Hi everyone,

Instead of a monthly poll on the Vision of the Palantir blog for December, I decided to make a tournament bracket where we will have all 102 different quests compete for the title of community favourite. As you are a part of the community, I'd like to hear your thoughts on these 1v1 matches via the link. Feel free to vote throughout December, check the description for the times at which the stages will close and open. Our winner will be decided at New Year's Eve, making the quest the first one I will play in 2019.

With over 100 different quests to choose from, let's find out what scenario of LOTR LCG is the favourite one of the community. We have had some strong additions over the past few years, including the entire saga of the Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings books. On top of this, we have the 2 new quests from the Limited Edition Two Player set, and a lot of new regular scenarios from the cycles. Let the battle begin!

Few things to note:

- Vote for the one you would rather play when given the option and with a sword at your neck. We are considering the quests in any player count.

- The quests will be rated at Normal difficulty, no Nightmare or Easy modes.

- Each quest is unique and should be loved, so there is no need to panic if your favourite quest is booted out of the brackets early in the tournament. You will probably have other favourites as well to cheer for.

- If you haven't played either quest ever, and have no real preference, you can choose not to vote. This will keep the tournament fair for everyone.

- No need for arguments, we're all friends here

- The tournament will run for the entire month of December, with the winner being decided on the 31st of December.

- Follow @DurinsFather on Twitter for updates and when to vote for the next tier. Or you can check the community via Discord, Facebook, and probably the FFG Forums as well.

- I know that a Single Elimination game is dramatic, but there is nothing to be lost here. The bottom 30 quests aren't going to be banished forever, and the top quests won't dictate what the next cycle will look like. This is just for fun and adding more rounds would make it more tedious.

- In order to vote, you must be signed in for Challonge, there was no way around this other than making a dozen polls. Signing in will allow you to participate in other large events like this in the future as well, so it may well be worth it. Only votes via this system will count, outside comments have no influence.

Times to vote:

Stage 1 - 26th of November until 23.59 CET on December 1st

Stage 2 - December 2nd until 23.59 CET December 7th

Stage 3 - December 8th until 23.59 CET December 13th

Stage 4 - December 14th until 23.59 CET December 19th

Stage 5 - December 20th until 23.59 CET December 25th

Semifinals - December 26th until 23.59 CET December 28th

Finals and loser finals - December 29th until the final seconds of 2018 (CET)

Times are in Central European Time, 6 hours ahead of EST, 1 ahead of GMT.

Winner will be the first quest I play of 2019, so let's make this a fun one!

Noticed that Helm's Deep is facing Steward's Fear. Both are excellent quests, should be interesting to see what quest ends up on top. We will at least have a different podium than the 2016 championship

I just voted. I'm glad to see this "competition" return.

I vote. I think that battle at the Pelennor fields (or whatever his English name is) is a serious competitor in this poll.

I'm championing Storm on Cobas Haven, the quest that has it all. Ships! Enemy ships! Ally ships! Enemy ships that become ally ships! Guarded objectives! Choices! Pirates! Damage tokens everywhere! My favourite Treachery in the game (Taking On Water)! One of my favourite locations (Fog Bank)!

Thanks for doing this! Always fun to participate in these polls.

59 minutes ago, NathanH said:

I'm championing Storm on Cobas Haven, the quest that has it all. Ships! Enemy ships! Ally ships! Enemy ships that become ally ships! Guarded objectives! Choices! Pirates! Damage tokens everywhere! My favourite Treachery in the game (Taking On Water)! One of my favourite locations (Fog Bank)!

Luckily that one got to the next stage due to random seeding. We will see it next week in action against the victor of Voyage across Belegaer vs The Long Arm of Mordor. At least we know that Cobas Haven won't go to 0% for that one, unlike how Caves of Nibin-Dum is still at no votes over Across the Ettenmoors

Caves of Nibin-dum is a great middle of the road / testing quest, but Across the Ettenmoors is way more memorable.

Voted!
Some thought on (imo) interesting match-ups:

Raid on the grey havens > Nin-in-eilph: I was tempted to take the swamp quest (I think it's great for deck testing), but then remembered I hate it with a passion non the less :D
Crossroads < Dunland Trap: Both very punishing in their nature, I like Dunland trap better as I think it offers more ways to play the quest
Escape from Mount Gram > Peril In Pelagir: I like both very much, but Mount Gram is so cool when you have a deck made for it
Steward's Fear < Helm's Deep: Somewhat of a fundamental decision. Helm's Deep was my favourite 2016 (and how it turned out many others, too), but Steward's Fear didn't become the superior quest somehow for me so I guess I'll have to go for it again.

In the end my money is on "The Crossing of Poros" (as past winners don't tend to win twice in these championships). It's replayable, has some nice tactical decisions to make and a satisfying culmination.

I didn't even bother reading what quest was up against Nin-in-eilph, I just clicked on it.

Poor Hills of Emyn Muil...

I guess I am the only vote for Emyn Muil at the moment, and perhaps always will be. I'm no fan of Emyn Muil, but at least it is a relatively normal game of LOTR. I typically find that when a quest turns the game rules on their head, I either find it a lot of fun (Mount Gram) or exceptionally annoying (Shadow and Flame).

What a great idea! Good luck with it, I'm not a facebook person so I'm out for the voting but fully support the idea sounds like a blast!

10 hours ago, NathanH said:

I guess I am the only vote for Emyn Muil at the moment, and perhaps always will be. I'm no fan of Emyn Muil, but at least it is a relatively normal game of LOTR. I typically find that when a quest turns the game rules on their head, I either find it a lot of fun (Mount Gram) or exceptionally annoying (Shadow and Flame).

Not voted for Emyn Mull BUT I remember it to feel very thematic with that sense of roaming on the hills. Unfortunately it was way too easy and subject to be brought down without problems using your northern tracker (one of the best ally for all the first cycle). Not tried the nightmare version, maybe it's great if it is able to increase challenge level and dismantle putting process on staging area strategy. But from what I have read it loose most of its theme.

6 hours ago, player1683311 said:

What a great idea! Good luck with it, I'm not a facebook person so I'm out for the voting but fully support the idea sounds like a blast!

It is not on facebook, but on challonge. I'm not aware of any connection between the two of them and I don't know why the link go through facebook to the actual pool (with a warning from facebook not to go there ^^). May be this is a more direct link: https://challonge.com/fr/FaveLOTRQuest2018

Anyway all you need is a challonge account.

5 hours ago, Halberto said:

Not voted for Emyn Mull BUT I remember it to feel very thematic with that sense of roaming on the hills. Unfortunately it was way too easy and subject to be brought down without problems using your northern tracker (one of the best ally for all the first cycle). Not tried the nightmare version, maybe it's great if it is able to increase challenge level and dismantle putting process on staging area strategy. But from what I have read it loose most of its theme.

Nightmare Emyn Muil counters Northern Tracker hard and also adds some more enemies to the scenario. Definitely one worth picking up, as is the case with most Nightmare packs of the first cycle, as those quests were a bit...odd. They were still trying to find a place and ended up being less enjoyable than others imo. Nightmare fixes that, and makes them a decent challenge with modern decks.

I actually really like the quest, as I am more of a location control type of player, so I voted for it as well. Though a miracle must happen if it wants to progress further, votes are currently 4v40 in favor of Shadow and Flame

2 hours ago, Durins_Father said:

Nightmare Emyn Muil counters Northern Tracker hard and also adds some more enemies to the scenario. Definitely one worth picking up, as is the case with most Nightmare packs of the first cycle, as those quests were a bit...odd. They were still trying to find a place and ended up being less enjoyable than others imo. Nightmare fixes that, and makes them a decent challenge with modern decks.

I actually really like the quest, as I am more of a location control type of player, so I voted for it as well. Though a miracle must happen if it wants to progress further, votes are currently 4v40 in favor of Shadow and Flame

Yeha, no change it pass the turn.

But I think that it was not a bad iqueat n itself only too easy to counter and scaling bad with low player count. I played all the first cycle+ kazad dum deluxe bix as pure solo then passing mainly to 2 hands game from cycle 2 onward.

Wow! I'm surprised no one voted for Caves of Nibin Dum. I know Across the Ettenmoors is really popular, but Nibin-dum is great.

2 hours ago, Wandalf the Gizzard said:

Wow! I'm surprised no one voted for Caves of Nibin Dum. I know Across the Ettenmoors is really popular, but Nibin-dum is great.

Might simply be a result of more people having played Across the Ettenmoors and not Nibin-Dum?

I decided not to vote on this pair precisely because I haven't played Nibin-Dum yet. What set is that in, anyway? Sands of Harad? Wilds of Rhovanion?

1 minute ago, TwiceBornh said:

Might simply be a result of more people having played Across the Ettenmoors and not Nibin-Dum?

I decided not to vote on this pair precisely because I haven't played Nibin-Dum yet. What set is that in, anyway? Sands of Harad? Wilds of Rhovanion?

If you haven't played a quest before, why vote in that pairing? Anyway, it's from the Limited Edition Starter.

Nibin-Dum is from the Limited Edition Starter box, so yeah, far less people will have played it than Ettenmoors.

Also, even for people who have played it, since it's much more recent they won't have played it as much. I've played Nibin-Dum once and don't remember it very well, whereas Ettenmoors I've played a fair few times.

4 minutes ago, Wandalf the Gizzard said:

If you haven't played a quest before, why vote in that pairing? Anyway, it's from the Limited Edition Starter.

Good question.

I'll leave it to someone who may have voted in this manner (i.e., not me) to answer, if they are so inclined.

If you have strong feelings about a quest, it may be reasonable to vote in a pairing you haven't played. I'd happily vote for any unplayed quest over Nin-in-Eleph.

Quick update with just 36 hours left to vote for stage 1.

I am pleased to see more than 50 of you have voted so far, hopefully we can keep these numbers going until the end of the tournament.

Some interesting results so far:

- Wastes of Eriador vs The Mumakil are just 1 vote apart, going to be a close one

- Journey to the Cross-Roads vs The Dunland Trap is tied! We will need a tiebreaker within the next day, or my vote progresses

- All quests have received at least 4 votes, with Caves of Nibin-Dum as the least favourite when compared to Across the Ettenmoors

- Helm's Deep has a 70-30 lead on Steward's Fear. These two quests met each other early in the competition, after finishing first and third during the tournament 2 years ago.

- Pleased to inform that Nin-in-Eilph doesn't stand a chance against Raid on the Grey Havens, serves Nalir right!

Hope to keep receiving more votes, I will inform you when the next stage is open for voting