The Nine Servants of Sauron

"'That Black Rider was looking for something . . . or someone - Frodo?'"

"Nine rings where gifted to the race of men, who above all else desire power."
- The Fellowship of the Ring.

In the twilight, these nine men became the Ringwraith, Servants to the Dark Lord Sauron. They live forever serving one Master, riding in darkness, seeking the One Ring.

Who has not seen a hobbit in the opponent's starting fellowship? Sam to remove burdens, Merry to add his strength to another companion, Pippin to play Gandalf or Aragorn -2 or to remove a burden. More and more, we see these little companions in fellowships, especially to reduce the number of races.

Their ability to exert or soak up archery is great with their 4 vitality, but what if a Shadow player could force them to exert for no reason? The Nine Servants of Sauron does just that. Each time you play a Nazgul, which is usually at least once per Shadow phase, you can force a hobbit to exert. That hobbit can even be an ally such as Bounder or Bilbo. This action will counter fellowship strategies such as Merry, Friend of Sam who needs to exert twice to add his strength to another companion, Sam, Son of Hamfast, who exerts to remove burdens.

Exerting unbound hobbits in the Shadow phase will also force your opponent to discard cards if they want to send their Ents to skirmishes. This is good if your local meta game is Gandalf/Ent based. These living trees have enough vitality to take the hits and enough strength to defeat the average minion.

Your playing environment is your first cue in deciding on the composition of your Shadow deck, and the decision to include The Nine Servants of Sauron is obviously heavily dependent upon whether exerting Hobbits will be more useful to you than anything else that could fill the card slots.