And that's it! Finally, we hit the last adventure pack of whole cycle, Return to Mirkwood:

https://visionofthepalantir.com/2019/08/27/player-card-review-return-to-mirkwood/

I just remind you, what's all about (skip it, if you have already read the article from Leadership sphere):

I made a deep analysis of each player card, mention the positives and negatives of each card, possible combos and synergies and overall conclusion from my point of view. I set the goal of describing each card in at least 450 words, in 500 words at the best. It's written in "progression mode", and it's because of 1) new players, who wanna to start this game from Core set in progression style, 2) the progression mode seems to me more challenging than "normal style" with accessible all cards from all expansions and adventure packs. I wanted to create such complex and detailed reviews because I think it's rare material in LOTR LCG community. And I think that each card, no matter how strong or weak, deserves own attention, not only that cards we usually use in decks.

Thank you all for your support, I'm glad you have enjoyed this series. Leave comments and your own observations about player cards of Return to Mirkwood .

After this and before the very next expansion, I'm preparing something "extra" for you. Be surpised! .)

Silblade

There is one thing I dislike about Dáin Ironfoot: Global boosts are just too powerful. An army of his dwarves is able to wreck many encounter decks. Just put Unexpected Courage on him, so he can use his superiour defensive stats and still power up his allies.

Dúnedain Signal is for the most part a multiplayer card and if you happen to not have a Sentinel hero, this card is a must. It can also serve later to enable certain cards in single player like Hold your Ground, Armoured Destrier or The Day's Rising, though it will take some time to reach these cards in the card pool. One of the best heroes to put this attachment on is Elrohir who comes together with his brother at the beginning of the next cycle. And while it may be fine to put Dúnedain Signal on to Glóin, I would not play it on Gimli, as he is an attacker and if he needs some extra damage put on him, he should engage an enemy himself. This will save you resources and actions.

Dawn take you all has a couple of issues. For its price it is clearly a multiplayer card and only then, when every player is engaged with an enemy. But then it should only be used in emergencies. As you noted, the card not only shines against wargs who like to return to the staging area but also against the mighty dragon Smaug the Magnificent himself, who will attack again, if his shadow card has a burgle effect. This event will be one of the only cards to ensure that he will not attack again.

Sure, the Eagles of the Misty Mountains are expensive, but they more than make up for the cost. I would only play them with at least two tactics heroes in my deck or some resource acceleratio/smoothing. But it is not nearly as bad, as you make it sound. Save your resources on two of your tactics heroes for the next round and voilà, they are ready to go. And the eagles you want to attach to them are cheap with a cost of 1 or 2 resources only. I would never pay full price for a Decendant of Thorondor, not while Sneak Attack exists, and Landroval only hits the table if I expect a dead hero, which is rarely the case. Another thing is, that you should try to play the EotMM first, so other eagles leaving play can join them. At first they can help questing with 2 willpower, which is as high as it gets in tactics and as soon as other eagles leave play (and hopefully other questing allies enter play) they can tremendously help you out in combat. The only thing they lack compared to their cheaper brethren is a keyword like ranged and sentinel, so be aware they will only help you fighting.

Support of the Eagles is somewhat expensive with 3 resources but as long as you have a Vassal or a Guardian on the table it is fully worth the price. Let your hero defend an attack and the Guardian another. And as soon as you have the Eagles of the Misty Mountains in play, you can start attaching your eagles to the flock. The first Vassal attached will ensure that you still can use its 3 attack and if you attach a Guardian next, you can still get 4 defense. The only thing, that really gets expensive with this strategy is, when you keep your Guardians around for some extra defense actions, which can come in handy in multiplayer due to their sentinel keyword.

There is not much to add about the West Road Traveller. Please keep in mind that Rohan is the name of the kingdom, its people are called Rohirrim, and a single one is called Rohir. They call themselves Eorlingas though, as Eorl the Young was the first King of Rohan.

Astonishing Speed is a rather niche card. Normally I do not need it, but at some points it is useful. And I do not think the card gets devalued because Éowyn, Westroad Traveller and Escort of Edoras have high willpower on their own. When you face location lock and you need some extra willpower to push through a quest stage in order to win the game, this card is for you. But if you do not need it, it means you keep the game under control.

As I have nothing to add to the Mirkwood Runner, I will move on to Power in the Earth. Free scrying is always nice, but trying to pay for it just to keep it can get expensive very fast. I would rather pay a resource every round to keep a Winged Guardian around than return Rumour back to hand. There is not much I can do against those treacheries you mention, when I know them in advance. I can refrain from exhausting endangered characters against Exhaustion, but that is it. I better use Eleanor and A Test of Will to cancel as many of those threacheries as possible.

The face on Shadow of the Past not only looks like Gandalf in some way, but it is him. The cards title, as well as its flavour text, refers to the second chapter in Fellowship of the Ring, where Gandalf briefs Frodo about the ring. His beard is golden, as he just threw the ring into the fire to figure out, whether it is indeed the master ring. I only tend to use this card, if I need to retrieve something from the encounter discard pile. I can see its use as an alternative to scrying, but I never needed to do so.

I'm confused as to why you gave Westroad Traveller 6 stars, but awarded the best card title to Dain, who only got 5.

Not that I disagree with that, Dain is clearly the most powerful card in the pack. I'm just confused by your rating system. If any card in the cycle deserves 6 out of 5 stars it's Dain.

On ‎8‎/‎29‎/‎2019 at 4:02 AM, rees263 said:

I'm confused as to why you gave Westroad Traveller 6 stars, but awarded the best card title to Dain, who only got 5.

Not that I disagree with that, Dain is clearly the most powerful card in the pack. I'm just confused by your rating system. If any card in the cycle deserves 6 out of 5 stars it's Dain.

Hi rees263,

thank you for response. The rating systém is described here: https://visionofthepalantir.com/player-card-analysis/

While player cards can obtain rating 1-6, heroes can obtain just 1-5. It's because the 6th rating is dealt to almost "auto-included" cards, like Unexpected Courage , Steward of Gondor etc. Heroes shoudln't be rated as "auto-included", because there are not any hero, which should be auto-included, though they might be super-strong (like Dáin :)).

@Amicus Draconis: I agree with all you wrote. Thank you for mentioning of Rohir vs. Rohan, and confirmation about Gandalf on Shadow of the Past . Didn't know about this.:)

You have also pointed the very fitting example about Rumour from the Earth vs. Winged Guardian - in most cases I would also prefer 1 resource for keeping Winged Guardian in a game than for returning Rumour from the Earth.