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Total Votes : 7 |
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| The First |
![]() Posted: Mon Feb 20, 2006 5:52 pm |
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Joined: 07 Oct 2005
Posts: 195
Location: Anderlecht, Belgium
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--- description ---
In my neverending conquest to build the perfect swarm deck, I discovered this beauty. Read all about it and do try it at home. 
--- end description ---
Ever since the beginning of the Lord of the Rings TCG, I loved swarm tactics. I couldn’t afford 4x Goblin Armory and the rest of the Moria swarm stapples at first, but once that I collected them, I tried all sorts of swam decks: the regular swarm – with 2 burdens, Enquea and Nertea as win cards at site 9 - , underdeeps swarm, the swarm with the two Isengard Orcs mixed in and the firebomb. They all had their pros and cons but the main reason for these changes were actually meta based or the X-list.
When the FotR block was about to rotate out of the standard environment, I had to look for another culture with some swaming abilities. I experimented with the enduring Nazgul with some pretty good results – I ended up 9 or 10th at a TOC out of 68 people. I tried the Orc culture but I didn’t have all the cards I needed for such a deck. I never liked the Dunland culture or the Sauron Berserkers subculture –even though they have some great swarming potential. But there was 1 other culture that remained untested: “Raider”.
It all started out pretty silly. I bought some boosters and somehow gathered 4x A Shadow Rises. I saw some potential in them for my Nazgul deck but not that much and none after playtesting. That was 1 fact. The other was that I was searching for another type of swarm deck at that moment and that I had to test the Raider culture – a culture that I never played except for a Corsair deck.
Easterlings were removed from the raider swarm list due to their lack of cards that could improve any kind of swarm deck. What remained were Southrons. What do they do? The wound and they create twilight in assignment with their ambush abilities. Yay! My swarm deck is going great… Creating some extra twilight is good for a swarm deck. Having to play minions to do so isn’t. Especially since their chances of survival are slim.
Then I came across Strength In Numbers – a good title for a card in a swarm deck btw – and immediately thought of A Shadow Rises. They can both be played at zero cost which is good as you want to keep your minions in your hand but still, you need to cycle to get other minions and maybe some free peoples cards. They are some crazy form of hand extension and they don’t clog your hand so it is a good backbone for a swarm deck. But we aren’t there yet.
Another good card is the Southron Invader. He will get any southron back as long as I have a southron in play. Again, hand extension which is vital for any swarm deck. Another piece of the puzzle would be the Southron Traveller. Why? Because he increases the survival chances of those other southrons. Lots of minions in play = good. Keeping them alive = better. After that I only had to add lots of cheap southrons which resulted in the following decklist:
4x Southron Invaders
4x Southron Traveller
2x Southron Chieftain
4x Southron Marcher
4x Desert Runner
4x Desert Sneak
4x A Shadow Rises
4x Strength In Numbers
2x Red Wrath
I added a subtle wounding strategy for multiple reasons. It prevents your opponent from hosing his hand. It has also happened numerous times that I could assign the Chieftain because otherwise companions would have died to wounds. There are other players who don’t care about the wounds – after all it is a swarm deck – and who lose companions to Red Wraths. It is also a great diversion. This deck is almost an auto-win after a double move from your opponent. If you can drop 1 minion and try to play a Red Wrath, he will 9,9/10 continue his road to Mt. Doom and be swarmed out of the blue. That happened more than once already. With enough twilight, this deck is just crazy.
Try it and love it while you still can and be amazed.
- Athelas |
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| AnxiousChieftain |
![]() Posted: Tue Feb 21, 2006 1:30 pm |
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Joined: 15 Jul 2005
Posts: 3947
Location: Maryland
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| Awesome deck! The strategy was explained well, yet it wasn’t so long that it was boring. |
| MODS RULE. - lem0nhead |
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| exarrkun |
![]() Posted: Tue Feb 21, 2006 2:00 pm |
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Joined: 25 Jan 2006
Posts: 93
Location: Belgium
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good deck 
and...
you live in Belgium!!!  |
a story that has a happy ending is a story that isn't over yet...
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| Hazael |
![]() Posted: Thu Feb 23, 2006 1:50 pm |
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Joined: 04 Jan 2006
Posts: 444
Location: Up North
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Id have to disagree with Anxious Chieftain. You explained the way you found out about Southron swarm, but you did not explain how it really works. It looks like you are focusing entirely on stopping the free peoples from moving twice by ambush abilities.
What is Southron Invaders game text exactly? Im just interested.
Couldnt they free peoples just assign the Runner and Sneak before they assigned the Chieftain?
I would suggest putting Whirling Strike in there not Red Wrath. Too many decks (Ranger, Rohan, Elven, Knight) can prevent the Red Wrath from having any vitality to use. Maybe not as nice as two wounds, but it would use less twilight.
If you want my real opinion, I would take it out altogether. lol
and put in Fierce in Despair. Then, if they do move again, you have a better chance to overwhelm them.
I wish I knew Southron Invaders game text so I could tell exactly how good your chances of getting minons are for the regroup phase.
Im not going to vote just yet. |
Some of the best scenarios on EE...
Up All Night Productions |
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| The First |
![]() Posted: Thu Feb 23, 2006 5:08 pm |
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Joined: 07 Oct 2005
Posts: 195
Location: Anderlecht, Belgium
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Hazael wrote: Id have to disagree with Anxious Chieftain. You explained the way you found out about Southron swarm, but you did not explain how it really works. It looks like you are focusing entirely on stopping the free peoples from moving twice by ambush abilities.
Hmm... you have a point but every swam deck plays the same, more or less. You play cards like A Shadow Rises and Strength in Numbers and you keep the minions in your hand, except the first few sites. You need to have at least some minions in your discard pile.
You make your move when they double move. Probably from 4-6, 6-8 or 7-9
You play this with a running Free Peeps or at least a free peeps that gives the impression that you will run to 9 to put a little pressure on your opponent.
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What is Southron Invaders game text exactly? Im just interested.
The image isn’t available... thought it was.
5 - Southron Invaders
Strength: 10
Vitality: 3
Site: 4
Game Text:
Southron. Ambush 1.
When you play this minion, you may spot another Southron to play a minion with ambush from your discard pile.
If you have the twilight, one invader gets another one back who will get another one... untill they are all 4 in play (you need some invaders in the discard pile so you need to play a few the first couple of sites). The last one will get a cheap southron back. Strength In Numbers will create twilight to activate A Shadow Rises in maneuver phase. That’s the way you are supposed to swarm.
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Couldnt they free peoples just assign the Runner and Sneak before they assigned the Chieftain?
No, even though the opponent puts all cards in front of a companion (1 for each companion except the defender +X ones) during assignment, the actual assignment is done at the same time. There is a brief description about this in the CRD.
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I would suggest putting Whirling Strike in there not Red Wrath. Too many decks (Ranger, Rohan, Elven, Knight) can prevent the Red Wrath from having any vitality to use. Maybe not as nice as two wounds, but it would use less twilight.
The Red Wrath should be played early game with those minions you play to go to the discard pile. The best is to play this with a Southron Invaders at site 2 or 3. And yes, it often works, even against those cultures you mentioned. It can even work during a first swarm (they can’t exhaust ALL minions). And if they can, they don’t have any defense against my swarm most of the time which is good as well.
Whirling Strike isn’t good enough. It isn’t something that can finish off a companion in 1 blow which is what I need.
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If you want my real opinion, I would take it out altogether. lol
and put in Fierce in Despair. Then, if they do move again, you have a better chance to overwhelm them.
Tried it in the first versions of this deck and it just doesn’t work. I either need my card slots -in my hand I mean- for minions or I need all my twilight to keep my minions alive with the Traveler. Red Wrath is the best option for this deck. I tested a lot of different cards for those 2 slots like FiD, RW and even Enquea.
Try this deck. You’ll love it. It isn’t an expensive deck (actually, it is the cheapest swarm deck I know that actually works). Sure it does need some practise to play but it is far more efficient than it looks.
- Athelas |
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| Hazael |
![]() Posted: Thu Feb 23, 2006 5:38 pm |
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Joined: 04 Jan 2006
Posts: 444
Location: Up North
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Now that I see your Invader’s game text, I understand it much clearer.
So you dont plan on using your ambush twilight for RW until the second move correct? Because you could just use the twilight for your Invader the first move. Its a good strategy.
One more thing...
not all swarm decks are the same.
Southron ambush is a delayed swarm but is probably the best because it prevents him from moving again.
Dunland swarm is built up as the game goes on but is very risky
Moria swarm is immediate swarm but very low strength
I think you could work more on explaining your intentions for each card, and I think you should use bold and italics to spice it up abit. |
Some of the best scenarios on EE...
Up All Night Productions |
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| The First |
![]() Posted: Sat Feb 25, 2006 10:11 am |
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Joined: 07 Oct 2005
Posts: 195
Location: Anderlecht, Belgium
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Hazael wrote: Now that I see your Invader’s game text, I understand it much clearer.
So you dont plan on using your ambush twilight for RW until the second move correct? Because you could just use the twilight for your Invader the first move. Its a good strategy.
I often play 1 or 2 minions in the early game who give me enough twilight to play the Wrath. But if I intend to swarm, I don’t use the twilight at all unless I have a Traveler and another minion that could survive untill the second move. Don’t waste any twilight that could become an Invader on the second move. I often play a Wrath while swarming.
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One more thing...
not all swarm decks are the same.
Southron ambush is a delayed swarm but is probably the best because it prevents him from moving again.
Dunland swarm is built up as the game goes on but is very risky
Moria swarm is immediate swarm but very low strength
It is in fact a delayed swarm. But I meant that all (or most) swarm decks need hand extension, cycling and twilight generation to be effective. |
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