Last Alliance (Aragorn Signet) and Twilight Nazgul (FOTR Block)

[Daniro]

Hi,
This is the first time I post a deck here. I hope you like it. I could especially use some help with the fellowshipside, since I'm not yet completely happy about that.

Ring and Bearer:
*The One Ring, Isildur's Bane
*Frodo, Reluctant Adventurer

Sites:
The Prancing Pony
Weathertop
Ford of Bruinen
Eregion Hills
The Bridge of Khazad-Dum
Caras Galadhon
Silverlode Banks
Anduin Banks
Summit of Amon Hen

Fellowship (35)
1x Legolas, Greenleaf (starting)
1x Arwen, Daughter of Elrond (starting)
1x Aragorn, King in Exile
1x Boromir, Lord of Gondor
1x Sam, Son of Hamfast

3x Elrond, Herald to Gil-Galad

1x *Gwemegil
1x *Long Knives of Legolas
1x *Ranger's Sword
1x *Sting
1x *Blade of Gondor
1x Flaming Brand
1x Elven Bow
1x *Aragorn's Bow
3x Athelas

1x *The Saga of Elendil
4x Gondor Bowmen
2x No Stranger to the Shadows
2x The Last Alliance of Elves and Men
2x A Ranger's Versatility
3x Swordsman of the Northern Kingdom
2x Secret Sentinels

Shadow (35)
4x Gates of the Dead City
2x His Terrible Servants
4x It Wants to be Found
1x Relentless Charge
4x Resistance Becomes Unbearable
3x Wraith World

4x *The Witchking, Lord of the Nazgul
3x *Ulaire Enquea, Lieutenant of Morgul
1x *Ulaire Enquea, Ringwraith in Twilight
4x *Ulaire Nelya, Ringwraith in Twilight
3x *Ulaire Otsea, Ringwraith in Twilight
2x Morgul Skulker

Strategy

Fellowship:
Go first, pull Aragorn with Prancing Pony. Use Bowmen, Versatility and Archery total to kill minions. Fight remaining minions with Aragorn and Arwen or perhaps Boromir (if you pull him).  Elrond, Aragorn and Athelas provide healing. Athelas and 'the seen and the unseen' remove shadow conditions. Sam removes burdens.

This should stand it's ground against most enemies.. But I fear Moria swarms and The Balrog. Any tips?

The long knives of legolas seem a bit useless, but I don't know what else to put instead. Same thing for the second 'last alliance' and Blade of Gondor. They are quite useless when Boromir is on the bottom of your draw deck.. Perhaps Flaming Brand for more anti-nazgul power? Or Power According to His Stature' for "anti-swarm"?

Shadow: Corrupt that hobbit!! Actually this deck does more wounding than corrupting. Try to get out Gates of The Dead City fast so burdens will add exertions as well. Wound the Ringbearer with the Witchking and perhaps kill a companion or two with Enquea, Lieutenant of Morgul (I prefer him over Ringwraith in Twilight).
Relentless Charge is in there for a little excitement.

So, what do you think?

[MR. Lurtzy]

Do you have a site 8?

[ElvenSpearman21]

 I like Son of Thranduil, but Greenleaf is also very good. You also might want to consider Double Shot and Flaming Brand. Also, Lorien Elf's are good for old Balgy

[Daniro]

@ mr.lurtzy: I've added my site 8. I must have overlooked it while typing.

I like Son of Thranduil, but Greenleaf is also very good. You also might want to consider Double Shot and Flaming Brand. Also, Lorien Elf's are good for old Balgy

I chose SoT over Greenleaf because of his signet. At first it had more use than now, because I had No Mere Ranger in my deck as well. But I took it out. I still like it that he fits in the "theme" though.
Double shot is a nice idea! I totally forgot that card! But which cards should I remove in favour of it?

[Gil-Estel]

I like Secret Sentinels better than the Seen and the Unseen. If you are facing Moria, you'll be glad to have secret sentinels, same with Sauron Grind. Plus you only exert an ally. I would try to get 2 extra copies of Elrond in your deck. He is great in healing + you can use him for Secret Sentinels. You could cut 2 copies of Swordsarm, because when Gorn is loaded, he is base strength 13. Enough to kill of most minions especially in fellowshipblock.

[macheteman]

greenleaf + tale of gil-galad

i ran a deck almost identical to this, (especially the shadow) and greenleaf can save you... a lot. and you have athelas and elrond to heal him.

shoeldn't you add one more no stranger to the shadows, for arwen? that's what i'd do.

as for cards that can come out of the deck, here are some i'd probably remove if i needed space:
1x-2x a ranger's versatility
1x-2x gondor bowmen
1x athelas

as for cards i'd think about adding:
1x tale of gil-galad (with greenleaf)
1x elrond, htgg
1x no stranger to the shadows
1x flaming brand.
maybe 1x asfoloth


another option for a deck like this would take it in a new direction but it could make the deck AWESOME, is cut the signet strategy and go with aragorn, heir to the white city. +3x no stranger to the shadows on him, boromir and arwen, and you have sting so that helps. that would help make it a choke/wound deck. pretty awesome.

[Gil-Estel]

Well, eventhough I like the +1 vitality on Greenleaf, it is a condition. I'm allways a bit shaky when it comes to condition based vitality. Conditions can be discarded and then you're dead. And dead you're no use at all.....

[macheteman]

yes, but if THEY are dead, then you heal with gil-galad and you're ok. you have to be careful, but it can save you. dishing out three wounds can be the difference between a dead minion and a, well... live minion...

[FM]

PATHS and Bilbo with Frodo, Old Bilbo's heir is a nice way around it. And I'd pack at least a pair of Flaming Brands.

[Daniro]

Thanks for all the advice! This is certainly useful!
I like macheteman's idea of creating a choke/wound deck. I'll keep it in mind.
However, this was not the goal of this deck. So I will not use that idea here.
I do agree with the greenleaf idea (even tough he doesn't have a aragorn signet)
I've changed The seen and the unseen into secret sentinels and removed some versatility and swordsman in favour of elrond and flaming brand.

I still don't know about PATHS and Double Shot..

[Gil-Estel]

but we do

[Daniro]

LOL

[FM]

I just realized you have no Might of Numenor, which is great in these decks, and also no Armor. You can most likely lose the choke Conditions and pumps for plain Weapons in there, another Ranger's Sword and a pair Asfaloth, maybe a 2nd Gwemegil as well. Otherwise, what do you do against the Balrog?

[ket_the_jet]

Ulaire Otsea, Lieutenant of Morgul can make your twilight Nazgul fierce. Just a thought.
-wtk

[Cw0rk]

What happens if your opponent bids more than you and starts and the site 1 isn't The Prancing Pony? I have played so many games online against people complaining they aren't drawing any companions but they only have 1 copy of each. I suggest you add 1 Aragorn and 1 Boromir.

[Kralik]

Never rely completely on the Prancing Pony, even if planning on bidding something ridiculous.

[Ulfmane]

I think you should cut decksize to 33 or 32. Also you need to run 1 or 2 hobbit stealth (for balrog and for a possible site 9 aid).

[Alazzar]

What happens if your opponent bids more than you and starts and the site 1 isn't The Prancing Pony? I have played so many games online against people complaining they aren't drawing any companions but they only have 1 copy of each. I suggest you add 1 Aragorn and 1 Boromir.

I definitely agree with this.  You have 13 cards that require a Gondor Man (sometimes a *specific* Gondor Man), yet only two Gondor guys.  That's gonna be rough.

Honestly, I think you might be going a little overboard on the healing.  Aragorn, KIE + Elrond, Herald to Gil-galad AND 3 Athelas seems a bit excessive.  I'd seriously consider cutting all 3 Athelas and replacing them with 3 Aragorns (or maybe 2 Aragorns and a Boromir, since there's always the chance you'll pull Aragorn with the Pony).  And, in this case, I'd consider making one of those Aragorns a Ranger of the North.  That way, when you cut your opponent's deck, if it looks huge (i.e., 76+ cards), you can grab Ranger of the North under the assumption that you'll be fighting Moria.

An alternative way to go would be to start Sam, Son of Hamfast and either Legolas or Arwen.  This way, you can bid 5 to virtually ensure that you start, play Aragorn with the Pony for your 6th burden, then have Sam remove 3 so you're under Toldea's radar.  This way, you'd at least be (almost) sure to have both an Elf and a Man in play so you can play most of the cards in your deck.  If you went this route, I'd say only play one Aragorn, and instead take out those Athelas to increase your elf-count (whichever Elf you're not starting). 

Still, as many people said, relying on the Pony can be risky.

A copy of Armor might also be nice in this deck, just to deal with the Balrog and/or any Uruks that make it through the archery phase.

If Aragorn is your main fighter, I'd consider adding another Ranger's Sword.  Maybe drop one of the ranger pumps?

Finding room for a Vilya would also be nice.  It's only one card slot, and it can make a big difference!

The last thing I'd suggest is possibly finding a way to reduce the card count.  35/35 is a tad on the large side, particularly when you have no drawing/filtering/whatever on either side.

So, to summarize, I'd recommend this for the Free Peoples:

-3 Athelas
-1 Saga of Elendil
-3 Swordsman of the Northern Kingdom

+2 Aragorn, KIE
+1 Boromir, LoG
+1 Vilya
+1 Ranger's Sword
+1 Armor

This leaves the FP side at 34 cards, as I subtracted 7 and added 6.  I'd even consider taking out the Long-knives of Legolas as well, since he's not exactly a main fighter, and it'd be nice to see this deck a little thinner.

Another option is to possibly remove/replace the No Stranger to the Shadows, as this isn't exactly a dedicated choke deck, and there might be better uses for those card slots.