User:Cease/Temp4

Rainbow Wounding is a Free Peoples deck most commonly seen in Movie Block. It uses direct wounding cards from a variety of cultures, often supplemented with a single strong tank companion or archery wounds. There are so many good direct wounding strategies in this format that it's mainly a matter of choosing which ones to use. The deck just needs two things: companions that wound minions, and some way to heal them. This isn't one deck so much as a catch-all for a handful of similar decks that are all hybrids of each other, and many of these strategies can and are often incorporated into other decks. Despite the variety, there are a handful of core cards that appear consistently in different versions of this deck: Legolas, Greenleaf (1R50) , Éowyn, Lady of Ithilien (10R72) , and Sméagol, Always Helps (7R71) .

The core plan is to kill minions off before their skirmishes resolve. This can mean softening them up with Slaked Thirsts (7U14) , then finishing them off with Legolas, Greenleaf (1R50) . Or softening up a high-vitality minion with Greenleaf then skirmishing that minion with Éowyn, Lady of Ithilien (10R72) to wipe out many minions at once with her ability. It can happen entirely in the skirmish phase, with Smeagol, Always Hopes exhausting a minion then finishing it off with Don’t Look at Them (6R39) . Or it can even happen in the Shadow Phase, with one or more Shadowplay (10U114) activations followed by an Underfoot finisher. Oftentimes, if a minion is dangerous because of an exertion ability rather than because of its strength in a skirmish, just exerting it first can be enough.

Greenleaf and Elven Support

Legolas, Greenleaf (1R50) is a powerful card just on his base ability. He's always good for at least one wound, and he can pick off troublesome two-vitality characters on his own with no support. Give him cards that increase his vitality, like The Tale of Gil-galad (1R66) or Aeglos , and he can handle even larger minions. You don't have to stop there; he can be supported with a larger Elven contingent.

Elves have powerful, splashable healing to enable Greenleaf or other companions. Elrond, Herald to Gil-galad (3R13) can fit into any deck, and opens up the possibility of including strong condition removal like Vilya (3R27) or Secret Sentinels (2R20) . Elven culture has even more healing options that work only on elves, like the strong cycling tool Shadow Between (7R28) If your deck has a dwarf like Gimli, Bearer of Grudges (9R+4) , you can also transfer wounds off of Greenleaf with Shoulder to Shoulder (1C59) , often to allies like Herald to Gil-Galad. If you're running Shoulder to Shoulder already, then Elven allies like Rúmil, Elven Protector (1U57) or maybe Orophin, Lorien Bowman (1U56) become more attractive. If you can't use their abilities because of your opponent's Shadow deck, then just use them as wound batteries!

Greenleaf also has a Frodo signet, so you can defend him in a skirmish with some of the Frodo signet events discussed below, like Mind Your Own Affairs (4U312) and No Use That Way (5R113) . If you're doing that, then Bow of the Galadhrim (1R33) may be an option: if you kill the minion Legolas is skirmishing with a skirmish event, then you can wound another minion in another skirmish too.

Legolas can use Double Shot (1R38) to get an additional undirected wound, but most of the other Elven archery cards have too much cultural enforcement to work in a rainbow deck. He's terrible at using The Splendor of Their Banners (1R62) since it conflicts with his inherent exertion ability, and you need a lot of elf companions for cards like Elven Bow (1C41) or Break the Charge (5R11) .

While it isn't strictly a wounding card, Glimpse of Fate (10U12) only requires that you have two elves in play to play it, so Greenleaf and an elf ally are sufficient. And if Greenleaf dies afterward, it still keeps working just fine. Rainbow decks in Movie Block are often running multiples of these conditions, oftentimes with a discard outlet (like Don’t Look at Them (6R39) ) to activate them. If you need a discard outlet, to activate these initiative conditions or simply to cycle your hand, Elven Sword (4C64) is an option, although Legolas is a poor skirmisher. Careful Study (7U19) will almost always activate your initiative conditions while refilling your hand.

Rainbow Wounding often runs a tank companion or two to help manage enemies that can't be wounded or are simply immune to direct wounding. Arwen, Queen of Elves and Men (10R6) is one option for that role, especially with her strong possessions like Gwemegil (1R47) and Asfaloth (1U31) /Asfaloth, Elven Steed (7R17) . Alternately, if you're running a largish elven contingent, The Last Alliance of Elves and Men (1R49) on a Gondor companion is a tan option. (At some point, though, that deck goes from being Rainbow Wounding to an Elfman deck.)

Lady of Ithilien and Rohan support

If Greenleaf snipes minions, Éowyn, Lady of Ithilien (10R72) is carelessly flinging around grenades. While she's technically dealing undirected wounds (and your opponent will often try to kill off other, unimportant minions rather than the one she's skirmishing!), she does so much damage that she can finish off multiple badly-wounded minions at a time. She's one of the main cards that pushes Rainbow Wounding over the line, since on a good day she can nearly double or more the damage you've already done this turn. She can even set up wounds herself to some degree with supporting cards like Brego (4U263) (which might as well be her matching mount), Éowyn's Sword, Dernhelm's Blade (7R230) , and Rohirrim Javelin (7C248) .

She does need some healing, and there are some strong Rohan options to do so, like Léowyn (7R239) and Rohirrim Shield (5C91) . She can also use Rohirrim Helm (5R89) to force your opponent to make an unpleasant choice: either she exerts a minion (which will doubtless immediately be doubled by her ability), or she escapes an unwanted skirmish. If the minion is exhausted already, she just gets off scot-free. Merry, Swordthain (7R321) is technically a Shire card (and is discussed more below), but can repeatedly retrieve all of these disposable possessions for reuse. If you're stacking possessions on her, you'll need some protection against Gríma, Wormtongue (4R154) , but Shire or Dwarven cards (also discussed below) can do that.

lady of ithilien - brego, dernhelm's sword, rohirrim helm, leowyn, swordthain, TMOR always helps - don't look at them, frodo signet stuff, not listening, that discard card unheeded / shadowplay - cliffs of emyn muil, frodo signet stuff again, WOBAS and swordthain, PATHS, a light in his mind / countryside gimli RB or condition gimli - slaked thirsts, preparations, trusted weapon. can start EMHR or preparations. baruk khazad and quick as may be aragorn's bow - elessar telcontar or king in exile, gondor bowmen, hardy garrison, defend it and hope gandalf - mainly terrible and evil