Since some of the AtS heroes are quite odd in their design, making some hard to play even, I was wondering how you guys would redesign some of these.

Here are the ideas I was tossing over in my head:

Mirlonde:

-stats- should have 1 less attack point, making for 1 less threat. Or add that 1 point to her willpower, making her value level for lore go up instantly.

As it stands now that point is wasted, unless you use a readying effect.

-ability- should have worked for every player. I.e. my buddy got 1 lore hero? -1 start threat for you too. Would be a nice added multi-player bonus.

Pippin:

-stats- fine

-ability- ahhh Spippin...where to start? How about making it usable without the 2 other hobbits restriction. What's the point (besides theme)? Then make the ability raise your threat by 1, or maybe even free.

Or another thought, let the ability work in any phase, on any player. That way I can see him combo with many different cards. (Trap deck anyone?) this guy should get an errata...

Faramir:

-stats- too high. Let's give him Legolas stats instead, or even with 2 attack, lowering his threat more.

The way he is now just doesn't work for his intended play style. What where they thinking?

-ability- fine

Theoden:

-stats- fine

-ability- instead of boosting willpower for tactics, which is nice but meager, I think he should have boosted the willpower for all Rohan heroes instead. Then when he is ready, like Dain, he could also give a defensive boost to Rohan characters, (think defensive formations in cavalry for theme)as they don't excel in this spot.

IMO they really missed out on the opportunities in AtS heroes.

Glad Caleb is the captain of this ship now.

How would you guys redesign these?

Yeah, some of them seemed to be weird, though I still mostly like them. I prefer going a little less now than more.

First off, I think Mirlonde is quite strong for a mono-Lore deck. There she basically is 5 threat cost with 2 willpower and 2 attack, no Glorfindel (rightly so) but very, very good.

Faramir is hard to put into a deck. I have tried. And I have had fun trying but I agree, less hp, less defence even, less treat cost definitely.

Théoden, I wonder if he did not boost other players and instead boosted allies as well, if he were over-powered. I am thinking not, because the allies are usually made for other things than questing. So yes, that is what I would have liked to see instead.

Pippin without the all-Hobbit requirement, then he could pair up wonderfully with Dúnhere.

Caldara without the "other" but just "every printed Spirit hero you control". Pulling three Spirit allies would be well worth it, I believe, especially considering Fortune or Fate.

I do not even play Hirluin, and have not done so for a long time now.

Hirluin is fine by me.

Ability text change:

Each Silvan hero or a hero with a printed Lore resource icon you control gets -1 threat cost.

Ability text change:

Response: After an enemy engages you, raise your threat by 1 to return it to the staging area or make it engage another player of your choice. Additionally, raise your threat by 1 for each non-Hobbit hero you control. (Limit once per round.)

Faramir is fine by me.

Ability text change:

Response: After Spirit ally leaves play, spend 1 resource from Caldara's resource pool to return that ally to your hand instead. (Limit once per round.)

Theoden is fine by me.

Mirlonde is one of the top 5 most heroes playeds by me.

And Caldara is my last powered hero, last days i'm playing a 'Caldara's deck in nightmare quests and i'm winning. Tones of willpower (all spirit deck) even engaging and killing hard enemies...

And Pippin is used and is good even without his hability.

I like your idea on Pippin, Trololo.

It looks better balanced that way.

Yet I would add the possibility to use the ability on any other player.

I like Trololo's Mirlonde and Spirit Pippin redesigns. Mirlonde is good as is, but Silvan synergy would be nice, especially since we're getting a big emphasis in the next cycle.

Faramir could have a lower starting threat, but I've used him effectively in decks (with Mirlonde). Theoden is fine, but one less point of threat would be nice, and Caldara is awesome as is.

I think the most disappointing thing about the cycle is we didn't get any power heroes like we did in the previous two cycles (ala Glorfindel, Elrond, Dain etc). Hirluin comes close, but I don't care for the Outlands play style.

I too agree that I'm glad Caleb is at the helm now. He's done a great job of creating powerful but balanced heroes.

Theoden: reduce threat by 1.

Caldara: ability change. "Response: when Caldara is discarded from play, you may choose up to 1 (spirit) ally in your discard pile for each other spirit hero you control. Put those allies into play under your control." This lets her die in combat and still trigger.

Hirluin: take away his ability to pay for any sphere outlands allies. That would make players work harder to get Outlands up and running or make them choose which outlanders to focus on. His stats are arguably already worth his threat (though poorly distributed). It's crazy to give him an awesome ability as well.

Hirluin v.2: Gondor trait instead of Outlands. add "Response: when an outlands ally enters play from your hand, Hirluin gains +1 (attack), +1 (defense), and +1 (will) until the end of the round."

Faramir: reduce HP and threat by 1.

• Hirluin is fine as he is for Outlands...
• Mirlonde is a very useful hero as she is... (I also would have liked her text to be triggered by Lore or Silvan heroes - but its not a deal breaker for me, by any means)
• Pippin... Maybe the only hero that i'm unlikely to ever play. - I agree that removing the need for all Hobbit heroes would have been very helpful and I like the sound of Trololo's idea.
• Caldara I think she is fine as she is... in the right deck very, very good actually
• Faramir - Starting threat and ability seem in conflict... would have preferred object ally stats with a lower starting threat... or -1 Hp - 1 threat as distractionbreast suggests above
• Theoden I agree that -1 starting threat would have been good... or his ability working with tactics and Rohan heroes