fellowship phase. You cannot draw (or take into hand) more than 4 cards during your fellowship phase. This is referred to as The Rule of 4.

MODS RULE. - lem0nhead

NBarden

Posted: Wed Jan 03, 2007 11:58 am

Joined: 28 Dec 2006 Posts: 5468 Location: I don't know...

Oh, sorry. I must play off an older rulebook. I’ll remove that part.

BTW, I consider the Uruk-Hai an oddball deck because with its crazy site control, its able to play strength 12 minions for free. This is probably the best working deck out of them and a deck I would actually play in a tournament. (I wish siege engine protected all conditions, Sad

)

As for Moria’s playability, its not all that playable, but Goblin Armory helps to get the twilight down. Its all worth it to watch a perfect balrog combination drop two companions by dishing out 5 wounds each skirmish phase. I’m going to add a little bit to the article.

Mythdracon

Posted: Thu Jan 04, 2007 10:41 am

Joined: 03 Jan 2007 Posts: 439 Location:

Grimbeorn cannot be 52 strength, I think, since you can discard a minion, not more than one. If it allowed more than one I’d say that card is broken, right?

NBarden

Posted: Thu Jan 04, 2007 1:08 pm

Joined: 28 Dec 2006 Posts: 5468 Location: I don't know...

You can exert him two times and discard a minion from hand twice to make him strength 24 + 24 + 4 = 52. It requires four exertions, and discarding two copies of Sauron, but yes, he can be strength 52.

-Trade With Me Exclamation

Add the popcorn smiley to your sig, help it achieve world domination.
What if the hokey pokey really IS what its all about? Shocked

As I lay in bed staring at the stars last night, I thought to myself, "where the heck is the ceiling?"

Spotlight on....Sense of Obligation.

sickofpalantirs

Posted: Thu Jan 04, 2007 1:37 pm

Joined: 23 Mar 2006 Posts: 7750 Location: somwhere, over the rainbow way up high. There's a land that I heard of once in a lullaby.

except for the minor fact that is says at the start of the maneuver phase. you can only do it once, at the start of the phase.

Sop's haves/ top wants Exclamation

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