Hey guys, I've been having a lot of time in my hands lately and wanted to have fun in Photoshop creating this Haven cards according to my other thread. I like how they turned out, tempted to actually try them!

What do you think? Are they OP? Any suggestions or sites you'd like for me to make? There are still lots of sites I wanna make but I don't know how! Green number is the maximum number of allies you can play on that haven.

So far I've made trait-based Havens and while they're cool, I want to make more that are based on sphere in terms of requirements. So for example, Helm's Deep will require 2 tactics heroes, and so on, so they can be more splashable and not restricted to traits. Also, any ideas for Rivendell?

These actually look really cool. I wasn't feeling the idea 100% when you first mentioned it but I like the effects of Edoras especially.

I like the ideas here. I can see the value of making it so that you can still see the allies (face up not face down as I suggested before).

I still think the allies need to be completely out of play to balance these though. I also think they need a threat cost.

However the basic idea is really good - if I wanted to add a new player card type to the game a good locations card like these is where I would look first,and I think this idea has serious potential after refinement for exactly how it works and play testing.

Cool ideas! For the third haven, I'd add "(to a minimum of 1)" for the second bit of text.

Thanks all for the suggestions. So far the cards are just in experimental phase, but I think they're fairly balanced.

MOAR havens!

Wow, Orthanc Guard is actually playable in Orthanc... pretty cool

Minas Tirith in all of her splendor. Gondor deck is now a much more viable archetype.

Also, I decided to change the text on Edoras to the following since I thought the first one was a bit overpowered, but now I'm not so sure about it....

Now, about the threat cost... I agree that maybe there should be an additional cost to use these cards, but threat cost seems too harsh for some decks I believe. I'd like a more universal cost, or maybe a specific drawback for each Haven, as opposed to a general one.

I don't know if allies should be completely out of play... that would make these cards a bit too useless. I think one of the main reasons we play an ally is to either attack or chump block, and forbidding them to do that seems a good enough restriction. Not to say they are also forbidden to quest. I'd still like these allies to only be able to use their special abilities.

Beautiful cards and an idea that could work with a little playtesting for balance!

New ideas for future Havens: Lothlórien, Rivendell, Hobbiton, Bree, Pelargir, Dol Amroth, Esgaroth, Dale, Helm's Deep. Is there another one I'm missing?

Also, changed the text on Erebor to: "While you control at least 5 dwarf characters (not including allies played in this Haven)...".

You could do Thranduil's Hall for Silvan Elves.

Yes, I forgot about that! I would like it to combo well with the new Silvan strategy of entering/leaving play. Any ideas?

It could be something as simple as "Pay 1 resource to return an ally you control at Thranduil's Hall to you hand." That way, they get Celeborn's and Galadriel's benefits when they come back into play.

Thanks! I like it because it also triggers leaving play effects for other cards. Allies played on Havens are Immune to non-Haven card effects (except for their own), but they are still considered to be "in play".

How about this? Does it look too powerful?

Really good idea! Congratulations, i like it a lot. And very very beautiful artwork, sure.

I can see a Silmarillion or Children of Húrin reader here. Nargothrond is quite fitting for Woodland Realm.

Now that I think of it, I'm not sure if I like the abilities being usable. But I think I'm just too in love with the idea of being able to use Zigil Miner in Erebor... though maybe for balance it would be a little overpowered. The thing is, I want that ally specifically to be in the Haven, which makes it very thematic... Like Erestor in Rivendell, for instance. Maybe the ally should just become a number to fill in the card, but the idea feels boring.

But keeping on with these rules, any ideas for Rivendell? That's the one that is absolutely impossible for me to make, lol

Rivendell tends to be a place of escape, rest, and/or counsel. So I would make some sort of readying and/or willpower boosting and/or threat reducing effect. It would match well with Elrond's Counsel too, which seems fitting for Rivendell.

In the village of Bree, the Rangers stand watch...

This would be the first one of the six "dual" sphere Havens I will make. You need a hero from each of the Haven's spheres in order to control them, and you can only play allies from those spheres in the Haven. I thought Bree would be a nice choice for Spirit-Leadership since that's (as of now) the sphere pair that represents the Rangers of the North. I tried to also make the ability related to both spheres, and Leadership and Spirit overlap in shadow cancelation.

Dol Amroth comes next, for Leadership and Tactics I'm thinking, maybe with some defense boosting effect. Still no ideas for Rivendell. I want that one to be the "catch all" Haven, and some ability that supports having multiple sphere allies and heroes.

Also, a minor (?) edit to all Haven cards: they now have the Unique symbol, which I had forgotten to put.

Now that I think of it, I'm not sure if I like the abilities being usable. But I think I'm just too in love with the idea of being able to use Zigil Miner in Erebor... though maybe for balance it would be a little overpowered. The thing is, I want that ally specifically to be in the Haven, which makes it very thematic... Like Erestor in Rivendell, for instance. Maybe the ally should just become a number to fill in the card, but the idea feels boring.

But keeping on with these rules, any ideas for Rivendell? That's the one that is absolutely impossible for me to make, lol

Perhaps yes for the ability, but only with a drawback? Like every time a character triggers his ability in a haven, something negative happens? I see it makes total sense for the Gazer, Erestor, Minstrels, Miners, to be in their havens, and since many of these have such abilities, it might be boring to just take them away.

The balance comes mainly (I hope) from the fact that you're basically losing a body on the table for questing and combat. There are very few allies I think that are obvious "Haven" allies (stargazer comes to mind but even she can chump block in a pinch), since most of them will have at least one stat that can be used, so there are many strategic choices to be made. Do I send Erestor with the heroes and have a good quested and decent defender or do I keep him safely in the Haven so he can draw cards? Now of course there are many decks that simply do not have allies with actions that you can take advantage of if played in the Haven, and that's why I decided to put special abilities on the Havens themselves so there's more of an advantage to playing allies there.

I like your idea of a negative effect for every time you trigger an ally's ability in a Haven. Maybe a threat increase?

Now that I think of it, I'm not sure I can make five more dual-sphere Havens PLUS four mono-sphere havens. There are just not enough good locations in Middle Earth! Edhellond is a possibility, looking back at MECCG, but I'm not sure it was actually inhabited by the third age... Any suggestions, people?

The havens idea is nice in that I always thought it was weird to have these craftsmen or loremasters or healers tagging along in a big battle. All those poor masters of lore who have been stomped into the ground by trolls while they're trying to peer through their tomes!

Havens galore!

Okay, so here's what I'm thinking: you can use the abilities of only one ally in your Haven and only once per round, so you basically have to choose which one to use each turn. Does that sound better?

As for the rest of the havens, here are my ideas so far:

Lore-tactics: Rhosgobel

Lore-spirit: Lothlorien (I may also put an added bonus for elves played there)

Mono spirit: Pelargir

Mono tactics: Helm's Deep

Mono leadership: Dale

Mono lore: Rivendell (it seems I have no other option)

Also, Hobbiton will be for the hobbit deck.

As for the mono sphere Havens, I could make the requirement of 3 heroes of that sphere, or just 2. What do you think?

If you only want them for monosphere use 3 heroes, but only 2 is much more versatile. It depends on what you make their effects and how variable you want the heroes to be.

I want them to be more splashable, that's why I prefer 2 heroes.

I want them to be more splashable, that's why I prefer 2 heroes.

Yeah, I agree.

Oooooh, i'm loving it.

These locations could be played as a special treasures in a specific saga expansion. ^^