Surrounded by Shapes Slowly Advancing that are Out of Sight and Shot!

[DáinIronfoot]

Got this idea indirectly from NK. Mwaha.

SHADOW (37 cards):

The Witch-king, Black Lord x2
The Witch-king, Captain of the Nine Riders
The Witch-king, Lord of the Nazgul
Ulaire Cantea, Fourth of the Nine Riders
Ulaire Enquea, Ringwraith in Twilight x2
Ulaire Enquea, Duplicitous Lieutenant
Ulaire Lemenya, Winged Hunter
Ulaire Nelya, Third of the Nine Riders x2
Ulaire Nelya, Ringwraith in Twilight
Ulaire Nertea, Dark Horseman x2
Ulaire Otsea, Black-Mantled Wraith
Ulaire Otsea, Duplicitous Specter
Ulaire Toldea, Black Shadow x3
Morgul Whelp x3

Shapes Slowly Advancing x4
Surrounded By Wraiths x2
Out of Sight and Shot x2
Moving This Way x2

Beyond All Darkness
Dark Approach x4


This deck, as hinted in the title, revolves around three cards: Shapes Slowly Advancing, Surrounded By Wraiths, and Out of Sight and Shot. With even just a couple Nazgul out at once to deal with, Shapes will eventually force the FP player to start taking companions into hand whether they want to or not. (Ulaire Lemenya, Winged Hunter and Ulaire Otsea, Black-Mantled Wraith are other sneaky ways to get a companions in their hand.) When replayed, Surrounded By Wraiths and Out of Sight and Shot pummel companions, exhausting the ones played AND dishing out extra exertions on top of that. Black Lord--if in your hand--also specifically exerts the Ring-bearer, which has far-reaching effects we'll get to in a second. If all goes well, you can use Beyond All Darkness at the right time to force them to discard any companions in their hand, making it that much more difficult to even get them back.

With the Ring-bearer taking exertions either because of Black Lord or the FP trying to spread other damage around, you can REALLY put the kabash on the RB with the twilight Nazzies included here. Lord of the Nazgul and Ulaire Enquea, Ringwraith in Twilight lay some wounds on the beleaguered Ring-bearer, and Ulaire Nelya, Ringwraith in Twilight and the Morgul Whelp then spot those wounds to get big and nasty. Dark Horseman will hopefully get to routinely go after the Ring-bearer as well.

Most of the rest is standard Nazgul/Forestful fare. Third of the Nine Riders makes sure you have some forests around, Duplicitous Specter cycles a little, Moving This Way cycles a LOT, Dark Approach makes sure you're able to get your nazzies out, and Black Shadow helps pull it (or Beyond All Darkness) back.

I don't have a FP side paired with this yet, nor a complete site listing, but I'd strongly recommend some of the normal Forestgul staples like The Angle, Buckland Homestead, Caras Galadhon (particularly useful here to prevent RB protection as companions disappear), and Hill of Sight. East Road is a MUST, as it pairs very nicely here for obvious reasons.

So, what do you think? This is very rough and could probably use some help, but I think it could be very unpleasant, and at the very LEAST would keep the FP moving very slowly down the path once you got set up.

I toyed with some other cards in here, like Chief Counselor, Sting of Shelob, Declined Business, Desperate Defense of The Ring, The Dark Lord Advances, Tower Lieutenant, and others, but it was just too convoluted. I decided to go with all Nazzies in the end, as it makes Shapes Slowly Advancing work. But if anyone has any OTHER suggestions....

[SomeRandomDude]

Wow, that's awesome. My friend was building a deck around Surrounded by Wraiths, but Out of Sight and Shot is awesome as well.

White Arrows of Lorien.

[DáinIronfoot]

Wow, that's awesome. My friend was building a deck around Surrounded by Wraiths, but Out of Sight and Shot is awesome as well.

White Arrows of Lorien.

Yeah, that and Cast It Into The Fire! work well for Elves, which is probably what I'd pair this with (since I have a "Wood-elf" deck that pairs nicely with Forestguls). Mellon! would be particularly mean too. Mwaha. It would also give useless cards like Change of Plans (which could also work with certain Elves) and Shield of the White Tree. Certain cards like His Golden Shield, Knights of His House, and Morning Came would have new meaning, too.

Man, this could be EVIL.


EDIT: Threw a FP side together real quick.

FREE PEOPLES (37 cards):

Galadriel, Bearer of Wisdom w/ The Ring of Rings

Rumil, Silvan Elf (starting)
Orophin, Silvan Elf (starting)
Glorfindel, Eldarin Lord (pulled via The Prancing Pony)
Arwen, Staunch Defender x2
Legolas, Of the Grey Company
Elven Guardian x2

Celebring, Elven-Smith
Woodhall Elf

Aiglos
Galadriel's Silver Ewer
Nenya, Ring of Adamant x2
Sword of the Fallen x3
Elven Armaments
Elven Bow x4

The White Arrows of Lorien x3
Namarie x2
Spied From Afar

Point Blank Range x3
Inside A Song x2
Hearth and Hall
A Grey Ship
Change of Plans
Well-traveled

This basic deck has always worked very well for me. This adds in Glorfindel to make use of Change of Plans and Well-traveled, and adds in several White Arrows to make the opponent cry (combined with Change of Plans) with lots of forced discarding from hand, hopefully zapping companions they've been forced to put there.

I rarely make such NPE decks, but the opportunity is just too good to pass up here.

[Olorin]

Hi,

I see that this deck is an expanded format deck; are you still playing the expanded format in US? 
Mumak Commander GATS and Hate is more effective, as I believe. 

Why don't you play more enduring Nazgul with Witch-king Captain of the Nine Riders?  :-*

[SomeRandomDude]

Good idea, since Enduring Nazzies aren't typically fierce, and self-heal, they have a better chance of making it to regroup.

I'd just stick with WAoL, its reliable, most shadows to pack condition discarding. Just run massive archery, Nam and WAoL for completely hosing your opponent.

[DáinIronfoot]

I added a FP rough draft pairing. Needs some tweaking, I think, but it's a start.

I will HAVE to build this. :hey:

[SomeRandomDude]

Need 4 WAoL.

I guess I'm not going to convinve you any better than I've already tried, but please, pack Rumil, Silvan Elf. I'm begging you, he's that awesome. Seriously.

4 Elven Bows, Dinendal, Rumil, Legolas, Legolas' Bow, should be good. Make sure to run 9 comps. If you're not gonna run less than 6, run all 9. I ALWAYS run Rumil over Orophin if given a choice.

[DáinIronfoot]

The difference in philosophy, NB, is that my deck isn't designed to have as much archery as humanly (or Elvenly ) possible. It has plenty to go around, but then the companions are usually plenty good enough to handle anything that lives until skirmish time. In my personal experience, going all-out archery usually ends up not setting up in time before disaster strikes. These Elves can throw out plenty of arrows (7 base archery with everything out, plus the brothers adding more as necessary), but they can also fight pretty darn effectively, too. Arwen is a beast with all the forests, and Orophin is strength 10 against wounded minions (which is very likely after all the archery). THAT is why I tend to prefer him over Rumil, though I can certainly see the usefulness of both.

Doing a mix of archery and skirmishing might not be something you'd see in, say, a tournament deck, but it's fun and has consistently worked very well for me. I think you'd find it more potent than you might think if you tried it some time.

So to make you happy, Rumil is now in, starting alongside Orophin. I still packed the same Legolas, since he pairs so nicely with Ring of Adamant (and always gives at least a chance of one more arrow), but he's now a late comer to the party. Happier now?

[Thranduil]

From someone who actually has a Shapes Slowly Advancing deck, you need to have good sitepath control so that you can continually make your opponent move to the Morannon Plains!

Thranduil

[NappyKorn]

Here is an old deck that I have played with the same idea. Haven't played it in a long time but it was good and fun. Of course there are better cards out now, but adjust as needed. ANyway just posted to help this deck may be identical to yours anyway.


Frodo And Ring 
*The One Ring, The Ring of Rings (11R1) 
*Galadriel, Bearer of Wisdom (RB)(9R+14) 

 
Sites 
The Angle (12U185) 
East Road (11S236) 
Woody-end (11S266) 
(1) Doorway to Doom (18U134) 
(1) Morannon Plains (18U137) 
(2) Caras Galadhon (11S231) 
(3) Crossroads of the Fallen Kings (13S189) 
(3) Old Forest Road (11S251) 
(3) Trollshaw Forest (11S260) 

 
Fellowship (35) 
1x *Galadriel's Silver Ewer (18R11) 
2x *Aegnor, Elven Escort (10R4) 
1x *Arwen, Queen of Elves and Men (10R6) 
2x *Gil-Galad, High King of the Noldor (18R12) 
1x *Haldir, Sentry of the Golden Wood (15U17) 
1x *Legolas, Of The Woodland Realm (15R19) 
2x *Orophin, Brother of Haldir (12C20) 
2x *Secluded Homestead (13R22) 
2x *The Tale of Gil-galad (1R66) 
3x Elven Marksmanship (11R17) 
3x The White Arrows of Lorien (1C68) 
2x A Grey Ship (8U9) 
4x Feathered (4U66) 
2x Lothlorien Guides (17U9) 
3x Reckless We Rode (8R12) 
4x Elven Bow (15C13) 

 
Shadow (35) 
2x *Out of Sight and Shot (7R204) 
3x In Twilight (19P34) 
4x Shapes Slowly Advancing (11R217) 
2x Surrounded by Wraiths (11U218) 
3x Dark Approach (12R162) 
2x Dark Powers Strengthen (11R207) 
2x Minas Morgul Answers (12U167) 
3x *The Witch-king, Captain of the Nine Riders (11R226) 
2x *Ulaire Cantea, Thrall of the One (10R67) 
3x *Ulaire Enquea, Thrall of the One (10R68) 
4x *Ulaire Nelya, Third of the Nine Riders (11S222) 
2x *Ulaire Nertea, Dark Horseman (19P38) 
3x *Ulaire Toldea, Thrall of the One (10R71) 

[SomeRandomDude]

From someone who actually has a Shapes Slowly Advancing deck, you need to have good sitepath control so that you can continually make your opponent move to the Morannon Plains!

Thranduil

Trying to win the game with SSA is difficult, if not impossible. Morannon is good to stick in there, but you will rarely win with SSA. What will usually win it for you is bouncing comps.

That being said, Nelya IS a nice guy to stick in there. Get behind, drop Morannon and swap with Nelya, but all it'll do is give the freeps a little hard time breathing, and accelerate an alternate form of killing.