Ulaire Enquea, Thrall of the One (10R68)

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Ulaire Lemenya, Thrall of the One (10U69)

Ulaire Enquea, Thrall of the One (10R68) is a Ringwraith Minion from the Mount Doom set.

Collection Info
Title Úlairë Enquëa
Subtitle Thrall of the One
Unique Yes
Collectible Yes
Set 10 - Mount Doom
Rarity R - Rare
Card Number 68
Language EN - English
Revision 0
Collection Info
Title Úlairë Enquëa
Subtitle Thrall of the One
Unique Yes
Collectible Yes
Set 10 - Mount Doom
Rarity R - Rare
Card Number 68
Language EN - English
Revision 0
Gameplay Info
Playable Yes
Culture Ringwraith
Side Shadow
Card Type Minion
Race Nazgul
Twilight Cost 6
Strength 11
Vitality 4
Site Number 3
Game Text Enduring.

Shadow cards cannot exert Úlairë Enquëa during a skirmish phase.

Skirmish: If Úlairë Enquëa is skirmishing, heal him to add a burden.

Lore “Ever they circled above the City, like vultures that expect their fill of doomed men's flesh.”
Translations
DE - German


Game Text Zäh.

Úlairë Enquëa kann im Kampf nicht durch Schattenkarten angestrengt werden.

Kampf: Wenn Úlairë Enquëa kämpft, heile ihn, um eine Lastmarke auf den Ringträger zu legen.

Lore Immer kreisten sie über der Stadt, wie Aasgeier, die darauf warteten, sich am Fleisch verurteilter Menschen gütlich zu tun.
FR - French
IT - Italian


Technical Info
Wiki Base Card ID LOTR-EN10S068.0
TLHH ID LOTR10068
GEMP ID 10_68
LOTRO Hex ID 64 6C 89 09
LOTRO Image ID 10_068
Technical Info
Wiki Base Card ID LOTR-EN10S068.0
TLHH ID LOTR10068
GEMP ID 10_68
LOTRO Hex ID 64 6C 89 09
LOTRO Image ID 10_068


Strategy[edit]

Úlairë Enquëa, Thrall of the One is the heart of one of the strongest corruption engines in Movie Block and Expanded. As long as you can stack wounds on Enquëa TOTO before the end of his skirmish, this Nazgul can turn each of them into burdens, powering other 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 Brego (4U263) , 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. Wraith staple Between Nazgûl and Prey (8R67) is expensive, but it has many uses, exerting Enquëa, avoiding troublesome skirmishes, and possibly picking off an annoying support companion. Bent on Discovery (1R206) , Ithil Stone (9R+47) , The Ring Draws Them (3U83) , Black Marshal (10U53) , and A Shadow Fell Over Them (15R182) provide value turn after turn. Fear (1R212) , Relentless Charge (1U223) , They Will Find the Ring (2U81) , and Their Power Is in Terror (1U226) are all situational one-shot cards, but they can all be cycled to exert Enquëa for a small Twilight cost even if there are no allies or archers to harm or burdens to spot. (Beauty Is Fading (1R205) is similar, but very expensive.) He also benefits from sites that can exert him, like Pelennor Prairie (10U118) , Osgiliath Crossing (7U353) , or Dol Guldur (17U145) . In post-Shadows formats, Wraith culture also has some strong Toil cards that can exert Enquëa, like Keening Wail (11R211) , The Witch-king, Captain of the Nine Riders (11R226) , and Minas Morgul Answers (12U167) . Gothmog, Morgul Leader (18R80) 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 Úlairë Otsëa, Lieutenant of Morgul (1U235) or Fell Beast (6U83) , or if you have a copy of Dark Swooping Shadows (10R58) 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 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. Gandalf's Staff (2R22) , Rohirrim Helm (5R89) , and Escape (4R300) are some of the most popular skirmish cancellation tools. Another counter is directed wounding or fortifications that can finish off Enquëa before he gets to apply his burdens. You can end up in a standoff with cards like Legolas, Greenleaf (1R50) , Aragorn’s Bow (1R90) , Citadel of the Stars (5C32) , Don’t Look at Them (6R39) , or Éowyn, Lady of Ithilien (10R72) , preventing you from exerting Enquëa for fear of him just getting killed. Cards that play from hand, like Éowyn's Sword, Dernhelm's Blade (7R230) , Terrible and Evil (7R50) , or Unheeded (8R115) , can unexpectedly kill him out of nowhere. He just needs to survive with one vitality left, so All Blades Perish (1U203) and They Feel The Precious (15U183) 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. Úlairë Nertëa, Messenger of Dol Guldur (1U234) , Out of Sight and Shot (7R204) , The Witch-king, Morgul King (7R221) , Morgul Squealer (8R77) , Evil-smelling Fens (5U22) , Morgulduin (7U358) , Woody-End (11S266) , and (albeit at high cost) City of the Dead (8U118) or A Shadow Fell Over Them (15R182) 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). Flung Into the Fray (8U71) 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 Wraith rings, which send him back to your hand as soon as he's discarded, and often have more benefits besides. Ring of Rancor (9R44) and Ring of Savagery (17R142) help him stack on burdens, and Ring of Terror (17R143) can help grab supporting cards or second copies of Enquëa or the ring.

While the main goal is to stack burdens to corrupt the ring-bearer, there are fringe benefits as well. Gates of the Dead City (3R81) exerts a companion once for each copy for each burden: under ideal circumstances, that can be 12 wounds that your opponent has to manage somehow. Úlairë Toldëa, Messenger of Morgul (1R236) , Úlairë Nelya, Ringwraith in Twilight (2R84) , Morgul Creeper (8C75) , and Gollum, Stinker (5R25) are obnoxiously efficient when you can spot burdens, and Morgul Brute (7R188) can place his own burdens or consume burdens to win skirmishes. (There's also Úlairë Enquëa, Lieutenant of Morgul (1U231) , 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 Pelennor Prairie (10U118) , Pelennor Plain (7U343) , Gollum, Dark as Darkness (9R+28) , or Woody-End (11S266) . Enquëa TOTO can also fit into the Auto-Corruption Bomb deck, using Gates of the Dark City and Dark Fell About Him (13R178) , often supplemented with Lingering Shadow (12U166) and Dark Temptation (12R163) .

All corruption decks share a big weakness: burden removal and high-resistance ring-bearers. The toughest challenge comes in Shire culture. Almost every version of Frodo has 10 resistance, and Frodo, Resolute Hobbit (10P121) has even more. Any version of Sam can wipe burdens by picking up the One Ring when Frodo dies, but Sam, Son of Hamfast (1C311) in particular can soak three burdens right away, and keep soaking them as long as the Free Peoples player heals him. Dedicated Shire decks often have powerful reusable burden-removal tools like A Light in His Mind (10U108) , Bilbo, Aged Ring-bearer (13R142) , and Golden Perch Ale (18U108) , and want to keep using them to heal companions with The Shire Countryside (3R113) . There are burden removal cards in other cultures as well: Elf-song (1C39) , Narya (3R34) , Watch and Wait (12R35) , Járnsmid, Barding Emissary (12R30) , Shadowfax, Greatest of the Mearas (17R24) , and Not Listening (6C43) are some of the most common and obnoxious. Most alternate ring-bearers have lower resistance than Frodo, however, particularly the Gondor ring-bearers, and Enquëa TOTO is effective at preying on those decks.

Strengths and Weaknesses[edit]

Synergizes With...[edit]

Strong Versus...[edit]

Weak Versus...[edit]

Decks[edit]

Alternate Personas[edit]

Portrait Name Game Text
Úlairë Enquëa, Lieutenant of Morgul (1U231) Fierce.

Maneuver: Spot 6 companions (or 5 burdens) and exert Úlairë Enquëa to wound a companion (except the Ring-bearer).

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, 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 event that has toil X, exert Úlairë Enquëa to reduce that event’s twilight cost by X.

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. ​