Gondor knights-Threat Raiders

[Imrahil]

Gondor Knights-Thread Raiders

Free Peoples- 34 cards

Starting:
Isildur, BoH
The One Ring, AtaR

Alcarin, WoL
Turgon, MoB

Companions:

Aragorn, CoG
Faramir, DoO
Imrahil, PoDA x2
Ingold
Sam, SoH
Garrison of Gondor

Conditions

Fifth Level x3
Sixth Level x3
Fourth Level x3
Strong and Old
Citadel of the Stars

Possessions

Gondor Bow x3
Knight's Mount x2
Catapult x2
Armor
Gondorian Sword x2


Events:

Might of Numenor x2
Men of Numenor x2


Shadow: 34 cards

Minions:

Desert Fighter x3
Desert Soldier x2
Southron Traveler x2
Southron Bandit x3
Mumak Chieftain x2
Southron Captain x2
Army of Haradrim

Possessions:
Mumak x4
Raider Bow x4

Conditions:

Rallying Call x3
Line of Defense x2
Cast Unto the Winds x2

Events:

Red Wrath x2
Fierce in Despair x2

So the Free People's side is fairly basic condition-based knights.  I pack Citadel and Alcarin/Armor to get around the Captain (who shows up a lot in my meta) and catapult for condition discard.  I think my main complaint with this deck is that it requires a lot of exertions to operate, and is very naked if the forts get stripped.

The minion side is something I've been playing with for a while without actually getting it to work.  it has the potential to be devastating and yet I find that i have to get lucky draws for it to work properly.  Without the right combos it just tends to clog my hand.

So what do you guys think?  what am I missing here?

[hrcho]

In my Threat Raiders my main combo: Mumak Chieftain + Mumakil + Seasoned Leader + Field of the Fallen = Death. I throw in some Southron Chieftain to help with initiative and when I manage to get Southron Captain on Mumakil with 4 threats around...

Field of the Fallen is, IMO, the best yellow card.
 
Replace Raider Bow with Seasoned Leader and replace Fierce in despair with Field of the Fallen. Add 2 more Mumak Chieftain. Remove all copies of Southron Traveler and Southron Bandit and add Southron Savage.

I have recently found out just how good Southron Savage is (through some painful losses against jmccarthy). Very cheap and very easily strong and fierce. Also switch Mumak with Mumakil (Mumak doesn't work well with Southron Savage) and you've got yourself a very powerful Raider Threat deck. Also, seeing as you probably won't have the twilight for it, Red Wrath becomes redundant.

[Witchkingx5]

you forgot to mention the most important point: Cast Unto the Winds is just crap. Seriously.

Don't forget to add High Vantage.

[hrcho]

Cast Unto the Winds can be useful... but not if you make the changes I mentioned because you won't have the twilight needed.. I always preferred Line of Defense over High Vantage in Mumak decks. And Seasoned Leader can help you bring your conditions back.

[Witchkingx5]

high vantage is a very good backup plan if your opponent has a) condition discard (discard Line of Defense) or b) possesion discard (discard mumak). You can bring back Line of Defense, but it's pretty costy. Maybe Raider Halberd?

[ket_the_jet]

Four copies of Mumak Chieftain!

Why do you have two copies of Imrahil, Prince of Dol Amroth? Definitely not necessary. Also, Ingold should be starting with Alcarin. Another copy of Citadel of the Stars and a copy of Stone Tower are my favorites over Fifth Level (which hurts if you are playing Saruman's Power).

Why Armor? I'd suggest Coat of Mail or Footman's Armor for Isildur.

Men of Numenor isn't necessary.
-wtk

[Imrahil]

I like Field of the Fallen too, but I don't have a single copy of Seasoned Leader. :-)

Cast Unto the Winds is actually one of my favourite cards in the deck, because it forces my opponent to kill all of my minions or risk losing somebody important in Regroup.  This deck generates a lot of twilight, so I usually have enough to use CUoW at least a couple of times.

I don't know if I can cut the Southron Travelers.  I have to play a lot of wounding decks in my meta (with the Rohan/hobbit variety being perhaps the most annoying), and so there are a lot of games where I wish I'd pack more Travelers, rather than less.

Southron Savage would require an entirely different deck, as hrcho astutely noted.

I've only got two copies of Mumak Chieftain, or else I would be using four.

Imrahil with a Knight's mount provides knights with some badly needed damage bonuses.  He allows me to kill minions without having to burn forts.  I like Ingold, but Turgon's maneuver wounding is too good to pass up.  He and Alcarin both combo with Fifth Level (as my only fort that transfers in maneuver), and once Alcarin has Armor I can use the "assign to heal" trick to foil minions with large damage bonuses.

Men of Numenor is partially swarm protection, partially corsair-hate.  It gives me the freedom to kill any minion on the board when combined with Fourth Level, and it allows me to kill the Castamir even if my bows get discarded.

Stone Tower would be a good addition, but I'm not likely to ever face an enduring nazgul deck in my meta (I own the only one).  I am likely to see a lot of Besiegers, Corsairs and Captain Crunch.

[hrcho]

I like Field of the Fallen too, but I don't have a single copy of Seasoned Leader. :-)

Aye, Field of the Fallen may still come in handy, but it's not as great without Seasoned Leader so you're probably better without it.

I still think you don't need Raider Bow. Definitely not 4 copies. If you wish to add twilight in some manner, Raider Halberd may be a better choice for your deck, since you do need to win, or at least survive skirmishes to use Cast Unto the Winds.

Due to new revelations, I say remove 2 copies of Fierce in Despair for some skirmish events and remove all copies of Raider Bow for 2 copies of Raider Halberd and 2 copies of some minions. Maybe Troop of Haradrim or Desert Nomad. Desert Nomad can be quite deadly if equipped with Mumak and Raider Halberd and he has much lower requirements than Southron Captain e.g.

[ket_the_jet]

I think that Fourth Level and Gondor Bow or Citadel of the Stars really beat any need for damage bonuses. Rinse, and repeat for the next site with Sixth Level.

Really all you need.
-wtk

[Imrahil]

Oh the forts work great against big minions.  It's when you run into a spray of smaller minions that the deck has issues.  I was playing a game against Uruk Trackers when I first realized that I needed Imrahil badly.

[ket_the_jet]

I don't know...between Might of Numenor and the potential for Sapling of the White Tree, I don't think you need to worry about Shotgun Enquea...you could just play 9 companions.

I often do with my Knights deck.
-wtk