The Nazgûl Burden deck | openCards

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The Nazgûl Burden deck

    Shire icon Ringwraith icon

    This Deck was build by Trevor McGregor and was published first on "Lord of the Rings Online (lotrtcg.decipher.com)".

    The Nazgûl Burden deck

    Deck listing:

    Adventure path:

    East Wall of Rohan (4 U 323)
    Golden Hall (4 U 338)
    Great Hall (4 U 353)
    Helm's Gate (4 U 349)
    King's Room (4 U 357)
    Palantír Chamber (4 U 363)
    White Rocks (4 U 346)
    Wizard's Vale (4 U 359)
    Wold of Rohan (4 U 336)

    Starting fellowship:


    Draw deck - "free" cards (35):
    Elven Ally (2):
    Elrond, Lord of Rivendell (1 R 40)
    Elven Companion (1):
    Legolas, Dauntless Hunter (4 R 73)
    Elven Event (2):
    Foul Creation (1 U 44)
    Gandalf Ally (5):
    Albert Dreary, Entertainer From Bree (1 R 69)
    Ottar, Man of Laketown (1 R 80)
    Treebeard, Oldest Living Thing (4 C 104)
    Gandalf Artifact (1):
    Narya (3 R 34)
    Gandalf Event (1):
    Sleep, Caradhras (1 C 84)
    Gondor Companion (3):
    Aragorn, Heir of Elendil (4 C 109)
    Boromir, Son of Denethor (1 U 97)
    Rohan Companion (1):
    Éowyn, Lady of Rohan (4 C 270)
    Shire Ally (1):
    Filibert Bolger, Wily Rascal (2 C 101)
    Shire Artifact (1):
    Mithril-coat (2 R 105)
    Shire Companion (5):
    Merry, Learned Guide (4 C 310)
    Pippin, Just a Nuisance (4 R 313)
    Sam, Proper Poet (2 C 114)
    Shire Condition (2):
    O Elbereth! Gilthoniel! (2 R 108)
    There and Back Again (1 C 317)
    Shire Event (8):
    Severed His Bonds (4 C 319)
    Swiftly and Softly (4 C 321)
    Shire Possession (2):
    Sting (1 R 313)

    There are no "shadow" cards in this draw deck.

    Hints & strategie notes for this Deck

    When I first started playing Lord of the Rings, I was like a lot of new players - I wanted to play Nazgûl. The cards themselves look great, they were my favorite part of the movie, and they were also one of my favorite elements of the novels. However, like a lot of newer players I quickly found out that since all of the Ringwraith culture cards are rare or uncommon it was rather difficult to come up with some of the cards I needed to make an effective Nazgûl deck. I refused to let this stop me so I sat down and decided to work with what I had.

    I talked to a few players I saw playing Nazgûl and asked what they found that worked and what didn't. I found that most people were either using a straight Nazgûl beat down strategy or a strategy based on corruption. Corruption wasn't a viable enough strategy for tournaments and regular Nazgûl just required too many rares for me. Then it dawned on me - Nazgûl don't need to corrupt, they only need to get the Free Peoples to a certain number of burdens and keep them there. That sounded great to me; it was definitely something I could come up with the cards for. I went through the cards lists and tried to come up with the different cards people were using that I had and cards that people might have overlooked.

    The first thing I had to do was put in cards that add burdens. For Nazgûl, the easiest way to add burdens is with It Wants To Be Found. It doesn't get any easier than this card; during the maneuver phase you pay two twilight and spot a Twilight Nazgûl to add a burden. Another way to add burdens is using Blade Tip. This card adds a burden each turn if it is played on the Ringbearer. This used to be hard to do but with the Realms of the Elf Lords it got a lot easier with Ulaire Otsea, Ringwraith In Twilight. If he wins his skirmish he can exert to transfer a Blade Tip onto the Ringbearer, and he also counts as a Twilight Nazgûl to play It Wants to Be Found!

    Now that we're adding the burdens, we need to have cards that take advantage of those burdens. The first card that comes to mind is always Ulaire Enquea, Lieutenant of Morgul. This guy has earned the nickname Machine Gun Kelly in my local area. Once you get your opponent to five burdens, Enquea starts to punish your opponent. Nazgûl don't stop there when taking advantage of burdens, another great minion is Ulaire Toldea, Messenger of Morgul. Once you get your opponent to 4 burdens, he can assign himself to whomever you want. With a base strength of twelve he can overwhelm any companion of strength six or lower. Two other cards that help take advantage of burdens are the Nazgûl Sword and Dark Whispers. Nazgûl Sword helps make your Nazgûl stronger and it also makes the bearer Damage +1 if there are 3 burdens, which is often overlooked. Dark Whispers is often underestimated but can be a game winning card. It reads "Spot 3 burdens to make a Nazgûl Strength +1 and Damage +1; spot 6 burdens make a Nazgûl Strength +3 and Damage +2."

    The last things that I added were cards that were necessary with the switch from the Fellowship Block to the Two Towers Block and the introduction of a whole new slew of Free Peoples strategies. First is Bill Ferny, Swarthy Sneering Fellow - he allows you to deal with the Ringbound Ranger decks that increase the site number of your Nazgûl in a skirmish. Ferny makes your Nazgûl not roaming and the Free Peoples can not assign him. If they aren't playing Ringbound Rangers he is a nice extra four strength for one of your Nazgûl. The other card I decided to add was Not Easily Destroyed. This card will allow you heal your Nazgûl and better deal with Rohan Mounts. Another nice thing that it can be used for is to heal Ulaire Enquea in maneuver to keep using his special ability.

    Here is a sample deck using the above strategies. I used a Free Peoples side that draws a lot of cards so it will better help set up your Shadow.