By Factor

Eight finalists, eight different decks. Originality shines through once again in the Online WCQ, with only one duplicate Free Peoples side and one duplicate Shadow side. (The two Corsair decks don't count, as they are quite different.)

That originality theme is never more apparent as in the first-place finisher in a field of 42, Orian "orian" Gissler, whose deck has become known as "the orian deck". Only he plays it, and it wins. A lot. It's a 100 card deck with lots and lots of discarding thanks to Mellon, and lots of interesting minions from different cultures, most of whom cause direct wounding in some way or another, but not all. It's hard to describe, which is why I'm going to leave it up to orian later this week to explain exactly how his deck works. Note that this is the first top finish with a deck prominently featuring Uruk-hai in recent memory.

Filling out the top 8 on the Free Peoples side is two of the popular Gondor deck using Denethor, Last Ruling Steward from Bloodlines for lots of exerting. There's also a highly original Isildur/Gandalf/Gandalf Men deck that uses Ithilien Blade on Isildur; a Rangers Shadowplay variant which placed at the top last month; another Hobbit placement; the return of the Aragorn/Smeagol twilight denial deck that was absent last month; and the Ithilien Blade variant that has Gimli as the Ring-bearer.

On the Shadow side, the Orc culture mutates yet again into an interesting burden variant. The lack of burden decks as of late means that decks aren't teched against it, and this leaves room for burden-based decks to charge in, whether to go for full-bore corruption or just a few burdens to trigger a good Abiding Evil bomb. Also appearing are two Corsair variants and some good old Wraith favorites, Morgul Orcs and Forest Nazgűl.

Here's a link to the top 8. Check back later for an interview with May WCQ winner orian!

May 2006 WCQ Top Eight Decklists:

1. orian – Free Peoples: Gandalf/Ents (Mellon!). Shadow: Defies Description.
2. Roy1991 – Free Peoples: Denethor Direct Damage. Shadow: Corsairs (Under Foot).
3. FluffyBunnyofMtDoom – Free Peoples: Isildur/Gandalf Men. Shadow: Orc Burdens.
4. Melpomene – Free Peoples: Denethor Direct Damage. Shadow: Morgul Orcs.
5. Niesmaczny – Free Peoples:Rangers (Shadowplay). Shadow: Forest Nazgűl.
6. zupa – Free Peoples: Hobbits. Shadow: Corsairs.
7. CaveTroll91 – Free Peoples: Aragorn/Smeagol Choke. Shadow: Orc Burdens.
8. Keil – Free Peoples: Rangers (Gimli). Shadow: Forest Nazgűl.

-Factor