Bearer of Obligation/Northmen Rohan

[Shelobplayer]

Not my best deck, but by far my favourite to play (still very strong I might add, even if not in the unfair tier), I give you:

BoO/Rohan

Ring-bearer: Gandalf, Bearer of Obligation
Ring: The One Ring, The Ring of Rings

Adventure deck:
The Bridge of Khazad-dum
Steward's Tomb
Cavern Entrance
Mithlond
Caras Galadhon
Stables
Imladris
Caves of Aglarond
Mount Doom

Free Peoples Draw Deck:
1x Aragorn, Defender of Rohan
1x Gamling, Defender of the Hornburg
1x Haethen, Veteran Fighter
1x Haleth, Son of Hama
1x Hama, Captain of the King's Guard
1x Theoden, Tall and Proud
1x Eomer, Northman
1x Eowyn, Northwoman
4x Barliman Butterbur, Prancing Pony Proprietor
1x Hugin, Emissary from Laketown
1x Ottar, Man of Laketown
1x Guma, Plains Farmer
1x Leowyn
1x Weland, Smith of the Riddermark
4x Shadowfax, Greatest of the Mearas
1x Flaming Brand
1x Brego
1x Erkenbrand's Horn
1x Firefoot
1x Heavy Chain
1x Horse of Great Stature
1x Rider's Spear
1x Spear of the Mark
1x Gandalf's Staff, Walking Stick
2x Anduril, Flame of the West
1x Throne of the Golden Hall
1x A Wizard Is Never Late
3x Citadel to Gate
4x Saved From the Fire
2x Speak Friend and Enter
2x Traveled Leader
4x Simbelmyne
3x Watch and Wait
1x Surrendered Weapons
1x Alatar, Final Envoy
1x Gwaihir, The Windlord
1x Meneldor, Misty Mountain Eagle
1x Pallando, Far-travelling One
1x Radagast, Tender of Beasts
1x Rohan Worker
1x Rohirrim Doorwarden

Shadow Draw Deck:
1x Gollum, Old Villain
1x Gollum, Plotting Deceiver
1x Shelob, Her Ladyship
1x The Balrog, Demon of Might
2x Black Numenorean
4x Castamir of Umbar
4x Corsair Boatswain
2x Corsair Freebooter
2x Corsair Lookout
4x Corsair Marauder
4x Corsair Plunderer
1x Southron Leader
1x Enquea, Lieutenant of Morgul
2x Nelya, Third of the Nine Riders
1x Nertea, Dark Horseman
1x Web
4x Black Sails of Umbar
3x Corsair War Galley
3x Ships of Great Draught
4x Captured by the Ring
4x Sudden Strike
2x Discovered
4x Evil-smelling Fens
4x Under Foot

Few words on the freeps side:

Fast setup with Gamling/Erkenbrand's Horn is super easy, burn Theoden with SFTF or just sacrifice him on the first turn, he has absolutely no right to live (what a shame, he was my favourite character in the books...). The followers and rohirrim Doorwarden are normally out in the first turn (that assumes I manage to get a new companion in play), and with that we are pretty much set for the early game unil we can make a stronger setup.

The deck plays as a classic tank deck from older formats for the most part, and still manages to function in expanded, which is in my opinion a rather rare thing. This is mainly allowed by Throne of the Golden Hall and Eowyn, Northwoman. With these two cards most of the classic expanded powerhouses like Shotgun Enquea and Ninja Gollum are easily counterable. Citadel to Gate and GOTM are fueling Gandalf's drawback and also provide a fair amount of healing. The vilager allies provide the other half of the deck's healing ability Leowyn + Guma/Weland as well as easy cycling and even more healing with Mithlond.

Hama anda Haleth are meta choices, they allow me to deal with corsairs and Grond (this later might not be so abundant in expanded, yet unanswered it easily demolishes my deck, if I see a symbol I fetch Hama asap). Hugin is my choice of recycle card for the FP side, with 4 Simbelmyne, 4 SFTF and Erkenbrand's Horn in the deck, it is very easy to get back key pieces that you might lose on the way. Setting up Haleth to protect GOTM is fairly easy: at the start of the fellowship Gamling pulls the first horse, then SFTF pulls 2 more + Haleth. I do this obviously once GOTM is on board otherwise I risk losing the mounts. Once this is done I'm set against all kinds of Corsair Marauder and Cantea, FTW shenaningans.

All in all the raw power of this deck is not very high, yet it does well, because it's extremely well positioned in the GEMP expanded metagame, it can easily abide "the rule of five" and runs only 3 cultures, which make it strong against metagame killer shadow sides and it is also naturally strong against corsairs, gollum and nazguls.

On the shadow side:

It is a modified corsair shadow fine tuned to hit where it hurts the most with Sudden Strike + Evil-Smelling Fens (Plotting Deceiver + Corsair War Galley is just amazing). I tried to include key minions to counter the most common stragies. It rarely kills in early turns, but once the FP side preassures the opponent into doubles it easily goes crazy with twilight generated by War Galleis or allows a FP victory with the threat of a massive swarm. Other than that it provides amazing cycling with Under Foot, Ships of Great Draught and Corsair Plunderer.

Here are a few fresh replay links:
http://www.gempukku.com/gemp-lotr/game.html?replayId=B0r0m1r$mxx7jq1iy20ismfu
(vs. BOO + ents/corsairs)

http://www.gempukku.com/gemp-lotr/game.html?replayId=B0r0m1r$yij6ym5hsywccup4
(vs. condition dwarves/besiegers)

http://www.gempukku.com/gemp-lotr/game.html?replayId=B0r0m1r$fnuc10kiirwtd5lm
(vs. dwarves/ warg-riders)

There are a few cards that could be on the list:

King's Mail / Armor - if I expect to face a lot of Gollum decks

Elrond, Lord of Rivendell - if I don't fear Southron Leader (I do)

1 more copy of Awinl - I'm really growing to like Hugin

[sgtdraino]

I think this has some real potential!

in expanded I think a bigger deck is more advantageous due to all the search effects and great cycling available, paired with various silver-bullet cards. Even with decks of 40/40 I often find myself running out of fuel by the end of a game that goes to site 9 (although 60/60 might be pushing it a bit). It also gives free wins against discard. I hate discard, it's weak and annoying. Mainly weak.

100% agree on all points.

One thing I was wondering about: Considering your Shadow side, how do you think your FP will fair against a Corsair setup similar to what you've used here?

Ninja Gollum and such should be easily handled by passing King's Mail to the companion skirmishing Gollum and get the first wound prevented with Throne of the Golden Hall.

That won't quite work. If you prevent the wound, then you haven't yet taken your one-wound limit in the skirmish. So, either way, you'll still take one wound. King's Mail still helps against Ninja Gollum, though.

Once you identified your opponent's strategy try to kill down to 5 companions.

Ah, but I HATE killing down to 5! I long to make a gigantic Rohan Fellowship work... but maybe it's just not feasible.

The shadow side is a pretty straight forward Under Foot cycling build with gollum splash to get up to 60 cards and retain consistency. It has some swarming potential, and Fierce in Despair to slow opponents down.

It worked! If I only could have drawn one of my 3x Throne of Minas Tirith earlier, I think it probably would have been a different game. I'm still pondering whether to put a 4th Throne in there.

Other than these two games, I had one where I couldn't manage to draw neither Watch and Wait nor GOTM from the 58 cards I drew that game.

I'm guessing you corrupted?

[Shelobplayer]

I think this has some real potential!

One thing I was wondering about: Considering your Shadow side, how do you think your FP will fair against a Corsair setup similar to what you've used here?

Hama sinks the ships and they have no ways to get rid of my followers. Haleth needs to get online fast though to protect Shadowfax, but I think if I draw SFTF all is good.

That won't quite work. If you prevent the wound, then you haven't yet taken your one-wound limit in the skirmish. So, either way, you'll still take one wound. King's Mail still helps against Ninja Gollum, though.

Oh the confusing rulin again with Boromir, BoC and Armor, right... I always forget that, guess then I'll have to throw Northwoman and Haethen into the mix.

Ah, but I HATE killing down to 5! I long to make a gigantic Rohan Fellowship work... but maybe it's just not feasible.

I don't think it's possible with this setup. Big fellowships need control over the maneuver and archery phases, this one has neither.

It worked! If I only could have drawn one of my 3x Throne of Minas Tirith earlier, I think it probably would have been a different game. I'm still pondering whether to put a 4th Throne in there.

If you had Throne, I doubt I'd have been able to kill a single companion.

I'm guessing you corrupted?

I did that.

On another note: you could run a single copy of SFTF in your Madril deck and trash it with Something Slimy into Long-Stemmed Pipe and scavange it with Barliman, that 3rd gondor dude who is only there for spotting requirements looks expendable to me. Been thinking about that tech for a while but never found a list for it, maybe it could fit into yours.

[sgtdraino]

Hama sinks the ships and they have no ways to get rid of my followers.

Aah, that's why he was there. Still, he has to actually win, and unless he's fighting fierce guys (and most Corsairs aren't), he can only get rid of one per move. With 2x Ships of Great Draught out, they can just retrieve each other each time.

Haleth needs to get online fast though to protect Shadowfax, but I think if I draw SFTF all is good.

And I'll bet you can do pretty well with just horses and followers.

Oh the confusing rulin again with Boromir, BoC and Armor, right... I always forget that, guess then I'll have to throw Northwoman and Haethen into the mix.

Or just take the one hit. Heal it with Mithlond when you move.

I don't think it's possible with this setup. Big fellowships need control over the maneuver and archery phases, this one has neither.

Throne gives you a bit... but possibly not enough.

If you had Throne, I doubt I'd have been able to kill a single companion.

Yeah, I figured out what the problem was there... apparently I only had TWO Throne of Minas Tirith! I guess I took one out at some point. So, we're back to three now, obviously.

On another note: you could run a single copy of SFTF in your Madril deck and trash it with Something Slimy into Long-Stemmed Pipe and scavange it with Barliman, that 3rd gondor dude who is only there for spotting requirements looks expendable to me. Been thinking about that tech for a while but never found a list for it, maybe it could fit into yours.

That's a pretty cool idea, but it would take another two cards, and then I'd be down to 8 guys for the rest of the game. And Ranger of the White Tree isn't just expendable, he's SUPER expendable! In an emergency, if my resistance is high enough, Faramir can help him become Defender +4! He's my Secret Service Agent, taking bullets like nobody's business!

...still, MIGHT be worth it, for the ability to kill Ranger to get 3 of any Gondor thing I need... hmm...

ETA: Okay, just tested this setup once, and I'm definitely seeing some potential here! The possibilities of Long-stemmed Pipe alone, when combined with Barliman Butterbur, are pretty amazing. And it's not too tough to swap out a couple of cards when Something Slimy/Long-stemmed Pipe can pull out any Gandalf event I need, or Something Slimy/Long-stemmed Pipe/SFTF can get me any three Gondor cards I need!

Some really terrific possibilities!

[dmaz]

I definitely agree about having a larger deck for expanded.

I would even push that a larger deck for Movie is advantageous, depending on your strategy.

I did far better than I expected in the World's league with my mish-mash Movie deck (I think draino's seen it) just because it was 40/40 and I almost always had minions, minions, minions. Even so, due to my little piggy, Morgul Squealer, a couple games, I had just about enough when they attempted a desperate double to site nine.

Never imagined I would need more cards than the 40/40, but as you guys have pointed out, when you take advantage of the very useful/powerful cycling/filter cards, you really can go big with your deck.

....maybe it's because I'm OCD about ALWAYS discarding something every reconcile...and I like being able to discard a minion I don't REALLY need and not worrying about it

[Shelobplayer]

ETA: Okay, just tested this setup once, and I'm definitely seeing some potential here! The possibilities of Long-stemmed Pipe alone, when combined with Barliman Butterbur, are pretty amazing. And it's not too tough to swap out a couple of cards when Something Slimy/Long-stemmed Pipe can pull out any Gandalf event I need, or Something Slimy/Long-stemmed Pipe/SFTF can get me any three Gondor cards I need!

Some really terrific possibilities!

If you start building around that it can turn out pretty beastly, not to mention that you can run a 10th companion if you use Falls of Rauros.

I'm obsessed with site 1 super setup decks, I originally found the Long-Stemmed Pipe chain when I was working on a very similar Rohan deck with Frodo as ring-bearer and Borne Far Away so I could keep burning Tall and Proud over and over again (ironic, Théoden was my favorite character in the books). It's probably stronger, but ring-bearer Gandalf has the cool factor on his side, plus I'm only missing 3 cards to sleeve this one up irl, and it's aesthetically pleasing to play this . It used Glamdring, Orc Beater, to get use out of different companions, but in the end I decided that relying on it is too risky (although Weapon Store would help a lot).

I consider this the best core for any SFTF deck that doesn't want to use Leader of Men or Bearer of Obligation:
1 Something Slimy
1 Long-Stemmed Pipe
1 SFTF
4 Barliman Butterbur, PPP
4 AWINL

Bid to go first and start at Dammed Gate-Stream, 1 is enough in like 90% of the games then start doing your thing. Also normally you are forced to play 4 SFTF (and a deck considerably thinner), which usually leads to that your deck works better if you are planning on using 2 or more SFTF, otherwise the additional copies are useless. This is not a problem with the Long-Stemmed Pipe setup.

Hama sinks the ships and they have no ways to get rid of my followers.

Aah, that's why he was there.

Well, no, I mean not mainly... He is there to get rid of Grond, Hammer of the Underworld. Grond could wreack havoc against me, it's best if I don't let it ever live to see regroup.

UPDATE: I think I'll change shadow side, it doesn't feel like I have kill potential without Southron Leader.

[sgtdraino]

....maybe it's because I'm OCD about ALWAYS discarding something every reconcile...and I like being able to discard a minion I don't REALLY need and not worrying about it

As a general rule, I try to always discard something every turn. Whatever it seems like I'm least likely to need. I actually don't like to discard, so the virtue of my deck being able to recycle a lot of stuff makes it a little bit easier.

If you start building around that it can turn out pretty beastly,

In fact, what I'm going with (for now) is TWO Long-stemmed Pipe (and one SFTF of course). To fit them in, I took out the 2nd copies of three different Gandalf events (DIT, CTG, Traveled Leader). I've concluded I could very well find situations where I want to do the Long-stemmed Pipe trick twice. Now I can either grab two Gandalf events, or one event plus the SFTF trick. Putting two in also gives me the ability of a one-shot condition discard in Regroup, which can be handy against stuff like The Number Must Be Few/Tentacles. It does make me a little uneasy having only one copy of three key events and being totally reliant on Barliman to use them, but with One Good Turn Deserves Another and various Shadow side siting tricks, I should still be able to pull it off at least once. Originally I took out two Throne of Minas Tirith (leaving only one) to fit Long-stemmed Pipe and SFTF in, but I decided that would mean if I really need Throne of Minas Tirith, I'd pretty much have to kill a guy, since I'd be unlikely to draw it naturally. Better I think to (in most cases) draw Throne and use the pipes to get Gandalf events. SFTF to get Throne becomes more of an emergency backup against a setup. I have finally actually done it in one game (Easterlings), here it is:

http://www.gempukku.com/gemp-lotr/game.html?replayId=sgtdraino$qx5h56l3j4nv4bqh

Didn't end up needing it, but I feared Ships of Great Draught could come out at any moment, so I wanted to be ready.

not to mention that you can run a 10th companion if you use Falls of Rauros.

I already run 10 companions. If I think I'll need to triple, I can ditch Pippin and pull out Radagast. I see what you're saying, though. I have tested Falls of Rauros before in my deck, but ultimately decided I didn't need it as much as I need the three 3-twilight sites I already have: Dammed Gate-stream (to get One Good Turn Deserves Another), The Prancing Pony (to get Aragorn or Boromir), and Mount Doom (to stop enemy site manipulation). All three of those are much more vital to my deck than Falls of Rauros would be.

[dmaz]

If you start building around that it can turn out pretty beastly, not to mention that you can run a 10th companion if you use Falls of Rauros.

Interesting that this came up! Today I just tested a hard-core NPE deck, in which I was able to take advantage of Falls of Rauros three times

I had completely overlooked that site in the past, just thinking like "oh well I guess then it keeps you from playing gandalf from the dead pile, or something"...then suddenly realizing you have the potential to run 12 companions :O There should be a way to take full advantage of that if you pack Smeagol manipulation along with Gandalf for traveled leader and a bunch of beefy ents

[sgtdraino]

It does make me a little uneasy having only one copy of three key events and being totally reliant on Barliman to use them, but with One Good Turn Deserves Another and various Shadow side siting tricks, I should still be able to pull it off at least once.

Well, ran into the downside today! Mithlond got land-locked by Mount Doom before I was able to get Barliman out. Still, it was my own fault, I think the strategy is still sound.

Interesting that this came up! Today I just tested a hard-core NPE deck, in which I was able to take advantage of Falls of Rauros three times

I had completely overlooked that site in the past, just thinking like "oh well I guess then it keeps you from playing gandalf from the dead pile, or something"...then suddenly realizing you have the potential to run 12 companions :O There should be a way to take full advantage of that if you pack Smeagol manipulation along with Gandalf for traveled leader and a bunch of beefy ents

Hmm... I'm thinking of something that uses SFTF to set up a gigantic Ent tank fellowship, burns a guy with SFTF, pulls another guy, something else, and something you can site manip with, then moves to Falls of Rauros. Rinse and repeat.

[Shelobplayer]

Just played this game against ninja Gollum:
http://www.gempukku.com/gemp-lotr/game.html?replayId=B0r0m1r$jv03ixzyuvi1f9rg

You asked me about my matchup against that archetype, here it is
Rohan turns their support area coolness into blank papercuts. Northwoman is amazing.

I want to add Walking Stick... the twilight is always there and Gandalf is a potent fighter thanks to Meneldor.

EDIT: list updated, added 2x Walking Stick. I have high hopes about that card here. Now to find space for a Long-Stemmed Pipe :p

[sgtdraino]

Hmm... I'm thinking of something that uses SFTF to set up a gigantic Ent tank fellowship, burns a guy with SFTF, pulls another guy, something else, and something you can site manip with, then moves to Falls of Rauros. Rinse and repeat.

Here's a couple, one loss, one win. Not too bad:

http://www.gempukku.com/gemp-lotr/game.html?replayId=sgtdraino$ln3xfvssjlqyxu7f

http://www.gempukku.com/gemp-lotr/game.html?replayId=sgtdraino$o30nmhn345v4bgje

Shelobplayer gave me some pointers.

[dmaz]

Really liking where this is going with the SFTF/Rauros...in addition to the one below that I was goofing around with, I'd like to make a deck called "Musical Coffins" where you also incorporate Borne Far Away maybe haha.

Here was the deck that I was trying over the last few days. There are several losses I don't need to post haha. Mostly from just having no idea how to pull of the correct mechanics and timing for the deck.

http://www.gempukku.com/gemp-lotr/game.html?replayId=dmaz$ocy8ex0tzq89kicm

Even though it takes advantage of Falls of Rauros, a little, the point of the deck doesn't capitalize on it.

Altogether it's a bad deck idea, but I haven't had the chance to get all of the cards together correctly the way I want to pull off what I'm trying to do.

You might be able to figure it out just from watching the replay, but the idea is to get Mellon!, a dwarf and Saved From the Fire in hand.

Play a dwarf, burn him for x3 What Are We Waiting For. Play those in succession using using your 4 vitality dwarf.

The gamble is that your opponent, after drawing so much, will NOT want to skip his shadow phase just to get some cards out of hand (if anything set-up conditions or possessions).

THEN you slam down Mellon!, so that your opponent has to dump the rest of that entire hand (probably all useful fellowship cards at this point).

I don't usually do discard because it's so weak, as you can see in the replay the other player basically had me...still I'd like to pull off x4 WAWWF and Mellon! sometime haha. Burning an extra 16 cards from your opponent's deck in one turn could hurt if they played a relatively small deck.

[sgtdraino]

A quick comment, I'll take a more detailed look later:

Won't it be a problem that he'll know you pulled Mellon! Into your hand? If it were me, I'd just choose to skip my Shadow phase. And if that happens, I believe the maneuver phase gets skipped too, so Mellon! won't go off, and he'll just keep the cards he wants for the next turn, right?

[dmaz]

Yeah, you would definitely not want to pull Mellon! with SFTF, I think I did that in one of my games and was like "duurrrr"...my plan would be to get only the dwarf stuff with SFTF.

If they don't play any minions it's true that the maneuver phase gets skipped...however...if they have already cleaned their hand of all of their shadow cards and are holding 8 really useful fellowship cards (since they just drew 6+ cards into hand)...you really could have a good shot at double moving there.

[Shelobplayer]

8-2 record with the deck after 2 days of playing it. I'm loving it, probably more than any other expanded deck I played before (although it's by no means the strongest one). The 2 losses honestly came from horrid draws (no minion till site 4 and no form of burden removal after getting 58 cards out of the deck).

I wanted to play RB Gandalf with Rohan for years, very happy that I finally found a way.