I don't know if I'm the first to point this out…but I'm pretty sure the two "missing" heroes will probably be a spirit monosphere booster and a leadership (faramir) monosphere booster…

what do you guys think ?

If they make Leadership Faramir a mono sphere booster i'll be greatly disappointed, especially if his ability is as mediocre as Mirlonde's.

After waiting this long for a Faramir hero i want something that i can use in a variety of different decks, not just one archetype that will have to almost always use the same cards in it

at the start of the cycle i said more hobbits, but now we are getting black rider then probably not. faramir surely, perhaps thranduil giving a maor stat boost?

i really thought we would get denethor but not now. i really like the random distribution of heros….its exciting not knowing….

rich

I'm gonna say Faramir (Leadership) and Hurin the Tall (Spirit). I know it's very specific but my guess was right for Hirluin so i feel lucky

Not a bad guess, on Hurin. They already have Hirluin, Forlong, and Imrahil. That actually might be quite logical. Guess we'll wait and see!

Pharmboys2013 said:

Agreed.
Faramir as a hero version in this cycle is given, and 2 other unspoiled heroes being mono spirit / leadership booster like Mirlonde and Theodred is also very probable, so Faramir will probably end up being like Theoden; people were expecting Theoden, King of Rohan, but we got Theoden, Tactics booster.

I was hoping to see an alternative version of Denethor in this Cycle, but that doesn't seem likely anymore.
After seeing Mirlonde, I can't even begin to guess who is going to be the last hero (assuming Faramir will be one of the 2 unspoiled heroes).
I wouldn't be surprised if we see something as random as Gwaihir the Windlord as a hero (his art has been around forever, but we have yet to see his card).

Really would love a Thuranduil or Haldir Hero. I just really want somebody differant from a dwarf, or big importand guy (Dethethor, Faramir, Hobbits) I think Thuranduil fits this perfectly.

btw Can't wait for a Rohan expansion. That should also have many good guys in there too. Maybe Saruman, Grima, Eomer……..

Khamul

Ellareth said:

oh man…totally forgot about Theoden basically being a boost for mono-tactics. I feel like this all but confirms hero faramir boosting mono-leadership and the last unknown hero a mono-spirit booster. Kind of bummed out that two of my favorite characters in the books and movies (Theoden & Faramir) will have such limited use. If Faramir ends up just being a stat augmentation like the other two and simply increases ATK, DEF, or HP of your other leadership heroes by 1 i will honestly be devastated. FFG prove me wrong!!!

I think Faramir as a monoleadership boster will be kind of cool instead, we could use him with Imrahil and Boromir for a great Gondor/Leadership deck !

As for the other hero I would love to see Gwaihir but I'm not sure he'll be Spirit…up to now if Faramir is the third we got 1 rohan, 1 hobbit, 1 outlands, and 1 gondor…I have a feeling we'll se something like a noldor and a dale or something…(or perhaps eagle…hopefully !)

Faramir is a ranger and is likely to be Leadership. You can't have a ranger deck without trap cards so I'd be surprised if he's a monosphere booster.

There's always the chance we'll see trap cards from different spheres…also one can use many tools to put cards from a different sphere into play even with 3 heroes from the same sphere (Elrond+Vilya, A Good Harvest, Songs, Narvi's Belt…Fili+Kili and viceversa…and maybe some other I'm missing right now…)

i was talking with a friend about this and he thought that given the distribution of adventure packs heros:

Lore: Bilbo Baggins, Aragorn, Elrond, Mirlonde (4)
Spirit: Frodo Baggins, Glorfindel, Pippin (3)
Leadership: Imrahil, Dain Ironfoot, Elrohir, Hirluin the Fair (4)
Tactics: Brand Son of Bain, Boromir, Elladan, Háma, Théoden (5)

….that we are bound to get one more Spirit hero, and one more Leadership also, because Gondor needs another Leadership hero to make the count complete. So the educated guess is Leadership Faramir in chapter 4 (I believe they will stick with the made-up rule of ally and hero versions keeping the sphere, and Faramir should complement Boromir somehow), and a Spirit hero in chapter 5, but who might that be I dare not guess. It wouldn't surprise me that much if they went with Galadriel although we probably deserve more than one Gondor hero in this cycle?

There is another hunch. One which is supporting the above guess, Mirlonde and Théoden both give their sphere a bonus, thus it might be that Faramir and whoever will give Leadership and Spirit (respectively) their bonuses.

rich

Yep, that's pretty much what I was pointing out…Thank you Rich !

Who would be a good mono spirit hero I wonder? Galadriel would seem to fit the bill for me personally but I would think they would save her for something more prominent. Celeborn in that case perhaps? Would help push the silvan envelope too although it would be somewhat disadvantageous to the trait if all their current heroes were different spheres two of which would be mono sphere focused

As much as I always like to see more Elves, I actually hope the next two heroes are both Gondor. I have a theory that after the Black Riders, or alongside the Lord of the Rings saga, the next deluxe is bound to be about Elves. I mean who else is left, right? We shall get Hobbits and perhaps also Dúnedain with the Black Riders (one of the spoilt cards mentions Rangers), so the next obvious cycle must be Elves.

Then again if the both heroes are mono-decks oriented, it would also make little sense if they're both Gondor. And unless we get a second copy of either Denethor or Imrahil, there are no obvious Gondor hero choices.

If we get four mono-boosters, it may be they are each from different race, thus Gondor, Rohan, Silvan, and Dúnedain/Noldor/Hobbit would make most sense. But I hope it is not another Hobbit if four are coming with the first saga box.

Finally, if we guess correctly (the few of us who said so) and we get Leadership mono-booster Faramir, what do you think his ability shall be? It will probably only affect heroes but based on Théoden and Mirlonde there's no telling whether all of them or only those you control. Who's up for the guess?

It also appears that mono sphere booster heroes also assist in the areas of the sphere that usually lack support (i.e. lore's high threat cost heroes, tactic's lack of will power…) so for leadership rather than a vanilla stat boost like increasing atk, def, or HP (leadership is all ready quite profficient in the base stats) i think it would be a lot better if they assisted with card draw since it is arguably the biggest weakness with the sphere especially with all the rescource generating cards it now has….so lets say just for the heck of it…

Faramir (unique)

starting threat: 10

WP: 3

ATK: 1

DEF: 2

HP: 4

Gondor. Noble. Ranger

If each hero you control has a printed leadership icon, draw 1 extra card during the resource phase

i know the ability is quite similar to Bilbo's but something like this would actually make me quite eager to make mono leadership

one other thing i realized while writing this is that Mirlonde's and Theoden's powers DONT require you to have all one sphere…they just encourage it to get the most out of them. So my guess may not exactly be on the mark, although it is hard to gradually build a power built around card draw without making it overpowerful

Very interesting. Yes though, I think it will not be required to have all Leadership line-up.

I was actually thinking, and ffg even promoted that, that the four mono-events from Drúadan Forest will cover the weaknesses of the sphere. And yes, Trained for War and Against the Shadow do, but Strength of Arms and Advanced Warning are on the other hand typical Leadership and Lore cards. I was thinking the Leadership event will draw and Lore's event make money, but I was wrong.

I think Faramir's stats could actually be according to the ally version:

Threat Cost 8

Willpower 2

Attack Strength 1

Defence Strength 2

Hit Points 3

It would give us another cheap Gondor hero. And actually for a Leadership Gondor line up, which will only be available with Boromir and Imrahil, you need a lower threat hero to the company.

But I am clue-less as to the ability. I think drawing would be nice. How about "Action: exhaust Faramir and pay a resource from his resource pool to draw a card for each Leadership hero you control (limit once per round)."

i like that ability. or how about, in line with fresh tracks and the fact he is a leader of the rangers (and given that traps are lore's thin so far so wont be anything to do with that)

'exhaust faramir to deal 2 damage to an enemy just revealed from the enoucnter deck.'

rich

We have been promised the whole Ranger oriented deck coming with Assault on Osgiliath. And the ability you provide, Rich, would be excellent but I really believe he will boost the mono-Leadership decks.

lleimmoen said:

ah that is true. in that case it could be something like

'if each hero you control has a printed leadership icon, discard an ally to give each 'gondor' character +1 (willpower/defense/attack??) until the end of the phase.'

rich

EDIT- actually thats a bit rubbish isnt it? rear guard pretty much does the same only better…….

Ellareth said:

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… I really like Gwahir…

i bet that wasnt copy pasted either ….was it

ha, i think id have to retract my gwahir statement as from current discussions it seems clear that it'll be a spirit hero and the windlord just doest fit that bill

Of course we're going to get Faramir.

For the last I really thought we'd get Thorongil (Tactics Aragorn). Since we got the Ring of Barahir I still have hope.