Impressions - The Treachery of Rhudaur Player Cards

The Treachery of Rhudaur has been released, and with that, a new set of player cards.  Now that we are past the halfway mark of the Angmar Awakened cycle, we are starting to see FFG make good on the promises of new Noldor synergy,
Heroes
Erestor's debut as a hero comes with standard lore flavor, but with a twist.  As is no surprise, card draw is the main bullet point in his skill set.  Similar to Bilbo, Erestor gives additional card draw, but this time, it is only for his controller and it's three extra cards!  The draw back, however, is that all cards have to be discarded at the end of the round.  To put that into perspective, that's 10 cards, one fifth of a standard deck, in your opening hand, and four cards every round there after.  Obviously, quests such as Deadman's Dike, where you're punished for running through your deck, will not see much Erestor action.  In solo games, Erestor could be included, replacing all other forms of card draw.  That's pretty huge, as it could free up a significant amount of space in a deck.  In multiplayer, I could see including Beravor, as a support hero, to give other players card draw.  Erestor's extra card draw really shines with abilities which require card discard.  Old staples such as Eowyn or Protector of Lorien going to see a lot of use, as the discard requirement is less rough when the card are going away anyway.  All the benefits I see, however, are weighed against the potential downfalls.  Certain cards, such as A Test of Will or Feint, are typically held in hand until they're needed.  With Erestor, you have to think differently.  The player board is where you have to put your reliance in, not your hand.  Cards such as Scroll of Isildur will be very useful in recycling cards.  Another auto-include might seem to be Will of the West, but this is one you definitely will want to mulligan out of your starting hand.
Allies
Silvan is one of my favorite archetypes, and Galadhrim Weaver continues the trait.  For one cost, which is not reducible by O Lórien, it only provides one will power.  However, its enters play ability allows you to shuffle the top card of your discard back into your deck.  One of the keys to the Silvan trait is being able to return cards to hand, which are typically done through a number of event cards.  By playing the Weaver, you can return these valuable cards back into the deck to be used again.  Obviously, there are opportunities to use this card in any deck where you want to continuously recycle cards.
Galdor of the Havens is an appropriate pairing with hero Erestor.  As soon as you discard a card, draw a card.  Since it allows you to essentially replace the card you discard, it seems like an easy decision.  I especially like him with Galadriel and her mirror.  I don't typically like to run the mirror, since I don't like the chance of losing the card I just pulled, but with this ally, you can replace whatever card you lose.
Attachments
Elven Spear gives Silvan and Noldor a new weapon to run.  For the cost of three cards, the hero wielding the spear can boost his attack by three.  Since this is done in three separate occasions, Galdor would be triggered each time.
Silver Harp also helps the Noldor trait's new discard ability.  After discarding a card, exhaust the Silver Harp to return it to the hand.  This seems like a great card in general.  Obviously, it requires Spirit, both to pay for, and to attach to.  Oddly, it is a restricted attachment, which isn't usually an issue for Spirit heroes, with the exception of, perhaps, Glorfindel.
Elf-friend is a card I never expected to see.  By attaching this card to a character, they become both Silvan and Noldor.  This falls into the situational section of cards.  I like strong combos that don't rely on drawing the right cards at the right time.  In the case of this card, you have to pull it in, and then draw whatever card.  This could cause some cool combos, such as equipping Tactics Aragorn with Rivendell Blade to reduce enemies' defense by three, but I would probably include it in a deck that has a target that wouldn't require Elf-friend as well, such as Legolas.
Events
Horn's Cry adds to the Valour trait in a way I can get behind.  One less attack for each enemy until the end of the phase, or minus three attack for a single player's enemies.  Beorn is a strong defender, but his one defense can sometimes be a burden, with no way of directly boosting it.  By using this card, along with the bear's unexhausting sentinel defense, he can take a lot more slings and arrows.  Similarly, Boromir could also benefit from being able to lessen the attack of his enemies, and with his readying action, his player will probably be consistently using this card's Valour ability.
Reinforcements is a card I hadn't made up my mind about when I started analyzing it, but by the end, started to really like it.  For three leadership resources, coming from three different heroes, the group can put two allies into play from their hand, but only for that phase.  This is essentially a different version of Sneak Attack, but something that the whole group can utilize, rather than just the player playing the event.  The old combo was to use Sneak Attack plus Gandalf, but it required that both cards be in one player's hand to pull off.  Not only that, but you had to have access to Leadership.  Though more expensive, and requiring either mono-Leadership, or the inclusion of songs, this event allows any player in the game to utilize this same combo.  Not only that, but the allies may enter play under anyone's control.  Perhaps one player has Gandalf in hand and needs some card draw, while another player needs a defender for the round.  Simply play this card and both players get what they need.  Taking the example further, perhaps that same player needs some help killing the engaged enemy, you still have another ally that can be put into play.  Just like Sneak Attack, the allies return to their owners' hands at the end of the phase, which will trigger Horn of Gondor, leaving only a net usage of one resource and one card.  As mentioned above, I wasn't sure how I felt about this card initially.  Obviously, this won't see as much action in solo, and the three resources from three different resource pools can be rough.  In both cases, the downsides aren't that bad.  Even in solo play, getting two allies out could still be very strong, and mono-Leadership is one of the strongest mono-spheres in the game.  I'm very excited to play around with this card.
The Door is Closed is a very interesting play on A Test of Will.  For one Lore resource, you may discard any revealed encounter card.  The stipulation is, however, that a card with the same title has to be in the victory display.  Immediately, I think of this in a Rossiel deck.  Whether the card already has victory points on it already, or you use cards such as Out of the Wild to put them in there, this card takes a little bit to setup.  It seems like it could be OK, but at the same time, just like Rossiel, could whiff.
Side Quest
Send for Aid finishes the set of side quests for each sphere.  When this is played, each player gets to search the top 10 cards for an ally and put it into play under their control.  This ability is similar to other events such as The Eagles are Coming!, Mustering the Rohirrim, or Entmoot, where you get to search your deck for a certain trait, but in this case, you get to put them into play, albeit only one.  I could see this working well in a Rohan deck.  Mustering the Rohirrim is similar, but for only one player and they still have to pay to put it into play.  When playing multiplayer, this also benefits all players around.  You could also use hero Gandalf and Wizard Pipe to toss the ally you want on top of your deck to ensure you get a strong play out of playing this side quest.  Strangely, this is the only side quest, thus far, that costs a resource, but Leadership is typically not stretched for resources.  That said, more than likely you will get more than one resource's worth of allies out of this card, which makes it more than worth it.
Final Thoughts
With the release of this adventure pack, I finally feel that the promise of the new Noldor trait has been fleshed out. With Erestor's extra card draw, and the new benefits from discarding, I'm very excited to fully explore our new cards.

Prison Food

Yesterday, FFG dropped a Second Breakfast regarding Escape from Mount Gram.  Instead of summarizing the article, I thought I'd talk about my thoughts on the capture mechanic.  I am excited!  Basically, each player is going to start with one hero, and all other heroes, allies, weapons, etc in a capture deck.  As the quest proceeds, the players will be able to rescue cards from the capture deck. Based on the rules listed on the article, I decided to put together a deck that I think would work well for this quest.

The basic idea of this deck is that Glorfindel would start out on his own, with 40 of the 50 card deck in the capture deck.  The remaining 10 cards (Resourceful, Light of Valinor, Unexpected Courage, A Test of Will, and Elrond's Counsel) would make up the draw deck for the beginning of the adventure.  There's about an 85% chance that Light of Valinor will be in the starting hand, even with just one copy, setting up to have action advantage from turn one.  Boromir should be put on top of the capture deck, with Beorn shuffled in.  After gaining the first capture card, Boromir gets put in play for even more action advantage.

Hero: (3)
1x Glorfindel (Foundations of Stone)
1x Boromir (The Dead Marshes)
1x Beorn (Over Hill and Under Hill)

Ally: (32)
3x Arwen Undomiel (The Watcher in the Water)
3x Bofur (The Redhorn Gate)
3x Curious Brandybuck (The Wastes of Eriador)
3x Defender of Rammas (Heirs of Numenor)
3x Dunedain Hunter (The Lost Realm)
3x Envoy of Pelargir (Heirs of Numenor)
3x Ethir Swordsman (The Steward's Fear)
3x Galadriel’s Handmaiden (Celebrimbor's Secret)
3x Honour Guard (The Wastes of Eriador)
1x Legolas (The Treason of Saruman)
3x Silvan Refugee (The Drúadan Forest)
1x Treebeard (The Antlered Crown)

Attachment: (12)
1x Resourceful (The Watcher in the Water)
1x Light of Valinor (Foundations of Stone)
2x Unexpected Courage (Core Set)
1x Arod (The Treason of Saruman)
3x Dagger of Westernesse (The Black Riders)
2x Gondorian Shield (The Steward's Fear)
2x Rohan Warhorse (The Voice of Isengard)

Event: (6)
3x A Test of Will (Core Set)
3x Elrond's Counsel (The Watcher in the Water)

Thoughts?  Escape from Mount Gram is currently shipping to stores right now, so we should have our hands on the AP soon.  Once it drops, I look forward to if this deck works, and what people are using to beat this unique quest.

The Dread Realm

The final expansion in the Angmar Awakened cycle has been announced.  The Dread Realm concludes the heroes' journey in the north,

The big news of this expansion seems to be the neutral attachment, Sword-thain.  This attachment allows an ally of any sphere to become a hero.  In the article, they line out many different options for using a fourth hero.  I'm especially interested in using it in a Hobbit deck to boost up Merry and Pippin.  

Get ready to finish the fight with the undead in the fourth quarter of 2015.

Derp.

The Battle of Carn Dûm

FFG has announced the fifth adventure pack for the Angmar Awakened cycle of LOTR LCG.  In this adventure, the players will be trying to stop a Sorcerer from complete some vile ritual.  We can expect a number of orcs to fight through, before facing the Sorcerer himself.

In the preview article, FFG teases a new Dúnedain hero, as well as continuing the Valour trait.  One of the most interesting additions is the new attachment, Favor of the Valar.  For the first time, the players have a card which can attach to the threat dial.  This card acts as a reactive threat reducer, where it only triggers when the player would be eliminated, dropping down to five below.  As mentioned in the article, it falls right into the valour trait, since you have to be at 40 threat to trigger those traits, which is a dangerous level.  

We can expect The Battle of Carn Dûm in stores late third quarter 2015.

The Treachery of Rhuduar

FFG has announced the fourth adventure pack in the Angmar Awakened cycle.  The Treachery of Rhudaur has the heroes leaving the troll-infested lands of Across the Ettenmoors, into the undead lands of Rhudaur.  

To really press the side quest mechanic, The Treachery of Rhudaur requires to run through the side quests specific to this adventure.  I can see this as a thematic way to search for your path through this ruined city.

 Also included in this AP is a new and powerful hero, Erestor.  We had previously seen Erestor in ally form, where he allowed you to discard a card to draw a new one.  In this case, he allows the player to draw extra cards at the beginning of the round, but at the cost of discarding all cards in hand.  Per Matt Newmann, this sounds like it will be a theme of the Noldor in this cycle, where cards are discarded for various effects, to represent the decline of their people.  I am very interested to see this effect come into play, as it works very well with Eowyn, as well as Protector of Lorien.  Bringing Erestor to a quest such as The Dunland Trap would be interesting, as many of the effects are regardless of how many cards you draw.  We will get a chance to see these cards in the third quarter of 2015.

Across the Ettenmoors

FFG announces the third adventure pack in the Angmar Awakened cycle: Across the Ettenmoors.  In  this quest, our heroes will journeying through the troll-fells, fighting new troll enemies, such as the Ruthless Hill-troll.

With 12 hit points, he can be nasty, especially if you can't finish him off in one attack.

Here, we see a call back to the Hill Troll of the Anduin, except instead of extra threat, we're seeing lost progress.

In addition to the new quest, players will also get a new tactics hero, promised to boost defense.  Will this be a new power defender, like Beregond, or will he have a passive defensive boost?  I hope the later, as that should help with the new focus on engagement.  We will also see new signal, mount, and Ent cards.  I am very excited for the new Ent cards, as I want to flesh out that archetype further.  We should expect this adventure pack some time in Q3 2015.