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elf lvr
Posted: Fri Aug 11, 2006 7:11 pm
Joined: 13 Jun 2006 Posts: 3065 Location: Rivendell
--- description ---
There are many ways to corrupt your opponent’s ring bearer. But in this new world where Hunters rule, corruption decks must let go of the past and look to the future... The Wraith Collection!
--- end description ---

With the rotation of fellowship block, we corruption players lost two great decks, the Sauron discarding corruption, and twilight nazgul corruption. The great gollum corruption has taken a back seat to Ninja Gollum. And the newest nazgul have been turned from a corruption engine into forestguls. Anyone who loved corruption has found himself lost in this new world where hunters reign supreme... but there is hope yet!

Decipher plans to release a six-card Wraith Collection, in a similar fashion to Expanded Middle earth, that will contain a large number of new Wraith wraiths, who are capable of everything from discarding conditions, to wounding companions and adding burdens.

Your average player may look at this collection and say: This is way too spread out! Spirit of Dread focuses on strength, Barrow-wight stalker on swarming, dead faces on discarding conditions, candle corpses on wounding, and covetous wisp on burdens! How do I make use of all these different cards? Well, you see, all of these cards have one unifying factor. Each one of these minions is enduring! How does that help me, you may ask. But there is still one nazgul corruption strategy that has not compelety gone down the drain; Enduring Nazgul.

So now we begin to build a deck, using enduring nazgul, with a few other surprises, to bring out the full power of the wraith collection.

The Minions:

First, we need to go over the stars of the collection themselves, the wraiths.

Wraiths:

Spirit of Dread: This guy is a beast! He may have a twilight cost of 7, but this minion has some tricks up his sleeve! First of all, he is enduring, and has a game text that lets him exert himself! Even if there is no other Wraith wraith in play, he may still exert, giving no minion a bonus. So its easy to power this guy up to 18 strength.

Barrow-Wight Stalker: Possibly the worst minion in the collection for the purpose of burden-adding, simply becuase he removes burdens! But lowering the twilight cost of minions is still nothing to sneeze at, plus, his game text stops Wraith wraiths from taking wounds outside of skirmishes! This may be the only way to stop archery decks.

Undead of Angmar: One of the most important minions in the deck. He is enduring, with the abiltiy to exert himself twice. That ability even helps you dish out more wraiths! Plus, if their ring-bearer is wounded, their resistance is -2!

Candle Corpses: The highest costing of the remove-2-to... wraiths, but wounding companions is a very powerful ability. The free peoples player will have to be careful where he assigns this minion.

Dead Faces: Two costing, four strength enduring minion. Many people may not see why he is so good, but the power to discard conditions is definatly no laughing matter! This guy can get rid of nasty stuff, watch and wait for instance, that can really throw a wrench in our corruption machine!

Covetous Wisp: The most obvious addition to our corruption team, this guy adds burdens when he is assigned by the free peoples player. As a 4 strength (possibly 6 with the enduring bonus) the free peoples player might decide to leave him unassigned. But no worries. We have other ways to add our burdens.

Nazgul:

These wraiths, though powerful on their own, need a bit of a boost to be turned into a corruption engine. These nazgul should give them the fuel they desire! Lets take a look at the standard-format nazgul that will help us with our corruption:

Ulaire Enquea, Thrall of the One: A must-have in any Wraith corruption deck for its astounding ability to add many burdens in one turn!

Ulaire Toldea, Black Shadow: Another must-have minion, needed to pull back shadow events.

Ulaire Attea, Second of the Nine Riders: When they have some burdens, add some more! Simple as that.

Ulaire Nelya, Third of the Nine Riders: Can move around sites like mad, reusing courtyard parapet, for example.

The Conditions:

With all of the condition discarding cards out there (Pallando, Blood Runs Chill, Hadafang), our deck needs to move beyond conditions to do its corrupting. But we shouldn’t disregard conditions entirely, just in case we’re facing a deck without a condition discarding engine:

Sense of Obligation: The perfect card to play with Between Nazgul and prey for a TON of burdens. Also, if the free peoples player leaves Candle Corpses, Covetous Wisp, or Dead Faces unassigned, you can add many burdens with this card. However, because of the abilities of this card, no other transferable Wraith conditions should be used.

Events:

These will be your primary corruption tools and the staples of the deck. While there are many free peoples cards to counter conditions, there are almost none that counter events.

Between Nazgul and Prey: Obviously a key card in our deck, use it with Ulaire Enquea, Thrall of the One for massive burden adding potential. Also, with Sense of Obligation, this card can really shine! Plus, if any of our wriaths have the vitality left, we can use this card for them, too!

Keening Wail: This card, while it does need to spot a nazgul to use its effect, is again a staple in the deck. It adds a burden, and besides that, exerts all our enduring Wraith minions!

Dark Swooping Shadows: This is the primary burden-adding engine of the deck, because of its low twilight cost, and turning any of your Wraith wraiths into Enquea, Thrall of the One. Keening wail can exert your minions, plus Spirit of Dread and Undead of Angmar can exert themselves!

Extras:

You may have noticed the lack of The Witch King, Captain of the Nine Riders in this deck, and it is true that he would fit. But his toil is simply too expensive for the deck to uphold. You will be exerting plenty with Keening Wail, and most of your low-twilight minions have low vitality. With the absense of that witch-king, there is simply no other that fits the corruption theme, at least none that is standard-legal. So The Pale Blade, Sword of Flame is out.

A definate card to include, however, is Ring of Asperity. This is a very versatile card, and should be used for Enquea, Thrall of the One (more vitality = more burdens, plus you can return him to hand to use again) and Toldea, Black Shadow (he exerts when played, and needs more vitality for more toil, plus, return him to hand to pull another event next turn).

Also, you should put Courtyard Parapet into your site path.

Decklist:

So here’s a decklist:

    Spirit of Dread x2
    Barrow-Wight Stalker x2
    Undead of Angmar x3
    Candle Corpses x3
    Dead Faces x4
    Covetous Wisp x4
    Ulaire Toldea, Black Shadow x3
    Ulaire Nelya, Third of the Nine Riders x3
    Ulaire Enquea, Thrall of the One x4

    Sense of Obligation x4

    Between Nazgul and Prey x3
    Dark Swooping Shadows x4
    Keening Wail x4


But it is way too big, at 43 cards. This deck should be, for maximum efficiency, paired with a dwarven cycling half (with Gloin, son of Groin, and No Pauses, No Spills) but even so, we need 5 cards out. Take out one Candle Corpses, it isn’t very important to the deck. Next, one Nelya, and one Toldea. Dead faces also isn’t central to the deck. Take out one Sense of Obligation, four is overkill.

Now we have a 38 card deck. Certainly not slim, but it will do.

Here’s a completed decklist:

    Spirit of Dread x2
    Barrow-Wight Stalker x2
    Undead of Angmar x3
    Candle Corpses x2
    Dead Faces x3
    Covetous Wisp x4
    Ulaire Toldea, Black Shadow x2
    Ulaire Nelya, Second of the Nine Riders x2
    Ulaire Enquea, Thrall of the One x4

    Sense of Obligation x3

    Between Nazgul and Prey x3
    Dark Swooping Shadows x4
    Keening Wail x4


Site Path: (keep in mind that dwarven cycling is the fellowship I paired this with.)
    Moria Guardroom
    Starkhorn
    Barazinbar
    Pellenor Flat
    Expanding Marshland
    Neekerbreeker’s Bog
    Woody-End
    Courtyard Parapet
    Abandoned Mine Shaft


So there’s our deck. A good corruption engine ready to take on the future! I think I’ve explained the deck’s strategy well enough by now, but here’s an overview of all our methods of burdening the ring-bearer:

Enquea, Thrall of the One and Between Nazgul and prey adds two burdens off the bat. If you have sense of obligation on any companions, simply assign Enquea to another companion to pile on even more burdens. Combine Enquea with Keening Wail for another two burdens.

Use Toldea to pull back Keening Wail or Dark Swooping shadows. Then add a few wraiths, and exert all of them to play Keening Wail for next to nothing.

Use Dark Swooping Shadows to heal your enduring wraiths, after exerting them for Keening Wail, or simply for their own game texts.

Match-ups:

The last part of my article is match-ups. How should you play this deck against all the others running amok in the current meta?

Three Hunters:
Not that difficult of a match. Use the general strategy, Legolas’s archery may even help you get your minions wounded! Hope that they fill up on threats with Thorongil early, or make them fill up using Dark Swooping Shadows.

Dwarves:
The choking power of the dwarves could be troublesome, but in regions two and three you should get enough to throw Enquea and Between Nazgul and Prey, or some wraiths and Keening Wail. Play slow and discard smart. Be sure to include Fangorn Glade in your site path.

Elves:
Another easy match-up, since you don’t need to win skirmishes to add your burdens.

Ents:
Actually an easy match-up. Condition discarding shouldn’t bother you much, Glamdring for burden removal may make going slow, but you will have plenty of twilight to pull off your combos. Discard Watch and Wait with Dead Faces.

IB Rangers:
By far the toughest match-up. You can make Thorongil worthless fast, but with IB they should take you out. All I can say is if you can pull off Enquea and BNaP, do your best to kill Madril.

Archery:
Keening Wail is a maneuver event, so no problems there. Barrow-Wight Stalker stops wraiths from taking wounds, so set up a sweet shadow hand and play wisely!

Noble Leaders or Knights:
Again, easy. You don’t need winning minions! Against knights, beware of exhausting Enquea, making him vulnerable to Gondor Bow.

There you go! A shiny new corruption shadow of the future! Ready to take on standard format! Our good buddies the Nazgul, supported by the latest and greatest, the wraiths! The time of the hunters is over; the time of corruption has come!
Last edited by elf lvr on Tue Aug 15, 2006 1:08 pm; edited 7 times in totalHappy Hunting! Elf Lvr
Winner of Best Personality in the FPCA. Thanks!
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And behold, EL declared it good. And there was morning, and there was evening, the first (new) day. ~ DainIronfoot
CarpeGuitarrem
Posted: Fri Aug 11, 2006 7:26 pm
Joined: 07 Apr 2006 Posts: 3361 Location: Franciscan University of Steubenville
I love the format, and it reads well...however, you do have some typos which prove to be distracting. Some of the times, you typed "[wriath]" instead of "[ wraith ]", and so there was no culture linkage. You’ve also consistently mistyped Barrow-Wight Stalker in the article, leading to a no-link.

It’s a good use of the new Wraiths for corruption, however. But have you playtested this through SDA? Does it work? There really aren’t a whole lot of options with the wraiths now.
"ok, change of plans. the Cobracards christmas party is coming to my house, and we’re gunna teach FM how to hunt." (mm)
elf lvr
Posted: Fri Aug 11, 2006 7:29 pm
Joined: 13 Jun 2006 Posts: 3065 Location: Rivendell
I have playtested this deck through SdA against WitchKingBlkCapt and I managed to dish out 11 burdens by site 7 against his hunters deck. I didn’t win (stupid ring of rings) since i got swarmed, but i believe the shadow is solid.

EDIT: I believe I have fixed those mistakes. Thanks!
Happy Hunting! Elf Lvr
Winner of Best Personality in the FPCA. Thanks!
Archduke Elf Lvr - Archidoux of the Chosen Ones
AMV Maker In-Training! Check out my newest production, Katsu!- A Diedara Tribute!
And behold, EL declared it good. And there was morning, and there was evening, the first (new) day. ~ DainIronfoot
CarpeGuitarrem
Posted: Fri Aug 11, 2006 8:51 pm
Joined: 07 Apr 2006 Posts: 3361 Location: Franciscan University of Steubenville
All right, nice! 11 burdens by Site 7-SWEET! Very Happy
"ok, change of plans. the Cobracards christmas party is coming to my house, and we’re gunna teach FM how to hunt." (mm)
elf lvr
Posted: Fri Aug 11, 2006 8:52 pm
Joined: 13 Jun 2006 Posts: 3065 Location: Rivendell
WK just got me to 12 at site five. His turbo corruption really works!
Happy Hunting! Elf Lvr
Winner of Best Personality in the FPCA. Thanks!
Archduke Elf Lvr - Archidoux of the Chosen Ones
AMV Maker In-Training! Check out my newest production, Katsu!- A Diedara Tribute!
And behold, EL declared it good. And there was morning, and there was evening, the first (new) day. ~ DainIronfoot
bobtheorc
Posted: Fri Aug 11, 2006 10:01 pm
Joined: 19 Mar 2006 Posts: 1218 Location: Wow, its hot in Iowa
Pretty good article.
You stil had a no-link at the beggining of your article, third paragraph with Barrow-wright stalker .
You get a solid 4.
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elf lvr
Posted: Fri Aug 11, 2006 10:36 pm
Joined: 13 Jun 2006 Posts: 3065 Location: Rivendell
Thanks for pointing that out, BtO.
Happy Hunting! Elf Lvr
Winner of Best Personality in the FPCA. Thanks!
Archduke Elf Lvr - Archidoux of the Chosen Ones
AMV Maker In-Training! Check out my newest production, Katsu!- A Diedara Tribute!
And behold, EL declared it good. And there was morning, and there was evening, the first (new) day. ~ DainIronfoot
theOmnipotentOne
Posted: Fri Aug 11, 2006 11:41 pm
Joined: 13 Jul 2006 Posts: 44 Location:
I liked the overal setup elf lvr. Very neat, clean, and fairly easy to read. I always have like the prospect of corruption and in my skimming, I dont see any flaunting errors in strategy or so. So I’ll give you another solid 4. Good work.
WitchKingBlkCapt
Posted: Fri Aug 11, 2006 11:52 pm
Joined: 25 May 2006 Posts: 409 Location: Minas Morgul
Great article although you might want to swap a nazgul or two for the Ulaire Nelya Third of the Nine Riders so you can site swap Courtyard Parapet down the path.

I give it another solid 4
"Do not stand between a nazgul and his prey."
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sickofpalantirs
Posted: Sat Aug 12, 2006 7:25 am
Joined: 23 Mar 2006 Posts: 7750 Location: somwhere, over the rainbow way up high. There's a land that I heard of once in a lullaby.
yeah nelya could be helpful. why not have 4 Bnap I understand they aren’t excatly the point of the deck but most of your minions are enduring a solid article you get a 4
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