We’ve ranked Weapons and Armor with these polls, but this month we looked at the many songs that this game has to offer. Tolkien filled his books with songs and poems, so there were a lot of options to choose from. This list includes both Song attachments and events with the Song trait, just to cover all bases. Each player was allowed to vote for 3 different cards on the list, just because there were so many options.
In total, the poll received 264 votes from players across the entire community. Each song received at least 1 vote, but the winners are pretty obvious. Here is a list of the results.
I did not expect to see a faction-exclusive Song take the top spot, and even then I would have guessed To The Sea! To The Sea! over O Lorien. But I am pleased to see this Silvan cost-reducer getting the top spot. While not crucial, it does make the Silvan deck a lot easier to play. Many of the allies become 1 cost with the trigger of this attachment, allowing you to quickly play some allies you drew back to your hand the previous round. It even works in the combat phase with Thranduil if you had no good targets in the planning phase. It is only limited to once per round, but otherwise the Silvan spam would be unending. It also doesn’t lower the cost of Silvan allies down further than 1, preventing players from playing allies for free with this. But the cost reduction is quite significant and Silvan decks often feature this card. You do hope to see it early, since it won’t do much in the later stages of the game.
Second place goes to To the Sea! To the Sea! which is the Noldor counterpart to O Lorien. This 1 cost Song attachment lowers the cost of the next Noldor ally you play. However, this does cost you something in return. You can lower the cost of the next ally by 1 for each card you discard from your hand. This means that if you want to play a 5 cost ally for 1 resource, you have to discard 4 cards from your hand. Usually, that seems a pretty steep cost, but Noldor and especially Spirit Noldor cards have their tricks to fill your hand back up. Some cards even interact with you having few cards in your hand, so this is a quick way to dump your hand and save some resources. It is also great to get certain cards in the discard pile if you are unable to play them from your hand. My favourite combo is to discard ally Glorfindel for this effect, and then play him from your discard pile.
The first Song event on this list comes in at third place, and is a relatively new card. Drinking Song has quickly become a staple in many decks for its ability to renew your hand and serve as a mulligan mid-game. And if you have an unique Hobbit character, then you even get to draw an additional card. This event gives you better chances at finding your important cards, and you could even play all three copies in quick succession to improve your chances even further. Having no cost, it is a great way to refresh your hand if you cannot use the cards in it right now, and are digging for something. The extra Hobbit trigger also adds to the theme of the card, as Hobbits have some fantastic drinking songs.
I was interested in seeing how the different neutral Song attachments were ranked. These four songs grant a different sphere icon to the attached hero. The Leadership granting Song of Kings comes out on top. This might have been because Brandon voted extra times, but the sphere is quite useful to splash into your deck at times. The other three songs each got only 2 votes, likely because they aren’t as flashy as some of the other songs on this list.
The bottom spots are filled by Hope Rekindled and Song of Mocking. Hope Rekindled isn’t that popular, since Valour decks haven’t been that popular for a long time. Hopefully the new injection of valour cards from the latest cycle will cause this song to find its place in more decks, but since those cards don’t sport the Valour keyword, it isn’t very likely. Song of Mocking is used often in damage-redirect decks, and I do see them used in Gloin decks. But its uses are very few, especially outside of these janky decks.
For October, I have a slightly different poll for everyone. I am curious to learn if people would buy the game again if they somehow lost their current collection. This could be because of a housefire, a burglar who wants to try boardgames, or any other reason. I have added a few options, especially now that it is very difficult to find certain expansions. I am looking forward to the responses on this poll, which can be found in the usual places. I will share the results this time next month.
Vision Of The Palantir 