Twilight Nazgul Corruption

[FM]

So, I was playing against my wife on GCCG, and I usually crush her (both because she's still at a very early stage on playing card games, and because she plays Dwarves to my Fierce Nazguls), but every once in a while, she surprises me. Yesterday, I won a game I had no business winning, due to sheer luck, and was surprised by her a lot of times, which led me to the deck I want to discuss.
So, I was drawing bad. Like, really bad. All I was getting was Black Breaths and Drawn to Its Power (which I don't think playing 4 copies is the right thing to do, but I do so due to a lack of other cards - we only use our collections). First, she sniffed that, and rather than going cautiosly like she usually does, she played SEVEN companions and started to run for it (I think "f* Enquea, I know you're not drawing him anyway" were her exact words - and I didn't draw a single one, despite playing 3, for the remainder of the game). Then, I tried to keep up. My Fellowship has a really good time running against her after setting up, since I play Tanks to her Worry Uruks, which are kind of budget (no Savagery - she hasn't found out about it yet; and no Keeper of Isengard - she dislikes RotEL and won't buy boosters from it), so I just assigned the guy she played on site 2 to my Arwen, since Aragorn heals her for free anyway on site 3 and even if I decide to stop. Then, she played Lurt'z Battle Cry and screwed me over sideways. Props for her for finding the card, though (she stopped taking advice from me now and wants to do it on her own). But I digress. The point is, she ran 3-5 and 5-7 without me playing a single minion. On 8, I played a Tower Assassin to unclog only, and she moved to 9 with 4 burdens. I had 2 It Wants to be Found, 1 Twilight Witch-King , 1 Toldea and a Nazgul Sword (and a boatload of twilight due to her double-move and my complete inability to play anything). Also, my 4 Drawn to its Power already in play. Naturally, I played both Nazguls and events, upped her to 6 burdens and killed her with a single Toldea kill on a fierce skirmish, assigning him twice to a weak 3-vitality guy due to the damage+1 clause of his sword. She was pissed, saying it was kind of "inevitable", which gave me the idea for this Shadow (and the FP to accompany it, of course!), based on inevitability, which is as follows:

Shadow:
4x It Wants to be Found
4x Resistance becomes Unbearable
4x Wraith-world
3x Bill Ferny, Swarthy Sneering Fellow
4x The Witch King, Lord of the Nazgul
4x Ulaire Enquea, Ringwraith in Twilight
4x Ulaire Nelya, Ringwraith in Twilight
2x Ulaire Otsea, Lieutenant of Morgul
1x The Ring Draws Them
2x Morgul Skulker
2x His Terrible Servants
2x Helpless

The deck is a tad big but the FP is designed to counter this anyway. So, what makes this deck different from many others? Resilience. You don't care for allies, you don't care for killl conditions, you just want to make the Ring-bearer put that damned ring so you can Resistance + Wraith-world him out of the game (which, incidentally, is what you should go get with Skulker). So, why no Shotgun Enquea? Focus. You WANT as much twilight as possible, so let them rip through the table with companions, who cares? All you care about is Frodo! Why Ferny? Again, simple. Unless they draw Sting early (or Elbereth Gilthoniel, which screws you over on so many aspects it's not funny), Ferny is a free wound on Frodo. Later, he also helps Enquea wins skirmishes as a strength bonus. The rest is simple. Play a cheap Nazgul, burn the events, wound/burden Frodo and them drop The King (with Otsea, if at all possible). A single one of this mini-combo on site 5 is pretty much game, as Resistance + Wraith-world turns Enquea into a mini WK to keep the love going around.
So, since the decks needs its cards, I disigned it to go with this:

Sites:
The Prancing Pony (helps you a little, and tempts them to add a free burden for you)
Weathertop
Ford of Bruinen
Eregion Hills
The Bridge of Khazad-Dum
Caras Ghaladon
Silverlode Banks (might get you a free Frodo Exertion)
Shores of Nen-Hithoel (adds 9 twilight)
Summit of Amon-Hen

Frodo, Reluctant Adventurer bearing The One Ring, Isildur's Bane (because... why not?)
1x Gimli, Dwarf of Erebor (to unclog a little and set up a late-game bomb)
1x Legolas, Greenleaf
1x Aragorn, King in Exile
1x The Tale of Gil-Galad
1x The Saga of Elendil
2x Aragorn's Bow
2x Armor
1x Gimli's Helm
2x Gimli's Battle Axe
3x Endurance of Dwarves
2x Elrond, Lord of Rivendell
1x Gandalf, the Grey Pilgrim
3x Delving
1x Book of Mazarbul
1x Thrarin, Dwarven Speedbump
1x Grimir
2x Sting
1x O Elbereth, Gilthoniel
1x Mithril-Coat
1x Sam, son of Hamfast
4x Athelas
3x Hobbit Stealth

The goal here is simple: drawing cards. Book of Mazarbul means 1 extra card a turn for the late game, which I'm fine with, as is Gandalf. Delving + Grimir + Elrond + Aragorn + Gimli means I ALWAYS draw 4 cards later. Aragorn and Gimli can survive Uruks, they can clear out swarms, Aragorn can also tag-team with Greenleaf for a semi-choke (the deck adds little twilight during Fellowship, so large Nazguls are not that big of a trouble) combined with arrowy death, and Athelas keep you from losing to grinding strategies like Sauron Orcs and Black-Tip Nazguls, as well as reseting the archery.
I think the deck's focus is interesting enough that it might be considered a slightly new take on a somewhat overdone strategy for corruption, so I'm planing on tossing this at the missus Dwarves. If it CRUSHES them (it should, it's the easiest match-up for corruption in FotR Block), then it might be good against other stuff. Thoughts?

[FM]

That's mean! And... expected, at least from you. But seriously, you can't imagine how proud I was to get rolled over by Lurtz's Battle Cry out of the blue (she said it was just a singleton to see how it worked, but I'm not sure I can trust this info!).

[Imrahil]

I run a deck like this in Movie, but it would probably work better in Fellowship because the block lacks ATAR.  You're right that it can get totally mauled for six or seven sites and then suddenly win the game.  I love that instability. :-)

[FM]

The main thing I actually like about this one is, like I said, redundancy. No Gates of the Dead City shenanigans, no Drawn to Its Power, no Shotgun Enquea to "take down key companions" (you only care about the RB), no Twilight World to try and get around Elbereth Gilthoniel (it's actually easier to get around it using Enquea and Witch-King), no In the Ringwraith's Wake for "redundancy" (which ended up clogging your hand), no Return to its Master for "stealing wins", it's fair and simple. Play a Nazgul, do your shenanigans, wear out the Ring-bearer, Wraith him. Elegantly simple. I'm just worried it might not have enough Nazguls, but still, you only need 1 to unload, like, 3-4 events, so it SHOULD be ok.
PS: Added a sitepath.

[FM]

Wow, are people that uninterested in the format, the idea or our Forums just THAT slow nowadays? o.O
Or is it perfect already?

[hrcho]

Wow, are people that uninterested in the format, the idea or our Forums just THAT slow nowadays? o.O
Or is it perfect already?

Format, as far as I am concerned. But since I'm already here, I might say something constructive.

For shadow, I would throw out a copy of Bill Ferny, SSF or maybe even two. He is an awesome character, but AFAIK, 90% of FotR decks has either Greenleaf or Aragorn's Bow and HTS won't save Ferny from doom. I'd take Morgul Gates instead as Nazguls are quite costly AND you need twilight for your events AND you need twilight to keep your Nazgul alive with HTS AND FotR is all about choke.

For Freeps, I recommend switching one Athelas for Secret Sentinels.

[FM]

Secret Sentinels is an addition I planned on making already, but didn't due to not having a single copy yet (and I need 2 to buil Toolbox, my second FotR deck, again). As to Morgul Gates, I DID have them in that same slot, but ended up giving up on it, since you need to save Gates, a Nazgul and 1-2 events to make it worth it, meaning your hand would be VERY clogged. Also, a lot of people fear Nazgul, and won't burn arrows to kill Ferny, but then again, I'm not so sure he'll get me my RB wounds, so I might end up switching him out. If I do so, however, Enquea becomes really weak.

[hrcho]

Maybe cut back on your other events a bit. I'd remove at least 2 Resistance Becomes Unbearable and 1 Twilight World.

[FM]

But I don't play Twilight World, and how am I going to make Frodo put the ring with only 2 copies of Resistance Becomes Unbearable?

[hrcho]

But I don't play Twilight World...

I meant Wraith-world.

...and how am I going to make Frodo put the ring with only 2 copies of Resistance Becomes Unbearable?

With The Witch-king, LotN.

[uncle_elrond]

I really think that 4 Resistance Becomes Unbearable is the way to go.  Although I don't feel that 4 Wraith World is a good idea.  They usually end up getting stuck in the hand (I've played them many times, so I can vouch for that).  Maybe go down to 3 at the most.  Hrcho's idea for Morgul Gates is a good one; denial is too popular for you not to pack a couple copies.  Another thing to consider is Stricken Dumb which can hose O! Elebereth! Githoniel!  It's actually a more useful card than people give it credit for.

[FM]

But he's seldom fierce. I see what you mean about Wraith-World, though. Even supposing NO Nazgul of mine EVER adds a burden by wounding the Ring-bearer, I can still add 4 burdens with It Wants to Be Found (if I never cycle any back with Skulker), 1 with Eregion Hills and 9 with Wraith-World. Even if they slap down Sam, I'm still adding 11 burdens, AT LEAST. Perhaps I can cut one. Still, if I cut one, I don't think a singleton Ferny or Threshold of Shadow would do much good. I could alwas simply scale down to 35 cards each side, though. As for Stricken Dumb, I play it in my Nazgul deck, but didn't like it in this one as it requires exerting the Witch-King, which is something I don't want to do, since I already exert him for his ability, Resistance Becomes Unbearable and The Ring Draws Them (which, incidentally, is the main reason I DON'T play Morgul Gates, since it usually adds me the same 2 Morgul Gates would save, or even more later on.

[Imrahil]

I think you should keep all 4 Wraith-Worlds just for the sheer joy of having four in your deck.  In my deck, I don't even play It Wants To Be Found because I figure the point of the deck is exhaust Frodo and then go crazy.

Morgul Gates is a very good option in Fellowship Block, considering that in the early game, you'll generally end up with a King and 2-3 events, and only have the twilight for one of them.  Which is frustrating.

[FM]

Ok, so Ferny underperformed, as expected. I removed him, bumped Morgul Gates up to 4, and actually removed a Helpless, as I found out you are not THAT desperate to get rid of Sam, and the burden-removal part is already done damage anyway as soon as he drops. That being said, I don't really want to up the card count, but Enquea has been having some trouble winning skirmishes, and Nelya simply doesn't do enough for me. I'm thinking about cutting Nelyas, adding in some Threshold of Shadow and another Otsea to improve my odds of dropping a Fierce Witch-King, however, I think this actually makes my events that much worse and clogs my hand too much, so... thoughts? I'm not sure what to do. When it works, it's awesome, I pulled Witch-King-into-two-burdens-into-Wraith-world and sent my wife packing, from 5 to 10 in one shot, but other times I just can't do enough. Morgul Gates has been helping, but I'm not sure I need all 4, perhaps a 2/2 split with Threshold (Dark Whispers?) could make Enquea better. Also, twilight is not that big an issue, with The Ring Draws Them and the fact that I openly do not play Shotgun Enquea, so it's not unreasonable to see 7-companion Fellowships making a run for it against me, allowing me to play whatever I need.

[Imrahil]

The problem with Twilight Nazgul is essentially that.  When it works it's awesome, but when it doesn't work it's a hand-clogging mess.  I would really advise against Dark Whispers for the simple fact that it is unplayable until you have three burdens, and generally it's those first couple that are the hardest.  Your deck is not going to add burdens gradually like most corruptions decks, it's (hopefully) going to have a couple devastating sites and win the game off of those.  Threshold of Shadow is actually a good replacement for Ferny, with a couple Nazgul swords to make your Enquea (or Nelya) more dangerous.