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elf lvr

Posted: Mon Jul 03, 2006 10:54 am

Joined: 13 Jun 2006 Posts: 3065 Location: Rivendell

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Are you looking for a shadow that is both super strong and cheap to build? Do you want to make your opponents scream with frustration or cry in despair with every dead companion? Well, then, here’s a quick and easy wounding shadow just for you!
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The orcs of Sauron once ruled all the realms of Middle-Earth. People far and wide fled from the advancing hordes of sauron. Only when the Isildur cut the ring from sauron’s finger did this mighty empire fail. But even then, the dark one endured. All the power of these orcs and their master can be yours!

But how to make the Sauron

culture the mighty creature it once was? In this new age, most companions have enough strength to stare down even the mightiest of Sauron’s servants. The answer? To kill them before they get the chance!

There are many ways that the Sauron

culture can make the opponent’s fellowship wound or exert. This is actually a very common theme for Sauron cards, and one that players often overlook. Here are some ways to pile on those wounds:

Exertions:
One great card is Under the Watching Eye. This condition forces the free peoples player to exert a companion every time they move! With four of these out, it is easy to exhaust your opponent’s companions. However, you must exert a tracker to play these cards, so make sure you put a few in your deck!

Exert-to-Wound:
Then, of course, there are the classic Sauron

exert-to-wound minions, like Orc Hunters, Orc Scouting Band, Orc War Band, Orc Soldier, and Orc Cutthroat. Of these, Orc Cutthroat is my favorite. Play him with two other exert-to-wound minions. Then, during any skirmish phase, exert the two other minions to wound the companions they are skirmishing, and then discard them with cutthroat for more wounds! You can also use Hate or Mordor’s Strength to turn any of your Sauron

minions into wounding machines!

Archery:
Another way is with archery. Unfortunately, there are only two Sauron

archery cards. Orc Archer Troop probably isn’t worth your time. The other card is Orc Bowmen. This card adds one to the minion archery total while you can spot a Sauron

minion! This may not seem worth it for 3 twilight, but think! It is one extra wound every turn, and during a phase when the free peoples player might not be able to absorb wounds with the one ring.

Threats:
One last way is with threat wounds. There are many Sauron

cards that can utalize threats to your advantage. There are also many ways to add threats. Some cards that can do this are Mordor Defender, Mordor Regular, Mordor Savage, and Sauron’s Hatred. The point of having threats? Well, each time a companion dies, the free peoples player must wound a companion for each threat they had and remove those threats. When a companion dies, you ought to be able to use your threats to kill even more! Of course, there are some cards that can use threats to wound companions. Like Window of the Eye. This condition says that each time the fellowship moves during the regroup phase, you can remove a threat to wound an unbound companion! This will make the free peoples player think twice about moving on again!

Those are the Sauron

wounding strategies. But there are more cards you ought to think about putting in:

Just Plain Awesome Stuff:
You Bring Great Evil is a great way to make your wounds stick, especially on the ring-bearer. And since the ring-bearer will be their first choice to exert with Under the Watching Eye, put a You Bring Great Evil on them! If their ring-bearer is a hobbit, or if they play hobbits at all, you can use I’d Make You Squeak to add up to 3 extra twilight every turn! With all the wounding that will be going on, the free peoples player will probably be trying to soak up wounds with the one ring. Take advantage of those burdens for The Eye of Sauron. This card gives you up to 5 more cards, setting you up with an awesome shadow hand. Finally, some Dead Marshes would be nice to stop condition discarding. Just hold them in your hand in case the fellowship player has a card like Grown Suddenly Tall.

One Last Minion...
And if you’re willing to go the extra mile (or dollar) you can use the dark lord himself, Sauron, The Lord of the Rings. If you manage to add enough threats and burdens, Sauron can play for almost nothing. Give him his trusty weapon, Sceptre of the Dark Lord. With this combo, you can easily kill two or more companions!

Now that we have some good cards, lets make our shadow! For the purpose of this article, I will make the deck pure sauron, and with as few rares as possible. Here we are:

Minions:

Conditions:

Events:

Of course, every deck has its weaknesses. A mono-elf deck might be the biggest challenge for this wounding, because of the inability to use I’d Make You squeak and You Bring Great Evil. My only advice here is hold most of your exert-to-wound minions until region 3, and hope that you will have enough threats and Under the Watching Eye to kill them in three sites. Another problem is archery. Again, hold on to your exert-to-wound minions. Try to make them exert with their archery events and your Under the Watching Eyes until all you have to worry about is their elven bows. Dwarves with Dwarven Bracers and Endurance of Dwarves might be a challange, but with Under the Watching Eye and You Bring Great Evil you should be able to take them out.

Well, there you have it. A powerful Sauron

shadow that is quick to build, easy to play, and cheap to get! I would estimate the cost of the deck to be around 10 dollars. The minions alone only cost four dollars! Even the most powerful of fellowships can fall without you ever winning a skirmish! However, there are also ways to make this deck more powerful... if you are willing to spend more!

A higher-costing and perhaps even more destuctive deck might look like this:

Minions:

Conditions:

Events:

This deck would probably cost closer to $34.00. More than our average player might care to spend! But whether you opt for the cheaper, quicker version or the high-costing more powerful version, you will end up with a shadow that can outshine all others! I hope I have opened your eyes to the awesome power of our fiendish friends, the orcs!

Happy Hunting!

Elf Lvr

Last edited by elf lvr on Mon Jul 17, 2006 12:12 pm; edited 8 times in totalHappy Hunting! Elf Lvr
Winner of Best Personality in the FPCA. Thanks!
Archduke Elf Lvr - Archidoux of the Chosen Ones
AMV Maker In-Training! Check out my newest production, Katsu!- A Diedara Tribute!
And behold, EL declared it good. And there was morning, and there was evening, the first (new) day. ~ DainIronfoot

CarpeGuitarrem

Posted: Mon Jul 03, 2006 12:00 pm

Joined: 07 Apr 2006 Posts: 3361 Location: Franciscan University of Steubenville

A nicely written article. I loved the structure. One thing: you didn’t show at all how this deck is affordable. You should at least tally up the minion cost for the deck.
Hate is a great card...you might want to include more of that. It’s the perfect way to beat archery, since it’s a maneuver action.

"ok, change of plans. the Cobracards christmas party is coming to my house, and we’re gunna teach FM how to hunt." (mm)

elf lvr

Posted: Mon Jul 03, 2006 12:06 pm

Joined: 13 Jun 2006 Posts: 3065 Location: Rivendell

okay. i will make the edits you suggested

Happy Hunting! Elf Lvr
Winner of Best Personality in the FPCA. Thanks!
Archduke Elf Lvr - Archidoux of the Chosen Ones
AMV Maker In-Training! Check out my newest production, Katsu!- A Diedara Tribute!
And behold, EL declared it good. And there was morning, and there was evening, the first (new) day. ~ DainIronfoot

hblika

Posted: Mon Jul 03, 2006 12:44 pm

Joined: 20 Jul 2005 Posts: 287 Location: Norway

Nicely written article!
The Sauron Grind, is one of the most annoying old school shadow sides to play against, IMO.

There are a couple of minor points I’m missing though. You should have pointed out even more how a well-timed Sleep, Caradhras or Grown Suddenly Tall totally owns this shadow side, even if you can partially recover with an equally well-timed Dead Marshes. Decent condition discarding, paired with some directed archery or directed exertions, also destroys this side, since it will take away your exert to wound ability.

4 copies of Hate and Orc Bowmen are also cornerstones in such a deck.

The way I see it, the hardest fellowship you’ll be up against with this shadow side, are Ents. Lots of vitality, and the ability to discard conditions almost at will, thanks to Gandalf, Pallando, Far-traveling One and Traveler’s Homestead.

Other than that this is a good read for newer players, who might never had the "pleasure" to play against such a deck. For the seasoned player, this is pretty much old news, and the decklist is far from optimal. But kudos to you for making an effort writing something else than a decklist with a badly written strategy.

I’m "only" giving you a 4, but that is just about the highest rating I’ve given to an article posted here.

Oh, mono-Elf decks are really not that big a problem. Pack a couple of Terrible as the Dawn, and your problem is solved. Smile

I'm not stupid. I'm just unlucky when I'm thinking.

PorterTroll

Posted: Mon Jul 03, 2006 12:57 pm

Joined: 23 Jun 2006 Posts: 1193 Location: not sure yet

it looks very nice, but how is this more affordable than other decks? Think

Anonymous Prodigy

Posted: Mon Jul 03, 2006 3:34 pm

Joined: 10 Jan 2006 Posts: 4197 Location: United States

Very impressive article, elf lvr! My only complaint is that you claim that the deck is cheap but then do not mention the etsimated price. Otherwise, a solid article! I give it a 4.

I had to put something here.

elf lvr

Posted: Mon Jul 03, 2006 6:21 pm

Joined: 13 Jun 2006 Posts: 3065 Location: Rivendell

hblika wrote:

But kudos to you for making an effort writing something else than a decklist with a badly written strategy.

Is that what my other articles have been? Crying or Very sad

Oh, well. Thanks for your opinions.