Gandalf Men w/ Evil Men Archery

[GarrisonofGondor]

OK, I've always wanted to make a cool Gandalf Men Deck. So, here's what I came up with.

Gandalf BoO, The Ring of Rings
Brand
Jarnsmid, Barding Emissary

 Grimbeorn
 Ghan-buri-Ghan
 Erland, Dale Counselor
 Librarian, Keeper of Ancient Texts
 Meneldor, Misty Mountain Eagle
 Pallando, Far Travelling One
 2x Alatar, Final Envoy
 Radagast, Tender of Beasts
 3x Beorning Axe
 Narya, Ring of Fire
 2x Shadowfax, Unequaled Steed
 2x Radagast's Herb Bag
 2x Watch and Wait
 4x Ease the Burden
 2x Guidance of the Istari
 3x The Terror of His Coming
 3x Last Stand
 4x Strange Meeting
 
 4x The Mouth of Sauron, Messenger of Mordor
 2x Ferocious Haradrim
 3x Fletcher of Harad
 2x Mumak Rider
 Southron Murderer
 4x Archer of Harad
 2x Long Battle Bow
 3x Pavise
 Precision Targeting
 2x Elevated Fire
 2x Wielding the Ring
 4x Caravan From the South
 2x Countless Companies
 3x Howdah

 Suggestions, Comments, Questions?

[MR. Lurtzy]

I would recommend some G for Grand and a couple more last stands.

[GarrisonofGondor]

 Great Idea, but I'm pretty much to my max limit, what should I take out?

[NappyKorn]

G for rand requires your comps have resistance of 6 or more to give them the pump, when you move and have to add the 3 burdens none of you companion will have that requirement. Of course you can toss cards from hand when you mpve but them you will eventually run out of things to toss and with no Erland you can't get you skirmish events you do toss for moving back. Seems to me G for Grand would be a bit of a waste. Well I guess you could have 1 companion beat the burdens lowering their resistance to low for G for Grand to work, but it would require Radagast and Meneldor followers going on a companion with base 6 resistance. Still seems a bit to much to do to addthat card in.

[DáinIronfoot]

I agree with NK: G for Grand just doesn't work with a Gandalf RB.

My recommendations are as follows...though take it with a grain of salt, since I've had mucho problems making a good Men deck.

- drop a Foe-hammer and put in another Watch and Wait to spread the burden removing around more.

- drop a Walking Stick and insert Erland, Dale Counselor. The ability to get events back AND make one those events, Guidance of the Istari, that much more powerful really makes it worth it, in my mind. Walking Stick is nice with the post-Fellowship phase twilight you're adding, but more a luxury than anything.

- pair this with a Shadow side that cycles REALLY well, and preferrably one with site control so you can get as many dwellings as possible for use with Ease the Burden.

Not too bad, though. I think it would work as is, but a few tweaks could make it a little better, IMO.

[GarrisonofGondor]

 Thank's for the advice guys. Do you think I should drop Gwaihir cause I have nothing toremove    threats with?

[DáinIronfoot]

Do you think I should drop Gwaihir cause I have nothing toremove    threats with?

You could. If you need to snip another card to save room or slide another card into the deck instead, then go ahead and cut it. But if not, it doesn't hurt to use Gwaihir a couple times, and he makes Meneldor more effective, so it certainly doesn't hurt to have Gwaihir around.

[GarrisonofGondor]

 Could you name a shadow side I could use?

[DáinIronfoot]

I know I suggest it all the time, but I'd recommend Forestguls. They cycle very, very well and can control the sitepath, thus ensuring you have plenty of dwellings to use with Ease the Burden.

An example of a Standard-legal deck with 39 cards (since that's what your FP currently is):

SHADOW (39 cards):

The Witch-king, Captain of the Nine Riders x4
Ulaire Cantea, Fourth of the Nine Riders x2
Ulaire Enquea, Duplicitous Lieutenant x3
Ulaire Enquea, Sixth of the Nine Riders
Ulaire Nelya, Third of the Nine Riders x4
Ulaire Nertea, Dark Horseman x2
Ulaire Nertea, Ninth of the Nine Riders
Ulaire Lemenya, Assailing Minion x2
Ulaire Otsea, Duplicitous Specter x3
Ulaire Toldea, Black Shadow x3
Ulaire Toldea, Eighth of the Nine Riders
Ithil Stone
Lost In The Woods x4
In Twilight x2
Moving This Way x2
Dark Approach x4

Nelya TotNR and Toldea EotNR control the sitepath for you, even if your opponent is playing most of the sites first. Duplicitous Specter, Moving This Way, In Twilight, and Ithil Stone cycle like mad, and Moving This Way in particular can clear your hand of unnecessary Nazgul to help ensure you get plenty of cards in hand on your next FP turn. Black Shadow pulls Dark Approach back over and over to keep your Nazgul cheap and help you play as many as possible each of your Shadow phases. Lost In The Woods hurts badly and is a good one to slap on their stronger companions (or the Ring-bearer, if you can manage it). The rest of the Nazgul just wreak various havoc. This deck (or slight variations of it) has ALWAYS worked well for me, and it's not uncommon to play 4+ Nazgul by the later parts of Region 2 and 5+ Nazgul per site by Region 3. At the very least, it will definately slow your opponent down so you don't have to double move a lot to keep up, which can be very difficult with Gandalf BoO.

Toss in a few forests for them to play with, then make the rest dwellings. I'd include Buckland Homestead and Woody-End at a bare minimum, and Hill of Sight, Caras Galadhon, and probably Streets of Bree. My suggestions:

Buckland Homestead
Woody-End
Streets of Bree
Hill of Sight
Westemnet Village
Caras Galadhon
Hobbiton Market
Trollshaw Forest
Green Dragon Inn

It would be ideal to get one more forest in there for the Nazgul to be as effective as possible, but I think the five dwellings might pay off more when combined with Ease The Burden.


One other card I just thought of for your FP side, if you can fit it in: The Terror of His Coming. A decent pump, and a good way to get a discarded condition back if need be, since you'd have a good number of dwellings. Just a thought.

[GarrisonofGondor]

 Well if it was just a thought it was an AWESOME thought!!!!! Thanks a MILLION!!!

[NappyKorn]

dain you and your forestguls LOL. If you want something that is fun and can draw like crazy and decard to potentially overwhelm I have a crazy deck for you. Let me know if you want a look.

[GarrisonofGondor]

 Sure why not. What is it?

[NappyKorn]

Here we go.....

1x *Flames Within (10C85) 
4x Orc Banner (1R263) 
2x Seeking Its Master (1R276) 
3x Some Secret Art of Flame (7C313) 
2x Teeth of Mordor (5U110) 
3x *Grishnakh, Orc Captain (5R100) 
2x Gorgoroth Stormer (8C101) 
4x Mordor Warrior (7U293) 
4x Orc Chaser (7C298) 
4x Orc Officer (7U302) 
4x Orc Stalker (7U307) 
2x *Grond, Hammer of the Underworld (8R103) 

Point is to get a warrior out with 3 other minions (ideally 3 officers), but the others with initiative to ensure they last if they are fought first is fine as well. Then discard cards from hand to score an overwhelm. If you get Warrior with 3 Officers and get the overwhelm say hello to 9 burdens ring-bearer . Anyway play Some Secret Art of Flame then even with no minions you can drop the conditions during the regroup phase for very little. I choose good/cheap conditions and they require no spotting or exerting to play. When you get initiative they cheaper minion get bigger and badder. Seeking it's master can help you in two ways. You can play it outside the regroup phase to draw cards (as long as you can exert and have the spare twilight). That can aid in having more cards in hand for Mordor Warrior to toss and get those much need Some Secret Art of Flame earlier. Orc Banner can prove to be an effective pump since everytime a minion wins a skirmish your other minions pump up. Flames Within always provodes a +2 pump with initiative. Grishnakh can help get cards in hand, but it you don't like him try running Orc Seeker he works well to if you get your initiative . Grond can toss pesky possession and artifacts that or pumping the companions as well as any other annoying card that will hurt a potential overwhelm. I might add in Ithil Stone (if I can find something to cut) for an extra card in hand.

It will be a good shadow to try seeing as it won't require your sites to be effective and running a Gandy Ring-Bearer you will seldom have the chance to go 2nd unless your opponent wants to go first or you bid a burden which is hard to do with that Gandy Ring-bearer. Only site I like with this deck is Morannon Plains for the token reinforcement (not really neccesary) and maybe slag mounds to get that extra burden when you overwhelm .

 

[GarrisonofGondor]

 Nice, Thanks for the idea.

[NappyKorn]

Seeing as my shadow is only 35 and your freeps is 39 you can always add a few ithil stones and other to make up the difference. The way this deck can draw than discard cycling shouldn't be a problem. Forgot to mention that you should always try to get your Mordor Warriors and Gorgoroth Officers stacked on Teeth of Mordor that way you have them to attempt again if the overwhelm falls a bit short. I played this deck once (had ithil stone in at that time) and after I played a warrior, x2 officer, and pursuer I still managed to have 10 cards in hand to discard with warrior. That made for a potential -30 strength companion, but of course that much was needed Always good to have extra cards in hand in case they have pumps in hand or the dreaded Durin III fully loaded.