The Nazgûl : Out in the Open | openCards

You are here

Ringwraith iconThe Nazgûl : Out in the Open

    This Strategy-Note article was written by Hayden-William Courtland and was published first on "Lord of the Rings Online (lotrtcg.decipher.com)".

    Not long ago players constructed decks for a fellowship's journey to Amon Hen. Fitting to this theme, the Ringwraith culture appeared as the shadow side of choice for many a competitive player. Sites like Bree Streets (Nazgûl have no roaming penalty) and the Ford of Bruinen (first Nazgûl is twilight cost -5) meant that fellowship players had to be prepared for a large Nazgûl position well before their arrival at the first sanctuary. But alas, times have changed, and constructed Fellowship play must await cycling through the next two trilogy blocks (Two Towers and Return of the King) before it will again be reborn. What this means for the Nazgûl is that theyy must find a new home in the Open format and, with no new cards in Two Towers or Battle of Helm's Deep, they must find their place by adapting old cards to new strategies.

    Twilight
    The most obvious setback to the Ringwraith culture in Open format is a loss of the early fellowship sites. There are no longer any overtly useful sites for cutting the twilight cost of Nazgûl and this will make it very difficult to amass a Nazgûl swarm before site 4. Thus, the effective use of Nazgûl at early sites has become a genuine concern for deckbuilders. In this respect, there are several points to remember:
    - Nazgûl are not roaming at site 3 (very reasonable given their powers)
    - Four of the Fellowship block Nazgûl cost less than 5 twilight.
    - Morgul Gates can be used to cancel roaming penalties
    - The once ignored Bill Ferny will negate roaming penalties for Nazgûl

    Possessions
    The choice of Nazgûl possessions remains limited. Unique weapons like The Pale Blade and Sword of Minas Morgul continue to be risky and simply not as efficient as a Nazgûl Sword or Morgul Blade, the latter of which can be played in addition to any other hand weapon. Perhaps most efficient, though is the Black Steed (+2 strength or +4 if at a plains). Given the numerous Plains sites in the Two Towers site path (see below), this card will give a potential +4 strength to any Nazgûl for only 1 twilight.

    Sites
    The Two Towers block sites offer little direct assisancet to Nazgûl. Wold of Rohan is moderately useful in that it adds 1 twilight each time a companion or ally is assigned to a skirmish. This may assist in the playing of Nazgûl events, most of which cost 1 or more twilight. Beyond that, the best choice of sites is to include those that are a Plains, because of their usefulness combined with Black Steeds): Horse-Country, Plains of Rohan, The Riddermark, Eastfold, Plains of Rohan Camp, Uruk Camp, Wold of Rohan, Westemnet Plains, Westemnet Hills, Deep of Helm, Nan Curanir. When given a choice between plains sites, chose those that will assist your fellowship side.

    Minions
    A consistent trend in the current Open format is decks with large fellowships (more than four companions). Consequently, Fierce Nazgûl are generally preferred to twilight Nazgûl, as they count as two minions for the purposes of skirmishes. Also, the card support for twilight Nazgûl burdening is somewhat sparse and complicated to pull off in this format (especially given the new Frodo, Tired Traveler, who can remove a burden for each Ring-bound companion that is played). Thus, popular and effective Nazgûl include Úlairë Enquëa (wounds companions if you can spot 6 companions or 5 burdens), The Witch-King, Lord of Angmar (one of the strongest minions to date), Úlairë Attëa (can turn extra twilight into strength), and Úlairë Nertëa (allows you to play a minion from your discard pile for each companion over 4)

    Supporting Cards
    Classic cards such as All Blades Perish (prevent a wound), Threshold of Shadow (strength +2 or +4), and Blade Tip (wound bearer at the start of each fellowship phase) remain solid low twilight cost cards that support your Nazgûl defense. In addition, several less popular cards now show more promise. Fellowship sides are now packing, quite successfully, a sizeable amount of archery. One Nazgûl counter to this is Wreathed in Shadow, a condition that makes the archery total -1 for each twilight you remove. Also, why not go after those archers directly? For this use Relentless Charge (exert a Nazgûl to wound every archer companion). In the event that your Nazgûl won't make it through the archery phase, They Will Find the Ring is a 1 twilight maneuver event that lets you exert 2 Nazgûl to exert a number of companions equal to the number of burdens on the Ring-bearer.

    And so, we see that despite some minor drawbacks, Nazgûl have at their disposal an arsenal that is more than sufficient to stand tall in Open format. I should note, though, that at later sites, when opponents will have usually generated a large fellowship, Nazgûl will have some difficulty in winning you the game. No doubt this handicap will disappear in the months to come as new Nazgûl cards are printed, especially with the appearance of non-unique Nazgûl like the Black Rider. For now, though, Nazgûl players must concentrate on subduing their opponents early in the game when fellowships are small and plains are ever present.