Gorbag, Lieutenant of Cirith Ungol (7R180)
 Ghastly Host (7R179)
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Held Ground (7R181) 
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Gorbag, Lieutenant of Cirith Ungol (7R180) is a 
Ringwraith Minion from the Return of the King set.
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Strategy[edit]
Gorbag, Lieutenant of Cirith Ungol is just not very good.
If you don't have a Nazgul in play, he's behind the curve. And even cheap Nazgûl cost four or five twilight, so it can sometimes be a pain to afford them both, and he gets abruptly weaker if your opponent kills that ringwraith. If you do go to the effort to afford both, he's not really that fearsome! He doesn't come off well compared to cards like Orthanc Champion (4R164)
or Siege Commander (7R311)
. Like most of the other Morgul Orcs in Return of the King that specifically focus on supporting Nazgûl or orcs, he's overcosted and underpowered.
Later in King Block you can play him with Gorbag's Sword (10R60)
, but that's not cheap, and by then he's even further behind the curve set by minions like Mûmak Chieftain (10R45)
on a free Mûmak (5C73)
, Gorgoroth Berserker (8R96)
, or his uruk-hai counterpart Shagrat, Captain of Cirith Ungol (10R99)
. Most Morgul Orc decks that play any version of Gorbag at all will prefer Gorbag, Covetous Captain (10R59)
.
Strengths and Weaknesses[edit]
Synergizes With...[edit]
- Nazgul
- There are a number of Morgul Orcs in the same set that pump other orcs, like Morgul Lackey (7C193)
, Morgul Predator (7C196)
, and Morgul Regiment (7R197)
, and they are just as overpriced and mediocre as he is.
Strong Versus...[edit]
- I honestly can't think of a deck that would have a lot of trouble dealing with this minion. He's not strong and he's not tricky.
Weak Versus...[edit]
- Any deck that can kill his Nazgûl backup before he gets a chance to skirmish.
- Most decks in King Standard, King Block, and Movie Block, since strength 13 and damage +1 is decent but not especially fearsome in those formats.
Alternate Personas[edit]
| Portrait | Name | Game Text |
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Gorbag, Covetous Captain (10R59)
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For each wound on the Ring-bearer, each Orc is strength +1.
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Gorbag, Filthy Rebel (15R109)
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Hunter 3. (While skirmishing a non-hunter character, this character is strength +3.)
When you play Gorbag, you may discard a card from the top of the Free Peoples player’s deck for each hunter character you can spot. |
