This is one of my new favorite heroes. Neutral Aragorn is just so versatile and fun. Let's take a look at every title he can start with:

• Chieftain of the North - This is a mediocre title as readying after attacking means the ally can only attack again. In contrast, Elessar and The Renewer can also let the ally defend or quest afterward. However, the fact that it is Tactics makes it unique.

• Elessar - A powerful card that makes the Dunedain archetype of engaging enemies more feasible. It fits fantastically with The Grey Wanderer.

• The Renewer - A fun card that is slightly worse than Elessar because Valiant Determination already exists. However, the healing makes it decent.

• Estel - The strongest of the titles specifically for Aragorn. Combining it with Estel feels great and it can find the cards you need quickly. Think of it as a repeatable Heed the Dream.

• Elf-friend - No. If you want traits, at least use Elessar first.

• In Service of the Steward - Same deal with Elf-friend but even less efficient. Plus, Aragorn never listened to Denethor anyway.

• Wingfoot - This card is a decent option that works best with scrying. Here is a deck I made empowering Wingfoot with the Palantir:

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• Nor am I a Stranger - This one actually has some potential due to the existence of Herugrim and Golden Shield. However, I still don't think it's worth it.

• Protector of Lórien - A fairly boring option that is outshined by Estel. However, using Protector of Lórien with Elven-light is playable. You just need access to the Spirit sphere.

• Strider - This is by far my favorite option. The possibilities with The Grey Wanderer and At the End of All Things are infinite. Combined with the The Grey Wanderer, you can grab a starting attachment other than Strider. Combined with At the End of All Things, you can start without having to mulligan for Strider. You don't even have to worry about the fact that Aragorn is neutral because he gains the other hero's sphere. Here are a couple of decks that I've made leveraging this concept:

ringsdb.com

ringsdb.com

All of these attachments offer fun concepts. Even Elf-friend enables Fair and Perilous or Mirkwood Long-knife. If you want to build a unique deck, give Aragorn a try. He is not quite broken, but I would argue he is the best variant of Aragorn. Thorongil is thematic and powerful with him, especially because of Lore Aragorn. Like the other versions, Sword that was Broken, Ring of Barahir, Roheryn, and Celebrían's Stone. However, his ability makes him the best target for Andúril. Basically, just give him a try. The fan designers deserve it.

Have fun,

NERD

Glorfindel's starting threat is a joke!

As the other reviewer said, his stats warrant 12 threat. Even if we completely ignore his willpower due to the negative associated with it, that would still make Glorfindel a hero with 9 stat total, so that's what his threat should be. When looking at Glorfindel this way (i.e. pretending he has 0 willpower), his negative card text can be expressed as a positive perk, as in "Raise your threat by 1 to add 3 willpower to Glorfindel until the end of the round", further justifying the more balanced 9 starting threat value.

Furthermore, his low threat is exactly the opposite of what we would expect of him thematically. Threat in this game represents the enemy attention we bring to ourselves. That's why the more powerful the heroes, the more starting threat they have. This fits perfectly with the theme of the books, where a high-profile heroes such as Aragorn, Gandalf and others that Sauron deemed to be... well, a threat, drew his attention away while a "nobody" brought the One Ring to be destroyed to Mount Doom. Importantly, the reason Glorfindel did not join the fellowship was that he was so powerful that he would draw all the unwanted attention. So who the heck thought it a good idea to make him the second lowest printed starting threat in the game (and the first at the time of his release)?!

It makes no sense either mechanically nor thematically for this hero to have such a low starting threat. I have Glorfindel in my pet deck myself, but am seriously considering adding a house rule errata to make his starting threat 9.

Hero Gandalf can be a good way to avoid this card. He can see it coming, and Wizard Pipe can let bring it into your hand without drawing it. Otherwise, this is one of the worse burdens. While most of the others have a few points of doomed and surge, this will reveal an additional card in most cases.

I've found the weaver to be quite effective in a deck that features Erestor and Arwen Undómiel. For example, in the planning phase you can play Elrond's Counsel reducing your threat by three and then immediately shuffling it back into your deck by playing the weaver. Given Erestor's innate card drawing you can easily play this event 3+ times a game. You do lose out on the willpower bonus when playing the council in the planning phase, but this is offset, however, by the weaver's one willpower. Finally, when discarding a card to trigger Arwen's ability you can immediately shuffle the card back into the deck by playing the weaver, and with Erestor you will have that card back in hand quickly which you can again discard to Arwen's ability. Great for getting value out of extra copies of unique cards that are already in play!

This is an interesting card. First of all, 1 , 2 , and 2 for a 2 cost ally is very good. The two is especially useful in , a sphere that can struggle to gain significant , and the 1 also comes in handy in case you don't need the (2 resources for two of a stat is generally a good deal with an ally). The extra hit point also comes in handy for absorbing archery damage or other damage from the encounter deck. The hound can't have attachments, but that's alright because it has a great stat line.

If that was it, Loyal Hound would already be a good ally. But it gets better, the pooch also comes with a response. The response is basically a safety net, and every deck could use a safety net around. It's great for guarding against nasty shadow effects, treacheries that cause damage, or letting you defend against a more powerful enemy in a pinch (even against enemies that are immune to player card effects because this affects the hero, not the enemy).

This card combos very nicely with Radagast (because the hound is a creature), enabling his ability, coming in for free with Radagast's Staff, and preventing damage on the wizard (who is likely to be defending anyways). The hound could also work well with Hobbit heroes who could use the safety net with their low . Overall, a great card that is very splashable and can improve almost any deck it is in (and the artwork is amazing too).