Allies/Supported Uruks

[Dictionary]

The goal of this deck is to get allies doing most of the fighting at each site, instead of the Fellowship itself. I know it's basically a kind of Boromir's Horn deck, but I really don't seem to need any of the other cards that let allies fight. The shadow uses Saruman's Ambition to make events cheaper, so that it can easily play stuff like Hunt Them Down, Beyond the Height of Men, and Parry.

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

Starting Fellowship:
Boromir, Defender of Minas Tirith
Pippin, Hobbit of some Intelligence

Adventure Deck:
1 The Prancing Pony
2 Trollshaw Forest
3 House of Elrond
4 Hollin
5 The Bridge of Khazad-dum
6 Lothlorien Woods
7 Silverlode Banks
8 Anduin Banks
9 Emyn Muil

Free Peoples:
4x Horn of Boromir
1x Aragorn, Heir to the White City
1x Ranger's Sword
2x Elrond, Lord of Rivendell
1x Vilya
3x Galadriel, Lady of Light
1x Nenya
1x Celeborn, Lord of Lorien
1x Galdor, Councilor from the West
1x Calaglin, Elf of Lorien
1x Dinendal, Silent Scout
1x Erestor, Chief Advisor to Elrond
1x Rumil, Elven Protector
1x Orophin, Lorien Bowman
1x The Mirror of Galadriel
1x Uruviel, Maid of Lorien
1x Saelbeth, Elven Councilor
1x Golradir, Councilor of Imladris
3x Secret Sentinels
4x Pathfinder
2x The Saga of Elendil
2x Sting

Shadow:
4x Troop of Uruk-hai
3x Lurtz, Servant of Isengard
3x Orthanc Assassin
3x Orthanc Berserker
1x Lurtz's Sword
2x Beyond the Height of Men
2x Can you Protect Me from Yourself?
4x Hunt Them Down
2x Parry
4x Saruman's Ambition
1x Greed
3x Their Arrows Enrage
1x Tower of Orthanc
4x Uruk-hai Armory

74 cards

Bid 2 to go first. Usually, either you or your opponent will play Prancing Pony for Aragorn. If not, you can make do without him, but Horn of Boromir becomes more important. You need to pull the horn as soon as possible, hence the 4 copies, and it's the main item you'd want to mulligan for, along with Elrond and Galadriel. Pathfinders are also essential for this deck, as it's very important that you avoid an opponent's Anduin Confluence site 7. Site 6 is also very handy, as it pumps the allies, and Uruviel can assimilate its text. Other good sites are 4 (For cheaper Uruks) and 3 (To avoid Ford of Bruinen). Although Boromir can heal each turn, double moving is tricky with limited horn uses, but site 5 – 7 is often doable as site 6 allies help you at the sanctuary anyway. This then sets you up to double move to 9, if possible. Galadriel and Elrond have great abilities, but be wary of ally hate, and with Elrond it helps to leave vitality open so he can skirmish. Elrond is not essential, but if you lose Galadriel the game becomes much harder, so I've considered a second Celeborn or Hosts of the Last Alliance.

For the shadow, the main idea is a small number of uruks with a mass of support cards. There's a lot of anti-archery, since archery is very common in Fellowship and it's hard to play more than one uruk until the later sites. It's good to hang on to Saruman's Ambitions so that your events are free, then you have strong, fierce uruks attacking a fellowship with reduced archery, no armor, and disabled weapons (In theory). Then, at one of the late game sites, you can use the Ambitions as pumps. Secret Sentinels is ineffective against this deck, since it gets rid of maximum 4 conditions, and you have many more than that. The biggest problem is Gandalf with Sleep Caradhras. I'm not sure how to counter that, maybe Enquea (Replacing Greed) with Too Great and Terrible?

Here's a replay if anyone's interested, several things went wrong in this game, but it demonstrates the main ideas of the deck:
http://www.gempukku.com/gemp-lotr/game.html?replayId=Dictionary$sgtjakf6uqrxll0t
Also I had a Uruk-hai Raiding Party in that game, which I later swapped for another Troop of Uruk-hai.

And here's another one:
http://www.gempukku.com/gemp-lotr/game.html?replayId=Dictionary$ccm6jmjhbsgoi2ye

[sgtdraino]

Have you considered using the other versions of galadriel and elrond, and incorporating shoulder to shoulder? Then you dont need pathfinder anymore, and in my experience your allies become a lot harder to kill.

[Durin's Heir]

This deck has too little minions, 13/37 = 35%. Most Beatdown decks need at least 45% minions (preferably 50%), and usually Swarm decks need much more. All your minions save for Troop of Uruk Hai are unique, and all are too expensive (all cost , except Lurtz which costs ), so if you add more try with cheaper ones like Uruk Lieutenant, Uruk Captain, Uruk Fighter, Uruk Warrior...

Hunt Them Down is not so useful as you think, Saruman Keeper of Isengard is much better to make Uruks fierce and besides protects them from wounding of any kind, including archery. So you can use 4x of him to replace both 4x Hunt Them Down and 4x Uruk-Hai Armory. And those 4 card slots should be used for minions IMO.

Another alternative to Hunt Them Down is Uruk-Hai Rampage (same twilight cost in absence of Ambitions, but remains of the board). If you use Saruman (KoI or SotE), another powerful and cheap minion you can add is Uruk Ravager.

Parry is not so good, Savagery to Match Their Numbers is a much better choice.


I know all these ideas will change your deck too much, but I saw both replays and the main problem you have is the lack of minions, and the high average cost of those you have. You need to clear some room for more minions, and that means reducing both events and conditions (Uruks rarely work well in big decks).

The biggest problem is Gandalf with Sleep Caradhras. I'm not sure how to counter that, maybe Enquea (Replacing Greed) with Too Great and Terrible?

Saruman Servant of the Eye is often enough to bring down a specific annoying companion. Works much better with a fierce Uruk, so unless that Uruk can be fierce by itself (Lurtz with another Uruk, Uruk Warrior spotting 6 comps, Uruk Fighter spotting 5, Uruk Raider with a dead ally) you'll need another card to get that keyword: Uruk-Hai Rampage, Hunt Them Down, Savagery to Match Their Numbers (if you face 5 comps), even Emyn Muil at site 9 (but that's a bit late). Savagery to Match Their Numbers and Saruman's Ambition can provide pump support.

Servant of the Eye can easily kill self-exhausted guy like Legolas Greenleaf, Sam Son of Hamfast or Boromir + Horn. Give it a try!

3x KoI and 1x SotE is a good distribution for Saruman.

Hope this helps.

[Dictionary]

Have you considered using the other versions of galadriel and elrond, and incorporating shoulder to shoulder? Then you dont need pathfinder anymore, and in my experience your allies become a lot harder to kill.

I can definitely see a lot of benefits to this strategy, although I'm concerned about the amount of twilight I'd make without Galadriel, LoL and the amount of subsequent twilight I'd make in the maneuver phase. I'd have to add some dwarves too, not sure if I should go for allies or companions... I'll have a go and get back to you, I have seen Shoulder to Shoulder used to great effect.

Thanks for the feedback Durin's Heir. I always like to try new cards, but I do agree that the shadow needs some work. I'll revamp the whole thing based on your suggestions and see how it does. I am a huge fan of Saruman, SotE (Normally in Two Towers onwards) as he is extremely dangerous with a staff. Haven't had as much success in Fellowship, but definitely an underrated minion.

[Dictionary]

So, after some experimenting, here is an update for the deck:

Regarding the Free Peoples, I had a go with Shoulder to Shoulder, but found it to be too much work for this particular deck, so had to abandon. I also found I make too much twilight with Galadriel, LoTGW and suffer from the loss of healing, so sticking mostly with the original Free Peoples, although both versions of Elrond have their advantages; The mass healing and card draw of Lord of Rivendell, or the Fellowship healing (Which helps double moves with Boromir) and better survivability of HtGG.

I revamped the shadow side of the deck: It's less original now (Which I always think is a shame) but it's a lot more powerful. I quite like Worry, and am considering a second copy. One other thing I'm considering is 3x Uruk Scout with Tol Brandir for guaranteed site 9 minions. Thoughts on this?

Here's the new Shadow list:
3x Saruman, KoI
1x Saruman, SoTE
2x Uruk Captain
2x Uruk Fighter
2x Uruk Guard
2x Uruk Lieutenant
4x Uruk Ravager
4x Uruk Slayer
3x Uruk-hai Raiding Party
1x Beyond the Height of Men
2x Can You Protect Me from Yourself?
3x Savagery to Match Their Numbers
4x Saruman's Ambition
2x Tower of Orthanc
1x Uruk-hai Armory
1x Worry

Here are card justifications:
Uruk Captain – Good value for 3 twilight, helps with twilight flood decks
Uruk Fighter – Could become auto fierce, but often Freeps have 4 or fewer companions (Most likely minion to be replaced by Uruk Scout)
Uruk Guard – Anti-Tank, evades biggest companion
Uruk Ravager – Big Saruman synergy
Uruk Slayer – Helps with twilight flood
Uruk-hai Raiding Party – Anti-Archery
Beyond the Height of Men – Anti-Armor
Can You Protect Me from Yourself? – Anti-Aragorn
Savagery to Match Their Numbers – Basic Pump; Very effective against larger fellowships
Saruman's Ambition – Basic Pump for the right moment; makes Beyond the Height of Men cheaper
Tower of Orthanc – For more twilight, helps Uruk Captain and Uruk Slayer
Uruk-hai Armory – Anti-Archery
Worry – Anti-Fodder and Anti-Healing; decks that can't beat your uruks really suffer from this card.