This is the deck I used against Minion in the Online World Championships 2024 finals. It’s an evolution from an older deck that I used in 2021 (posted below this one)
During semis I used this same deck but with Uvatha instead of Hoarmurath, as Uvatha is less popular than Hoarmurath (and I haaaate mirror matches). The deck works a bit differently with Uvatha, you have more flexibility and the option to have Dorelas under his DI, but you lose the extra card in hand and Hoarmurath Unleashed, so… I’d say Uvatha is cooler but Hoarmurath is more effective. In any case, the previous iteration of this deck used Uvatha, so if you’re interested in seeing how that would work, you can just click on the link above.
I’ve decided to write the whole thing in English so everyone can understand it, apologies to my fellow Spanish-speaking friends, I’m sure they’ll understand 🙂
First of all I’d like to thank:
– The CoE Organized Play Committee for organizing.
– My dear friend Kodi for creating this beautiful online platform.
– My opponents who were all really nice and basically everyone who participated and therefore supports this wonderful community.
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Deck
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1 Baduila (DM)
1 Adûnaphel (TW)
1 Saruman the Wise (AS)
1 Great Bats [M] (AS)
1 Regiment of Black Crows [M] (AS)
3 Dark Tryst [M] (AS)
1 Great Army of the North [M] (BA)
1 Golodhros (DM)
1 My Precious (DM)
2 An Unexpected Outpost (DM)
1 Revealed to all Watchers (DM)
1 Seized by Terror (DM)
1 Lieutenant of Dol Guldur (LE)
2 Orc Tracker (LE)
1 Radbug (LE)
3 Hoarmûrath the Ringwraith (LE)
1 Landroval (LE)
2 Sellswords Between Charters (LE)
1 Daelomin at Home (TD)
2 Foolish Words (TD)
3 Cave-drake (TW)
1 Mouth of Sauron (TW)
3 Pûkel-men (TW)
1 Rolled down to the Sea (WH)
3 Crept Along Cleverly [M] (WH)
1 Orcs of Dol Guldur [M] (AS)
1 Aiglos [H] (DM)
2 Heedless Revelry (LE)
3 River (LE)
3 Waiting Shadow (LE)
2 Bade to Rule [M] (LE)
1 Bold Thrust [M] (LE)
1 Hoarmûrath Unleashed [M] (LE)
3 Voices of Malice [M] (LE)
3 We Have Come to Kill [M] (LE)
3 Weigh All Things to a Nicety [M] (LE)
1 While the Yellow Face Sleeps [M] (LE)
1 Goblins of Goblin-gate [M] (LE)
1 Grey Mountain Goblins [M] (LE)
1 Orcs of Gundabad [M] (LE)
1 Orcs of Mirkwood [M] (LE)
1 High Helm [M] (LE)
1 Witch-king of Angmar (TW)
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Pool
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1 Dorelas (LE)
1 Lieutenant of Morgul (LE)
1 The Mouth (LE)
1 Náin (LE)
1 Odoacer (LE)
1 Orc Brawler (LE)
1 Orc Captain (LE)
1 Shagrat (LE)
1 Uchel (LE)
1 Uglúk (WH)
2 Strange Rations [M] (LE)
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Sideboard
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1 Assassin (TW)
1 Unhappy Blows (AS)
1 Unabated in Malice (BA)
3 Long Grievous Siege [M] (BA)
2 Seized by Terror (DM)
1 The Way is Shut (DM)
1 Ûvatha the Ringwraith (LE)
1 Arthadan Rangers (LE)
1 Wild Fell Beast (TD)
1 Siege (TW)
1 Piercing All Shadows [M] (WH)
1 Tribute Garnered [M] (AS)
1 Nameless Thing (DM)
1 Dragon-helm [H] (DM)
1 Heedless Revelry (LE)
2 Twilight (LE)
1 Webs of Fear & Treachery (LE)
1 Blackbole [M] (LE)
1 Diversion [M] (LE)
1 Gifts as Given of Old [M] (LE)
2 Hoarmûrath Unleashed [M] (LE)
1 Sudden Call [M] (LE)
1 Ice-orcs [M] (LE)
1 Orcs of Moria [M] (LE)
1 The Arkenstone [M] (LE)
The deck concept revolves around the Mouth (character) and the card We Have Come to Kill (WHCtK). The idea is that he will be sent back to your hand every now and then, so you can take advantage of that by replaying him. And, if this doesn’t happen and he stays in play (or he is eliminated, which has happened to me more than once…) you have plenty of other characters that can be brought with We Have Come to Kill, so you always make good use of that card and it’s never a dead card in your hand.
At the start of the game, you have three companies:
The main company consists of The Mouth, Shagrat and Odoacer. I usually have Strange Rations played on the Mouth if I’m going to play a faction, otherwise it’s played on Shagrat. In some games, I decided not to start Odoacer at all and have a smaller company there. Along with these guys, you can bring one Orc Tracker (or two, if you have High Helm played on Shagrat) or Radbug under Shagrat’s DI.
The second company is Dorelas and Uchel with Strange Rations. Dorelas will usually sit at Dol Guldur playing VoM, but in some games I decided to have him bounce between Mount Gundabad and Dol Guldur, which is usually safe travel and makes you draw one more card than your opponent. Uchel’s mission is to go to the Sulfur-Deeps whenever you happen to draw Aiglos. I try to have one VoM and a sage ready for that moment (Troll-Purse).
Later in the game when Bade to Rule is in play you can add a 3rd company, or make the Mouth’s company bigger. There are some cool agents there that can be played either as an agent or as a character, and there’s also the possibility of playing another leader (like Ugluk) who can bring another Orc Tracker under his DI with WHCTK.
Finally, there’s Hoarmurath (or Uvatha in the deck I played during semis) who will sit in DG providing you , with a really nice hand size, plus Hoarmurath Unleashed.
In any case, the deck’s main strength relies on its flexibility. It’s also a very fun deck to play 🙂 When I first built this deck back in 2021 I used to focus on the Mouth playing the factions and the other characters acting as support for that, but with some games under my belt where this plan didn’t work and I had to improvise, I discovered that there were many more options than just that. In some games, I decided to split my characters into 4 different companies (e.g. Mouth + Odoacer, Shagrat + Radbug, Dorelas + Uchel, Ugluk + Orc Tracker) and send them to different sites to try to gather more MPs. The fact that WHCtK can be played anywhere in almost any situation allowed me to enter a site with everyone untapped and then play something, or maybe play a faction with Shagrat or The Mouth and then bring an Orc Tracker to play Great Bats, etc. It’s also important to note that, while The Mouth is the best candidate for playing factions, characters like Ugluk or Shagrat can also play them, especially because many of the factions help you gather the others when they’re in play.
One good example of this flexibility was my game vs Felipe Silva during semis, who was playing his infamous loop deck. In that game I knew he wouldn’t hurt or even stop me with his hazards (because he plays mostly half-creatures and stuff that just falls out of his hands), but I needed to call the Audience ASAP because if I gave him enough time he would set up his loop and finish the game abruptly. So what I did is I split into many companies from the beginning (even one character companies), had Dorelas bounce from Mt Gundabad to Dol Guldur all game, and I managed to exhaust and call the Audience in 4 turns, which is something I had never accomplished with this deck before. Of course, this strategy would never work against any deck that plays serious hazards, but against him it made total sense, and I was glad that my deck had the possibility of changing his inner mechanism to work like that.
The area where the companies move is relatively safe, and excepting the turn in which you go to Gondmaeglom, the auto-attacks are weak. The main problem is usually Baduila, and that’s why I play him (sometimes as a character) . Dwarves + Maias can be a problem too, but the idea against those is that you don’t move to Ruins and Lairs unless you have some sort of combat booster. If the HL is low you can make it with a simple bold trush + WHCTK in the site phase. Against Elf-lords is imperative not to cross double-wilderness and only move through a Shadow-region if you have Eye Never Sleeping, or at least Voices of Malice for Chill Them with Fear. The only game I lost during this tournament was because, after having managed to avoid double wilderness for 2 hours into the game (and into the night, admittedly I was tired) I lost my focus on the game and in my last turn I moved Shagrat with Radbug from Sarn Goriwing to Woodmen’s Town, not realizing that was 2 wilderness. I think Migue had like 2 Elf-Lords waiting + Uvatha, Power Built by Waiting and even Many Sorrows Befall in his hand, what a nice guy 🙂 My whole company was destroyed along with the items and allies they were carrying, and that caused me to lose the game. It didn’t matter much because it was the last round of the Swiss and we were both qualified for finals already, but still, it was a silly mistake, especially considering that I had been keeping that in mind for the previous two hours! Oh well 🙂
Hazards:
Nothing spectacular here, although it turned out to work quite well during the tournament. These hazards are mostly anti-Balrog.
Some interesting card choices:
Webs of Fear and Treachery: Considering the fact that I don’t play faction boosters, and that the Mouth’s ability is printed on his card text (effectively dodging Webs effect) I found this card can be helpful in this deck. It’s even better in MvM games, where you can go and influence away his factions with the Mouth.
Wild Fell beast: This is my tech card against those balrog decks that move around the Mordor area to play Tempest of Fire. Unfortunately I didn’t face any of those.
MP count
Characters: 9-11
Factions: 11-15
Items: 5-8
Allies: 1-4
Misc: 2-6
Total: 28-44