My Dwarves Will Corrupt You

[Gwaihir]

This was probably my favorite deck concept when I last played three or four years ago.  I loved it because of the synergy between the free side and the shadow side, and because corruption is perhaps my favorite mechanic in the game.  Two of the key cards of this deck are ones that I don't think are generally all that exciting, but they had a big impact in this deck:  Get Off The Road and The Irresistible Shadow .  It was very successful for me.  The goal is corruption.  My free side helps me achieve that goal thanks to Nobody Tosses a Dwarf and Dwarven Axe.

Here It Is:

Ringbearer
Gimli Bearer of Grudges
The One Ring The Binding Ring

Starting Fellowship
Uri Dwarven Lord
Sam Son of Hamfast

Free Cards
3 Durin III Dwarven Lord
Gloin Friend to Thorin
3 Dwarven Axe
Dwarven Bracers
Hand Axe
Axe of Erebor
Ring of Accretion
Ring of Fury
Ring of Guile
Ring of Retribution
Book of Mazarbul
4 Lord of Moria
4 Nobody Tosses a Dwarf
4 Mines of Khazad-Dum
3 Till Durin Wakes Again
3 Honed
1 Greatest Kingdom of My People

Shadow Cards
4 Morgul Skulker
4 Grishnakh Orc Captain
4 Ulaire Nelya Ringwraith in Twilight
4 Ulaire Otsea Ringwraith in Twilight
4 Morgul Gates
4 The Ring Is Mine
4 Get Off the Road
4 It Wants to be Found
2 The Ring Draws Them
The Irresistible Shadow
Bent On Discovery

Sites
Dunharrow Plateau
West Road
The Dimholt
City of the Dead
Pelennor Flat
Minas Tirith Second Circle
Osgiliath Crossing
Morgulduin
Narchost

The goal is to force the other player to discard, discard, discard.  Nobody Tosses a Dwarf, Dwarven Axe, Get Off the Road, Grishnakh Orc Captain, Greatest Kingdom of My People, and Pelennor Flat all work toward that end.  Once these have done their job, The Irresistible Shadow wins the game.  Hopefully anyway.

The Ring is Mine and It Wants to Be Found together with Morgul Skulker recycling It Wants to Be Found and twilight Nazguls may be enough to corrupt on their own, and should have no trouble putting out the five burdens needed for The Irresistible Shadow.

Sam is there so that I can pull rings out of my Deck in a burden neutral way.  Once he has done this he has served his purpose and can die.

I am not entirely pleased with the free side, and the shadow side could use some tweaking as well I am sure.  The main focus of the deck though is to have cards pouring off of the other player's deck, and to put out many burdens.

What are your thoughts, suggestions and criticisms?

[Kralik]

I like the concept!

I would suggest putting in another copy of The Irresistible Shadow in case a) your opponent discards it or b) you never draw one. In fact, if they had discarded one and you had another in hand, you could wait to play it until it was a win situation.

The Sam trick is nice -- I use that as well in another deck.

[ket_the_jet]

Get Off the Road! I forgot that card existed.

May I recommend Ulaire Attea, the Easterling in case some oddball plays Old Noakes, Purveyor of Wisdoms. And Frodo, Courteous Halfling will bum out the Shadow side.

I used to find Desperate Measures a boring card, but now it is one of my favorites. And as long as you are adding burdens, a copy or two of Enduring Evil wouldn't hurt! Desperate Defense of the Ring would help with discarding or burdens.

I would consider Linnar, Dwarven Lord instead of Uri, Dwarven Lord. I think there are a bunch of better conditions you could play...Tales or not.

There are only two underground sites in Movie Block, and they are really early (three and four) so I don't think that Mines of Khazad-Dum and Till Durin Wakes Again are the best options. Maybe Preparations and Slaked Thirsts to win some skirmishes, making Nobody Tosses A Dwarf even more potent.
-wtk

[Cw0rk]

Did you realize Book of Mazarbul got an errata and won't work with those sites? I suggest having a Dwarven Armor for additional protection. With all the healing and Damage bonus you have I suggest adding Blood runs chill. Radagast could be good if you want to do a triple-move from site 6 to 9. All the healing you have is a good idea to be able to double move and skip sanctuaries.

The only issue I have with your shadow is that is has no stopping power. If I would play vs a deck like that I would try to double move every turn so you don't have enough time to discard all my stuff. 16 minions are not enough, especially when most of them are unique. I don't think you need all 4 Morgul Gates. Maybe you could add Ulaire Enquea, LoM to have some killing power.

[ket_the_jet]

c10ckw0rk is right: I would not even run Morgul Gates. I think that Ulaire Enquea, Lieutenant of Morgul, Orc Pursuer and Orc Stalker and Orc Chaser, and other tracker-type minions are all better calls.

Or, for even more burdens, Orc Officer and Enduring Evil can be a nasty trick.

I am not thinking that you have enough companions...against any sort of grind deck (Under the Watching Eye, Rout, Nazgul conditions etc.) you will be in pretty bad shape quickly.
-wtk

[Gwaihir]

Well, I had forgotten about the Book of Mazarbul limitation, but it still serves three purposes:  a possession to boost Durin III, a tale to boost Gloin, and a tale to heal with Mines of Khazad-dum.

Still digesting the comments.  Thanks for responding.

[Cw0rk]

c10ckw0rk is right: I would not even run Morgul Gates. I think that Ulaire Enquea, Lieutenant of Morgul, Orc Pursuer and Orc Stalker and Orc Chaser, and other tracker-type minions are all better calls.

Or, for even more burdens, Orc Officer and Enduring Evil can be a nasty trick.

I am not thinking that you have enough companions...against any sort of grind deck (Under the Watching Eye, Rout, Nazgul conditions etc.) you will be in pretty bad shape quickly.
-wtk

Those initiative orcs are quite good, however his discard deck focus on discarding cards from draw deck, not from hand, so you will hardly get initiative before site 8 or 9. I agree that Enduring Evil can be nice, as long as you don't add 4 of them... because we need more minions. I think his fellowship will do fine against wounding as it has plenty of healing. However you need Blood runs chill and some spare companions are always helpful.

Well, I had forgotten about the Book of Mazarbul limitation, but it still serves three purposes:  a possession to boost Durin III, a tale to boost Gloin, and a tale to heal with Mines of Khazad-dum.

Still digesting the comments.  Thanks for responding.

I didn't see it that way... sounds like the Book of Mazarbul is quite helpful, good idea.

[ket_the_jet]

My implication was that those Orcs would be great with Desperate Defense of the Ring.
-wtk

[azogsbane]

I love your deck concept. It's really clever.

I also agree with everyone that it needs more minions (and probably another companion). Especially, I can't see why you would use Ulaire Otsea when you have not Blade Tips. There are plenty of other twilight nazgul you could use.

[Cw0rk]

I love your deck concept. It's really clever.

I also agree with everyone that it needs more minions (and probably another companion). Especially, I can't see why you would use Ulaire Otsea when you have not Blade Tips. There are plenty of other twilight nazgul you could use.

He probably uses Otsea because it's the Twilight nazgul with the lowest twilight cost. I thing he is doing the right thing.

[ket_the_jet]

I don't mind Otsea, but I would rather see 3 Otsea and 3 Attea in the place of two Morgul Gates. The other two Morgul Gates could be dumped as well for more orcs...
-wtk

[Gwaihir]

Clockwork has it right about Otsea.  Gotta have twilight nazguls for It Wants To Be Found and he is cheap.  His job is simply to get on the table and and let me play It Wants To Be Found.

[Not a Zombie]

drop BoD, pick up ithil stone. 1 less twilight, don't need to exert a nazzie each shadow.

[Gil-Estel]

Ithil Stone is indeed the way to go, but Enquea ToTo could be added in order to exert with BoD, with which it combo's great of course. Then this: 9 cards require an orc, and you have 'only' 8 of which 4 are unique. That could cause trouble. So I would add cheap orcs, instead of the Morgul Gates. It is a great card, but something has got to give.

Other than this, it is mean

[azogsbane]

I love your deck concept. It's really clever.

I also agree with everyone that it needs more minions (and probably another companion). Especially, I can't see why you would use Ulaire Otsea when you have not Blade Tips. There are plenty of other twilight nazgul you could use.

He probably uses Otsea because it's the Twilight nazgul with the lowest twilight cost. I thing he is doing the right thing.

I see your point, but I still think that, what with all the exertions necessary for The Ring Draws Them and Bent on discovery, it would be better to have a higher vitality twilight nazgul such as Ulaire Enquea: Ringwraith in Twilight. That one might also help out occasionally with the corruption part.