Hi. You might remember (but most probably you don't) that time when I discussed possibility of Madness and Delirium keywords from MtG in the LotR, just for the fun of it. Well, not long ago my "game design itch" started again, so I've decided to act a bit more upon that long forgotten discussion, and I also decided to challenge myself by limiting the amount of cards I do by the usual size/sphere disparity of a regular Adventure Pack. Also, I am sorry in advance with the names and art, I didn't felt like spending entire day searching for stuff. With that said, I present you with Determination (keyword description is on the first ally card):

Some of the "is" of yours should be a "are", I'd say.

Also: Ageless Grace in a Noldor discard deck is insane powerfull!

There most certainly are. I hope you'll excuse me if I won't go fixing them, because I am too tired by now.

It probably is. Are those aforementioned Noldor discard decks actually a thing?

Why is Lauriel undercosted? That ability is way too strong.

I like the concept of the Determination keyword though.

Love where you're going with this, but I agree some of the cards are undercosted.

6 hours ago, Seastan said:

Why is Lauriel undercosted? That ability is way too strong.

I like the concept of the Determination keyword though.

My reasoning is that she starts the game as a blank text box hero (sorta), and to get her ability working you need to spend time and effort. She does not brings anything to the table (other than her mediocre stats) until you do that, hence the little leg up in terms of 1 threat cost reduction.

1 hour ago, Bullroarer Took said:

Love where you're going with this, but I agree some of the cards are undercosted.

They might very well be, I spent only a couple of hours coming up with them, after all. But, we all should keep in mind the powercreep that is currently happening in the game, because recently that official card was released:

With Erestor, Lauriel will due to your starting hand begin the second round already ridiculous.

I agree on the rider of Rohan thing though. With Spirit Théoden, a 2 cost 2 wp 2 attack 2 hp ally even if textless is pretty nice.

Well, I think if a player includes such wild card as Erestor into his deck, then there is no problem with Lauriel's ability activating so fast.

Those cards all seem super powerful.

It is always fun to create cards and mechanic. But I think discard noldor strategy is already a thing. Not because all the cards are good but because some specific cards are very powerful (Arwen hero, Galdor, elven jailer, elven light, glorfindel ally and to the sea! to the sea!). It is even a basic for Caldara strategy, and I think Caldara is the second best deck. I also use them in Noldor specific strategy, for example:

http://ringsdb.com/decklist/view/5319/noldor-for-solo-get-a-4-5cost-ally-each-turn-1.0

http://ringsdb.com/decklist/view/4681/arwen-galadriel-galdor-incredible-consistant-deck-for-m-1.0

Having an event in your discard can be done without even trying (Elrond's Counsel, Dearon's Runes, etc.). Having an attachment in your discard is almost as easy (Cram, Lembas, Miruvor, etc.). The only slightly difficult thing to get in your discard is an ally, and even then it's so easy. Eowyn, Arwen, Legolas, Galdor, etc. can do it trivially on turn 1, same with the aforementioned Daeron's Runes. Cards like Elven Spear and To the Sea can get all 3 types of card in the discard at once. I am pretty sure I could satisfy Lauriel's condition in a standard Noldor deck every game before the first quest phase without even changing much.

With this in mind, I consider almost all the cards here to be undercosted. Urban Spy is fine. Ageless Grace is straight up broken. I can have one on each hero?

I like the determination keyword, but not the "card types in the discard" mechanic. I feel like you've underestimated how easy it is to do. It's also not exciting, since I just do it on turn 1 and then forget about the mechanic afterward because it's always satisfied from then on.

Determination adds a very nice touch to the discard mechanic.

Having a mechanic interact with the discard pile is a nice idea too, as there isn't much else then playing around with stuff in the victory display or playing/buffing a handfull of cards from the DC-pile. But I have to agree that just putting 3 card types there to tigger something is way to easy and boring.
To make it more interactive/fun you could try to tinker with a "banish"-mechanic. To tigger a specific effect/buff/etc. you need to banish an amount of card(types) from the DC-pile and game (they wouldn't go to the victory display). For example: Noldor noble's determination has X equal the number of cardtypes you banish.
Or Lauriel gets +1 stat for each different cardtype you banish until the end of the round (you could limit it to max 1 per stat if you don't feel like allowing 5 attack).
For Ageless grace you could say 3 cardtypes need to be banished to play it. Also making it unique is a must I would say.

Ok, I heard y'all, and I made some soft reworks, which boost Erestor mostly, but hopefully make regular decks less likely to discard out of control. Also, I wanted to avoid it, but it seems to be ineviteble for it to be synergetic with the dwarven milling stuff:

While I think the power level is better now, I'm still not on board. Getting to 15 cards in your discard is a static thing. Once you get there you no longer think about your discard pile. Your cards all just become better.

To piggyback on Calvadur's idea:

Lauriel
Action: Remove three cards with different card types in your discard pile from the game. Then, Lauriel gets +1 W/A/D until the end of the round and does not exhaust to quest. Limit once per round.

Something like that is more interesting to me because once you trigger it, you need to work up to it again. This sort of mechanic would synergize better with Dwarves and mining though as you mentioned.

I think Noldor Noble needs new traits.

7 hours ago, Seastan said:

While I think the power level is better now, I'm still not on board. Getting to 15 cards in your discard is a static thing. Once you get there you no longer think about your discard pile. Your cards all just become better.

To piggyback on Calvadur's idea:

Lauriel
Action: Remove three cards with different card types in your discard pile from the game. Then, Lauriel gets +1 W/A/D until the end of the round and does not exhaust to quest. Limit once per round.

Something like that is more interesting to me because once you trigger it, you need to work up to it again. This sort of mechanic would synergize better with Dwarves and mining though as you mentioned.

I understand that it is static, I did not intend to make it dynamic and it is not supposed to. LotR has a lot of static stuff, it's not that bad of a thing, it also reduces fiddlyness. The point that there is power within your grasp, but you must reach it, and you can't have it instantly, but with time, as game progresses.

On 31.05.2017 at 0:22 AM, Seastan said:

So, because why the hell not, I tried to realize your vision of how it is supposed to be (interactive and stuff). Had to give up the whole Determination keyword and build dat discard pile thingy, and use various already existing Noldorian thingies instead here are the fruits:

I did like the Determination keyword, but overall these cards seem more interesting.

The main concern I have now is the number of cards that get played from your discard pile and go back into your deck. Recursion is a fun mechanic, but it is a very dangerous door to open because of how easily it can be abused and broken. Case in point: Noldorian Scheme and Elven-light can trivially produce infinite resources once your deck is empty.

That can be fixed by making it self-remove from the game or getting rid of it's "play only from your discard pile" requirement.

Lauriel? Seriously?

1 hour ago, 987654321 said:

Lauriel? Seriously?

So, a Noldor Noble guy is ok in your book?

I believe I apologized in my original post for names, I don't feel like cracking my head while coming up with something original and authentic.