Shadow Host is great in a Wraith Deck -- Strength 13, Defender +1! In my experience with wraiths (which is admittedly limited), you have to devote so many cards to the Wraith portion of your deck that you don't have a whole lot of room to support your Ring-bearer. That Defender +1 ends up being clutch against swarm, especially since Wraiths aren't really known for their condition removal (and some swarms are very condition-dependent).
And it's not like you have to choose between
Cursed of Erech and
Shadow Host... they're both unique, so just play both of 'em. =P
As far as the deck itself goes, I play kind of a weird version of Wraiths. The way I figure it, as long as you can keep initiative and keep a
Swept Away on the table, your Wraiths are virtually unkillable (outside of a wounding deck... more on that later). However, durable though they may be, they're not necessarily all that great at killing things themselves (outside of a possible
Sleepless Dead exertion). They lack damage bonuses for the most part.
So I start a
Cursed of Erech and
Pippin, Wearer of Black and Silver. I play something like 2-3 copies of
Shadowplay. This way, I can exert Pippin to exert minions as they come into play, then pop him back into my hand for a full heal and let my Wraiths finish off the exhausted minions for a double-move. It's also nice having Pippin just as an option to absorb archery fire if you go against a wounding deck.
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NOTE: I just realized that this was the King Block forum, not movie block. Sooo... everything below this point doesn't really apply here, but I figured I'd leave it anyway, just in case anyone's lookin' into a Movie Block version of a Wraith deck. =P
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Another idea (which I haven't actually tried out yet, but have always considered) is playing 2-3 Shards of Narsil and 4 copies of
Still Sharp.
Still Sharp not only gives you a hefty +3 strength boost, but the much-needed damage boost as well. Shards of Narsil allows you to stack extra copies of conditions that you aren't using, like every
Swept Away beyond the first. That way, you don't have to let it sit there and take up a spot in your hand, knowing that you've got to hold onto it in case the one you have in play gets discarded. You can just throw it on your Shards and keep on cyclin', then bring it back when you need it.
Additionally, if you don't want to go above 5 companions (for fear of someone dropping some condition removal and an Enquea in the same turn), you could place every Wraith beyond 5 on the Shards and just pull them into hand when you need 'em.
Once again, I haven't actually tested the Shard thing, so I don't know if it works or not. Just an idea. =P
