Introducing the Hero Championship 2016 edition!

http://challonge.com/lotrhero2016

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

- The Flame of the West

- The Grey Havens

- The Sands of Harad

- The Dream-chaser Cycle

Seeding is based on last year's results with the new heroes being added throughout the list based on their release. The oldest new heroes received the highest seeding. No new hero was added to the top of bottom 10.

The major change here is that we will now all be voting directly through Challonge. In order to vote, you must register to vote on the Challonge site. I think this is a good change, but it does potentially take away one of the features that I like best: reading the friendly banter and conversation on these forums. We'll see if that still happens, I'd love it if it did.

Visit http://challonge.com/lotrhero2016 for the bracket layout and voting.

Each round is four days with voting closing at noon CST.

Ending Dates are as follows:

Round 1: Wednesday Dec 7

Round 2: Sunday Dec 11

Round 3: Thursday Dec 15

Round 4: Monday Dec 19

Round 5: Friday Dec 23 <---

Semi-Finals: Tuesday Dec 27

Finals: Saturday Dec 31 (voting closes at 11:59pm)

Shortly after, I'll post the results of each round on this thread.

2015 results: http://challonge.com/lotrhero2015

2014 results: http://challonge.com/lotrhero2014

2013 results: http://challonge.com/lotrhero

Here are the Round 1 match-ups.

It looks like Challonge is letting us vote for the available Round 2 match-up as well. Which is fine, it just means 32 match-ups this time and 15 the next (instead of the opposite).

ROUND 1 RESULTS ARE IN. Bolded names are the winners!

52 participants in the first round! That's the most in any round ever!

1: Háma [64] v Dúnhere [65]

2: Faramir (Lo) [57] v Mirlonde [72]

3: Balin [56] v Bombur [73]

4: Boromir (Le) [61] v Legolas (S) [68]

5: Thalin [52] v Fatty Bolger [77]

6: Théodred [60] v Ori [69]

7: Na'asiyah [53] v Dori [76]

8: Gimli (Le) [63] v Hirluin the Far [66]

9: Bard the Bowman [50] v Pippin (S) [79]

10: Prince Imrahil (T) [58] v Théoden (T) [71]

11: Nori [55] v Dwalin [74]

12: Caldara [62] v Bilbo Baggins [67]

13: Thorin Oakenshield [51] v Oin [78]

14: Elladan [14] v Brand Son of Bain [70]

15: Glóin [54] v Glofindel (Lo) [75]

16: Merry (T) [32] v Elfhelm [33]

17: Boromir (T) [16] v Bifur [49]

18: Merry (S) [17] v Beregond (S) [48]

19: Faramir (Le) [25] v Elrohir [40]

20: Celeborn [24] v Denethor (Lo) [41]

21: Aragron (Le) [29] v Amarthiul [36]

22: Erestor [20] v Eleanor [45]

23: Lanwyn [28] v Erkenbrand [37]

24: Beorn [21] v Idraen [44]

25: Glorfindel [31] v Rossiel [34]

26: Galdor of the Havens [18] v Dain Ironfoot [47]

27: Pippin (Lo) v Treebeard [39]

28: Denethor (Le) [23] v Halbarad [42]

29: Gimli (T) [30] v Prince Imrahil (Le) [35]

30: Mablung [19] v Beravor [46]

31: Gríma [27] v Argalad [38]

32: Damrod [22] v Éowyn (T) [43]

Here are the Round 2 match-ups.

It looks like Challonge is letting us vote for the available Round 2 match-up as well. Which is fine, it just means 32 match-ups this time and 15 the next (instead of the opposite).

ROUND 2 RESULTS ARE IN. Bolded names are the winners!

No upset this round. The highest seed always won.

55 participants

Sam Gamgee [1] v Háma [64]

Frodo Baggins [8] v Mirlonde [72]

Éowyn (S) [9] v Balin [56]

Theoden (S) [4] v Legolas (S) [68]

Círdan the Shipwright [13] v Thalin [52]

Elrond [5] v Théodred [60]

Aragron (Lo) [12] v Na’asiyah [53]

Gandalf [2] v Gimli (Le) [63]

Haldir of Lorien [15] v Bard the Bowman [50]

Legolas (T) [7] v Prince Imrahil (T) [58]

Arwen Undomiel [10] v Nori [55]

Beregond (T) [3] v Caldara [62]

Galadriel [14] v Thorin Oakenshield [51]

Aragorn (T) [6] v Elladan [59]

Éomer [11] v Glóin [54]

Boromir (T) [16] v Merry (S) [17]

ROUND 3 RESULTS ARE IN. Bolded names are the winners!

61 participants

Sam Gamgee [1] v Merry (T) [32]

Boromir (T) [16] v Merry (S) [17] [Voted in the prior round]

Frodo Baggins [8] v Faramir (Le) [25]

Éowyn (S) [9] v Celeborn [24]

Theoden (S) [4] v Amarthiul [38]

Círdan the Shipwright [13] v Erestor [20]

Elrond [5] v Erkenbrand [37]

Aragorn (Lo) [12] v Beorn [21]

Gandalf [2] v Glorfindel (S) [31]

Haldir of Lorien [15] v Dain Ironfoot [47]

Legolas (T) [7] v Pippin (Lo) [26]

Arwen Undomiel [10] v Denethor (Le) [23]

Beregond (T) [3] v Gimli (T) [30]

Galadriel [14] v Mablung [19]

Aragorn (T) [6] v Argalad [38]

Éomer [11] v Éowyn (T) [43]

ROUND 4 RESULTS ARE IN. Bolded names are the winners!

53 participants

Sam Gamgee [1] v Boromir (T) [16]

Frodo Baggins [8] v Éowyn (S) [9]

Amarthiul [38] v Círdan the Shipwright [13]

Elrond [5] v Aragorn (Lo) [12]

Gandalf [2] v Haldir of Lorien [15]

Legolas (T) [7] v Arwen Undomiel [10]

Beregond (T) [3] v Galadriel [14]

Aragorn (T) [6] v Éowyn (T) [43]

ROUND 5 RESULTS ARE IN. Bolded names are the winners!

55 participants

Sam Gamgee [1] v Éowyn (S) [9]

Círdan the Shipwright [13] v Elrond [5]

Gandalf [2] v Arwen Undomiel [10]

Galadriel [14] v Aragorn (T) [6]

SEMI-FINAL RESULTS ARE IN. Bolded names are the winners!

42 participants

Sam Gamgee [1] v Elrond [5]

Arwen Undomiel [10] v Aragorn (T) [6]

Voting for the FINALS has begun!

Voting closes Saturday Dec 31 at 11:59pm

Elrond [5] v Arwen Undomiel [10]

with a third place match between Aragron and Sam

Thanks for organizing Thanatopsis! Looking forward to it!

Here are my thoughts on a few match ups, mostly the newer heroes.

Boromir (Le) vs Legolas (S) - I know the new Legolas is shiny and can be fun to pair with Gimli, but I just don't see how you would ever choose him over Tactics Legolas or Lanwyn. Meanwhile, Boromir does serious work in one of my favorite decks, the Gondor-Erestor swarm.

Na'asiyah vs Dori - Is Na'asiyah any good? Her ability seems too expensive. I'm going to take this opportunity to actually vote for Dori.

Prince Imrahil (T) vs Theoden (T) - These two actually pair really nicely together with Eowyn. I think the new Imrahil is a boss and has potential for top 4.

Merry (T) vs Elfhelm - I do really like Elfhelm, but Merry is so solid in a Hobbit deck.

Boromir (T) vs Bifur - I'm not even joking. Bifur is such a solid splash lore hero. Meanwhile, Boromir and his tricks are boring.

Merry (S) vs Beregond (S) - This is a tough one. I think it comes down to the fact that spirit Merry is probably the better version of Merry. Meanwhile, spirit Beregond is definitely the worse version of Beregond.

Aragorn (Le) vs Amarthiul - Elfhelm and Armored Destrier made Marty a lot better.

Pippin (Lo) vs Treebeard - Treebeard can do some tricks, but you really have to build a deck around him. Meanwhile, Pippin is quite versatile.

Did Arwen do that poorly last year? How times change.

Thank again for doing this Thanatopsis!

Anyone who would like to comment on this round of voting, you can copy/paste the text below and delete lines you don't care to comment on. I recommend copy/pasting and then hitting the "erase formatting" button so it doesn't look funny. (note that to vote you HAVE TO use the Challonge site in the original post above)

Hama vs Dunhere:

Boromir (Le) vs Legolas (Sp):

Na'asiyah vs Dori:

Prince Imrahil (T) vs Theoden (T):

Thorin Oakenshield vs Oin:

Merry (T) vs Elfhelm:

Faramir (Le) vs Elrohir:

Erestor vs Eleanor:

Glorfindel (Sp) vs Rossiel:

Denethor (Le) vs Halbarad:

Grima vs Argalad:

Faramir (Lo) vs Mirlonde:

Thalin vs Fatty Bolger:

Gimli (Le) vs Hirluin the Fair:

Nori vs Dwalin:

Elladan vs Brand Son of Bain:

Boromir (T) vs Bifur:

Celeborn vs Denethor (Lo):

Lanwyn vs Erkenbrand:

Galdor of the Havens vs Dain:

Gimli (T) vs Prince Imrahil (Le):

Damrod vs Eowyn (T):

Balin vs Bombur:

Theodred vs Ori:

Bard the Bowman vs Pippin (Sp):

Caldara vs Bilbo Baggins:

Gloin vs Glorfindel (Lo):

Merry (Sp) vs Beregond (Sp):

Aragorn (Le) vs Amarthiul:

Beorn vs Idraen:

Pippin (Lo) vs Treebeard:

Mablung vs Beravor:

Elrond got absolutely robbed by Galadriel in 2014. I still think he deserves the title but with more and more heroes each year he stands less of a chance. I have to say as much as it is way more easy and sensible for us to vote through challonge I prefer voting on the forums because as you say it promotes banter and discussion. At least you will still be announcing the results of each round when it finishes on here.

Gimli (Le) vs Gandalf second round will be a killer to my new favourite hero

Na'asiyah vs Dori: Actually have found a use for Dori in a couple of decks. Used him to good effect in Shadow and Flame. Na'asiyah I haven't been able to find an effective use yet. Just expensive and the effect is not worth devoting resource acceleration to, when those resources could be going somewhere else.

Prince Imrahil (T) vs Theoden (T): I like Theoden quite a bit. I am sure he will go out very early, probably this round. But one of my favorites recently.

Merry (T) vs Elfhelm: Love the mount decks!

Denethor (Le) vs Halbarad: Denethor is scarily good and really makes a couple of my decks work (which previously struggled for early game resources)

Faramir (Lo) vs Mirlonde: The green Faramir is another tricky hero that I like to attempt to build decks around. Although usually they don't work out so well! But he keeps me trying and interested...

Thalin vs Fatty Bolger: Fatty will get decimated here, but he is another one of those heroes that is kind of fun to try a deck with. He can work well but he'll never be a power player.

Galdor of the Havens vs Dain: I think I like Galdor more than is reasonable.

Gimli (T) vs Prince Imrahil (Le): Gimli is still a boss. But he has such an achilles' heel. Text box blanking destroys him. We badly need an attachment that makes an attached hero immune to text box blanking.

Damrod vs Eowyn (T): I predict this will be one of the closest matchups in this round. Going with Damrod for supporting a fun and unique archetype all by himself. Eowyn really unlocks solo Tactics decks, but that's not really my thing.

Damrod v Eowyn (T) was the hardest matchup this go-around. I eventually decided on Damrod since I just love trap decks, but it was tough to vote against Eowyn (T) since she has been great fun this year!

The Denethor-Arwen and Galadriel-Mablung vote in round three will be a tough choice. I can't believe Rossiel is giving Glorfindel a run for his money. He's still awesome and she is most certainly not.

Did Arwen do that poorly last year? How times change.

Arwen came in 10th last year.

Here's our top 10 seeding by the way. I can't really argue too much with the overall results from last year; they are all top-notch heroes. However, I suspect that that everyone's thoughts on Theoden (S) have cooled a bit.

1 Sam Gamgee

2 Gandalf

3 Beregond (T)

4 Theoden (S)

5 Elrond

6 Aragorn (T)

7 Legolas (T)

8 Frodo Baggins

9 Éowyn (S)

10 Arwen Undomiel

Cool! It's that time of the year again!

Thanks for hosting this thanatopsis.

Did Arwen do that poorly last year? How times change.

Arwen came in 10th last year.

Here's our top 10 seeding by the way. I can't really argue too much with the overall results from last year; they are all top-notch heroes. However, I suspect that that everyone's thoughts on Theoden (S) have cooled a bit.

1 Sam Gamgee

2 Gandalf

3 Beregond (T)

4 Theoden (S)

5 Elrond

6 Aragorn (T)

7 Legolas (T)

8 Frodo Baggins

9 Éowyn (S)

10 Arwen Undomiel

A lot of people voted for Theoden because they thought he looked like Santa Claus if I remember correctly.

Jej, here we go again

Some toughts about some matchups:

Merry (T) > Elfhelm - I prefer Merry as he is great in Hobbit decks and enables fun Combos. Elfhelm is good, but really only in multiplayer and People migh not run (enough) Mounts.

Na'asiyah > Dori - Didn't Play to much with her, but I enjoy herocentric decks and Na'asiyah with Steward, 2 Swords of Numenor and ranged can do work with soe readying (similiar to treebeard). Also emergency Defender and low threat for tactics!

Eleanor > Erestor - Just recently started to Play 3 Player (Progression style) and god did this queen save our bacon every now and then.

Damrod > Eowyn (T) - Hard choice, but Traps jsut don't work without Damrod

Boromir (Le) > Legolas (S) - I love my Gondor allies deck.

Brand > Elladan - Ofc Brand sucks solo, but with heroes that profit strongly from readying he is so good. A friend and I use him in our NM campaign and we will miss him when he will be lost in Moria (other heroes are not negotiable)

Galdor > Dain - Dwarfs are boring!

Glorfindel > Rossiel - Beloved Spiritfindel is such a great stable in my decks he beats Rossiel, who really offers only one decks to Play.

Beregond (S) > Merry (S) - Holy crap was that a though decision (and after my vote challonge Shows a 50-50 ). In the end new Beregond ist unqiue as a great Spirit Defender and takes the place.

Elrond got absolutely robbed by Galadriel in 2014.

Still have to disagree with this. Galadriel is amazing.

Damrod vs Eowyn (T): I predict this will be one of the closest matchups in this round.

Without actually checking how the votes are looking so far, I suspect you'll be wrong. I'm pretty confident TEowyn will win by a decent margin.

I can't believe Rossiel is giving Glorfindel a run for his money. He's still awesome and she is most certainly not.

Glorfindel is boring and overly ubiquitous. Rossiel is not.

In the end new Beregond is unqiue as a great Spirit Defender

*Cough*Frodo*cough*

I mean, I'm also voting for Beregond in tht matchup, but just pointing out that we have had a great Spirit defender since the second AP.

Other thoughts:

Hama vs Dunhere: I never used to use Hama because I was put off by the ability to cheese everything with endless Feints, but lately I've been enjoying him a lot.

Prince Imrahil (T) vs Theoden (T): This is admittedly partly because I haven't played with Timrahil yet, but Tactics Theoden is a much under-rated hero who has been getting a lot better in recent times

Thorin Oakenshield vs Oin: I just wanted to vote for the underdog.

Faramir (Le) vs Elrohir: I was thinking going down the list that Elrohir deserves a decent run, but he's up against one of my favourites.

Grima vs Argalad: Grima also deserves a decent run, but I really like Argalad.

Nori vs Dwalin: Partly again a case of voting for the underdog, but I have found that sometimes Dwalin is actually still pretty great, so there are valid reasons here.

Elladan vs Brand Son of Bain: I love Brand to a possibly unreasonable extent.

Caldara vs Bilbo Baggins: The only possible knock I can level at Caldara at this point is that she may have become too good with recent releases.

Beorn vs Idraen: This is slightly painful because Idraen is another of my favoured underdog heroes, but Beorn is one of the most pure fun heroes in the game.

The most difficult choices for me, haven't actually voted yet as of this post:

Boromir (Le) vs Legolas (Sp): I haven't actually played with new Legolas yet, but I really want to like him.

Lanwyn vs Erkenbrand: Both really interesting and good in the right situation, and so different I struggle to compare them. Neither are really my top favourites, rather they're both kind of middling and don't stand out.

Pippin (Lo) vs Treebeard: Pippin is absolutely the better pick for his versatile utility, but Treebeard is just so much fun.

Mablung vs Beravor: These two are both top picks. resource generation versus card draw. How do I choose?

I can't believe Rossiel is giving Glorfindel a run for his money. He's still awesome and she is most certainly not.

Glorfindel is boring and overly ubiquitous. Rossiel is not.

Boring but good vs interesting but bad. I put Rossiel in the same category as Lore Faramir - their own stats (notably their high threat) actively work against their own ability. I think they both could've been more solid heroes if they were more streamlined. Luckily, the fun part about Rossiel (the victory display mechanic) does not require her at all.

Can you explain how Rossiel's threat works against her ability? She does have 8 threat (lowest available excepting Hobbits and Bifur). I can see her HP working against trying to use her defensively, but she has great stats for a quester.

I can't believe Rossiel is giving Glorfindel a run for his money. He's still awesome and she is most certainly not.

Glorfindel is boring and overly ubiquitous. Rossiel is not.

Boring but good vs interesting but bad. I put Rossiel in the same category as Lore Faramir - their own stats (notably their high threat) actively work against their own ability. I think they both could've been more solid heroes if they were more streamlined. Luckily, the fun part about Rossiel (the victory display mechanic) does not require her at all.

8 threat is considered high now?

I realise this is contextual, 8 is higher than ideal if you're looking for Secrecy to play Out of the Wild cheaply, but out of context, 8 is not high.

As it happens, I think I would also put Rossiel together with Lore Faramir - pure power-wise they're both low tier heroes but they're fun, and when people complain that they don't work I feel like those people probably haven't tried hard enough (or maybe are using them in the wrong context, e.g. not everything works in solo).

Toughest matchups for me so far:

Boromir (T) vs Bifur

Bifur is amazing for secrecy decks, but I'll have to go with Boromir. Despite being boring, he is too good to ignore.

Celeborn vs Denethor (Lo)

I've always wanted to build a silvan deck, but Lore Denethor is a boss in solo. Scrying is super underrated and LoDenethor is the best option in that department.