And don't forget
Easterling Pillager! As you know I get 9 guys out pretty fast, so
Easterling Pillager can put 4 burdens on me every time he comes out. I've been corrupted more than once by a hybrid Corsair/Easterling deck that either got me before I could get
GOTM out, or Maraudered
GOTM and then nailed me with recurring
Easterling Pillager.
I think maybe some people think corruption isn't as strong in Expanded because Twilight Nazgul are not as effective in Expanded as in other formats... but no, there are some very effective ways to do corruption... just not necessarily with Twilight Nazgul.
ETA: Just to give a good visual idea of the variety in Expanded Format, here's a breakdown of how often I encountered various strategies by culture, out of approximately 74 games so far:
-/////////9
-////////////12
-////////////////////20
-////4
-///////////11
-/////////////////17
(Free Peoples)
-///3
(Shadow)
-////4
-//2
-//////////////14
-/////////9
-/////////9
-///////7
-/////5
-////////8
-//////6
-////////8
These are all different decks, too. I did not count it if it was a deck and player that I had played before.
It's also important to note that often times a culture will have a number of different strategies that all center around that culture. For example, while
is currently the most popular culture in Expanded Format, it is also the culture I have the most documented different strategies for (8 so far). Once you look at the breakdown of different strategies within the
culture, you see there is variety within that culture.
Things seemed particularly balanced between the Shadow cultures, with
being the one obvious frontrunner. Between the FP cultures, there are more clear favorites:
and
, followed by
and
, with
not far behind them.
Based on the frequency of my encounters with them, these are the most popular strategies in Expanded Format, and how often I encounter them:
Free Peoples:
Hobbit Hospital 11%
Madril 8%
Archery 7%
Gil-galad Looping 5%
Three Hunters 5%
Condition Dwarfs 5%
Shadow:
Forest Nazgul 11%
Goblin Armory 8%
Uruk Hunters 7%
Demoralized Bomb: 5%
Skull Men Super Archery 5%
As you can see from the percentages, even with the most popular strategies, the chances of encountering any particular strategy are quite low. And there's ten strategies I haven't listed that each pop up about 4% of the time.