Also curious to see who our last hero will be, i figured if we were gonna see Galadriel it would have been in the 6th for the grand finale, Caleb and co may have to outdue themselves on this one

Manwe maybe (I mean, it has to be a Vala to be more powerfull than Galadriel after all)

I guess it will be a hero that will have to do with the next big box, like Theoden before the Isengard box, but I would wish for Cirdan, although I doubt we will get another Elf

I need to get round to the ring maker cycle now. More elves. Yay.

Yes, it is indeed surprising to see Galadriel in the penultimate pack; however, they have been rather strong in the past, Mirkwood had Boromir and Dwarrodelf Glorfindel, both perhaps the strongest heroes in their spheres at the time (at least). Against the Shadow, on the other hand, had Caldara, but even Théoden (as he is) was not a winner as the final pack hero, for me.

Nenya's ability seems to synergize well with one of the core sets most under-used cards, "The Favor of the Lady". Just as this gives willpower to others, so does Nenya allow Galadriel to extend her "favor" on other characters. I like the thematic ties across these two cards.

Anyone prefer the art of Galadriel on "The Favor of the Lady" to Galadriel's Hero version? It looks less frightening/dark and more "favorable" if you ask me...

You can't call that a synergy, it's a common sense, like saying "The Favor of the Lady synergies well with questing characters", lol.

Yes you can, if by synergy I meant "thematic" synergy, as in Galadriel likes adding willpower to other heroes and characters...both cards do this.

Okay, this is bloody amazing. I cannot add much to what has been already said about the awesomeness of Galadriel and her bling. Let's just stay I am awfully, terribly excited. I think I have never been so eager to get my hands on any expansion to our beloved game. For the first time I am considering to proxy this, I just cannot wait, not that many months. Torture.

There is one more point I wish to make, apart from stating my glorious optimism. All the enthusiasm that pours out of everyone here proves one thing. Generally, players love to get cool and useful toys. I think the designers should follow the recent way of Celeborn, Grima or Galadriel, meaning that they should issue player cards that makes us all go "wow, so many uses, can't wait to this or that combo". I mean we should abandon once and for all the concept of all those spirit Pippins that are useful, but only when you have 100% hobbit heroes, or with Theodens whose buffs mean anything only in few cases. Galadriel is fun, multi-optional, fits in variety of decks, and makes you take decisions. Flexibility means fun. Combos are cool. More power in the hands of the player means more creativity, more tabletop drama, even for the price of much more difficult scenarios. Bring it, FFG, you have just proved you are perfectly capable.

I might be a moron but I think Miravor could potentially be a better fit for her than UC if you have other card draw in the deck. She turns Miravor into an instant power card IMHO.

Hmmm...why do you think Miruvor would be better with Galadriel? For just one more resource, Unexpected Courage gives her a free ready every round. Is there a combo you have in mind?

I don't know that Miruvor is better, but it certainly works well with Galadriel. You can play it, use Nenya, ready Galadriel by discarding Miruvor and putting it on top of your deck, use Galadriel's ability to draw Miruvor and lower threat, and repeat this process every turn. And if you have card draw, it's even more effective (so that you're seeing more cards than just Miruvor. But, it's not as cost effective as Unexpected Courage, and you won't gain card advantage like you would with Unexpected Courage, but for people with one Core Set (like myself), it's a good alternative.

I wish you'd posted this on my UC thread - its a lot more succinct than what I wrote.

As for a more limited design that "forces" card choice (Spirit pippin and 100% hobbits) I think that has a place in the game too. You can have more powerful card effects if you allow them to be more restricted - if all cards were unrestricted you would lose a lot of the flavour of the different traits and races.

It adds to Galadriel's flavour that she was willing to help anyone against the shadow (as she was in the books) - where as Thorin was only interested in dwarfs (as were most of his company - hence their hero designs), if they were both unrestricted they would both be less flavorful (though Thorin would just be more powerful).

I'm not sure that spirit pippin is good enough in his power level to justify 100% hobbits - on the other hand being able to guarantee you don't engage an enemy - ever, is pretty nice. I would say that at 3 threat cost it should have been not just hobbits - but if it had been cost 1 threat 100% hobbits would have been justified. (We may see a resurgence of spirit pippin with the new hobbit support we've gotten, but I doubt it because the lore version is so good, and lore is a better sphere for hobbits to get access too).

SOLID GOLD ! ! !

Caleb and Matt really deliver with these new cards. Much has already been said about the mechanics of these new cards so I'm going to focus on the flavor. In the books Galadriel was the great enabler who was constantly working behind the scenes to fight Sauron but didn't actually get her own hands dirty. This is perfectly described by the mechanics (and art!) of these new cards. I think it's absolutely perfect and even though we haven't seen all of the elf cards yet, the functionality of the new elf deck is pretty obvious and it's a perfect flavor/mechanics matchup. I have no doubt that the new elf decks will feel very "elfy", especially to anyone who has read the books and knows the lore behind the elves. After "Black Riders" gave us flavorful hobbit decks I was very optimistic about what would come next but this is even better than I had hoped for.

Thank you Caleb and Matt, please keep up the good work!

Now please get these AP's out to us as soon as possible......

She is the only Hero revealed in this cycle (so far) which I would definitely swap a Hero out of one of my decks for. Also the art is pretty darn nifty,

I'm quite intrigued by the scenario. Locations that get destroyed and "The Secret Chambers" text hint at a race between the orcs and heroes to find the forge. Sounds promising.

Galadriel looks awesome and certainly offers some new variants in strategy. I'm not sure if I like the synergy between Nenya and her - it's perhaps a bit over the top. Giving her only 2 WP and a threat level of 7 wouldn't have been too bad, too.

Celeborn says hello.

I've got nothing new to add, just want to join the party and say: freaking awsome!!!

Some random thoughts after reflection: if I were to design an attachment called "Mirror of Galadriel". It would most likely be something like, "Attach to Galadriel. Exhaust Mirror of Galadriel and Galadriel to draw a card and reduce your threat by one."

So I kinda don't think we'll be getting the mirror. Unless it's as "Galadriel does not exhaust ..."

Just becuase it couldn't match the exact same way you think the mirror should be (which is the same as Galadriel's ability, for some reason) is no reason to think there won't be any mirror. The mirror of Galadriel is the perfect scrying theme in the story besides the palantiri ("some things which have not yet come to pass"), it should be obviously about scrying, either your deck or the encounter deck.

I might be a moron but I think Miravor could potentially be a better fit for her than UC if you have other card draw in the deck. She turns Miravor into an instant power card IMHO.

>getting Galadriel drunk

Some random thoughts after reflection: if I were to design an attachment called "Mirror of Galadriel". It would most likely be something like, "Attach to Galadriel. Exhaust Mirror of Galadriel and Galadriel to draw a card and reduce your threat by one."

So I kinda don't think we'll be getting the mirror. Unless it's as "Galadriel does not exhaust ..."

Just becuase it couldn't match the exact same way you think the mirror should be (which is the same as Galadriel's ability, for some reason) is no reason to think there won't be any mirror. The mirror of Galadriel is the perfect scrying theme in the story besides the palantiri ("some things which have not yet come to pass"), it should be obviously about scrying, either your deck or the encounter deck.

Yeah maybe. Certainly adding a scry to her draw ability would kick it up a notch. "Exhaust Mirror of Galadriel and raise your threat by 1 to look at the top three cards of your deck and return them in any order."

As for Galadriel's artwork, it is definetely beautiful. If I could have my wish though I would like that she had more malice in her look, sparks of some unimagined plots running behind her eyes. As of now she is a stunning lady but perhaps lacks that hidden uncertainity that surrounds her character in the books. Oh well, still a 8/10 artwork in my book as it stands.

Maybe I am a bit spoiled by Ms Blanchette's portrayal of her in the movies. It was well done I think because her Galadriel was noble, misterious and beautiful, but not in an obvious way.

So who here think that this cycle will include a Noldor/Silvan-specific readying attachment? We already have one for Rangers (Wingfoot), Rohan (Steed of the Mark, Rohan Warhorse), Gondor (Steed of the Mark), Hobbits (Fast Hitch), and Dwarves (kinda: Ever My Heart Rises). Either that, or the attachment for the Noble trait will be another readying effect, which would be usable on every Noldor/SIlvan hero with the exception of Mirlonde.

I do not think Elves will get a specific one, since they have already got Light of Valinor -- though it is not a "readying" thing per se. A much better chance for Noble; however, I think each of the four trait boosters (Captain of Gondor, Wingfoot and the two more to come) will do a different thing, thus since Wingfoot is a readying tool, Noble might get a different treatment.

I do not think Elves will get a specific one, since they have already got Light of Valinor -- though it is not a "readying" thing per se. A much better chance for Noble; however, I think each of the four trait boosters (Captain of Gondor, Wingfoot and the two more to come) will do a different thing, thus since Wingfoot is a readying tool, Noble might get a different treatment.

Very good thoughts. Light of Valinor escaped my mind since I always just associate it with Glorfindel. That probably is more than enough "readying" for elves. You're also probably right about the card for Nobles. It's probably something for resource generation. I originally wasn't thinking that it would be for readying, but I was just thinking that if elves didn't get a readying ability then they could potentially do it through the Noble trait, but since we have Light of Valinor, I'm probably wrong on both accounts.

No, I think your reasoning makes total sense. For the cost of 1, Light of Valinor would be too good if not unique, but it is a shame you can only use it for one particular Elf. And when I first thought of the four trait attachments, I did think Leadership will cover Noble and action advantage. It was only when we saw Wingfoot that my mind got confused in this regard -- Lore does need action advantage however.

Almost all Silvan and Noldor heroes are Noble, all but Mirlonde I believe, but only Elrohir is Leadership -- just some more randomly rant of mine.

For anyone who doesn't mind proxies, and can't wait to try out the newly spoiled Elven goodness, I have a deck list on the blog that you will want to check out. With Saruman released as an ally in The Voice of Isengard, and the upcoming Celeborn and Galadriel heroes, we finally have all of the members of The White Council. Enjoy!

http://hallofbeorn.wordpress.com/2014/05/07/deck-the-white-council/

Now we need to know what actual White Council card does.

I'm ready to play a Galadriel/Gimli deck!! Gimli adored her so much after visiting Lorien it would seem thematic and fun! Starting threat 20, secrecy options, Gimli can be super buffed up and is already good at doing everything, Galadriel brings all kind of support..... I can't wait!

Maybe this has already been answered (haven't read through the whole thread) but is Galadriel's threat-reducing ability limited to once per round or once per round per player? Asking this because of the rather surprising ruling on Loragorn and Desperate Alliance. With UC, she could lower 2 players' threat in a single round.

EDIT: And of course I'm insanely excited about this pack! I've been waiting for Galadriel for some time now.

Maybe this has already been answered (haven't read through the whole thread) but is Galadriel's threat-reducing ability limited to once per round or once per round per player? Asking this because of the rather surprising ruling on Loragorn and Desperate Alliance. With UC, she could lower 2 players' threat in a single round.

I would suspect that the limit of once per round is for the activating player; thus if you want to use it on more players in a single round you would still need Desperate Alliance.

But it does beget interesting questions like: does that go for all "once per round" abilities like Beravor etc (I suspect, yes). But how about Éowyn? Her ability is once per round per player. In the case of Éowyn I suspect the answer to be that she cannot be passed around for extra discarding goodness, since all the players are "activating players" no matter who controls her.

Not all of us found the Loragorn and DA combo all that surprising, given the ruling of Landroval. We have been using it in my group from day one.

Hey all, been awile since my last post, a few other games have kept me busy lately, but i think they have come and gone and now I'm back to my old stand by.

Great news really looking forward to Galadrial.

I have not read all the posts contained in the thread, but anyone thinking about teaming her up with Grima?

His doomed effect could be nullified by her ability, and also draw a card. With Keys of Orchanc, you could get some of the higher cost silvan lore allies into play easily, she will also gain lore with her ring. Maybe have Celeborn as the other hero for some more silvan synergy. Starting threat 28 is not so bad.

Certainy not thematic, but could be good, maybe.