Rohan/Isengard Trackers

[ket_the_jet]

Updated Deck-List Below!

So the free peoples' side might look a little familiar (MuadDib posted a great Merry's Sword run a few days ago) and I haven't played trackers since Towers was standard. So...thoughts?

First attempt:
Starting:
Frodo, Old Bilbo's Heir
The One Ring, Such a Weight to Carry
Theoden, Tall and Proud
Merry, Horticulturalist

Free Peoples:
Eomer, Third Marshal of Riddermark
Eowyn, Lady of Ithilien
Gamling, Warrior of Rohan
Rohirrim Army
Legolas, Greenleaf
Sam, Son of Hamfast

Leowyn
Deor
Farmer Maggot, Chaser of Rascals
Bounder

Sting, Bane of the Eight Legs
Merry's Sword 2
Eomer's Spear
Firefoot
Eowyn's Sword, Dernhelm's Blade
Brego
Rohirrim Bow 4
Rohirrim Helm

Simbelmyne 4
Power According to His Stature

Fortress Never Fallen 2
Armory
Arrow-Slits
Fell Deeds Awake
The Tale of the Great Ring

Shadow:
Saruman, Servant of the Eye 2
Lurtz, Servant of Isengard
Ugluk, Servant of Saruman 3
Mauhur, Patrol Leader 2
Uruk Searcher 3
Uruk Seeker 4
Uruk Plains Runner 3
Grima, Wormtongue 2

Weary 4
Many Riddles 2
What Did You Discover
Greed

Broad-Bladed Sword 4

Vengeance 3

Site Path:
Edoras Hall
Rohirrim Camp
Base of Mindolluin
Pelennor Prairie
Steward's Tomb
Minas Tirith Fourth Circle
Pelennor Grassland
Morgul Vale
Dagorlad

Notes: Well, I'm building this deck in real life, largely based on the scraps of my Saved From the Fire deck, which had two major problems:
1. It was not very good at surviving skirmishes.
2. It was built to be a beginner's deck, or teaching deck, and was far too advanced for a first-time player.

This deck should solve both of those problems because Merry's Sword and Rohirrim Bow or Eowyn, Lady of Ithilien should be able to take care of most of the big minions, and Eomer, Third Marshal of Riddermark should be able to mop up the rest.

I just started putting together the foil version of this yesterday. I know it will be a while before I see a foil Third Marshal or Riddermark, or three more foil Simbelmyne, but please take a look at my trade list if you have any of the twenty-three foils I am still looking for.

Thoughts, as always, are appreciated. Please remember that this deck is supposed to be simple enough for a beginner, but entertaining enough for me to play on occasion. Hopefully my positive memories of trackers from the Towers days keep me interested in enough in playing the deck every once in a while.
-wtk

Edit:
Current Deck:
Starting Fellowship:
Frodo, Old Bilbo's Heir
The One Ring, Such a Weight to Carry
Eowyn, Lady of Ithilien
Theoden, Tall and Proud

Free Peoples:
Merry, Noble Warrior 3
Eomer, Third Marshal of Riddermark
Gamling, Warrior of Rohan
Rohirrim Army
Legolas, Greenleaf
Sam, Son of Hamfast
Leowyn
Farmer Maggot, Chaser of Rascals
Bounder
Sting, Bane of the Eight Legs
Merry's Sword 2
Eomer's Spear
Firefoot
Eowyn's Sword, Dernhelm's Blade
Brego
Rohirrim Bow 4
Simbelmyne 4
Fortress Never Fallen 2
Armory
Arrow-Slits
Fell Deeds Awake
The Tale of the Great Ring

Shadow:
Saruman, Servant of the Eye 2
Ugluk, Servant of Saruman 3
Mauhur, Patrol Leader 2
Uruk Searcher 3
Uruk Seeker 4
Uruk Plains Runner 3
Grima, Wormtongue 2
Weary 4
Many Riddles 2
What Did You Discover
Greed
Broad-Bladed Sword 4
Vengeance 2
Kill Them Now

Site Path:
Edoras Hall
Rohirrim Camp
Base of Mindolluin
Pelennor Prairie
Steward's Tomb
Minas Tirith Fourth Circle
Pelennor Grassland
Watchers of Cirith Ungol
Dagorlad

[legolas3333]

just want to throw this out there...
Merry's Sword protects from shotgun enquea, so add more companions, Aragorn, RotN, Faramir, SoD or instead maybe add a couple hobbit party guest to heal farmer maggot

[ket_the_jet]

I counted nine companions in the deck as it is and my intention was certainly to play all of them.
-wtk

[legolas3333]

wow, for some reason i thought there were only 6...

you have only 14 minions who can fight, that number seems a bit small, i would maybe git rid of all the broad bladed sword and change them into minions

[ket_the_jet]

Yeah, that's true. I had thought about potentially adding Berserk Butcher and a machine or two, but dumped that idea because that was just too much.

I think I could potentially cut one Broad-Bladed Sword, one Vengeance, one of the Saruman, Servant of the Eye, and even the copy of Abandoning Reason for Madness and add three or four more minions. Which tracker do you think fits in the deck best at three copies?

Honestly, I think Orc Runner or Orc Pursuer* might be nice additions for the extra card-drawing during the Shadow phase. If I were to add another minion or two, I would definitely want something with card drawing action. The downside is that they are a little more expensive being Orcs.

Uruk Scout is another option thanks to his nice less-twilight for roaming bonus.
-wtk

[legolas3333]

Scout would work, or just add one more each of seeker, searcher and plains runner

[ket_the_jet]

I like What Did You Discover? as a way to draw an extra tracker on a double move, but what kind of card drawing ability does have in Movie Block for Shadow drawing?

Abandoning Reason for Madness is really all I can think of.

Edit: Also, I took away one Saruman and added one Uruk Seeker because I happened to have an extra foil of him. So that adds one fighting minion...up to 15 now...
-wtk

[hrcho]

I have a very similar tracker deck and found that I very much prefer Uruk Searcher over even Ugluk.

In my deck, the deadliest combo: Uruk Searcher, Broad Bladed Sword, Saruman, Servant of the Eye and a search card. That's 10 twilight after site 4 and at least one companion ends in the dead pile.

Seeing how my Searcher does most of the killing, I have 4x Weary, 2x Many Riddles and 2x Rest While You Can (Many Riddles is better, but it requires an exertion).
I also run 2x Vengeance and 2x Kill Them Now. More than once Kill Them Now proved more useful than Vengeance. I don't like to boast, but my trackers kick some heavy #$&*@!. Even on a really bad draw, they were very troublesome for my opponent. So far, the most effective Fellowship against them were heavily fortified Knights.

I have also found that 2x copies of Uruk Hunter are very helpful. I like to throw him out early. If you don't get Ugluk or enough twilight for Ugluk and few more trackers, he is the way to go. I love to play him on site 4, he will most likely win both skirmishes, add couple of wounds (maybe more if weary is in play) and prepare my opponent for site 5 onslaught (which is Stewards Tomb).

1 more copy of Greed could be good.

[ket_the_jet]

I don't like to boast, but my trackers kick some heavy #$&*@!.

Boast away!

A copy of Uruk Hunter might make it in the deck. Or, considering that I [currently] have seven minions, a thumper like Lurtz, Servant of Isengard might be a cool idea. But then again, at site 4 or earlier...probably not going to happen.

I was trying to think of one "big" minion to have as a "last resort" character when I just need that one kill, and there really aren't that many good guys who fit that description. Uruk Assault Band, Uruk Vanguard...these guys would not be the kind of guys I would want.

Sauron, the Lord of the Rings is always a cool option, but I don't add burdens, threats, or control sites so that is kind of out of the picture. And of course, a copy of Saruman's Staff might be a neat little trick, but then I would have to add back a third copy of Saruman and is really worth it for a 10-4 fierce companion? Although then again...he could assign himself too...

All great thoughts. I look forward to more people getting involved.
-wtk

[Witchkingx5]

No Grima Wormtongue? Seriously, this card is one fo the most important card in any Tracker decks that tries to face Durin, LAoEaM Decks or anything else with many possessions. Even if there's only two cards on that comp, play Weary or Many Riddles on it (I don't like rest while you can) and whoops, the comp is naked and ready to be killed. Pack at least two Grimas.

I also neither play Broad-Bladed Sword nor ArfM, as those just take slots away other cards could use. I run 4x Ugluk, SoS and 3x Mauhur, PL as those are really essential, I know that Ugluk can come back with What Did You Discover? , but still ,he's just a waaaaaay to good card in a tracker deck. You can easily make a mini-swarm at site 3 when your opponent has double moved with Ugluk and two other Uruks potentially killing of one or two comps which often hurts badly.

LBC also helps a lot with killing comps, consider adding one or two.

[ket_the_jet]

I am not fond of Wormtongue as most [good] decks that stack Durin also run Slaked Thirsts on Preparations. I can see his benefits, but against what I face there is never 3 cards stacked on the same person without decent protection from Wormtongue.

I can see the benefit though and will consider adding one or two.

Archery is relatively heavy in my meta, making Broad-Bladed Sword a responsible addition to the deck. Maybe if I cut it to three Swords, I can replace Abandoing Reason for Madness for that Helm's Deep card that plays weapons during the maneuver phase.
-wtk

Edit 1: Black Shapes Crawling was the one I was thinking of.
-wtk

Edit 2: I just looked at the card again and Black Shapes Crawling really sucks.
-wtk

[hrcho]

Indeed, I don't know how I forgot about Wormtongue. Broad-Bladed Sword is the only protection against Elven Archery or Multi-Cult Wounding. 4 copies of Ugluk and 3 of Mauhur is too much. More than once you'll get yourself clogged with 2 Ugluks or 2 Mauhurs in hand, especially in a small deck like that. Rest While You Can can be nice, messes a bit with your opponents deck and provides bonus for Uruk Searcher and Uruk Seeker. Many Riddles is much better, but I found its exerting requirement can be a big detriment.

[Witchkingx5]

Indeed.

but small? if I counted correctly, it's about 34 cards big. And even considering the case that you might have 2 Ugluks in your hand, he's really just way to good so I take the risk. I mostly win with Ugluk bein' 12 strength, damage +1 and fierce, then having a LBC in hand often means game over. Mauhur really is nice as he can make your Uruks survive the skirmish phase so that their fierce ability triggers, which usually is just cruel (Uruk plains runner, which you must run 4, he's cheap, strong and causes death everywhere. Also very useful to make an early kill at Site 3 with Ugluk).

Oh, and as for Grima, I don't see many Rohan Decks havin' maneuver wounding, besides Merry's Sword and Terrible and Evil, of course. Same for Gondor, Elves... Decks that stack even only 2 cards on a comp can be easily defeated with Wormtongue.

[ket_the_jet]

Point well-taken about Grima. I will likely add a pair of copies to the deck list, potentially replacing Abandoning Reason for Madness (my only Shadow Phase drawing engine) and one copy of Vengeance (which would put 3).
-wtk

[Witchkingx5]

yeah, 3 Vengeance should be enough. it won't be that easy to fin two foiled Grimas, but this deck really needs them. Movie isn't TS, so even though the card is from the same block, it actually sees much more play in Movie. I try to packin at least one in most Isengard Decks. And no, you don't need ARfM, my cousin had first 4 of those in his Uruk Bomb Deck, then started droppin' one after the other.