AZ - Eowyn

BA - Aragorn

Az- Elrond

Ba- Galadriel

This is super close as I love all 4 of these heroes and characters, and I use them all in my decks. My vote goes to the elves as I just saw the last Hobbit movie and that white council scene was awesome!

AZ - Elrond

BA - Galadriel

Really hard to pick now.

Eowyn has been a solid hero with a place in many of my decks since the start. I didn't use Elrond for a long time after he was printed, but in the last few months I've come to appreciate the strength of him.

I'll vote Elrond.

Galadriel is an awesome hero, and I'm just starting to use her in my decks and have fun playing her. I can see that she has the potential to become a favourite hero. But I haven't used her anywhere near as much as Aragorn, who has been solid and saved my bacon on many, many occasions.

So I'll vote Aragorn.

Odd to vote for two lore heros over two spirit heros, when I actually play spirit far more than lore.

AZ: Eowyn

BA: Galadriel

Really hard to pick now.

Eowyn has been a solid hero with a place in many of my decks since the start. I didn't use Elrond for a long time after he was printed, but in the last few months I've come to appreciate the strength of him.

I'll vote Elrond.

Betrayer. Eowyn served you well for so long, and that is how fast yout alligence shifted.

AZ - Elrond , I find him a lot more usefull that Eowyn

BA - Galadriel , but it is a very close call ... still I am not sure if I prefer her than Aragorn

AZ-Eowyn

BA-Galadriel

AZ Eowyn

BA Aragorn

So I just went back to last year's tournament to see how many of the final 4 overlapped (just Elrond) and found a few other interesting tidbits.

• Last year Legloas beat Eowyn 28-4 in the sweet 16. This year he lost to her 17-26. That's an enormous change in opinion. My theory is that the Legolas lovers are now playing Haldir while new Rohan cards have made Eowyn even more crucial for a Rohan deck.
• Last year Elrond beat Beregond in the quarterfinals 17-13. This year it was effectively a tie. Not a big change, but the gap closed a bit. Maybe people are getting bored with Vilya.
• Frodo lost to Bard in the 2nd round last year. This year Bard lost to Eowyn 43-5, but Frodo put up a better fight against Eowyn 35-14.
• For the 2nd year, no Dwarves made it to the elite 8.

Dwarves drool thats why!

I never use VIlya Elrond is so great even without his ring.

Yeah I still use Legolas in my 2 handed SIlvan deck for his access to tactics but Haldir takes up most the offesnive duties and Legolas just mops up the leftovers. Haldir's ability to shoot first just makes him too invaluable as an attacker. I'm content with Silvan where it is but to make everything synergize better it would be nice to get another SIlvan Hero from tactics so we had another option besides Legolas.

Gawd I hate Eowyn. Have since the core.

Eowyn

Aragorn. Tough call just have not had enough time with Galadriel yet, but i do like her.

Just sad to see no tactic hero in the semi's. That tie break loss of Beregond wasn't deserved but well one has to life with that.
First things first: I can see the value of all 4 heroes in the semi finals and think they are all good. So, since my favourite heroes have all been eliminated, my vote in both matchups just comes down to "which of these heroes do I tend to play more". I try to keep the explanation for the "why" as short as possible.

Eowyn seems to get a lot of love here. I can see her value with just pure 4 willpower for questing but I have to say.... "That's it?!". There are many heroes where you love to get a second (or third or fourth) action out of in one round but since you can't quest twice with the same hero in one round, Eowyn is done after she is committed to the quest. And yes I know you could do some shenanigans like loading her up with Keeping Count or something but if you have a "normal" game, she """only""" gives you 4 Willpower for questing and nothing else. That lack of versatility is the main reason why I don't use here very often (except in solo games).

I would have loved to vote for Beregond this round but sadly Elrond has beaten him in a questionable thigh break. The exact same matchup happened last year and Elrond did it again to secure his semi final sport this year (and is now the last hero remaining from last years semi finals). So in the end I have to go with Elrond in this matchup simply because (since I tend to not play Spirit Glorfindel) he can quest for free with the Light of Valinor and can to decent defending (with a burning brand even better) and can safe you a s*** tone of resources by using the power of his ring. A clear favourite for me here in versatility which of course has a price of with 13 starting thread.

AZ-Elrond

Lore Aragorn seems to get a lot of love just for being Aragorn and the versatility he has with his stats but I'm no a huge fan of his ability. From time to time it's funny to do the "I don't care about thread" game but normally that's not my play stile. To load him up with attachments is fun too, but to load him with all his goody's takes a while. Another thing here is that I normally find other characters in lore which do there job in certain sections of this game better then Aragorn (Denethor in defending for example) for way less starting thread and if I would like to go mono lore for me personally Elrond is the way to go and not Strider.

So in this matchup my vote will go to Galadriel simply because I play her more then lore Aragorn. 9 is a very good starting thread and especially her ability to give you an extra push in the questing phase if needed or lowering your thread + card draw (both if you don't mind to put an unexpected courage on her) if you don't need the 4 willpower is simply to good to pass. She is (yes haters here it comes) the "better Eowyn" in spirit for me right know an finds a spot in quite some decks I build lately with all the new cards from the ring bearer cycle.

BA-Galadriel

AZ: Elrond

BA: Galadriel

Unfortunately, none of these heroes are top 4 for me largely because I am a low threat lover. Sam, Pippen (Lore), and Glorfindel are my top 3 since they have exceptionally high value at a low threat. Great in any deck. Magical together. Eliminated a while ago.

AZ – Elrond – He brings more to the table and solves so many problems in deck building (nearly every problem other than threat). He literally can work in every deck . . . once again if you can manage the threat. He is the most deserving hero remaining and the argument is very strong that he is top 5.

BA – Aragorn (Lo) – A weak semi final matchup. I can only hope the winner gets crushed. Both heroes certainly have their solid uses. Aragorn gets the modest nod since he presents a much much stronger early game while still providing substantial scaling with his attachments. Galadriel starts with a weak impact if no Nenya and has limited upside.

Given how far Loragorn has progressed in this championship, I am predicting a huge run by Tactics Aragorn in the championship next year. Seems like he could unify a lot of the voting blocks (Aragorn and Tactics fans at a minimum).

I'll pipe up in defense of Eowyn. The common knock against her is that she is one-dimensional. However, in solo, there is actually a benefit to having a dedicated quester that you can simply commit to the quest each round, leaving your other 2 heroes free for whatever else you need. Unlike many other heroes, Eowyn requires nothing else to positively contribute to victory. She hits the table, you exhaust her each round, and profit. Maybe not exciting, but absolutely conducive to success, and frees up deck space.

Her ability is also consistently overlooked. The willpower boost is an invaluable tool for controlling quest pacing or making up shortfalls. Eowyn actually doesn't lost value in multiplayer, as being able to gain an extra 3-4 willpower in 3-4 player games is consistently useful. So she's good in both solo and multiplayer. Finally, a hero is not necessarily worse for being one-dimensional or better for being multi-faceted, it depends on how you build the decks. Unlike most other Core heroes, Eowyn continues to be a fixture in decks, and likely always will be. The best? I'm not sure. Top 4 quality? There's no denying it.

AZ - Elrond
BA - Galadriel

Sorry Eowyn, you're a great workhorse but being a one-trick pony doesn't cut it for me at this stage of the competition. At least, not when matched up against my all-time favourite hero!

The other decision was much tougher for me - Aragorn has stood the test of time and can be the lynchpin of many different kinds of deck. Galadriel hasn't had a lot of time to prove whether she's worthy of the hype (and the wait), but early indications are she's indeed the real deal. In the end, I voted for the hero I suspect I'll be using more often in future.

AZ- Éowyn- she wins this one for me against the king of wasted stats

BA-Galadriel- go team Silvan

I'll pipe up in defense of Eowyn. The common knock against her is that she is one-dimensional. However, in solo, there is actually a benefit to having a dedicated quester that you can simply commit to the quest each round, leaving your other 2 heroes free for whatever else you need. Unlike many other heroes, Eowyn requires nothing else to positively contribute to victory. She hits the table, you exhaust her each round, and profit. Maybe not exciting, but absolutely conducive to success, and frees up deck space.

Her ability is also consistently overlooked. The willpower boost is an invaluable tool for controlling quest pacing or making up shortfalls. Eowyn actually doesn't lost value in multiplayer, as being able to gain an extra 3-4 willpower in 3-4 player games is consistently useful. So she's good in both solo and multiplayer. Finally, a hero is not necessarily worse for being one-dimensional or better for being multi-faceted, it depends on how you build the decks. Unlike most other Core heroes, Eowyn continues to be a fixture in decks, and likely always will be. The best? I'm not sure. Top 4 quality? There's no denying it.

I hear you. I just prefer to build my decks with versatility and lots of readying, and I hate having an Unexpected Courage in my hand that I can pay for, but don't feel like it'd be worth putting on any of the heroes.

AZ- Éowyn- she wins this one for me against the king of wasted stats

Normally I'd think of Elrond as a waste of stats too, but I've used him so much in my Silvan decks to do EVERYTHING. He quests, defends and even helps on attacks sometimes if I Feint/Feigned Voices a big bad enemy and I need more attack power. A game rarely goes by where he has any wasted stats in those decks. This PLUS he uses Vilya pretty often too.

Elrond

Aragorn

Love both of the ladies:

AZ: Eowyn

BA: Galadriel

AZ: Elrond, easily one of my favorite heroes, great defender and can buy any ally!

BA: Galadriel, she is definitely BA

AZ- Éowyn- she wins this one for me against the king of wasted stats

If you're wasting Elrond's stats, you're doing it wrong.

Monday evening totals. Still four days to go!

Eowyn (15) vs Elrond (24)

Elrond leads by 9 votes

Galadriel (23) vs Aragorn (15)

Galadriel leads by 8 votes

It appears that an eleven ring of power is your ticket to an early lead in the semi-finals.

I'm changing the rules for the final match. Instead of a full week, voting will start on Dec 26, but will end at midnight Dec 3, with a champion declared on New Years Day.