Hi,

First of all, I want to apologize for this being way tldr…

I hope you guys have some great advice for me and my brother. We have a complete collection of all releases so far (just one of each, in case you're wondering if we bought multiple Core Sets).

We want to use every single card to make four different sets of two decks. So far there are 24 heroes:

6 Leadership

7 Tactics

6 Lore

5 Spirit

Because of Thicket of Spears, we want to make one triple Tactics deck. Otherwise, we want to make seven decks containing a combination of 2+1 heroes. We know of all the songs, and we want to use those as well, but we want to be able to play Thicket without having to draw a Song of Battle card first.

There's one thing in the rules that has really caught our eyes recently, that has made us want to try to use 2 heroes from each of three spheres in every deck "pair". The only exception being the previously mentioned triple Tactics deck. In that particular deck "pair", there will be 3 Tactics + 1 Spirit + 2 something else.

The rules we're talking about, are those described under the planning phase in the booklet. To our knowledge, there are three different "ways" of paying for sphere-specific cards.

1) By paying the total cost with resources from one hero's pool.

2) By splitting up the cost between multiple heroes.

3) "Paying" for a free card by spotting a hero with the correct sphere of influence.

Now, if you look closely in the booklet, how you pay for cards using these three "methods" have different rules.

Let's start at the bottom (3). Here it says that the player "paying" this cost must control a hero of the corresponding sphere. So far, so good.

@ 2): Here it says that in order to split the cost between two or more heroes, the player must control multiple heroes of the corresponding sphere. Note that it doesn't say that you need to use resources from your own heroes only. Interesting difference. Now, on to the juicy part:

If you pay resource tokens from only one hero, it doesn't say anything about you controlling that hero!!! We've always thought that you need to use your own heroes exclusively when paying for cards or card effects. The thing is, that if this is what they've meant, it would be really easy to formulate the rules this way. It would take up less space as well. When they didn't, we believe that it's a reason for it.

So, if we're correct (and the wording in the rules suggest that we are), it would make sense to have 2 heroes from three different sphere in each deck "pair". If we're wrong, we'd love to hear why, in addition to listen to suggestions for how to split up the heroes among different spheres in a two-player game. 3 and 3? 2+1 and 2+1, making sure that we cover all spheres? We're not able to play much, so we've only been able to get through the first scenario in the core set, always crashing in the second (and yes, we want to take them chronologically), playing both several times.

We might not have found the most efficient way of building our decks, but to us, the "story" and the feel of our decks are more important than making über-decks. That's also why we want to use every single card in our 8 decks. We're both CCG/TCG players, so for us, making different decks is as much fun as playing with them, if not more! Only, it's getting tiresome to always die horribly in the second scenario, not being "able" to test out the others. Because of this, we're kindly asking for your help of how to split the 24 heroes currently released into eight different decks, always keeping in mind to have two of these decks playing at the same time.

So far, we've tried to split it like this:

A) Leadership: Aragorn/Elrohir; Tactics: Elladan/Legolas; Spirit: Dwalin/Frodo Baggins

B) Leadership: Prince Imrahil/Théodred; Lore: Aragorn/Beravor; Spirit: Dúnhere/Éowyn

C) Tactics: Boromir/Brand son of Bain/Háma; Lore: Denethor/Glorfindel; Spirit: Eleanor

D) Leadership: Dáin Ironfoot/Glóin; Tactics: Gimli/Thalin; Lore: Bifur/Bilbo Baggins

We've tried to make sure we'll get as much out of the Aragorns as possible, coupling the Leadership one with a Spirit pair and the Lore one with a Leadership pair. Because of two of the three Aragorn-specific cards, of course. The third one is most effective when he's coupled with Silvans and Noldor, and that deck pair also gets the twin-brothers of Arwen together.

What do you guys think? Anyone having other suggestions? We'd love to get some input as to why we should make changes as well.

I should also mention that we use two Gandalfs each in every deck, being the only cards we want to use in more than one deck!

It looks like the hero sets could work just fine. I would personally try to include one hero from each sphere in the sets of six, but that has to do with Resource management.

One thing I have found playing this game is that certain decks are strong/weak in certain quests. It will be difficult to succeed in every quest with every deck pairing. For example, decks with a lower starting threat usually have an easier time dealing with the troll at the beginning of Journey Down the Anduin. The extra turn or two used to prepare for the troll are very useful. If you're not changing the cards in each deck, be prepared to have to use different pairings in order to complete some of the quests.

As far as deck-building advise goes, it looks like you've set up one pair to play mostly Dwarf themed cards and another pair to work well with the Rohan themed cards. That is a good idea. Radagast is best with the Eagle cards, and whatever deck Radagast is in should also have Word of Command to make Word of Command more playable. That being said, the deck Radagast is in should probably be a 2 - 1 Tactics - Lore.

In regards to your question about spending resources, I seem to remember that being addressed shortly after the game was released, but I can't find where. The ruling I remember though was that you may only spend your resources for your cards unless the card says otherwise (Ex. Eowyn). I would have to spend all 5 Resources to cast a Gandalf, and my teammate can't help split the cost. Likewise, if I want to increase my Long-beard Mapmaker's willpower I must use the Lore Resources from a hero I control, and my teammate is unable to activate the Mapmaker's ability with his own Lore Resources.

The best place to get an answer to that question is here: http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_faq.asp

Thank you very much for your insight and feedback! It's greatly appreciated!

I searched for answers to my "question", and finally, I found what I looked for in the Core Rulebook, on page 25, under the heading of Paying Costs. It shows that you're right. Thanks for bringing it to my attention. I went through all articles here (official ones) and the Errata/FAQ, and I came up with nothing. I therefore decided to go through the core rulebook again, reading it all the way through, and then suddenly… A bit disappointed, but at least we didn't spend too much time with the idea that we could play with two heroes from each of three different spheres at maximum efficiency.

We'll have a look at your ideas in greater depth when we get the time. Thank you!