User:Cease/Temp4
Ninja Gollum's core combo is Promise Keeping (8R24)
and a large stack of threats. Every time Gollum or Shelob kills a character in a skirmish, each threat wound gets doubled. The timing of Promise Keeping (8R24)
mean the Shadow player and Free Peoples player take turns: the Shadow player places an exertion (unless the skirmish win was an overwhelm), the Free Peoples player places a threat wound, the Shadow player places an exertion, and so on, repeating until all the threat wounds are placed. If the threat stack was large enough, this can cripple a Fellowship or kill it outright, especially if the Free Peoples player forgot to (or couldn't afford to) put on the One Ring.
The next key addition to this combo is They Stole It (6R46)
or, in Expanded, Not This Time! (15R47)
. The wounds from these cards are doubled by Promise Keeping (8R24)
, so They Stole It (6R46)
and a hand of six cards or more can kill an unwounded three-vitality character, triggering the threat cascade. Not This Time! (15R47)
does weaken your threat stack, but it makes it easier to preserve cards in your hand or chew through high-vitality characters like Aragorn, Gandalf, Durin III, Dwarven Lord (9R+3)
, Círdan, The Shipwright (10R8)
, Gil-galad, Elven High King (9R+15)
, or ents. You’re a Liar and a Thief (6C47)
and Frenzied Attack (11U41)
(although the latter is rare, due to the difficulty of playing it) are one-shot events, but they do wounds with the right timing to be doubled by Promise Keeping.
You need to generate some threats to make this combo work, of course. Captured by the Ring (7C53)
can do that, while also downloading a Gollum of your choice. Fat One Wants It (7R57)
is another good source of threats. Plotting (7R67)
is an option, although it is rarely played, as it is expensive and wipes your threat stack at the end of the turn. In Expanded, there's Gollum, Threatening Guide (19P10)
, who can't help much to generate initial threats, but can grow a large stack or restart the stack with one threat after killing a character. Threatening Guide and Not This Time! (15R47)
are a strong way to mop up a weakened Fellowship.
The deck can use any version of Gollum, and often runs multiple different copies to have a choice which to grab with Captured by the Ring (7C53)
or We Must Have It (5C30)
. Gollum, Mad Thing (10R21)
is a strong skirmisher (especially with Hidden Even From Her (8C22)
) that can set up burdens for Gollum, Stinker (5R25)
, Gollum, Threatening Guide (19P10)
can be a strong skirmisher, Gollum, Dark as Darkness (9R+28)
can add extra wounds or help pay for other minions (and occasionally sneak a kill on an exhausted ring-bearer), and Gollum, Old Villain (6C40)
can help cycle your hand before you get They Stole It (6R46)
out. Most versions of this deck run three or four copies of Shelob, Her Ladyship (10R23)
to help counter the handful of companions that can prevent this deck from going off, although some replace one with a single copy of Shelob, Eater of Light (8R25)
to download Web (8C30)
.
Since you can only have four each of Gollum and Shelob, the deck runs cards to help download and recur them. We Must Have It (5C30)
and Captured by the Ring (7C53)
are as good as extra copies of Gollum. Some decks even run a copy or two of So Polite (7R74)
, for more cards that can replay Gollum. Evil-smelling Fens (5U22)
can recur Shelob or other utility minions splashed into the deck. Web (8C30)
can ensure that both Gollum and Shelob appear over and over again until they are killed. In Expanded, Sudden Strike (15U51)
can download Shelob or a splashed utility minion, and Incited (11R44)
and Not Easily Avoided (18R32)
can help set up or replay any 
Gollum cards you need.
Ninja Gollum also runs other cards to help soften up the Fellowship with exertions and wounds.
Gollum and Shelob can use some help winning skirmishes on turns when the Promise Keeping (8R24)
combo isn't set up.
The rest of the deck is made up of cards to buff Gollum and Shelob, and to supplement the main strategy of wearing down the Fellowship with threats and direct wounding.
Example Decklists
- Solo Smeagol/Ninja Gollum, a Movie Block deck by ket_the_jet on the Last Homely House forums
- Gollum Shadow, a Movie Block deck by GilGalad44 on the Last Homely House forums
- Don't Threaten Me/Ninja Gollum, a Movie Block deck by NappyKorn on the Last Homely House forums
- Hobbits and Gollum, an Expanded deck by Tunadan on the Last Homely House forums
- Multi cultural wounding with ninja gollum, an Expanded deck by alehaak on the Last Homely House forums
- Ninja Revolutionized: The New Ninja Gollum, a guide to building Ninja Gollum decks. This guide was written after the release of Treachery and Deceit, so it was aimed at a format substantially similar to Standard format on GEMP.
- Threats and Toads: Understanding Ninja Gollum Reloaded, a guide to building Ninja Gollum decks in Standard format shortly after the release of The Hunters. Not relevant to any popular formats in 2022, but interesting to show the historical development of the deck.
