Editing Ulaire Enquea, Thrall of the One (10R68)

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{{NavBar|10R68|[[Mount Doom Index]]|[[Ulaire Cantea, Thrall of the One (10R67)|Ulaire Cantea, Thrall of the One (10R67)]]|[[Ulaire Lemenya, Thrall of the One (10U69)|Ulaire Lemenya, Thrall of the One (10U69)]]}}
{{CardTabs|Ringwraith}}

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

{{CardInfobox|10R68}}

{{QueryCardCategories|10R68}}
= Strategy =
'''Úlairë Enquëa, Thrall of the One''' is the heart of one of the strongest [[corruption]] [[Value Engine|engine]]s in [[Movie Block]] and [[Expanded Format|Expanded]]. As long as you can stack [[wound]]s on Enquëa TOTO before the end of his skirmish, this [[Nazgul]] can turn each of them into [[burden]]s, powering other {{C|Wraith}} cards. Once he makes it to a skirmish, simply use his ability to heal himself and burden the [[ring-bearer]] for each wound on him. This does mean giving up the +2 strength from each wound from [[Enduring]], but even if he loses the skirmish, it's usually a worthwhile tradeoff.

The very simplest way to do this is if your opponent exerts or wounds Enquëa for you, usually with [[archery]] or [[mounts]] like {{Card|Brego}}, as long as it's not ''too much'' wounding. You can use him the same way you'd use any Enduring minion, discouraging your opponent from these sorts of strategies. This is generally too sporadic and unreliable to be a base for a whole deck's strategy, and other Enduring Nazgûl are generally better skirmishers, but 11 strength and 4 vitality is enough to survive a couple archers and make it to the [[Skirmish Phase]].

If you want to build a whole deck around him though, the first thing you'll need is some way to [[exert]] him. Luckily, there are many useful options. {{C|Wraith}} staple {{Card|Between Nazgul and Prey}} is expensive, but it has many uses, exerting Enquëa, avoiding troublesome skirmishes, and possibly picking off an annoying support companion. {{Card|Bent on Discovery}}, {{Card|Ithil Stone}}, {{Card|The Ring Draws Them}}, {{Card|black marshal}}, and {{Card|A Shadow Fell Over Them}} provide value turn after turn. {{Card|Fear}}, {{Card|Relentless Charge}}, {{Card|They Will Find The Ring}}, and {{Card|Their Power Is in Terror}} are all situational one-shot cards, but they can all be [[cycle]]d to exert Enquëa for a small [[Twilight]] cost even if there are no [[Ally|allies]] or [[archer]]s to harm or burdens to spot. ({{Card|Beauty Is Fading}} is similar, but very expensive.) He also benefits from [[site]]s that can exert him, like {{Card|Pelennor Prairie}}, {{Card|Osgiliath Crossing}}, or {{Card|Dol Guldur}}. In post-[[Shadows]] formats, {{C|Wraith}} culture also has some strong [[Toil]] cards that can exert Enquëa, like {{Card|Keening Wail}}, {{Card|The Witch-King, Captain of the Nine Riders}}, and {{Card|Minas Morgul Answers}}. {{Card|Gothmog, Morgul Leader}} won't exert Enquëa TOTO per se, but three wounds are three wounds!

Using Enquëa is fairly simple: soak any archery or miscellaneous [[undirected wounds]], exert him as much as you can using the cards above, ram him into a skirmish, then use his skirmish ability to convert all of those wounds into burdens. Unless he'd otherwise finish off the character he's skirmishing, it doesn't really matter if he loses the skirmish: the real damage is the burdens. (In fact, losing the skirmish might even be helpful if the opponent plans to [[run]] this turn, if you can make him [[Fierce]] with {{Card|Ulaire Otsea, Lieutenant of Morgul}} or {{Card|Fell Beast}}, or if you have a copy of {{Card|Dark Swooping Shadows}} in hand.) There's usually not much your opponent can do about this, but you'll want to keep an eye out for the exceptions. [[Skirmish Cancellation|Skirmish cancellation]] is one main counter: because the Free People player always gets to go first, they can cancel the skirmish before you get to place even one burden. {{Card|Gandalf's Staff}}, {{Card|Rohirrim Helm}}, and {{Card|Escape}} are some of the most popular skirmish cancellation tools. Another counter is [[directed wounding]] or [[fortification]]s that can finish off Enquëa before he gets to apply his burdens. You can end up in a standoff with cards like {{Card|Legolas, Greenleaf}}, {{Card|Aragorn's Bow}}, {{Card|Citadel of the Stars}}, {{Card|Don't Look At Them}}, or {{Card|Eowyn, Lady of Ithilien}}, preventing you from exerting Enquëa for fear of him just getting killed. Cards that play from hand, like {{Card|Eowyn's Sword, Dernhelm's Blade}}, {{Card|Terrible and Evil}}, or {{Card|Unheeded}}, can unexpectedly kill him out of nowhere. He just needs to survive with one vitality left, so {{Card|All Blades Perish}} and {{Card|They Feel the Precious}} can help cover this weakness.

Once he's finished the skirmish for better or worse, the next problem is that Úlairë Enquëa is just one Nazgûl. You can only have four copies of him in your deck. Some of the card-draw conditions above will help you find those copies, but you'll probably want to play him more than four times a game. Luckily, there are plenty of options to recur him. {{Card|Ulaire Nertea, Messenger of Dol Guldur}}, {{Card|Out of Sight and Shot}}, {{Card|The Witch-king, Morgul King}}, {{Card|Morgul Squealer}}, {{Card|Evil-smelling Fens}}, {{Card|Morgulduin}}, {{Card|Woody-End}}, and (albeit at high cost) {{Card|City of the Dead}} or {{Card|A Shadow Fell Over Them}} can take him from discard into your hand or straight into play. (Squealer can even grab him from your deck, if your opponent doesn't respect the [[rule of 6]]). {{Card|Flung Into the Fray}} can play him over and over, as long you have the [[Twilight]] to afford both him and some other minions. Enquëa also works very well with the {{C|Wraith}} [[ring]]s, which send him back to your hand as soon as he's discarded, and often have more benefits besides. {{Card|Ring of Rancor}} and {{Card|Ring of Savagery}} help him stack on burdens, and {{Card|Ring of Terror}} can help grab supporting cards or second copies of Enquëa or the ring.

While the main goal is to stack [[burden]]s to [[corrupt]] the ring-bearer, there are fringe benefits as well. {{Card|Gates of the Dead City}} exerts a companion once for each copy for each burden: under ideal circumstances, that can be 12 [[undirected wounding|wounds]] that your opponent has to manage somehow. {{Card|Ulaire Toldea, Messenger of Morgul}}, {{Card|Ulaire Nelya, Ringwraith in Twilight}}, {{Card|Morgul Creeper}}, and {{Card|Gollum, Stinker}} are obnoxiously efficient when you can spot [[burden]]s, and {{Card|Morgul Brute}} can place his own burdens or consume burdens to win skirmishes. (There's also {{Card|Ulaire Enquea, Lieutenant of Morgul}}, who is devastating when you can spot five burdens, but every copy of Lieutenant of Morgul you run is one less copy of Thrall of the One in your deck.) You can also get some productive use out of burdens with {{Card|Pelennor Prairie}}, {{Card|Pelennor Plain}}, {{Card|Gollum, Dark as Darkness}}, or {{Card|Woody-End}}. Enquëa TOTO can also fit into the [[Auto-Corruption Bomb]] deck, using {{Card|Gates of the Dark City}} and {{Card|Dark Fell About Him}}, often supplemented with {{Card|Lingering Shadow}} and {{Card|Dark Temptation}}.

All corruption decks share a big weakness: [[burden]] removal and high-[[resistance]] ring-bearers. The toughest challenge comes in {{C|Shire}} culture. Almost every version of [[Frodo]] has 10 resistance, and {{Card|Frodo, Resolute Hobbit}} has even more. Any version of [[Sam]] can wipe burdens by picking up [[the One Ring]] when Frodo dies, but {{Card|Sam, Son of Hamfast}} in particular can soak three burdens right away, and keep soaking them as long as the Free Peoples player heals him. Dedicated {{C|Shire}} decks often have powerful reusable burden-removal tools like {{Card|A Light In His Mind}}, {{Card|Bilbo, Aged Ring-bearer}}, and {{Card|Golden Perch Ale}}, and want to keep using them to heal companions with {{Card|The Shire Countryside}}. There are burden removal cards in other cultures as well: {{Card|Elf-Song}}, {{Card|Narya}}, {{Card|Watch and Wait}}, {{Card|Jarnsmid, Barding Emissary}}, {{Card|Shadowfax, Greatest of the Mearas}}, and {{Card|Not Listening}} are some of the most common and obnoxious. Most alternate [[ring-bearer]]s have lower resistance than Frodo, however, particularly the {{C|Gondor}} ring-bearers, and Enquëa TOTO is effective at preying on those decks.

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

* Any card that exerts (or wounds) a Nazgûl or {{C|Wraith}} minion as a cost, either with their game text or the [[Toil]] keyword. There are many of these in {{C|Wraith}} culture: highlights include {{Card|Between Nazgul and Prey}}, {{Card|Bent on Discovery}}, {{Card|Ithil Stone}}, {{Card|The Ring Draws Them}}, {{Card|Black Marshal}}, {{Card|A Shadow Fell Over Them}}, {{Card|Fear}}, {{Card|Relentless Charge}}, {{Card|They Will Find The Ring}}, {{Card|Their Power Is in Terror}}, {{Card|Beauty is Fading}}, {{Card|Keening Wail}}, {{Card|The Witch-King, Captain of the Nine Riders}}, and {{Card|Minas Morgul Answers}}. You can also exert him with sites like {{Card|Pelennor Prairie}}, {{Card|Osgiliath Crossing}}, or {{Card|Dol Guldur}}. {{Card|Gothmog, Morgul Leader}} is another strong, [[splash]]able option.
* {{Card|All Blades Perish}} or {{Card|They Feel the Precious}}, to protect him from [[direct wounding]] once he's exerted down to 1 vitality. 
* Sources of [[Fierce]], allowing him to lose a skirmish, get wounded, then skirmish again and turn that wound into a burden. These include {{Card|Ulaire Otsea, Lieutenant of Morgul}}, {{Card|Fell Beast}}, and {{Card|Shadowy Mount}}. You can retrieve one of these mounts with {{Card|Echo of Hooves}}, which can also exert him.
* Cards that spot or consume burdens. Notable cards include {{Card|Gates of the Dead City}}, {{Card|Ulaire Toldea, Messenger of Morgul}}, {{Card|Ulaire Nelya, Ringwraith in Twilight}}, {{Card|Morgul Brute}}, {{Card|Morgul Creeper}}, {{Card|Gollum, Stinker}}, {{Card|Gollum, Dark as Darkness}}, {{Card|Pelennor Prairie}}, {{Card|Pelennor Plain}}, and {{Card|Woody-End}}.
* Cards that [[recur]] him. These include {{Card|Ulaire Nertea, Messenger of Dol Guldur}}, {{Card|Out of Sight and Shot}}, {{Card|The Witch-king, Morgul King}}, {{Card|Morgul Squealer}}, {{Card|Evil-smelling Fens}}, {{Card|Morgulduin}}, {{Card|Woody-End}}, {{Card|Flung Into the Fray}}, {{Card|Ring of Rancor}}, {{Card|Ring of Savagery}}, and {{Card|Ring of Terror}}.
* Any burden-stacking tools, particularly in {{C|Wraith}} culture. {{Card|Drawn to its Power}}, {{Card|Dark Swooping Shadows}} (played on him after losing his skirmish), {{Card|Keening Wail}}, {{Card|Sense of Obligation}}, {{Card|Lingering Shadow}}, {{Card|Death Fell About Him}}, and so on will all help stack on the burdens for a corruption kill.

== Strong Versus... ==

* [[Archery]] and other [[undirected wounding]]. Not only can Enquëa TOTO soak three wounds safely, he can convert them immediately into burdens without you needing to use any cards to exert him.
* Free Peoples cards that exert minions. In particular, this includes most [[mount]]s, especially {{C|Rohan}} mounts like {{Card|Brego}}. You want to exert Enquëa. Your opponent probably won't use cards like {{Card|Shadowplay}}, {{Card|Smeagol, Always Helps}}, or {{Card|Slaked Thirsts}} on Enquëa, but the fact that he's practically immune to them is helpful.
* {{Card|Eomer, Third Marshal of Riddermark}}, {{Card|Eomer, Eored Captain}}, and any other card that spots wounds on minions during a skirmish but doesn't use them to immediately kill Enquëa.
* High-[[strength]] skirmishers. While Enquëa TOTO has enough strength to threaten utility [[companion]]s, he doesn't actually care about losing his skirmish. If he rams into a 25 strength {{Card|Durin III, Dwarven Lord}} or gets knocked down to 0 strength by {{Card|Cirdan, The Shipwright}}, it doesn't matter, since he can flip his wounds into burdens before the end of the skirmish anyway. Losing the skirmish can sometimes even be helpful, as long as the Free Peoples character doesn't [[overwhelm]] him or have [[Damage]] +3 or more.
* Low-[[resistance]] [[ring-bearer]]s. {{Card|Gimli, Bearer of Grudges}} and all of the {{C|Gondor}} [[ring-bearer]]s had best watch out.

== Weak Versus... ==

* [[Direct wounding]] and [[fortification]]s. Exerting Enquëa TOTO down to low vitality leaves him vulnerable to being picked off by cards like {{Card|Legolas, Greenleaf}}, {{Card|Aragorn's Bow}}, {{Card|Citadel of the Stars}}, {{Card|Don't Look At Them}}, {{Card|Eowyn's Sword, Dernhelm's Blade}}, {{Card|Terrible and Evil}}, {{Card|Unheeded}}, or many, many others. {{Card|Eowyn, Lady of Ithilien}} deserves special mention as a nightmare to play around.
* [[Skirmish Cancellation|Skirmish cancellation]], especially if he isn't Fierce. Cards like {{Card|Gandalf's Staff}} or {{Card|Escape}} work before he even gets a chance to use his ability.
* [[Burden]] removal. {{Card|Sam, Son of Hamfast}}, {{Card|A Light In His Mind}}, {{Card|Bilbo, Aged Ring-bearer}}, {{Card|Golden Perch Ale}}, {{Card|Elf-Song}}, {{Card|Narya}}, {{Card|Watch and Wait}}, {{Card|Jarnsmid, Barding Emissary}}, {{Card|Shadowfax, Greatest of the Mearas}}, and {{Card|Not Listening}} are all common (in their respective formats) and very obnoxious. Decks using {{Card|The Shire Countryside}} as an [[Value Engine|engine]] are a terrible [[matchup]] for you.
* High-resistance ring-bearers. {{Card|Frodo, Resolute Hobbit}} is a huge pain, but only a little bit more than any version of [[Frodo]]. {{Card|Galadriel, Bearer of Wisdom}} can occasionally get almost as high in an {{C|Elven}} deck.
* Cards that prevent activated minion abilities, like {{Card|Faramir, Son of Denethor}}, {{Card|Stewards' Legacy}}, {{Card|Perspective}}, and <!--Cavern Entrance-->{{Card|11S232}}.
* {{Card|Steward's Tomb}} / {{Card|18U139}}. If you can't heal Enquëa TOTO, you can't use his ability.

= Decks =
* [https://lotrtcgwiki.com/community/viewtopic.php?t=3635 Turbo-Force Corruption] by Celebrimbor on the Cobracards forums

= Alternate Personas =
{{AlternateVersionTable|10R68}}