Editing Morgul Vanguard (10R63)

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{{CardTabs|Ringwraith}}

[[{{ROOTPAGENAME}}]] is a {{C|Ringwraith}} [[Minion]] from the [[Mount Doom]] set.

{{CardInfobox|10R63}}

{{QueryCardCategories|10R63}}
= Strategy =
'''Morgul Vanguard''' is a [[splash]]able [[minion]] that exists to assassinate weak support [[companion]]s that your opponent hoped to protect with a [[hand weapon]], or take up the attention of a well-armed, high-strength [[tank]] companion. These are relatively powerful effects, but Morgul Vanguard is very expensive for what it does, and it relies on your opponent to play weapons in the first place. As a result, it's only played occasionally, and even then mostly in [[Movie Block]]

The best but rarest use case for Morgul Vanguard is immediately [[overwhelm]]ing a low-strength support character in a skirmish. Some common possible targets are {{Card|Merry, Friend to Sam}}, any version of [[Merry]] with {{Card|Merry's Sword}}, or occasionally {{Card|Galadriel, Lady Redeemed}}. That's pretty close to an exhaustive list! There are relatively few characters with base [[strength]] of less than six, and almost all of them are [[ring-bound]] or rarely if ever use hand weapons. Even when you do get a juicy target like that, you may run into issues with {{Card|Escape}} or {{Card|Everyone Knows}} on Merry, or {{C|Elven}} skirmish [[event]]s like {{Card|Valor}}, {{Card|Forearmed}}, or {{Card|Still Needed}} on Galadriel.

It's nice to score overwhelms like that, but you can't count on it. When you're targeting other support companions, they generally have about six strength, with another +1 to +3 from the weapon they're using. {{Card|Legolas, Greenleaf}} with {{Card|Long-knives of Legolas}}, {{Card|Eowyn, Lady of Ithilien}} (or sometimes {{Card|Eowyn, Lady of Rohan}}) with {{Card|Dernhelm's Blade}}, pretty much any [[Knight]] in [[Gondor Knights]] with {{Card|Banner of Westernesse}}, many support elves with {{Card|Elven Sword}}, etc. are all good targets, especially if they're already [[exhaust]]ed. Morgul Vanguard is very pricey if you're only notching a single wound on one of these support characters, but securing the kill on a key character like Greenleaf is definitely worth it. But even this role is conditional: the Vanguard can't snipe Greenleaf unless he has a hand weapon, and he often won't. And if the weapon is a generic one, like {{Card|Elven Sword}}, rather than a unique one like Long-knives, there's a decent chance they'll be able to hand it off to someone who can handle the heat.

You can also throw Morgul Vanguard at a ''high'' strength character, to tank for the rest of your minions. 12 strength will often be enough to possibly win against someone like [[Aragorn]] or {{Card|Gil-Galad, Elven High-king}}, but not likely someone like {{Card|Durin III}} or {{Card|Elendil, the Tall}}. This isn't a bad way to use some similar minions, like {{Card|Gorgoroth Assassin}} or {{Card|The Mouth of Sauron, Lieutenant of Barad-dur}}, but Morgul Vanguard is so expensive that it's quite likely that there's not much else it's helping to protect. This can help if you really want to win skirmishes with another particular key minion, like {{Card|The Witch-King, Lord of Angmar}}, but even then, 14 [[twilight cost|twilight]] is quite a lot!

Unfortunately, there are a fair few decks that run close to zero hand weapons on unbound characters. [[Ent Swarm]] generally only has weapons for the ring-bearer and maybe [[Gandalf]]. {{C|Elven}} decks often go without hand weapons in Movie Block. There are [[matchup]]s where Morgul Vanguard is just a slightly overpriced 12 strength minion.

Morgul Vanguard can do some work for you, but it's unreliable, and even when it works it just isn't a very good value. Most of the time, it'll be good for one wound, and that's really disappointing for such an expensive minion. Even if you do want a guided missile to pick off support characters, it's hard to see why it's worth bothering with compared to {{Card|Gorgoroth Assassin}} or {{Card|Orthanc Champion}}.

Morgul Vanguard falls off very hard in post-[[Shadows]] formats like [[Expanded]] and [[Standard]], mainly because of [[Follower]]s. Fewer decks rely on hand weapons to protect support characters, instead using followers for that role. Even when there is a juicy target, oftentimes attaching a follower or two can easily protect that character from being overwhelmed.

= Strengths and Weaknesses =
== Synergizes With... ==

* Decks that really need to put pressure on particular support companions that often carry [[hand weapon]]s.

== Strong Versus... ==

* [[Merry]]. {{Card|Merry, Friend to Sam}} often [[bear]]s {{Card|Hobbit Sword}}, and {{C|Rohan}} decks often run Merry with {{Card|Merry's Sword}}. Both of these are often vulnerable to being overwhelmed by Morgul Vanguard, although be careful of {{Card|Escape}} and {{Card|Everyone Knows}}.
* {{Card|Galadriel, Lady Redeemed}} occasionally bears {{Card|Elven Sword}}.
* {{Card|Banner of Westernesse}}. There's a whole [[cycle]] of banners in that set, but this is the most common, often played in [[Gondor Knights]].

== Weak Versus... ==

* Decks that run few or no hand weapons. [[Ent Swarm]] is the most common, although {{C|Elven}} decks often go without them as well.

= Decks =

* [https://lotrtcgwiki.com/forums/index.php?topic=11946.0 Ever My Heart Rises/Greyhame], a Movie Block deck by Enduring on The Last Homely House forums. This deck is inordinately large and self-[[mill]]s using {{Card|Ever My Heart Rises}}, then uses [[recursion]] cards to play cards from the [[discard pile]]. Morgul Vanguard is situational, but {{Card|The Witch-King, Morgul King}} and {{Card|Morgul Squealer}} can retrieve it when it's useful.