They took down the article. I hope it's because of some site malfunction and not because it went out too early and now I'll have to wait even more to see this stuff... ;(

You can still get to the article by Products - LotR - LotR LCG - news feed on the right of the page

Thanks, but it seems the news page just went down because of excess traffic at that time. Now everything is OK

I agree with Narsil, that enemy, much like the Southron Mercenaries from HoN, look actually pretty heroic. I'm really looking forward to these Corsair enemies, particularly Sahír. I like his name, sounds very Haradrim/Southron-ish. I wonder if he's going to be a main enemy in the cycle or if we'll just kill him off in the first pack. In any case, I like the premise of retrieving an ancient Numenorean relic from the pirates. I hope that this cycle relics and artifacts get more attention player card wise.

I guess you could just throw him on some Ranger Spikes without killing him...?

Yeah, imagine him boarding your ship with that malicious grin changing into confusion as he sets foot on your deck without looking and gets trapped by the ranger spikes lying on it And after the quest ends, heroes surround him and start asking: "You seem like such a nice guy, why are you doing this? There are plenty of other ways to earn the coin..."

What's a shiriff, by the way? I thought the word was sheriff. Or they changed it because a shiriff is a sheriff of the Shire?

Dwarf Sellsword is a 3/3/2/4 ally at the initial cost of 1. But I like that they finally decided to implement some kind of mercenary into the game.

"What kind of person sets up a trap on the deck of their own ship?"

I'm not sure of the reasoning - though I think the etymological origin is something like 'Shire-reave', so I guess shirriff is closer - but shirriff is how they're referred to throughout the scouring of the Shire.

Dwarven Sellsword strikes me as kind of the opposite of an Ent - both give you more stats than you pay the value of, but the Ent has the disadvantage that you don't get to use them the first round you play it, whereas the Sellsword has the disadvantage that you'll end up paying more over time if you want continued use instead of just the quick burst of power.

Ally Glorfindel makes me incredibly excited for the possibilities in Caldara or Noldor decks (so long as I can persuade my friends to ditch the hero version).

In general, I love the idea of boosting effects with resources spent from other spheres, especially since it's the players as a group. Tides of Fate could be fun, and as I've found with Boomed and Trumpeted, an attack boost of 3 is enough that it doesn't really matter if the defending character didn't have very good attack to start with. Robin Smallburrow is another 2 cost 2 willpower ally in Lore so should see a lot of play even without the ability, and Inspiring Presence could be bonkers in the right context.

Very cool!

Now we know which kind of card would beat spirit Glorfindel:

spirit Glorfindel!

Cards are looking great, though solo players are a bit restricted in their deck building with the new effects.

That hobbit is great and likely an auto-include even without his special ability. So far into the lore sphere only Mablung and these OP Ents have 2 WP for 2 cost.

Altogether, its sixty new cards carry us far across uncharted waters, support decks designed to run with fewer than three heroes, reinforce the enduring strengths of the Gondor trait, and boast a handful of unique allies and events that plunge us deep into the cycle's new themes and mechanics.

I wonder what they mean about the support of decks with only two heroes. The pseudo dual cards certainly don't fit into this idea, unless I am missing something crucial...

I wonder what they mean about the support of decks with only two heroes. The pseudo dual cards certainly don't fit into this idea, unless I am missing something crucial...

Well, I suppose something like:"Cost: 0. Raise the cost to play this event by 2 for each hero you control. Action: Draw 50 cards." There are numerous ways to boost two-heroed decks, we probably just haven't seen them yet. We haven't seen mentioned Gondor support either.

I would have liked that they would have boosted Secrecy first a bit more.

Too bad the two cards I wanna see more of don't have their text visible.

"Heed the Dream". Dat art. Lore event maybe Gondor-related.

"Arrows in the Trees", I'm really hoping for a Trap event as :

- Anborn can retrieve a "Trap card" and not only attachments

- Dmarod can reduce the cost of "Trap card"

The art certainly does look trappy.

I'd appreciate also if this was to be a Lore-tactics combination of boosted event. Rangers of Ithilien are what I like the most, so a non-unique Tactics Gondorian Ranger would be cool too with some sort of defensive capability, Henneth Annûn Guard was a real miss (man, he's not even a Ranger...).

I wonder how many time will pass until they return to Doomed/Isengard stuff and give it some love, or if they will in the first place...

Wow! I am pretty sure Dwarven Sellsword is going to accelerate my Dain/Thorin/Ori deck. Not sure what I'll have to take out to include those, though. That card will make it so much easier to get 5 Dwarves on the first turn.

Honestly, most of these cards look really good!

I would have liked that they would have boosted Secrecy first a bit more.

I have always thought in hindsight that Secrecy should have functioned more like Valour. Valour is a game state which serves as a prerequisite for various effects. Secrecy was only a cost reduction. Later cards specifically work off of <=20 threat, but I wish it were designed more diversely from the start because we'd probably have deeper support for the feature by now.

In any case, more secrecy style effects - even dual-effect cards like Honour Guard - would be welcome.

Yeah, I mean the "below 20 threat do this"-thing. The cost reduction was fun but not that viable in terms of ideas and stuff. As you say, like with the Valour, that's great. Also the cards we do have are fun, but more would be better.

The rest, read post above.

I have to admit that I anticipate the Grey Havens deluxe and new cycle more than I expect the end of this one ... I love everything I have seen till now

I would have liked that they would have boosted Secrecy first a bit more.

I have always thought in hindsight that Secrecy should have functioned more like Valour. Valour is a game state which serves as a prerequisite for various effects. Secrecy was only a cost reduction. Later cards specifically work off of <=20 threat, but I wish it were designed more diversely from the start because we'd probably have deeper support for the feature by now.

In any case, more secrecy style effects - even dual-effect cards like Honour Guard - would be welcome.

No reason they couldn't implement "Secrecy Action/Response" triggers at this point in the game. It would operate just like "Valour Action/Response" and wouldn't affect the existing Secrecy X keyword, either.

As someone who always hated HoN's focus on Mono-Sphere, I am a very happy man right. now.

And I love that they are FINALLY giving Spirit players some reason to try and not use Glorfindel other than "he's too good".

And as someone who's two favorite decks right now are a pair of Dwarf decks and an Imrahil/Eomer chump deck...dat Dwarven Sellsword tho...