By Factor

I recently interviewed Kenneth "Ellington" Ellingsen about his tournament peformance at the January PSQ. He bested a crowd of 47 by going 6-0. Read on...

FACTOR: I see you went with Rangers/Ithilien Blade and Morcs. Any particular reason?

ELLINGTON: The Free Peoples is very strong as it has cards against any Shadow side. It's been a while since I played Morcs, so I thought it would be a fun shadow to play.

FACTOR: If someone wanted to beat a deck just like yours, what do you suggest? How could your opponents have beaten you?

ELLINGTON: Demoralized decks usually beat me, as get bored to death when I play against that deck, and would rather slit my wrists than play a full game against that Shadow. Archery is pretty good if you don't play a Shadow side that can swap Neekerbreekers' Bog over and over again. As for the fellowship, Hobbits are usually great against Morcs.

FACTOR: Do you feel anything needs X-Listed?

ELLINGTON: Demoralized. The whole Shadow is such a negative player experience. So boring to spend 5 minutes exerting over and over again.

FACTOR: Any particularly troublesome matchups?

ELLINGTON: Manufan should have won if he had played correctly and not played any minions from 5-7. Rangers can't deal with Demoralized if the FP can't exhaust itself before the swarm triggers. Luckily he dropped some minions at 5 and let me exhaust my own FP which shut down his swarm.

FACTOR: What happened in Game 6?

ELLINGTON: Think I played against Dwarves which is a great matchup for my Morcs. It only took 5 sites or so to pull a shadow kill.

FACTOR: What are you hoping will appear in Rise of Saruman?

ELLINGTON: Hopefully not that many stupid combos like Mountain Troll, Rapid Fire, Ithilien Blade, Bill Ferny, etc. I'd like to see some cards which are good by themselves. I'd also like to see some cards that would make Uruks Tier 1 instead of a casual shadow which even my 200 card deck can beat.

FACTOR: Thanks, Ellington!

Here's the deck:

Ring-bearer and One Ring
Gimli, Bearer of Grudges
The One Ring, The Ring of Doom

Free Peoples (30)
1 Aragorn, Strider
1 Gondorian Prowler
1 Madril, Defender of Osgiliath
1 Éowyn, Lady of Ithilien
2 Ring of Fury
2 Radagast, The Brown
1 Legolas, Of the Woodland Realm
1 Garrison of Gondor
1 Isildur, Heir of Elendil
1 Dark Ways
4 Blood Runs Chill
4 Well-traveled
1 Dínedal, Mirkwood Archer
2 Aragorn's Bow, Ranger's Longbow
4 Ithilien Blade
1 Gimli's Battle Axe, Trusted Weapon
1 Rider's Mount
1 Coif
1 Spear of the Mark

Shadow (30)
4 Morgul Brute
4 Morgul Destroyer
2 Úlairë Nertëa, Thrall of The One
2 Úlairë Lemenya, Eternally Threatening
2 Úlairë Cantëa, Black Assassin
2 Úlairë Nelya, Third of the Nine Riders
1 Úlairë Otsëa, Thrall of The One
1 Gollum, Dark as Darkness
2 The Witch-king, Captain of the Nine Riders
4 Morgul Spearman
4 Captured by the Ring
1 Flung into the Fray
1 Out of Sight and Shot

Adventure Path (9)
1 Anduin Banks
1 Buckland Homestead
1 Cavern Entrance
1 City Gates
1 Courtyard Parapet
1 East Wall of Rohan
1 Mount Doom
1 Neekerbreekers' Bog
1 Stables

-Factor