Na'asiyah the Boss Killer (Morgul Vale Tech) 2.0

• Versions
• 2.0
• 1.0

Na'asiyah is one of the best boss killers out there! With the potential to attack or defend for infinite numbers she can pretty much take down anything if given the right equipment and time. There are a few "boss quests" in our game and I built this deck to deal with one of the toughest and coolest boss quests: The Morgul Vale. I put this hero lineup together to beat We Must Away Er Break of Day a few months back and it worked well enough I retooled it to go up against the Three Captains.

I tested this as a solo deck against the Morgul Vale several times and had good success with it, even avoiding getting any progress on the Tower objective in one game. This version has been tweaked to go well with Mr Underhill's awesome Knowledge is Power deck. You can watch the decks work together to take down Murzag, Alcaron and the Nazgul on YouTube here.

Basic Idea

Your goal is to let Galadriel keep your threat low for several turns to give you time to get things set up and load up Na'asiyah with cash before you start taking down the Captains. Just leave Murzag in the staging area while you try to keep the staging area clear of any of the other enemies and locations. Quest with everyone but Na'asiyah and then let her manage the combat phase with support from your event cards. Try to build up some of the direct damage events in your hand before you start killing the Captains so you can take down the final Nazgul ASAP. Try to cancel as many treacheries as possible by recurring A Test of Will with the Galadhrim Weavers (which you can recur with Pursuing the Enemy).

Opening Hand

Look for A Test of Will and Nenya as your first tier cards, then any of the sidequests, Elven-Light and the Mirror and/or Harp as secondary cards.

Gameplay

This is really a control deck. If you have the power to cancel the treacheries, the threat level to avoid the enemies and the willpower to quest past them when you need to, you can control the quest and take enemies only when you're setup and ready. With Feint, Hail of Stones and Quick Strike, you shouldn't actually have to defend very often which removes the danger of shadow cards as well. Once you get the Mirror of Galadriel and Silver Harp out, you have the ability to adapt to the quest even faster by grabbing the best card out of the top 10 to help with your current game state. The Weavers give you more control by letting you recycle key events like Feint and A Test of Will!

Like many decks the first turn or two will be the most crucial. Nenya will likely be key for questing well in the first two turns until you get an ally or two out to help Arwen quest. The North Realm Lookouts are your primary questing allies. With the Bow of Yew they can quest for 2 and still help out with the combat phase. The Sailor of Lune is a little more reliable as a quester and could be substituted if you like, but the Lookout is really helpful for taking down the final Nazgul boss at the last stage so I threw him in here. The deck is really a little low on willpower so if you get behind, you may not be able to dig yourself out. Dropping some attachments and adding some more allies might be good if you intend to use it as a solo deck... Galadriel should get an Unexpected Courage so she can quest and keep your threat down every turn with her action.

Na'asiyah is kind of a one-woman army here. She gets an Unexpected Courage, both Daggers and Elf Friend (to get resources from Arwen). If played alongside Knowledge is Power, she also gets Steward of Gondor which makes her a hungry killing machine! The Rivendell Bow is also for her in a multiplayer game, but I've found its rarely needed. Between the Feints and Quick Strikes, she should rarely actually defend which will help her save resources for the end game.

Try to keep all damage off Na'asiyah so she can survive a Master's Malice if it slips by your cancellation.

End Game

Once you're set up and have several of the Tactics events in hand, you can burn through the bosses pretty fast. Feint Murzag and kill him with Na'asiyah, then if you have enough characters ready (3 Lookouts and 2 Weavers will do it) you can immediately kill Alcaron in the staging area with Hail of Stones. The following turn you can pepper the Nazgul with a potpourri of direct damage and hopefully never have to defend from him at all. The simplest way would be a Hail of Stones for 1 in the staging area, Feint during combat (or chump), then attack with Na'asiyah and all three Lookouts with 3 Bows of Yew. That will drop all 5 damage needed and kill the Nazgul. You can also use the Weavers/Pursuing the Enemy to get one damage each.

Summary The deck is much more enjoyable when played with the paired Scrying deck but it can function without it as a solo deck as well. Keen as Lances is great after that second deck has put some cards in the victory display but should probably be swapped out for The Galadhrim's Greeting if played solo. The Minis Tirith Lampright is a bit of a joke, but the scrying deck can actually set up a situation where he can actually do something helpful!

The Morgul Vale can be a brutal quest but these ladies can sneak right past the bodyguards, dodge the Vanguards, pelt the traitorous Alcaron with rocks and beat the Nazgul to death with looms and shuttlecocks! It's a very different style of play, but it can be good fun! This deck can be used well against We Must Away and Conflict at the Carrock as well!