Editing Ulaire Enquea, Lieutenant of Morgul (1U231)

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It's very hard for the Shadow player to do any appreciable damage to a Fellowship with six or more companions. Shotgun Enquea is a classic [[hate]] card that punishes a large Fellowship, by allowing you to kill their most important companion. Enquëa can apply three wounds, and most non-[[Hobbit]] companions only start with three vitality. Even characters that generally start with more, like [[Gandalf]] or [[Aragorn]], can be picked off if they are wounded. Even in a non-{{C|Wraith}} deck, Enquëa is a good [[tech]] card against almost any opponent that loads up with many companions.

When your opponent has six companions out and you play Enquëa, it's important to think about how you're going to allocate his wounds. If there's one important, unwounded character with three vitality, by all means, shoot that character right in the face! But if that character only has one or two vitality left, remember that killing them will reduce the number of companions you can spot, preventing you from applying any more wounds. It may be best to use the first or second wound on a less important character, before finishing off the character you actually care about. Because of this, he's a nice complement to [[direct wounding]] or [[archery]] strategies (such as [[Moria Archery]] or [[Sauron Grind]]) that can finish off a character he's wounded, or set up a character to be killed by him.

As the Free Peoples player, it's very easy to keep Shotgun Enquea from causing too much damage. Just respect the [[Rule of 6]] and don't go above five companions, and don't let burdens pile up. There are more proactive solutions, too, however. Enquëa generally needs all of his vitality to kill an unwounded companion, so exerting or wounding him even once in the [[Shadow Phase|Shadow]] or [[Maneuver Phase]]s can prevent him from killing someone. {{Card|Slaked Thirsts}} (often recycled with {{Card|Preparations}}), {{Card|Shadowplay}}, {{Card|Unheeded}}, {{Card|Merry's Sword}}, {{Card|Gandalf, Powerful Guide}}, {{Card|Radagast's Herb Bag}}, and {{Card|Ithilien Blade}} are strong tools to get him before he gets you, and {{Card|Perspective}} and {{Card|Storied Homestead}} can stop him from using his ability. {{Card|Stewards' Legacy}} can do both! Likewise, [[Wound prevention|preventing]] or [[Healing|healing]] even one wound in the Maneuver Phase can stop him from getting a kill. {{Card|Dwarven Bracers}}, {{Card|Shoulder to Shoulder}}, {{Card|Nenya, Ring of Adamant}}, {{Card|Intimidate}}, {{Card|Eowyn, Lady of Rohan}}, {{Card|Hosts of the Last Alliance}}, {{Card|Sapling of the White Tree}}, and {{Card|Storied Homestead}} are all strong ways to limit the damage. Even if you only prevent or heal one wound, that might save a companion's life.

Shotgun Enquea's game text also turns on once you can spot five burdens, so he's a good addition to a [[corruption]] deck. Killing a companion at will is even more devastating against a small Fellowship, putting a win from killing the [[Ring-bearer]] within your reach. {{C|Sauron}}, {{C|Wraith}}, [[Easterling]] {{C|Raider}}, and {{C|Orc}} decks often generate burdens as a side-effect of otherwise good cards, and Enquëa is a good way to take advantage of those burdens even when you can't—or don't plan on—corrupting the Ring-bearer. He also can work well with Shadow archery strategies, because Free Peoples players will often use [[the One Ring]] to absorb those wounds or leave many companions [[exhausted]].

Even if his text doesn't turn on, he's not useless. Six [[twilight]] is a lot for an 11 strength [[Fierce]] minion, but it's not ridiculously overpriced. He can often still force your opponent to allocate their best skirmisher, allowing other minions to cause damage, or simply absorb some archery wounds. He's more effective as a skirmisher in [[Fellowship Block]], when companion strengths are relatively lower, but his Twilight cost is less restrictive in later blocks, when [[choke]] is less common and Free Peoples players often play twilight-heavy strategies.

In a {{C|Wraith}} deck, Enquëa's game text is still useful, but he's also often useful just for his high vitality. He can exert to pay for cards like {{Card|Bent on Discovery}} or {{Card|The Witch-king, Captain of the Nine Riders}}. (In later formats, however, you may prefer an [[Enduring]] Nazgûl like {{Card|Ulaire Enquea, Thrall of the One}} for this purpose, though.) He can harmlessly absorb archery wounds, or simply pose a problem that can't be shot down easily by one-exert-for-one-wound [[direct wounding]] like {{Card|Aragorn's Bow}} or {{Card|Legolas, Greenleaf}}.

Shotgun Enquea is never a bad card, but he is a very specific [[hate]] card. Outside of decks that place burdens and [[Fellowship Block]] {{C|Wraith}} [[beatdown]] (which needs all of the Fierce Nazgûl it can get), he's chiefly in your deck to [[tech]] against large fellowships. There are other options, however: {{Card|Greed}} is a stronger card that serves the exact same purpose, but it's only playable in [[Uruk-Hai]] decks and has no effect whatsoever against a small Fellowship. {{Card|The Number Must Be Few}} serves a similar purpose and also has no [[cultural enforcement]], but also does nothing against small Fellowships. In later formats, Shotgun Enquea runs into more and more decks that can limit the damage he can do, competes with more and more cards that punish large Fellowships while integrating better into the deck's overall strategy than he does, and also competes with powerful alternate versions of himself, like {{Card|Ulaire Enquea, Thrall of the One}} and {{Card|Ulaire Enquea, Sixth of the Nine Riders}}, as well as the similar but cheaper {{Card|Ulaire Cantea, Black Assassin}}.

* [[Burden]] strategies. This can include [[corruption]] or decks like [[Beasterlings]] that place burdens to enable other effects.

* {{Card|Ring of Asperity}} can help him take down a [[companion]] with 4 [[vitality]], and {{Card|Ring of Rancor}} lets him apply an extra wound.

* {{Card|Ring of Rancor}} and {{Card|Not Easily Destroyed}} can heal him so he can do even more damage, albeit at a high cost in both cases.

* Shadow [[archery]]. He can finish off characters wounded by archery, and Free Peoples players will often try to absorb archery wounds with [[the One Ring]].

* Other Shadow [[direct wounding]] strategies. Cards like {{Card|Desert Lord}} can set up companions to later be finished off by Shotgun Enquea, and {{Card|Hate}} can set up or finish off a kill.

* Large Fellowships. He's a bit less useful against high-vitality [[companion]]s like [[Ent]]s, but three wounds are still three wounds.

* Companions with four or more vitality, like [[Aragorn]], [[Gandalf]], [[Ent]]s, and certain [[Hobbit]] strategies

* [[Healing]] that works in the Shadow or Maneuver Phases, particularly {{Card|Shoulder to Shoulder}} and {{Card|Nenya, Ring of Adamant}}

* [[Expanded (Format)|Expanded]] cards that cancel his abilities or discard him before he gets a chance to act in the Maneuver Phase. {{Card|Perspective}} can hold him off, and {{C|Gondor}} has several tools to prevent him from using his ability, like {{Card|Storied Homestead}}, {{Card|Stewards' Legacy}}, and {{Card|Ithilien Blade}}.