I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes… an encounter pack with a total of ZERO useable player cards, UNLESS you pigeonhole your deck to do what the designers want you to do. Wow am I disappointed. There have been efforts on the part of the designers in the past to stifle creativity and individual thought in the deck design process, but this is the worst offense.

It's more forgiveable in multi-player, but this pack just thumbs its nose at solo play, much the same way Secrecy did. A cycle of cards that require you to ignore all but one sphere is ridiculous. The only sphere that can do that and still have a chance of holding its own in solo play is Lore, and that would only work if you run three Song-searchers and the mana fixer cards. You'd still have to have things like Test of Will and Hasty Stroke if you want to pull out consistent victories.

If I hadn't wanted the adventure, I'd have just passed this pack right on by. Fail.

i think different cycles with focus on different aspects on the game.

i actually think this cycle is solo friendly. the mono sphere things will be aided with cards such as trained for war making mono solo decks more versatile. and remember we have good harvest meaning that you could have test of will and so on in your deck.

take tactics for instance. with hama you can recycle the 'trained for war' card meaning you can keep questing with high power and stil have a great fighting and defense deck.

not only that but outlands is a really big help to solo play. hirluin the fair can play for multisphere outlands allies. so leadership has gotten a boost as well

Boris_the_Dwarf said:

if you've seen leptokurt's mono sphere solo challenges in this forum you'd know that it is certainly viable even before this adventure pack to create successful mono sphere decks to defeat challenging scenarios like watcher in the water and peril in pelagrir. This AP is making these decks even better. I agree that a lot of the cards are underwhelming especially harbor master, but there are some gems in here too. The white tower watchman will fit nicely in a gondor themed deck and his ability may save a few arses every now and then. The silvan refugee can be very effective provided you have a stout defender in your ranks to avoid chump blocking, advance warning and especially strength of arms will do great in solo sphere decks. Can you imagine strength of arms in a Dain, Thorin, Balin dwarf deck?? between that and lure of moria there would be 6!!! cards to ready all the allies. I also think mighty prowess is a card that will get better after use as well. Between that card, Thalin, Spear of the citadel, and gondorian spearman, a tactics deck will be able to eliminate a lot of enemies without even having to attack them

I actually like the look of Forlong himself… very intense! But I agree that there is a bit too much of the horse dominating the overall picture…

Is Silvan Refugee just supposed to be a 1-cost ally with 2 willpower? Is its ability supposed to be just a possible extra cost so that they can justify the 1-resource cost? I just can't see any real reason someone would take the risk of adding it into their deck rather than someone who isn't suicidal.

I guess this is also designed to be used in a new deck type since so many of the Spirit characters are designed to leave:

- Bofur
- Damrod
- Eomund
- Escort from Edoras
- The Riddermark's Finest
- Westfold Horse-Breaker

It seems especially anti-Rohan.

Yes, Silvan Refugee doesn't combo well with the likes of Rohan or Eagle allies (the former being mostly Spirit also). But it is certainly a very interesting ally. The lack of willpower usually happens on round 1, and it is their when the Refugee is a great draw. 2 willpower for one resource is just awesome. And even if you lose him on round 1, it might be well worth it (unless of course you lose him during staging but that is the problem of any 1 hp allies). I have already had some good play experience with the Elf. But as I said before, I hope to see some safety cushion for the Silvan, so many of which are 1 hp. I would like their strategy being based on staying in play - quite unlike Rohan or Eagles.

So I proxied Mirlonde and built a Silvan/Noldor deck around her (without Silvan Refugee). Paired her with Glorfindel (spirit) and Denethor (ok, he is no elf), sent the fellwoship into the depths of Dol Guldur. And guess what - I won half of my games so far. With only one core set. A starting threat of 19 is nice and allows you to play Resourceful or Risk some Light on your first turn. Mirlonde can also carry the Light of Valinor, she is a decent quester and attacker and she is of the lore sphere which provides you with Ranger Spikes and Asfaloth. The main problem are her only three hitpoints which make her vulnerable, but you can deal with this by adding some healing cards or Silvan Tracker (or by placing the damage on Glorfindel, that is).

Love her as a hero, as she isn't too strong like Glorfindel but helps you to build certain decks. I am also quite amazed by the Denethor/Asfaloth combo which makes this scenario so much easier.

leptokurt said:

sounds like a really fun deck. will def try and give it a go when my pack comes in later this week

Yeah, as I said before, I currently run the exactly same line-up. Mithrandir's Advice is also working quite well there, though it is not reaching its full potential. I have come back to enjoy the scouting - and I like it even in a multiplayer mode.

leptokurt said:

I'm planning a similar deck, though I think I'm going to do Legolas, Mirlonde, Denethor. Or maybe Legolas, Mirlonde, Bifur. Mostly because Legolas gives another Silvan character, ways to attack the staging area to recycle Ranger Spikes, and another way to make progress.

We'll have to see how well it works.

chrsjxn said:

how would you recycle ranger spikes? if you killed an enemy in the staging area with Legolas who had a ranger spikes attached wouldnt the spikes be discarded? if not that seems like the quite the combo. I honestly dont know although i would think its the former

Pharmboys2013 said:

Yeah, they would get discarded when the enemy is killed. Which means you can bring them back with the Erebor Hammersmith. Legolas + Hands Upon The Bow just lets you attack them in the staging area, so you don't have to defend their attacks.

Not sure it's actually all that great, but I'm still giving it a shot.

leptokurt said:

Yes Denethor is good in DG.

here you can see my solo play:

Unknown said:

theres a new ally coming who can recycle traps as well

richsabre said:

It is Anborn. An Lore ally that was previewed at The Steward's Fear preview…

It seems card number 63/83 (?) so it should be available on the tird pack.

Cant wait for Anborn, hes going to be a fantastic addition in a mono-lore deck. Lore is already pro at manipulating cards as they are revealed from the encounter deck, being able to virtually neutralize each enemy engaged with them will make them that much more interesting to play

Yeah, Anborn is going to be good.

I'm also hoping we get another trap. Damage, maybe, instead of the control effects we have now.

we will almost certainly get more traps. i think in the black rider saga pack also when we get the dunedain

damage per turn would be great. i also think something that gives resource to a hero- sort of leeching off an enemy

rich