#2 Ally for Cost Value - Wandering Ent

The runner-up in our list of Allies with the best Cost Values is the humble Wandering Ent. This Lore ally is found in the Celebrimbor's Secret adventure pack from the Ring Maker cycle expansions. His Cost Value is 225%.

As we have already noted, Lore characters often have average stats in all areas, so you have plenty of options when they are in play. Another thing we have previously noted is that Ents (such as Treebeard and Booming Ent who also had good entries on this list) enter play exhausted to balance their cheap costs.

Wandering Ent is no exception to either of these. When compared to the two Ent cards we have already seen, this one scores even higher possibly because he has no text power at all. Treebeard provided resources and Booming Ent could build up quite a large bonus to their attack, but the Lore Ent is just a plain useful ally.

But to really see how good value he is, we can compare him to a Lore ally released much earlier; Haldir of Lorien. This Ent and Haldir are Lore allies with exactly the same stats, but Haldir costs four resources whereas the Ent only costs half of that! Well, what are we losing when we swap Haldir for the Wandering Ent? The Ent doesn't have the Ranged or Sentinel keywords, but in my opinion the Lore sphere is the best one for solo play anyway. We have the entering exhausted effect, but I'm not convinced that that balances the cheap cost of this tree herder. He is very simple, and very good value. That is why Wandering Ent makes it into second place on this list. So which card is the only card that offers better Cost Value?...

#3 Ally for Cost Value - Vassal of the Windlord

Vassal of the Wondlord took first position in our list for Stat Value and now takes the third position in our list for Cost Value. This Tactics Ally is found in the Dead Marshes adventure pack from the Mirkwood Cycle expansions. His Cost Value is 200%.

As we have already seen in the previous post from the Stat Value list, this eagle earns high places in lists because three attack for a cost of only one resource is amazing value. The catch is that after attacking, the eagle does what so many powerful characters do; it runs away. Before ever playing LOTR LCG you may have thought that the weak, non-unique allies would be the ones constantly running away, but using it to balance powerful cards is now a well-established mechanic in this game.

This is one of those entries that doesn't highlight the ally in the best way; his entry at the top of the Stat Value list better describes the role of Vassal of the Windlord than an entry on the Cost Value list does. He has earned his place here because of low cost, not because of flexible stats.

#4 Ally for Cost Value - Elrond

The fourth position in our list of allies with good Cost Values is the elf who runs Rivendell, Elrond. This Lore ally is found in the Road Darkens box from the LOTR Saga expansions. His Cost Value is 183%.

It is quite normal to see characters in the Lore sphere that have good stats for everything. You are left looking at several good options and wondering which is the best for right now. Elrond is one of these characters, offering particularly good Willpower and Defence

But he offers these at a really good cost. These same stats have been seen before on the Lore ally Gildor Inglorion, who costs five resources. So Elrond's cost of three shows why he has such a good Cost Value! The balance put in by the game designers is that, like Gandalf, he won't stay around for long. He leaves play at the end of the round.

If you consider that whichever stat you use will only be useful for a single round, you may think that Elrond is really just a bit like an Event card. Need to boost a characters attack by two this round? Elrond can effectively do that by entering play and joining with the attack, but paying three resources for this doesn't seem like good value for money any more.

Which is why it is also good that Elrond, like the Core Set version of Gandalf, offers us several options when he enters play. Healing and drawing a card are both useful, but Lore already offers several other cards for these. What makes Elrond stand out most is that he is only the third card released that allows you to discard Condition Attachments. This, all by itself, may be the reason you want to include him in your deck.

#5 Ally for Cost Value - Treebeard

The fifth Ally in our list of allies with a great Cost Value is Treebeard. This neutral Ally is found in the Antlered Crown adventure pack from the Ring Maker cycle. His Cost Value is 175%.

Treebeard is the most well-known Ent character from Lord of the Rings, and appears in the trilogy as a leader of the tree herders. Like all Ents, he enters play exhausted because he is not willing to be hasty and get involved too quickly. But from the next round onwards, you find that your four resources have been well spent! He has average Willpower and very good attack and defence values.

So he would be considered good value for money anyway, but if you have any other Ent allies in your deck then the resources he collects effectively mean you get money off for playing them!

Last but not least, even if Treebeard is the only Ent in your deck, he can still be really useful. Like Gandalf, the fact that he is a neutral card makes him useful in multi-sphere decks. Also, every other round you can use his resources to get some action advantage; need a good push on questing but not sure if you will have enough defenders if another enemy appears? Treebeard can quest, and then (assuming you didn't do it in the previous round) spend his resources to ready himself when you know you need an extra defender or attacker later on.

#6 Ally for Cost Value - Booming Ent

The sixth best Ally for Cost Value is the ferocious tree herder, the Booming Ent. This tactics Ally is found in the Antlered Crown adventure pack from the Ring Maker expansion cycle. His Cost Value is 175%.

I do like the mechanic used for Ents that states they enter play exhausted. That, combined with the inability to have restricted attachments, gives a great feeling that these beings are big and powerful, but never hasty to enter the battle. This particular Ent is apparently a loud one, who gets stronger (and presumably louder) when any of his Ent friends have been wounded.

This Ally should cost, according to the formula, three and a half resources. Getting him for only two, with the balance of needing to wait one round before he actually does anything, seems like a good deal. Two attack (minimum) and two defence makes him useful in the combat phase of each round, as we would expect from the Tactics sphere.

He should be useful in any quest that involves combat, unless perhaps the quest is one which plunges you straight in the deep end and requires ally aid from the very first round.

#7 Ally for Cost Value - Gandalf

We begin our list of the top Allies for Cost Value with two cards for the price of one. In (joint) seventh place we have the Ally version of Gandalf. The grey wizard is a neutral ally found in both the Core Set and the first of the two Hobbit Saga expansions. His Cost Value is 160%.

Gandalf is not the only Ally character who we have two versions of; there are also two version of Bofur. But unlike Bofur, the two Ally versions of Gandalf have exactly the same cost and stats, which is why they are paired into a single item on this list.

The Cost Value formula works out that Gandalf should have a cost of eight resources to play him, but his relatively low cost of five is what earns him a place towards the top of the current list.

The low cost for such good all-purpose stats is balanced by the fact that he is reluctant to stay with you. The Core Set version will leave play automatically at the end of a round, and the Hobbit version of this powerful Istari will do the same unless you raise your threat each round by an additional two.

Although five resources is higher than average for an Ally, we do get a character that can be useful in any deck. Whether you need cards, damage dealt to enemies, threat reduction or a character who can be both an amazing quester and defender or attacker in the same round, Gandalf is worth a place in most, if not all, decks. The fact that he is a neutral card also means he becomes even more useful in multi-sphere decks.