I have actually been able to get good use out of Follow Me in my brothers deck. That deck really needs to keep at least 2 enemies around in order to do its thing, and more than once I've been able to use Follow Me to simultaneously save another deck from trouble and get myself the extra baddie I needed to help trigger my bonuses the next round. It's actually a pretty good fit for the deck, but it still ended up relegated to the sideboard since I found I didn't really need it if other players had brought Sentinel defenders (meaning I was less likely to have to play some weird card to save the day).

That's the closest I've come to getting good use out of it though.

I have actually been able to get good use out of Follow Me in my brothers deck. That deck really needs to keep at least 2 enemies around in order to do its thing, and more than once I've been able to use Follow Me to simultaneously save another deck from trouble and get myself the extra baddie I needed to help trigger my bonuses the next round. It's actually a pretty good fit for the deck, but it still ended up relegated to the sideboard since I found I didn't really need it if other players had brought Sentinel defenders (meaning I was less likely to have to play some weird card to save the day).

That's the closest I've come to getting good use out of it though.

for a sphere that generates enough resources that a 2 for 1 resource/draw effect is considered useful, i felt it would help by effectively having a lower effective minimum deck. it's clearly the worst of the card draw effects, it's probably the first i'll cut if i find something better, i don't really care too much about being first player (nor do i build anything else around that), but it finds a place

Cards I really like but just seem to fall short of being worth the slot are Idraen, Lanwyn, Rossiel, Defender of the West and The White Council.

4 Lanwyn: I thought when we saw the first Ranged hero ever in Spirit that things were about to get crazy. So far, she has not been popular. Even less popular than the considerably worse Rossiel hero, who came out at about the same time.

4: Agreed - we need more support cards around surge, including a way to give a card surge to gain a benefit.

Lanwyn is actual my most likly hero. I used her in a Lanwyn-Idraen-Theodred-deck where surge is generated by using Ranger Summons. Allies help me to ready Idrean and Theodred provides res. It's a shame that the Ranger of the North do not have a shadow effect like the ones from Massing at Osgiliath.

i actually made a very similar deck. i also tried to include Elfhelm when he was revealed since i'd start with 3 scout heroes

i think it needs just a bit more support though. the first and most obvious is having more surge cards like the ranger, but i think a really big thing is just having better questing scout allies for their cost (most are 3 cost for 2 willpower or similar). Snowbourn Scout is a good chump blocker. Rivendell Scout would be great if it was easy to enable secrecy

i really like Greyflood Wanderer in this deck though.

that said, the deck is really great at controlling locations and works really well with Idraen's ability and it might do well to focus on just beefing up your heroes with mounts/Elfhelm and signals and other attachments

Elfhelm does not fit into my deck. Theodred does a great job and povides spririt resources for trackers, outriders and other stuff. I included 2x Elf-friend and 2x Mirkwood-Longknife to support Lanwyn besides Dunedain Mark. So mostly she has 5-6 ATK besides 4 WIL. http://ringsdb.com/deck/view/34800

All this Elfhelm hero talk reminds me how underused the Elfhelm ally can be. He's pretty nice with any quest that throws lots of Doomed encounter cards at you, and there are a surprising number of quest cards that raise your threat. I might even consider including Mustering the Rohirrim just to pull him in the right scenario (like Nîn-in-Eilph, ugh!). His stats are pretty solid too for either defending or attacking.

I considered this, but I thought you would just start resolving player B's attacks as he is now first player and has not resolved his attacks yet. But if you're right, I agree that is some powerful shenanigans. Skipping attacks for 3 players is a big deal.

I love the chutzpah of the idea, but I don't see why it would work. I didn't see the original discussion, so apologies if I'm just reiterating previously-advanced points...

Core rules, p. 18: "The 1st player then repeats [the 4 steps of combat resolution] for each enemy that he is engaged with. After the 1st player has resolved all enemy attacks against himself, the player to his left resolves the attacks his enemies are making against him, following steps 1-4 in turn for each enemy. If playing with more than 2 players, proceed clockwise around the table with each player resolving all of his enemies’ attacks."

It seems to me that if, to use GrandSpleen's labeling, player B uses Follow Me! during A's enemy attack resolution, then B immediately starts resolving his attacks, then we move on to the player on his left, i.e., player C, then D, then back to A if not all of his enemies have attacked. The rules don't say anything like, "Repeat until you've reached the last player"—they say, "proceed... with each player resolving all of his enemies' attacks."

Mutual Accord. I feel like there's the ability there for some pretty remarkable power plays, but you'd have to build for it and it would be situational. Charge of the Rohirrim, We Do Not Sleep, For Gondor!

I have tried and I feel Mutual Accord doesn't work very well. It seems like it would be nice but it just requires too many combo pieces to be in play, even with 2 decks dedicated to the idea, it's not enough benefit and requires a lot of investment (in terms of deck space).

Elfhelm ally is pretty nice. He's a good value of Theoden (S) is around, and a decent attacking/defending card considering it is spirit. And his ability is handy, I do like him in a Rohan deck. Otherwise 4 cost is a bit pricey, usually I would rather have a Northern Tracker.

Sword-thain is a card I love in theory, because I love building super buffed up hero decks with few to no allies, but it never seems to be worth it. I mean the cost price and getting both ally and attachment in my hands seems more trouble than its worth. Anyone use it successfully?

Sword-thain is a card I love in theory, because I love building super buffed up hero decks with few to no allies, but it never seems to be worth it. I mean the cost price and getting both ally and attachment in my hands seems more trouble than its worth. Anyone use it successfully?

One of the fellows at my Annuminas Event used it very effectively in a Hobbit deck to get Ally Bilbo as a Hero. Controlling 4 Hobbits is pretty powerful.

Sword-thain is a card I love in theory, because I love building super buffed up hero decks with few to no allies, but it never seems to be worth it. I mean the cost price and getting both ally and attachment in my hands seems more trouble than its worth. Anyone use it successfully?

It works well in Caldara decks. Often you can play it on the first turn with Arwen's + 1 resource and Emery.

Sword-thain is a card I love in theory, because I love building super buffed up hero decks with few to no allies, but it never seems to be worth it. I mean the cost price and getting both ally and attachment in my hands seems more trouble than its worth. Anyone use it successfully?

It works well in Caldara decks. Often you can play it on the first turn with Arwen's + 1 resource and Emery.

+1 to this. Free Emery + Sword-thain with the help of Arwen's resource, and then use Caldara's ability to bring 3 spirit heroes for free into the table (Glorfindel, Northern Tracker, Háma, Prince Imrahil, Elfhelm, Rhovanion Outrider, and Jubayr -once The Mûmakil is released- to name some options), all this during round 1

You think that first turns like that are just daydreams about perfect draws until you play a Caldara/Arwen deck and regularly do silly things in the first 2 turns.

Is there much value in it besides in a caldara deck? I've used it on ally legolas to put Roman warhorses on him, but between narya, hero faramir there are many ways to ready allies seems superfluous.

Is there much value in it besides in a caldara deck? I've used it on ally legolas to put Roman warhorses on him, but between narya, hero faramir there are many ways to ready allies seems superfluous.

Roman warhorses, eh? I think you might be mixing games

Mutual Accord. I feel like there's the ability there for some pretty remarkable power plays, but you'd have to build for it and it would be situational. Charge of the Rohirrim, We Do Not Sleep, For Gondor!

but i agree with you. even with things like Leadership Boromir, Visionary Leadership, For Gondor! (which is only ok on its own)

as someone who's spent a fair bit of time trying to make this work, i think you end up doing is making a rohan deck that works pretty well and has to include 3 copies of mutual accord, then a gondor deck (again, 3 copies), but the gondor synergy just isn't really there yet. there's no discount card for them. there's steward of gondor and L-Denethor, but those aren't really gondor-specific

there's literally no synergy across spheres from Spirit or Lore, so you're kind of stuck with leadership/tactics, which have a lot of great valour options, but in that instance, t-Boromir is kind of pulling more weight than L-Boromir (imo)

basically, it's kind of a mess making a decent gondor-themed deck that wouldn't be better as something else because the gondor theme doesn't mesh well with itself as compared to others. that's why mutual accord doesn't really work imo

Is there much value in it besides in a caldara deck? I've used it on ally legolas to put Roman warhorses on him, but between narya, hero faramir there are many ways to ready allies seems superfluous.

i think it's kind of a trap to try to make an ally a hero for some wombo combo. you still have to deal with the fact that you basically paid full price for Resourceful (which isn't a good deal and costs a lot of tempo)

Obviously Sword-thain works well if you get it and/or the ally for free with Vilya.

There's the trick where if you Sneak Attack an ally then play Sword-thain on them they don't return to your hand at the end of the phase which obviously cuts the cost.

I built a shenanigans-y deck around the idea of playing Sword-thain on Ceorl, then giving him Steward of Gondor and Songs so he just becomes a big stack of resources that moves around the table.

If you're playing a mono-sphere deck which uses the relevant Record attachment then in addition to your Sword-thain generating resources you also save a resource each time you play a Record so it recoups its cost and becomes a net gain of resources faster than it otherwise would.

Presumably the Sneak Attack trick works the same with Tactics Imrahil too.

Presumably the Sneak Attack trick works the same with Tactics Imrahil too.

Although you'd need to play Sword-thain during combat phase somehow...

Ah yes, it's a Combat Action isn't it.

Presumably the Sneak Attack trick works the same with Tactics Imrahil too.

Although you'd need to play Sword-thain during combat phase somehow...

Azain Silverbeard and Well Equipped. Not a reliable plan, but it works.

Presumably the Sneak Attack trick works the same with Tactics Imrahil too.

Although you'd need to play Sword-thain during combat phase somehow...

Azain Silverbeard and Well Equipped. Not a reliable plan, but it works.

Well-equipped isn't too much of a hassle, you just need it in your hand. you could set up one piece with, say, Wizard Pipe, so maybe just get Sword-Thain and Well-equipped in your hand and keep using Imrahil until you pull a dwarf, then finish the combo. don't think it's worth all the trouble though lol

also it would work with To Me! O My Kinsfolk!, but again, it's like a 3 card combo for what exactly? and getting Sword-Thain out for free requires even more cards (as explained above). it's probably really cool and fun when it happens, but i would imagine the encounter deck is running amok while you're waiting for all the pieces

this is why it works so well with Caldara. it makes Map of Earnil cheaper, gives more willpower for Pelargir Shipwright, and gives you another ally from the discard with Caldara's ability, and that ability makes it so worth it cos you're getting some high-cost allies into play for free

i think it's really hard for any other deck to compete with that right now. a mono-Lore deck with Mithrandir's Advice and Scroll of Isildur comes close, but it's probably lacking a few other synergistic pieces

cards that benefit from having more heroes

Leadership

Ingold (+1 willpower if your Sword-Thain target has 1 resource)

Legacy of Numenor (+1 resource)

Rear Guard (still not worth it though)

Tighten Our Belts (+1 resource)

Tome of Atanatar (reduces cost down to a possible 0)

Tactics

Book of Eldecar (reduces cost down to a possible 0)

Forth Eorlingas! (if Rohan and if you need another hero for this attack)

Spirit

Inspiring Presence (they have no threat cost, so they'd invariably get the extra bonuses)

Map of Earnil (already mentioned)

Pelargir Shipwright (already mentioned)

Smoke Rings (actually kind of cool, and we're getting new pipes soon. just hope they can be equipped on Hobbits or it might not be worth it to go down this route)

Lore

Beorn's Hospitality (can heal another hero... still probably isn't worth it playing this card at any rate)

Galadhrim Healer (same as above. probably isn't worth justifying the combo, but Galadhrim Healer is pretty awesome in her own right)

Mirlonde (but the effect doesn't matter, and doesn't even combo with Loragorn cos that wasn't your starting threat)

Mithrandir's Advice (probably the coolest use of it: +1 one card)

Scroll of Isildur (reduces cost down to a possible 0; can be used to play more Mithrandir's Advice)

also In the Shadows and Take no Notice, but you can already reduce them to 0 by having 3 Hobbit/Ranger heroes

Neutral

Justice Shall be Done (3 more resources before you flame out, but at the cost of 4...)

Fellowship

Fellowship of the Ring (gives you one more willpower by virtue of this new hero you have)

Frodo's Intuition (gives you one more willpower and one more drawn card if you Sword-thain a Hobbit)

Treebeard and Radaghast would be cool since they have built-in abilities for those resources (and collect some of their own), but they don't belong to a sphere of influence and therefore aren't eligible targets

also some upcoming cards in The Black Serpent (but i won't really comment on them to preserve spoilers)

with Leadership, all you're doing is mitigating the tempo loss by getting more resources from some effects (which Sword-thain is already doing), and Ingold is basically even more of a tempo loss since you need to hold another resource in reserve

Tactics has barely anything

Spirit is pretty much all banking on Caldara

Lore looks pretty nice with Mithrandir's Advice though

there's probably a decent multisphere Hobbit Sword-thain deck out there. hopefully they can get another equipable pipe

and of course you can simply make any ally a hero and load them up with hero-only attachments and even have an extra hero to soak up undefended attacks, but Sword-thain is 4 resources. there are other ways to help with that and most of the combos aren't really all that powerful or necessary