Horny Men + Guls (FOTR block deck)

[Manuel]

Heya

This will be my first contribution to TLHH, and so I thought I would be a neat idea to start with something simple, like FOTR block. Here's a deck with a very high winning ratio (probably around 90% of the games I have played with it) which relies on Gondor men/hobbits for fellowship and Nazgul for shadow. Yeah I know, uruk-hai are better, but the point here is not playing what everyone else does, no?

Starting fellowship:

Frodo, Old Bilbo's Heir
The One Ring, Isildur's Bane
Boromir, Defender of Minas Tirith
Merry, Friend to Sam

Fellowship: (30+2)

Aragorn, Heir to the White City x3
Sam, son of Hamfast
Legolas, Greenleaf
Hobbit Sword
Frying Pan
Farmer Maggot, chaser of rascals
Thror's Map
A talent for not being seen
Ranger's sword x2
Blade of Gondor
Flaming Brand x2
Armor
Horn of Boromir x2
No stranger to the shadows x2
Elrond, Herald to Gil Galad x2
Galadriel, Lady of Light x2
Orophin, Lorien Bowman
Rumil, Elven Protector
the Last Alliance of elves and men x2
Secret Sentinels x2

Shadow (32)

The Witch King, Lord of Angmar x4
Ulaire Attea, Keeper of Dol Guldur x3
Ulaire Cantea, Lieutenant of Dol Guldur x3
Ulaire Toldea, Messenger of Morgul x2
Ulaire Enquea, Lieutenant of Morgul x2
Ulaire Nelya, Ringwraith in Twilight x2
Ulaire Otsea, Lieutenant of Morgul
Bill Ferny, Swarthy Sneering Fellow x2
The Pale Blade x2
Stricken dumb x3
Relentless charge x2
All blades perish x2
Morgul gates x4

Adventure deck:

1 - The Prancing Pony
2 - Weatherhills
3 - Ford of Bruinen
4 - Moria Lake
5 - The Bridge of Khazad-Dum
6 - Lothlorien Woods
7 - Silverlode banks
8 - Shores of Nen Hithoel
9 - Emyn Muil

Strategy for Fellowship side:

Pretty self explanatory, I think. Basically, you rely on 4 main companions (Frodo, Merry, Boromir and Gorn) The other 2 are splashes, which might come in handy against certain matchups. They choke, they have 2 good fighters, and might call some elf friends in their aid if things don't look good.

Against Uruk-hai: I guess uruk-hai is what this fellowship beats best. Or at least that's the idea Never go up to 5 companions or savagery will kill you. Other than that, choke helps, and having decent fighters too. Merry can help winning key skirmishes, and you can summon allies in your aid to avoid hobbits being forced to fight.

Against Nazgul: Not a bad matchup either. Only possible problem is Cantea, but then again Elrond can take care of him, of maybe take a wound with Boromir or someone who is not bearing an important weapon. After the FP is setup, you should easily double against them.

Against Sauron: Good matchup, I think. Secret sentinels comes in handy here, so play it wisely. The fact that you have nice ways of healing via Farme Maggot or Boromir helps a lot vs Sauron wounding decks. The corruption kind is also easy to face if you know how to use the right tools: Merry can make Frodo fight safely if Thin and Stretched hits the table, and then again Sam and Legolas will help a lot in this matchup.

Against Moria: Probably the worst matchup, that's why the frying pan is there. Use your secret sentinels wisely, go for They are Coming, that's the most important condition out there. Allies can help a lot in a decent swarm, but it is true that a good Moria player will probably know how to beat this. But hey, there isn't a perfect FP, there is? If they are playing the event that kills Boromir, then you are in serious trouble. I've had some games in which the fellowship survived despite that, but I admit I had to be really creative

What else what else... hm, yeah, Thror's map is there because you don't wanna see Anduin confluence, Slopes of Amon Hen,  Tol Brandir, or other sites that can hurt you. Pretty good because there's zero possession removal in fellowship block, can remain on the table until you need it, and exerting 2 hobbits isnt that painful in this deck.
Now on the shadow...

Nazgul. Yeah, flaming brands suck. That's why you have 4 WKs and 3 stricken dumb there (which also discards tales like Last Alliance, Gondor Bowmen, etc) Choke sucks too, and that's why you have a couple of pale blades there. Against most choke decks, it's best not to play anything in their first move, they'll probably kill it and double; better hold that twilight and hit them if they dare to double move. When you play 2-3 nazzies and their flaming brands are gone, things should look better for you.

Against archery, those 2 relentless charge can be a big pain in the butt. Also, unexpected All Blades Perish have always been known to win a game or two

Questionable card choices here are, i.e., no Black Breath/Blade Tip. Although I like that a lot, it is true that you need to win skirmishes in order to make that work. And for that, cards like stricken dumb or pale blade are more important. I've had some games where my opponent setup Gorn with 2 flaming brands and last alliance in site 2, and then BB/BT had nothing to do there. Also, I want zero condition in this shadow, to make all those secret sentinels useless.

Ringwraith nelya because I want to punish opponents who bid high. Oh, btw, bidding 2 is nice in this deck. You don't desperately need the Prancing Pony as a start, but it helps. Going second isn't bad either, since you'll have the chance to play your sites 2-3, which really help your shadow side.

Ok, I think that covers it. All in all, a simple deck, but a solid one; mostly a player's deck, too. FOTR block is all about knowing when to double or when to single, and on putting pressure on your opponents so they make suicidal double moves, or stop when they should have doubled. This deck is more focused on a fellowship win, of course.

Any suggestion is welcome. I know there are certain cards that would help the FP a lot, like Vilya or a bounder, to give an example, but I want to keep the decksize small, nazguls don't cycle especially well in an environment dominated by choke fellowships, so keep in mind that adding a card always means taking another out in order to keep the decksize as it is.

Hope you find the deck interesting, feel free to give comments on it, and also feel to try it, but don't forget to give me credit on it if you win with it ;P

[Gil-Estel]

Nothing to add, I like it a lot! Horn of Boromir is an awesome card!

[FM]

Well, I'm not sure what to say here. Seems like a good deck. I'm not sure it chokes enough to really stop a well-built Uruk-hai Shadow side, but I'll have to build it and test it, to be sure. I like the choke decks with archery more, though, with Gondor Bowmen and such. I know you want to have a small deck, but not having Frodo's gear might really hurt you on the long run. I'd consider at least a Sting (helps choking) and Thrarin in there.

[SomeRandomDude]

Def Thrarin and Sting. Or, if you only want one of them, definitely Sting. I'd even work in 2 copies, maybe dropping

How do you plan to survive the Balrog? (Speaking of which, where is the Balrog?) I'd run the other Boromir, the one you've got now doesn't work well with the deck anyways, adding twilght doesn't help a choke very much at all.

[FM]

But this Boromir heals "for free" with Heir to the White City, which is great for using the Horn, so it's fine. As for teh Balrog, why should he play it?!? Way better to drop a Wikkie and some nice effects than a big, dumb balrog that won't do a thing. What I DON'T like, right now, is where the shadow is heading. So, it's corruption? Forcing The One Ring onto Frodo? What, exactly? If it's sheer beatdown, you can drop a Cantea, an Attea and play a full suit of Nelya. Switch site 4 for Eregion Hills so you can force Nelya onto pretty much any Free Peoples, and play Lord of Angmar which is naturally Fierce, losing Otsea. OR, play 1 more Otsea, and a full suit of It Wants to Be Found. Anyway, I'd also not play Bill Ferny, not really fond of him. I like good'ol Nazgul Sword better as a pump, as Damage is a nice perk, and 3 burdens would make for ONE NASTY NELYA!

[Elessar's Socks]

If it's all about knowing when to double, Sting is as good as it gets.

[Manuel]

Hey, thanks for the input!

Witch King should be Lord of Angmar, sorry, I confused names! And yes, it's beatdown nazgul, I am not trying to corrupt anyone; the 2 nelyas are there just in case my opponent bids high. Moria Lake also gains a wound on Frodo, which helps Nelya. Maybe 1 burden is nice, but that 1 twilight also helps a lot.

Sting is not there only because I have two hobbits, and depending on the matchup, I will play a weapon on Merry or on Frodo. For example, against big minions like Nazgul, the first weapon will always come on Merry so he can help Aragorn win skimirshes; against swarming stuff, it will go to Frodo. Having sting in the deck doesnt give me that possibility. It's a matter of taste and which of the two you consider most important, but I normally know when to double without needing to see my opponent's hand. You know, I got used after Sting got X-ed

As someone pointed out, that Boromir comes in handy because he heals himself, so you can abuse the horn. And yes, Aragorn makes it free, but even if you have to add 4 to heal him twice, that means you will have TWO extra guys to defend your ringbearer. It's worth the extra 2 twilight in my book

Btw, no point in adding a balrog here. He gets discarded when they move to site 6, better play a couple of nazguls and gain a stop, they dont get discarded like the balrog does. Surviving the balrog is not that hard, too. Combining the armor, the fighting allies, elrond healing ability or whatever, makes the double to site 6 quite easy. IMHO there are very few times where a lone balrog is gonna be better than a good uruk swarm, a couple of guls, or whatever else that doesnt get discarded.

And yes, I have also some choke archery decks with gondor bowmen and such They're good, of course, but I find them being a bit vulnerable to uruks, because of Saruman preventing archery wounds. Of course, there are ways around that, but this deck isnt thought for that purpose.

Nazgul swords are ok, I like them. They were in the deck in the past, but had to replace them with more copies of stricken dumb because they couldn't kill guys with flaming brands. Might consider switching Bill Ferny to a couple of swords and switch Moria Lake to Eregion Hills. But it is true that Bill is sweet when it comes at site 2, especially combined with weathertop

Again, thanks for your help, it's really appreciated!

[GarrisonofGondor]

 Man, Manuel just laid it down and said, "Thanks, but no thanks." Nice job Manuel 

[Manuel]

Sorry, that's just because I'm pondering which option is the best, and debating with you at the same time So far, I love the nazgul sword + Eregion hills inclussion and Bill Ferny exclusion, that will make the deck focus a lot more. And it also gave me ideas to make a different shadow based on twilight nazguls, so yeah, it helps me despite it may seem it doesn't.

[FM]

But if you go the Sword-Eregion route, play a full set of Nelyas. Trust me, it's worth it. I played Nazguls for the whole of Fellowship block, never lost a tournament (although never payed in huge ones, granted), and 4 Nelyas is the way to go, this is one nasty minion!

[Manuel]

I will try it, thank you! What would you take off? Otsea comes to mind, he's not that useful in most situations.

[Kralik]

Since all of your Nazgul would be fierce, I see no reason to keep Otsea.

[Elrohir]

For otsea himself 

[Kralik]

I suppose Bill Ferny could be made fierce!

[Manuel]

That would be interesting indeed