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Author Topic: Rohan search and shadowplay  (Read 2631 times)

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May 22, 2019, 10:38:42 AM
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ilazul

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Rohan search and shadowplay
« on: May 22, 2019, 10:38:42 AM »
Rohan - Shadowplay

Ring-bearer: Sam, Bearer of Great Need
Ring: The One Ring, The Ring of Doom

Adventure deck:

Free Peoples Draw Deck:
1x Smeagol, Simple Stoor (starting)
1x Aragorn, Defender of Rohan
1x Gamling, Defender of the Hornburg (starting)
1x Hama, Captain of the King's Guard
1x Théoden, King of Rohan
1x Éomer, Forthwith Banished (starting)
1x Éowyn, Lady of Ithilien
1x Merry, Swordthain (starting)
1x Ecglaf, Courageous Farmer
1x Guma, Plains Farmer
1x Leowyn
1x Rohirrim Herdsman
1x Weland, Smith of the Riddermark
1x Brego
1x Eomer's Spear, Trusty Weapon
1x Erkenbrand's Horn
1x Firefoot, Eomer's Steed
1x Heavy Chain
1x Herugrim, Sword of the Mark
1x Horse of Great Stature
1x King's Mail
1x Merry's Sword
1x Rider's Spear
1x Spear of the Mark
1x Éowyn's Sword
1x Bill the Pony, Dearly-loved
1x Sting, Weapon of Heritage
4x Something Slimy
4x Last Days of My House
4x Simbelmyne
1x Follow Smeagol
3x Gladden Homestead
1x Fortress Never Fallen
1x Weapon Store
1x A Light in His Mind
1x Home and Hearth
4x Scouring of the Shire
4x Shadowplay
4x Deagol, Fateful Finder
4x Rohan Stable Master
1x Rohirrim Doorwarden
1x The Gaffer, Master Gardener

Shadow Deck:

4x Incited
4x Sudden Strike
4x So Polite
4x Captured by the Ring
1x Web
4x Evil-Smelling Fens
4x Led Astray
1x Gollum, Her Sneak
1x Gollum, Old Villain
1x Gollum, Threatening Guide
2x Dark Horseman
2x Southron Leader
1x Shelob, Her Ladyship
1x The Balrog, Demon of Might
1x Ulaire Enquea, Lieutenant of Morgul
30x Nazgul Cards (or another shadow culture that uses / adds threat)

Try to use a shadow that can grab cards from the bin (Ring of Terror, Morgul King, Morgul Squealer) and cards that can cycle out of the hand (winged mount). Eternally Threatening and Cantea, Faster than Winds can add threats to power So Polite and Threatening Guide.


Ends up being a 130 card deck (similar in size to Powerful Guide style decks) but thins out very quickly.

This deck started out as a fun concept, where I wanted to combine a few Rohan and Shire cards. Originally the deck used 4x Unheeded, Daddy Twofoot, Birthday Present to play off the horses that force exertions. Over time it moved to a more tank style strategy with followers, regroup minion discarding, and healing.

I'm posting to get suggestions from more seasoned players as I find rohan doesn't really get played a lot in expanded.

The first few turns are spent grabbing cards with Gamling, pulling Horn and followers (get a Deagol first). Deagols will get Merry's Sword, Sting, and eventually Bill the Pony, Dearly Loved. Every turn you want to grab a possession with gamling, and a Deagol with horn to pull a more expensive possession / a specific character's possession. Get Deagols in the grave ASAP to power up Simple Stoor, by turn 2 or 3 you want to start winning skirmishes with him (remember to use your Stable Masters).

Simple Stoor will send Gollums (Threatening Guide is key) to the grave to make So Polite active. I also usually send Led Astray, Shelob (to grab with Fens), Sudden Strike, or Something Slimy depending on where I am with the game and if Incited is up. With a shadow that can add threats here and there, So Polite ends up netting you twilight and Threatening Guide will survive enough to activate Incited.

You can give little twilight by discarding possessions to villager allies, then playing them during skirmish with Merry. This also applies to the shadow side, feel free to discard possessions to winged mount or other outlets. By discarding cards to the villagers, you will fly through your deck. This also gives a large amount of healing, and reliable threat removal. Bill the Pony, dearly loved is there to make Sam mounted, which allows him to be healed by Weland.

Shadowplay / Scouring the Shire is there to keep 'exert to do something' minions at bay. Grimas, Shotgun Ulaire, etc. Merry's Sword helps with this as well. If you're fighting a large minion, exert it as much as you can with Shadowplay (something even the Balrog can't stop), assign it to Eowyn, and use her ability to clear the field. Often I'll let her combat last, so all the exertions from horses go through. You can also use Merry's Sword to exhaust a large minion, assign it to Eomer, then pitch his spear to kill it. Replay the spear by bouncing Merry.

You can replay Merry's Sword with either Ecglaf or Weapon Store. You'll need Aragorn to make Ecglaf active.

For actual skirmishes, I usually just attach all of the followers to Sam and let him remove burdens with Sting. This also turns on Aragorn's and Theoden's +1 to Rohan companions.  Herugrim, Sword of the Mark , King's Mail, and Rohirrim Herdsman make Theoden almost invulnerable. This set up allows him to simply tank the Balrog for a good bit, and makes him a great 'get out of jail free' card in otherwise unwinnable situations.

Gladden Homestead is a concession to condition removal, as Rohan doesn't really have a good card for it. It's mostly there to stave off Greed if I happen to get caught with it (which is honestly never, but it's still a hard card to fight through).

I find that as long as I set up A Light in His Mind / Home and Hearth / Sting early enough to control burdens it does fairly well. I'm going to remove a card to fit another Home and Hearth so I can be more reckless with burdens from the Ring, Gaffer and Deagols (and honestly, the deck would be 100x better if it could support One Good Turn Deserves Another).

I used to run Rosie Cotton with a Green Dragon Inn site, but most games didn't have a chance to grab her and she can't be tutored out otherwise.  The Gaffer works better.

Anyways, any suggestions for improvements would be appreciated. I mostly play the deck for fun, but it feels like it could be pretty viable overall.

May 22, 2019, 02:16:30 PM
Reply #1

jdizzy001

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Re: Rohan search and shadowplay
« Reply #1 on: May 22, 2019, 02:16:30 PM »
I'm not a big expanded player, but the scariest thing I see is so many single cards. I know you're running simbelmyne but consider doubling up on important cards.
*All posts made by jdizzy001, regardless of the thread in which they appear, are expressions of his own opinion and as such are not representative of views shared by any third party unless expressly acknowledged as such by said party.

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May 22, 2019, 02:49:08 PM
Reply #2

ilazul

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Re: Rohan search and shadowplay
« Reply #2 on: May 22, 2019, 02:49:08 PM »
I'm not a big expanded player, but the scariest thing I see is so many single cards. I know you're running simbelmyne but consider doubling up on important cards.

For sure. A lot of expanded is search via Saved From the Fire, Long-Stemmed Pipe with Barliman Butterbur: PPP , something slimy,and Deagols. So a good number of lists just use 1 of's instead of trying to draw into a card, just search for it.

I'm going with Gamling: Defender of the Hornburg, Erkenbrand's Horn, Deagols, Something Slimy, Simbelmyne and Last Days of my House to pull stuff. I usually don't want to get my 6th companion until I've hit a Shadowplay.

The possessions come super quick as needed, and if I don't have the specific companion in play the goal is to discard it and rebuy off of Merry's ability. A second Merry's Sword isn't the worst idea ever though, that card does so much.

If Incited sticks around, I can usually get back Deagols and just keep getting equipment if I need a specific something.

Playing the 1 of's is always a risk, but I feel like it's kinda the rule in Expanded. Plus deck space is tight, even in the 100+ card decks.

June 01, 2019, 02:15:00 PM
Reply #3

Shelobplayer

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Re: Rohan search and shadowplay
« Reply #3 on: June 01, 2019, 02:15:00 PM »
With only Follow Smeagol as sitepath manipulation in the FP side you are bound for trouble in a competitve enviroment. A single copy of Anduril, FOTW should definitely make its way in, that card is terribly underrated in expanded (if you are afraid of Southron Leader, ditch it, easy as that).

Dispatched with Haste is a very strong silver bullet vs corsairs, a deck you should be mindful of in expanded.

Aragorn's Bow (both versions) is also very strong with Merry's Sword/ Shadowplay. Note that the original FOTR one completely wrecks Southron Leader with your list. Obviously they are counter intuitive with Anduril, FOTW. If you decide to go with the bow, STWB is a strong alternative to FOTW.

Throne of the Golden Hall is autoinclude in any rohan list in my opinion. It's one of the most compelling reasons to play the culture imo. (allies preventing damage from companions after double moving to Mithlond is an extremely powerful play for instance). It also helps a lot against Demon of Might, if you don't have King's Mail.

Rohan Worker is another silver bullet, site control often hits from an angle that many decks are not prepared for. Worker is easy to fetch and even at it's worst it's a pump with a horn.

I'd probably pair your freeps with corsairs for the amazing cycling potential.

Not sure what to cut, I think that's exactly why I never finished my rohan list. (maybe some stable masters can go)