How to Deal with Cheeze?

by Patrick Kubrat

Many people fear the so called "cheese decks". Strong decks, that appear boring, because one can't do much against it. Apparently! Those decks are only strong, because the opponent doesn't know them and/or hasn't the skill to build a appropriate hazard deck.

I think it would be a good idea to collect feared deck archetypes and show ways to deal with it (but please, no anti xy hazard decks, they don't work in a tournament and are boredom^2)

Let's start:

Wolf Balrog
The idea is to camp with strong companies at ruins with wolf auto attack, playing wolf allies, mind rings, the palantir and major items in Isengard. To deal with this is fairly easy. Heedless Revelry hobbles the deck and sideboarded Arthedain Rangers/Horselords come handy at the right time.

Balrog Squatting in The Under-leas
...playing the big items, wolfs, snaga hai and visiting Mt Gundabad for the faction, Secret Book and more wolfs and snagas. Tough but far from unbeatable. HR helps, though We have Come to Kill is a problem. Baduila is evil, but watch out for Piercing all Shadows. The Moon is Dead + Undead Hazards quickly becomes overwhelming. Nameless Thing is good, if you can manage to play it with Foes Shall Fall, you probably have won. The Witch King of Angmar is nasty, because the Balrog can't play most of his resources in dark-holds. (I'm not sure whether the King stays if Sauron Wills it).

Mordor-go-round
Whether played with Sauron/Lidless Eye or Ringwraith is a matter of taste. The idea is to play all those 1 point playable at tapped xy resources, with the possibly addition of a faction gathering leader. The big weakness of this deck is the need of many untapped characters. If you can deny the play of resources for one turn you will most likely win, because the opponents hand is stuck with resources. Undead (if you feel mean, add Spell of the Barrow Wight) can destroy this deck. Agents are a good idea. Golodhros can detain characters or steal factions. A well placed first turn creature can shut the deck down, but don't depend on it, because it is most likely only a first turn chance.

Wolf Fallen Radagast
...is basically the stealthy variant of Wolf Balrog. It is possibly stronger because it starts at the right side and because of its overwhelming use of cancelers and hiders (you know, Stealth and other things). There are some weak points. This deck has problems with factions. And if you can circumvent the Stealth with Searching Eye ore Blind to the West you will see how weak the characters are. Heedless Revelry will help your cause, because this deck plays many 1 point resources. Be warned! The deck is really fast, sideboarding isn't an option.

Haven squatting FW
Tricky. Massive corruption and/or massive influence denial is a good approach. Possibly the denial of a certain resource type (items/allies) but that is only plan b. If you play Fallen wizard yourself dedicate a resource part to destroy the save havens. Keys of the White Towers are nasty. Play Hidden/Guarded Haven on opponents key sites and watch his shocked face. Squat with your (Fallen) Wizard at opponents site and spirit his resources away.
Haven squatters aren't that strong, because they are too slow. The only strength is the hazard part, but if you can't deal with roadblock (rule of thumb: roadblock is weak - I am convinced that none of last year's top decks had roadblock) you should reconsider your resource deck.

Big Trollz in Free Holds
The ultimate answer is Big Staffz in Trolls guts (Maia hazards). Maia + Dwarven Travelers are very strong and the Maia protection often enough to prevent the play of resources. There are other things, but I am not that familar with this decks because the Maia are good enough to prevent the Troll decks.

Covert Balrog
Okay it's a joke, though I am sure my deck would be competitive. It has its strengths.