User:Cease/Corruption
Corruption is a Shadow strategy of corrupting the Ring-bearer, usually by adding burdens until the Ring-bearer's resistance drops to 0. Several cultures can add burdens, but only a few are regularly used in corruption strategies: 
Ringwraith, 
Raider (specifically Easterlings), 
Moria (using Lost to the Goblins (1R189)
), 
Sauron and 
Orc.
Almost every burden-placing Shadow card comes with a choice: "Place a burden or do [x]." Outside of the rare bomb combo deck, corruption decks generally confront the Free Peoples player with a choice, to either accept the burden or accept the other cost, despite the fact that the other cost may result in other setbacks. Because the One Ring can always be used to convert wounds to burdens, undirected wounding (such as Archery or the wounds caused by threats after you kill a character) can also be thought of as a burden effect: your opponent has to either eat the wounds as burdens, or eat them as actual wounds. If you want to be successful with a corruption deck, don't think strictly in terms of how many burdens you can stack, but rather how you can use burdens to create pressure. Each burden-placing Shadow culture creates pressure in different ways.
While corruption or forcing your opponent to make bad choices are the main benefits of burdens, they're not the only benefit. A number of Shadow cards spot burdens to generate some benefit or spot/affect companions with resistance under a certain threshold. Many of these cards are very strong in their own right: Úlairë Enquëa, Lieutenant of Morgul (1U231)
("Shotgun Enquea") can shoot an opposing companion right off the table if you can spot enough burdens, possible triggering a cascade of threat wounds. Neekerbreekers’ Bog (11S249)
exerts every companion with resistance 4 or less, so two or three burdens are enough to force most characters to have to exert. Several cultures specialize in spotting burdens, like Wraith, and Easterling Raiders, and all of three new post-Shadows Shadow cultures (
Men, Orcs, and 
Uruk-hai) have cards that especially affect low-resistance characters.
Sauron culture
Sauron culture had the first viable corruption strategy. It remains one of the best corruption cultures in Fellowship Block, and corruption strategies remain relevant Using cards like Desperate Defense of the Ring (1R244)
and Thin and Stretched (1R279)
, Sauron adds burdens slowly to wear down a Ring-bearer's resistance. A variant of the typical corruption would be playing Mordor Guard (7C287)
, Mordor Veteran (7U292)
, and Orc Officer (7U302)
to add burdens rapidly by overwhelming a few companions.
Ringwraith culture usually corrupts using cards like Úlairë Enquëa, Thrall of the One (10R68)
, It Wants to be Found (2U78)
, and in Expanded Keening Wail (11R211)
. They also may incorporate Gates of the Dead City (3R81)
to exhaust your fellowship, potentially simply killing your Ring-bearer rather than corrupting him. Such a strategy can be even more lethal with Drawn to Its Power (1U211)
.
Easterling corruption often instead goes for a beatdown strategy with Small Hope (7R159)
, Easterling Captain (4R225)
, Easterling Polearm (6U79)
, and Raider Bow (7C155)
. However, with cards like Easterling Lieutenant (4C228)
, Easterling Guard (4C226)
, and Vision From Afar (4R259)
, corrupting the Ring-bearer is also possible.
Moria corruption is the rarest of these, with only the occasional Lost to the Goblins (1R189)
bomb deck. This archetype is rare, but piling up 12 burdens in one Shadow Phase can be quite an unpleasant shock for your opponent!
Orc corruption is potentially the strangest corruption strategy, recyling Isengard Underling (11C125)
with Goblin Hordes (11R123)
, which recurs Bound to its Fate (11U110)
, and also playing Orc Miscreant (11C131)
with Relentless Warg (17R89)
for extra burdening power.
As strong as these strategies seem, there are cards that completely shut them down. The most notorious example, only valid in pre-Shadows formats, is Sam, Son of Hamfast (1C311)
, with his ability to remove up to 3 burdens at once, then die to the largest minion. Another, less egregious, example would be Shadowfax, Greatest of the Mearas (17R24)
combo'ed with Citadel to Gate (7R33)
. This card is vulnerable to Úlairë Cantëa, Faster Than Winds (7R211)
or Too Great and Terrible (3R85)
, making Nazgûl the most effective strategy against it.
