Lately I was wondering which are the cards most sought after from each set both from a playing and collecting perspective.
Let's take out of the picture the Balrog set entirely ( and Longbottom Leaf with it) and AS R1, because they are clearly the top stuff each collector is after.
But for TW, TD, DM, LE, WH and other AS, which are the most interesting, powerful cards that still see play today and are mostly looked from collectors?
I'll start with some basic stuff, from a collector standpoint, but would really like to have some help and insight from the seasoned players here.
The Wizards
The One Ring
Assassin
Mouth of Sauron
Adûnaphel***
Akhōrahil
Dwar of Waw
Hoarmûrath of Dír**
Indûr Dawndeath
Khamûl the Easterling
Ren the Unclean**
Ûvatha the Horseman***
Witch-king of Angmar
Thief
The Will of Sauron
Bilbo
The Dragons
Emerald of the Mariner
Winds of Wrath
Thrain II
Wormsbane
Were-Worm
Many Sorrow Befall
Dark Minions
Durin's Bane
Long Dark Reach
Revealed to All Watchers
Aiglos
Lidless Eye
Lidless Eye
The One Ring
We Have Come to Kill
Heedless Revelry
Chill Them with Fear
Uruk-lieutenant
Adûnaphel Unleashed
Akhôrahil Unleashed
Dwar Unleashed
Hoarmûrath Unleashed
Indûr Unleashed
Khamûl Unleashed
Ren Unleashed
The Witch-king Unleashed
Ûvatha Unleashed
The Roving Eye
A Malady Without Healing
Bitter Cold
Freeze the Flesh
Gold Chains in the Wind
Veils of Shadow
Words of Menace and Deceit
Black Rain
Beorning Toll
Elf-Lord Revealed in Wrath
Landroval
Pirates
Thranduil's Folk
Uruk-Lieutenant
Wandering Eldar
Ruse
Ready to his Will
Threats
Plague
Against the Shadow
Thong of Fire
The White Hand
Rolled Down to the Sea
Await the Onset
Girdle of Radagast
The Great Hunt
The White Hand
Thanks
Last edited by CardGameGeek on Fri Dec 08, 2017 11:55 pm, edited 1 time in total.
From Lidless Eye, there's a long list of in-demand cards, especially since I.C.E. made so many utility cards rare. I'd add to your list, at the least:
We Have Come to Kill
Heedless Revelry
Chill Them with Fear
Uruk-lieutenant
Also sought after:
Any of the Unleashed cards, especially Witch-king, Akhorahil, and Hoarmurath
The Roving Eye
Any of the rare magic cards, especially Malady and Black Rain
Rare hazard creatures: Pirates, Thranduil's Folk, Wandering Eldar
Utility resources: e.g. Ruse, Ready to his Will
From other sets, I'm not so sure. I feel like Dragons is easy to find, so not much there that's on demand, apart from perhaps a few useful non uniques like Winds of Wrath. Dark Minions it's harder to find, but also is known for its unique rares, I feel, so easier to fill a playset. White Hand, again, easy to get. Await the Onset, Girdle of Radagast, The Great Hunt, and The White Hand are perhaps among the more desirable cards.
I have a fair collection mostly from love of the cards. I'm not a seasoned player and net deck or use slightly tweaked challenge decks mostly when I do get to play. It would be nice to have this list handy as a bank of utility cards to keep in mind when deck-building.
Kjeld wrote: ↑Mon Dec 04, 2017 3:47 pm
From Lidless Eye, there's a long list of in-demand cards, especially since I.C.E. made so many utility cards rare. I'd add to your list, at the least:
We Have Come to Kill
Heedless Revelry
Chill Them with Fear
Uruk-lieutenant
Also sought after:
Any of the Unleashed cards, especially Witch-king, Akhorahil, and Hoarmurath
The Roving Eye
Any of the rare magic cards, especially Malady and Black Rain
Rare hazard creatures: Pirates, Thranduil's Folk, Wandering Eldar
Utility resources: e.g. Ruse, Ready to his Will
From other sets, I'm not so sure. I feel like Dragons is easy to find, so not much there that's on demand, apart from perhaps a few useful non uniques like Winds of Wrath. Dark Minions it's harder to find, but also is known for its unique rares, I feel, so easier to fill a playset. White Hand, again, easy to get. Await the Onset, Girdle of Radagast, The Great Hunt, and The White Hand are perhaps among the more desirable cards.
This is really useful thanks.
What about AS ? You don't mention it at all, but I am quite sure some of the R2 have a play value, isn't it ?
Also I think, while non unique cards have an higher market value, for a reference unique cards are worth to be taken into consideration as well.
I'll throw out a quick list on the fly, and will try to update later if I think of other cards to include. Some of these will duplicate what Kjeld listed. As a general rule, rare cards which are both non-unique and useful in a great variety of decks SHOULD be the most valuable. For an unknown reason, however, this is not always the case. For example, it is easy to see why Assassin is priced high - one can use 3 per deck and it can be included in just about any deck. On the other hand, a card like The One Ring is only used in very specific decks and you only need one copy. Yet both versions of The One Ring still seem to demand a higher price. Unique cards which are highly useful and can be used in any deck still have higher values (ie. Mouth of Sauron).
WIZARDS
- All 9 Nazgul (Adunaphel and Uvatha being the best; Hoarmurath and Ren being next best; all of the Nazgul are great due to their extreme flexibility: they can be used as a big creature if your opponent goes to a Dark Hold/Dark Domain, they can be used for their special Event ability, or they can be used to access your sideboard).
- Mouth of Sauron
- Assassin
- Thief
- The Will of Sauron
- The One Ring
- Bilbo (unique characters in general aren't all that in demand because you only need one and they aren't used in every deck; however, Bilbo seems to be the highest valued from this set. My guess is that it is because: 1) He is a sage and therefore generally more useful than Frodo who is a diplomat; 2) He was never printed at all in the Dutch version of Wizards; 3) Elrond is reprinted in the Challenge Decks.
DRAGONS
** Keep in mind that due to the extreme over-printing of this set by ICE, none of the cards are all that hard to find or valuable, but these IMO are the most useful overall.
- Thrain II
- Emerald of the Mariner
- Wormsbane
- Were-Worm
- Many Sorrows Befall
DARK MINIONS
- Long Dark Reach (the fact that this card is an R3 makes it easier to get of course)
- Revealed to All Watchers
- Aiglos
THE LIDLESS EYE
** Wow, lots of great cards from this set! I'm just going to name the most prominent that jump out at me.
- The Lidless Eye
- Elf Lord Revealed in Wrath
- Chill Them With Fear
- Heedless Revelry
- We Have Come to Kill
- A Malady Without Healing
- Uruk-Lieutenant
- The Roving Eye
- The One Ring
- Akhorahil Unleashed (typically a spell specific to 1 avatar wouldn't be all that in-demand, but since Akhorahil seems to be the Ringwraith used the most at competitive levels, it seems his spell is in higher demand).
- Threats
- Ready to His Will (in my opinion, this card is less valuable than it should be, possibly due to the fact that it was reprinted in the Challenge Decks).
AGAINST THE SHADOW
** It's not that there aren't any good rares from this set, but most of the rares are used in more specific decks and thus overall less desirable than those that can be used in just about any deck (We Have Come to Kill, etc.). The reduced availability of the cards in this set is therefor what drives prices higher.
- Thong of Fire
THE WHITE HAND
** I feel the non-unique Stage R2s would be more valuable if it weren't for 2 things: 1) They are Avatar specific and thus less overall useful in more decks; 2) Some players (sadly) don't even build Fallen Wizard decks. Radagast certainly is the most popular at the competitive levels, thus likely the reason his non-unique is more valuable.
- Girdle of Radagast
- Rolled Down to the Sea
I updated the first post to reflect your suggestions.
Let me say that would be nice to know the few Deck Specific Cards that are staple in these given decks (Resource and/or Hazard part).
Also while I do understand unique cards are less in demand, I think they should show up on the list for reference to new players as well that may be helped to understand what's good and what not.
The thing is the range of decks you can make is so great that this has to be really subjective.
A lot of inexperienced players want to make one ring decks, which explains why associated cards are so desirable.
Other cards are incredibly overpowered (especially Balrog cards) which explains why they are so desirable too (e.g. Longbottom Leaf).
Then there are cards that are desirable because everyone knows they are powerful, but really they are not as powerful as people think - like the Assassin card. This was the most powerful card in the original set.
For casual players the 'theme' is probably as important as the 'power' of the deck. For example, I like building decks around Galadriel for some reason - probably because I like the art on the card, and she just seems really cool.