What are some anti-Madril strategies?

[sgtdraino]

I often hear players complain about the power of Madril/Ithilien Blade decks. Why do I often hear this? Because Madril is my favorite deck to play! So, in the spirit of fairness, let this be a repository of some good anti-Madril strategies!

1. Ships of Great Draught

By far this is the best counter to Madril. It lets you take threats off during the Shadow phase, negating Madril's ability to make guys roaming in Maneuver. Works great with Raider culture, but can also be splashed with any Shadow you use, because you don't have to spot a Raider in order to use the card to cancel out Madril's ability. And if you get two of these out with a couple tokens on each, it becomes nearly impossible to get rid of, since they can retrieve each other from your discard pile.

2. Greed

This card can be devastating against a Madril deck, which will almost certainly use 6+ companions. You have to spot an Uruk-hai to play it (any culture), but once you get it out, you don't even need any minions to use it. Vicious card! Savvy Madril players will try to use Albert Dreary to protect themselves against this.

3. Morgul Squealer / Ulaire Enquea, Lieutenant of Morgul / Bill Ferny, Swarthy Sneering Fellow

This is another combo that depends upon 6+ companions. Still, a pretty good bet. Granted, this is not as strong, because Bill Ferny is only going to save you from the first IB or What Are They hit. Best used in conjunction with Ships of Great Draught.

4. Ulaire Enquea, Sixth of the Nine Riders

This guy has ruined my day more than once, by exerting all of my companions. Can't use IB if you're all exhausted!

5. Ghastly Host / Ring of Terror / The Witch-King, Morgul King

Here the name of the game is to remove enough threats during Shadow to keep your guys from roaming.

6. Corsair Marauder

Nobody steals stuff better than these pirates. An Ithilien Blade deck isn't much good, without any Ithilien Blades!

7. Deceit / Final Strike

Final Strike renders Ithilien Blade practically useless, and Deceit makes Final Strike almost impossible to get rid of.

8. The Balrog, Demon of Might

I always pray I'm not going to hit this guy before I can get some Armor out. Madril tricks don't work when there's no maneuver phase, and without Armor, a Madril fellowship is normally going to be wide open to a Balrog attack.

Well, that's all I can think of for now!

[bibfortuna25]

Mumak Rider, Neekerbreekers' Bog (w/ a few burdens) and Treachery are good too.

[Terwin]

How about Host of Udun? Can wipe out all threats and get a cheap minion. Also splashable.

[sgtdraino]

Mumak Rider, Neekerbreekers' Bog (w/ a few burdens) and Treachery are good too.

Treachery would work, but you're talking a 2-card combo that costs 5 twilight just to disable Madril for one move. Ships of Great Draught is just one card, only costs 2 twilight, and potentially disables Madril for multiple turns.

How about Host of Udun? Can wipe out all threats and get a cheap minion. Also splashable.

Host of Udun is pretty cool and does potentially work well, but again it only disables him for one move, and if you're not playing against Madril, it's a pretty expensive card to play.

Besiegers have a number of cards that work well against Madril:

Fires Raged Unchecked
-Especially when multiples are played, this card pretty much inverts the effectiveness of Madril. Of course, as with other conditions, it is prone to getting discarded... at which point Madril is immediately effective again.

Their Marching Companies
-Threat removal in Shadow.

Sauron's Hatred
-More threat removal in Shadow.

Window of the Eye
-Nonunique, takes off threats, and potentially kills guys!

Dead Marshes
-For recycling key conditions

Gorgoroth Agitator
-Again takes off threats in Shadow, and recycles your Engines.