Hasty Ents and Nasty Uruks (Towers Standard)

[Cave Troll Counsellor]

This is a fairly straightforward "Towers Standard" format deck (Sets 1-6, using TTT sites & Movie Block X-list) that I made a while back. I used my own physical cards, so certain strategies may not be maximised...yet. Strategy outline below decklist; as always I'd appreciate any suggestions/comments which might help make this deck better. It hasn't been beaten yet...  Though I've yet to SdA it.

Frodo, Old Bilbo's Heir w The One Ring, Isildur's Bane

Fellowship (33):

1x Sam, Samwise the Brave (starting)
1x Merry, Horticulturalist (starting)
1x Pippin, Hobbit of Some Intelligence (starting)
3x Quickbeam, Bregalad
3x Birchseed, Tall Statesman
1x Skinbark, Fladrif
1x Treebeard, Guardian of the Forest

1x Farmer Maggot, Chaser of Rascals

2x A Talent for Not Being Seen
2x Enraged
3x Ent Moot
1x Not Feared in Sunlight

1x A Wizard Is Never Late
3x Boomed and Trumpeted
3x Let Folly Be Our Cloak
3x Long Slow Wrath
3x Roused

Shadow (33):

2x Devilry of Orthanc
1x Worry
4x Saruman's Ambition

2x Bred For Battle
1x Evil Afoot
2x Lurtz's Battle Cry
1x One Of You Must Do This

1x Berserk Rager
1x Lieutenant of Orthanc
2x Lurtz, Servant of Isengard
1x Orthanc Berserker
1x Uruk Captain
3x Uruk Engineer
2x Uruk Fighter
2x Uruk Rear Guard
2x Uruk Regular
2x Uruk Sapper

3x Broad-bladed Sword

Sites:

Western Emyn Muil
Derndingle
Golden Hall
White Rocks
Deep of Helm
Caves of Aglarond
Hornburg Wall
Valley of Saruman
Palantir Chamber

Basic strategy: bid to go second and aim for a shadow kill, although the Ents can help run if the Uruks are proving ineffectual. The Uruks are all big guys who usually win skirmishes (with the exception of the sappers/engineers who are there to fuel Devilry of Orthanc) Saruman's Ambition+Bred For Battle can overwhelm smaller companions, Lurtz's Battle Cry can surprise the larger freeps. Simple but usually works if you're patient and wait for the twilight to build up. Golden Hall can also be a big surprise to the 'over-prepared' 

Ents/hobbits are similarly straightforward. Let Folly Be Our Cloak is the key card in some ways, working along with A Talent for Not Being Seen, keeping the twilight down. Birchseed cycles the deck and heals the hobbits who exert to launch Treebeard at larger minions. Frodo keeps Maggot going. Ents have the boosters they need. Again, simple stuff, maybe it's all too familiar to you guys but I'm a relatively new player so comments appreciated...

Thanks!

[Pepin The Breve]

   Maybe you can change Birchseed for Linderoot, you probably won´t need his text too much since your hobbits aren´t designed to fight and you can heal them with FM. Maybe put some hobbits swords or other stuff to save your hobbits if they face a minion, cause st3 companion can be easly overwhelmed and you probably will have some trouble against a swarm shadow...

[SomeRandomDude]

Why not Fangorn Forest? I don't really like Let Folly Be Our Cloak, I'd prefer running some Gandalf and his toys, like, Deep In Thought, Sleep, Caradhras or Grown Suddenly Tall. Gandalf, The White Wizard in particular.

Drop your multiple copies of companions and run 4 copies of A Wizard Is Never Late. Swap out Sam and Quickbeam in their positions, starting Quickbeam is just that awesome. Actually, I'd cut Sam out completely. I'd also run 3 Hobbit Swords and Merry, From O'er the Brandywine over the current Merry, Maggot is good, but not that good, and your hobbits should be able to fight anyways.

On the Shadow side, Greed, a card that should be in every deck, IMO.

Isn't Savagery to Match Their Numbers legal in TT Standard? It may be restricted, but even so, run one copy, if not, run 4.

Also, maybe try Orthanc Champion, I love him.

[Cave Troll Counsellor]

Hmmm. Fangorn Forest is good, so I'd prob put that in, but this deck is really designed to go second. I quite like Let Folly Be Our Cloak , especially since Maggot can usually negate 1/2 of the exertions. Ditching Sam downgrades the -2 benefit of Talent, but good point about small hobbits. How does this look for freeps then? I'd like to do without Gandalf this time around...


Frodo, Old Bilbo's Heir w The One Ring, Isildur's Bane

Fellowship (33):

1x Merry, From O'er the Brandywine (starting)
1x Pippin, Hobbit of Some Intelligence (starting)
1x Quickbeam, Bregalad (starting)
1x Lindenroot, Elder Shepherd
1x Skinbark, Fladrif
1x Treebeard, Guardian of the Forest
1x Birchseed, Tall Statesman

1x Farmer Maggot, Chaser of Rascals

1x A Talent for Not Being Seen
2x Enraged
3x Ent Moot
1x Not Feared in Sunlight

4x A Wizard Is Never Late
3x Boomed and Trumpeted
2x Let Folly Be Our Cloak
3x Long Slow Wrath
3x Roused

3x Hobbit Sword****

[Gil-Estel]

I did something simular like this, but then with merry from EoF, that is discarded in regroup to heal a Gandalf comp. I played the Treebeard aly to stack him there and replay it in the next fellowship.....

[Cw0rk]

Here are the issues I see in your fellowship:
- You have no condition removal.
- You have no possession removal.

Without both of them, you are going to lose many games... vs Moria, Sauron Wounding (well you have some nice healing), vs Dunland... etc. Sam is going to protect you against Corruption which is fine.

The easiest way to solve this problem is by adding Gandalf with Roll of Thunder and Deep in Thought (or another condition removals). If you don't want to add Gandalf, ents also have their own condition removal (I don't remember the name, maybe someone can help).

Also, it looks like you are trying to mix 'choke' with Ents. From my point of view, this is a weird mix ever as I consider Ents to be the fellowship that gives the biggest number of twilight.... but maybe it can help you if you remove some.

I saw you just changed Horticulturalist for O'er the Brandywine. I prefer Horticultularist as you already have some strong companions, healing is going to be more important. I don't like Let folly be our cloak.

To be honest, your shadow looks a bit mixed up... using different strategies... but I think it can do fine as adding wound will help you kill companions in skirmish phase. Greed x2 is a must.

[ket_the_jet]

I think I would rather see Gandalf in there than Sam. Roll of Thunder and Grown Suddenly Tall aren't a problem when you are running Ents...

Treebeard, Lindenroot, and Ent Horde are also nice...

Keep in mind that Uruk Regular is X-Listed for Towers Standard.
-wtk

[Gil-Estel]

Ket, where can you find that the Regular is X-ed. I go through the entire debate about movieblock, and I am not able to find it.