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Author Topic: Uglúk soup shadow (Uglúk's Sword) + Gondor control  (Read 4741 times)

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November 02, 2015, 05:28:11 PM
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Shelobplayer

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Uglúk soup shadow (Uglúk's Sword) + Gondor control
« on: November 02, 2015, 05:28:11 PM »
Here is my current list for Uglúk's Sword. It is paired with a fairly typical [Gondor] control fellowship. Not optimal, but it has cards that I just WANT to play. Record so far is 8-0, plus a few times that I timed out without noticing that someone actually joined my table (I want the alarm horn back), but I haven't actually lost a game with this deck yet.

Ring-bearer: Faramir, Bearer of Quality
Ring: The One Ring, The Binding Ring

Adventure deck:
Buckland Homestead
Woody-End
Breeding Pit of Isengard
Steward's Tomb
Cavern Entrance
Neekerbreekers' Bog
Mithlond
Dammed Gate-stream
Mount Doom

Free Peoples Draw Deck:
1x Dasron, Merchant from Dorwinion
1x Gandalf, Returned
3x Gandalf, Wise Guide
1x Smeagol, Poor Creature
1x Aragorn, Strider
1x Denethor, Lord of Minas Tirith
3x Elendil, High-King of Gondor
1x Gondorian Prowler
1x Madril, Defender of Osgiliath
1x Albert Dreary, Entertainer From Bree
3x Barliman Butterbur, Prancing Pony Proprietor
2x Shadowfax, Greatest of the Mearas
1x Aragorn's Bow, Ranger's Longbow
1x Armor
1x Faramir's Bow
1x Flaming Brand
4x Ithilien Blade
1x Anduril, Sword That Was Broken
1x Narsil, Forged by Telchar
1x Scroll of Isildur
1x Throne of Minas Tirith
4x A Wizard is Never Late
2x Citadel to Gate
1x New-awakened
4x Saved From the Fire
2x Speak "Friend" and Enter
2x Traveled Leader
4x Something Slimy
2x What Are They?
1x Long-stemmed Pipe
1x Follow Smeagol
1x Gladden Homestead
3x Noble Leaders
1x Soldier's Cache
3x Stewards' Legacy
2x Storied Homestead
1x The Faithful Stone
1x Pallando, Far-travelling One
3x Deagol, Fateful Finder
1x Elendil's Army

Shadow Draw Deck:
2x Gollum, Her Sneak
1x Gollum, Old Villain
2x Shelob, Her Ladyship
1x Grima, Chief Counselor
1x Grima, Wormtongue
2x Uruk Captain
1x The Balrog, Demon of Might
4x Grishnakh, Treacherous Captain
1x Southron Leader
2x The Mouth of Sauron, Lieutenant of Barad-dur
3x Mauhur, Relentless Hunter
1x Merciless Berserker
2x Shagrat, Tower Captain
4x Ugluk, Ugly Fellow
1x Uruk-hai Healer
2x White Hand Taskmaster
2x Úlairë Cantea, Faster Than Winds
2x Úlairë Enquea, Lieutenant of Morgul
2x Úlairë Lemenya, Eternally Threatening
4x Úlairë Nelya, Third of the Nine Riders
3x Úlairë Nertëa, Dark Horseman
1x Úlairë Otsëa, Duplicitous Specter
1x Web
4x Ugluk's Sword
1x Lurtz's Bow, Black-Fletch Bow
4x Captured by the Ring
4x Sudden Strike
4x Evil-smelling Fens
3x Greed
2x Fury of the Evil Army
3x Saruman, Servant of Sauron

The freeps side is very experimental at this stage for me, I never played Ithilien Blade before. I'm debating using A New Light, the deck is built to counter silver-bullet minions, but still can't hurt. There are some shadows that deal very well with Ithilien Blade and Madril, against those I have a Citadel to Gate + Ranger's Longbow plan, and I can also skirmish fairly decently. A 4th copy of Deagol should really find its way in to fuel Her Sneak, but I don't know what to cut. Houses of Healing is another card that seem to be strong here.

The shadow is built to keep replaying Uglúk, Ugly Fellow. He is a strong skirmisher, and Mauhur/The Mouth of Sauron/Dark Horseman help enabling him to do maximal damage. Then there is his original TTT sword. That card is seriously underplayed in my opinion. With hand extensions like Her Sneak, Evil-Smelling Fens, Web, Grishnakj, TC, it can generate swarms in the most unexpected situations.

It is a different build of a generic Sudden Strike shadow that I normally play with corsairs or nazgul. Both builds have their advantages, but for now I enjoy the uniqueness of the uruks. Greed and Fury of the Evil Army are among the strongest meta answers of the format.

Both sides of the deck are going through changes as I keep playing them more and more. One notable thing is that this shadow DOES NOT play well with Grimbeorn. Normally, in a Sudden Strike shadow you ditch unwanted minions to Grimbeorn, but here you really want to ditch them to Ugluk's Sword. Grim B is not that necessary heir anyway as Dasron works amazingly well here as a recursion engine.

Replay links:
http://www.gempukku.com/gemp-lotr/game.html?replayId=B0r0m1r$n5sf51al1vor9xtt - Wizards/corsairs
http://www.gempukku.com/gemp-lotr/game.html?replayId=B0r0m1r$sscs08ono1v0r68o - dwaves/wargs
http://www.gempukku.com/gemp-lotr/game.html?replayId=B0r0m1r$qedvn0luf7wbeif1 - hobits/tentacles
http://www.gempukku.com/gemp-lotr/game.html?replayId=B0r0m1r$v6g26becfn2qjvn1 SFTF Gondor/Mordor wounding
« Last Edit: April 19, 2020, 12:21:39 PM by Shelobplayer »

November 03, 2015, 08:18:39 AM
Reply #1

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Re: New shadow side idea (Uglúk core)
« Reply #1 on: November 03, 2015, 08:18:39 AM »
I think it's a good idea. I've tried Ugluk centric decks before, but I focused on Weapon of Command and beatdown - I'd forgotten about his original sword. If you want Ugluk to survive you might want protective cards like White Hand Mystic or Invincible Uruk etc., particularly as you're exerting him and with wounding being so common in expanded. Some version of Saruman might be useful too - probably AotDL or maybe even Curunir. A New Light will also be a pain, but I don't know of any easy way to stop it, unforunately. You might want vitality boosters such as Isengard Siege Bow, Lurtz's Bow or Spear of the White Hand to help Ugluk and Mauhur with their exertion abilities (Or simply to avoid dying).
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November 03, 2015, 01:43:34 PM
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Shelobplayer

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Re: New shadow side idea (Uglúk core)
« Reply #2 on: November 03, 2015, 01:43:34 PM »
Been thinking about either Instigator of Insurrection or Servant of Sauron for Saruman.

White Hand Mystic is a great option that I missed, thanks for the idea! Also if I go uruk heavy and try a semi swarm approach, I'm pretty sure I'll run a Full set of Uruk-hai Healer.

A New Light should not hurt as much as I'm planning to play 4 Evil-Smelling Fens and 2-3 Uruk Captain as well as a full set of Grishnakh, TC, so essentially I'll have like 14-15 way of playing the boss. Still that card is a pain to play against.

Hill Chief is another card that might work out very well, uruks control sites fairly easily and it's a relatively cheap card draw engine to fuel the sword.
« Last Edit: November 03, 2015, 01:47:54 PM by Shelobplayer »

November 06, 2015, 05:18:26 PM
Reply #3

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Re: New shadow side idea (Uglúk core)
« Reply #3 on: November 06, 2015, 05:18:26 PM »
Instigator of Insurrection is quite appropriate for this deck :up: He's [Isengard] too, so could help you (Perhaps with Grima?) to play Saruman's Power, provided you don't have too many conditions yourself.
Visit LOTR TCG wiki for strategy articles and extra card details, contributed by various community members. All set 1 cards finished.

November 15, 2015, 04:51:53 PM
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Shelobplayer

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Re: New shadow side idea (Uglúk core)
« Reply #4 on: November 15, 2015, 04:51:53 PM »
Okay, so I played around a bit on GEMP with uruks, and they look really fun. Not as powerful and/or versatile as corsairs or nazguls, but definitely playable. They actually have multiple ways of dealing with followers, which is very important in expanded in my opinion.

I actually decided to try and build for a site a control version with Uruk Assault Band and a similar shell. Bid to go first and start at Mount Doom, have a Ranger of Westernesse in the starting fellow to play a 2nd battleground, and everything is set for UAB to bash faces. Control sites with Fury of the Evil Army and probably Uruk Vilage Assassin (Weapons of Control and Fortitude can fuel it, and it serves multiple purposes).

This probably locks us into a Madril, DoO deck, maybe SFTF with Leader of Men, but I'm not a huge fan of that in expanded.

April 14, 2020, 11:14:33 PM
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Shelobplayer

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Re: New shadow side idea (Uglúk core)
« Reply #5 on: April 14, 2020, 11:14:33 PM »
I actually picked up this idea and one of my other deck ideas (Guarded City) and played a few games with it on GEMP.

The Sword actually can work amazingly well sometimes :)
Like here:
http://www.gempukku.com/gemp-lotr/game.html?replayId=B0r0m1r$v6g26becfn2qjvn1
The key is card advantage, Her Sneak + ESF + Goblin Hordes + Grishnakh, TC gave me +4 cards to swarm with, and the sword gave me +6 twilight. Her Ladyship also essentially counts as 2 cards, as it takes away a defender. To simplyfy that, I had essentially 13 cards -2 for the sword's costed, and I played 7 reasonably sized minions. In other cases 4-5 with a Demon of Might also does the job.

So, to summarize what the sword does: nets 5 twilight and with the right build and draw. Is that broken in expanded? Well, absolutely not, however the opportunity cost for having it is minimal, so all in all I think it's at the very least expanded playable.

Neither the shadow nor the freeps sides are refined or well tested, but in my few games with them proven to be working concepts.
« Last Edit: April 17, 2020, 06:28:10 AM by Shelobplayer »

April 17, 2020, 07:30:13 AM
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Re: Uglúk soup shadow (Uglúk's Sword) + Gondor control
« Reply #6 on: April 17, 2020, 07:30:13 AM »
Posted my current list (and changed the title accordingly - this is not just an idea anymore). Suggestions are welcome.

April 17, 2020, 09:48:19 AM
Reply #7

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Re: Uglúk soup shadow (Uglúk's Sword) + Gondor control
« Reply #7 on: April 17, 2020, 09:48:19 AM »
The 3rd replay link is the same as the second one, so we can't see the Hobbit/Tentacles game :(

I had a few points I was gonna raise, then I got déjà vu and remembered this thread: http://lotrtcgwiki.com/forums/index.php/topic,11260.0.html

I didn't really pick up on this before, but do you only use The Binding Ring for Steward's Legacy? Is that worth it?

Also Guarded City seems pretty unnecessary due to the lack of possession variety. I see it in replays but not the decklist. I'm guessing you took it out?

Overall it seems a pretty fun deck to play. Getting out so many big multicultural minions must be quite satisfying when it works, and when it doesn't, the deck still chugs on.
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April 17, 2020, 02:17:34 PM
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Shelobplayer

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Re: Uglúk soup shadow (Uglúk's Sword) + Gondor control
« Reply #8 on: April 17, 2020, 02:17:34 PM »
Yes, Guarded City is gone. It's easier to just spam Citadel to Gate every turn and exert your rangers for Soldier's Chace.

I like the Binding Ring. I did use it a couple of times, and I haven't wished to have a different ring even once. I actually considered adding a Ring of Barahir and Narya but every cut is so hard at this point, the burden cost for Binding Ring activations are negligable with this deck .

Fixed the tentacles replay link.
« Last Edit: April 17, 2020, 02:20:35 PM by Shelobplayer »

April 19, 2020, 03:15:56 PM
Reply #9

Shelobplayer

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Re: Uglúk soup shadow (Uglúk's Sword) + Gondor control
« Reply #9 on: April 19, 2020, 03:15:56 PM »
List updated after a few more games. Added Faster than Winds, so now I have a way to deal with possessions. The shadow has been doing amazingly well so far.

For the freeps side I feel that killing down to 5 and not worrying about Madril and IB is probably the best way to go in many cases. That's the latest thing I'm experimenting with, so singletons of [Gondor] cards may get into the deck. That way I also avoid losing to random The Number Must be Few at site 8.

Grimbeorn would be amazing for this freeps side, but very counterproductive with Ugluk's Sword. If anyone wants to try this with a different shadow then ditch Dasron and 1 random card for Grimbeorn + Beorning Axe.