I'm going to pair the new Faramir with Leadermir, and Leadergorn, this should give a Gondor deck with strong allies extra activation. The other deck I will probably use Damrod, Beregond, and Beravor, for traps and some more gondor allies.

I'm going to pair the new Faramir with Leadermir, and Leadergorn, this should give a Gondor deck with strong allies extra activation. The other deck I will probably use Damrod, Beregond, and Beravor, for traps and some more gondor allies.

I think it's time to retire the phrase Leadermir, because it now applies to two heroes. Also, Core-agorn is far better than Leadergorn if you ask me.

I'm going to pair the new Faramir with Leadermir, and Leadergorn, this should give a Gondor deck with strong allies extra activation. The other deck I will probably use Damrod, Beregond, and Beravor, for traps and some more gondor allies.

I think it's time to retire the phrase Leadermir, because it now applies to two heroes. Also, Core-agorn is far better than Leadergorn if you ask me.

Why not, so then Dead-o-mir and Nume-mir, and Far-giliath and Shado-mir?

I'm going to pair the new Faramir with Leadermir, and Leadergorn, this should give a Gondor deck with strong allies extra activation. The other deck I will probably use Damrod, Beregond, and Beravor, for traps and some more gondor allies.

I think it's time to retire the phrase Leadermir, because it now applies to two heroes. Also, Core-agorn is far better than Leadergorn if you ask me.

Why not, so then Dead-o-mir and Nume-mir, and Far-giliath and Shado-mir?

I like it! Far-giliath is my favorite. It sounds like someone from the first age.

Traps finally get some love. I know what deck I'm building when this drops.

Faramir capacity + Ents ... So Powerfull !

Oh man, how did I overlook that? Treebeard and Faramir = BFFs!

I have to say that I am not as impressed with Faramir as others are. I think this Faramir is best outside of a ranger/trap deck as his ability seems to contradict what ranger/trap decks like to do which is avoid engagement. Damrod and the other allies fit perfectly into that archetype, and those I do like. And if I am taking Faramir outside of the ranger/trap archetype, I think I'd rather use the ally version as I feel it would serve me in a wider variety of cases.

I guess I am just a little disappointed that It wouldn't help me to have Leadership Faramir "leading" his rangers in their own deck type. It seems that both Faramirs contradict, at least thematically, the archetype they are associated with given Lore Faramir's high threat cost and this ones engagement bonus. Maybe I am missing something that others see, if so help me like "shado-mir"

Well, there are two different types of ranger archetypes. There is the lore/trap style (Against the Shadow Gondor Rangers) that avoids engagement, then there's the Leadership/Tactics Dunedain style (plus Mablung) that rewards engagement. There is some thematic blurring between Gondor and Dunedain, but the new Faramir fits into the Dunedain style. He's only Shado-mir because he comes from the Land of Shadow box, not because he lurks in the shadows. Old Faramir is still kind of in no-man's land, but he is a better fit for the trap style.

I do see the possibilities of putting him with the Dunedain, but it just seems that the other allies fit well into what I should have specified as the Lore/Ranger archetype in my previous post, but Faramir does not. I have found, despite my attempts to the contrary, that Lore Faramir doesn't fit well into the trap archetype either. Loragorn is a much better fit solo, and thematically as you can go into "stealth-mode" once threat gets too high. I see this as a missed opportunity to make a better Faramir and improve the original archetype, instead it seems they come out of left field and tell us that Faramir is ability-wise a Dunedain And not a Gondorian Ranger that he is. And it just doesn't seem right thematically in my opinion.

It's an interesting challenge that I think just inspires me to have to think creatively about whether to engage or not. The new trap and event also encourage selective engagement of enemies so there's room for both. Maybe what we're looking at is more like the Hobbit strategy of keeping your threat low and selectively engaging enemies to get the most bonuses out of it.
I do really prefer the non-engagement, damage in the staging area approach and always am looking for new cards to encourage that strategy. One thing I've learned is that it's hard to accomplish that purely in a solo game. I got very disappointed trying to do that with Lore Faramir back in the day. Having a pair of decks that compliment eachother in this regard are necessary. As the designers said, these rangers pair very well with Hobbits. So what I'm thinking about right now is some creative way to divide up the Hobbit and Ranger heroes to have one deck take the enemies (with Leadership Faramir) and the other benefit from non-engagement (ie with Haldir).

Maybe there is a way to use both engagement and non-engagement decks in a mutually beneficial way.

-Matthew Elias

Ambush is an amazing card, like quick strike in lore. With trap synergy giving repeat value I think it is going to be a beast of a card.

Yeah, Ambush with lore Anborn and the new Damrod and Faramir heroes could be good.

• Exhaust Anborn to return Ambush from discard pile.
• Play Ambush for 1
• Ambush attaches to enemy (draw a card)
• Engage and ready Anborn, so he can contribute his 3 attack to the ambush.

It's too bad one of the allies he would synergize the best with is himself.

If you could manage to use Faramir hero to ready Faramir Ally, that would be too much power. I´m happy we can avoid that =X

Well, there are two different types of ranger archetypes. There is the lore/trap style (Against the Shadow Gondor Rangers) that avoids engagement, then there's the Leadership/Tactics Dunedain style (plus Mablung) that rewards engagement. There is some thematic blurring between Gondor and Dunedain, but the new Faramir fits into the Dunedain style. He's only Shado-mir because he comes from the Land of Shadow box, not because he lurks in the shadows. Old Faramir is still kind of in no-man's land, but he is a better fit for the trap style.

Yeah, I find it weird that Leadership Faramir has a Dunedain ability. His ability can work with his trap friends in some decks more focused around Ambush instead of Poisoned Stakes, but still weird. I would be more thematicaly happy if that ability was attached to a Dunedain hero.

Anyway, all cards that where spoiled in this news were awesome! (if you discount In The Shadow, which sucks).

Faramir combos really well with Expert Trackers.

New Faramir does synergize with the Gondor Rangers who exhaust before the Combat phase to do interesting things (of which there are a few). Plus, Ranger Bow. I'm not sure it's really a thematic miss.

What's the benefit of Ambush vs Ithilien Pit beyond the fact you can strike first? Is the 1 extra cost and discard worth it? Ithilien Pit is good if you're not engaged since you can smack the enemy around in the staging area so there is no danger of it attacking you anyway. I primarily play solo so I guess when the enemy does engage, Ambush is superior. hmm... seems like getting the right traps on the right enemies will be a big challenge and strategy to the deck.

Does Ambush let you attack the same enemy twice in one round?

What's the benefit of Ambush vs Ithilien Pit beyond the fact you can strike first? Is the 1 extra cost and discard worth it? Ithilien Pit is good if you're not engaged since you can smack the enemy around in the staging area so there is no danger of it attacking you anyway. I primarily play solo so I guess when the enemy does engage, Ambush is superior. hmm... seems like getting the right traps on the right enemies will be a big challenge and strategy to the deck.

Yeah. Ambush works on enemies that engage you as well as ones which don't (and indeed allows you to gain benefits from engagement, with e.g. Faramir/Mablung/Pippin, which now I say would probably make for a pretty good deck, we can do the Faramir/Ent combo as well). Also, if we're looking for means of killing enemies without them attacking you, this way you can have six in your deck rather than three, doublling the chances that you have one at a relevant moment.

And I agree. I think the less-used traps (i.e. the ones which aren't Ranger Spikes) would turn up a lot more if they actually let you choose if an enemy tripped them or not. Maybe that would be too good. Or alternatively, if they just added to all the traps "Limit one Trap attachment per enemy" so you could put multiple into the staging area without them all hitting the same enemy and wasting half the effects.

Yeah. Ambush works on enemies that engage you as well as ones which don't (and indeed allows you to gain benefits from engagement, with e.g. Faramir/Mablung/Pippin, which now I say would probably make for a pretty good deck, we can do the Faramir/Ent combo as well). Also, if we're looking for means of killing enemies without them attacking you, this way you can have six in your deck rather than three, doublling the chances that you have one at a relevant moment.

And I agree. I think the less-used traps (i.e. the ones which aren't Ranger Spikes) would turn up a lot more if they actually let you choose if an enemy tripped them or not. Maybe that would be too good. Or alternatively, if they just added to all the traps "Limit one Trap attachment per enemy" so you could put multiple into the staging area without them all hitting the same enemy and wasting half the effects.

Yeah, Ambush can help another player. But so can Ithilien Pit. All players can dog pile that poor enemy in the staging area or otherwise haha. I do play solo, so those aspect won't see much play from me. You make a good point and 6 cards vs 3 and the synergy of engagement. More options is nice.

Does Ambush let you attack the same enemy twice in one round?

I think so.

I think I am having a mindgasm over this article. AMAZING art on all these cards and some REALLY solid new player cards.

Trap decks far more viable now, new Fararmir hero is AWESOME and will be in lots of decks I think especially with so many great unique allies that have come out recently (Treebeard, Legolas, Gimi, Ingold and more) and the fact he works very well with Tactics Aragorn and Mablung. His ability is also very useful in quests that have enemies jumping out at you during different phases like staging. Ready one ally when a nasty foe engages you during the quest phase and then ready another during combat when further enemies engage you. With strong unique allies out getting to ready two of them is pretty powerful, with allies like Beorn, Gandalf, Legolas, Gimli, Boromir etc this is almost as good as readying two heroes!

I REALLY love the concept behind the two ranger allies. Adding to an enemies engagement cost is a very cool ability and can buy you time against a nasty foe you are not ready to take on. Mablung ally can even return a nasty foe you are already engaged with back to staging and keep him there by raising its threat! This could be comboed with Dunhere or Haldir to kill foes in staging. Anborn is even better and can increase an enemies engagement cost every turn and also does 1 damage to them whilst doing so!! If you theoretically used this every turn it could really give a strong boost of power to a low threat, secrecy or staging area attack deck. It both weakens (direct damage) and keeps enemies unengaged every turn! If your threat gets too high or the ability stops being useful you instead have a 3 attack ally instead.

The event and attachment are both epic as well!!! The new trap is insanely cool! Quick Strike but you can attack with as many characters as you want!!! I think this may very well be going in my decks ASAP!

also we are getting spoiler articles so often! I love it!!! KEEP THEM COMING FFG!!

I think this makes Anborn the first character to have two different non-objective ally versions of himself in the game?

Bofur has 2 different ally versions as well.

My god the new Faramir works well with Ents as others have mentioned! also something to think about.....

Ok, how about this for a three player set up:

Faramir(Le), Sam, Pippin(Lo) - 25 (Starting Threat) Engages enemies

Damrod, Mirlonde, Haldir - 23 - Trap Deck

Merrry (Sp), Fatty, Glorfindel - 18 - Keeps everyone's threat low and quests

My god the new Faramir works well with Ents as others have mentioned! also something to think about.....

Looking at such a deck (Faramir + Ents) in a different perspective, without relating or knowing anything about LOTR, I think a guy commanding an army of Treefolk essentially is pretty awesome, so I give it a pass.

I like this whole box in general already, and we haven't even seen every player card... How many are there in this box? Anyway, this whole batch of cards feels very Robin-Hoodsy and I really like that. The art has a lot to do with it. The art on Damrod is particularly good to me.