Hobbit Choke / Moria Archery

[jcb213]

I had my first loss with this deck yesterday after 22 straight wins, so I thought I'd post it with it's 22-1 record.  It is a shadow kill deck, and has killed almost every decktype in TS.  The loss yesterday was to a man/elf deck playing Arwen, Elven Rider (who provided wound prevention and cycling to get around my choke) and Athelas x4, and I still was only 2 wounds from a kill.

Bid 1 (since Pippin will remove the burden) and go second if given the choice (most people choose to go first anyway).  The free people chokes like crazy, which should clog their hand with shadow cards making it harder for them to deal with your shadow.  Move one site at a time and pitch redundant cards with TAC.  Site 5 pulls Saruman BT to kill a key condition (Fortress Never Fallen, Talent for Not Being Seen, a vitality condition, etc).

TS Choke / Moria Archery
Ring-bearer: Frodo, Reluctant Adventurer
Ring: The One Ring, Answer To All Riddles

Adventure deck:
Eastemnet Downs
Plains of Rohan Camp
Golden Hall
White Mountains
Deeping Wall
Hornburg Hall
King's Room
Valley of Saruman
Palantir Chamber

Free Peoples Draw Deck:
1x Merry, Friend to Sam
1x Pippin, Hobbit of Some Intelligence
1x Sam, Faithful Companion
1x Thrarin, Dwarven Smith
1x Farmer Maggot, Chaser of Rascals
1x Rosie Cotton, Hobbiton Lass
1x Bill the Pony
2x Frying Pan
4x Hobbit Sword
1x Mithril-coat
4x Severed His Bonds
4x Swiftly and Softly
4x A Promise
4x A Talent for Not Being Seen
2x Escape
4x Fearing the Worst
2x There and Back Again

Shadow Draw Deck:
1x Saruman, Black Traitor
3x Archer Commander
4x Goblin Bowman
4x Goblin Marksman
4x Goblin Runner
3x Moria Archer Troop
2x Úlairë Enquëa, Lieutenant of Morgul
4x Goblin Scimitar
2x Host of Thousands
4x Goblin Armory
1x Goblin Swarms
3x Relics of Moria
3x They Are Coming

[dmaz]

I had to say something here, mostly because I saw 4 people using this deck in the most recent TS league on LOTR GEMP. Just found it interesting that this deck is being so widely used and no one has commented yet

It's a solid deck design and pretty resilient. Even when it loses it's conditions once (even twice) it has potential to bounce back.

I've also seen the Hobbits make a double to nine before quite easily when they realized they couldn't pull off the win with shadow.

As you mentioned before, the decks that did the best against it had options for card cycling (Unhasty Ents, Old Villain, etc), because MAN does that shadow choke!

[ramolnar]

jcb213, you seem to enjoy choke decks.

In TS, hobbit-choke is similar to Dauntless-choke. I think Hobbit choke is not as good because you're vulnerable to Saruman's Power, have no attacking power without archery, and don't run Elrond healer/Vilya condition bouncer. On the positive side, you choke even more than Dauntless and don't trigger Orc Insurgent, which helps against other options.

At the end of TS and into sets 7 and 8, Stupid Isengard swarm became popular in various places, including Chicago-Wisconsin. Why? To beat this type of deck, which it does - but stupid swarm loses to decks that can run 9 companions, like Big Rohan.

If you're going to run this deck, you absolutely must have Thror's Map to avoid Cavern Entrance. Besides that, it's fine. I'd like to see a little thinner deck, because you're very reliant on They Are Coming to pitch your deck. You could use the fourth.

[dmaz]

jcb213, you seem to enjoy choke decks.

In TS, hobbit-choke is similar to Dauntless-choke. I think Hobbit choke is not as good because you're vulnerable to Saruman's Power, have no attacking power without archery, and don't run Elrond healer/Vilya condition bouncer. On the positive side, you choke even more than Dauntless and don't trigger Orc Insurgent, which helps against other options.

At the end of TS and into sets 7 and 8, Stupid Isengard swarm became popular in various places, including Chicago-Wisconsin. Why? To beat this type of deck, which it does - but stupid swarm loses to decks that can run 9 companions, like Big Rohan.

If you're going to run this deck, you absolutely must have Thror's Map to avoid Cavern Entrance. Besides that, it's fine. I'd like to see a little thinner deck, because you're very reliant on They Are Coming to pitch your deck. You could use the fourth.

When I tried this deck in casual I added a fourth TAC and a single DH.

After reading your comment ramolnar, I do think the Thror's Map is probably a stronger addition than a single DH that you would probably not see very often at all since you wouldn't usually be going first and the site that pulls legolas is very rare to see.

[jcb213]

Wow, I haven't played this deck in at least a year.

jcb213, you seem to enjoy choke decks.

It's not so much that I enjoy choke so much as choke can be a very effective strategy.  One of the reasons that Movie Block is my favorite format is that it is much harder to choke in Movie and the choke isn't nearly as crippling either.