By popular request, here's the latest version of this deck (Madril
Mk 16):
Starting Fellowship:
Ring-bearer:
Frodo, Resolute HobbitRing:
The One Ring, The Great Ring1x
Faramir, Captain of Ithilien1x
Ranger of the White Tree1x
Madril, Defender of Osgiliath1x
Pippin, Wearer of Black and Silver1x
Smeagol, Always HelpsAdventure deck:
The Bridge of Khazad-dumCavern EntranceSteward's TombNeekerbreekers' BogMithlondDammed Gate-streamMount DoomThe Prancing PonySirannon RuinsFree Peoples Draw Deck:
3x
Gandalf, Wise Guide1x
Grimbeorn, Beorning Chieftain1x
Smeagol, Always Helps1x
Aragorn, Thorongil1x
Madril, Defender of Osgiliath1x
Albert Dreary, Entertainer From Bree1x
Barliman Butterbur, Prancing Pony Proprietor1x
Beorning Axe1x
Shadowfax, Greatest of the Mearas1x
Aragorn's Bow, Ranger's Longbow2x
Ithilien Blade2x
Ranger's Cloak3x
Throne of Minas Tirith4x
A Wizard Is Never Late1x
Citadel to Gate3x
Deep in Thought1x
On Your Doorstep2x
Traveled Leader4x
Something Slimy1x
Last Throw4x
What Are They?1x
Don't Look at Them1x
Follow Smeagol1x
Gladden Homestead1x
Houses of Healing1x
Stewards' Legacy1x
Storied Homestead1x
The Faithful Stone4x
Deagol, Fateful Finder1x
Robin Smallburrow, Shirriff Cock-RobinShadow Draw Deck:
1x
Gollum, Old Villain1x
Grima, Servant of Another Master2x
Grima, Wormtongue2x
Mumak Commander, Giant Among the Swertings3x
The Mouth of Sauron, Messenger of Mordor2x
The Balrog, Demon of Might3x
Gothmog, Morgul Leader2x
Sauron, The Lord of the Rings1x
Bill Ferny, Swarthy Sneering Fellow3x
Morgul Squealer1x
The Witch-king, Morgul King1x Úlairë Cantëa, Faster Than Winds
2x Úlairë Enquëa, Lieutenant of Morgul
1x Úlairë Enquëa,
Sixth of the Nine Riders1x Úlairë
Nelya, Third of the Nine Riders2x Úlairë Nertëa,
Dark Horseman3x
Ships of Great Draught1x
Ithil Stone4x
Captured by the Ring2x
Led Astray3x
Sudden Strike4x
Saruman's Power3x
Evil-smelling Fens3x
Howdah2x
Rapid Reload1x
Saruman, Servant of SauronOnly a few minor changes this time around:
Took out one
On Your Doorstep and replaced it with
Barliman Butterbur, PPP. Somehow I never realized how amazing this guy can be! If you're in front,
Barliman Butterbur, PPP +
Traveled Leader +
Mithlond = Everybody heals every turn! And, of course, now I don't have to worry so much about whether to hold a key Gandalf event I can't use yet.
Took out
New-awakened, put a 3rd
Deep In Thought back in. I had added
New-awakened as a counter to a deck I've seen a couple of times that essentially plays no minions! It just plays
The Number Must Be Few, and then never gives you a chance to discard it in Maneuver. My thought was to cancel it with
New-Awakened in Fellowship... but the odds of drawing that one event are terrible, and the odds of facing that deck are also very low. I think I'd have just as much luck trying to figure out what I'm playing against, and then wiping out my own guys whenever possible, if I've already played too many.
Took out one
Grima, Wormtongue and replaced it with
Grima, Servant of Another Master. This was a suggestion from Pepi as a counter to
Gil-galad, High King of the Noldor decks. It's been great for that, as well as for a lot of other deck strategies that center on using a key companion's special abilities.
Took out the two copies of
Isengard Smith (rarely got to use him) and one copy of
The Mouth of Sauron, Messenger of Mordor (3 is plenty), and replaced these with 3x
Sudden Strike (a great suggestion upthread from Shelobplayer). These have really done a great job of pulling out exactly what I need to screw over any particular deck type.
Added 2x
Led Astray (a good suggestion from Ramolnar to up my site manipulation as another counter to
Gil-galad, High King of the Noldor decks), and took out one Úlairë Enquëa, Lieutenant of Morgul and one Úlairë
Nelya, Third of the Nine Riders (figured
Led Astray is better) in order to make room.
Took out one
Howdah, and replaced it with a fourth copy of
Saruman's Power. Condition discard is a vital counter to a lot of deck strategies. Gollum's tricks should help me get a Grima when I need one, but I have to draw the event. So, more events! I figured I can do without a single Archery one-shot.
And now, a focus on the Shadow side! I've seen quite a few people playing variations of this deck's FP side, but I don't think I've ever seen anyone play with the Shadow side! I often hear comments to the tune of, "Your Shadow side makes no sense," and "I don't understand your Shadow side." IMO, my Shadow side is the best "rainbow" Shadow out there. It uses every culture except for Uruk-hai and Dunland. Everything serves a purpose, and I'll attempt to explain how it all works together. So here's a look at the Shadow side, in detail:
Shadow Draw Deck:
1x
Gollum, Old Villain-I originally put him in for cycling, then added more and more support cards. It's really amazing what this guy can do to support other minions! He's like the Gandalf of the Shadow culture! He adds threats, adds twilight, replaces sites, pulls minions out of your draw deck, and then recycles them later! He even soaks up Archery.
1x
Grima, Servant of Another Master-Almost like a mini
Cavern Entrance that I can pull with
Sudden Strike or recycle with
Evil-smelling Fens. If the opponent is relying on a key companion's special abilities, This Grima takes care of that. And then there's
Saruman's Power, of course.
2x
Grima, Wormtongue-Really knocks those giant Dwarfs back down to Dwarf-size, and fouls up the opponent's hand for a turn too. And then there's
Saruman's Power, of course.
2x
Mumak Commander, Giant Among the Swertings-This guy serves two purposes: To team up with Úlairë Enquëa, Lieutenant of Morgul to kill a guy with lots of vitality, and also to help exhaust key problem companions, like
Cirdan,
Eowyn, Lady of Ithilien, or
Legolas, Greenleaf.
3x
The Mouth of Sauron, Messenger of Mordor-This guy is primarily a deck-cycling tool, pulling out the various copies of
Howdah and
Rapid Reload. Then, once you get to site 5, he can sometimes exhaust-out an entire fellowship with
Rapid Reload, if there's enough twilight.
2x
The Balrog, Demon of Might-Originally added as a counter against other Madril decks. Skipping the Maneuver and Archery phases is a great counter to a whole bunch of different deck strategies, and restricting his assignment to the more powerful companions is icing on the cake. Not to mention 3 damage and fierce! This guy is great.
3x
Gothmog, Morgul Leader-Cheap archery, and a powerful guy if you play out a cheap guy with him (like Gollum or Grima) to take the extra FP Archery hits. Or, if you're playing against those Hobbits that only seem to heal MORE when you play guys for them to fight, just play Gothmog and put hits on them, until you're ready to hit them hard and get rid of their conditions.
2x
Sauron, The Lord of the Rings-The biggest minion in the game. If you get enough twilight to put this guy out, it's almost guaranteed to be two kills. Plus, once the burdens and threats start adding up, he actually gets pretty cheap!
1x
Bill Ferny, Swarthy Sneering Fellow-This guy is both a Madril counter, and also like having an extra Úlairë Nertëa,
Dark Horseman. His best use is against decks that use alternate Ring-bearers. Put him on that Gimli or that Isildur, and your opponent's deck isn't looking so good. Only one copy allowed, so this is a good guy you can get with either
Sudden Strike or
Morgul Squealer.
3x
Morgul Squealer-Speak of the devil. If your opponent puts out 6 companions and a bunch of twilight, look out! Here he comes with a bunch of terrible Nazgul! If your opponent sticks to 5 companions but uses an alternate Ring-bearer,
Sudden Strike will get your Bill Ferny or
Dark Horseman out, and
Morgul Squealer will keep those guys coming in future turns.
1x
The Witch-king, Morgul King-He's a powerful Nazgul. But if there's a threat (and with Gollum there probably will be), he's also a bit like a
Morgul Squealer! And then there's that whole "Ring-bearer cannot take threat wounds" thing.
Gimli's Helm? Not today you don't!
1x Úlairë Cantëa, Faster Than Winds
-Adds more threats, and gets rid of key possessions! What's not to like? If the opponent is able to stop one of your maneuver actions (via Steward's Legacy or
Ithilien Blade or whatever), playing this guy with Úlairë Enquëa, Lieutenant of Morgul can really cause him a dilemma.
2x Úlairë Enquëa, Lieutenant of Morgul
-The classic, and still strong. I think everybody is pretty familiar with this guy, enough said.
1x Úlairë Enquëa,
Sixth of the Nine Riders-Having been on the business end of this guy many times myself, he can really cripple a large fellowship quite rapidly. You need quite a bit of twilight to pull him off, but large fellowships will often give it to you. This guy is particularly good against other Madril decks. Can't swing that Blade if you're exhausted!
1x Úlairë
Nelya, Third of the Nine Riders-It's nice to be able to change a key site, either to screw over his fellowship, or for yourself so you can play that site over again later. Sometimes it's also good to have a strength 10 guy who isn't roaming at site 2.
2x Úlairë Nertëa,
Dark Horseman-Amazing against mono-culture decks, and can still be pretty effective even against rainbows. I think most are probably already familiar with this guy.
3x
Ships of Great Draught-Madril decks are strong! This is the answer.
Ships of Great Draught serves no other purpose in this deck other than to counter other Madril decks... which it does very effectively. And if you get two out at once, it's very difficult to get rid of (because they can recycle each other), unless the opponent has
Throne of Minas Tirith with some token action. Still, the most effective way to use this card, is to hold it until you are confident you can immediately kill Madril (usually with Úlairë Enquëa, Lieutenant of Morgul).
1x
Ithil Stone-This deck has enough Ringwraith culture cards to get this out pretty easily once you draw it. After that, it's great having that extra card each Shadow phase, and also great to play
Sauron, The Lord of the Rings for a little bit cheaper.
4x
Captured by the Ring-Pretty straightforward. Gets your Gollum, adds threats. And costs nothing, so it's very easy to cycle.
2x
Led Astray-The power of being able to reuse a key site, and also add 3 twilight at the same time... well it's pretty amazing. I've complained about this card in the past because it really is super-annoying... but I can't fault its effectiveness!
3x
Sudden Strike-Pull any minion out of your draw deck. Whatever it is that will mess them over the most. For a cost of 2, you've basically got a Shadow side wild card! And if you're playing against a Madril deck that uses Smeagol, you can play
Sudden Strike to get out Gollum plus
Ships of Great Draught!
4x
Saruman's Power-The most powerful condition bomb in the game... and absolutely vital if you're going up against Solo Smeagol, or Hobbits with their pesky 4x
Scouring of the Shire. It's practically the only way to stop them, IMO. I'm just glad I don't see more people using
Bill the Pony, Dearly Loved. Frankly, I'm amazed they don't, seems like a no-brainer awesome combo to me.
3x
Evil-smelling Fens-Kind of like
Sudden Strike, except for your discard pile! Whatever minion will mess them over the most... he's back again, thanks to Gollum! Plus this is a cheap condition you can easily cycle out of your hand.
3x
Howdah-Cheap Archery, quickly filtered out of your deck by
The Mouth of Sauron, Messenger of Mordor, and quickly cycled out of your hand because it costs nothing. Then you get to save it up and use it when it works best... which is often in conjunction with
Gothmog, Morgul Leader.
2x
Rapid Reload-You can really catch a fellowship with its pants down if they generate a huge amount of twilight, and you're ready with this. Exhaust EVERYBODY, and then pick the survivors off with regular Archery later. And don't forget that this card also counters those irritating
Traveled Leader and
There's Another Way cards!
1x
Saruman, Servant of Sauron-Fabulous card. Cheap, easy to cycle, and then it can sit in your support area making your opponent nervous. Best not to use it though, unless you are very confident that he can't kill the guy you put it on.
Well, that's the Shadow side! It occurs to me that some of the sites are also a key part of the Shadow strategy, so let me run through them as well:
The Bridge of Khazad-dum-A cheap site for you, but a cheap site for you playing The Balrog on them as well.
Cavern Entrance-It can be vitally important to stop their skirmish special abilities in order to kill them, especially if they're running
The One Ring, The Great Ring. Also a good Balrog site.
Steward's Tomb-More and more I find myself putting this on one of the sanctuaries, when once I would never have imagined wanting to do that! But I find I can pretty effectively heal myself, and stopping your opponent from healing can often be the difference that wins you the game.
Neekerbreekers' Bog-What could be better than a site that heals all your guys, but exerts all of theirs? Not much! Again, a key site. Especially if you're able to recycle it.
Mount Doom-If your opponent is running site manipulation, this is the only way to stop it... at least for one Region. I recommend playing this in Region 2, and then (potentially) playing
Steward's Tomb at site 6. Also a good Balrog site.
Sirannon Ruins-Biggest twilight site of the game. Nothing fancy, just a lot of twilight!
That covers it. Thoughts?
ETA:
Final stats for
Mk 16: 81.8% win rate out of 137 games