Btw... Is there a Cirith Gurat in the lore?

Nope. There is the Eastern Guard which is meant to be a big fortress guarding the Eastern side of Mordor. It's also probably the main entry point into Mordor for the Easterlings, Haradrim and Variags of Khand.

I assume Cirith Gurat is just an official name FFG created for the Eastern Guard or is perhaps a similar castle/tower that serves a similar purpose but is more South East than East and closer to Harad than anything else.

It's certainly not amazing, but I could definitely see myself putting Open the Armory into my high threat Gandalf/Gimli deck that wants to find Citadel Plates. Or it could find Gondorian Shield, Raven Winged Helm, or Citadel Spear for Tactics Beregond. I'm just glad that valour will continue to receive support.

Legacy Blade, like all the other side quest dependent cards, seems lackluster at the moment. But the age of Thurindir is near, and this cycle should be brimming with encounter side quests. I still would have preferred if Legacy Blade gained attack power whenever the wielder killed an enemy while attacking alone, but that would probably be too strong (and make Keeping Count seem even more ridiculous).

Unless you have Treebeard hero, Entmoot isn't as straightforward as The Eagles are Coming. You may be unable to play it when drawn, so even with 10 other Ent cards in the deck it's not at worst a deck-thinner. At worst it's a dead card. Eagles are Coming is rarely a dead card (only if all the Eagles have been drawn already), but I don't grant that it's "at worst a deck-thinner" because the return isn't guaranteed. Daeron's Runes and (dwarf-free) We Are Not Idle are deck thinners. EAC can fetch you 0 cards or 5 cards. Even if the expected return is >1, the probability of whiffing is still significant.

Of course, I think it's justifiable to include even if the expected return is < 1, as long as Eagles are more important than the average card to my strategy. Even when EAC whiffs, it has the beneficial side effect of reshuffling the deck if an Eagle would not have been within the next five cards.

I'll grant that if you can play it there's no reason not to play it outside some edge cases. That's largely true of Daeron's Runes as well, though that does give you an actual decision to make on the discard. However, while it's exceptional to have a card that is effectively always played when drawn for every deck it is in, it's not rare at all for a particular deck to have a card that is effectively always played when drawn, given that particular deck's strategy, and the choices made when playing it are made when constructing the deck rather than playing it. Free or effectively-free attachments generally get played when drawn and I usually know exactly who they will go on before they are ever drawn. That's even true of some cost-1 cards -- there's generally not any on-the-fly decision making involved in putting Light of Valinor on SpGlorfindel or Gondorian Shield on TaBoromir. That decision was made when the deck was assembled.

Cards that require decision making are more interesting to play, but I have no problem with cards that auto-play as long as they aren't also auto-include or utterly useless. If Eagles are Coming represent essentially a passive boost to Eagles deck -- well, it's not that strong a tribe and needs the help. Providing an essentially passive boost from an auto-playing player card doesn't seem any different in principle to me than providing a passive boost to an archtype by including a particular hero.

The reason I talked about expected value is because I know those cards can whiff even with half of your deck being Ents/Eagles. But in the long run you'll be getting >=1 ally per use of the card, and in the long run your deck will be more consistent with the card than without it. It's a "statistical" deck-thinner. But I think we can both agree that in Ent/Eagle heavy decks, Entmoot/EaC are both auto-include and auto-play. For these few cards, it's the game playing the game. They aren't so much cards, but gameplay instructions.

You are right that it can be considered a passive boost to an archetype akin to including a particular hero. The reason I find that to be a problem is because it's kind of like how you can "choose" to build a Dwarf deck without Dain - it just can't be near as good. Too much of this kind of thing makes for boring deckbuilding because it takes away decisions. I have nothing against global buffs, especially if it's a weaker trait like eagles that needs it. But there are plenty of ways to buff an archetype in a non-automatic way.

Now you may be perfectly fine with your 47 decisions when making and Ent deck. Some people may want even more auto-includes so they only need to decide on 40 cards. I can't argue with that. It's just that I personally find deckbuilding more interesting and creative when there are 50 choices to make.

As for 1-cost cards, they are always a decision to play because resources are limited. Sure, LoV on Glorfindel is an obvious play, but I've held off on it before because I wanted to save a resource for Test of Will. For free attachments, you still have to decide who to put them on. And even if the choice is obvious they typically have Responses or Actions on them that you need to decide to trigger throughout the game. One might think that a free attachment like Love of Tales is automatic, but I can say though experience with that card that it introduces frequent decisions into the gameplay.

So they're resurrecting Valour as well? That's pretty cool, but it seems to me we're gonna see ships again before we see another Doomed keyword.

The spoiler article for Race Across Harad said we were getting more support for the Doomed keyword, so it seems like they're resurrecting everything this cycle.

Open the Armory is going straight into my brothers deck; that deck just doesn't work unless I draw Elven Mail! Plus, it will help to keep those Foe-Hammers from becoming dead cards (which seems to happen way more often than it should, somehow).

https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/en/news/2017/1/3/the-dungeons-of-cirith-gurat/

So they're resurrecting Valour as well? That's pretty cool, but it seems to me we're gonna see ships again before we see another Doomed keyword.

Pack looks pretty good though. Dat art on Legacy Weapon.

if it's in the first pack, it's not available in my country, so my bad

EDIT: darn you @Authraw ninja'd before i could get to the end of the thread. that'll teach me to just read a few posts and then start replying

also yes that weapon art is nice. i also really like it a lot. at 1 side quest, it's +1 attack for 0 cost, which is actually pretty huge. in a multiplayer game, even without the new hero who starts the game with a sidequest, you're guaranteed to get one pretty early.

i think it's probably a trap to try to go for 3 sidequests for the full bonus since it'd probably distract too much from the main quest, but in The Lost Realm / Angmar Awakened quests that have a liberal use of side quests, this thing is really great too

Mustering the Rohirrim is clearly a far less popular card than Entmoot or Eagles are Coming, and it's not because Rohan decks are less popular. However, despite this cards' similarity with Mustering, I think we will be much more popular, since I think it's quite common to be looking for a particular weapon or armor instead of a particular Rohan ally. The need for a specific attachment is such that I think it may be more valuable at 1-cost for a 10 card search than at 0-cost for one of the top 5. Still, I don't agree that 0-cost events should be avoided as "decisionless cards", the decision is whether to use it in your deck, and most 0-card events just aren't strong enough to justify that.

Still, I think the card would be more interesting if it cost 0 + exhaust a tactics character.

Entmoot and Eagles are Coming each look at 5 cards for 0 cost but put every available hit into your hand

Mustering of the Rohirrim, on the other hand, looks at twice as many cards, costs one more, but only nets you 1 card of any possible hit

if the costs were the same, it'd be easier to gauge how and why players seem to gravitate towards one over the other, but looking at many cards for the one you need right now versus less cards and just take all that you can find is an interesting choice.

i also think i'd probably say that, as someone who plays Rohan decks a lot, i ended up not ever really feeling like i needed to ever find one particular Rohan ally of all the various ones i have access to. so many fill the same sorts of roles, and i find that i pull them quickly enough.

i know not all of that's relevant to the current discussion, but bringing it back around, i agree with seastan about a Tactics deck relying on Foe-hammer (with say, hero Hama). it's really strong for enabling your deck's core strategy if they rely on weapons/armour. also could be great for getting a Citadel Plate onto your tactic Gimli or hero Gloin or something. or Mirkwood Long-knife on your spirit Legolas, or hey, that new Legacy Blade in your mono-Lore side quest deck with that new hero who starts the game with Gather Information (which you use to find your next side quest)

i would say 1 resource to draw a card is just an ok to below-average deal, but being able to additionally search 10 cards for the right card you need (again, if you need weapon/armour for your deck's strategy), it's pretty good. and the valour action of letting you additionally play it for free and in any phase (granted, searching less cards) is pretty good

You guys are totally right on the Doomed keyword in the second pack. Nice catch.

Valour cards also can work pretty well with Doomed cards. Especially if you can fire a bunch of them off right before you do your threat reset with Loreagorn.

Valour cards also can work pretty well with Doomed cards. Especially if you can fire a bunch of them off right before you do your threat reset with Loreagorn.

I just finished a play-through of Weather Hills in which I used Power of Orthanc to clear Cold from Angmar. Also got me up to 40 threat, so I played Hour of Wrath and Horn's Cry. All enemies -3 attack, and my heroes don't exhaust to attack or defend. Mablung + Gondorian Shield just shrugged off everything, and then Legolas + 2x Rivendell Blade killed all the enemies and placed 6 progress.

Valour cards also can work pretty well with Doomed cards. Especially if you can fire a bunch of them off right before you do your threat reset with Loreagorn.

i had run a mono-Tactics tank deck with big beefy defenders and engagement effects and a few high-power attackers, revolving around Beregond, Hama, and Mablung

that's evolved into a Gondor-themed Leadership/Tactics full-on valour deck with Boromir at the centre (along with L-Denethor and Mablung) and pretty much every valour or 40+ threat card

what i love about it a lot is how it doesn't screw over other players or decks with all the extra threat (except things like Dunhere)

9 months and counting.

48 minutes ago, Bullroarer Took said:

9 months and counting.

Yikes, I didn't realize it had been that long. This was supposed to be out Q1 this year, and the end of Q3 is fast approaching.

I've heard that the other LCGs are experiencing similar delays; does anyone play any of the others? How are their communities reacting to the delays?

Remember that Crossing of Poros was mistakenly shipped, then recalled. Any "delays" are purely due to FFG choosing to do so.

This really feels like "Zombie LOTR LCG" now. Sure, it's not dead, maybe it's not dying, but it feels like in a similar state as current Simpsons compared to the early seasons. Lack of interest from FFG themselves for the game really is showing.

6 hours ago, Gizlivadi said:

This really feels like "Zombie LOTR LCG" now. Sure, it's not dead, maybe it's not dying, but it feels like in a similar state as current Simpsons compared to the early seasons. Lack of interest from FFG themselves for the game really is showing.

FFG never show many interest. Almost no organized play, adventure were delay even at this time. I don't think it mean the game is dying. It is most about the comfort of FFG about his monopole on the field of deck building game in a cooperative environment.

4 hours ago, Rouxxor said:

FFG never show many interest. Almost no organized play, adventure were delay even at this time. I don't think it mean the game is dying. It is most about the comfort of FFG about his monopole on the field of deck building game in a cooperative environment.

An interesting way to look at it - and it may be right - but I think the answer is simply that they have limited resources and have so many products that are new and need art etc... LOTR has just shuffled to the bottom of the deck. Star Wars is a hot commodity, but the license won't last forever. L5R is new. Thrones interest may drop after the next TV season ends. Magali left to make bank with Wizards. You get the picture.

@Bullroarer Took also Runewars minis seem to be like one of the biggest priorities in the FFG newsfeed. I would never have guessed,

While I do understand and ultimately accept the reason LOTR LCG hasn't featured often in FFG related... well, everything, lately, I still wish they did just a little bit more of advertising work for it.

It's a good day to be a * Wars fan. Maybe we should rename our game "The Lord of the Rings Wars" so it will get more attention?

2 hours ago, Bullroarer Took said:

An interesting way to look at it - and it may be right - but I think the answer is simply that they have limited resources and have so many products that are new and need art etc... LOTR has just shuffled to the bottom of the deck. Star Wars is a hot commodity, but the license won't last forever. L5R is new. Thrones interest may drop after the next TV season ends. Magali left to make bank with Wizards. You get the picture.

Of course there is no reason to delay products that are hit unless they are others priorities ;). It is not a great idea since they have one of the best games (not only on my opinion, also a top100 on BGG) and they probably can make way more money on it by giving it more support. I still think they will continue to print new stuff for a long time because they sell a lot (of new and old materials).

Do you think the delay could be because of the Quickbeam miss print?

I think it has to do with the end of the Saga Expansions. There's less available content to mine so they have to be very careful about the pacing of new content.

Even though, news from 5th AP, more Nightmare Decks, GenCon adventure (maybe too early), Fellowship Event (this year we had no news and are in September), new Deluxe or even Second Breakfast news with some designer made decks...

I don't know, for me I see plenty of potential content to be put on news.

Resource shifting to other games is a given, but still...

From what I understand, Netrunner is getting a pretty similarly poor treatment right now, which I think is even crazier since you need a much bigger community to support a competitive LCG.

Finally On the Boat.

It's pretty crazy how the last AP came out 3 months ago and since this one is "On the Boat" still, we likely aren't getting it for another 3 weeks at least. I know we just got Mountain of Fire, but I really hope 4+ months between APs is not a new standard.

I was going to post that it hasn't been three months since The Black Serpent... until I checked. I guess they want to have something to sell at Xmas time? I'm sure with Matt moving to Arkham and Caleb finishing up the sagas he needs a break. (But I don't have to like it!)

In the mean time I'm going back into the sagas and trying to finish them to my satisfaction.