Dark Whispers (1R210) Wiki

Ever since the advent of LOTR TCG, one of the most common concepts of deck design has been about focus. Generally when designing a deck, a player must have a specific goal in mind; do they plan to corrupt the opponent's Ring-Bearer? Overwhelm them? Or just kill every other companion first and then defeat Frodo? Every card in the deck should support this goal; this helps to prevent decks from becoming too large and chaotic.

One of the Nazgul's main themes in Fellowship Block is the idea of using burdens to enhance their aggression, a concept which suits them very well. This is difficult to pull off however, because it has two objectives instead of one, and this dilutes the strategy somewhat. Thankfully, Nazgul are equipped with quite a few interesting cards for this purpose, with Dark Whispers at the forefront.

Dark Whispers can be a very dangerous pump. It has no twilight cost, which makes it unpredictable, and it provides a damage bonus to minions which are already Fierce. It can frequently kill characters when played at the right moment with only three burdens, and its bonus for six burdens is terrifying. Its fatal weakness is that it cannot be played at all in the absence of three burdens, which especially weakens it at the beginning of the game or against dedicated burden removal.

Dark Whispers has strong synergy with Drawn to Its Power, which is another card that ties corruption and beatdown together. The two cards also feed off of one another: a character dies, which adds burdens, which enables Dark Whispers, which kills another character, which adds more burdens etc.

Getting initial burdens can sometimes be the hardest part for corruption-beatdown builds. It Wants to be Found should be the best card for this purpose, but it requires Twilight Nazgul, which is not always desirable. Eregion Hills and Must Do Without Hope are other options. High bids, especially for The Prancing Pony, can also potentially allow for an early Dark Whispers.

Dark Whispers works well with the following similar cards: Nazgul Sword; Ulaire Toldea, Messenger of Morgul; Ulaire Enquea, Lieutenant of Morgul; The Ring Draws Them and They Will Find the Ring.