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Total Votes : 11

AnxiousChieftain

Posted: Tue Aug 22, 2006 4:34 pm

Joined: 15 Jul 2005 Posts: 3947 Location: Maryland

--- description ---
This deck combines the power of Sauron with the trickery of Gollum and the deadliness of Nazgul.
--- end description ---

While experimenting with deck ideas, I ran into a deadly minion: Sauron, The Lord of the Rings. I’ve seen very few decks that include him, so I decided to try my hand at a deck that used him a fair amount. He’s a beast of a minion, but unfortunately is very expensive and is susceptible to directed wounds. This is where Gollum will help! Gollum can replay Sauron, prevent wounds, and make Sauron cheaper.

So, the focus of the deck is to add threats and burdens, play Sauron, and beat up companions. If Sauron kills a companion, threats will trigger, causing more deaths and maybe some burdens. You can either win by killing the Ring-bearer, or by corrupting the Ring-bearer. Both options are viable with this deck.

Here is a list of the cards I use in this deck, and why I use them:

Minions

Sauron, The Lord of the Rings has 4 copies included. He’s the main power in this deck, and I want to make sure I can play him often.

Two versions of Gollum are used in this deck: Gollum, Skulker, and Gollum, Stinker. Stinker is awesome once a few burdens get added, and he will add even more burdens. Skulker is a lurker, which will keep him alive to use Incited or Sweeter Meats during Sauron’s skirmish.

Ulaire Nelya, Third of the Nine Riders helps manipulate the site path, which will come in handy. I will explain the manipulation later.

Ulaire Enquea, Lieutenant of Morgul makes sure that large fellowships are punished. In addition, his text triggers if I can spot 5 burdens, which is not hard with all the cards that can add burdens. Enquea also combos well with all the threats.

That’s it for the minions - just Sauron, Gollum, and some Nazgul. It may not seem like much, but it gets the job done.

Artifacts

Ithil Stone is the sole artifact in this deck. It provides cycling, and also allows Sauron to be played for 3 less twilight. I can exert either Sauron or one of my Nazgul to play it - exerting Sauron gives me a bonus, since he is enduring.

Conditions

Evil-smelling Fens is included for the sole reason of replaying a key minion. Gollum can use it to take back the minion needed most - Enquea for directed wounds, Sauron for a large minion, and Nelya for site manipulation.

Final Strike is one of my favorite Gollum

conditions. It is the bane of Ithilien Blade decks, effectively shutting them down. It also can stop cards like Aragorn’s Bow and Legolas, Greenleaf from wounding Sauron or your Nazgul. Plus, it allows you to play Gollum from your discard pile at site 9.

Incited is wonderful for bringing back your Gollum

cards. If your opponent discards your Gollum

conditions, Incited can retrieve them. If you need a copy of Gollum, Incited can bring back Captured By the Ring. If you need some wound prevention, take back Sweeter Meats.

Heavy Burden is a simple card - discard Gollum and remove a threat to add a burden. Very nice for corrupting.

Fat One Wants It, when used with Captured By the Ring, will add 2 threats when you play Gollum. If you don’t use Captured By the Ring, you can still add 1 threat. The Regroup ability is mediocre, but can be used in a pinch.

Not Yet Vanquished is great, because Sauron and both the Nazgul are fierce. Yet another way to add burdens.

As you can see, quite a few conditions are included. They all have their uses.

Events

Captured By the Ring is amazing. You can play whichever version of Gollum is best for the situation, as well as adding a threat.

So Polite is a fun card for playing Gollum. If the threats are maxed out, you can have enough twilight to play all your minions!

Led Astray has a double purpose: it adds twilight for your minions, and can replace a site on the adventure path.

Sweeter Meats is a great surprise card. Your opponent might be relying on giving Sauron that last wound with a card like Gondor Bow or Eowyn, Lady of Ithilien - this card will make them pay dearly.

The Deck

I pair the Shadow side with a Freeps that burns Smeagol with Saved From the Fire to take 3 Shadow Gollum

conditions into hand from your deck. If you don’t want to do this, I suggest removed a Not Yet Vanquished and adding another Fat One Wants It.

Ring-bearer and Ring
Frodo, Resolute Hobbit
The One Ring, The Ring of Rings

Adventure Deck
Buckland Homestead
Courtyard Parapet
Woody-end
City Gates
Neekerbreekers’ Bog
Pelennor Flat
Mere of Dead Faces
Green Dragon Inn
Valley of the Silverlode

Fellowship (34)
Merry, Friend to Sam (starting)
Pippin, Wearer of Black and Silver (starting)
Smeagol, Slippery Sneak (starting)
Gandalf, Leader of Men (starting)
Bilbo, Aged Ring-bearer
Farmer Maggot, Hobbit of the Marish
Pallando, Far-travelling One x2
Barliman Butterbur, Prancing Pony Proprietor x3
Hobbit Sword x4
Fates Entwined x3
Sudden Fury x4
Servant of the Secret Fire x4
Roll of Thunder x2
Saved From The Fire x4
Traveled Leader x2

Shadow (34)
Sauron, The Lord of the Rings x4
Ulaire Enquea, Lieutenant of Morgul x3
Ulaire Nelya, Third of the Nine Riders x3
Gollum, Stinker
Gollum, Skulker
Ithil Stone x2
Evil-smelling Fens x2
Final Strike x2
Incited
Heavy Burden
Fat One Wants It
Not Yet Vanquished
Captured By the Ring x4
Led Astray x3
Sweeter Meats x3
So Polite x2

Note: An optional card to use is Sceptre of the Dark Lord. I choose not to use it, as I find that Sauron generally does well enough on his own, but if needed it can be used to make Sauron even stronger.

Strategy

Bid up to 4 (or more, if your meta bids high). Frodo has 14 resistance, and you really need to go second.

With the Freeps, use your first Saved From the Fire to burn Smeagol, grabbing 3 Gollum

cards. You can use your remaining copies of Saved From the Fire to burn a couple Hobbits, grabbing your Shire

cards. Use Sudden Fury to make your Hobbits strong, and heal them with Fates Entwined. Gandalf has a variety of events, and you can use Barliman Butterbur to take back the events you need.

For the Shadow, continually make them move into Courtyard Parapet, by replacing it with Led Astray or Ulaire Nelya, Third of the Nine Riders. Once several burdens have been added, you can make them move to Neekerbreekers’ Bog, exerting all their companions. If you are short on threats, make them move to City Gates. Pelennor Flat is a nice site to replace the previous sites with.

With all the exertions from Neekerbreekers’ Bog (played several times), Sauron and Enquea should have no problem finishing off your opponent’s companions. If you think Sauron won’t win any skirmishes, no problem: just try to corrupt with Courtyard Parapet, Heavy Burden, Not Yet Vanquished, and Gollum, Stinker. Alternatively, you can add 5 burdens and use Enquea to take out any companion that could challenge Sauron’s strength.

Match-ups for the Shadow

Ithilien Blade
Shouldn’t be a problem. Final Strike will take care of Ithilien Blade, and you can use the threats they add against them with Sauron.

Archery
Not so bad. Sauron has 5 vitality, Enquea and Gollum have 4, and Nelya has 3. Plus, Sweeter Meats can prevent some of the archery wounds.

Eowyn Wounding
If you can surprise your opponent with a Sweeter Meats, and kill his Eowyn, you’ll be fine.

Choke
Gollum is very cheap, and can start setting up your Shadow at the early sites. Once you get into Region 2 & 3, you can use Led Astray and So Polite to generate enough twilight for your other minions.

Solo Smeagol
Probably the worst match-up. With only 1 companion, you can only add 1 threat. His Clever Hobbits will demolish your support area, and his site manipulation will really hurt.

Dwarves
You should be able to manipulate the site path enough to add lots of burdens and exert their companions. Enquea can then kill Durin, allowing Sauron to kill the rest.

Ents
Should be easy. They add so much twilight, you’ll be able to play Sauron lots. Using Neekerbreekers’ Bog, you can exhaust their fellowship, and once you add lots of threats the Ents will be in big trouble.

Knights
Fourth Level + Gondor Bow can be prevented with Sweeter Meats. Fourth Level and Citadel of the Stars can be more difficult to deal with, but you can discard Citadel of the Stars with Buckland Homestead, allowing Sauron to live.

There you have it: a strong deck that uses the Dark Lord himself, Sauron. It has a decent chance against most decks, and is fun to play. Thanks for reading!

Last edited by AnxiousChieftain on Wed Aug 23, 2006 1:49 pm; edited 4 times in totalMODS RULE. - lem0nhead

elf lvr

Posted: Tue Aug 22, 2006 4:43 pm

Joined: 13 Jun 2006 Posts: 3065 Location: Rivendell

This deck looks seriously awsome! Sauron kills all! A sweet deck that uses the dark lord to his full potential. Do you think you could find the room for sceptre of the dark lord? It would really kill with this deck. I can’t see too many problems, at first I thought IB would be a problem, but it seems like you have it covered!

I will wait before voting, just to be sure someone doesn’t spot something I missed.

Applause

Happy Hunting! Elf Lvr
Winner of Best Personality in the FPCA. Thanks!
Archduke Elf Lvr - Archidoux of the Chosen Ones
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And behold, EL declared it good. And there was morning, and there was evening, the first (new) day. ~ DainIronfoot

PorterTroll

Posted: Tue Aug 22, 2006 5:06 pm

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

whoah! nice Deck! Way to put sauron to good use! Very Happy

you get a 5! Applause

the only thing that i think you should change would be to add another heavy burden for drawing chances (but then again, you could just pull that with saved from the fire) Think

Last edited by PorterTroll on Tue Aug 22, 2006 5:19 pm; edited 1 time in total

AnxiousChieftain

Posted: Tue Aug 22, 2006 5:17 pm

Joined: 15 Jul 2005 Posts: 3947 Location: Maryland

Thanks, PT and EL!

Regarding the Sceptre, I don’t really think there is room. A couple copies could be included instead of Led Astray, I suppose, but I don’t think it’s worth it.

Thanks again!

MODS RULE. - lem0nhead

Felipe Musco

Posted: Tue Aug 22, 2006 5:34 pm

Joined: 18 May 2006 Posts: 2434 Location: Florianópolis, SC, Brasil

Sauron costs, like, A LOT! Even with all the help you can get, there’s no way you’ll play him A LOT of times, and THERE ARE sites that let you fetch Nazguls back, so you can save Evil-Smelling Fens for Sauron. MAYBE, you could drop one copy of Sauron to add in his Sceptre of the Dark Lord. You could even consider adding one more Fens and Sceptre, 36 is not that hard to cope with, if you cycle enough...

I don't like YOU.

AnxiousChieftain

Posted: Tue Aug 22, 2006 5:37 pm

Joined: 15 Jul 2005 Posts: 3947 Location: Maryland

Felipe Musco wrote:

Sauron costs, like, A LOT! Even with all the help you can get, there’s no way you’ll play him A LOT of times

4 burdens and 4 threats is not hard to attain, which makes him cost 10 (or 12 when roaming). It’s fairly easy to get that much twilight in Region 2 or 3, especially with Led Astray and/or So Polite.

MODS RULE. - lem0nhead

Felipe Musco

Posted: Tue Aug 22, 2006 5:45 pm

Joined: 18 May 2006 Posts: 2434 Location: Florianópolis, SC, Brasil

That’s my point! You’ll play him, like, 6 times, TOPS! 3 Evil-Smelling Fens and 3 Saurons make six drops. Add in his Sceptre, and you can make those drops hurt even more, so a single Enquea on the following site will wipe them out miserably! Just try it out.

I don't like YOU.

AnxiousChieftain

Posted: Tue Aug 22, 2006 6:16 pm

Joined: 15 Jul 2005 Posts: 3947 Location: Maryland

I see what you mean. I’m just not sure if the deck can handle so many cards. I will add a note saying that the Sceptre is an optional card, that can be included.

Thanks, and please vote! Very Happy

MODS RULE. - lem0nhead

CarpeGuitarrem

Posted: Tue Aug 22, 2006 7:00 pm

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

AC, I think you’ll still run into twilight troubles with Sauron, especially against Nine-Fingered Frodo and the Ring of Doom. But you are right that he’s cheap to play with Gollum, Stinker and Captured by the Ring.

However...how do you exactly plan to win skirmishes with Gollum, Stinker? I don’t see a single card to boost his strength or wound his opponent to death.

I disagree with your statement, when you refer to the Dwarf match-up, of "you should be able to manipulate the site path enough to add lots of burdens and exert all their companions." Do some simple math...Neekerbreekers’ Bog and Courtyard parapet only trigger when the fellowship moves to them. So...to get 5 burdens, you’d have to bring back Courtyard Parapet 5 times, thus at Site 6. Which only lets you use Neekerbreekers’ Bog three times. That’s not enouch to "exert all their companions". So Durin still lives, and beats up on Sauron. Enquea can’t work his magic until much later, and the dwarves live on. And if it’s Site 6 or 7 we’re talking about...your Freeps might not last that long.

Finally, I think you should make it a little more interesting to read. Use some humor, some color...after all, it may be a Strategy Article, but it’s also a Strategy Article.

But a good article; so far my vote’s hovering at 4.

"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: Tue Aug 22, 2006 7:09 pm

Joined: 13 Jun 2006 Posts: 3065 Location: Rivendell

Durin beats up sauron? Think

The most base strength I’ve ever seen Durin have IN AN ACUTAL GAME is 16-17. Still needs a lot of pumps to trump the dark lord.

I think Gollum is only to win skirmishes after many burdens have already been added. Besides, if they want to even hope to beat sauron, they will need to assign off their strongest companion.

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