Cruel Discard with Elven Archery and Sauron Corruption

[chompers]

Whoever abandons strategy and runs to site 9 first wins.

Maybe - what if your opponents play Mordor discard with Mordor trackers and Tol Brandir as site 9 - there is a high risk of being overwhelmed.

[Kralik]

It would be wise to pack a copy of Old Noakes in your deck, to spoil some of the fun at least.

He spoils but not ...

[5tein]

I've played Red discard for a long time, and you're darn right in focusing in the Orc Warrior. He is the most cost-effective discard card for Sauron. But you need to FEED the Warrior, which means plenty of conditions that you are not afraid to destroy: 4 DDOTR, 4 His Cruelty, and I like 2 Spies of Mordor (cheap, easy to get out, expendable, helps your hand, discourages a double move).

I don't like Tower of Barad-Dur--too expensive to be consistent, and then not enough bang for your buck--so I would drop those. I would add 1 The Irresistible Shadow. I would replace Ambushers for Orc Assasins--these actually might stick around if they have hobbitses.

I love Desperate Measures but never have enough TL to pull it off 3x, so I would drop at least one for the standard Enquea LoM, who will own if they let burdens stack.

Shadows Reach? Discard /a/ condition? Discarding's what this deck does best, so I think that's unnecessary. That will trim your deck count.

For the Freeps, no comment, as I only ever play Dwarf/Elf discard with Durin's Secret. Gimli stacking a couple NTAD and a couple rounds of White Arrows is almost enough in and of itself.

Everyone's right in saying discard can be outsmarted (but when people start playing Old Noakes you can just play your Tower Assassins...). But a finely tuned discard deck, one that maximizes every ounce of twilight is much harder to beat, so stay with it!

[Kralik]

Thanks for the feedback! The reason Tower of Barad-Dur is important (IMO) is to keep the opponent from slowly building up an ideal Shadow hand with which to destroy me. If they play only conditions and no minions, White Arrows and/or Nobody Tosses a Dwarf will never trigger. They can focus on cycling and even if they are decked in the end, if they manage < 5 burdens and have a site like Tol Brandir, I can be completely destroyed in the last double or triple move. Or even a bunch of Uruk-Hai and Saruman at twilight -1 apiece.

Desperate Measures usually works alright for me, but I agree that removing Shadow's Reach and putting in other conditions would be helpful.