User:Tunadan/Nertea

Strategy

Ulaire Nertea, Dark Horseman is one of the most popular versions of Nertea and also a powerful (and by many viewed as broken) card against one- or two-race decks.

When Nertea was released in Ages' End, he became the bane of monoracial decks such as Gondor Tanks and Rohan that run either all companions of their culture and race (with the possible exception of Frodo as Ring-bearer). Nertea is then free to repeatedly be assigned to the Ring-bearer and potentially corrupt them.

Because of this, Nertea was the perfect addition to Nazgul Corruption, as he is strong against Alternate Ring-Bearers, especially ones that have skirmishing penalties like Boromir, Bearer of Council (9R+31) and Gimli, Bearer of Grudges (9R+4) . Ge also can prevent assignments to a companion bearing Sense of Obligation (12U170) , or place The Lingering Shadow on desireable targets, and when played with Saruman, Servant of Sauron (17R38) , he can exert those bearing The Lingering Shadow as well. Nertea also is a solid addition to a Morcs deck, as he easily piles up burdens, and depending on the Ring-bearer, threats or wounds on the Ring-bearer. However, due to his easy monoculture hate, he is widely played in many decks as either a splash minion or as an augmentation to a strategy, i.e. Forestguls or Orc Corruption.

Nertea, then, is an effective counter to many strategies. Against Gondor decks, it is easy to assign Nertea to either Boromir, Bearer of Council (9R+31) or Isildur, Bearer of Heirlooms (9R+33) , piling up burdens or wounds quickly. However, such a strategy often runs Gandalf as a counter to Nertea. A simple way to deal with him is Úlairë Toldëa, Black Shadow (12U180) recurring Too Great and Terrible (3R85) . Alternatively, you can simply try to kill Gandalf with Nertea, often with the help of Saruman, Servant of Sauron (17R38) . Against Dwarven decks, the situation is often similar, unless they play a third race, such as Grimbeorn, Beorning Chieftain (14R6) . Shire decks are often difficult to beat with only Nertea, as they commonly run The One Ring, The Great Ring (19P1) and Merry, Friend to Sam (1R302) . However, if you can play Cavern Entrance (11S232) , it is possible to overwhelm Frodo and then Sam, if they play both. The obvious roadblock is Sting, Baggins Heirloom (5R116) or any other version, or A Promise (2R112) . Gandalf decks, however, run a variety of strong races such as Ent, Man, and Wizard. Thus, Nertea is of little use against that culture. Elven usually has a plethora of skirmish events to protect Galadriel, Bearer of Wisdom (9R+14) , not to mention Galadriel's Silver Ewer (18R11) . Rohan decks are also susceptible to Cavern Entrance (11S232) , as they commonly run Frodo. Occasionally, however, they will run an Alternate Ring-Bearer like Faramir, Bearer of Quality (17R28) or Gandalf, Bearer of Obligation (13R33) . In this case, Nertea is slightly weaker, but still effective.