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| reggierockz |
![]() Posted: Mon Jul 17, 2006 9:49 pm |
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Joined: 23 Jun 2006
Posts: 55
Location: Rochester, NY
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--- description ---
A deeper look into some different strategies surrounding Bill Ferny, Agent of Saruman.
--- end description ---
Introduction and overview:
Ah, where to begin? Though The Hunters has been available to online players for almost a year now, many of us offline players are just starting to experience many of the new cards and decks. Whether you’ve been playing with The Hunters cards for months now or if you’re just starting to play around with them, I’m sure you’ve heard (or witnessed) all the fuss about Bill Ferny, Agent of Saruman. Love him or hate him, Bill is here to stay.
In this article, my goal is to provide players with a list of card choices and then develop those cards into different strategic ideas. I will cover both the strengths and weaknesses of each strategy, as well as cover different problematic match-ups, and what types of fellowships to pair the decks with.
Please keep in mind that though the deck and strategy might not be new to all, some players are just beginning to see and play with The Hunters set.
Enjoy!
Tools of the trade:
To begin, we’ll take a look at all the different card choices to lead old Bill to victory.
Minions:
Bill Ferny, Agent of Saruman – The heart and soul of any Bill Ferny deck (duh). Keep him unwounded and go straight for the throat of your opponent’s fellowship. There are countless ways to bulk him up and finish off your opponent’s ring-bearer in one swift stroke.
Courageous Easterling – Perfect as an alternative way of playing Bill Ferny, allowing him to hit the table after both the maneuver and the archery phase (avoiding pre-skirmish phase wounds and exertions).
Bold Easterling – Same as the Courageous Easterling but a little bigger and more costly.
Easterling Scout – Again, same ability as the Courageous and Bold Easterlings but a bit more costly and stronger.
Chieftain of Dunland – Much like that of the Easterling Captain (oh how I love Easterlings), this minion can easily help your Ferny become massive in strength upon controlling a few sites.
Rapt Hillman – The key minion for controlling sites with Evil Men. When coupled with a Pavise, he can take control of three sites in one turn.
Engrossed Hillman – Another solid minion for taking control of sites, especially if you anticipate large fellowships in your meta.
Grousing Hillman – A strong minion who goes along nicely with the site control strategy.
The Mouth of Sauron, Messenger of Mordor – Perfect for setting up your shadow’s strategy, as well as thinning out your deck to help you draw the cards you need.
Column of Easterlings – A great minion to help pump up Bill’s strength, especially since he is a lurker.
Possessions:
Pavise – A key card in any Bill Ferny deck. It will prevent Bill from taking any wounds pre-skirmish.
Great Axe – Not nearly as important as Pavise, but can help Bill cancel out any hunter ability that your opponent’s ring-bearer might gain from The One Ring, The Ring of Doom.
Conditions:
Countless Companies – Allows you to stack Pavise and re-use it over and over again.
Hemmed In – Can cancel out possession strength bonuses as well as transfer a pesky possession to another eligible bearer.
Last Days – Another great way to play Bill Ferny after the maneuver and archery phases. It can help counter act Ithilien Blade and it works quite well with the three discarding Easterlings.
Pursuing Horde – A must for site control Ferny decks. Pull them with The Mouth of Sauron and get that extra twighlight needed to pump with the Chieftain of Dunland.
Rapid Reload – Great to spend your extra twighlight on (while you’re waiting to make your move). Renders companions such as Eowyn, Lady of Ithilien and Cirdan, The Shipwright useless.
Events:
Overrun – Pack enough battlegrounds and plains in your site path and it’s an easy strength +4.
Gathering Strength – A large and costly pump that can easily be afforded with toil.
Fires Brightly Burning – Another great pump that can be played for free.
Now that we have examined our card choices, let’s formulate them into decks.
Deck #1 – “The direct route” (31 cards)
4 Overrun
4 Fires Brightly Burning
4 Gathering Strength
4 Bill Ferny, Agent of Saruman
4 Courageous Easterling
4 Bold Easterling
1 Column of Easterlings
3 Pavise
1 Rapid Reload
1 Last Days
1 Hemmed In
Strategy:
This deck is geared for an early win. You will often find yourself winning at site two or three if you can assign Bill and draw into a few pumps. Since every minion costs only two twighlight (with the exception of the Column of Easterlings), you should have plenty of leftover twighlight to use for pumps. Use the discarding Easterlings to play Bill over and over again, but also try to time him correctly, (i.e. when you believe you can pump him enough to overwhelm the ring-bearer). This strategy is more of a direct approach, targeting the ring-bearer specifically.
Srengths:
This deck can dominate an unprepared fellowship and is very effective early game before your opponent has a chance to set up any ring-bearer protection. The ability to replay Bill Ferny over and over again also causes many problems for alternate ring-bearers.
Weaknesses:
If you opponent is prepared to defend their ring-bearer (decks that run massive amounts of pumps such as Elven Events), you will face some real trouble. The entire minion base is designed to support Ferny, so if he doesn’t succeed, the other minions are basically useless. Shadowplay also shuts down Ferny completely, regardless of how he hits the table, though Rapid Reload can help counteract that. Late game, you will have a very hard time winning with this shadow, so a quick and early win is a must.
Deck #2 – “Site Control” (30 cards)
4 Chieftain of Dunland
4 The Mouth of Sauron, Messenger of Morder
3 Bill Ferny, Agent of Saruman
3 Rapt Hillman
2 Engrossed Hillman
2 Grousing Hillman
4 Pursuing Horde
3 Pavise
3 Countless Companies
1 Last Days
1 Rapid Reload
Strategy:
Get out The Mouth of Sauron as soon as possible. Use him to pull a Pavise and then start grabbing key cards like Countless Companies and Pursuing Horde. Not only do you get to pull cards that you need, but you also get to thin out your deck to help you draw the cards that you do need. Use both the Rapt Hillman (especially with a Pavise) and the Engrossed Hillman to take control of sites (three sites are ideal). Now all you have left to do is get a Chieftain of Dunland on the table with a Bill Ferny, keep Ferny unwounded, assign him to the ring-bearer, and pump away with the Chieftain. You should have plenty of twighlight to pump with the Chieftain via the Pursuing Hordes.
Strengths:
This deck is an all around solid deck, due to its ability to pull cards it needs and thin your deck out. Though it takes a bit longer to set up than Deck #1, it is a much more versatile deck in my opinion. It does not fully revolve around Bill as a win condition; instead it merely exploits it whenever possible. If Bill falls through for whatever reason, it still has massive stopping power. With a strong minion base and an alternative win strategy, I prefer this strategy over Deck #1.
Weaknesses:
Other site control decks could pose a problem, as they could steal sites before you do. Again, Shadowplay completely shuts down Bill, though this strategy is not completely reliable on him. Site liberation will also put a dent in your strategy, though you should be able to set up for at least one turn with the Rapt Hillman and a Pavise, allowing you do some serious damage.
Site path:
Depending on which deck you are playing, there are a few key sites that should not be overlooked.
Deck #1 should include as many plains and battlegrounds as possible. Deck #2 is not as reliable on the site path, so you can select a few more sites that benefit your fellowship without regard for your shadow. Regardless of which deck you choose, sites such as Mount Doom, Pelennor Fields, and Wold Battlefield should not be left out.
Fellowships to consider pairing with:
Try to pair either deck list with a fellowship that can play down any cards that it draws. Personally, I prefer Ithilien Blade Rangers, because you can play anything that you draw as soon as you draw it. Also, keeping the deck list as small as possible is key, as both decks rely on specific cards that need to be drawn as quickly as possible. Dwarves may also be a great pair, but I have not personally tested them. Stay away from fellowships that hold a lot of cards, such as Elven Events or any other deck that needs to hang on to cards like pumps etc etc.
Problematic match-ups:
Shadowplay decks – Plan on having Bill Rendered useless. Anyone running Shadowplay will be ready for Bill, as they will be able to slap an exertion on him no matter when he is played. Deck #1 will really be in trouble vs. this match-up, but remember to use Rapid Reload (especially if they are splashing Hobbits to run Shadowplay). Deck #2 will have a much better chance, because Bill is not the only win condition.
Mass condition removal - Anything running mass condition removal such as Dwarves with Blood Runs Chill and Galdalf decks with the like s of Palando will pose a problem for Deck #2. You will need to time your strike carefully and be prepared to lose your Pursuing Hordes and Countless Companies. Deck #1 will not have that much trouble with condition removal, as it is not very dependent on any key conditions.
Ithilien Blade - Deck #2 could face some problems against Ithilien Blade decks. Be sure to fetch Rapid Reload quickly and slap some exertions on to stop their Rangers from discarding your key minions. Aragorn, Thorongil will be able to exert Ferny, so be mindful of that. Deck #1 should be able to replay Ferny even if he is discarded and Last Days will ensure that he comes back again and again.
Conslusion:
Well I hope you enjoyed reading my article. Try playing around with different card choices and see what you can come up with. Tweak the deck lists to fit your meta or personal preference and most of all have fun. You should be able to surprise your opponents and hopefully bash some ring-bearer skull! If anyone has any questions or ideas they would like to discuss, feel free to IM me at reggierockz and share your thoughts.
Thanks for reading,
-reggierockz |
| Last edited by reggierockz on Mon Jul 17, 2006 11:52 pm; edited 2 times in total"They have a cave troll." |
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| Pipeweed |
![]() Posted: Mon Jul 17, 2006 10:09 pm |
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Joined: 14 Jun 2006
Posts: 1010
Location: Earth (I think)
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| reggierockz |
![]() Posted: Mon Jul 17, 2006 10:22 pm |
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Joined: 23 Jun 2006
Posts: 55
Location: Rochester, NY
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| Hmm, I modeled mine after the old Moria Archtype Bible on the ghost town better know as the Decipher forums. Well, that and all the suggestions I’ve received from my other articles. |
| "They have a cave troll." |
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| CarpeGuitarrem |
![]() Posted: Mon Jul 17, 2006 10:26 pm |
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Joined: 07 Apr 2006
Posts: 3361
Location: Franciscan University of Steubenville
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A good, solid look at the new Bill Ferny, and just why he’s scary! Somewhat of an odd title choice, though...as "Kill Bill" would be the objective of your opponent... 
I like that format, makes it a good read-through. Even better if everyone’s using it. 
Just wait, though...I’m whipping up a Bill-killer article!  And it’s not just Shadowplay, either... |
| "ok, change of plans. the Cobracards christmas party is coming to my house, and we’re gunna teach FM how to hunt." (mm) |
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| PorterTroll |
![]() Posted: Mon Jul 17, 2006 10:30 pm |
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Joined: 23 Jun 2006
Posts: 1193
Location: not sure yet
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i like it, but it would definitely have trouble against shadowplay decks. add another pavise so you can always have one on ferny (otherwise he could clog your hand, you also might want to add another rapid reload for drawing chances)
also, what do you do if when your ferny is pumped up he cant get strong enough to kill their ring bearer? i run dwarves and my gimli usually gets up to 15 base strength. with all the alternate ring bearers, it seems it may be difficult to consistently get ferny up to a high enough strength to get rid of gimli ring bearers or even isildur or boromir ring bearers.
it looks good, but without the proper skirmish events and a pavise in hand it seems that it might be a difficult deck to play. i like it though and i know that these new ferny decks can be beastly!
nice article! very well written! |
"Don't be a Douche, Stop Piracy!"~Tenacious D
"One of my movies was called "True Lies." It's what the Democrats should have called their convention."~Arnold Schwarzenegger |
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| reggierockz |
![]() Posted: Mon Jul 17, 2006 10:31 pm |
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Joined: 23 Jun 2006
Posts: 55
Location: Rochester, NY
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Porter Troll - That all depends on which deck you are referring to. The first deck would be able to cause some damage to Gimli or Boromir beacause it can keep playing Bill over and over again, keying off on the alternate ring-bearer’s downsides. Corruption is even a possibility against Gimli and Dwarves (low amount of companions, meaning low threat limit). If Bill keeps hitting the table every turn, pretty soon burdens are going to start stocking up.
As far Deck #2 goes, four copies of The Mouth of Sauron really lets you pull all the conditions you need, so there isn’t really a need to play more copies (except in the event that they get discarded). Pavise stacks after every turn, so running only three is fine. I could see running a fourth in deck number one though, but since the decklist is so thin, I personally don’t think it’s needed.
Thanks for the comments, glad you liked the article. |
| Last edited by reggierockz on Mon Jul 17, 2006 10:41 pm; edited 1 time in total"They have a cave troll." |
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| SnowBalrog |
![]() Posted: Mon Jul 17, 2006 10:36 pm |
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Joined: 26 Sep 2005
Posts: 63
Location: St. Louis, Missouri
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I really like your article! I don’t think I’ll give it a rating yet, but it’s well-written. On a minor note, Fires Brightly Burning cannot be played from the discard pile. You remove 4  cards in lieu of its twilight cost. |
Marcus: Our Snow Balrog would be a lot more impressive if it didn't keep melting.
Jason: Maybe if we used a little less lighter fluid...? |
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| reggierockz |
![]() Posted: Mon Jul 17, 2006 10:37 pm |
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Joined: 23 Jun 2006
Posts: 55
Location: Rochester, NY
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| Oops, let me fix that quick, thanks for catching that! |
| "They have a cave troll." |
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| SnowBalrog |
![]() Posted: Mon Jul 17, 2006 10:39 pm |
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Joined: 26 Sep 2005
Posts: 63
Location: St. Louis, Missouri
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Glad I could help! It took me a while to realize that they didn’t work like the FP counterparts too.  |
Marcus: Our Snow Balrog would be a lot more impressive if it didn't keep melting.
Jason: Maybe if we used a little less lighter fluid...? |
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| reggierockz |
![]() Posted: Mon Jul 17, 2006 10:41 pm |
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Joined: 23 Jun 2006
Posts: 55
Location: Rochester, NY
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Yeah, I proxided them for a while, using fellowship counterparts thinking they did the same thing, but noooo, thanks Decipher lol.
Keep the comments coming! |
| "They have a cave troll." |
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