Favourite Deck: Aragorn, Defender of Free Peoples & Uruk-hai Swarm

[TheHumanHydra]

So ket_the_jet asked us to post our favourite deck. That's a tough call, but this Freeps had been in my head a long time and the Shadow really caught my fancy. It's an Fellowship beside a two-culture Uruk-hai swarm drawn from posts on these forums (32/32). I'll explain what I like about it below.

Ring-bearer: Frodo, Resolute Hobbit
Ring: The One Ring, The Binding Ring

Adventure deck:
Edoras Hall
Rohirrim Camp
Base of Mindolluin
Pelennor Plain
City Gates
Minas Tirith Fourth Circle
Osgiliath Crossing
Northern Ithilien
Haunted Pass

Free Peoples Draw Deck:
1x Arwen, Queen of Elves and Men
3x Aragorn, Defender of Free Peoples
2x Éomer, Third Marshal of Riddermark
1x Éowyn, Lady of Ithilien
1x Asfaloth
1x Elven Bow
1x Gwemegil
1x Knife of the Galadhrim
1x Aragorn's Bow
1x Ranger's Sword
1x Brego
1x Eomer's Spear
1x Firefoot
2x Rider's Mount
1x Éowyn's Sword, Dernhelm's Blade
1x Sting, Baggins Heirloom
1x Ring of Barahir
2x Agility
1x Shadow Between
2x Strength of Arms
1x Citadel of the Stars
1x Arrow-slits
2x Fortress Never Fallen
2x We Left None Alive

Shadow Draw Deck:
2x Gollum, Mad Thing
3x Uruk Captain
4x Uruk Lieutenant
4x Uruk Regular
4x Cirith Ungol Guard
4x Cirith Ungol Sentinel
4x Cirith Ungol Sentry
4x Ithil Stone
2x Saruman's Power
1x Greed

So, first of all, this deck is proof against neither Grima and is in need of updating otherwise. I tweaked the sites and one Shadow slot just now but didn't alter it beyond that.

What I like:

• Multi-culture. Culture-/colour-/affiliation-mixing designs are my favourite in just about any game. Grima, Chief Counselor is therefore my arch-nemesis.
• Cool characters. Each of the four companions is among my favourites in the game mechanically. The Aragorn in particular is an 'I must have a deck built around this card' character.
• Tokens. For some reason I find I enjoy managing my little hordes of tokens in certain games.
• Uruk-hai. Ever since the Theoden starter when The Two Towers came out, I have been in love with the Uruk-hai (for their damage, efficiency, and cool armour). Probably half my decks have an Uruk-hai Shadow of some sort. This one felt powerful and varied my usual attritional ways.
• Small deck size. For whatever reason, I like slimline decks.

I wish I could include Mortal Men or Trust or both, because I think they're really cool and powerful for pumps, but they just don't make the cut.

All this said, I don't think this is a particularly powerful deck (though it's not the worst). I haven't played it in a while - examining it again, it looks like the all-too-common archery fellowships would shred it and I don't think the Free Peoples' power ceiling is too high either. I think the best course is to drop one of the Free Peoples cultures (and I actually have decks built for each of the three combinations) or to use an alternate Ring-bearer. As for the Shadow ... I'm still working out how best to defend my Uruks from archery no matter the archetype. Spamming Spies of Saruman is the thing I'd like to try next. Advice here is very much appreciated.

Thanks for reading!

[Wyrden333]

You could go for Galadriel or Boromir as Ring-bearer to cancel Chief Counselor, but you already mentioned it, now you only have to go for it . 
And for Archery whats about some Uruk-hai Armory?!

[RJH777]

4 ithil stone feels like it might clog - always been a fan of Shagrat in this kind of deck as 5 for a 13 str minion is pretty good (and he can easily be only a couple of twilight with a stone or regular).

Spies of Saruman can definitely help - also a fan of Saruman's Snows as one of those alongside a bomb can really ruin some of the movie block fellowships like Elvents (watch Cirdan cry without his pumps).

Abandon Reason for Madness is also a good un for setting up the bomb.

So maybe;

-2 Ithil Stone
-1 Saruman's Power
-3 Cirith Ungol Guard
-1 Gollum, Mad Thing

+1 Shagrat
+3 Uruk Warrior (really no reason not to use this guy over the guards, same cost but actually has an ability!)
+1 Saruman's Snows
+1 Spies of Saruman
+1 Abandon Reason for Madness

[ket_the_jet]

This deck hit me with a bomb last night at site 7, and I knew it was coming.

I agree with most of RJH777's suggestions, particularly as they pertain to Gollum (unless you add Evil-Smelling Fens to retrieve Uruk Captain who retrieves...) That said, I don't think it is necessary. Abandoning Reason for Madness is a great card for cycling as well.

I happen to not think Shagrat, Captain of Cirith Ungol is all that necessary, but you could consider adding a copy of Grima, Chief Counselor and/or Grima, Wormtongue to clog your opponent's hand a bit. Rank and File is also a good pump for this sort of deck though it isn't always necessary.

As for the free peoples, I think there is a bit of trouble. I like Aragorn with the Elves or I like Aragorn with the Rohan stuff, but combining all three feels a little convoluted and potentially hand-clogging. Without maneuver abilities you'll be particularly susceptible to both previously mentioned Grimas. That can't really be helped without infusing Dwarves--Slaked Thirsts and Preparations can do a lot of the early work and Legolas and Gondor Bowmen can clean up if you decided on a Three Hunters-style deck.

Just a handful of thoughts...but what do I know? Like I said, I got bombed.
-wtk

[TheHumanHydra]

Thanks so much for the suggestions, everyone.

Just to explain a couple things - Ithil Stone and Uruk Regular are the centrepieces of the deck. I drew the Shadow side from some posts on these forums that I can no longer find, but they explained that Ithil Stone is there to replace Deep of Helm from Towers Block, which I guess was too much in conjunction with Uruk Regular and caused the latter to be banned. Obviously, it's better because it can be used at any site and helps draw you into a swarm as well. You really need minions to go with it, though, both to play it and to benefit from the cost reduction. That's why Cirith Ungol Guard is in there instead of the superior Uruk Warrior. I've also found that I want at least three Ithil Stones. I really want those draws coming all game, and they're easy to ditch and replace if I draw another one, at additional benefit to me. That said, I'll probably go down one in favour of Spies of Saruman or one of the cards you guys suggested to me (Evil-Smelling Fens is a really neat idea if I keep both Gollums; otherwise I'll probably drop one). (And now that I'm thinking about it, maybe one of the Stones could be an Abandoning Reason for Madness as well, for two. Hmm.)

As for the Fellowship - yeah, it's not the greatest idea. I'd call it a pet build, not a serious one. I don't even ever get to use the token ability on Aragorn (though I like the 'I want the minions to be wounded' theme). I'll probably keep trying to make it work because I like it, but more serious decks will probably reduce to only one of the culture pairings.