621-Necromancer_Agents

[dirhaval]

Are you open to the summons? Ever desire for a place of honor and power?

Sauron is ready to unfold his plan. Still disguised as the Necromancer he will send companies searching rings for the war and to persuade his enemies to stand down or join him. Various powers are inferred into these rings. A dark elf and former ring-maker has returned to Dol Guldur. This elf will test golden rings found by other minions of the Eye. Reclaiming a Dwarven Ring of Power will quicken the fall of the West. Once found, this ring of power will be given again to a Dwarf-lord and so corrupt his heart bringing down his own people. Another dark elf, Hendolen, will try to give a dwarven ring to Thrain II, so Thrain II will be bent on evicting Felagrog and so remove the fire-spirit as a competitor of Middle-Earth. Else to another hole for this dwarf-lord until his end. Hendolen will attempt to persuade his kin to be indifferent to the ills of the World and so leave Middle-Earth forever on the gray ships. A palantír of Feanor will be searched among the ruins of Minas Morgul. This seeing stone will enhance the Eye’s own scrying abilities. Mordor will be rebuilt on the foundations left behind. Victory is assured.

Sauron has many weapons to hinder his opponents. Agents will be planted amongst his enemies and Man creatures will strike fear in traveling so little news will be shared among the Free Peoples of the coming Shadow. Agents from the Blue Mountains down to the Bellakar will
spread lies on their own kin. A dwarf agent will sow sends of distrust and fear among the dwarves in the Blue Mountains. A woman of the rugged hills will travel into the Northern Waste bringing with her news of war to break the union of Lossoth. A old hobbit of Bywater at an inn will cause doubt in the weak-minded and loathsome so to keep the world outside the borders. A pitiful man of great ambition and no beauty will usurp the power of the King of Rohan so to devoid the men of leadership. An elven maiden pretends to be seeking her kin from the coasts, but her true motive is to stir conflict between men and elves. A man of the harsh lands of Khand will turn those like him against the Free Peoples. This will improve the chances to limit the allies of Gondor. A man from Near Harad will also dispel the hope of Gondor and plant discord among those still free from clutches of the Ringwraiths of Harad.

Hate, greed, and fear has been gnawing at corrupted men now for hundreds of years. Fall of empires and kingdoms will do this to the Second Born. They can be bought to kill another without regret or attack villages for sport or gain. These uncouth men are found as assassins or as a lone thief to the traveler as ambushers. Others form small parties to steal much from many.


What I like about this Deck:
Many dark elves are using his own ability. A Palantir is used for recycling events, and many types
of special rings are to be played. Much travel seems necessary to play the items. I like all the agents
being set to the areas for influencing; I would like to include one more agent of six mind. That
agent would need to be sent to the sideboard. The use of Lord of Gifts too is what I want
in tracking down a dwarf.

What I don't like about this Deck:
I am not taking advantage of Necromancer's agent-mind-reduction and agent play abilities. That can
be powerful. If this player instead has agents as characters, then who will play the dark elves? I would say
Azog so to play Pursuit through Barren Lands and focus on Thranduil, Elrond, and Evermist elves.

[dirhaval]

I made minor updates; nothing special to view.
I removed Bill Ferny and added another agent. I also moved the Nenya mission to Khamual.
The hazard deck is done too.

Rebuilding Mordor requires six resources; that is a lot. One option is to let the Minas Morgul
Black Player do this rebuilding instead. I am assuming any Sauron specific resources can be played
by The Necromancer. If not, then let me know.

Only heroes are allow to "play" the One Ring from a test, else the game can end quickly with a thud
for the non-White players.

[dirhaval]

I updated the hazard summary and finalized the hazard deck.
I removed Lobelia hazard agent for Ted Sandyman.
My starting point for a resource deck is 20 in the sideboard with
20 for hazards. Most likely I will use less than 20 hazards in the sideboard
so that opens up more space for resources. Besides, at best you can
pull in 12 hazards from the sideboard usingOutpost+DON. Then
exhaustion brings in another five, so that = 17. Anymore is pointless
unless you want to target certain themes.

This player added another Honey on the Tongue and Great Eye.

[dirhaval]

I played a quick game with this deck, that is using my macro of deck shuffling
and making rolls...not the lengthy trial as with Gandalf, but 3 hours of time though invested.

The playing of the dwarf faction is difficult for the roll to make the attempt
and also the time involved is too much since the new rules allow any event to cancel AA.
Dark Forges also was removed. Inserted was The Names among Them to cancel
AA when the Lord of Gifts is played.

I learned that the Necromancer event is considered avatar in deck construction,
so I added a fourth copy and three copies of The Great Eye.
The three palantiri were removed and replaced with Palantir of Minas Ithil
and Gazed Fixed x2. Yes, that palantir carries 5 CP. Calendal is expected to
eventually be eliminated, but that is okay. If so, then store the stone.
Focus Palantir also removed replaced with The Slow Torment of Years.

[dirhaval]

I am making the Black Power Decks. The hazard decks are simple since I just view
what hazards have yet to be used and focus on common themes.

This deck is updated. Minor changes include:
Removing Magic Ring of Enigma, Dark Forges, and Master Smith
Add Morgul Apprentice, Vein of Arda and Maranya.

Maranya is a unique mind ring in the Elf-promo set. This ring
allows Celedhring to place Vein of Arda on an item to add +1 to all bonuses given by that item.
Is it cheese to play the ore event, Vein of Arda, on a dwarving ring?...then +3 to a dwarf corruption check if tapping to use the ring?

[Thorsten the Traveller]

Embellishing a Dwarven Ring with some Veins of Arda = cheeze? not in my book

[dirhaval]

I made an update to this deck after its 16 turn practice game.

i feel that more effort on rings including Lord of Gifts is the key for this player.
Major changes include:
-Moving Mordor rebuilt to Hoarmurath
---replaced with Padding Feet for MPs.

-They Are Accounted For included for getting spirit and dwarven rings into play
-two Ring for Mortal Men used with Lord of Gifts

-removed a Black Steed for Stinker
-six gold ring items now in deck


Hazards changes include exchanging many Men creatures plus Ransom for Ren's stealing Men creatures
Ullis agent exchanged for Dror who will be played as a character during second deck to use a Dwarven Ring.


Now with the removal of visiting Mordor this player can test more rings and in better position to use
Lord of Gifts so to corrupt an avatar later in the game.

[dirhaval]

I made another update to the Necromancer deck. Hazards were mostly to be changed.

First, Black Steed added to give region movement bonus near the end to use Lord of Gifts.
Another copy of Whispers of Rings added to avoid useless ring tests. They are Accounted For
removed with so many prisoner cards in decks: Spells of the Barrow-wights,
Waylaid, Wounded, and Orc-dragged,
Abduction,
No Better Use
Sack Over the Head
Frozen
Flies and Spiders
Ransom.

Two copies of Interrogation will aid tests.

Mouth of Sauron added since the character is no longer in the Avatar decks.
News of Doom and Cursed Journey added. Bane of the Ithel-stone will be there
for only for the palantir corruption affect. Goblin-Faces added. Rank Upon Rank
and Minions Stir are in this division! Let News of the Shire change the Shire to
a Border-land. May be the creature can have 6 strikes with 10 prowess.

A major change for this player is the use of sites. I moved the sites westward along the Anduin River
from Beorn's House to Dol Amroth. It is safer somewhat, but I wanted to force
the use of dangerous sites. This player only rolled11 strikes in the practice game
and 5 strikes came on the last turn to use Lord of Gifts.

A new tactic is present for the Warlord phase. The covert company will visit
Old Forest to join Nain with The Great Willow and already have The Queer Forest in play.
Now, Tom's House will not be suitable for hobbits. Grond will be in Cardolan.
The only problem will be drawing cards. If the Willow Dingle is tapped, the Tarcil
and Celedhring can visit Tom's House. They can play Bright Gold Ring there.
All Thought Bent Upon It can be used at The Willow Dingle. Again, sites will tap.
But that is the cost I can pay. Rogrog and Ardagor can visit Old Forest sites
to say hi.

The only creatures to cause trouble for the Old Forest characters are Rangers of Sarn Ford and The Oldest. So maybe
I will have Dror kept in play instead of using Nain. That dunedain creature is only good keyed to the region Old Forest.
Shirrifs are keyable to Brandy Hall, but I won't go there. The Oldest will be detainment.

[dirhaval]

Updated deck for the Nameless One.

Several cards on both sides of the deck changed. Mainly to
add cards not found in any other deck.

Unique resource items are not found in any other deck.
Events only in this deck include:
News of the Shire, Elf-Friend, Eyes of the Tower,
Curse the Baggins, Master Smith, Lord of Gifts,
Slow Torment of Years, Vein of Arda,
Skies of Fire, Messenger of Mordor.

Sites removed to tap: Rhubar, Azagarbhun.
Sites added to tap: Edhellond(Scroll), Sulfur-deeps(Vein)

Deck at viewtopic.php?f=23&t=2627