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October 11, 2022, 04:48:01 PM
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Tunadan

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Chicken
« on: October 11, 2022, 04:48:01 PM »
I have long tried to get a consistent BoO deck with an equally consistent Shadow side. So far all my attempts have failed, until I tried something that I thought was only viable in Movie Block: Initiative Southrons.

Ring-bearer: Gandalf, Bearer of Obligation
Ring: The One Ring, The Ring of Rings

Adventure deck:
Anduin Banks
Cavern Entrance
Neekerbreekers' Bog
Doorway to Doom
Caras Galadhon
Mithlond
Imladris
Mount Doom
Dammed Gate-stream

Free Peoples Draw Deck:
1x Erland, Dale Counselor
1x Forest Guardian
1x Grimbeorn, Beorning Chieftain
1x Jarnsmid, Barding Emissary
1x Radagast, The Brown
1x Treebeard, Enraged Shepherd
1x Smeagol, Poor Creature
1x Gamling, Defender of the Hornburg
4x Barliman Butterbur, Prancing Pony Proprietor
1x Hugin, Emissary from Laketown
1x Ottar, Man of Laketown
3x Beorning Axe
3x Shadowfax, Greatest of the Mearas
1x Brego
1x Erkenbrand's Horn
1x Gandalf's Staff, Walking Stick
1x Narya
4x A Wizard is Never Late
2x Citadel to Gate
3x Deep in Thought
4x Look to My Coming
3x Roll of Thunder
4x Saved From the Fire
4x Servant of the Secret Fire
3x Speak \Friend\ and Enter
3x Traveled Leader
4x Something Slimy
1x Perspective
4x Strange Meeting
1x Traveler's Homestead
2x Watch and Wait
1x Don't Look at Them
1x Follow Smeagol
1x Gladden Homestead
1x Alatar, Final Envoy
1x Gwaihir, The Windlord
1x Meneldor, Misty Mountain Eagle
1x Pallando, Far-travelling One

Shadow Draw Deck:
1x Gollum, Plotting Deceiver
1x Shelob, Her Ladyship
1x Grima, Wormtongue
2x Castamir of Umbar
4x Corsair Boatswain
2x Corsair Lookout
4x Corsair Marauder
4x Corsair Plunderer
2x Corsair Ruffian
4x Desert Runner
4x Desert Scout
4x Desert Sneak
4x Southron Invaders
3x Sauron, Dark Lord of Mordor
1x Úlairë Enquëa, Lieutenant of Morgul
1x Web
4x Black Sails of Umbar
4x Corsair War Galley
4x Ships of Great Draught
4x Captured by the Ring
3x Sudden Strike
2x Discovered
2x Red Wrath
4x Evil-smelling Fens
4x Under Foot

This is one of the most versatile shadows I have made so far. The main goal is a swarm late-game at Cavern Entrance. However, if you can kill earlier, do it. Basically, spend the first 4 or 5 sites setting up at least 2 War Galleys and Ships of Great Draught with a bunch of tokens and an Under Foot. Hopefully you'll have some Black Sails of Umbar, too, but I've found just 2 will often suffice. After this is finished, grab back a cheap southron and a Southron Invaders. Then, simply play a few minions to keep your hand moving (or don't if against Throne of Minas Tirith) and every regroup, use a war galley to add a bunch of tokens and keep your opponent guessing. If he doubles, hopefully play Cavern entrance, play the Southron in hand and the Invaders, then chain as many invaders as you have in discard and then one southron. Play your hand naturally, then use Under Foot to reconcile and play even more minions. Other hand extensions are Sudden Strike and ESF. Usually you'll pull Shelob, then pull or play Sauron as next priority. In region three, you can play Sauron for free if you have 8 minions on the table! Often between Sauron, Shelob, and Marauders tossing stuff like Aragorn's Bow, archery is not an issue. Gil-Galad Looping can't hurt your possessions, and Madril is toasted by Ships. The only troubles you'll have is against a) Hobbits with Sam, GEW and b) Throne of Minas Tirith. Often Throne is avoided by simply tossing everything except your essentials and never giving them a shot to toss your boats.

The fellowship is designed to tank and run. Bid 0, and play Dammed Gate-Stream at the first opportunity, and always stop at it. You want to pull Follow Smeagol, and if you're going first, play Imladris as site 3 UNLESS you have SFTF, Jarnsmid, or Shadowfax. When you draw a SFTF, burn Forest Guardian and grab GrimB, Beorning Axe, and AWINL, which will gram Jarnsmid. If you have one of these, go for Watch and Wait. After that, I find myself getting whatever companion fits the opponent's strategy best. Often I find myself running ahead, then simply walking while my opponent debates the safety of doubling. This is why I called this Chicken, as this is sort of a deck to force the opponent into a difficult choice. If his shadow can't kill me, he has to double ahead, and if he doubles, I have a massive swarm set up. If he lets me leisurely stroll to 9, I often can pull out a win, as Gandalf is difficult to kill between the followers and Look To My Coming to pull out of discard.

Thoughts:

May add Ulaire Nelya to ensure that I have Cavern Entrance, a must against The Great Ring

Also may try to slim the deck a little, but I usually have no cycling troubles and have decent filtering with Corsair Boatswain, SFTF, AWINL, and Erkenbrand's Horn.

Replays:

https://play.lotrtcgpc.net/gemp-lotr/game.html?replayId=Tunadan$d44h4484bdrxzuzw

https://play.lotrtcgpc.net/gemp-lotr/game.html?replayId=Tunadan$5d4xmpnaa0meegzz

https://play.lotrtcgpc.net/gemp-lotr/game.html?replayId=Tunadan$oy0rkjnwwytg51bh

https://play.lotrtcgpc.net/gemp-lotr/game.html?replayId=Tunadan$r8p2cptj8oob3dxi

https://play.lotrtcgpc.net/gemp-lotr/game.html?replayId=Tunadan$ik9r1toogi1oi5xa
« Last Edit: October 13, 2022, 05:23:24 PM by Tunadan »
He who breaks a thing to find out what it is has left the path of wisdom.

October 23, 2022, 07:13:54 PM
Reply #1

Tunadan

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Re: Chicken
« Reply #1 on: October 23, 2022, 07:13:54 PM »
Ok, this was an interesting game, as I usually struggle against Evil Man Archery decks:
https://play.lotrtcgpc.net/gemp-lotr/game.html?replayId=Tunadan$wz0p61vebobt5w9d

I managed to spam Mithlond every site, and swarm a choke deck with 46 strength. Pretty wild.
He who breaks a thing to find out what it is has left the path of wisdom.

November 27, 2022, 12:29:35 PM
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Shelobplayer

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Re: Chicken
« Reply #2 on: November 27, 2022, 12:29:35 PM »
https://lotrtcgwiki.com/forums/index.php?topic=9979.0

Had a lot of success with this on GEMP a few years ago.
I like running Let Her Deal With Them in corsair/gollum shadows. Would look nice on Sauron. Also Throne of the Dark Lord.
« Last Edit: November 27, 2022, 12:31:23 PM by Shelobplayer »

November 27, 2022, 01:37:52 PM
Reply #3

Tunadan

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Re: Chicken
« Reply #3 on: November 27, 2022, 01:37:52 PM »
You mention how you would prefer to run Not Easily Avoided and Naked Waste. What shadow would that be, Ninja Gollum or a Sudden Strike build?
He who breaks a thing to find out what it is has left the path of wisdom.

November 30, 2022, 02:34:29 PM
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Shelobplayer

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Re: Chicken
« Reply #4 on: November 30, 2022, 02:34:29 PM »
You mention how you would prefer to run Not Easily Avoided and Naked Waste. What shadow would that be, Ninja Gollum or a Sudden Strike build?

I play 60/60 or bigger decks almost exclusively in expanded, so Sudden Strike is a given (not to say that smaller ones don't work, I just enjoy taller decks more). I also don't like stock lists, like ninja, because most better players are equipped to deal with them. ESF, Sudden Strike, Her Ladyship, a Web and Gollum can be integrated into just about any strategy, and then you can brew from there. Not Easily Avoided with Her Sneak, Deagol and Naked Waste is just amazing synergy, but the usefulness of NEA is limited with a mostly [Gandalf] fellowship, so a few copies are probably enough. I found the best use for it in my Bearer of Great Secrets - Faramir, SoD build. The "flashback" skirmish pumps are great, because they allow you to beat Cavern Entrance alpha strikes, and they are usually just straight quality card advantage too.

Talking about it made me want to updatet that old list :)