One Last Surprise/CycleNazgul

[Dictionary]

One of my favourite decks

Ring-bearer: Frodo, Weary From the Journey
Ring: The One Ring, The Great Ring

Adventure deck:
Buckland Homestead
Cavern Entrance
Neekerbreekers' Bog
Steward's Tomb
Mithlond
Caras Galadhon
Heights of Isengard
Dammed Gate-stream
Mount Doom

Free Peoples Draw Deck:
1x Erland, Dale Counselor
3x Gandalf, Returned
2x Grimbeorn, Beorning Chieftain
1x Jarnsmid, Barding Emissary (Starting)
1x Smeagol, Slippery Sneak (Starting)
1x Gamling, Defender of the Hornburg (Starting)
1x Barliman Butterbur, Prancing Pony Proprietor
4x Beorning Axe
1x Gandalf's Hat
1x Shadowfax, Unequaled Steed
3x Armor
1x Brego
1x Erkenbrand's Horn
1x Sting, Weapon of Heritage
4x A Wizard Is Never Late
1x Deep in Thought
4x One Last Surprise
1x Roll of Thunder
3x Speak "Friend" and Enter
2x Traveled Leader
1x Last Stand
4x Long-stemmed Pipe
4x Measure of Comfort
1x Alatar, Final Envoy
1x Radagast, Tender of Beasts
1x Deagol, Fateful Finder
1x Gondorian Servant, Denethor's Handman
1x Robin Smallburrow, Shirriff Cock-Robin

Shadow Draw Deck:
1x Bill Ferny, Swarthy Sneering Fellow
4x The Witch-king, Dark Lord
4x Úlairë Attëa, Black Predator
4x Úlairë Cantëa, Faster Than Winds
4x Úlairë Enquëa, Dark Threat
4x Úlairë Lemenya, Servant of the Shadow
4x Úlairë Nelya, Third of the Nine Riders
4x Úlairë Nertëa, Dark Horseman
4x Úlairë Otsëa, Duplicitous Specter
4x Úlairë Toldëa, Black Shadow
3x Steed of Mordor
1x Ithil Stone
1x Ring of Terror
4x Dark Powers Strengthen
1x Morgul Gates
2x Relentless Charge
1x Riders in Black
1x Saruman, Servant of Sauron

Fellow:
Gamling -> Horn -> Robin Smallburrow + Radagast. Robin is great cycling, you should get rid of Nazgul aplenty at the beginning unless opponent is flooding. If he lives a turn, get Brego then Gondorian Servant.

Smeagol + Gate-Stream gets Deagol for either Sting or Gandalf's Hat.

Gandalf should fetch Shadowfax. That gives him 12-15 starting resistance with followers. Sting is +2 to +6 as needed.

Long Stemmed Pipe gets One Last Surprise if you don't have already. Or just cycles out stuff.

Once set up you generally aim to play One Last Surprise as much as possible with Erland, Butterbur and Grimbeorn recovering it. Jarnsmid can easily skirmish using it, and will remove burdens in the process, so resistance will typically be very high.

If they're doing wounding just use Armor, Shadowfax or the Ring. For mass Archery use Shadowfax and try to repeat Mithlond.

Gandalf's Hat cleans up all the twilight from followers and Surprises, so doubles are easier. Also good if they play nothing, especially vs tentacle decks.

On final move Followers can go to Frodo for extra site 9 resistance if necessary.

Shadow:
You have many Nazgul. If they flood, play them and draw more cards. If not, discard for benefits. Witch-King vs choke can beat Durin and cycle hand at same time. There are always more Nazgul, so tossing them to Grimbeorn, Robin and reconciles should be simple. There are good situational utilities too, like Enquea can toast Denethor, and Lemenya does conditions. Use Relentless Charge to kill archery decks.

[Shelobplayer]

Now this looks like a fun deck! I especially love how it uses Weapon of Heritage.

Have some questions/suggestions though.

You run 4 Measure of Comfort. Is that Necessary at all? Radagast's Herb Bag is more than twice as effective at what it does for instance. The +1 global resistance doesn't seem to do a whole lot to me... Running Frodo, OBH + The Gaffer also has double it's usefulness technically with Weapon of Heritage. Hobbit Party Guest on top of that also (that already requirtes the Gaffer though). I don't think you should go with the guests though anyhow, just trying to make a case against Measure of Comfort

Speaking of Herb Bag... You are fairly vulnerable to Southron Leader early on. If you had Herb Bag and added Fury of The White Rider (which is just an amazing card with followers in general) you could instantly get rid of him. Also could help with double moves, you don't have damage bonuses and such.

You run 4 Long-Stemmed Pipe, I'd definitely add a single copy of A New Light. That card is insanely strong on many occasions. Out of the High Airs probably also has place here thanks to the pipes.

You run both Alatar and Gandalf, Returned, adding something that makes use of tokens would be handy. Not The First Halfling for instance is a pump that works with One Last Surprise and super strong with both, but Traveler's Homestead is also a solid card.

Treebeard should be here, either KOTW or Enraged Shepherd, I can see both being strong. He doesn't really need One Last Surprise, yes, but on his own he is a 12 str companion.

Unknown Perils is a very solid and underused card. Thanks to the followers it's pretty much always active, and you already have Unequeeled Steed to protect Gandalf.

No Moving this Way in the shadow side seems odd.

A single copy of Ship of Smoke is also nice. It cycles off of itself, which already makes it nice imo, and it also triggers on Long-Stemmed Pipe.

Got some more, but I'm not exactly sure how One Last Surprise looks like in action, so I'll just keep those to myself for now

[Dictionary]

I only have one current replay of this deck, so I'll post before I start tinkering again:
http://www.gempukku.com/gemp-lotr/game.html?replayId=Dictionary$w9sr02tq90r1zxg3

You'll notice I grabbed Beorning Axe via Deagol by accident. Forgot which deck I was playing . I drew Sting anyway though.

Now this looks like a fun deck! I especially love how it uses Weapon of Heritage.

Thanks!

You run 4 Measure of Comfort. Is that Necessary at all? Radagast's Herb Bag is more than twice as effective at what it does for instance. The +1 global resistance doesn't seem to do a whole lot to me... Running Frodo, OBH + The Gaffer also has double it's usefulness technically with Weapon of Heritage. Hobbit Party Guest on top of that also (that already requirtes the Gaffer though). I don't think you should go with the guests though anyhow, just trying to make a case against Measure of Comfort

It's not the best card I'll admit. It just buffs Gandalf and provides Neekerbreeker protection. I may remove it, but you did give me some ideas for further synergy below.

Healing Frodo is a great idea. I wonder if Daddy Twofoot + Unharmed would work? That gives quick, strong heals each turn.

Speaking of Herb Bag... You are fairly vulnerable to Southron Leader early on. If you had Herb Bag and added Fury of The White Rider (which is just an amazing card with followers in general) you could instantly get rid of him. Also could help with double moves, you don't have damage bonuses and such.

Good point. In my newer decks I run Doorway to Doom to guarantee killing Gamling, and naturally Smeagol goes in Regroup. I prefer Fury in Powerful Guide decks, but it could work here too.

Regarding Herb Bag, I very much fear Wormtongue and/or Lying Counsel. Probably even more than Enquea or Leader. He can crop up quite a bit too, since he stalls followers.

You run 4 Long-Stemmed Pipe, I'd definitely add a single copy of A New Light. That card is insanely strong on many occasions. Out of the High Airs probably also has place here thanks to the pipes.

I'll definitely add those, my extra pipes don't tend to do much at present.

You run both Alatar and Gandalf, Returned, adding something that makes use of tokens would be handy. Not The First Halfling for instance is a pump that works with One Last Surprise and super strong with both, but Traveler's Homestead is also a solid card.

I hadn't realised just how much better NtFH fits here than Last Stand. Will add it.

Treebeard should be here, either KOTW or Enraged Shepherd, I can see both being strong. He doesn't really need One Last Surprise, yes, but on his own he is a 12 str companion.

Originally I went for a 5 comp build, but I might try switching to 9. Treebeard is great, and I'd like to add some Gondor dudes: Sword-Bearer (Free Surprises with Erland, great with Kings' Legacy), Captain of Ithilien (Enquea protection and more Sting boosts, great with Stewards' Legacy) and Isildur's Heir (Defender). They'd all synergise with Measure of Comfort too!

Unknown Perils is a very solid and underused card. Thanks to the followers it's pretty much always active, and you already have Unequeeled Steed to protect Gandalf.

I've only used it with RB Gandalfs. It would certainly help vs Lackey or Horribly Strong.

No Moving this Way in the shadow side seems odd.

I don't like Shadow conditions I'll be adding 4 now though, since this deck's likely going to get bigger.

A single copy of Ship of Smoke is also nice. It cycles off of itself, which already makes it nice imo, and it also triggers on Long-Stemmed Pipe.

Do I really have enough Pipeweed for it? I saw it work wonders in your BoO deck, but I had thought a lot of that was during Regroup.

Got some more, but I'm not exactly sure how One Last Surprise looks like in action, so I'll just keep those to myself for now

I look forward to it

[FingolfinFinwe]

This is pretty sweet.  All those spells make me want to use Powerful Guide, but that would change the tone/setup quite a bit.

[menace64]

It always makes me happy to see Gandalf, Returned lay down some whoopass.

[Legion]

Very nice deck, indeed. Really nicely put together, and great synergy with the Shadow. The replay did show how it might have difficulty killing minions off, though. It possibly isn't worth it, but Vapour and Steam may help you there, with all your burden removal.
Out of High Airs might do it better, as suggested. Definitely agree about Not the First Halfling over Last Stand.

[Dictionary]

Glad people like the deck

Feedback has made me realise quite a few variants are probably possible. Powerful Guide would certainly be interesting. Killing minions can be difficult, I usually just try to make the best of overwhelms and/or Caras Galadhon, but it's not completely reliable. Vapour and Steam is an option, but the cost is very steep. I really am surprised by NtFH, I wasn't a big fan of it before this. I'm starting to like Ship of Smoke a lot more too.

My idea to cut down cultures via Doorway to Doom doesn't work with this deck, since Deagol persists if no minions are played. Still testing the extra comps, Faramir and Treebeard seem to work best. I could try starting Faramir + Stewards' Legacy instead of Sting, which addresses Southron Leader and allows me to pile up stuff on Gandalf. Not sure how to keep it on the table though.