By Zach "Rubber Chicken" Shephard

Ah, another Premier Series Qualifier. For many players, this offers a time to test their skill against the best competition the online world has to offer. For me, it means analyzing decks and conducting interviews. For dogs, it means nothing, because dogs can’t play card games or read articles.

Now it’s time to take a look at what went on at everyone’s favorite monthly tournament.

This month’s winner was none other than Kenneth “Ellington” Ellingsen, who has proved himself time and again to be one of the best The Lord Of The Rings Online TCG players out there. For those that haven’t been keeping track, Mr. Ellingsen has been using Dwarves and Corsairs fairly consistently in recent weeks, which is why his PSQ-winning deck (Gondor paired with Forest Nazgul swarm) was a bit of a surprise. I took a few moments to speak with Ken (or as close to “speaking” as emailing from my dungeon can get) about his choice in decks, with the interests of scientific progress in mind (assuming that this interview will somehow cure all disease).

Zach: Your Dwarves and Corsairs seemed a little odd this month. The Dwarves looked like they shaved and grew several feet in height, while the Corsairs seemed to have exchanged their eye-patches for black robes. Why the switch?

Kenneth: I just wanted to play a different deck this month. I know that Dwarves with Corsairs or Orc swarm is very good (both top-two at previous online tourneys), but I wanted to test Gondor/Nazgul to see how they did in a tourney versus lots of different decks. If it worked ok, I would consider the deck as a second option of what to play in Utrecht.

Zach: I noticed you had only a single copy of Gandalf, Leader of the Company and one copy of Grown Suddenly Tall (GST) in your deck. Is it really worth making a splash that small? After all, you only get that condition removal if you draw both Gandalf and GST. Did this potential lack of consistency ever give you any difficulties?

Kenneth: I only splashed Gandalf because he was the best ninth companion I could find (didn't need Radagast, The Brown as long I had two copies of Narsil, Blade of the Faithful). The single GST was just against condition-heavy decks like Ninja Gollum, Besiegers and even Forest Nazgul. I usually discarded GST, but it was nice to have a condition-removal option if I really needed it.

Zach: Well-traveled is a card I haven't seen played since… uh… actually, looking at your decklist may have been the first time I ever read it. What made you choose this card over Pathfinder?

Kenneth: Well-traveled is probably the main reason I decided to play Gondor with Forest Nazgul. If I have a Well-traveled in my opening hand, I can fetch 2-3 Forests before my opponent has started to move. Start a Forest, play Well-traveled at site one to have three Forests on the site path. Or even better, play Ulaire Nelya, Third of the Nine Riders at site two and use Well-traveled for sites three and four (or, after Nelya, use Anduril, Flame of the West to get a Forest at three, then Well-traveled for four and five). Either of the Nelya scenarios gives me a full minus-four-twilight Dark Approach at site two. Last week I dropped five fierce, Strength-10+ Nazgul for ten twilight at site three! Even without a Well-traveled in my opening hand, I fetch can one at site three with Denethor, Lord of Minas Tirith to spot at least three Forests when I move.

Zach: Were there any particular match-ups that your deck had difficulties dealing with?

Kenneth: Chris Lyons's burden Nazgul was beating the crap out of my Free Peoples. If he hadn't made a fatal mistake, he'd have corrupted Boromir, Bearer of Council with Scroll of Isildur in play at site six. Burden decks in general are a very hard match-up. To beat it, you'd need a different Gondor version with Gandalf and Saved From the Fire to fetch some burden removals. Problem is that a deck like that would be 35/35 [cards per side] or something, killing its consistency. I prefer 30/30 decks, or 33/33 with four copies of No Pauses, No Spills.

Zach: Thanks for the help, Kenneth, and congratulations on the win!

So, what else did we see in the top eight this month? I can answer that question with one word: decks.

More specifically, Dwarves were once again the most common Free Peoples side to place in the top eight. Three decks used the bearded warriors, while two focused on Elves, one on the Gandalf culture, and one on Hobbits. Then, of course, there was Mr. Ellingsen’s number-one deck that used Gondor with a little splash of Gandalf for flavor.

On the darker side of the decks, Forest Nazgul swarm was the most popular Shadow of the month, netting three of the top eight slots. The riders in black also showed up a fourth time in the form of a corruption strategy, and yet again with the classic Morc decktype. The remaining three Shadow sides included Ninja Gollum, Orc swarm, and a Gollum deck that I can’t even begin to explain, but apparently works.

So what is it that put Mr. Ellingsen’s deck above the rest? If I could pick one card, I’d have to say Well-traveled. I’ve been playing Forest Nazgul swarm quite a bit myself, with a reasonable success rate. However, I was using my filtering fellowship, which has no chance of reaching site nine, and only serves to set up the Shadow side. Utilizing Well-traveled allowed Kenneth’s fellowship to stay in the lead and still control the site path, giving him the option for either a Shadow kill or a Free Peoples victory. Furthermore, as stated in the above interview, using this Gondor event would often times yield four Forest sites before the opponent moved, which meant that Mr. Ellingsen’s Nazgul Swarm could hit earlier than most.

To wrap things up, we’ll take a look at the winning decklist, followed by links to download the entire top eight.

Ring-bearer and One Ring
Boromir, Bearer of Council
The One Ring, The Ring of Rings

Free Peoples (31)
1 Faramir, Captain of Gondor
1 Denethor, Lord of Minas Tirith
1 Aragorn, Strider
1 Elendil, The Tall
1 Garrison of Gondor
1 Derufin
1 Dervorin
1 Faramir's Bow
1 Faramir's Sword
2 Narsil, Blade of the Faithful
2 Anduril, Flame of the West
1 Stone Tower
1 Citadel of the Stars
1 Garrison of Osgiliath
2 Noble Leaders
4 Sapling of the White Tree
1 Scroll of Isildur
1 Seeing Stone of Orthanc
1 Ring of Barahir
4 Well-traveled
1 Gandalf, Leader of the Company
1 Grown Suddenly Tall

Shadow (31)
3 Ulaire Nelya, Third of the Nine Riders
3 Ulaire Toldea, Black Shadow
4 Lost in the Woods
4 Black Rider
4 Dark Approach
3 The Witch-king, Captain of the Nine Riders
1 Out of Sight and Shot
1 Hatred Stirred
2 Ulaire Attea, Black Predator
2 Ulaire Cantea, Black Assassin
1 Ulaire Lemenya, Assailing Minion
1 Ulaire Otsea, Thrall of the One
2 Moving This Way

Adventure Deck
(0) Woody-end
(0) The Angle
(0) Buckland Homestead
(1) Neekerbreekers' Bog
(1) Cavern Entrance
(1) Slag Mounds
(2) Caras Galadhon
(3) Trollshaw Forest
(3) Old Forest Road

May 2005 PSQ Top Eight Decklists:

1. Ellington – Free Peoples: Gondor/Gandalf splash. Shadow: Forest Nazgul swarm.
2. Merboy – Free Peoples: Elves/Smeagol. Shadow: Orc swarm.
3. Petit-scarab – Free Peoples: Gandalf-culture Saved From the Fire. Shadow: Gollum wounding, Sauron, Balrog.
4. Judas – Free Peoples: Dwarf/Smeagol. Shadow: Morcs.
5. Lockescythe – Free Peoples: Dwarf/Smeagol. Shadow: Forest Nazgul swarm.
6. lyonscc – Free Peoples: Dwarf/Smeagol. Shadow: Nazgul corruption.
7. JoseR – Free Peoples: Elves. Shadow: Ninja Gollum.
8. theonerob – Free Peoples: Sudden Fury Hobbits. Shadow: Forest Nazgul swarm.

-Zach Shephard