Voting for the FINALS has begun!

Voting closes Saturday Dec 31 at 11:59pm

It's a showdown between father and daughter...

Elrond [5] v Arwen Undomiel [10]

with a third place match between Aragron and Sam

Elrond vs Arwen - Tough choice, although neither would be in my top 5, maybe not even top 10. I'll go with Elrond because of his amazing effect in multiplayer games. But if Arwen wins, this will cap a very impressive run. She took down Denethor (Le), Legolas (T), Gandalf, and Aragorn (T), all of whom probably would have made it to the finals if they had Elrond's path (Erkenbrand, Aragorn (Lo), Cirdan, Sam).

Sam vs Aragorn (T) - These two pair together really nicely actually. I love them both, but Aragorn is just so fun.

Father-daughter match-up! I am going for Arwen all the way. I am a solo player, so a Spirit, resource-generating, card draw enabling, quester who can also battle given some toys, that is almost too good to be true. I rarely play without her now.

I could say either one is a tough choice, but it would be a lie

Aragorn > Sam - Aragorn needs to be on the pedestral so he can party with his wife and father in law. Appart from that I think he is more fun to play with.

Elrond > Arwen - Both are fantastic, Arwen might be a little better solo, her dad in multiplayer, but in the end I feel Elronds deserves it more than Arwen. It's hard to explain why as most arguments for or against one of them more or less fit on the other as well, in the end I give it to Elrond for his life saver potential. Not only does he counter most formes of direct damage, but no matter what you lack (willpower, defense or a little attackpower) he can fill the gap (+all the Noldor tools that work on Arwen work on him too, admitted many are out of sphere for him until he has his Ring/song whatever). He also helps with ressources smoothing.

Of these four heroes, Aragorn is the only one that doesn't hit my table that often. I'm not sure why; he's fun to play and I really enjoy the Dunedain strategy, I guess I just end up using his other colors more often.

For the finals, my vote goes to Arwen. I like Elrond's ability to amplify healing, but it's hard to beat the versatility of a 9 cost hero with access to resource generation and card draw, the keys to consistency for any deck.

Elrond!

out of sphere allies? yes please.

free cards in play form your deck? hell yes.

amplified healing? I'm sold: Elrond ftw!

Elrond vs Arwen

Who needs resource acceleration when you can play cards for free?

(kinda simplistic, I know... tbh it's a really tough matchup. I'm fine with either of them winning. Elrond -and Vilya- is pretty unique though)

Sam vs Aragorn (T)

I never use Sam. I've used Tactics Aragorn in the past with success. I don't need further reasoning

Alright everyone. I think you know what time it is. Time to give Elrond the title he should have earned years ago!!

If he actually loses to Arwen it will be ridiculous. Yes she is shiny and new, yes she is amazing and yes she helps ramp resources and card draw big time but Elrond is just the ultimate hero and has been ever since his release.

He boosts healing across the board just by being in play and you can massively take advantage of this with cards that allow healing across multiple characters or quests that have locations with beneficial effects such as across the ettenmoors (heal 1 from every character when you travel to one of the Safe locations) by healing an extra point across multiple characters at a time rather than just one. Something as simple as Galadrim Healer for example can heal a whopping 6 damage off your heroes instead of 3 just from Elrond's boost.

He can pay for allies from ANY sphere. If that isn't one of the best resource smoothing abilities in the game I don't know what is. He can quest, defend and even attack so can fulfil a wide variety of roles. What does Arwen do? Quest quest and oh some more questing. Elrond with Vilya is insanely powerful and not only does it let you play cards for free but also gives Elrond the spirit sphere allowing him to pay for spirit events and attachments (he can already pay for spirit allies). He is a fantastic recipient for Burning Brand, Elven Mail, Gondorian Shield, Steward of Gondor considering he can pay for any allies) and countless other attachments and is even one of the best targets in the game for LoV.

Elrond has several powerful effects that are game changers in both solo and multiplayer. He goes the distance in almost every single aspect or regard and is an all round powerful hero that can be buffed with the vast majority of available attachments (Noble trait helps here). With Vilya he can even turn a mediocre deck into an extremely powerful one. A vote for Arwen in the finals is a vote for madness!

Voted for Arwen because I use her a lot more than Elrond, but I agree with PsychoRocka's assessment on relative strength. Either one are fantastic heroes.

...With Vilya he can even turn a mediocre deck into an extremely powerful one. A vote for Arwen in the finals is a vote for madness!

Vilya is a gamble unless you are using Gandalf or Stargazer. And I do agree it is powerful, but without one of those those two things, it is an unreliable mess - at least on paper. I've not tried it out myself honestly.

And sure, Elrond has a ton of other abilities and usefulness that makes him awesome. He should, he's freaking Elrond! But first turn Northern Trackers is one of my favorite things and you can't reliably get that anywhere else than Arwen (and pure Spirit).

And sure, Elrond has a ton of other abilities and usefulness that makes him awesome. He should, he's freaking Elrond! But first turn Northern Trackers is one of my favorite things and you can't reliably get that anywhere else than Arwen (and pure Spirit).

Caldara gets you Northern tracker and another costly ally, reliably. Ideal situation: Put down Emery for free, discarding from your deck Glorfindel, Imrahil and Northern tracker. Sword-thain Emery, and sacrifice Caldara to put into play those three discarded allies. It gets easier with Cirdan / Arwen / Éowyn discarding. idk why Caldara didnt reach higher positions in this competition. The girl is gonna be crazy powerful as the card-pool grows

Caldara is already crazy powerful, but she basically only works in one deck. For that reason I'd be surprised if she even makes it to the top 4. Plus, just because something is powerful doesn't mean everyone will like it.

And sure, Elrond has a ton of other abilities and usefulness that makes him awesome. He should, he's freaking Elrond! But first turn Northern Trackers is one of my favorite things and you can't reliably get that anywhere else than Arwen (and pure Spirit).

Caldara gets you Northern tracker and another costly ally, reliably. Ideal situation: Put down Emery for free, discarding from your deck Glorfindel, Imrahil and Northern tracker. Sword-thain Emery, and sacrifice Caldara to put into play those three discarded allies. It gets easier with Cirdan / Arwen / Éowyn discarding. idk why Caldara didnt reach higher positions in this competition. The girl is gonna be crazy powerful as the card-pool grows

Oh Caldara can, but if you had terrible draw and all that was in your hand was 1 Northern Tracker, you aren't likely going to trigger Caldara for just the one. With Arwen, you just need any other card in your hand - which you'll have - and a Northern Tracker and you can get them down first turn. I've actually let a friend use my Caldara deck before and for the fun of it I went through the experiment of what is the most optimal opening hand/next several cards, and it is indeed crazy powerful.

The thing about Arwen and Caldara is that the best sidekick for Caldara is... Arwen!

Arwen Elrond and a spirit hero can also play northern tracker first turn thanks to both Arwen and Elrond which means you don't have to go full spirit. just saying =)

You have 2 spirit heroes and Gríma. You attach Love of Tales to Gríma, then a Song of Travel, exhaust Love of Tales and gain a resource. Then use Gríma's ability to play the Northern Tracker for 3.

You have 2 spirit heroes and Gríma. You attach Love of Tales to Gríma, then a Song of Travel, exhaust Love of Tales and gain a resource. Then use Gríma's ability to play the Northern Tracker for 3.

I said reliable man. First turn reliable.

You have 2 spirit heroes and Gríma. You attach Love of Tales to Gríma, then a Song of Travel, exhaust Love of Tales and gain a resource. Then use Gríma's ability to play the Northern Tracker for 3.

Dori + A Good Harvest + Steward of Gondor + Song of Kings + We Are Not Idle + Wealth of Gondor + A Good Harvest + Northern Tracker

voilà

---

Dori (alone, no more heroes) + Song of Kings + We Are Not Idle + A Good Harvest + Henamarth Riversong + 3x Unlikely Friendship + Gaining Strength + A Good Harvest + Northern Tracker

voilà

Hey guys, now that this competition is coming to an end, I'd like to do something similar: An Art-Appreciation contest. As it sounds, we'd vote for our favorite cards just based on illustration. I'd like to split it into several categories: Heroes, Allies, Attachments, Events, Side-Quests, Enemies, Locations, Treacheries, Quest cards. What do you think of this? Any ideas, suggestions, how to make it work, deadlines, configuration, seeding, etc?

You could field nominations for top 1, 2, or 3 choices in each category. Then compile 10 choices per category based on those nominations, then run the tournament similar to how the hero championship is structured. You could field the nominations by posting a series of threads (1 for each category) in the Player Community subforum (so this one doesn't get flooded). That's a lot of work for you, but that's the best I could come up with.

Always as someone begins talking about the art we end up making heat discussions over Magali for president, Santa Théoden and who looks more like the movie version!

Hey guys, now that this competition is coming to an end, I'd like to do something similar: An Art-Appreciation contest. As it sounds, we'd vote for our favorite cards just based on illustration. I'd like to split it into several categories: Heroes, Allies, Attachments, Events, Side-Quests, Enemies, Locations, Treacheries, Quest cards. What do you think of this? Any ideas, suggestions, how to make it work, deadlines, configuration, seeding, etc?

I'd be down for this.

WOOOOOOOO! Finally Elrond wins a hero championship!!!

Couldn't have hoped for a better outcome this year!

Tactigorn deserved to go as far as he did as well (I actually think he deserves 2nd place more than Arwen).

WOOOOOOOO! Finally Elrond wins a hero championship!!!

Couldn't have hoped for a better outcome this year!

Tactigorn deserved to go as far as he did as well (I actually think he deserves 2nd place more than Arwen).

Tactigorn is really, really good. But Tactics didn't exactly have a shortage of ways to kill enemies, nor engage them. Spirit lacked resource generation and card draw, something she fixes near single-handed (need Elven-Light). Tactigorn is definitely more fun to use as a hero, but Arwen lets you do more with your deck.

WOOOOOOOO! Finally Elrond wins a hero championship!!!

Couldn't have hoped for a better outcome this year!

Tactigorn deserved to go as far as he did as well (I actually think he deserves 2nd place more than Arwen).

Tactigorn is really, really good. But Tactics didn't exactly have a shortage of ways to kill enemies, nor engage them. Spirit lacked resource generation and card draw, something she fixes near single-handed (need Elven-Light). Tactigorn is definitely more fun to use as a hero, but Arwen lets you do more with your deck.

I think Aragorn deserved the #1 spot. I hadn't used Tactics since the Heirs of Numenor cycle because there was no reason to and I only used Tactics sparingly in the first two cycles for very specific quests. Even without Arwen, Spirit was a perfectly fine sphere and it just got stronger because of her.