Raiders and Burdens, part 1

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

Raiders and Burdens, part 1

Deck listing:

Hints & strategie notes for this Deck

The first in a series of three articles about Easterling Burden Strategies.

Sauron has released the Easterlings and in the process, unintentionally, he adds to the burdens that Frodo bears. It is during an attack against the Raider army that the Rangers find Frodo and Sam. This leads to an encounter with Faramir that shows just how deeply the ring has affected Frodo and in effect adds another burden - that of knowledge of influence.

There are three ways to use the burden adding abilities of Easterlings: 1) add burdens to try and corrupt the Ring Bearer, 2) add burdens and make your minions stronger and/or fierce, 3) combine the Easterling's abilities with those of another culture that keys off burdens such as Sauron or the Nazgul. This article deals with the first strategy - adding burdens to try and corrupt the Ring Bearer.

Possibly the easiest way to add burdens is via the two minions Easterling Lieutenant and Easterling Guard, each of whom can be exerted to add burdens when assigned to an unbound companion. Unfortunately Faramir and the Ring-bound Rangers often put a stop to this strategy. However, if you only encounter them occasionally, this can still be a worthwhile strategy. Just add four Gathering to the Summons (Spot a Raider Man skirmishing a Ring-bound companion to add a burden) to your deck and as your opponent smiles and puts the Easterling Lieutenant up against a Ring-bound Ranger (or Smeagol) you can smile right back during the skirmish, play Gathering to the Summons for 0 cost and STILL add a burden to Frodo.

Another way to add burdens is via Vision From Afar (Assignment: Assign an Easterling to the Ring-bearer. The Free Peoples player may add a burden to prevent this.) This is especially useful when used at sites higher than 5 and combined with a minion such as Desert Legion. If all Frodo has is the ring (even Answer to All Riddles), he must add a burden to prevent this skirmish or be overwhelmed. With luck, you can arrange to do this with Desert Legion at a time when Frodo has 3 burdens on him already. When you opponent adds the fourth to prevent the skirmish he makes Desert Legion a strength 18.

Large companionships got you down? Play New Fear. (Regroup: Exert a Raider Man to add a burden for each companion over 4. The Free Peoples player may discard 2 companions (except the Ring-bearer) to prevent this.) In a way this is not a true burden adding card as it is easily preventable - but preventing it has a very high cost, so it's a hard choice to make your opponent take. Still, its best use may be against an opponent with 5 companions when he is more likely to add burden rather than discard two companions - although it's a lot of fun to play this card as your opponent reaches site 9 and Frodo has 9 burdens.

One good thing about this strategy is that the key is not in winning skirmishes. The "uber Fellowships" with Boromir, Aragorn and Faramir can add as many weapons on their companions as they please. You don't care if they win the skirmish so long as you can add the burdens - most of which is done in the assignment phase.

All decks that attempt corruption are vulnerable to burden removing tricks. So in reality it's unlikely that a corruption deck composed entirely of Raider burden adding cards will reliably be successful at corrupting the Ring Bearer, especially when played against a strong player with a good deck. But it is good at distracting them and making them worry about getting corrupted while you run for site 9. If that doesn't work, the use of Palantir Chamber as your site 9 and the low cost of the Easterling Lieutenant, allows you to get set up for a site nine swarm when you're not the one in front.

In our next article we will address adding burdens and taking advantage of them with minions that get stronger and become fierce; for now, here's a fun deck to play with.