Hello fellow players!

There is something that I do for my personal play that I think that is maybe worthy sharing.

The idea is to make all cards playable and somewhat balanced. We all know that all cardgames have "binder" cards and it is impossible to have a perfect balanced game, where all cards are balanced. Sure, but we can make the gap between the good cards and the bad cards smaller. I already do that for some cards and, at least for me, make the game more fun to be able to play and use more cards.

The philosophy of my errata in this topic are:

-Make the card playable, but not overpowered and must play in any deck that is capable of playing it. Remember that we can and will compare cards. Be careful when comparing cards from different spheres.

-Change as little as possible so the errata is easier to remember, since I don´t plan to print the card with the modification.

-Different spheres and different factions are good in different things. Anything that cost 3 or more need to be worthy of that cost, since they are hard to cast.

-Try to consider the interaction between cards. EX: Sneak Attack is a OK card, but when combo with Gandalf, it turns into a powerhouse.

What I want help for:

-I will bring all cards that I think that deserve a re-balance to this topic. I will post my modification or suggestions.

-I want people to comment about the change. Does the card feel balance when compared to the other cards? What is your suggestion? Any special insight about the card?

-After consideration, I will modify my personal errata according to suggestion. In my errata, I will have the final say, in your errata, you can do whatever you want =D.

-If i see good suggestions or after playtest, I can go back and change my errata, so nothing is written in stone.

DISCLAIMER: This errata is for my personal use and to whoever want to use it. If you don´t like the idea, think this is a bad idea, or anything similar, feel free to complete ignore and not post here. This will not impact your table and the designers will not errata the game because of this topic. Please, no flaming, raging or passive aggressive here.

CORE SET REVISITED PERSONAL ERRATA V1.0

============ HEROES

ARAGORN
Response: After Aragorn exhaust, spend 1 resource from his resource pool to ready him (limit once per turn).

Glóin
+1 def 
-1 wp

Thalin
+1 wp
-1 def

Eleanor
+1 def

Glorfindel 
Action: Heal 1 damage on any character. Then, you may pay 1  resources from Glorfindel's pool to heal 2 damage on any character (Limit once per turn).

Denethor
Action: Exhaust Denethor to look at the top X cards of the encounter deck. You may move one of those cards to the bottom of the deck. X is the number of players in the game (limit once per turn).

Théodred
Gimli
Legolas
Dúnhere
Éowyn
Beravor

Brok Ironfist
-2 cost
+1 def

Faramir
(limit once per turn)

Guard of the Citadel
+2 def

Longbeard Orc Slayer
-1 cost
Response: After Longbeard Orc Slayer enters play, deal 1 damage to each enemy in play.

Silverlode Archer
+1 wp
+1 hp

Beorn
-1 cost

Lórien Guide
Response: After Lórien Guide commits to a quest, place 2 progress token on the active location.

Wandering Took
-1 cost

Daughter of the Nimrodel
-1 cost
+1 hp

Henamarth Riversong
Action: Look at the top X cards of the encounter deck. X is the number of players in the game (limit once per game).

Miner of the Iron Hills
+1 def

Gandalf
Response: After Gandalf enters play from your hand, (choose 1):

Horseback Archer
+1 atk

Veteran Axehand
+1 def

Northern Tracker
Snowbourn Scout
Son of Arnor
Erebor Hammersmith
Gléowine 
Gondorian Spearman

Celebrían's Stone
Attached hero gains +2 wp and the SPIRIT resource icon.

Steward of Gondor
-1 cost
Attach to a hero. Attached hero gains the Gondor and Steward traits. Action: Exhaust Steward of Gondor to add 1 resources to attached hero's resource pool.

Blade of Gondolin
Attached hero gets +1 atk.

Citadel Plate
-1 cost

Dwarven Axe
Attached hero gains +1 atk (+2 atk instead if attached hero is attacking a enemy engaged with you).

Power in the Earth
Attached location gets -2 thr.

The Favor of the Lady
Attached hero gains +2 wp.

Unexpected Courage
UNIQUE

Dark Knowledge
Response: Exhaust Dark Knowledge to look at 1 shadow card that was just dealt to an enemy.

Horn of Gondor
Forest Snare
Protector of Lórien

Common Cause
Action: Exhaust 1 character you control to choose and ready a hero.

Ever Vigilant
Action: Choose and ready 1 character card.

For Gondor!
-1 cost

Grim Resolve
-1 cost

Blade Mastery
Action: Choose a character. Until the end of the phase, that character gains +3 atk  and +3 def.

Rain of Arrows
Action: Exhaust a character you control with the ranged keyword. Deal 1 damage to each enemy.

Stand Together
Action: Choose a player. That player may declare any number of eligible characters as defenders against each enemy attacking him this phase. If the chosen player block an attack with at least 2 characters, draw 1 card.

Swift Strike
-1 cost

Fortune or Fate
-1 cost

Strength of Will
Response: After you travel to a location, exhaust a SPIRIT character to place 5 progress tokens on that location.

Beorn's Hospitality
-2 cost
Action: Choose a player. Heal all damage on each character controlled by that player.

Gandalf's Search
Action: Look at the top 5 cards of any player's deck, add X of those cards to its owner's hand, and return the rest to the top of the deck in any order.

Lore of Imladris
-1 cost

Lórien's Wealth
-1 cost

A Light in the Dark
-1 cost

Sneak Attack 
Valiant Sacrifice 
Feint 
Quick Strike 
Thicket of Spears 
A Light in the Dark 
A Test of Will 
Dwarven Tomb 
Hasty Stroke
Stand and Fight 
The Galadhrim's Greeting 
Will of the West 
Radagast's Cunning 
Secret Paths

Post reserved 2.

Post reserved 3.

Ok, lets begin with the Core Box.

============HEROES

ARAGORN
Response: After Aragorn exhaust, spend 1 resource from his resource pool to ready him (limit once per turn).

Aragorn is perfectly playable, but in the modern card pool, he is outshined by most of the other heroes. He is the one of the most iconic characters in LOTR (after Gandalf)! I think that the new versions of him are much better for what they do. Leadership Aragorn only become REALLY awesome when attached to Sword That Was Broken. I think this is a good help for him and make him more viable in more decks. Also, for 12 threat, we need a really solid hero.

Glóin
+1def 
-1wp

I don´t know what do modify in this card to make it more playable. I thought about giving him +1def, but I would need to -1wp, so I´m not sure it would be a sufficient buff. He is very risky to pull of.

Théodred
+1WP 
-1HP 

He is fine and I see him played a lot. I still feel really bad about committing 1wp, specially to recent quests where we are hit for a lot in the beginning of the quest. My personal errata and the way I play with him, I give him +1 wp, -1hp.

Thalin
+1wp
-1def

Same as theodred.

Eleanor
+1def

I don´t like to have heroes with 0 wp or 0 atk. This modification make her a unreliable defender, but that will not die to wind breeze. This will give her a virtual "-1threat", but thats ok.

Glorfindel 
Action: Heal 1 damage on any character. Then, you may pay 1  resources from Glorfindel's pool to heal 2 damage on any character. (Limit once per round.)

For 12 he need to have a powerhouse ability.

Denethor

Not sure what to do with this guy. He is REALLY awesome in solo play, but he is lackluster in >2players. I´ve been playing with him a lot, since I like scrying, but I may tests it is better to take other heroes when playing 2+ players.

For history I will post it here. In my first 4 post I will post the final versions after modifications.

The core set heroes become more playable in your version, that is true, for sure! Nice ideas!!

Denethor could be scry X, where X is the number of players. And if that is too powerful for a repeatable action with pretty minimal cost, you could make it a Quest action to limit its scope. And still only allow the player to move 1 card.

EDIT: OPSSS!!! I´ve accidentally deleted my allies suggested errata. I´m posting it again below. I will have to rewrite it T_T

Denethor could be scry X, where X is the number of players. And if that is too powerful for a repeatable action with pretty minimal cost, you could make it a Quest action to limit its scope. And still only allow the player to move 1 card.

Denethor
Action: Exhaust Denethor to look at the top X cards of the encounter deck. You may move one of those cards to the bottom of the deck. X is the number of players in the game (limit once per turn).

Like this? What do you guys think?

I would definitely play him a lot more if Denethor looked like that

About allies, I think Guard of the Citadel's main weakness is that we are drowning in 2-cost leadership allies, and several of them are Gondor allies to boot. The Guard either needs a stat boost or an ability. Allowing you to put 6 copies in would still leave him inferior to a card like Pelargir Ship Captain and Herald of Anorien (although the latter lacks in HP). Since he's a Guard of the Citadel, something defensive would be an appropriate boost. Spend 1 Leadership resource to give one hero +1 defense (limit once per phase) ? Then he has some very neat Siege utility too. But maybe that ability's too strong.

I havent played enough to comment but i will say really really interesting thread thanks!!

I would definitely play him a lot more if Denethor looked like that

About allies, I think Guard of the Citadel's main weakness is that we are drowning in 2-cost leadership allies, and several of them are Gondor allies to boot. The Guard either needs a stat boost or an ability. Allowing you to put 6 copies in would still leave him inferior to a card like Pelargir Ship Captain and Herald of Anorien (although the latter lacks in HP). Since he's a Guard of the Citadel, something defensive would be an appropriate boost. Spend 1 Leadership resource to give one hero +1 defense (limit once per phase) ? Then he has some very neat Siege utility too. But maybe that ability's too strong.

Your idea that Guard need a defensive ability is cool. The thing is that my errata tries to not change the card too much, you see? The idea is to buff the cards and not to rework cards.

Is giving Guard of The Citadel +2def OK in your view?

I havent played enough to comment but i will say really really interesting thread thanks!!

Your vision can be usefull. As I understand, you still playing with the core set cards and a couple of APs. What cards do you think are bad and you dont use then?

Celebrían's Stone
Attached hero gains +2wp and the SPIRIT resource icon.

Is one of the few artifacts in the middle earth. It is also Restricted, limiting the number of attachments the hero can carry. I think it deserve a little buff.

Steward of Gondor
-1 cost
Attach to a hero. Attached hero gains the Gondor and Steward trait. Action: Exhaust Steward of Gondor to add 1 resources to attached hero's resource pool.

Blade of Gondolin
Attached hero gets +1 atk.

Citadel Plate
-1 cost

Dwarven Axe
Attached hero gains +1atk. (+2 atk instead if attached hero is attacking a enemy engaged with you.)

Power in the Earth
Attached location gets -2 thr.

The Favor of the Lady
Attached hero gains +2wp.

Unexpected Courage
UNIQUE

Dark Knowledge
Exhaust Dark Knowledge to look at 1 shadow card that was just dealt to an enemy.

Self Preservation

+1 defense for the Guard would set him apart from the other 2-cost Gondor leadership allies, but in the current meta HP are more valuable than defense on allies. +1 HP would make him suddenly look more attractive

+1 defense for the Guard would set him apart from the other 2-cost Gondor leadership allies, but in the current meta HP are more valuable than defense on allies. +1 HP would make him suddenly look more attractive

My plan was to give him +2def, so in the end we have 2-cost, 1wp, 1atk, 2def, 2hp gondor ally. You want to give him the Erebor Hammersmith stats (+1def, +1hp)? Which is fine by me.

Or did you mean only the +1hp?

Maybe, to make him very unique we could give him +2hp. The problem is that maybe that is unthematic, since he is a dude in heavy armor.

I havent played enough to comment but i will say really really interesting thread thanks!!

Your vision can be usefull. As I understand, you still playing with the core set cards and a couple of APs. What cards do you think are bad and you dont use then?

Despite it being a respected card i have hardly used dwarvern tomb.

blade of gondor (thats the knife yes) seems not as good as some other weapons.

Dwarvern axe is great...but at first glance the kazad dum axe seem just as good but cheaper.

Theres a card in core with gandalf looking at books, i think its a scrying card, not used that (denethor scrying gets really well used though)

Always a shame to comit Theodred to quest with 1wp just to get a resource but i think that works well on him as its the judgement call if to quest or not with him. if he had more wp and less other stats then there wouldnt be a choice you would just quest him every turn.

Cant think of much else right now

This is an interesting idea, however I think I just gave up on that since new cards are released constantly: this means in the end I'm ok with letting a card taking dust due to the fact I already have many options, even if I would prefer if all cards were useful in a way.

For example, it hurts me to see Lore Glorfindel having such a lackluster ability (in the current meta), and would definetly consider upping it to 2 points of damage healed (even if your change makes him too powerful imo).

However playing multiplayer means this would need to find the agreement of all the players I'm playing with, and that's far from granted. I think I could consider it for solo, if not for the fact that having the Spirit version is almost mandatory: everytime I try building a Glorf(L) deck and think about the other heroes my mind goes directly to Glorf(S) only to realise I cannot play the two together XD

So, the only thing I really care about is when I feel a card breaks the game: this for me is happening with Gandalf+Sneak Attack which is far too powerful of a combination: when I get it I get an advantage that feels unfair.

For solo, I usually rule that I cannot use his response unless I have played him from my hand.

For multiplayer, other people use SA+Gandalf so I find it harder to restrict myself; I usually play the combination in decks with a lot of card draw so that it's kind of part of my strategy, instead of being a random bonus.

The only other errata I use is restricting myself from using Tactics Aragorn in combination with Merry, for multiplayer.

Anway, I'll keep an eye on this thread to see whether something that could appeal to me appears.

Difficult to say as i dont much remember cards i avoid. I know i avoid brok ironfist due to his cost. Ealenor seems expensive compared to her use.

Despite it being a respected card i have hardly used dwarvern tomb.

blade of gondor (thats the knife yes) seems not as good as some other weapons.

Dwarvern axe is great...but at first glance the kazad dum axe seem just as good but cheaper.

Theres a card in core with gandalf looking at books, i think its a scrying card, not used that (denethor scrying gets really well used though)

Always a shame to comit Theodred to quest with 1wp just to get a resource but i think that works well on him as its the judgement call if to quest or not with him. if he had more wp and less other stats then there wouldnt be a choice you would just quest him every turn.

Cant think of much else right now

Dwarven Tomb I play one copy with 3 Test of Will + 2 Hasty Stroke, so I can recur one of those cards that I want. Sometimes I have more spirit events, most of the time I recur Test of Will.

Blade of Gondor, at least for me, only saw play in the core set. Even so, It was painful to not get the atk bonus against the troll, nazgul and wargs. Dwarven Axe also only saw play in core, with gimli. Even so, generaly it was not needed, since gimli alone is strong enough even damaged to kill almost anything.

Gandalf's Search (Gandalf reading a book) is mind boggling. I never ever even considered using it.

That is a good Theodred insight that I never thought of. I´m trying to remember, but I think I´ve maybe not quested with him once, and I play him a lot. Generally I play Celebrian Stone in any deck with him, since in my mind he is always questing, so he can give his resource to himself or some player that need it.

This is an interesting idea, however I think I just gave up on that since new cards are released constantly: this means in the end I'm ok with letting a card taking dust due to the fact I already have many options, even if I would prefer if all cards were useful in a way.

For example, it hurts me to see Lore Glorfindel having such a lackluster ability (in the current meta), and would definetly consider upping it to 2 points of damage healed (even if your change makes him too powerful imo).

However playing multiplayer means this would need to find the agreement of all the players I'm playing with, and that's far from granted. I think I could consider it for solo, if not for the fact that having the Spirit version is almost mandatory: everytime I try building a Glorf(L) deck and think about the other heroes my mind goes directly to Glorf(S) only to realise I cannot play the two together XD

So, the only thing I really care about is when I feel a card breaks the game: this for me is happening with Gandalf+Sneak Attack which is far too powerful of a combination: when I get it I get an advantage that feels unfair.

For solo, I usually rule that I cannot use his response unless I have played him from my hand.

For multiplayer, other people use SA+Gandalf so I find it harder to restrict myself; I usually play the combination in decks with a lot of card draw so that it's kind of part of my strategy, instead of being a random bonus.

The only other errata I use is restricting myself from using Tactics Aragorn in combination with Merry, for multiplayer.

Anyway, I'll keep an eye on this thread to see whether something that could appeal to me appears.

I felt the same as you about the new cards. But Ive just played Dwaredelf+Against the Shadow Two Handed with some errata and I had a real blast! That´s why I´m doing this, so other people can enjoy the same as I did. You don´t need to use all the suggestions, just use the one you feel are the best for you.

Gandalf+SA and Taragorn+Merry are also combos that I try to refrain of playing. GA+SA is worse, since it is very easy to simple include both.

Yeah, in multiplayer I have no illusions about people going with my errata and that is fine. But if someone likes it and wanna play, I´m here! Also, I can play with my brother. Maybe I can make a custom set for OCTGN or print the new cards on http://www.printerstudio.com/personalized/custom_playing_cards_blank_cards.html

Sure, I agree with you.

Something can surely be made to improve some older cards. I think that the cards from SoM in particular didn't age well, as a whole.

Again, I fully agree with you on SA+Gandalf, it just sounds too easy to do.

Finally, there's a card that really strikes me as odd, since in my opinion it's very subpar BUT it was released in the Against the Shadow cycle: Steed of the Mark.

I think the few advantages (being a Mount, so can be fetched via Horse-Breeder; having only 1 cost makes it a bit easier to splash) and the many disadvantages have been discussed thoroughly, and it strikes me as a very odd choice to make for a new card that's supposed to help two traits that admittedly lack some support (Gondor, Rohan), especially in the action advantage department. Making it an "attached Hero does not exhaust to quest" attachment would have been far from making it overpowered. Sure, LoV does the same but is unique, however Noldor/Silvan already have plenty of support for their heroes.

So my proposed errata is:

Steed of the Mark

"Attach to a Gondor or Rohan hero.

Attached hero does not exhaust to commit to the quest."

P.S.

I can see this game having a reboot at some point, as it has just happened to A Game of Thrones LCG; sooner or later, they will probably need to rethink existing cards, especially those from the earlier sets.

Anyway, not that I'm encouraging such a move now, it cost me a lot to buy the (almost) complete set of cards!

Steed of the Mark

"Attach to a Gondor or Rohan hero.

Attached hero does not exhaust to commit to the quest."

Cool! Nice that we think the same way. In my earlier post I said that I played Dwdlf and AtS sagas two handed with errata. In AtS I used a Gondor deck and a Rohan deck. One of the errata I used was what you just sugested. I ran 2 copies of Steed of the Mark. When I got one, I would put in Spirit Theoden and the second copie went to Prince Imrahil.

I would definitely play him a lot more if Denethor looked like that

About allies, I think Guard of the Citadel's main weakness is that we are drowning in 2-cost leadership allies, and several of them are Gondor allies to boot. The Guard either needs a stat boost or an ability. Allowing you to put 6 copies in would still leave him inferior to a card like Pelargir Ship Captain and Herald of Anorien (although the latter lacks in HP). Since he's a Guard of the Citadel, something defensive would be an appropriate boost. Spend 1 Leadership resource to give one hero +1 defense (limit once per phase) ? Then he has some very neat Siege utility too. But maybe that ability's too strong.

Your idea that Guard need a defensive ability is cool. The thing is that my errata tries to not change the card too much, you see? The idea is to buff the cards and not to rework cards.

Is giving Guard of The Citadel +2def OK in your view?

Allow you to put 6 copies in, give him 0 defense, and give him the text "Guard of the Citadel gets +1 <def> for each copy of Guard of the Citadel in play."

Allow you to put 6 copies in, give him 0 defense, and give him the text "Guard of the Citadel gets +1 <def> for each copy of Guard of the Citadel in play."

That is a cool suggestion, but would be a rework of the card, which goes against the philosophy of the errata.

Anyway, that would be a cool custom card! Some kind of unit that use Shield Wall formation!