This is the first deck in a long time that I have created
entirely from scratch. I usually take a good idea someone else has had and make extensive tweaks to make it more my own, so I still end up with a unique deck, though one based at least partially in things that have likely been seen before. For THIS deck, however, I took a basic premise and ran with it: trying to squeeze as much out of river sites as possible. In the end, the resulting deck features only four river sites (and four forests), but I think it still gets plenty of oomph out of each and every site on the path.
Alright, here goes: one of my strangest decks ever.
FREE PEOPLES (37 cards):Galadriel, Bearer of Wisdom w/
The Ring of RingsLegolas, Son of Thranduil (starting)
Duilin, Ranger from Blackroot Vale (starting)
Glorfindel, Eldarin Lord (Prancing Pony pull)
Elrond, Herald to Gil-galad x2
Goldberry, River-DaughterFaramir's CompanyGaladriel's Silver EwerNenya, Ring of Adamant x2
Phial of GaladrielBlade of Lindon x3
Elven Bow x2
Gondorian BladeRanger's CloakNo Stranger to the ShadowsThe Last Alliance of Elves and MenSongs of the Blessed RealmGift of BoatsFeathered x4
Voice of Nimrodel x3
A Ranger's Versatility x4
Pathfinder x4
Ideally, you want to go first so you can start out with
The Prancing Pony and use it to grab
Eldarin Lord, and with plenty of ways to boost Galadriel's resistance (up to 12, actually), you can afford to add a couple burdens to ensure you
do get to go first.
Pathfinder and the Shadow side will control the sitepath well enough for you later...though going second isn't all-together terrible either should that be how things shake out.
This deck does a little choking to try and keep your small fellowship intact, with
NSttS and many cheap conditions and events keeping the twilight pool from getting too flooded. But the main thing it does is wound minions with archery and
A Ranger's Versatility, then finish them off with
Feathered and a seriously boosted
Duilin, who is a strength 13
damage +1 beast with the
Gondorian Blade and
The Last Alliance of Elves and Men and assuming he's at a forest or river.
Healing is rather extensive thanks to
Herald To Gil-galad,
Ring of Adamant, and
Faramir's Company.
Pathfinder, as mentioned before, controls the sitepath when you get ahead of your opponent, and
Gift of Boats can make for a nasty surprise at the right time.
Oh, and
Songs of the Blessed Realm may even let you peel some burdens.
The Shadow side is both familiar to those of that have played me before, and also very different....
SHADOW (37 cards:)Gollum, StinkerGollum, Mad ThingGollum, Dark as DarknessThe Witch-king, Captain of the Nine Riders x2
Ulaire Attea, Second of the Nine Riders x2
Ulaire Enquea, Lieutenant of Morgul x2
Ulaire Nelya, Third of the Nine Riders x2
Ulaire Nelya, Ringwraith in TwilightUlaire Otsea, Duplicitous Specter x3
Ulaire Toldea, Black Shadow x2
Slippery As Fishes x3
Not Yet VanquishedHeavy BurdenLingering Shadow x3
The Ring Draws ThemCaptured By The Ring x4
Wild Light of Madness x3
Dark Approach x3
Dark Fell About HimThe point here is two-fold: burden like crazy (mainly with Gollum), and slowly pick companions off (mostly with the Nazzies).
Two of the Gollums here (
Mad Thing and
Stinker ) add burdens, and the other (
Dark as Darkness ) can use those burdens to create twilight when needed.
Captured By The Ring can pull whatever version you need at the time from your deck or discard pile. Assuming he survives until regroup, you can then discard him with
Heavy Burden to turn the threats added by
CBTR into burdens.
Slippery As Fishes makes him very hard to kill (or even beat) at your river sites.
Wild Light of Madness adds eveb MORE burdens...or at least exertions. And
Not Yet Vanquished pairs with the other minions here to REALLY pile those burdens on...
...because the other minions are Nazzies, and are all fierce.
They're mainly here to slowly pick apart the fellowship, then slap
Lingering Shadow on companions and prevent them from healing without making corruption creep dangerously too close.
The Ring Draws Them uses those burdens to give you more twilight each turn, and between that and
Dark Approach (and
Black Shadow to pull it back a couple times), you should be able to get quite a few out by the later sites.
The sites, as I mentioned, play a key role in this deck as well.
SITES:
The Angle Anduin Banks Woody-End![[2]](https://lotrtcgdb.com/forums/Smileys/classic/2.png "2")
Mithlond Caras Galadhon Fords of Isen![[3]](https://lotrtcgdb.com/forums/Smileys/classic/3.png "3")
Old Forest Road The Prancing Pony![[4]](https://lotrtcgdb.com/forums/Smileys/classic/4.png "4")
Sirannon RuinsEach site directly aids one side of your deck or the other.
The Angle and
Woody-End are the bread and butter of Nazgul (and especially Forestguls), and pair with
Caras Galadhon and
Old Forest Road to give you enough forests for
Dark Approach to help you out, although not likely at its maximum until late in the game.
Old Forest Road certainly benefits your fellowship as well, as does
Fords of Isen (since your companions will likely be bearing at least 2 possessions).
The Prancing Pony pulls Glorfindel, if you recall. With a fellowship of only four companions,
Anduin Banks aids only YOUR Shadow side, hopefully dishing out more wounds to your opponent's fellowship.
Sirannon Ruins gives your Shadow plenty of twilight to play with when you need it, and can be dropped and pulled before your own fellowship reaches it with
Third of the Nine Riders. And the crown jewel is
Mithlond, which can ALSO be dropped, pulled, and redropped with
TotNR to force Lingering Shadowed companions to heal, and thus, add burdens. (And the healing it can provide for YOUR fellowship is nice, eh?)
This is a pretty rough draft, and I have no idea how well it would fare, but I DO like some of the stuff in here and think it could work rather well with some tweaks. So help me make those tweaks, eh?
I WANT you to tear this deck apart and tell me how awful parts of it are. That's the only way to make it better!
Topic: Elves Swimming Upriver w/ Gollum and Nazgûl Burdening (Read 8326 times)