2 minutes ago, dalestephenson said:

Though putting together combos is pretty easy with Radagast, since he can both quest and use Word of Command.

I forgot to mention that. If you do not use him in combat, what better than exhaust him for Word of Command (an in sphere 1 cost event). The only little thing is I usually play the event in planning, but here I think it is worth the wait.

I'm not sure it has one willpower, even though I think a quest-only ally with 0 wp is odd, since there's nothing else it can do. But it's guaranteed card draw with Gandalf hero, and can be with Imladris Stargazer or Radagast/Wizard Pipe, so maybe the ability is all it has.

Also, judging by the beautiful art of the white dear (or is it an elk, I am not good at this) next to Radagast in the article, could this be a Spirit Creature ally in this pack? I have a feeling we might get a creature ally in every sphere. I was hoping there could be another Beorning as there were only two in the cycle but as suggested above the Tactics event would hint more toward an Eagle, though a unique one at that, that may be harder to find; then again they may just come up with an original name.

Amazing! Finally we get him as a hero! Eagles are my favourite deck to play and this guy alongside Bormir and another tactics hero will be my new go to favourite squad I think.

Very much looking forward to this one and hoping that it's hinting at the next cycle being istari/creature related. Blue wizards maybe?

It would be great if they went with Istari...

A 3 istari hero deck, lol. Make it happen.

So now that we have an Istari with a sphere, what do you think Hero Saruman would be?

Tactics I'd say is right out.

Lore seems like the perfect sphere for Istari, but Radagast has that sphere already, so I think that decreases the chances.

Leadership could make sense as he is the head of the Istari and the White Council.

Spirit could potentially work as well, but I think the fact that he will likely raise threat like his ally card will rule this out as Spirit is great at threat reduction.

Neural could still work too.

Give him all spheres and call him Saruman of many colors.

Well, there are other Spirit heroes, that are good at raising your threat, most of them Hobbits, but also Glorfindel.

26 minutes ago, GrandSpleen said:

Give him all spheres and call him Saruman of many colors.

Saruman and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcloak.

I'm not sure if that'll fit on one card though.

I think if Saruman has to have a sphere it has to be leadership

Leadership is most fitting, and with his voice some way of discounting or putting into play allies would be thematic.

Maybe he or his staff could have an ability that interacts with Orc Enemies? Seems a bit cheesy but I think it's mechanically interesting.

What I would love to see for Saruman:

After your threat is raised by a player card effect, reduce your threat by 1 and ready Saruman, limit once per phase.

And for his equipment:

Staff if Saruman: Exhaust Saruman and staff of Saruman to search the top 5 cards of your deck for an event card, play that card for no cost, that card gains Doomed X where X is that cards printed cost.

This way he synergizes with all of the Voices of Isenguard events, event cards in general and Grima and Palantir.

2 hours ago, GILLIES291 said:

What I would love to see for Saruman:

After your threat is raised by a player card effect, reduce your threat by 1 and ready Saruman, limit once per phase.

Tactics Boromir would be a good friend for this Saruman indeed.

9 hours ago, sappidus said:

Tactics Boromir would be a good friend for this Saruman indeed.

Would be a nice bonus to bring Boromir back power-wise even though mostly helpful in the combat-phase. But could also make it once per round if they would be too strong together, or just make it "after raising your threat from a player card Doomed effect" and you would only lose the Palantir. The latter idea might even be a better fix then he only combos with Grima and the Doomed cards.

Though after recently battling Saruman boss in the saga edition he should be a multi-action powerhouse, chucking spells left and right, playing dangerously close with your threat and doing nothing to drop the threat of your allied players.

Anyways that's my hope, would be pretty cool to have a team of Saruman/Grima synergizing with Gandalf, Galadrial or Elrond for some Hobbit cinema-verse recreations. Or even just to show what would have happened if Saruman accepted Gandalf's offer and helped against the great enemy.

We will see what Caleb and FFG do but they have full permission to use this idea as a base haha. I just want to see whatever Saruman comes out, being able to synergize with the Voices of Isenguard cards and especially his ally Grima.

Oh and a final thought, he really needs to have ranged.

I feel, if we are going to get more Istari, it is more likely we get 2 Blue Wizzards as heroes in the next deluxe, though they might have to name them differently due rights, right? Spirit and Tactics would feel natural to them as a pair. That said, now that we have Radagast as a hero, it is hard to imagine not to get Saruman as well, but perhaps he may come as Leadership in the first adventure pack. It would be quite cool to suddenly get 4 Istari heroes in a row, would it not?

PS. What is the guess about the creatures, all spheres? And all spheres already in the Fate of Wilderland?

Now that wehave Lore Radagast, Leadership Saruman is my absolute dream for this game. Can't agree more with the people hoping for him as a hero.

3 hours ago, Gizlivadi said:

Now that wehave Lore Radagast, Leadership Saruman is my absolute dream for this game. Can't agree more with the people hoping for him as a hero.

For me leadership or even neutral, but either way hoping he can pay for event cards or at least Doomed event cards so he can use all his spells.

I was thinking about a hero version of Saruman, and I had an interesting idea:

Saruman

14 Threat/2 WP/4 Attack/3 Defense/5 HP

Action: Reveal the top card of your deck. You may give it Doomed 3 and spend a resource from Saruman's resource pool to put it into play. Otherwise, remove it from the game. Limit once per round.

Forced: At the start of the refresh phase, reveal the top card of your deck and raise your threat by X, where X is the printed cost of the card plus 1. Then remove it from the game.

Saruman's Staff

3 cost

Attach to Saruman. Restricted

When playing a card with the Doomed keyword, Saruman is considered to have the printed Tactics, Leadership, Spirit, and Lore icons.

Response: After you raise your threat from a player card effect, exhaust Saruman's Staff to choose one of the following options: Ready Saruman and reduce your threat by 1, deal 2 damage to an enemy in play, or give Saruman +2 willpower, attack, or defense until the end of the phase.

@Onidsen that's certainly the tale of two extremes. On one hand, you're thinning your deck pretty quickly (and permanently), and without gandalf/scrying you are gambling leaving cards on top of your deck. It does invite the use of Wizard Pipe, which I like. Gandalf + saruman is also a dangerous play, since those two alone are 28 (or 29 if we believe the card not the text). Plus they are both neutral, so it almost forces an all doomed deck, or some crazy istari focus build. A third hero is nearly impossible in a standard game, so forget bringing the three istari heroes for a solo round.

That being said, as dangerous a play he is, the staff radically balances it. I don't think the reduction by 1 is nearly enough (considering you are raising your threat by at least two every round), but the direct damage and the boost is insane. I could imagine putting Unexpected Courage on him and raising his stats during combat -- making him the best defender (1 better than beregond) and best attacker (1 better than beorn) in the game simaltaneously. I might be okay running with just two heroes at that point, something I've never attempted.

He is very different! Interesting enough that I might proxy him in a solo match and see what he's like. Well done!

8 hours ago, Onidsen said:

I was thinking about a hero version of Saruman, and I had an interesting idea:

Saruman

14 Threat/2 WP/4 Attack/3 Defense/5 HP

Action: Reveal the top card of your deck. You may give it Doomed 3 and spend a resource from Saruman's resource pool to put it into play. Otherwise, remove it from the game. Limit once per round.

Forced: At the start of the refresh phase, reveal the top card of your deck and raise your threat by X, where X is the printed cost of the card plus 1. Then remove it from the game.

Saruman's Staff

3 cost

Attach to Saruman. Restricted

When playing a card with the Doomed keyword, Saruman is considered to have the printed Tactics, Leadership, Spirit, and Lore icons.

Response: After you raise your threat from a player card effect, exhaust Saruman's Staff to choose one of the following options: Ready Saruman and reduce your threat by 1, deal 2 damage to an enemy in play, or give Saruman +2 willpower, attack, or defense until the end of the phase.

Cool artwork! And I like that you went with neutral. I think we are similar wavelengths with him being able to add Doomed to cards to basically evil Vilya them. Plus synergy with the doomed event cards is great and again both of us are angling on.

I like that you made yours more of a fighter though and in general I really love your staff! My only concern is the removing cards from your deck like crazy. I think discarding it or putting it on the bottom would be two nicer and simpler options. But all in all great cards!

I would like if Saruman’s Staff dealt damage to enemies, yes, that seems appropriate. Some sort of resource accelaration (reduction, just like the others). And maybe scrying? Though that goes more with the Palantir... then rather meddling with the discard deck perhaps.

I really think it would be better to go for three more hero Istari now, and make one for each sphere plus neutral Gandalf we already have. It is common knowledge they were five. So I am holding my breath for the Blue ones in the next deluxe.

Seems like a fitting place to showcase my ye olde Saruman designs from times long gone:

Toys designed around the second version of Saruman. First one is standalone.

These are some very old Saruman-themed cards I made. They lack art, though.

Saruman (neutral)

15 threat cost

2 wp

4 atk

3 def

5 hp

Istari.

Play with the top card of the encounter deck faceup. If that card is an enemy, Saruman gains a tactics resource icon. If that card is a location, Saruman gains a lore resource icon. If that card is a treachery, Saruman gains a spirit resource icon.

Forced: At the end of the round, raise your threat by 2.

Saruman's staff (neutral attachment) Cost 1

Item. Staff.

Doomed 2

Attach to Saruman.

Saruman gains the leadership resource icon.

Action: Exhaust Saruman's staff too (choose 1); deal a damage to an enemy in play, place a progress token on a location in play or cancel a when revealed effect on a treachery. That card gains doomed three.

Of the Many Colours (neutral attachment)

Cost 0

Title.

Doomed 5

Attach to a Istari hero.

Attached hero gains the Leadership, Lore, Tactics and Spirit resource icon.

Thoughts:

Saruman should be neutral. My idea is that Gandalf helps you, Saruman is more aggressive (the staff places progress/damages enemies instead of drawing cards etc.). The maia himself should raise your threat, it's the mechanic of Isengard. He should also be more combat-oriented (hence the 2/4/3/5 stat line).

There is a quote (I don't have the book at hand right now) about Saruman, where Gandalf says that Saruman was key to the White Council always being a step ahead of Sauron (which they weren't). The sorting mechanic represents that knowledge.

The title attachment should be attachable to each Istari, anyone of them could have fallen.

Thoughts?

(Sorry for my bad English, I'm not a native English speaker, and on my phone).