By Steve "the_poet" Horton

Will he ever stop winning? Kenneth "Ellington" Ellingsen wins another PSQ, cementing his status as the all-around best player in the online game at the moment. Time will tell if anyone manages to unseat him next time around.

The first PSQ after Hunters became legal created a flurry of controversy over several cards, but it was a new decktype, seldom talked about in all the furor, that rose to the top. Hobbit/Sméagol paired with the old favorite, Corsairs, won this event. The deck uses several Bloodlines cards that many players had dismissed as fun, but not tourney viable, including Sam, Bearer of Great Need, Sméagol, Simple Stoor, and Déagol, Fateful Finder.

Once again, I interviewed Ellington about his PSQ experience.

POET: So! Hobbits. Is this the first time you've played Hobbits at a major online event? How's the deck work exactly?

ELLINGTON: The fellowship is all about staying alive so the shadow can grind down my opponent. I can also double from site 7 to 9, with No Visitors and Frodo, Frenzied Fighter. Two stealths and two followers at site 9 are usually enough to win most games.

POET: Hobbits pair well with Corsairs? You don't get the filtering that you would with a deck like Saved from the Fire/Ents.

ELLINGTON: Ents give a lot of twilight, Hobbits usually give 4-5 pool from site 1-3 and 7-8 twilight from site 3-6. Most opponents tend to clog their hands when they got that amount of pool each site. That way my shadow can get an easier shadow kill.

POET: You've developed somewhat of a rivalry with Merboy. Without being insulting, did you two end up playing? How did it go?

ELLINGTON: Well, I'm not exactly Merboy's biggest fan, that's for sure! We played 4th round, and I beat him as always =)

POET: You don't share Merboy's and other's opinion of swarm decks, as it seems you rarely play them. Why is that?

ELLINGTON: Unlike other mentioned players, I can actually play different decks well, and not just one shadow side. I've tested my Firebomb deck for some time (Orc/Corsairs), but I just think the deck is very weak against certain fellowships, like Ents. I prefer playing shadow sides without any particularly bad matchups.

POET: Any tough matchups? Did you face anyone that tried out Orc/Man swarm or Quickbeam, Hastiest of All Ents? How did it go?

ELLINGTON: I only had one tough matchup, against Jose the last round. He was the first player who forced me to assign a minion to my Ring-bearer in that tourney. I can't recall what I played against (Pokes Steve and tells him to send interviews sooner after the PSQ) [EDITOR'S NOTE: Thanksgiving made that kind of difficult!]

POET: Do you think the game needs any errata/X-Listing at this point in time?

ELLINGTON: Well, the Mountain-troll is kinda crazy, but the deck can be dealt with, so it's fine. I think Courtyard Parapet should be given an errata to "can only be played twice on the site path" or something, since it's very easy to abuse the site with Nazgûl or Orcs.

POET: Thanks, Ellington!

The remaining decks in the top 8 also show their Hunters influence. Gandalf/Ent is all but gone, and Dwarves have made a comeback, thanks to the incredibly versatile Glóin, son of Gróin. This companion gives your deck incredible throughput and allows you to seed the bottom of your deck - and he also removes tokens for a strength bonus. Gloin has taken Linnar, Dwarven Lord's place as the starting Dwarf of choice with Durin III, Dwarven Lord.

Morgul Orcs have also stormed back thanks to Hunters and its focus on threats. The prevalent threat-adding from ranger decks only makes Morgul Orc decks stronger. Plus, Úlairë Nelya, Fell Rider gives the deck protection from maneuver- and archery-phase wounding.

Here's Ellington's winning deck, and a link to the top 8:

Ring-bearer and One Ring
Sam, Bearer of Great Need
The One Ring, The Ring of Doom

Free Peoples (31)
1 Phial of Galadriel, The Light of Eärendil
1 Bilbo, Aged Ring-bearer
1 Frodo, Frenzied Fighter
1 Sméagol, Simple Stoor
4 A Promise
2 Gladden Homestead
4 Herbs and Stewed Rabbit
1 Safe Passage
4 There's Another Way
4 No Visitors
1 Daddy Twofoot, Next-door Neighbor
4 Déagol, Fateful Finder
1 The Gaffer, Master Gardener
1 Salt from the Shire
1 Sting, Weapon of Heritage

Shadow (31)
3 Corsair Marauder
3 Corsair Plunderer
3 Black Númenorean
4 Castamir of Umbar
1 Fierce in Despair
4 Wind that Sped Ships
2 Quelled
4 Black Sails of Umbar
3 Corsair War Galley
4 Ships of Great Draught

November 2005 PSQ Top Eight Decklists:

1. Ellington – Free Peoples: Ring-bound Hobbits/Sméagol. Shadow: Corsairs.
2. Merboy – Free Peoples: Dwarves. Shadow: Orc Corruption.
3. spider_poison – Free Peoples: Dwarves. Shadow: Morgul Orcs.
4. JR1 – Free Peoples: Dwarves. Shadow: Morgul Orcs.
5. Roy1991 – Free Peoples: Gandalf/Ents. Shadow: Corsairs.
6. Keil – Free Peoples: Gondor Rangers. Shadow: Forest Nazgûl.
7. KoreanStructure – Free Peoples: Hobbits/Sméagol. Shadow: Orc Swarm (Forced March).
8. smaug – Free Peoples: Elf/Éowyn Archery. Shadow: Orc Swarm (Forced March).

-Steve Horton