Introducing the Hero Championship 2015 edition!

I had a ton of fun during last year's championship, the community enjoyed the ally unique championship a few weeks back, and it seems that the community is ready to try this out again.

This year's tournament includes heroes added from the following expansions

- The Treason of Saruman

- The Land of Shadow

- The Lost Realm

- The Antlered Crown (Erkenbrand missed last year by days)
- The Angmar Awakens Cycle (Arwen just barely made the cut)

Since only one hero from The Grey Havens is spoiled and since the product is still weeks away, I opted not to include Cirdan

Seeding is based on last year's results with the new heroes being semi-arbitrarily/randomly added throughout the list.

Vote for your favorite hero as they enter their match-ups in the responses below. Vote on whatever criteria you desire - this is very informal. Feel free to campaign for you hero, criticize the seeding, and give your vote rationale. I really like the option of voting on the forums to encourage friendly banter and conversation.

Visit http://challonge.com/lotrhero2015 for the bracket layout.

Each round is five days with voting closing at noon CST, with the exception of the first round which is only three days.

The 2015 Championship has concluded. Our winner is Sam Gamgee!

2013 Championship

https://community.fantasyflightgames.com/topic/89803-the-hero-championship/?hl=%2Bhero+%2Bchampionship

Winner: Legolas

2014 Championship

https://community.fantasyflightgames.com/topic/127748-the-hero-championship-2014/?hl=%2Bhero+%2Bchampionship

Winner: Galadriel

--- Round 1 ---

This round includes six heroes fighting to stay alive before the main bracket kicks in. You'll recognize them as last year's bottom six finishers...

A: Mirlonde vs. Óin

B: Glorfindel (Lo) vs. Pippin (S)

C: Fatty Bolger vs. Dwalin

The winners in this round will go on to face (1)Galadriel, (2)Elrond, and (3)Éowyn.

Voting closes at noon CST Wednesday December 2.

A: Mirlonde

B: Pippin (S)

C: Dwalin

That's funny, I've built some fun decks recently with five of these six heroes!

A-Mirlonde

B-Glorfindel (Lo)

C-Dwalin

A: Mirlonde

B: Glorfindel (Lore)

C: Dwalin

Glorfindel (Lore) actually saw a decent amount of use in my progression through the game until my card pool grew.

A - Oin

B - Pippin (S)

C - Dwalin

Why? Because solo play options.

Oin is a pick you can throw in a 2 spirit 1 tactics to balance out the resource production, or even put in a leadership + spirit dwarf deck to utilize Dwarven Axe and Dwarrowdelf Axe without swapping out a hero. Since you have to deal with everything on your own in solo play, having leadership for Sneak Attack - Gandalf, and Steward of Gondor, and spirit for A Test of Will it can be tough to fit in the awesome weapons of the Dwarves. Oin can play as a resource fixer to get these extra equip boosts without going 3 resource and gimping your early game.

Pippin also can fit for solo play. When you're playing solo, especially with weak hobbits, you might consider to build a deck around keeping your threat super low while you use Ranger Bow and such to plink off enemies in the staging area. Sometimes a deck will throw something at you that you just can't kill in 1 turn, but you also can't defend against properly with your set up. Just push it back, finish it next turn, and you're on your way again.

Dwalin also gets some air time in solo play, where a lot of the game can be playing around your threat level and the engage cost of enemies. Being able to cut your threat down for each orc you finish off can keep your threat low without cheesing cards like The Galadhrim's Greeting for easy mode.

Basically - when you want a sub par deck that has some options for solo play these characters can have their place. The other half is just bad lol.

Thanks for doing this!

A - Oin

B - Glorfindel (Lore)

C - Fatty

Thanks for running this again, Thanatopsis!

A - Mirlone - Mono-lore is a lot of fun and Oin is one of the worst Dwarves.

B - Glorfindel (Lore) - With the awesomeness of Lore Pippin and now the superiority of Spirit Merry, there is no reason to ever play Spirit Pippin.

C - Fatty - I never play either, but I'll take a Hobbit over a Dwarf.

A. Mirlonde

B. Glorfindel

C. Fatty

Heh, I like this championship!

A - Mirlonde - purely because she's the one I play more

B - Glorfindel (Lore) - even at twice the threat, still more than twice the goodness

C - Fatty - because hobbit decks can synergise with him, to an extent. and I don't think I've built with Dwalin since he came out

Well, however the voting turns out I think all three of them are totally screwed with those matchps in the next round. That said, though:

A - Oin. This was the only difficult choice, because I do rather like both these heroes. The other two are no-brainers for me.

B - Glorfindel

C - Fatty

A - Oin

B - Pippin(S)

C - Fatty

Oin

Glorfindel

Dwalin

a) óin

b) pippin

c) dwalin

A) oin

B) Glorfindel

C) Dwalin

A - Mirlonde: the quintessential support hero. Not sure who your third lore hero should be but you;re nervous about threat? Pick Mirlonde

B - Pippin (S): Standing around with your hair blowing in the wind or sitting around fishing... either way, boring.

C - Fatty Bolger: the recent CotR meme contest solidified my dislike for Dwalin. Plus, I've always been a Fatty defender from the start: his ability is quite useful (especially now when paired with Spirit Merry

Oin

Lorefindel

Dwalin

Thanks for doing this! My voting in the championship will be based mostly on the gameplay.

Mirlonde - she's not flashy, but I think she's actually good

Glorfindel - He has access to in-sphere Asfaloth, plus I cannot bear myself to vote against Glorfindel

Dwalin - I don't like either very much, but Dwalin could be good in certain quests, whereas I think Fatty is more or less worthless - and unexciting to boot.

A. Mirlonde
B. Glorfindel
C. Fatty

A: Oin - he is a crux of my dwarves deck - giving me access to plenty of awesome tactics cards

B. Pippin (S)

C. Dwalin - don't really care for either of the choices here, but since I main with Dwarves, Dwalin it is since he'd be more likely to see play.

A: Mirlonde

B: Glorfindel (Lo)

C: Dwalin

I chose Mirlonde because she always fits in well in mono-Lore decks, which are often lots of fun. Doesn't do an awful lot, but quests for 2 in standard and Battle questing. I used Oin a few times but didn't like him. We rarely play dwarfs unless we play 2 fully dwarf decks together, so Oin isn't all that useful to us.

I chose Glorfindel because I think he's a strong hero and his relatively weak special ability is balanced by his extra progress with Asfaloth. Remove Spirit Glorfindel from the game and I'm sure you'd see a fair bit of Lore Glorf. Also, I've never used Spirit Pippin.

I chose Dwalin because he's OK in some quests and Fatty has never impressed me when I've used him.

A. Mirlonde - I love the art, and I've even used her in some situations. A good Hero, but not top notch.

B. Pippin (S) - Just because, come on! Look at him, he's lost in his thoughts of grandeur.

C. Dwalin - I love dwarves. Fat hobbits not that much.

Piece of Cake

A - Oín. Though I believe Mirlonde to be better, I like Dwarves and not Mirlonde.
B - Glorfindel. The one true Glorfindel hero, he was one of my personal favorites in the Core Set days.
C- Dwalin.

He was a great hero back in the day

Dwalin, today, he can only pray

For he will probably never see play

Orc trait only, you say?

The meta: 'aye,

we feed you other prey

to slay.'

Not only did the Orcs disappear

Other heroes are to us more dear

Fought for us he did, with prowess

Remains now powerless

Forever laid to bear

To never see again the air

-Dwalin, Son of Fundin

"It was a dwarf with a blue beard tucked into a golden belt, very bright eyes under his dark-green hood."

A) Mirlonde

B) Glorfindel

C) Dwalin