New to the forum, need some advice!

[Gollum]

Hi!

I used to play lotr back in the days, but I'm new to the forum. Going nostalgic, some friends and I picked up the cards again. The decks that our group tend to play are; elven telepathy/besiegers, rohan/beatdown nazgul, gondor wraiths/urukhai, hobbit ally/moria, and gondor knights/shelob. Now and then there's a last alliance/sauron wounding that crops up. So. We have quite some diversity.

I am looking to make a solid deck that can tackle most of them in some way or another. My thought is a Noble leaders deck and pair ut up with either Easterlings or Corsairs. Any suggestions as to which pair-up will work best? Looking around the threads it seems as if every Noble Leader deck uses Isildur as ring bearer. Is this a 'must' to be effective? (back in the days we all used Frodo...). Do I add Gondor Bowmen (a personal favourite of mine...)? And is it worth trying to fit Elrond, Elven Lord into the deck? My thought was to have his ability to heal my Gondor heroes, and his ring to counter shadow conditions.

Never played corsairs before. They all seem weak appart from Castamir. Is that just my ignorance speaking? Are they a viable option?

[thetimewarptrio]

Maybe it's just me, but wouldn't it make more sense to use Boromir, Bearer of Council in a Noble Leaders deck? That way you can start with three of your four leaders out, if you start with Faramir, Captain of Gondor, and Denethor, Lord of Minas Tirith. Unless my playing of that is somehow flawed. I only use Isildur as ring bearer in my knight deck. I always splash Gondor Bowmen in every Gondor deck I use, simply because it helps round out the deck and could provide useful fodder to protect my other conditions that may be on the table at the time when an opponent goes to discard.

I've never played corsairs either, and simply because my collection of them is rather small (I did pull a Castamir in a SoG pack once) I have never run them. I have made a decent Easterling/Sauron burden deck though, which when somebody else (I play 5 player games with my collection and friends, it gets pretty ugly fast) has a Gollum deck, those two partnered togehter are nasty. 

[malo]

hi, i see your post. then, i deceide to post my list:

shadow corsair (34):

3 black numenorean
2 quelled
2 corsair war gallery
1 fierce in despair
2 ship of the great draught
4 castamir of umbar
4 wind that sped ships
4 corasir marauder
4 black sails of umbar
4 corsair boatswain
4 corsair plunderer

i play it with gondor knight

my gondor noble leader (34)

starting:

boromir, bearer of council
denethor 10r28
faramir captain of gondor

3 war and valor
3 sappling of the white tree
3 noble leaders
2 sword of gondor
4 gondor bowmen
2 aragorn ranger of the north
1 legolas greenleaf
2 elendil the tall
1 scroll of isildur
1 anduril king's blade
2 isildur bearer of herloom
1 the shards of narsil
1 vorondil
1 ring of barahir
1 aragorn's bow
1 ranger of ithilien
1 faramir's bow
1 narzil
1 seing stone of orthanc

this deck is very strong. in france, we ban save from the fire

2 burden easterling (36):

4 easterling footman
4 easterling army
4 easterling captain
4 small hope
4 vision from afar
4 easterling skirmisher
4 easterling axeman
4 easterling pollearm
4 raider bow

[Gollum]

I can see the benefit of having three leaders in the starting fellowship, yes. But then its hard to have him as a major fighter if he's the ring bearer no? 3 burdens or wound him twice? Is it not better to have another ring bearer and use Boromirs ability as a fighter to help you double/tripple move?

[thetimewarptrio]

Maybe, but then you're banking on pulling 2 of your leaders instead of one of them, which reduces the effectiveness of Noble Leaders. I like it because then from the start you can throw things that are useful on Boromir, like his shield, cloak, sword, Saga of Elendil, etc.

It really comes down to what you prefer to use. Do you hit the ground running and take the risk that comes with Boromir, or do you play it safe and hope for a decent setup with Frodo?

Personally, I never have built a deck around Noble Leaders, simply because I think it's a less useful version of Trust Me As You Once Did that takes more to setup. It might be nice to splash, but to build around? ehhh...

[Gollum]

Is this something most people agree on? - that a deck based on Noble Leaders is not the way to go? Would I be more successful in using knights or some sort of last alliance setup instead? (if possible, I'd want my fellowship to include Elendil and Boromir).

[malo]

hi, i have a list of knight, with elendil.

starting:

isildur
denethor 10r28
ingold

4 sixth level
4 fourth level
2 citadel of the stars
1 strong and old
1 scroll of isildur
1 garnison of osgiliath
1 narzil
1 anduril flame of the west
3 knight's spear
4 gondor bow
4 sappling the white tree
1 elendil
1 imrahil
1 aragorn captai of gondor
1 vorondil
1 garnison og gondor
1 faramir defender of osgilliath

[bibfortuna25]

Alcarin is a better start than Denethor, IMO.

[Shelobplayer]

Is this something most people agree on? - that a deck based on Noble Leaders is not the way to go? Would I be more successful in using knights or some sort of last alliance setup instead? (if possible, I'd want my fellowship to include Elendil and Boromir).

I think Noble Leaders is definitely a great card, and can easily see 1-2 played in just about any sort of deck that can spot at least Aragorn and Faramir, but in movie block there are not enough interactions with tokens to completely build a deck around it.

In other formats where you get cards like Throne of Minas Tirith or Guarded City, and also additional strong token based conditions, it is possible to build a deck with NL as a key card.

[zen89]

Try this decklist. You definitely want to start Boromir as the RB--he gives you an extra token for Noble Leaders, and Boromir isn't a particularly impressive skirmisher in Movie Block. Elendil, Aragorn, Faramir, and even Denethor are all better fighters. It's more important to have the extra token.

IMO the best way to run a Noble Leaders deck is to use the condition as a supplementary strategy to a Gondor/Gandalf SttF build that sets up quickly, can remove conditions and possessions easily, has huge skirmishers, and can triple/quadruple move. 

Ring-bearer: Boromir, Bearer of Council
Ring: The One Ring, Answer To All Riddles

Adventure deck:
Steps of Edoras
King's Tent
Hall of the Kings
City of the Dead
City Gates
Minas Tirith Sixth Circle
Osgiliath Crossing
Cross Roads
Haunted Pass

Free Peoples Draw Deck:
1x Gandalf, Leader of Men
1x Radagast, The Brown
2x Aragorn, Ranger of the North
1x Denethor, Wizened Steward
2x Elendil, The Tall
1x Faramir, Son of Denethor
1x Ranger of Ithilien
1x Sam, Son of Hamfast
1x Barliman Butterbur, Prancing Pony Proprietor
1x Glamdring
1x Gondorian Sword
1x Gandalf's Staff
1x Anduril, Flame of the West
2x Narsil, Blade of the Faithful
4x Sapling of the White Tree
1x Scroll of Isildur
2x Grown Suddenly Tall
3x Roll of Thunder
4x Saved From the Fire
3x Sharpen Your Swords
3x Noble Leaders

Shadow Draw Deck:
4x Black Numenorean
4x Castamir of Umbar
4x Corsair Marauder
4x Corsair Plunderer
1x Úlairë Enquëa, Lieutenant of Morgul
4x Black Sails of Umbar
3x Corsair War Galley
2x Raider Halberd
3x Ships of Great Draught
3x Discovered
1x Fierce in Despair
2x Red Wrath
2x Wind That Sped Ships