Possession Denial

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

Possession Denial

Deck listing:

Hints & strategie notes for this Deck

Possessions are often the life blood of a Free People's deck. Many players rely upon them to perform a variety of tasks depending upon their specific strategy, and of course they're an invaluable help in winning skirmishes. And so with the introduction of the Dunlending culture in the Two Towers set, a whole new deck type has been created: the Possession Denial decks.

The ability to discard possessions is certainly nothing new. From the very inception of the game Ulaire Cantea has been feared for his ability to discard weapons. But none of the previous expansions can compare with what the Dunlendings can do. With but a few simple cards these wild men can get rid of not only weapons, but any possession being held by any companion.

At the core of any possession denial strategy is the War Club. Being a possession itself, the War Club can be held by any of your Dunlending Man minions, grants a +2 strength boost, and discards two possessions when the minion wins the skirmish. With the average Dunlending minion already being on the high end of the strength scale, many of them are quite capable of defeating un-enhanced companions without any shadow pumpers being needed.

The War Club, when combined with the "...strength +2 and Fierce" skirmish text found on the Dunlending Madman and Dunlending Robber could quite easily result in you being able to trash four possessions in a single turn. Does your opponent have any low strength allies on the table? Toss down a Dunlending Ravager or Dunlending Warrior with a Club and assign them to the ally for a nearly guaranteed two possession loss. Not bad for an uncommon card!

Another uncommon card that fits perfectly into the deck is the Dunlending Pillager. This three cost strength nine minion also allows for possession removal when skirmishes are won (an ability that rivals the War Club when six companions are on the table). Zero cost strength boosters like Dark Fury and Burn Every Village will not only ensure that the Pillager sneaks off with some of your opponents favorite toys, but are common cards to boot!

One rare (but very useful) card is Ravage the Defeated. This Event, used in response to the winning of a skirmish, can come as quite a surprise (especially in decks that do not focus on possession denial). This is a great card to use in conjunction with very high strength minions such as Hillman Horde and Wild Men of the Hills. These big bruisers are so tough that the Fellowship player (to avoid being overwhelmed) would almost be forced to put a companion up against them that have some kind of strength enhancing possessions or conditions. Once they lose the skirmish, play this card and watch all Free Peoples cards on that companion go straight to the discard pile. This has benefits of not only getting rid of possessions, but conditions too. With every Free People culture having some kind of vitality pumping condition cards, playing this could kill a companion by itself!

Thus far we have covered the methods by which a shadow player can remove possessions from play as a result of winning skirmishes. But that isn't the only avenue available to the men of Dunland. There is one event worth mentioning as well: Wild Man Raid. Because Wild Man Raid is a maneuver event, there is almost nothing that can be done to stop the discarding. And as a bonus, you can use this event to eliminate a Free Peoples condition, giving you the same benefit that is derived from Ravage the Defeated while being able to specifically target the condition to be removed.

One aspect of this strategy that may not be immediately apparent is that the shadow player chooses which possessions are to be trashed, and those possessions need not be on the companion that lost the skirmish (the exception being Ravage the Defeated). This added flexibility allows you to attack the cards that are the most critical to your opponent's success. For example, if archery totals are causing you trouble, go after the bows. Is Aragorn simply too beefy to handle? Discard his sword and/or a Flaming Brand he is carrying.

Finally, because of the versatility of these cards, you don't have to base your entire Shadow strategy around possession denial unless you want to. This is a strategy that can be used to easily supplement any Dunland Shadow strategy. Even if you just threw in a couple copies of War Club or Wild Man Raid, you have added to your deck another avenue from which to disrupt your opponent's strategy and thus ensure your victory.