Corsair Woes

[Imrahil]

So I was playing The Old Took the other day, and, being the generous man that he is, he chose to play corsairs against me.
Knowing the destructive capability of those bloody pirates, I did a little choking, and was proud to move to site 3 with a total of 9 in the pool (well, not really choke, but still low).

Then he plays a Castamir of Umbar for 9, with a Raider Halberd.  One archery and two exertions later, I'm staring at a 22 strength fierce minion.

Is this legal?  I mean, I hate corsairs, I don't think they ever should have been made, because some of they combos they pull seem completely broken.  At site five he gained initiative with the galley, discarded some condition or another to reconcile his hand, and I ended up facing a seven minion swarm which discarded the top two cards of my draw deck, a possession, and pretty much everything else.  Admittedly good drawing on his part, but their was really nothing I could jolly well do against it.

Aside from playing Corsair hate, what can I do?

[Gil-Estel]

Well, I don't think Corsairs are broken, or over powered in any way. A strong shadow nonetheless, with great capacity. Every fellowship should contain protection vs some of the threats corsairs have to offer. The hardest part is ofcourse the possessions. A few things come to mind. Blood Runs Chill for the dwarves, Roll of Thunder, Turn of the Tide for Gandalf, Narsil, FbT, Derufin, Hope Renewed, Nimble Attack, and even catapult could do it for Gondor. Ferthu Theoden Hal, Dispatched with Haste, Arrow-slits can do the trick for Rohan. As you can see a lot of options, though not every one is available for each format. Other than that you have options to neglect a swarm by site control, or regaining possessions for Rohan with Merry, Swordthain.
Best for a lot of decks is direct wounding. Try not to make it to skirmish, for many shadows have evil tricks. Elven archery, of rainbow archery, or Rohan with Shadowplay, all sorts of options. Well I hope it is somewhat helpful, but I know it is a tough matchup in many ways.

[Gerontius]

That was an interesting game. Although, I wasn't in any better of a position with Pillage of Rohan out against my invincible Bilbo deck...
(The deck I was using was the "fun deck" that I posted under casual formats)

[Imrahil]

ah, well, we both were gonna die at site 5, but I moved first.

And elven archer does very little when you lose your bows.  Actually it seems to help the Castamir.

It's the one minion side I've played against that has always given me trouble, not matter what I'm playing.

Thanks for the suggestions though, I have some of those cards.

[Gil-Estel]

Take up the Bow...no more Castamir.

[GloinTheDark]

Another thing is Narya, Ring of Fire.  If you take all of the tokens off of a card he can't add tokens to it.  He can still discard the Black Sails of Umbar to play a minion for -0 twilight.  In other words, he can still play minions from the discard pile, but they don't get cheaper.  Using Narya, Ring of Fire can wipe multiple cards clean and he won't be able to reinforce tokens, because the text of the corsairs is to add tokens to cards that ALREADY HAVE TOKENS ON THEM.

Also, I got so sick of Corsiars I made my Elven Event deck that runs next to no possessions, although I did add Elven Armaments once they came out.  Possessions seem to be the worst thing that can be discarded.  Cirdan can overwhelm Castamir late.  Up to 18 events in the discard pile. 

Also Frodo, Courteous Halfling can help against the Corsair Ruffian.

[Gerontius]

While he's asking how to beat my deck, I may as well ask about his deck. What can Hobbits do against pillage of Rohan and Burning of Westfold?

[Gil-Estel]

make no twilight...Shire 1-13 you play?

[Gerontius]

Yes.

[Gil-Estel]

you could go with a smeagol twist to control the sites and with Safe Pasage minimalize the pool. Shire is good in choking, and that is what you need vs Uruks. 1-13 also makes a crazy solo smeagol deck, which is extremely cool, hahaha. Solo Smeagol is sooo annoying especially vs those who play much costing minions.

[TheJord]

Another thing is Narya, Ring of Fire.  If you take all of the tokens off of a card he can't add tokens to it.  He can still discard the Black Sails of Umbar to play a minion for -0 twilight.  In other words, he can still play minions from the discard pile, but they don't get cheaper.

X cannot be 0 in this case.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, I could be its late

[sickofpalantirs]

whats 1-13?

[Elessar's Socks]

Removing 0 tokens should be fine. Otherwise something like Grond, HotU wouldn't be able to discard a 0-cost card.

[Gerontius]

whats 1-13?

We play using sets 1 to 13 only, no x-list.

[Imrahil]

Take up the Bow needs three archers.  With Corsair Marauder discarding your bows, you'll be lucky to be able to meet the cost.

And when every corsair minion (almost) adds two tokens with its effect, Narya is a one turn fix at best.  Last battle, I used Elrond WtH to get back the toys I really needed after Marauder did his thing, but my freeps (move on elves) had to go into survival mode.