Comprehensive list of Expanded Strategies

[Tunadan]

This is a (hopefully) comprehensive list of all Expanded strategies. If you have any strategies to add, or any (helpful) criticisms of the strategy rundowns, please reply so I can update and improve this list. I'm sure more strategies have fallen through the cracks than FOTR, TS, or Movie, so it's probable that I'll be adding more as more people discover the list.

If you're new to the game and looking for strategies, hopefully this thread can be of use to you.
Here is a link to more formats: More Strategies

Free Peoples



Self-Mill
Runs a massive draw deck, then uses various conditions and events to retrieve cards from the discard pile. Usually incorporates a large Gandalf element using On Your Doorstep and Beorning Axe. Also uses the cycle of ‘play from discard' pumps in Bloodlines, i.e Dwarf-Lords. Ring of Artifice is insane.
Ranking: Tier 1
Pairs well with: Sudden Strike, Dark Enemy
Strong vs: discard, beatdown
Weak vs: Condition removal, Too Great and Terrible
Example Deck: Realm of Dwarrowdelf EXPANDED

Discard
Uses Dwarven Axe, Nobody Tosses a Dwarf, Thorin III, and Dwarven Warrior to mill the opponent's deck. Often runs Gandalf or Grimbeorn to counter Dark Horseman.
Ranking: Tier 2
Pairs well with: Sauron Discard
Strong vs: Smaller decks
Weak vs: 6 companion hate, Massive decks
Example deck: Discard Exp

Tank
Runs a few strong dwarves and survives. Usually tries to win with the shadow.
Ranking: Tier 2
Pairs well with: Decks that need cycling
Strong vs: beatdown, expensive shadows
Weak vs: swarm, Dark Horseman
Example deck: Dwarves

Tokens
Uses token conditions and Gloin, Son of Groin to tank and survive. May use Gandalf, Wise Guide as protection against Saruman's Power and Dark Horseman.
Ranking: Tier 2
Pairs well with: moderate cycling
Strong vs: beatdown
Weak vs: condition removal, Dark Horseman
Example deck: My Token Dwarves Deck

Mountain-Dwarves
Uses Mountain Homestead and Thorin's Harp to make every dwarf a monster. Usually runs Wise Guide. May try to use a large fellowship and run.
Ranking: Tier 2
Pairs well with: fast cycling to set up
Strong vs: beatdown, archery
Weak vs: condition discard, skipping maneuver
Example deck: Mountain-Dwarves

Lively Combatant
Boosts Lively combatant and draws cards. May mess around with initiative.
Ranking: Tier 3
Pairs well with: shadows that need cycling
Strong vs: one big minion
Weak vs: hand discard, possession removal, Nazgûl, wounding

Counter of Foes
Tanks up Counter of Foes. Similar to the previous strategy.
Ranking: Tier 3
Pairs well with: Forestguls
Strong vs: single large minions
Weak vs: possession removal, Nazgûl, wounding
Example deck: Counter of Foes



Gil-Galad Looping
Uses token conditions, Galadriel's Silver Ewer, events, and Gil-Galad, HKOTN to loop condition removal, burden removal, and card draw.
Ranking: Tier 1
Pairs well with: most everything, given the massive draw potential
Strong vs: conditions, burdens
Weak vs: 6 companion hate, Saruman's Power, Grond, Hammer of the Underworld, archery
Example deck: High King Loop/Telepathy

Telepathy
Uses Gandalf, MoW, Forearmed, and Gil-Galad, HKOTN to overwhelm minions with a single event. Plays a lot with cards that alter the top of the deck. Uses Into the West to remove the threats generated. Usually incorporates some token loops.
Ranking: Tier 1
Pairs well with: Shadows that run expensive minions to fuel Forearmed.
Strong vs: beatdown, threats
Weak vs: discard, Too Great and Terrible, wounding
Example deck: Telepathy

The Twins
Uses Elladan and Elrohir to overwhelm minions and choke. Runs Cirdan as backup.
Ranking: Tier 2
Pairs well with: something that needs cycling
Strong vs: beatdown
Weak vs: Desperate Defense of the Ring, Archery, Direct wounding
Example deck: Modified Elvents

Archery
Elves and bows. Sometimes uses Gondor or Lady of Ithilien. May use HKOTN to recycle Take Up The Bow or Elven Marksmanship.
Ranking: Tier 2
Pairs well with: beatdown or swarm
Strong vs: Low vitality minions, a few high vitality minions
Weak vs: Archery, Possession hate, 6 companion hate, Relentless Charge, They Feel the Precious
Example deck: Elven/Dwarven Wounding

Elf Discard
Uses HKOTN to recycle Ancient Enmity. Also may use Far-Seeing Eyes or The White Arrows Of Lorien.
Ranking: Tier 3
Pairs well with: Sauron Discard
Strong vs: thin decks
Weak vs: High strength minions, large decks
Example deck: Far-seeing Eyes + Mordor Discard

Refuge
Runs a ton of companions, then uses Refuge to toss them to heal whoever needs it. Also uses Taking the High Ground to augment the engine.
Ranking: Tier 2
Pairs well with: something that needs cycling
Strong vs: Wounding
Weak vs: Hand discard, beatdown
Example deck: Ladies's Choice

Girl Power
An absurd fellowship playing only female companions and allies.
Ranking: Tier 3
Pairs well with: a shadow that kills quickly
Strong vs: Low vitality minions
Weak vs: Corruption, Beatdown, Shelob, Her Ladyship
Example deck: Ladies's Choice

Hunters
Plays a bunch of hunters. Usually incorporates Aragorn, Thorongil and Gimli, Swift Hunter. Goes for archery, and tosses conditions with Namarie. Occasionally melded with Gil-Galad Looping.
Ranking: Tier 2
Pairs well with: a shadow that cycles and has some killing power
Strong vs: Low vitality minions, Conditions, Uruk Hunters
Weak vs: Skipping Archery, Skipping maneuver, Shelob, They Feel the Precious
Example deck: Three Hunters



Powerful Guide
Usually sets up with SFTF. Plays a lot of spells to wound, and recurs with Barliman, Beorning Axe, and Erland. Very tough to beat once set up.
Ranking: Tier 1
Pairs well with: Lots of cycling. You have a massive draw deck and want to cycle fast.
Strong vs: Conditions, Possessions
Weak vs: Possession hate, skipping maneuver, cavern entrance
Example deck: Powerful Guide Revisited

Bearer of Obligation
Uses Bearer of Obligation and runs. Tricky to get right, but rather strong once rolling. Often uses Northman Rohirrim or Ents.
Ranking: Tier 2
Pairs well with: Cycling and filtering
Strong vs: Swarm, Beatdown
Weak vs: Hand discard, Corruption
Example deck: BoO

SFTF
Uses Gandalf and a few cannon-fodder companions to kill with SFTF as a setup. Usually used with and
Ranking: tier 2
Pairs well with: something that needs cycling/filtering. Combo decks benefit from a slim deck using SFTF
Strong vs: beatdown
Weak vs: discard, as a SFTF deck runs a lot of singles

Snuffler Support
A weak fellowship that plays Gandalf, LoM and Smeagol to burn Smeagol with SFTF for 2x Little Snuffler and Gollum to try to kill the Ring-Bearer in region 1. Often dies to any competent Shadow.
Ranking: Tier 3
Pairs well with: Little Snuffler and Little Snuffler only.
Strong vs: basically nothing
Weak vs: Most things

Ent Horde
Plays an 8 companion starting fellowship with Pippin, ITBOH, Merry, ITBOH, Fatty Bolger, Quickbeam, Bregalad, Skinbark, Fladrif, Host of Fangorn, and Ent Horde. Often plays Gandalf, Leader of the Company as a ninth companion.
Ranking: Tier 2
Pairs well with: something that needs a small amount of filtering
Strong vs: swarm, beatdown, archery
Weak vs: large fellowship hate such as Ulaire Enquea, LoM or Anduin Banks

Gandy Men
Uses :Gandalf: Men and Last Stand. Often combo's Last Stand, Elrond, LoR, and home 3 Gandalf allies.
Ranking: tier 2
Pairs well with: cycling to set up
Strong vs: beatdown
Weak vs: wounding, condition hate

G for Grand
Tanks up guys with G For Grand. Often melded with another culture. Uses Wise Guide to protect your conditions, as they are the basis of the deck. May use Measure of Comfort to keep resistance up.
Ranking: Tier 2
Pairs well with: beatdown
Strong vs: Beatdown
Weak vs: Too Great and Terrible, Condition hate



Tank
Uses Denethor, LoMT to set up. Usually runs Gandalf to combat Nertea, Dark Horseman. Tough to beat once set up.
Ranking: Tier 1.5
Pairs well with: Most shadows. Runs quickly, so a shadow that benefits from an opponent doubling to keep up is ideal. Evil Man Archery is a good option.
Strong vs: Archery, beatdown
Weak vs: Corruption, Swarm, Dark Horseman
 
Madril
Plays Madril and Ithilien Blade/What Are They? to make minions roaming and then discard them. Occasionally uses the 9 companion starting fellowship.
Ranking: Tier 1
Pairs well with: a reasonably fast cycling shadow that can put pressure on the opponent.
Strong vs: archery, beatdown
Weak vs: Ships of Great Draught, Corsairs, Skipping Maneuver

Tokens
A variation on Gondor Tank with emphasis on :Gondor: token conditions. Often sets up with Denethor, LOMT or SFTF. Throne of Minas Tirith is key.
Ranking: Tier 2
Pairs well with: a shadow designed to slow down the opponent.
Strong vs: Beatdown, Shadow Possessions
Weak vs: Grond, HotU (only thing that can toss the throne), Saruman's Power

Knights
Uses Knights and fortifications to exhaust and weaken minions, then replay them for the next turn.
Ranking: Tier 3
Pairs well with: fast cycling, such as Corsairs
Strong vs: Beatdown
Weak vs: wounding, corruption, Cavern Entrance, Dark Horseman

Last Ruling Steward
Runs LRS and a ton of :Gondor: possessions. Often uses other cultures and their wounding tricks.
Ranking: Tier 2
Pairs well with: something that punishes doubles. For all its strength, LRS builds can struggle to double.
Strong vs: high vitality minions, beatdown
Weak vs: skipping maneuver/archery, wound prevention, possession discard

Wraiths
Plays :gondor: wraiths and exerts/wounds them to make them stronger. Uses Swept Away and Stronger and More terrible to be essentially invincible.
Ranking: Tier 3
Pairs well with: rapid cycling
Strong vs: beatdown, Damage bonuses
Weak vs: archery, condition hate, Corsairs, swarm

Driven By Need
Uses Aragorn's Bow, Ranger's Longbow and other threat wounding cards to add threats, boost Aragorn's strength, then remove them in regroup.
Ranking: tier 2
Pairs well with: beatdown with some moderate cycling. Nazgul are a good fit.
Strong vs: low vitality, single minions
Weak vs: threat addition, wound prevention (They Feel The Precious essentially destroys the strategy)

Well-Traveled Guide
Plays a Ring-bearer (often Frodo, Boromir, or Faramir) and Aragorn, Well Traveled Guide and chokes. Rarely wins by running, but is possible.
Ranking: Tier 2
Pairs well with: a shadow that punishes doubles and cycles decently
Strong vs: expensive minions, damage bonuses
Weak vs: Archery, corruption, Swarm

Anarion
Plays a small freeps and tanks up Anarion to fight the biggest minions. Runs tons of skirmish events.
Ranking: Tier 2
Pairs well with: something that will not clog. If you have no skirmish events you are basically toast.
Strong vs: beatdown
Weak vs: Wounding, Swarm



Merry Men
Plays cards like Eowyn, LoI and Eomer, TMOR with Merry and Merry's Sword. Often combo's Merry, Swordthain with Eomer's Spear, Trusty Weapon and uses Weapon Store or Sword Rack to retrieve Merry's sword. May also use Aragorn, Defender of Rohan and one of his bows.
Ranking: Tier 1.5
Pairs well with: something that needs cycling. Rohan has massive cycling/filtering capabilities.
Strong vs: high vitality minions, Nazgul
Weak vs: Corsairs, condition discard, Wound prevention

Horn Loop
Uses New Chapter and Erkenbrand's Horn with a deck full of followers to completely filter your draw deck, or, in an alternate build, has a deck full of followers and duplicates to replay and trigger multiple copies of new chapter.
Ranking: Tier 1
Pairs well with: bomb decks like LTTG or Fool of a Took!
Strong vs: the pure filter version is only strong because of the completely filtered deck, but the alternate version is strong vs: beatdown, wounding
Weak vs: Rapid reload, Southron Leader, possession discard

Northmen
An odd deck that wants the ring-bearer assigned to a skirmish. Often uses Faramir, BoQ or Gandalf, BoO.
Ranking: Tier 1
Pairs well with: cycling, I.e corsairs
Strong vs: beatdown, Swarm
Weak vs: Self-assigning minions, corruption

Spam Archery
Uses a small fellowship with Merry, Swordthain and Sword Rack recurring Rohirrim Javelin. Uses LoI to mop up the remaining minions.
Ranking: Tier 3
Pairs well with: beatdown
Strong vs: low vitality
Weak vs: Archery, Possession Discard, killing Merry, condition hate, Wormtongue

Tank
Loads up a few guys with possessions and tries to run to the end.
Ranking: Tier 2
Pairs well with: something that appreciates cycling.
Strong vs: beatdown
Weak vs: swarm, Wormtongue, Possession hate



Tank
Plays Sam, GeW, Pippin, Resolute Companion, and Merry, FTS and a ton of conditions that make them even stronger than if you hadn't played minions.
Ranking: Tier 1
Pairs well with: A slowing shadow
Strong vs: beatdown, wounding
Weak vs: Cavern Entrance, Saruman's Power, Archery

Skirmish Cancel
Uses the RoS Pipeweed conditions and Pippin, Brave Decoy to cancel most skirmishes.
Ranking: Tier 2
Pairs well with:
Strong vs: Beatdown
Weak vs: Saruman's Power, Cavern Entrance, Archery

Pippin Fighter
Uses Everyone Knows, Ent Draught, and Escape to boost Pippin, Brave Decoy to ridiculous proportions, then has him fight everyone.
Ranking: Tier 2
Pairs well with: Nazgul or Corsairs
Strong vs: beatdown
Weak vs: direct wounding, Saruman's Power, Cavern Entrance

Shadowplay
Uses Pippin, WOBAS and Merry, Swordthain with Shadowplay and Unheeded to kill minions in Shadow. Often uses other culture's wounding tricks.
Ranking: Tier 2
Pairs well with: double punishing Shadow
Strong vs: Tentacles, The Balrog, Demon of Might
Weak vs: single-vitality minions, like Moria swarms

Solo Bilbo
Plays Bilbo, BoTB and Consorting With Wizards to continually lose skirmishes but never die. Chokes very hard.
Ranking: Tier 3
Pairs well with: bomb or swarm based shadows.
Strong vs: expensive shadows
Weak vs: Cavern Entrance, Archery, condition hate

Solo Sam
Plays Sam, BoGN and a pile of hobbit allies to boost his resistance to ridiculous levels. However, this also means that Anduin Confluence is an auto-loss.
Ranking: Tier 3
Pairs well with: Very fast cycling. You need allies and you need them fast.
Strong vs: swarm, beatdown, corruption
Weak vs: Cavern Entrance, Anduin Confluence, They Stole It, Skipping Maneuver

Hobbits and Gollum
Plays Ring-Bound Hobbits and Smeagol, usually Simple Stoor or Pitiful Guide.
Ranking: Tier2
Pairs well with: Gollum-based Strategies like Ninja Gollum or Sudden Strike.
Strong vs: Ninja Gollum (if built right), corruption
Weak vs: Hunters, Cavern Entrance

(Freeps)

Solo Smeagol
Runs Smeagol, Bearer of Great Secrets and tanks him up with conditions.
Ranking: Tier 2
Pairs well with: decent cycling
Strong vs: expensive minions, beatdown
Weak vs: Archery, Saruman's Power

Smeagol Ents
A clever variant of Solo Smeagol that uses the 8-companion ent starting fellowship as meatshields. Often runs Faramir, Son of Denethor as the ninth companion.
Ranking: Tier 2
Pairs well with: Nazgul
Strong vs: Beatdown, archery
Weak vs: large fellowship hate, threats

Shadow



Swarm
Uses Goblin armory and Goblin Scimitar to draw cards and generate twilight. More powerful in Expanded due to Relics of Moria only being R-Listed.
Ranking: Tier 2
Pairs well with: a fellowship that needs cycling
Strong vs: small fellowships
Weak vs: Condition Hate, Caras Galadhon, The One Ring, The Great Ring

Balrog Launch
A modified version of Moria swarm dedicated to playing and recurring The Balrog, Demon of Might.
Ranking: Tier 2
Pairs well with: good cycling
Strong vs: Madril, Archery, Deep in Thought
Weak vs: site manipulation, Armor

Fool of a Took
Uses a filtering freeps, then plays Ted Sandyman and Fool of a Took to bomb swarm a freeps. Often uses Power and Terror with Demon of Might to block Traveled Leader and Archery.
Ranking: Tier 1
Pairs well with: Filter, preferably Horn Loop
Strong vs: Most anything if played right
Weak vs: caras Galadhon, site manipulation

Tentacles
Mills tentacles into the discard pile to recur them with Watcher In the Water, Many-Tentacled Creature. Uses Evil-Smelling Fens to keep them alive without the watcher.
Ranking: Tier 2
Pairs well with: a fellowship that moves slowly and can mill cards out of hand easily.
Strong vs: Flooding
Weak vs: Killing Watcher, Caras Galadhon, Condition Hate

Lost To the Goblins
Uses Gollum, Dark as Darkness to trigger Lost to the Goblins and use a filtered deck to corrupt in a single Shadow Phase.
Ranking: Tier 1
Pairs well with: Filter
Strong vs: Anything
Weak vs: High Resistance

Archery
Moria Swarm, but with Archers.
Ranking: Tier 3
Pairs well with: a fellowship that can outrun most
Strong vs: small fellowships
Weak vs: Large fellowships, wound prevention, Hosts of the Last Alliance, condition hate



Corsairs
Corsairs and ships! Uses Corsair marauder to whittle down their possessions, then Castamir comes in for the beatdown.
Ranking: Tier 1
Pairs well with: a fellowship that needs cycling
Strong vs: Possessions, Madril
Weak vs: Possession Hate, Throne of Minas Tirith

Beasterlings
Uses Small hope to get two burdens then uses Easterling Captain to overwhelm anyone. Recurs with Ships of Great Draught
Ranking: Tier 3
Pairs well with: something in need of moderate cycling
Strong vs: Madril
Weak vs: Possession hate, hand discard, condition hate, burden removal, Footman's Armor

Initiative Southrons
A meld of Corsairs and the ROTK Initiative Wounding southrons. Goes for swarm with Under foot and Black Sails of Umbar. Sometimes uses Sauron, Dark Lord of Mordor to augment. Usually uses Gollum, PD with ESF and Sudden Strike to fetch Shelob, Her Ladyship.
Ranking: Tier 2
Pairs well with: a larger deck that has moderate cycling. BoO builds work well with them.
Strong vs: low vitality, Archery
Weak vs: Possession Hate, Caras Galadhon.



Forestguls
Uses Lost in the Woods and Dark Approach to play a bunch of strong fierce guys for cheap. Discards conditions with Buckland Homestead recycled with Ulaire Nelya, Third of the Nine Riders.
Ranking: Tier 1
Pairs well with: something with moderate cycling
Strong vs: Madril (oddly enough), small fellowships
Weak vs: Condition discard, site manipulation

Threatguls
Forest Nazgul, but without forests and more threats. Usually goes for a more recursive beatdown strategy than a semi-swarm.
Ranking: Tier 2
Pairs well with: A larger deck with a propensity to self-mill.
Strong vs: Archery, Threat adding strategies
Weak vs: Tank freeps, Threat Removal

Corruption
Uses Enquea, Toto and conditions, either Lingering Shadow/Gates of the Dead City or Sense of Obligation to corrupt the Ring-Bearer. Often uses Dark Fell About Him in regions 2-3 to pile lots of burdens, especially with Lingering Shadow on the target.
Ranking: Tier 2
Pairs well with: heavy cycling, preferably something like Son of Groin that places cards underneath the deck
Strong vs: Alternate Ring-Bearers, Healing
Weak vs: Wise Guide, Burden removal, condition hate

Morcs
Uses a bunch of orcs to pile up threats and burdens.
Ranking: tier 2.5
Pairs well with: mild cycling
Strong vs: Alternate Ring-Bearers, small fellowships
Weak vs: archery, large fellowships, burden removal, threat removal

Twilight Nazgul
Uses Saruman, SoS and Isengard Ruined to pile up wounds on the Ring-Bearer, then sets up a Wraith-World or Return to Its Master bomb.
Ranking: Tier 1
Pairs well with: Rapid cycle and tank
Strong vs: The Great Ring, Alternate Ring-Bearers
Weak vs: high resistance

Dark Enemy
Uses Dark Enemy and a ton of possessions for a cheap tank minion.
Ranking: Tier 2
Pairs well with: A self-mill strategy of some type
Strong vs: Small freeps
Weak vs: Archery, large fellowships



Discard
Uses cards like Tower of Barad-Dûr and Desperate Defense of the Ring to pile up burdens and discard the opponent's deck and hand.
Ranking: Tier 2
Pairs well with: Gil-Galad Looping (if including Ancient Enmity), Dwarven Discard
Strong vs: Small decks
Weak vs: condition discard

Grind
Uses Under the Watching Eye and Orc Bowmen to slowly exhaust and kill a opposing freeps. Often uses TNMBF to slow down ents and the like. Often splashes other culture's wounding tricks.
Ranking: Tier 2
Pairs well with: a tanking and running fellowship
Strong vs: small fellowships, low vitality
Weak vs: condition discard, Mass healing, large tanks

Corrupt
Sauron discard, but more emphasis on corruption. Often uses Nazgul as a boost.
Ranking: Tier 3
Pairs well with: good cycling
Strong vs: low resistance
Weak vs: condition discard, archery

Besiegers
Controls sites and beats down. Heavily reliant on conditions.
Ranking: Tier 2.5
Pairs well with: Cycling
Strong vs: archery
Weak vs: Choke, Site Liberation, condition hate

Threats
Uses Mordor Guard and Mordor Veteran to pile up threats and overwhelm companions. Sometimes adds Orc Officer for a surprise corrupt. Often uses Fires Raged Unchecked to negate Madril and reduce site numbers.
Ranking: Tier 3
Pairs well with: a freeps that can set up a perfect hand.
Strong vs: Madril
Weak vs: Archery, Rohan, Cavern Entrance, threat removal



Archery
Spams archery to wound to death. Sets up Rapid Reload and Howdah with The Mouth of Sauron, Messenger of Mordor fetching Pavise. May splash other wounding tricks like Gothmog, Morgul Leader.
Ranking: Tier 1
Pairs well with: this functions well with multiple deck sizes and degrees of cycling. Most freeps will pair well.
Strong vs: Followers, low vitality, small fellowships
Weak vs: Hosts of the Last Alliance, Gil-Galad Looping

Site Control
Uses Rapt Hillman with a Pavise to control many sites rapidly, then sets up a bomb with Southron Archer, White Hand Invader, and Gothmog, Lieutenant of Morgul.
Ranking: Tier 2
Pairs well with: Handbuilding like Gil-Galad Looping or Dwarves
Strong vs: most everything, if done properly
Weak vs: Elendil, The Tall and other mass site liberation.

Possession Stacking
Uses the Rise of Saruman Men to stack and replay minions for a swarm. Sets up with Mouth, usually uses a bunch of Toil minions. May also use Sauron, DLOM
Ranking: Tier 2
Pairs well with: cycling
Strong vs: Small fellowships, possessions
Weak vs: Throne of Minas Tirith, possession hate, Caras Galadhon

Lurkers
Uses a bunch of lurkers to semi-swarm the opponent.
Ranking: Tier 3
Pairs well with: something that can kill
Strong vs: weak companions
Weak vs: archery, tanks, Gimli, Lord of the Glittering Caves

Beatdown
Uses Saruman, Coldly Still and Mouth to set up multiple powerful minions, bearing quite a few possessions. May be melded with Possession Stacking.
Ranking: Tier 3
Pairs well with: decent cycling
Strong vs: Followers, flooding
Weak vs: possession hate, condition hate



Demoralized
Uses Lurkers, Rallying Orc, and Demoralized to add twilight and swarm. Usually uses Mountain-Tool and Goblin Hordes for recursion. May incorporate Demon of Might for Madril and archery protection.
Ranking: Tier 1
Pairs well with: A Gandalf or Smeagol based strategy for cycling and site manipulation
Strong vs: Large Fellowships, flooding, high vitality
Weak vs: condition hate, Shadowplay/Unheeded

Warg Super Swarm
Uses Orkish Scout and Orkish Runner with wargs to add a ton of twilight, then plays Mountain-Troll for free and repeats. Impossible to stop once going. Uses Orkish Camp to maintain sites, and plays Cavern Entrance at the end of the Shadow phase with Unforgiving depths or Watchful Orc.
Ranking: Tier 1
Pairs well with: Cycling and site manipulation
Strong vs: Tanks, The Great Ring
Weak vs: A New Light, Caras Galadhon, Condition Hate

Wounding
Recycles Orkish Invaders, Orkish Lackey and Gothmog, Morgul Leader to wound to death.
Ranking: Tier 2
Pairs well with: Site Manipulation and running
Strong vs: Low vitality
Weak vs: Condition hate, Armor, Faramir, CoI with Stewards' Legacy

Demoralized Rapid Reload
An and [men] hybrid that sets up Rapid Reload with 3x Demoralized to exhaust an entire fellowship.
Ranking: Tier 3
Pairs well with: cycling
Strong vs: flooding, Followers
Weak vs: Condition removal, even the smallest bit of that is difficult to overcome.

Bound to Its Fate
Uses Goblin Hordes/Isengard Underling to recycle Bound to its Fate. Also uses Mocking Goblin, Porter Troll, and Retribution with weapons to pile on more burdens. May also use Orc Miscreant with a Relentless Warg for even more burdens.
Ranking: Tier 2
Pairs well with: most strategies with a slimmer deck work well
Strong vs: decks without events, Bearer of Obligation
Weak vs: Burden removal, condition discard

Troll Swarm
Uses Troll's Keyward and wargs, with a full hand of trolls, to add massive twilight and, oddly enough, swarm with trolls.
Ranking: Tier 2
Pairs well with: something that can handle a clogged hand
Strong vs: low strength, flooding
Weak vs: A New Light, Shadowplay, Mass wounding



Hunters
Plays [uruk-hai] hunters and beats down. Targets support companions with Mauhur, Relentless Hunter and fetches minions with Grishnakh, Treacherous Captain.
Ranking: tier 1
Pairs well with: smaller decks
Strong vs: Non-Hunters
Weak vs: Hunters, tanks, archery

Site Control
Takes control of sites with Fury of the Evil Army and beats down.
Ranking: Tier 3
Pairs well with: good cycling
Strong vs: Weak companions
Weak vs: site liberation, tanks, archery, condition hate

Resistance Uruks
Uses WOTR Block Uruks to reduce resistance and use powerful effects as a result. Usually uses Suppressing Uruk to trigger off SFTF or cannon-fodder companions. May use Gollum and Frenzied attack.
Ranking: Tier 3
Pairs well with: excellent cycling/filtering. Rohan or SFTF are good options.
Strong vs: Low resistance
Weak vs: most everything if resistance is high. Otherwise rather competent.

Beatdown Uruks
Uses A slew of Uruks to beatdown. Not very cohesive.
Ranking: Tier 3
Pairs well with: something that runs rapidly
Strong vs: middling-to weak companions
Weak vs: archery, tanks, Armor

(Shadow)

Threat Ninja Gollum
Uses Gollum, Threatening Guide, a stack of threats, Promise Keeping, and You're a Liar and a Thief to wound massively. Uses Shelob to exclude high-vitality companions.
Ranking: Tier 2
Pairs well with: most things, as it has inherent cycling.
Strong vs: Hobbits, Low vitality, archery
Weak vs: Sleep, Caradhras, Gladden Homestead+Deep in Thought, Cavern Entrance

Sudden Strike
Uses Gollum and Sudden Strike with ESF to pull any minion out of the discard or draw deck. May be a standalone strategy or a meld. Usually melded with Corsairs or Nazgûl.
Ranking: Tier 1
Pairs well with: A larger draw deck
Strong vs: Basically anything. A sort of Swiss Army knife
Weak vs: Choke, Wise Guide, Shadowplay

Burden Ninja Gollum
Threat Ninja Gollum, but plays Stinker and can either corrupt or kill. Works around wound prevention with Slippery as Fishes and Chasm's Edge.
Ranking: Tier 1
Pairs well with: Smeagol
Strong vs: Low resistance, Low vitality, self-adding burdens
Weak vs: condition hate

Little Snuffler
Uses Little Snuffler to try to kill in region one. After that, basically useless. Auto-Lose vs the Ring of Rings
Ranking: Tier 3
Pairs well with: Snuffler Support
Strong vs: The Great Ring
Weak vs: The Ring of Rings, basically anything after region one



Site Control
Tries to control two sites, then spams Dunlending Elder with Ready to Fall.
Ranking: Tier 3
Pairs well with: cycling
Strong vs: Small fellowships
Weak vs: Tanks, condition hate, possession hate

Constantly Threatening
Funnels minions into the discard, then plays them back on a double move with constantly threatening. Tentacles, but weak.
Ranking: Tier 3
Pairs well with: self-mill
Strong vs: Flooding
Weak vs: Choke, Caras Galadhon, slow moving



Deceived Wizards
Uses the "Deceived Wizard" conditions from Bloodlines with Throne of Isengard to beat down. Often melded with Uruk Hunters.
Ranking: Tier 2
Pairs well with: decent cycling
Strong vs: Tanks, small fellowships
Weak vs: condition hate, artifact hate, tanks, Gandalf

Swarm
Uses cheap orcs to stupid swarm the opponent. May set up Sauron, DLOM.
Ranking: Tier 3
Pairs well with: Quick running
Strong vs: small fellowships
Weak vs: Tanks, wounding, Caras Galadhon

[leokula]

I love this documentation!

Way back in the day, I started this:

https://lotrtcgwiki.com/forums/index.php?topic=1606.0

Was a little more in depth than what you did, I wanted to ultimately have a PDF with card previews and deck lists for all archetypes and stuff like that. I'd love to work on something like this with you, where we could merge the two ideas and build something cool!

Let me know if you're interested! Maybe we could agree on a format and split who writes what.

[Tunadan]

Cool! I think that collaborating would be a good idea!

Probably PDF and TLHH are not the best platforms for our ideas, though. I can work on setting up a page on the new Wiki for these, as this is probably pertinent there. Here's the link: https://wiki.lotrtcgpc.net/wiki/Main_Page

Also, are you on the PC Discord server? It would be easier to communicate on there.

[Shelobplayer]

Creating a "comprehensive" list for expanded is near impossible in my opinion, especially if you want to give them tier rating. Minor looking details can make or break strategies in the first place and then we haven't even talked about the pairing of free people and shadow sides, which is absolutely crucial. To just list a few super obvious examples: Grimbeorn works amazingly well with corsairs for examples, where you almost never want to play Castamir from your hand so you can easily fuel him, however if you want to play him with an Ugly Fellow + Ugluk's Sword shadow, he becomes a liability, I would argue that even with forestguls he becomes suboptimal. Similarly Not Easily Avoided can go from a generic good card to straight out broken once you fully optimize it by utilizing both freeps and shadow sides with it.

Or take a look at Powerful Guide. Is it the same deck if you set it up with SFTF + Leader of Men or Momentous Gathering? Is it the same if you focus on Strength of Spirit trigger loops with Shadowplay to abuse the discarded when played rule? What if you do it with Unheeded added to the mix also? What if instead you use followers + Fury of the White Rider? What if you play PG with ring-bound hobbits, Elven Long Knife and Smeagol, Always Helps? They are all viable, and all strong, and each with their own very distinct identity, and depending on the exact build can be very different in power level.

The you can easily mix and match free peoples strategies in expanded. It's easy to play 60/60 or even bigger decks while retaining consistency. Like you can play a New Chapter setup a million different ways (and I wouldn't call most obvious ones tier 1 even).

Expanded is a very deep format, a "comprehenive" list would be longer than the LOTR books.

I do see however how something similar can be a valuable resource for deckbuilders getting into the format, in a slightly modified form. Like say you list key cards, like Powerful Guide, HKoTN, Stewards' Legacy or Madril, DoO, then add a section like "more common setups" where you list a few setups.

I was thinking about creating a writeup for the expanded meta, where I cover what I believe to be the cornerstones of deckbuilding in the format, mainly for my own amusement, but I doubt it would spark enough discussion for me to woth it, I am however willing to engage in it if someone else does the heavy lifting

[macheesmo]

I recently started playing with some friends. As the cards are very hard to come by without trading my unborn child I acquired proxies for us to use. This list allowed me to see commonly used popular cards and linked me to some decklists that gave us ideas of how to structure our fellowship and shadow based on our strategies. Even if the tiers are opinionated and not fleshed out, they gave us enough information to acquire some cards and proxies to get going. One of our friends has an old collection of movie block stuff but wants to play expanded as he likes all the stuff. The rest of us picking up ideas for strategies and where to find cards in 18 sets were lucky this post and others like it existed. It may be that this list is a bit subjective. It was very helpful nonetheless for non gemp players trying to learn about expanded. If you know of some off hand other card combinations not tier related I would love to see more information. Having never played with experienced players this site is a rare resource for info on card strategies.

I find that ive read almost every post in this section to gain as much info as I can. I wish it had been more popular and active as Shelob stated its a very deep format.