Ulaire Enquea, Lieutenant of Morgul (1U231): Difference between revisions
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= Strategy = | = Strategy = | ||
"Shotgun Enquea" is one of the most common minions, mainly played in [[Fellowship Block]] but also appearing in every [[Formats|format]] where he's legal. [[Shadow Alignment|Shadow]] players can [[splash]] him in almost any deck, and his ability is so powerful and obnoxious that there's an [[Rule of 6|unwritten rule]] that [[Free Peoples]] players should be wary whenever they go above five [[companion]]s in their [[Fellowship]]. [[Corruption]] decks benefit from him too, as he can come down and kill off a companion if the Free Peoples player allows too many [[burden]]s to pile up. Even if he can't use his game text, it's no matter; he's still a respectable 11 [[strength]] [[Fierce]] minion with enough [[vitality]] to absorb [[archery]] wounds, ward off [[direct wounding]] strategies, or pay for cards that require [[exertion]]s. | |||
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. Enquea 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, Enquea 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 Enquea, 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. However, be wary of any Free Peoples abilities that might prevent wounds or heal wounds between activations of Enquea, like {{Card|Dwarven Bracers}}, {{Card|Shoulder to Shoulder}}, {{Card|Intimidate}}, {{Card|Eowyn, Lady of Rohan}}, {{Card|Hosts of the Last Alliance}}, {{Card|Sapling of the White Tree}}, {{Card|Storied Homestead}}, and {{Card|Stewards' Legacy}}. Likewise, be wary of abilities that can exert or wound Enquea before or in between activations, like {{Card|Slaked Thirsts}}, {{Card|Shadowplay}}, {{Card|Unheeded}}, {{Card|Merry's Sword}}, {{Card|Gandalf, Powerful Guide}}, and {{Card|Radagast's Herb Bag}}. Any ability along these lines might mean that you just need to settle for applying a couple wounds; hardly a bad result from playing a single minion that also gets to skirmish! | |||
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 Enquea 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, Enquea'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]] Nazgul 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}}. | |||
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. Enquea 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. Likewise, [[Wound prevention|preventing]] or [[Healing|healing]] even one wound in the Maneuver Phase can limit his damage. And, like any minion, he can be stopped by cards like {{Card|Storied Homestead}}, {{Card|Stewards' Legacy}}, and {{Card|Ithilien Blade}}, which discard him or prevent him from using his abilities, as long as those cards work before he can act in the Maneuver Phase. | |||
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 Nazgul 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. {{C|Isengard}} Uruk-Hai and {{C|Raider}} [[Southron]]s both have minions that have their own abilities that punish large Fellowships, with cards like {{Card|The Number Must Be Few}}, {{Card|Uruk Warrior}}, and {{Card|Southron Commander}}. In later formats, Shotgun Enquea runs into more and more decks that can limit the damage he can do, and competes with powerful alternate versions of himself, like {{Card|Ulaire Enquea, Thrall of the One}} and {{Card|Ulaire Enquea, Sixth of Nine Riders}}, as well as the similar but cheaper {{Card|Ulaire Cantea, Black Assassin}}. | |||
= Strengths and Weaknesses = | = Strengths and Weaknesses = | ||
== Synergizes With... == | |||
* [[Burden]] strategies, either [[Corruption]] or decks like [[Beasterlings]] that place burdens to enable other effects | |||
* Shadow [[archery]], both because he can finish off characters wounded by archery and because Free Peoples players will often try to absorb archery wounds with [[The One Ring]] | |||
* Other Shadow [[direct wounding]] strategies | |||
== Strong Versus... == | == Strong Versus... == | ||
* Large Fellowships (other than [[Ent]]s) | |||
* Decks that self-generate burdens or lack burden removal | |||
* Large Fellowships | |||
* Decks | |||
== Weak Versus... == | == Weak Versus... == | ||
* | * Companions with four vitality, like [[Aragorn]], [[Gandalf]], [[Ent]]s, and certain [[Hobbit]] strategies | ||
* Choke | * [[Choke]]. These decks rarely run many companions, and can make it difficult to play him at all. | ||
* | * [[Wound prevention]], such as from {{Card|Dwarven Bracers}}, {{Card|Intimidate}}, {{Card|Eowyn, Lady of Rohan}}, {{Card|Hosts of the Last Alliance}}, and {{Card|Sapling of the White Tree}}. | ||
* Free Peoples [[direct wounding]] that works in the Shadow or Maneuver Phases, including {{Card|Slaked Thirsts}}, {{Card|Shadowplay}} and {{Card|Unheeded}}, {{Card|Gandalf, Powerful Guide}} and {{Card|Radagast's Herb Bag}} (in conjunction with Maneuver: or Response: [[Spell]]s), {{Card|Terrible and Evil}}, {{Card|Merry's Sword}}, and {{Card|Stewards' Legacy}}. | |||
* [[Healing]] that works in the Shadow or Maneuver Phases, including {{Card|Shoulder to Shoulder}} | |||
* [[Expanded (Format)|Expanded]] {{C|Gondor}} decks that cancel his abilities or discard him before he gets a chance to act in the Maneuver Phase, with cards like {{Card|Storied Homestead}}, {{Card|Stewards' Legacy}}, and {{Card|Ithilien Blade}}. | |||
= Alternate Personas = | = Alternate Personas = | ||
{{AlternateVersionTable|1U231}} | {{AlternateVersionTable|1U231}} | ||
= See Also = | |||
* [[Rule of 6]] | |||
Revision as of 23:09, 25 December 2021
 Ulaire Cantea, Lieutenant of Dol Guldur (1R230)
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 Back to Fellowship of the Ring Index |
Ulaire Lemenya, Lieutenant of Morgul (1U232) 
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Ulaire Enquea, Lieutenant of Morgul (1U231) is a 
Ringwraith Minion from the Fellowship of the Ring set.
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Strategy
"Shotgun Enquea" is one of the most common minions, mainly played in Fellowship Block but also appearing in every format where he's legal. Shadow players can splash him in almost any deck, and his ability is so powerful and obnoxious that there's an unwritten rule that Free Peoples players should be wary whenever they go above five companions in their Fellowship. Corruption decks benefit from him too, as he can come down and kill off a companion if the Free Peoples player allows too many burdens to pile up. Even if he can't use his game text, it's no matter; he's still a respectable 11 strength Fierce minion with enough vitality to absorb archery wounds, ward off direct wounding strategies, or pay for cards that require exertions.
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. Enquea 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- Wraith deck, Enquea 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 Enquea, 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. However, be wary of any Free Peoples abilities that might prevent wounds or heal wounds between activations of Enquea, like Dwarven Bracers (2U3)
, Shoulder to Shoulder (1C59)
, Intimidate (1C76)
, Éowyn, Lady of Rohan (4C270)
, Hosts of the Last Alliance (2U18)
, Sapling of the White Tree (9R35)
, Storied Homestead (13R76)
, and Stewards’ Legacy (13U75)
. Likewise, be wary of abilities that can exert or wound Enquea before or in between activations, like Slaked Thirsts (7U14)
, Shadowplay (10U114)
, Unheeded (8R115)
, Merry's Sword (7R242)
, Gandalf, Powerful Guide (15R29)
, and Radagast's Herb Bag (18R26)
. Any ability along these lines might mean that you just need to settle for applying a couple wounds; hardly a bad result from playing a single minion that also gets to skirmish!
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. 
Sauron, Wraith, Easterling 
Raider, and 
Orc decks often generate burdens as a side-effect of otherwise good cards, and Enquea 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 Wraith deck, Enquea'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 Bent on Discovery (1R206)
or The Witch-king, Captain of the Nine Riders (11R226)
. (In later formats, however, you may prefer an (Enduring Nazgul like Úlairë Enquëa, Thrall of the One (10R68)
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 Aragorn’s Bow (1R90)
or Legolas, Greenleaf (1R50)
.
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. Enquea generally needs all of his vitality to kill an unwounded companion, so exerting or wounding him even once in the Shadow or Maneuver Phases can prevent him from killing someone. Likewise, preventing or healing even one wound in the Maneuver Phase can limit his damage. And, like any minion, he can be stopped by cards like Storied Homestead (13R76)
, Stewards’ Legacy (13U75)
, and Ithilien Blade (15C62)
, which discard him or prevent him from using his abilities, as long as those cards work before he can act in the Maneuver Phase.
Shotgun Enquea is never a bad card, but he is a very specific hate card. Outside of decks that place burdens and Fellowship Block Wraith beatdown (which needs all of the Fierce Nazgul it can get), he's chiefly in your deck to tech against large fellowships. There are other options, however: Greed (1R125)
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. The Number Must Be Few (1U260)
serves a similar purpose and also has no cultural enforcement, but also does nothing against small Fellowships. 
Isengard Uruk-Hai and Raider Southrons both have minions that have their own abilities that punish large Fellowships, with cards like The Number Must Be Few (1U260)
, Uruk Warrior (1C156)
, and Southron Commander (4U249)
. In later formats, Shotgun Enquea runs into more and more decks that can limit the damage he can do, and competes with powerful alternate versions of himself, like Úlairë Enquëa, Thrall of the One (10R68)
and Ulaire Enquea, Sixth of Nine Riders
, as well as the similar but cheaper Úlairë Cantëa, Black Assassin (12R174)
.
Strengths and Weaknesses
Synergizes With...
- Burden strategies, either Corruption or decks like Beasterlings that place burdens to enable other effects
- Shadow archery, both because he can finish off characters wounded by archery and because Free Peoples players will often try to absorb archery wounds with The One Ring
- Other Shadow direct wounding strategies
Strong Versus...
- Large Fellowships (other than Ents)
- Decks that self-generate burdens or lack burden removal
Weak Versus...
- Companions with four vitality, like Aragorn, Gandalf, Ents, and certain Hobbit strategies
- Choke. These decks rarely run many companions, and can make it difficult to play him at all.
- Wound prevention, such as from Dwarven Bracers (2U3)
, Intimidate (1C76)
, Éowyn, Lady of Rohan (4C270)
, Hosts of the Last Alliance (2U18)
, and Sapling of the White Tree (9R35)
.
- Free Peoples direct wounding that works in the Shadow or Maneuver Phases, including Slaked Thirsts (7U14)
, Shadowplay (10U114)
and Unheeded (8R115)
, Gandalf, Powerful Guide (15R29)
and Radagast's Herb Bag (18R26)
(in conjunction with Maneuver: or Response: Spells), Terrible and Evil (7R50)
, Merry's Sword (7R242)
, and Stewards’ Legacy (13U75)
. - Healing that works in the Shadow or Maneuver Phases, including Shoulder to Shoulder (1C59)
- Expanded
Gondor decks that cancel his abilities or discard him before he gets a chance to act in the Maneuver Phase, with cards like Storied Homestead (13R76)
, Stewards’ Legacy (13U75)
, and Ithilien Blade (15C62)
.
Alternate Personas
| Portrait | Name | Game Text |
|---|---|---|
 |
Úlairë Enquëa, Ringwraith in Twilight (2U83)
|
Twilight.
Each time Úlairë Enquëa wins a skirmish, you may exert him to wound the Ring-bearer once (or twice if you spot 5 burdens). |
 |
Úlairë Enquëa, Faster Than Winds (7U212)
|
Fierce.
While you can spot 6 companions, Úlairë Enquëa is Damage +1. Each time a companion is killed, you may exert Úlairë Enquëa to exert the Ring–bearer. |
 |
Úlairë Enquëa, Thrall of the One (10R68)
|
Enduring.
Shadow cards cannot exert Úlairë Enquëa during a skirmish phase. Skirmish: If Úlairë Enquëa is skirmishing, heal him to add a burden. |
 |
Úlairë Enquëa, Black Threat (12R175)
|
Fierce. Toil 1. (For each character you exert when playing this, its twilight cost is –1.)
Response: If you are playing a |
 |
Úlairë Enquëa, Sixth of the Nine Riders (13R182)
|
Fierce.
When you play Úlairë Enquëa, if you can spot 2 other Nazgûl, you may exert 2 unbound companions (or exert each companion if you can spot 6 companions). |
 |
Úlairë Enquëa, Duplicitous Lieutenant (17R140)
|
Fierce. Each time the Free Peoples player heals a companion, you may add a burden.
Maneuver: Exert Úlairë Enquëa twice to discard a condition (or two conditions if you can spot 5 Free Peoples player's conditions). |
 |
Úlairë Enquëa, Dark Threat (19P36)
|
Fierce.
Maneuver: Spot 6 companions and discard a Nazgûl from hand to wound an unbound companion. |
