Rohan / Nazgul Plains

[Phallen Cassidy]

The site path in King Block is stale for some, but it makes this deck possible thanks to the natural abundance of plains.

Chaaarge!
Ring-bearer: Frodo, Courteous Halfling
Ring: The One Ring, Such a Weight to Carry

Adventure deck:
Edoras Hall
West Road
Hall of the Kings
Pelennor Plain
Pelennor Flat
Minas Tirith Fourth Circle
Pelennor Grassland
Morgulduin
Dagorlad

Free Peoples Draw Deck (36):
1x Arwen, Fair Elf Maiden (starting)
1x Grimbold, Marshal of Rohan (starting)
1x Elfhelm, Marshal of Rohan
1x Gamling, Warrior of Rohan
1x Théoden, Leader of Spears
1x Éomer, Skilled Tactician
1x Éowyn, Lady of Rohan
1x Sam, Resolute Halfling
1x Deor
1x Leowyn
2x Bounder
3x Asfaloth
2x Gwemegil
1x Brego
1x Firefoot
2x Rider's Spear
1x Swift Steed
2x Brace of Coneys
2x Hobbit Sword
3x An Honorable Charge
2x Let Us Be Swift
1x No Rest for the Weary
3x Simbelmyne
1x There and Back Again

Shadow Draw Deck (36):
1x Grima, Wormtongue
1x Bill Ferny, Swarthy Sneering Fellow
4x The Witch-king, Morgul King
3x Úlairë Attëa, Keeper of Dol Guldur
2x Úlairë Cantëa, Faster Than Winds
1x Úlairë Cantëa, Lieutenant of Dol Guldur
1x Úlairë Enquëa, Lieutenant of Morgul
2x Úlairë Lemenya, Assailing Minion
2x Úlairë Nelya, Ringwraith in Twilight
3x Úlairë Toldëa, Winged Sentry
4x Black Steed
2x Nazgul Sword
1x The Pale Blade
1x Saruman's Power
2x All Blades Perish
1x Corrupt
1x Fear
2x Morgul Gates
1x Too Great and Terrible
1x Out of Sight and Shot


I'm bidding 2-3 to go first depending on how I feel, having Arwen means early Easterlings don't necessarily cause problems and that's the main reason to bid less anyway. Grimbold ensures plains for Asfaloth and Elfhelm, I favor him under Arwen but above other companions most of the time until at least site 6. The only time I might not use him is at site 5. The other main danger of bidding high, Anduin Banks*, just gets replaced with Pelennor Plain and that in particular breaks a lot of hearts haha. My Eomer choice is a bit unconventional but I don't reget it at all. In fact, I'm not sure there's a deck better suited for Skilled Tactician: plains and Asfaloth makes Arwen a better fighter than Third Marshal of Riddermark, I use valiant for Let Us Be Swift and No Rest for the Weary, and An Honorable Charge is spectacular in King Standard because the top decks - Easterling Captain and Morcs - rely on beating up your skirmishing companions and then overwhelming your second-string fighters. With a +3 you can just pull back, there's never really a "weakest companion" to hate on.

Beyond that, the Free Peoples are just sturdy. You can kill off and replace companions to if you're afraid of any big fellowship hate, and once you have Eowyn can safely expand past 5 companions if all the opponent has is Enquea since she will protect anyone else. The only trick is making sure you have enough Valiant companions for Let Us Be Swift when necessary, and making sure your hand doesn't get clogged with companions that you want to play but can't for fear of big fellowship hate. Just discard them if that's the case! I usually make room for Eomer to access Firefoot and his recursion, and I generally hold onto Sam for a turn or two so I can feel out whether I need him. He's the best companion to have hands down against burden or RB hate strategies (Easterlings and Morcs), or wounding strategies, but otherwise I can live without him. Other than those two, if things are going well with the companions that are out then there's really no need to try and get value of out the rest. Sometimes it can be worth holding onto companions until the right time to pull back a key card with Eomer, but it's not terribly often.

Shadow side just capitalizes on what the FP are doing: Black Steed is unstoppable. I've thought about a copy or two of Morgul Detachment since Black Steed cuts out the usual weakness (a Nazgul at only 9 or 10 strength is easily slain and the bigger ones are hard to afford), but so far I'm happy with plain old Nazgul. Nelya at 14 strength is a sight to behold, especially if you happen to get it at 2. Your opponent will think twice before outbidding you next time In fact, I'm thinking about bumping him up to 3. I've also got Old Villain in mind to protect against archery if there's a need. I suppose Ferny and an ABP are the cards I'd swap for them, respectively. The FP is built to lead though, so the Shadow side's main purpose is just to stop the opponent. A giant fierce minion is a pretty straightforward way to make that happen.

[JamesCB]

Gotta be honest, this seems pretty much the best!

[Phallen Cassidy]

This is still one of my favorites. Shadow is great at punishing flood with all these Nazgul and solid against choke since if I've always got enough for one minion with Black Steed anyway.

I've made some changes since the initial post and have updated the decklist + first post notes to reflect that. It's now at 36 per side instead of 39, each side is a little less invested on any one particular character in favor of making everyone a bit better off. Here's what I did:

FP changes:
-1x Hama, Doorward of Theoden
-1x Swift Steed
-1x Brace of Coneys
-2x Sting, Baggins Heirloom
-4x Strong Arms

+1x Sam, Resolute Halfling
+1x Deor
+1x Leowyn
+2x Hobbit Sword
+1x No Rest for the Weary

Ultimately, Sam is better than most companions in the 9th slot so there goes Hama (his text has actually been helpful for Easterlings, Twilight Nazgul, and Dunland, the main issue with him is he's not valiant). Killing Frodo clears up to 9 burdens so that alleviates some need for burden removal, and then using Resolute Halfling instead of Son of Hamfast covers many wounding and Morc strategies handily on top of that. Having Sam as a backup Ring-bearer means swapping Sting for Hobbit Sword.

Either Deor or Leowyn should probably go in every Rohan deck from 7 onward. I often have both for the flexibility. Deor is less important for this deck since Arwen is the star skirmisher, but again he goes so far to thwart Easterling Captain that I've still got him around. On a related note, as much as I liked Strong Arms it wasn't doing nearly enough for me because I tend to be leading and swapping my plains in with Grimbold. There's a deck for it and I'm looking forward to making it, but it's not this one.

I've come to believe that Defender events are woefully underrated. There are so many companions here to die, and even though I don't play it every game there's no game where I think it's a dead card. The second Swift Steed I cut because I haven't really noticed it, despite being a solidly Rohan deck it really doesn't need much where mounts are concerned. The main concern for Swift Steed is Red Wrath, which is pretty predictable and I can usually afford to just let it take a companion or two before I pull Eowyn (a priority against Easterlings to protect Arwen). Occasionally against Nazgul it's good to have a mount and spear on Elfhelm so he can kill them but that's pretty much it.


Shadow changes:
-1x Grima, Wormtongue
-3x Destroyer
-1x Ulaire Otsea, Lieutenant of Morgul
-1x Disposable Servants
-1x Pale Blade


+1x Nazgul Sword
+1x Fear (gets rid of an annoying ally. For Elrond, the value is in both getting rid of his heal for a turn or two and making the opponent drop another 4 to replay him late in the game)
+1x Too Great and Terrible (Terrible and Evil causes problems. Only need 1x 'cause once you draw it you can replay it with WK if necessary)
+1x Out of Sight and Shot (An all-around great card for Nazgul. Keep in mind that this is your only condition so in certain matchups you'll have to use it when you play it if you want to use it at all; any FP condition discarding has just been waiting for this moment. Could be swapped for a Morgul Gates or second Enquea or something)

Threats were just not doing very much for this deck. Well no, that's not true... Rather, the Shadow side doesn't need enough threats to justify spending card slots on adding them. In addition to sites 3, 5 (potentially), and 9, Cantea will almost always add at least one threat and that's all WK needs to pull a mount or sword. Destroyer and Disposable Servants were helpful cards and all, but easy cuts when it came down to it. 2x Grima was there to make Saruman's Power more consistent but so far I haven't found as much need for it. Similarly, I've traded a Pale Blade for another Nazgul Sword because 1) the only conditions that worry me are ones that prevent Nazgul from winning skirmishes (by killing them) and 2) this deck is at its best when any Nazgul is an overwhelm threat instead of just WK. Ulaire Otsea, LoM was just a test for potentially including with Morgul Detachment and I still haven't given that minion a try so I went ahead and cut it. Could still be fun, maybe something for later.

I'm still only at one Enquea which may strike some as odd. After all, he's a great bearer for a mount in his own right and his text needs no explanation. It's just that big fellowships mean lots of threats from Cantea and enough twilight to play 3 Nazgul, so honestly I haven't noticed the need. Enquea isn't the end-all for big fellowships anyway, if your opponent is playing 6+ companions they have a counter to Enquea built in. Whether they draw it in time is another question, of course. I'd still rather have Toldea or Attea, or even Nelya most of the time. That's my preference, he'd be easy to increase to 2 or even 3 copies if you felt so inclined.