| Author |
Message |
Rate this article!
| 5 (Best) |
| [ 2 ] 40% |
| |
| 4 |
| [ 3 ] 60% |
| |
| 3 |
| [ 0 ] 0% |
| |
| 2 |
| [ 0 ] 0% |
| |
| 1 (Worst) |
| [ 0 ] 0% |
| |
Total Votes : 5 |
|
| Beyo |
![]() Posted: Sat Nov 11, 2006 8:53 pm |
|
|
|
Joined: 22 Nov 2005
Posts: 60
Location: Poland
|
--- description ---
For ages intelligence was extension of military force..Men are one of the most versatile characters among Dark Lord’s servants.
Article focused on historical background and some deck types including Bill Ferny.
--- end description ---
Bill Ferny is one of the unique minions who gained sympathy among players since the beginning of LOTR Trading Card Game.
Bill Ferny,Swarthy Sneering Fellow introduced in Mines of Moria expansion had some special features:
1. He was and he still is the only Man in  culture.
2. He may not be assigned to skirmish by FP player.
3. He acts as some kind of Nazgul tracker and make them not roaming.
What to do with such strange minion? Only 1 vitality only 4 strenght and lowest site number in FOTR block?
...Early Days...
In the time of fellowship block only one format of tournament was known - Open  Tournament scene needed some time to discover that some combos are deadly and unbalanced by Free Peoples strategies, what later resulted in creation of Standard format and X-List.
Nazgul decks dominated tournaments and typical deck included four copies of Bill Ferny in example like this:
Bill Ferny, Swarthy Sneering Fellow x4 // power-up*
Witch-King, Lord Of Angmar x3 // main minion
Blade Tip x3 // slowly killing
Black Breath x3 // no heal , no life
The Pale Blade x3 // damage and discard ability
Black Steed x4 // another power-up
Morgul Gates x4 // lower minion cost
Ulaire Lemenya x3 // lower strength of companions
Sword of Minas Morgul x3 // add damage
Ulaire Enquea x2 // cut large fellowships
Ulaire Cantea x2 // Fellowship have no possession any more:)
* It means Bill is assigned to companion another minion already skirmishing to add his 4 str to minion strength total in that skirmish
Of course this deck is rather beatdown because with MoM corruption became speciality of new type Nazguls - Twilights 
The Witch-King, Lord Of The Nazgul x4 // add wounds-burdens
Ulaire Nelya, Ringwraith In Twilight x3 // fierce and damage+1
Bill Ferny x3 // power-up
The Pale Blade x4 // power and discard ability
Ulaire Enquea, Ringwraith In Twilight x3 // similar to Witch-king
His Terrible Servants x3 / prevents wounds
It Wants to Be Found x4 // add burdens
Gates Of the Dead City x4 // exertions
Morgul Gates x4 // lower cost of minions
Ulaire Attea, The Easterling x2 // wound allies
Again, this deck is dual beatdown-corruption where adding burdens results in additional exertions and Bill Ferny acts as support for Witch King giving him +4 bonus. Three copies of Ferny increases chances of entering game early where high cost of Nazgul make them ineffective on early sites.
With Bill Ferny it was much easier to corrupt Frodo or killing some key companion even in 1rst region.
Although Free Peoples cultures used many cards to stop Nazgul in their quest for The One Ring playing vs was extremely difficult. Remember, that was time where nobody hear of ATAR and forcing Ringbearer to put the One Ring was much easier than today and with few burdens chances of survival vs Nazgul change from little to zero
(and if the One Ring was Isildur Bane version...dead is certain)
That resulted later in creation of more balanced game style and Bill Ferny went to Standard Format X-List with some other deadly cards like Scavagery to Match Their Numbers...but not for long.
Tower and King block....
In 2002 when Two Towers was released, players experienced first surprise - No cards in TTT set? Yes..until Ents of Fangorn there was no Nazgul cards in tower block which was focused rather on Dunland and Raider cultures than Nazzies.
New fellowship strategies made playing Wraiths more difficult than before when Legolas, Dauntless Hunter enter the scene with introducing Denial Deck(e.g. Morgul Gates with cost of  are useless,as well as Pale Blade, Nazgul Swords and so on).
Again after some time,some cards was recognized as unbalanced and put onto X-List with Dauntles Hunter on the lead. Unfortunately Bill remained on X-List and no new version of him was released.
After release of Return of The King , it seemed that Nazgul no longer need their agent. Again, no new version of Ferny was introduced and culture got superb new forces to its disposal like Morgul Orcs with swarm and archery (first time in culture history), and enduring Nazgul with Ulaire Enquea, Thrall Of The One which shifted strategy again into corruption. Is there anyone who needs Bill?
Surprisingly players sympathy and new Decipher’ plans bring him to life with new concept of banned cards divided from now into 2 separate groups:
X-List - cards banned on tournaments
R-List - cards restricted to one copy in deck
But nothing for free...plans for release of Shadows set and whole new War of The Ring block created idea of block rotation (curse you Decipher) and new division of tournaments into Standard, Open, Block and new Expanded.
This changes rotated Bill Ferny out from Standard but gave him new life in Expanded ( that time popularity of Open format dramatically decreased)
Why to use Bill Ferny in contemporary decks?
1. With Reflections expantion released FP player are no longer limited to use Frodo as RingBearer. Due to fact that these new alternate RB’s seemed to be little to much powerful each of them has game text describing some cost of wearing The One Ring:
Gimli, Bearer Of Grudges - at the start of each skirmish involving him add 2 burdens or 2 threats.
Boromir, Bearer Of Council - while Boromir is the Ring Bearer at the start of each skirmish involwing him add 3 burdens or wound him twice
Isildur, Bearer of Heirlooms - at the start of each skirmish involwing him add 2 burdens or exert 3 companions.
Now you understand? No matter how big fellowship is and how much we want spare RB from skirmishing - Bill Ferny enters on table and ,if he survives maneuver and archery, is assigned to our Ringbearer forcing him to add burdens,threats or exertions.
So this little scum does excellent job paired with:
a)  and corruption
12R118 The Mouth of Sauron, Lieutenant of Barad-dûr x4
2R75 Bill Ferny, Swarthy Sneering Fellow
15R72 Bill Ferny, Agent of Saruman x3
1R244 Desperate Defense of the Ring x4
1U258 Morgul Skulker x3
5R95 Dead Marshes x2
1R279 Thin and Stretched
3U86 Úlairë Otsëa, Ringwraith in Twilight x3
1U209 Blade Tip x2
11U212 Lost in the Woods x3
7C297 Orc Butcher x3
2R84 Úlairë Nelya, Ringwraith in Twilight x2
9R+47 Ithil Stone (foil) x2
This deck is based on corruption done by two crucial self-assigning minions:
Mouth Of Sauron and and  Bill Ferny. I put New Ferny here because his ability however old Ferny is little better because he may not be assigned by FP player at all and the new one has to be unwounded. The best possibility for shadow side is to pair it with good cycled light side to play Desperate Defense Of the Ring as soon as possible but ..
Achtung! Play all 4 copies of DDotR for one strong companion! ( or 2 on two companions) - their effect is cumulative and and assign Mouth Of Sauron or Bill Ferny to him - probably you can have 2 or even 4 burdens in one turn. To make more fun you can play one Desperate for ring-bearer together with Thin And Stretched.
These two minions take care of strong companions and Ulaire Ostsea take the weakest so in case of win Blade Tip goes to RingBearer.
Blade Tip + Thin And Stretched + 2x 2 Desperate = 6 burdens.
If paired with e.g. Smeagol with path control you can add burdens from site too.
b) Gollum Wounding ( How to bring Ferny back? yes..Evil Smell Fens)
5U22 Evil-smelling Fens x4
13U52 Little Snuffler x4
8R24 Promise Keeping
2R75 Bill Ferny, Swarthy Sneering Fellow
15R43 Gollum, Hopeless x4
9R+43 Ring of Ire (foil) x2
8R84 The Witch-king, Black Captain x2
7R221 The Witch-king, Morgul King x2
7R61 Hobbitses Are Dead x4
11S215 Riders in Black x3
12R174 Úlairë Cantëa, Black Assassin
8U79 Úlairë Attëa, Thrall of The One x2
11U212 Lost in the Woods x2
Another crazy idea, still being mutation of forest nazguls. Bill Ferny act as support for Gollum allowing him to win skirmishes and wound companions.
HAD is very versatile card increasing strength of Gollum and Nazgul. Cantea together with Ferny kill 6th companion. WitchKings are for taking Ferny from discard and Ring of Ire can make Ferny damage+1. Ferny;s strength may be increased by Riders in Black and Lost in The Woods.
After all...funny beatdown-wounding mix with Ferny and Gollum sneaking among the trees...
c)  Men (as universal power-up helping to win skirmishes).
2R75 Bill Ferny, Swarthy Sneering Fellow
6U75 Twisted Tales x4
6U61 Desertion x4
6C72 Rohirrim Traitor x4
6R57 Agents of Orthanc x2
4C178 Unferth, Gríma’s Bodyguard x3
11U210 Hatred Stirred
4U161 Men Will Fall x4
1U232 Úlairë Lemenya, Lieutenant of Morgul x4
1U207 Black Breath x3
1U258 Morgul Skulker x2
News From Mordor
The main idea is to allow Men win skirmishes thanks to Bill and take all FP posessions to twisted tales. Men Will Fall together with Black Breath and Lemenya drastically lower companion’s strength and Unferth provides extra exertions when Hatres Stirred recycle cards.
As you see putting Bill Ferny on R-list made use of him in torunament play very difficult. To use him you have to put more cards to deck to allow him to enter play many times.
2. Bill Ferny is very weak minion with his strength of 4 but I want to propose fun-deck with him as a main fighter  How? together with Forests. Look at this deck:
Bill Ferny, Swarthy Sneering Fellow
Morgul Skulker x4
Lost In The Woods x4
Nazgul Scimitar x4
Hatred Stirred x2
The Pale Blade, Sword of flame x3
Witch King,Morgul King x3
Hell Ground
They Came a Cry x3
Ulaire Cantea, Faster Than Winds x3
Morgul on the march
Ulaire Lemenya , Assailing Minion
Ghastly Host
This is untested-yet proposition of making forest-threat Nazgul with Bill Ferny as key support for Nazguls.
With let’s say 5 forests on adventure path Bill Ferny+Nazgul Scimitar+Lost In The Woods is strength of 10 and he may assign as you want and may even win skirmish with ringbearer!! Hatred stirred, Morgul King and Morgul Skulker take cards from discard so this deck should cycle very well. It should be paired with Elf-Man forest deck with Madril, Ranger of Ithilien and Arwen,Staunch Defender as key companions.
Of course any opponent with underground path control will ruin this strategy.
3. His first ability is pretty deadly vs rangers in every combination because they are based around fight with roaming minions..put Bill Ferny on table with some Nazguls and Yes...Ithilien Blade are useless!
Modern Era..Bill Ferny is back...
War of the Ring block lacks of Bill and we had to wait till Hunters block to see new version of our secret man. He is called Bill Ferny, Agent of Saruman. Is it the same man what before? Not at all. The main ability of "self-assigning" remains although on condition of not being wounded. New Ferny no longer make Nazgul unroaming because sadly,he is now in culture 
The same strength but higher vitality and higher site number brings new task for him in new culture and new decktypes.
Bill Ferny can be very dangerous minion because we have many cards what make him stronger and stronger.
15R72 Bill Ferny, Agent of Saruman x4
12U58 Countless Companies x2
12S73 The Mouth of Sauron, Messenger of Mordor x4 / play key conditions early
12C77 War Trident x4 / nasty weapon
11S92 Overrun x4 /pump-up
12R68 Gríma, Betrayer of Rohan x2 /additional exert on ring bearer
12U71 Last Days x3 /pump-up
13C82 Bring Down the Wall x3 /pump-up
13U95 Lying in Wait x2 /pump=up
15C73 Bold Easterling x3 /put ferny again on the scene in skirmish phase
The main concept of such deck is to play Bill Ferny together with Mouth Of Sauron. Grima remains as additional exert source. Mouth of Sauron bring possession and conditions from draw deck. Countless companies provides posessions.
War trident is here because of adding strength due to resistance. Pair this deck with fellowship path control and replace current site with Pellennor Flat and add burdens.
From site 4 Bill Ferny should be 4+6+2(Last Days gains fierce!)+2(Lying in Wait)+1.
So = 15 strength for total cost  + more and on battleground str total 19. I know that it may be difficult to do but done properly it is certain dead to ring-bearer. Of course you have to assign Bill Ferny only to RB and try to overhelm.
Bold Easterling is here only for purpose taking Bill from Discard in skirmish phase - so watch out nasty Elves - your bows means nothing.
Conclusion
In this article I tried to explain how to use Bill Ferny in several occasions and possible decktypes.Sorry for grammar issues and lack of match-ups for presented deck conceptions.
I hope you understand now why is he my favourite minion and that you enjoyed this article.[/list]  |
| Last edited by Beyo on Tue Nov 28, 2006 4:49 pm; edited 21 times in totalTime in the universe may be eternal..our patience is not |
|
| Back to top |
|
| corvus |
![]() Posted: Sun Nov 12, 2006 7:23 am |
|
|
|
Joined: 13 Oct 2006
Posts: 1696
Location: Roaming, but dangerous!!!
|
What? Such a small reference to the new one? Please check him out with overrun and gathering strength... i’m going to a great tournament with this kinda combo... 
All in all, small and pleasant. I love it. Will wait to vote... |
Click here if you want to trade some foils away 
Far, Far beyond the island we dwelt in shapes of twilight
Through draught and weary days
Through grief and endless pain |
|
| Back to top |
|
| LeeRoy Jenkins |
![]() Posted: Sun Nov 12, 2006 8:04 am |
|
|
|
Joined: 05 Nov 2006
Posts: 19
Location:
|
There are a few typing errors , so please re-read your article before posting.
It was a nice, clearly overlook of the "old Bill Ferny"-time, but you told me nothing new and I got really excited when I read your description the the Strategy Article Contest main page, but your article couldn’t stand to that excitement of mine.
Also you say on that description "with some historical background", but in the end it was like "historical background with some deck-types/ideas".
And like corvus said, I expected some more strategy with the new Bill Ferny, too.
I’ll vote later |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
| Beyo |
![]() Posted: Sun Nov 12, 2006 8:54 am |
|
|
|
Joined: 22 Nov 2005
Posts: 60
Location: Poland
|
Ok...As I Said I am not too familiar yet with this new Bill Ferny so I will try to improve it as soon as I can and add some strategy for new Bill.
So please wait with voting for now . |
| Last edited by Beyo on Sun Nov 12, 2006 9:21 am; edited 2 times in totalTime in the universe may be eternal..our patience is not |
|
| Back to top |
|
| sickofpalantirs |
![]() Posted: Sun Nov 12, 2006 9:10 am |
|
|
|
Joined: 23 Mar 2006
Posts: 7750
Location: somwhere, over the rainbow way up high. There's a land that I heard of once in a lullaby.
|
The new bill ferny gets assigned to the ring-bearer and then pumped up to insane strengths to overwhelm him(or her)
yeah grammer and spelling errors cropped up but you are from another country...
IDK maybe a 4 depending on what you add. |
 Sop's haves/ top wants
(mm)"SoP: you will always be the Official CC Spammer in my heart"
"DáinIronfoot"
Spammers really are amazing creatures. You can learn all there is to know about their ways in a month. And yet, after a hundred years, they can still surprise you.  |
|
| Back to top |
|
| CarpeGuitarrem |
![]() Posted: Sun Nov 12, 2006 2:50 pm |
|
|
|
Joined: 07 Apr 2006
Posts: 3361
Location: Franciscan University of Steubenville
|
Not a bad article...I’d prefer if you waited until finishing the section on the new Ferny before posting the article.
But I did like the overview of the old Ferny. The only thing I didn’t like was that you spent so little time explaining him! You call him a "power-up", but don’t explain why. I assume this is by assigning him to a companion who’s already fighting a minion. |
| "ok, change of plans. the Cobracards christmas party is coming to my house, and we’re gunna teach FM how to hunt." (mm) |
|
| Back to top |
|
| taipan |
![]() Posted: Mon Nov 13, 2006 6:52 am |
|
|
|
Joined: 14 Sep 2006
Posts: 177
Location: DF - BRAZIL
|
You’re on the right way...but you could do better!! Is not bad but, put something about (something that matter, something new) about the new Bill ferny.
We got time I won’t vote now, but is not bad, go one and review.
I’ll back later.  |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
| Shadows |
![]() Posted: Mon Nov 13, 2006 5:28 pm |
|
|
|
Joined: 21 Aug 2006
Posts: 136
Location: the underworld
|
Quite good, but I felt it lacked a little in depth, for example you refer to ferny as a pump, but don’t elaborate greatly on how to do this. also something on the ferny would be nice (though i’m guessing you’re working on that)
I will wait to see what the section on the new ferny is like until voting. |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
| Glamdring |
![]() Posted: Tue Nov 14, 2006 11:09 pm |
|
|
|
Joined: 13 Oct 2006
Posts: 575
Location:
|
sickofpalantirs wrote: The new bill ferny gets assigned to the ring-bearer and then pumped up to insane strengths to overwhelm him(or her)
yeah grammer and spelling errors cropped up but you are from another country...
IDK maybe a 4 depending on what you add.
Yeah, I’ll give you a 4. |
Great minds think alike.~CarpeGuitarrem
Rangers will rule the World!! (CC's Official Ranger Lover)
My Haves/Wants Please look!!
...much debate much hard feelings. ~SOP |
|
| Back to top |
|
| Beyo |
![]() Posted: Tue Nov 28, 2006 4:59 pm |
|
|
|
Joined: 22 Nov 2005
Posts: 60
Location: Poland
|
Hello.
I’ve added few deck types including new Bill Ferny and some variations of old Bill. I hadn’t much time this month to work on article so forgive me some errors and little too short paragraph about new Bill
Thanks
Sebastian |
| Time in the universe may be eternal..our patience is not |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
Forum index » Lord of the Rings TCG » LOTR TCG Strategy Article Contest
