Minstrel

Not every trait in this game is as well developed as Dwarves or Noldor. Some of the occupation traits still have some work to do. Such is the case with the Minstrel trait. Though it was first introduced in the Core Set, there have been but 2 other minstrels introduced over the course of 7 years. One of these doesn’t even have the trait, but I decided to include her anyway.

Who are the Minstrels

Minstrels in the game span the Noldor, Silvan, and Rohan trait, with plenty of room for future races. At one point we might see storytellers from among the Dwarves, or a new iteration of Gleowine. The Minstrels we have at the moment are musicians who write the songs about our heroes.

Expansion Packs

The Minstrels in this game are unlocked early on in the game. THough the trait hasn’t been developed yet it may be that the Minstrels will synergise with Songs cards, and Instruments. Either way, these packs contain Minstrels:

Core Set
Hunt for Gollum
Trouble in Tharbad

Spheres

The Lore sphere is the only one that contains the Minstrel trait. This makes sense, as they are storytellers and not the fighting type.

Synergy

The Trait doesn’t have a proper synergy yet, but the allies have a couple of things in common. They are not combat capable unless you use Celeborn or Lords of the Eldar. They do, however, have good willpower for their stats, with the exception of the Rivendell Minstrel, which is a bit overpriced in my opinion. The Minstrels are able to keep your hand filled with cards. Gleowine is quite useful card draw that can target any player. Rivendell Minstrel will allow you to search for any Song card in your deck. This is useful in your Hobbit deck to find Fireside Song. It can also be good to find any of the 4 neutral Song Attachments in order to smoothen out your spheres among your heroes. Galadhrim Minstrel allows you to search the top 5 cards of your deck for any event, and add it to your hand. This is useful for Silvan players to find Tree-People, Island Amid Perils or any other bouncy event.

Synergy with other traits

There is no real synergy yet with Minstrels, but I can see that Songs and Instruments like Silver Harp will be important during the exploration of the trait. For now, it is only guesswork though.

Staples and “Bad” Minstrel cards

I really like Galadhrim Minstrel in a dedicated Silvan deck. It lets you find your events a lot faster. Gleowine is also a good card for any deck that lacks card draw. It is also multiplayer friendly. Too bad that Lore Rohan is very rare and undeveloped.

Rivendell Minstrel is very hard to justify the 3 resources for. 3 Lore resources are very precious and are much better spent on a Wellinghall Preserver. She also doesn’t have any Noldor synergy. The Song you find in your deck will still end up in your hand, I would have preferred that you attach it directly with her effect. That would make her more worth the price.