Constantly Retreating: Ent / Dunland

[ramolnar]

Frodo, Tired Traveller
The One Ring, The Ruling Ring

Plains of Rohan
Rohirrim Village
Golden Hall
White Mountains
Deeping Wall
Hornburg Hall
Cavern Entrance
Ring of Isengard
Palantir Chamber

Merry, Learned Guide (starting)
Pippin, Woolly-Footed Rascal (starting)
Quickbeam, Bregalad (starting)

3 Sam, Samwise the Brave
2 Hobbit Sword
4 Severed His Bonds
4 Swiftly and Softly
2 Knocked on the Head
3 Gandalf Greyhame
2 Mithrandir Mithrandir
3 Lindenroot
2 Ent Horde
2 Ent Avenger
1 Skinbark, Fladrif
3 Crack into Rubble

4 Hides
3 War Club
2 Burn Every Village
1 Dark Fury
2 Saruman Rabble Rouser
1 Constantly Threatening
1 Wild Man Raid
2 Over the Isen
2 Hillman Horde
3 Wulf
4 Hillman Tribe
1 Dunlending Ransacker
4 Dunlending Looter
4 Hillman Rabble

I played this deck in the Towers Block Day 2 tournament at Gencon 2003. It went 5-3 with good tiebreakers, earning me 6th place of about 30. "We" refers to my playtest team for the tournament, Tucker, Jeremy, and me.

This deck germinated from a problem - the dirty men. Like many people, we started with Rohan, and it did really well against most things. Yet, Dunland site stacking (my B standard deck in Towers Standard) just hammered it, even with We Left None Alive; eventually somebody got through and started the chain. So we started looking for ways to liberate sites and remove No Retreat and other game ending conditions. There aren't many. Of them, Crack into Rubble was the best, and that meant Ents. It was easy to add unbound hobbits. Gandalf Greyhame was a late choice, over Aragorn and Treebeard, to reduce the culture count and make Southron Commander a little more bearable. We also experimented for a long time on the right mix of Ent pump versus stealths.
The shadow was not our first choice either. Originally, we ran a Southron Mumak build. Unfortunately, the increasing popularity of Arrow Slits made that chancy. I was going to run Sauron, but any deck that can survive Southron Commander, the true win condition in that deck, has no problem (and Rohan with a couple Rohirrim Bows can easily double 4 times). So we returned to the deck that started the Fellowship.

We assumed we'd see decent amounts of Dunland, Easterlings, and Sauron. So a lot of our Fellowship choices go that way. Specific comments:
*Crack into Rubble - the reason the deck exists. Probably the easiest way to remove No Retreat, with lighter costs than 3 Valiant Men, and relatively painless costs.
*Gandalf Greyhame - gets you a companion back each turn, helpful with the unbound hobbits and against Southron Commander.
*Mithrandir Mithrandir - we actually expected more Sauron than we got. Since most Sauron Orcs exert to draw cards, and a good many of them are 6 or less, this works wonders. Sadly, neither Tucker nor I got to play the Eye, as that's this deck's best matchup. If you don't expect any Sauron, run Ent pump instead.
*Sam - the number of Mr. Hamfast kept increasing as we went on, from 1 to 3 (and almost was 4). Rightly so, because exerting to add a burden was quite popular.
*Stealths - we discovered that playing a mix of Entmoots and Stealths didn't really work, as Dunland would just win over a few pumps, and just 3-4 stealth cards weren't enough either. I proposed stuffing lots of Stealths, to help early against basically everything. Late, there should be enough Ents around to just take blows. The alternative is to run a mix of Entmoot, Enraged, and Boomed and Trumpeted; that way does better against Berserkers and big things, but increases Easterling and Sauron trouble. It depends on expectations.
*Lack of Treebeard - Earthborn is a cheaper recursion method than Greyhame. But Gandalf helps in Southron Commander recovery, since he can bring anyone back. Furthermore, we assumed that most players would run the silly discarding site 8, which nullified Treebeard's biggest advantage (strength 12 site 8 fighter). Sadly, he disappeared.

From our Shadow testing, we expected Rohan, Ents, and RBRs to be popular, so we designed our Dunland to counter them. Again, I'll talk about the nonstandard cards.
*Lack of Play from Handers - Dunland's not going to win in Tower Block by doing damage +1 occasionally to Ents, and Eomer 3rd Marshal should kill anything sent down fierce without support. The only good reason to run Wild Men and the like is for Wulf, and we found playing him immediately was basically as good.
*Lack of No Retreat - Well, this and the stealths formed the name for the deck. Seriously, No Retreat is a card that helps you win more, at least in Block. Since Southron Commander is the only splashable way to punish big fellowships (and much weaker than Enquea), fellowships easily explode past 5 companions. Even off a No Retreat, it's hard to get a swarm without heavy stacker support. Since we assumed very few people would run site liberation, being able to build the stacker pile with Over the Isen, and retrieving cards (particularly Hillman Horde) with Constantly Threatening were more important.
*Lack of fourth War Club - A good Rohan player knows to slit the War Club, and Ents often run no possessions at all. The War Club is there mostly for RBRs, and to a lesser extent Dauntless Hunter or any crazy Elf archery deck around. Forcing it through Wulf means four possessions stripped, and that's usually enough. Having reliable Saurman access was more important.
*Dark Fury - to make the opponent bewitched, bothered, and bewildered. Most people run only Burn Every Village, so our idea was to intimate that we ran 5 or more from hand pumps, instead of just 3. Since we knew many players would not have fully prepared, such a weird play made things more difficult.
*Dunlending Ransacker - an eighth way to control a site.

Playing the Deck
This deck really wants to go first in Block, given the general lack of killing power and the Dunland desire to contain sites. The opening bid depends on how many Easterlings you expect. We tested it up to 5 safely, though at 4 or 5, you need to mulligan opening hands without Sam or 2 stealths. I started the tourney at 4, but after seeing like half Easterlings, was down to 2 by the end. I'd suggest 3 right now. Go first; the Gimli pulling site is a big red herring.
In general, you want to make two opening double moves. After all, there are eight stealths plus discarding hobbits, and block is less deadly. You do need to remember that this deck can't kill anything, as Lindenroot is the only way to deal more than 1 damage in a skirmish. It's a different kind of deck from what I, and many players, like to play. Remember the name - Constantly Retreating. Uruk Trackers are an issue, as you need to get rid of Merry and Pippin as soon as you have a chance. My only bad loss was to someone who got both a Southron Commander and a no-hobbit discarder out at site 5, making me kill the hobbits instead. Also, in most games you will kill Frodo, and in many games he's the first companion to die. With Easterlings, use Sam's special ability liberally, and kill Frodo at about 7 burdens. Against everything else, if Frodo has 4 or more burdens (from the bid or Pippin), it's generally advantageous to prevent Palantir Chamber at site 7 or 8.
The Shadow is pretty straightforward. You do have to remember the Bluff and the Force. The Bluff is playing basically nothing, just a Hides, condition, or a single minion. It's most effective at site 2 - just remember to actually Bluff when you have minions once in a while! Also, early in the game, or if you somehow are going second, it's usually better to hold up and wait until you have site controllers available, rather than waste Rabbles or Looters. The Force is primarily for Ring-bound Rangers, and consists of playing a Wulf or Hillman Horde with a War Club, nothing else, and saving the remaining twilight to stop Hides. You're not going to get a lot of kills against other good decks. In general, you'll win via fellowship. Remember, if you start 1-3 and 3-5, then get a stop somewhere, you can go to 6, and even if they double into 6, you only need one fairly simple double for the win.

Good luck in all your journeys.