Yes. Precisely.

Here is some more:

Searing Devotion is balanced. It cost you: Doomed 1, 2 resources, an defense action (so you need to engage, take archery, overcome threat, etc) and a high willpower character. For that trouble you can kill a 3-5 hp monster, which there are a lot of nasty ones that need to be killed. Not as good as lots of tactics tricks, but is inside a non-combative sphere. Really like the card. Just think that "devotion" is a weird spell to sling around.

Alatar has the same problem as Glorfindel, which is arguable the best hero of the game. I think that every time he readies he should give you +1 threat, since he can easily use Expected Courage and Flame of Anor for great effect. He can even pair really nicely with Glorfindel in the same deck! You can quest, flame of anor, defend, shuffle flame of anor, attack. Full set of actions for 1 cost and one card.

That's what I had in mind. A hero with a half of his threat cost, but a forced effect that would eventually make up for it and overdo it, unless the player actively uses his other ability or side stuff.

Glorfindel's threat being dropped by 7 is ridiculous. Same here with Alatar. Unless the game is going badly, it generally won't go 7 rounds, so his negative will rarely actually counter the benefit of better starting threat. I think dropping starting threat by 4 or 5 is good, but 7 is too much. Otherwise, I love both of those cards.

My fan-trap ^^:

Errata: first phrase --> Ambush = Pitfall Trap (lol)

I don´t see much advantage in using pitfall trap over poisoned stakes, even with stakes costing one more. Am I missing something?

Considering that poisoned stakes is not a good trap, pitfall trap seems really hard to include, even with the new lore trap hero.

That trap to work need 4 turns of the enemy alive and attacking/threatening every round. Poison at least let you do some other ways to hasten the enemy death (Hero Haldir, Direct Damage, etc). Also, pitfall trap even increases the enemy threat for some reason.

Not sure If I would ever find a spot for that card. Sorry for being harsh with the card, but I try to give my honest opinion.

Glorfindel's threat being dropped by 7 is ridiculous. Same here with Alatar. Unless the game is going badly, it generally won't go 7 rounds, so his negative will rarely actually counter the benefit of better starting threat. I think dropping starting threat by 4 or 5 is good, but 7 is too much. Otherwise, I love both of those cards.

He basically became the new OP Glorfindel that most decks that want to run spirit will use. He is slight different, but does has the same function, maybe even better then Glorfindel in lots of situations. He definitely and safely deserve some kind of nerf.

His powerfull stats, allied with low cost, turn him in a easy include in most decks. Also, his ability let him use any spell for double duty, as per spell card text + action economy for Alatar. Which is fine, but when summed with cost reduction is too much.

I would keep Glorfindel instead of Alatar simply for Asfaloth

Honestly I think that the biggest problem with Glorfindel is Asfaloth and not the hero himself.

If Asfaloth still placed 2 progress when attached to other noldor/silvan heroes but cost less to play on Glorfindel (maybe 3 cost or 2 cost on Glorfindel) I think many people would instantly drop Glorfindel for Spirit Merry or other similar heroes. Then LoV could go on someone else like Elrond as well.....

It is pretty super frustrating that the most powerful location control card (by a long long margin) goes hand in hand with Glorfindel and is far less powerful/not worth it if you are not playing him. I know for me personally Asfaloth was the one single reason I was not able to make the change from Glorfindel to Galadriel or Spirit Merry.

Until we get something as powerful and repeatable for locations as Asfaloth is Glorfindel will always stay in my decks as location lock is just too crappy a way to lose and without Asfaloth I find it happens far too often in quite a few quests and especially in nightmare where locations have FAR MORE quest points and threat.

Spirit versions of two best friends forever:

I have looked through many many cards that you have made (assuming you are reincarnated trololo) and I just think you overdo it on the ready effects in general, although Gimli's is particularly creative and cool. As for Legolas, I love the effect. It is like Dwalin (one of my favorite heroes, actually) but I would personally like to see the effect in red. This is similar to Mablung having resource excel outside purple. IMO tactics can and should do basically everything as long as it is tied to combat in some way and I feel that the main reason spirit is OP is that it is the only color with reliable threat reduction. Basically, I think your Legolas would be a great tactics hero and I even predict we will eventually see a hero with almost that exact design.

Yeah I really like the design of these heroes as well. That Legolas ability is dope but might have to have a limit (maybe twice per turn?). Would love to see a hero with a similar design to this one day. I would also love this on an Elladan hero in spirit as an alternative to his tactics incarnation.

First off, a disclaimer: I've never liked the Beorn hero that much and have always wanted a different version of him. But I always wanted to capture his ability to shape-change and I felt the best way to accomplish this was to actually have a double sided card. Also, I know I crammed a lot onto these cards, but I wanted him to offer more than just some stats or some way to increase his stats.

thoughts?

edit: jesus those came out large. sorry!

Whats a reaction?

haha, sorry. Wrong term. Should be "Response"

Ace design on Legolas and Gimli. Don't know what spheres they fit in best, but ace design.

Beorn is really cool, but I'd drop the cost reduction from the human-form (and some threat), and I would remove the "ready and draw 1 card" if the enemy is destroyed. A built-in swift strike is good enough, freeing you from dealing with that attack if the enemy is destroyed. Being able to do that while exhausted is almost overpowered. Readying and drawing 1 card is waaaay over the top. That's a built in double action advantage (quest, attack while exhausted, then ready to attack again or defend), in some cases.

Hm. So, a Tactics hero that somehow reduces the threat, and Lore-Spirit versions of Elladan and Elrohir? Challenge accepted.

I think a two sided hero is a great idea and obviously Beorn is ideal for that. Making the flip a valour action is a great idea.

Beyond that, the cards are WAY too busy. Just the flipping and no attachment restrictions (etc.) are enough. The rest is just annoying and overly complex. The hero needs to be far more elegant.

This card could be an interesting enemy:

I forgot: It is immune, of course

Here we go. I tried to keep the brothers simple in tandem with their Leadership and Tactics counterparts, while also representing the theme of their new sphere somehow:

And here is couple of thoughts on threat reducing Tactics heroes, including an extremely strange one:

Really nice batch of heroes there John. I also like the Beorn flip hero, but I think there is a bit too much text and the abilities need to be streamlined. The spirit Legolas is very good, but the Gimli less so (IMO). Maybe if I were to actually play with the card I would feel differently though.

Speaking in general now, I have been thinking about spirit/lore versions of the ninja twins and I keep coming back to wondering why we seem to constrain new hero versions to having the same stats as the old ones?

I personally do it because it's the way actual game designers are handling the matter. It's some sort of an unwritten rule for me. There is a couple of an unisgnificant breakings of this rule within the game, but I prefer sticking to it.

Right. By "we" I was including the designers themselves. A precedent was set with Loragorn and Spirifindel, but I don't think it needs to be a "law".

She is Eowyn, i know ^^, but the important is the text box:

Ace design on Legolas and Gimli. Don't know what spheres they fit in best, but ace design.

Beorn is really cool, but I'd drop the cost reduction from the human-form (and some threat), and I would remove the "ready and draw 1 card" if the enemy is destroyed. A built-in swift strike is good enough, freeing you from dealing with that attack if the enemy is destroyed. Being able to do that while exhausted is almost overpowered. Readying and drawing 1 card is waaaay over the top. That's a built in double action advantage (quest, attack while exhausted, then ready to attack again or defend), in some cases.

I understand Beorn is "busy" but honestly I'd like to see a more complex hero. The neutral human side of Beorn is good on his own, but is 3 points low considering his stats vs starting threat. That is part of the balancing reason I wanted the bear side to be so strong. Also, since you can't flip him until you hit 40 or higher threat, I wanted him to be useful on his own. Thematically, I felt he was best as a neutral hero and so in order to get any use out of his resources I included the ability to pay for Mount and Creature cards. This plays into his ability to speak with animals and hanging out with more intelligent creatures. I toyed on and off with the cost reduction. I can see giving it up. After you reach the 40 threat range, you can exhaust Beorn to turn into a bear and flip the card. I wanted there to be a cost to switching - since you have to exhaust him you don't get to use human Beorn for defending, etc. - into the more tactical and offensive bear. (attachments also fall off of the bear form) But I also wanted to have something that targets his most hated enemies of Goblins and Orcs. I can see giving up the stand or draw, but unless you are playing some of the early quests just having 5 attack isn't going to be killing much any more. Most enemies are not that squishy so I felt it was still justifiable. New player cards always make the old quests easier. That can't be helped since the new quest cards continue to get harder, more shields, more health, toughness, etc.

I also liked the concept of the bear side having more health, but regular healing not working on him. So he could take too much damage as the bear and then not be able to revert back without sacrificing some creatures or mounts.

Honestly the more I think about it, he could be a threat of 13 or 14. even with the removal of the cost reduction and the standing effect.

To make it less of a quick strike I could change it to a response after resolving a Goblin or Orc enemy attack against you, he can swing for free, even if exhausted?