Didn't keep her from working on both MtG and LotR for that long in the past.

All fun player cards, all useful outside their specific trait decks. Thumbs up!

It's all just a rumor anyway.

I think that while she might cut back her work for FFG - a girl's got to eat after all - I have a hunch she feels a bit of attachment to her Noldor portfolio and we will still see her work from time to time.

Caleb and Matt alluded to this in the video interview at GenCon as well.

That art is so **** good for Elven stuff that isn't by Magali. A little more cartoony than her stuff but still really cool I reckon, especially the ornate door behind the courier!!!!

Awesome new Silvan allies, both very useful, both extremely bouncable. The spirit one can be used consistently with bounce effects to get bonus stats from Celeborn each time and place progress each time it is played. The tactics one similarly can weaken an enemies defense each time it is played. Pretty **** good cards if you ask me...

The only issue with the tactics ally is how much better it seems to be than Mithlond Sea-watcher which makes me sad. It costs a single additional tactics resource and simply ALWAYS has 3 attack and ranged rather than only when the top card of your discard pile is an ally....

Yes the Noldor ally has 1 willpower which the Silvan one does not but they both have 2 hp and not only does the Silvan always have 3 attack and ranged but it has a completely additional ability... yes most noldor discard decks will almost always have a way to get an ally on the top of your discard pile, yes Lords of the Eldar only boosts the Noldor ally and yes he has that one point of willpower as well but I honestly feel like they both fill the same niche and even though my decks are focused mainly on Noldor rather than Silvan I am really leaning towards including the Silvan ally rather than the Noldor one....

1 more resource but you get the 3 attack and ranged permanently and not just under special circumstances and also get an additional ability to boot, AND even if you aren't playing Silvan encounter effects might put him back in your hand and you can then get multiple uses out of his secondary ability. I am sure there are decks in which each ally will perform better but I think this new Silvan ally trivialises the Noldor one except for in noldor discard decks... and even then there is still the potential for the silvan ally to be better... maybe I am just underestimating the value of paying 1 less resource hmmmmmmmmm

I actually don't care for Magali art. I would actually prefer more Elven art like thes ones Mithlond See-watcher, Galadriel ally, Lore Glorfindel, etc. More "etheral"/"dreamy" stuff. Less Peterjacksony stuff.

Back on topic, am I the only one finding the Marksman of Lorien is waaaaaaay to powerful? The only other non-unique ally with 3 attack is the Knight of Minas Tirith, and this one does not have an ability unless you fullfill the mono-Tactics condition, whereas you may trigger every single time the Marksman's ability.

His attack value is even bumped to 4 by Celeborn. You could say the same about the Knight and Leadership Boromir, but obviously you won't be playing Leadership Boromir in a mono-tactics deck, whereas you use Celeborn a lot (most of the time, if not all) when playing Silvan.

Considering this ally can cost you only 2 resources using O Lorien, this is getting a 4 attack (then 3) for 2 cost. Which is overpowered. Especially when you compare this card to other 3-cost Tactics allly like... Horseback Archer? (Arguably this one can only be played for 2 with Théoden, but he does not have any ability other than Ranged). At least the Marksman should not have the Ranged keyword!

I think she's fine. Get used to new power curve.

Marksman of Lorien may be compared with the recently released Fornost Bowman. 3 cost tactics non unique ally with ranged both.

The ability of Marksman of Lorien is way too strong. In a deck with Haldir you can one shot almost every ennemy!! -1 def would have been more balanced i think.

Another Scout ally, this is cool, even if scout characters came from very differents traits (Rohan Silvan Dale and Noldor).

1rst AP : Leadership Hero

2d AP : Spirit Hero (Hobbit maybe to go with Sam spirit ally and the Hobbit Event spoiled ?)

3d AP : Leadership Scout Hero (maybe Rohan?)

4th AP : Silvan Lore Hero

Missing 2 tactics heroes for having 2 Heroes of each sphere for the entire cycle. So i guess we will have 2 tactics heroes in a row !

-1 def would be too irrelevant to care about, especially on a 3-costed ally.

Aragorn Tactics give -1 def (and not -2 def) to all ennemies engaged with him. I don't think his ability is irrelevant

Giving -1 def to any ennemy in play (not only engaged with you) until the end of the round is already a powerful effect in my opinion.

The ability of Marksman of Lorien is way too strong. In a deck with Haldir you can one shot almost every ennemy!! -1 def would have been more balanced i think.

This is, what a Marksman do .. Headshot ..

Aragorn Tactics give -1 def (and not -2 def) to all ennemies engaged with him. I don't think his ability is irrelevant

Aragorns ability is permanent and affects all enemies engaged, Marksman's ability triggers upon her entering play and lasts only until the end of the turn

So, yes, -1 def on 1 enemy until the end of the turn as an effect of an 3-costed ally entering play would indeed be too irrelevant to care about. It's not powerful enough effect for an ability of something that enters play and consumes entire round worth of tactics resources by doing so.

vs

A Lorien Elf wearing green. One day they might remember this game was based on some books.

I don't have the books here at work, but do Tolkien describe the colour of garbs of Lórien elves at all?

I am sure there are decks in which each ally will perform better but I think this new Silvan ally trivialises the Noldor one except for in noldor discard decks... and even then there is still the potential for the silvan ally to be better... maybe I am just underestimating the value of paying 1 less resource hmmmmmmmmm

Yeah, I was thinking you had a definite point until I was reminded that the Mithlond Sea-Watcher is cheaper, at which point it became more "What? A more expensive ally is stronger than a cheaper one? You don't say!"

Considering this ally can cost you only 2 resources using O Lorien, this is getting a 4 attack (then 3) for 2 cost. Which is overpowered. Especially when you compare this card to other 3-cost Tactics allly like... Horseback Archer? (Arguably this one can only be played for 2 with Théoden, but he does not have any ability other than Ranged). At least the Marksman should not have the Ranged keyword!

Comparing favourably to an old card which is quite clearly underpowered (and has been since release) does not make a new card overpowered.

I don't have the books here at work, but do Tolkien describe the colour of garbs of Lórien elves at all?

Haldir and his brothers wear shadowy greys to blend in among the trees, like the cloaks given to the Fellowship.

I don't have the books here at work, but do Tolkien describe the colour of garbs of Lórien elves at all?

"When Frodo came at last up on to the flet he found Legolas seated with three other Elves. They were clad in shadowy-grey, and could not be seen among the tree-stems, unless they moved suddenly." [First meeting with Haldir, Orophin, and Rumil.]

Another elf "clad in grey" helped construct the rope bridge.

Three elf-wardens at Celeborn's palace are described as "...Frodo saw that they were tall and clad in grey mail, and from their shoulders hung long white cloaks."

Celeborn and Galadriel were met and "They were clad wholly in white". They are described as dressed in white on subsequent meetings.

When they're given the cloaks of Lorien, the elves describe them as "the garb of our own people". For the cloaks themselves "It was hard to say of what colour they were: grey with the hue of twilight under the trees they seemed to be, and yet if they were moved, or set in another light, they were green as shadowed leaves, or brown as fallow fields by night, dusk-silver as water under the stars."

Of course, none of the described elves may be representative of how the ordinary Galadhrim might dress in peace and safety, within their own city.

I hear you Edheliad. I want to believe that the cards are not at all based on Peter Jackson, but then I look at the encounter card back.

Legolas as a representative of Mirkwood was explicitly dressed in green and brown. An easy fix of the card text? Same trait after all.

I, too, wanted it to be based off the books. But swashbucklers battling the Kraken on their way to tropical islands to hunt for treasure chests is unfortunately based off a Disney theme park ride.

For the cloaks themselves "It was hard to say of what colour they were: grey with the hue of twilight under the trees they seemed to be, and yet if they were moved, or set in another light, they were green as shadowed leaves, or brown as fallow fields by night, dusk-silver as water under the stars."

Look at that - green and brown.

In any case I think this is the most relevant quote, along with the fact that the point was that they were supposed to be well camouflaged - obviously having art where the elves are actually so well camouflaged we can't see them wouldn't work, but given that's still a concept, and that they're depicted as standing in a green and brown forest, having them wear green and brown makes perfect sense (so I suppose perhaps the next step is to argue that the forest is the wrong colour and should be more grey).

Yes, if you ignore all but two words of the paragraph you almost have a point. Congrats.

Tolkien does actually go into depth when describing the trees of that forest, too.

Yes, if you ignore all but two words of the paragraph you almost have a point. Congrats.

I didn't ignore anything, thank you, I merely emphasised the key point, that there exists direct textual support for Lorien elves potentially wearing green and/or brown. In a certain light, the cloaks may appear to be green and/or brown. So is there any reason why we shouldn't think "Maybe the elves in that artwork are standing under just that sort of light" as opposed to "Those elves are wearing the wrong clothes" ?

On top of which, given again that the cloaks are supposed to be good camouflage, and that their colours seem to shift, perhaps the reason they're described repeatedly as grey is because their colours shift that way in twilight and in winter (as the forest itself is more grey at those times). Who's to say they don't look rather different in spring and summer?

Alternatively, if you don't buy the colour-shifting interpretation, who's to say the elves of Lorien don't dress differently in different seasons, again for reasons of camouflage? Or that different elves don't wear different things? To suggest that all Lorien elves only ever wear grey at all times is a pretty big assumption given the very low number of examples we meet in the books.

At the end of the day, the artist was asked for an elf, and they drew/painted an elf, based on what they imagined such an elf would look like based on all sorts of inspirations. I doubt colour-scheme was specified because it probably wasn't considered that important. But the point is there are plenty of potential explanations for the colour-scheme being other than what was described in the books without suggesting that the designers simply forgot about the books their game is based on (despite the clear love and respect shown to the theme in the game).

Yes, if you ignore all but two words of the paragraph you almost have a point. Congrats.

Tolkien does actually go into depth when describing the trees of that forest, too.

Actually, in the context of the paragraph, it's clear that the grey cloaks can actually, given the right lighting be "green as shadowed leaves" or "brown as fallow fields by night". Maybe it's my monitor, but to me it looks like the art shows the archer in dull green and brown, and blending fairly well into the background. While grey would seem most likely from the text, I think the text absolutely allows the art. If it were a bright, garish green I would agree with the thematic objection.

Here's the description of the trees according to Legolas, and it too includes green:

"There are no trees like the trees of that land. For in the autumn their leaves fall not, but turn to gold. Not till the spring comes and the new green opens do they fall, and then the boughs are laden with yellow flowers; and the floor of the wood is golden, and golden is the roof, and its pillars are of silver, for the bark of the trees is smooth and grey. So still our songs in Mirkwood say."

The company came in winter, so of course the description of the trees have them yellow-leaved at that time.