Forest Nazgul. IMO probably the best all-around monoculture minion set of Expanded (and possibly Open). They can do pretty much anything! Swarm, possession hate, condition hate, direct damage, you name it. I'm sure most of you are already familiar with these guys and the cards they use:
Dark Approach-An event they recycle constantly in order to play out powerful guys for almost nothing.
Lost in the Woods-The condition they put on your guys, to make them super weak.
Ring of Terror-Recycles cards, ups damage, and puts a key Nazgul back in their hand. Takes off threats vs. Madril.
Flung Into the Fray-Recycles Nazgul and exerts guys.
Moving This Way-A key cycling card which back-loads duplicate Nazgul to the bottom of their deck, for a vicious minion draw near the
end of the game.
Out of Sight and Shot-Another Nazgul recycler. Also exerts your guys.
Woody-End-The Forest that takes off burdens to recycle Nazgul.
The Angle-The Forest that cycles cards for them.
Buckland Homestead-The site key to Nazgul massive condition hate, recycled infinitely with
Ulaire Nelya, Third of the Nine Riders.
Ulaire Nelya, Third of the Nine Riders-Probably the biggest centerpiece minion of the deck. Makes sure he gets his forests, and works in concert with
Buckland Homestead for repeated mass condition hate.
Ulaire Cantea, Black Assassin-Assigns to guys with 0 resistance, and auto-kills a guy if you have 6 or more companions.
Ulaire Cantea, Faster Than Winds-Adds threats, and discards possessions.
Ulaire Enquea, Lieutenant of Morgul-The classic
Shotgun Enquea.
Ulaire Enquea, Sixth of the Nine Riders-If you have 6 or more companions, exerts EVERYBODY. Can quickly cripple a large fellowship.
Ulaire Lemenya, Eternally Threatening-An excellent threat adder.
Ulaire Nertea, Dark Horseman-Monoculture hater.
Ulaire Otsea, Duplicitous Specter-Massive card drawing.
Ulaire Toldea, Black Shadow-Recycles
Dark Approach and other events endlessly.
Ulaire Attea, Keeper of Dol Guldur-The least crappy version of Attea. Capable of powering up.
The Witch-king, Captain of the Nine Riders-This is the one with Toil 2 and Muster. They like him because he's another powerful guy they can play on the cheap.
The Witch-king, Morgul King-This is the one that takes off a threat to recycle something, and then also stops the Ring-bearer from taking threat wounds.
Black Rider-He's fierce, he's strong, he's cheap, and he's non-unique!
You may also see some of the following:
Bill Ferny, Swarthy Sneering Fellow-He may be restricted, but there are ways of pulling him out, and then playing him repeatedly.
Morgul Squealer-One of those ways of pulling and recycling Bill, as well as lots of other horrible Nazgul.
Morgul Destroyer-Threat guy. If you've got threats, this guy can kill your guys!
Morgul Brute-Burden guy. If you've got burdens, this guy can kill your guys!
The Witch-king, Black Lord-This is the one that exerts your Ring-bearer, then plays cheap because your Ring-bearer is exerted.
Ulaire Enquea, Thrall of the One-Burden Enquea. They exhaust him, and then add a bunch of burdens to you.
A Shadow Fell Over Them-This card can be devastating as your fellowship goes downhill, adding threats and recycling Nazgul.
Ghastly Host-Can be a handy Madril counter, both for taking off threats and playing Nazgul cheap.
Lingering Shadow-Every time you heal your key companion, you have to add a burden.
Wreathed in Shadow-Sometimes used as a
Deep in Thought counter, to make sure there is never enough twilight to play it.
Morgul Gates-The classic discount coupon.
Return to Its Master-Sometimes they'll pack one of these for a nasty surprise.
Too Great and Terrible-Gandalf hate. Sometimes they'll recycle this over and over until they kill Gandalf.
Corrupt-Sometimes they'll pack one skirmish event as a surprise, and this is often it.
Cavern Entrance-No skirmish special abilities.
Neekerbreekers' Bog-Most likely exerting all your guys.
Doorway to Doom-Wounds your guys.
Steward's Tomb-No healing, no wound prevention.
Because sites are such a key strategy to this deck, you'll often see it paired with an FP side that also uses site manipulation.
So... how the heck do we counter this stuff?
Keep it to 5
-A lot of the worst aspects of this strategy trigger once they can spot 6 companions. So, if you never play 6 companions, some of the biggest dangers can be avoided. If you play a Madril deck like me, this is not a particularly good option, though. Because they already have low site numbers, and because they have ways to take threats off in Shadow, it will be difficult for a Madril deck to keep them roaming with only 5 companions.
Twilight Choke
-If you put in very little twilight, here again they will probably be somewhat limited in terms of what they can play. Many of their strategies involve spotting multiple nazgul in order to do various things.
Don't Look at Them-The great Nazgul direct-damage Smeagol condition.
Smeagol, Always Helps-Overrides their assignment actions by getting the jump on minions like
Ulaire Cantea, Black Assassin.
Condition hate
-These decks make use of a lot of key conditions. They're still strong even without them, but not
as strong. If you can ditch those conditions, your life will be easier.
Deep in Thought is tricky though, as these Nazgul have a tendency to use up almost all the twilight.
Pallando, Far-travelling One may help you out by adding twilight in, by discarding conditions one at a time, and also by making one of your guys just 1 point stronger, which is often just enough to defeat
Dark Horseman, with his assignment restrictions.
Mount Doom-A big part of his strategy relies on getting those Forests out, and also swapping sites in and out to his advantage.
Mount Doom will put a stop to that, at least in one region. I recommend Region 2, as I think that's where most key game actions happen. In Region 1 he probably won't be able to hit you too badly, and by Region 3 hopefully you'll be better prepared to deal with it.
Site Manipulation
-Yes, it's annoying, but site manipulation is the best way to counter site manipulation. One issue to consider: His three key sites (
Buckland Homestead,
The Angle,
Woody-End) he only uses during the Shadow phase, so he'll actually be happy if you replace those, so that he can reuse them later. Trap those if you can, and replace any other Forests.
Traveled Leader can be useful.
Follow Smeagol isn't bad, but he'll probably get rid of it with his condition hate.
One Good Turn Deserves Another is probably your best bet, if you can handle the burdens. Otherwise you'll need to recycle other events.
Anduril, Flame of the West can help with your sanctuaries, but don't forget: He's rolling Nelya, so he may well just change it after you move there.
Mithlond-If you're running 6 or more companions, recycling
Mithlond with site manipulation is just about the only way to counter
Sixth of the Nine Riders being played on you over and over again.
Stewards' Legacy-Used in conjunction with Faramir (especially
Faramir, Captain of Ithilien), this can be a powerful way to stop some of his more terrible special abilities. However, this is prone to his condition hate.
Storied Homestead-This is pretty much the only way I know of to keep
Ulaire Nelya, Third of the Nine Riders in check. You need to be able to get some tokens on it, and you need to be able to reinforce those tokens. If you have enough tokens, you can stop Nelya from swapping sites around, or at least trap a needed site there so he can't use it again later. But beware: If you use it up preventing Nelya once, he isn't going to put down
Buckland Homestead (because he doesn't want it trapped). And if you let Nelya activate once, he'll put down
Buckland Homestead and use his next action to get rid of
Storied Homestead. So, this really needs at least 3 tokens, and a means of replenishing tokens, in order to truly be effective.
Flaming Brand-A bit obvious, and not that effective against some of these powerhouses, but better than nothing I guess.
Cavern Entrance-Some of their nasty powers come from skirmish special abilities, so if you think you're getting ready to have a bunch of guys
Lost In the Woods, this site can save your bacon.
Gil-galad condition looping
-I would think that a Gil-galad condition loop deck, with its ability to discard all conditions in Regroup, would be pretty effective against this. Although, like I said, even without their conditions these Nazgul are still very dangerous.
...and... that's about all I can think of! But since I lose to these guys on a regular basis, perhaps I'm not the best source for ideas about effective counters. So what do YOU guys say? What are some other good anti-Forest Nazgul strategies?
Topic: What are some anti-Forest Nazgul strategies? (focus on post-Shadows formats) (Read 10011 times)