Gloin (Hero)

Card Talk Season 1 Episode 4
- Video episode
- Audio episode
Cycle
- Shadows of Mirkwood
Set
- Core Set / Revised Core Set

Player Card Categories
- Resource Acceleration

Pain is truly gain with this hero.

Background

Gloin was a member of Thorin’s Company in the quest to retake Erebor and father of Gimli. Gloin in The Hobbit is described as wearing a white hood and good at making fires. He fought in and survived the Battle of Five Armies. Afterwards, his share of the treasure made him wealthy.

He also appears in The Fellowship of the Ring. He and Gimli had come to Rivendell to inquire about Balin’s colony at Moiria. He tells Frodo about Erebor since the Battle of Five Armies while he recovers from the Morgul blade wound. He also speaks at the council relating how a messenger from Mordor came to Erebor asking about Hobbits.

Card Theme

Gloin trading damage for resources is pretty thematic. This is if you consider he took long arduous journey, fought in a big battle, lost some kin in the process, but in the end had a lot of gold to show for it all. Some players will be refer to resources as money or dollars since you have to pay to play the card. Once the resources are spent they’re gone until the player gains more. The mechanics work then work to represent Gloin’s wealth from retaking Erebor although it came at a personal cost.

Card Synergies and Interactions

Healing

Healing lets a player basically turn Gloin into a resource generation machine. The Core Set included Self Preservation that did this well since it healed 2 damage a round. Many of the enemies in the first cycle had 2 attack that was fairly safe to take undefended. It could be assigned to Gloin and fully healed with Self Preservation. It essentially turned into second Steward of Gondor.

Darrowdelf, the second cycle, introduced the best healing card in the game with Warden of Healing. One point of healing isn’t great for Gloin, but then Elrond hero also released in the same cycle. Elrond boosts to healing 2 damage. The Warden’s action also lets it ready for 2 Lore resources. Giving Gloin a Lore resource icon then lets him take damage again and again. Then use the resources generated to just heal it all. The Warden then at the same time can heal 2 damage from any other character.

There were of course other healing cards introduced in later cycles. Many the healing cards were more one time effects that aren’t as effective as Self Preservation or Warden. Then the last cycle introduced 2 more healing attachments with easily repeatable healing. Well Preserved in particular is fantastic for Gloin. It can be found with The One Ring at the start of the game, gives Gloin +1 hit point, and will heal all damage once per round. It is fast to set up and get Gloin generating resources from taking damage right at turn 1.

Song of Healing trades cards in hand for 1 point of healing. It synergizes with Gloin thanks to Elven-light. Once Gloin has the Spirit icon, his resources can be used to draw cards. Elrond allows Gloin to net 1 resource for each Elven-light discarded and played.

Hit Point Boosts

The more hit points Gloin has, the more damage he can take at once. This has become more important as the game introduced enemies with higher and higher attack values to allow Gloin to absorb those attacks safely.

Damage Redirection + Ent Heroes

The other trick to generating resources on Gloin is have him take damage. Defending enemy attacks, undefended attacks, damage from the Archery keyword, or other encounter direct damage effects are always options available. There are limits to this especially in multiplayer since players are limited to one optional engagement each. Song of Mocking helps get around the limitation on engaging enemies. Another play just has to make sure to assign all damage to the hero selected by Song of Mocking. It is not limited and multiple copies can go on Gloin to cover more players. Vigilant Guard is similar although it doesn’t move all damage. It has 3 big advantages over Song of Mocking.

It gives Gloin 2 additional hit points.
The damage is redirection is a response.
It is not limited to damage deal to heroes.

Gloin will need to gain the Warrior trait from Mighty Warrior. Once set up, however, just any source of damage can be sent to Gloin. This is huge because with the 2 Ent heroes, players can trigger the resource generation. Treebeard hero is best for this since the ability only deals 1 damage, and he can use his ability 5 times per phase. He won’t get the bonus if the damage is redirected because he isn’t paying the damage cost. Still 5 resources in a single phase is a Gandalf ally into play. Quickbeam can also work for this although he will still take a damage and it can only be used 1 per phase. Quickbeam also has to exhaust first before the action will work.

Resource Smoothing

Resource smoothing really opens up what players can do with the pile of resources on Gloin. I previously mentioned that with Lore or Spirit icons, Gloin can continuously ready Warden of Healing or draw cards from Elven-light. Narvi’s Belt and A Good Harvest are two of the best smoothing options since they can smooth for any sphere over a phase. The cycle of Song attachments provide a more permanent way for Gloin to get the right resource icon.

High Cost Cards

Gloin can enable playing some of the most expensive and powerful cards in the game even including his son, Gimli. Players can get unique allies with hero level stats and abilities, make an ally into hero, ready all their characters, or have a heroes (or all heroes in valour) defend and attack without exhausting.

Dunedain Allies

The Dunedain allies work very well with Gloin enabling their engaged enemy bonuses and providing much needed resources. Many of the Dunedain allies cost 3 or more resources and more resources in all spheres can help get them into play. A built up Gloin ideally with healing and plenty of hit points can just take several undefended attacks making it easier for Dunedain to keep enemies engaged round after round.

Ring Rating

Card Talk uses the highly scientific yet arbitrary scale of 1 ring for the card to rule them all to 10 to be cast back into the fiery chasm from whence it came.

I rate Gloin at 3 rings. He basically has a whole deck type centered around his ability to turn damage into resources. There isn’t just one build of it, but most of the very effective ones do share a few cards in common like Elrond hero and Warden of Healing. The Gloin voltron deck though is very vulnerable to attachment removal from the encounter deck. It can also be quite slow to set up. They can do some crazy combos like drawing the entire player deck in a few turns, reduced all player threat to zero, or attack every enemy in the staging are without heroes exhausting. The investment in Gloin can be very worthwhile.

There are some builds are less centered on Gloin using just a little healing and not going all in on additional hit points. Core Set builds in particular work well as an alternative to Steward and gain action advantage by taking undefended attacks. These less centric builds can even include Dwarf decks considering he will have 3 willpower and 3 attack when Leadership Dain is in play and ready. The addition of Well Preserved with The One Ring I think makes it easier to include Gloin without having the entire deck center around maximizing his ability. His threat cost of 9 is not high although he doesn’t bring much stat wise with 2 willpower and attack (sans Dain), but he can still slot in pretty well into a variety of decks.

Dave – 5

Grant – 7
Ted – TBR
Matt – 3

External Links

Sample Decks

The Dain and the Discard by Dave Walsh

A Dwarf Mining voltron deck although Gloin is really only used for Leadership access.

The Dain and the Discard

Main Deck

Hero (3)
Dáin Ironfoot (The Ghost of Framsburg)
Gandalf (The Road Darkens)
Glóin (Core Set)

Ally (17)
2x Erebor Guard (The Sands of Harad)
3x Erebor Toymaker (Mount Gundabad)
3x Ered Luin Miner (Temple of the Deceived)
3x Ethir Swordsman (The Steward’s Fear)
2x Gimli (The Treason of Saruman)
1x Glorfindel (Flight of the Stormcaller)
3x Warden of Healing (The Long Dark)

Attachment (24)
1x Ancestral Armor (Roam Across Rhovanion)
2x Gandalf’s Staff (The Road Darkens)
1x Hardy Leadership (Shadow and Flame)
2x King Under the Mountain (On the Doorstep)
2x Narya (The Grey Havens)
1x Ring of Barahir (The Steward’s Fear)
2x Ring of Thrór (The Ghost of Framsburg)
2x Shadowfax (The Treason of Saruman)
1x Silver Lamp (The Voice of Isengard)
3x Squire’s Helm (The Withered Heath)
2x Steward of Gondor (Core Set)
3x Unexpected Courage (Core Set)
2x Wizard Pipe (The Road Darkens)

Event (15)
3x Durin’s Song (Khazad-dûm)
3x Hidden Cache (The Morgul Vale)
3x The Galadhrim’s Greeting (Core Set)
3x Well-Equipped (The Blood of Gondor)
3x Will of the West (Core Set)

3 Heroes, 56 Cards
Cards up to Mount Gundabad

Decklist built and published on RingsDB.

My strongest Core Set deck for solo play – revised for 202 by warlock000

Core Set only deck that can handle each of the Core Set quests in campaign mode.

Main Deck

Hero (3)
Beravor (Core Set)
Éowyn (Core Set)
Glóin (Core Set)

Ally (20)
1x Beorn (Core Set)
2x Erebor Hammersmith (Core Set)
2x Faramir (Core Set)
3x Gandalf (Core Set)
1x Gléowine (Core Set)
2x Guard of the Citadel (Core Set)
1x Henamarth Riversong (Core Set)
1x Longbeard Orc Slayer (Core Set)
2x Miner of the Iron Hills (Core Set)
1x Northern Tracker (Core Set)
3x Snowbourn Scout (Core Set)
1x Son of Arnor (Core Set)

Attachment (14)
1x Celebrían’s Stone (Core Set)
1x Dark Knowledge (Core Set)
2x Forest Snare (Core Set)
2x Protector of Lórien (Core Set)
3x Self Preservation (Core Set)
3x Steward of Gondor (Core Set)
2x Unexpected Courage (Core Set)

Event (16)
3x A Test of Will (Core Set)
1x Ever Vigilant (Core Set)
2x For Gondor! (Core Set)
2x Hasty Stroke (Core Set)
2x Lore of Imladris (Core Set)
3x Sneak Attack (Core Set)
3x Stand and Fight (Core Set)

3 Heroes, 50 Cards
Cards up to Core Set

Sideboard

Ally (2)
1x Erebor Hammersmith (Core Set)
1x Guard of the Citadel (Core Set)

Event (1)
1x Ever Vigilant (Core Set)

Decklist built and published on RingsDB.

Gloin Resource Engine (Single Core Only) by Tribster

Core Set only deck focused on Gloin gaining resources to play allies and build up the board state.

Gloin Resource Engine (Single Core Only) 6.0

Main Deck

Hero (3)
Denethor (Core Set)
Glóin (Core Set)
Glorfindel (Core Set)

Ally (20)
3x Daughter of the Nimrodel (Core Set)
2x Erebor Hammersmith (Core Set)
2x Faramir (Core Set)
3x Gandalf (Core Set)
2x Gléowine (Core Set)
3x Guard of the Citadel (Core Set)
1x Henamarth Riversong (Core Set)
2x Longbeard Orc Slayer (Core Set)
2x Miner of the Iron Hills (Core Set)

Attachment (10)
1x Celebrían’s Stone (Core Set)
1x Dark Knowledge (Core Set)
2x Forest Snare (Core Set)
2x Protector of Lórien (Core Set)
2x Self Preservation (Core Set)
2x Steward of Gondor (Core Set)

Event (20)
2x Common Cause (Core Set)
2x Ever Vigilant (Core Set)
2x For Gondor! (Core Set)
1x Grim Resolve (Core Set)
3x Lore of Imladris (Core Set)
2x Lórien’s Wealth (Core Set)
2x Radagast’s Cunning (Core Set)
2x Secret Paths (Core Set)
2x Sneak Attack (Core Set)
2x Valiant Sacrifice (Core Set)

3 Heroes, 50 Cards
Cards up to Core Set

Decklist built and published on RingsDB.

The Dain and the Discard by Dave Walsh

A Dwarf Mining voltron deck although Gloin is really only used for Leadership access.

The Dain and the Discard

Main Deck

Hero (3)
Dáin Ironfoot (The Ghost of Framsburg)
Gandalf (The Road Darkens)
Glóin (Core Set)

Event (15)
3x Durin’s Song (Khazad-dûm)
3x Hidden Cache (The Morgul Vale)
3x The Galadhrim’s Greeting (Core Set)
3x Well-Equipped (The Blood of Gondor)
3x Will of the West (Core Set)

3 Heroes, 56 Cards
Cards up to Mount Gundabad

Decklist built and published on RingsDB.

DúneGlóin by Seastan

Gloin’s resources help play and power up the Dunedain.

Main Deck

Hero (3)
Elrond (Shadow and Flame)
Glóin (Core Set)
Mablung (The Nîn-in-Eilph)

Ally (20)
3x Dúnedain Hunter (The Lost Realm)
2x Dúnedain Watcher (The Dead Marshes)
2x Fornost Bowman (The Dread Realm)
2x Galadhrim Minstrel (Trouble in Tharbad)
3x Gandalf (Core Set)
3x Master of the Forge (Shadow and Flame)
2x Warden of Annúminas (The Lost Realm)
3x Warden of Healing (The Long Dark)

Attachment (15)
3x Citadel Plate (Core Set)
3x Narvi’s Belt (Khazad-dûm)
3x Self Preservation (Core Set)
3x Song of Mocking (The Dead Marshes)
3x Song of Wisdom (Conflict at the Carrock)

Event (15)
3x A Good Harvest (The Steward’s Fear)
3x Daeron’s Runes (Foundations of Stone)
3x Deep Knowledge (The Voice of Isengard)
3x Peace, and Thought (Shadow and Flame)
3x Sneak Attack (Core Set)

3 Heroes, 50 Cards
Cards up to The Dread Realm

Sideboard

Ally (2)
1x Fornost Bowman (The Dread Realm)
1x Warden of Annúminas (The Lost Realm)

Attachment (3)
3x Boots from Erebor (Khazad-dûm)

Event (3)
3x We Are Not Idle (Shadow and Flame)

Decklist built and published on RingsDB.

Seventeen a Round by Seastan

Gloin gains 17 resources per round thanks to Treebeard hero + Song of Healing + Elven-light. Note,

Main Deck

Hero (3)
Elrond (Shadow and Flame)
Glóin (Core Set)
Treebeard (The Treason of Saruman)

Ally (4)
1x Nori (Challenge of the Wainriders)
3x Rivendell Minstrel (The Hunt for Gollum)

Attachment (28)
2x Boots from Erebor (Khazad-dûm)
1x Citadel Plate (Core Set)
2x Dwarven Axe (Core Set)
3x Ent Draught (The Treason of Saruman)
1x Golden Belt (Challenge of the Wainriders)
1x In Service of the Steward (Flight of the Stormcaller)
3x Mighty Warrior (Race Across Harad)
1x Nor am I a Stranger (Conflict at the Carrock)
3x Song of Battle (The Dead Marshes)
3x Song of Healing (The Land of Sorrow)
3x Song of Travel (The Hills of Emyn Muil)
1x Sword-thain (The Dread Realm)
3x Vigilant Guard (A Storm on Cobas Haven)
1x War Axe (The City of Ulfast)

Event (18)
3x A Good Harvest (The Steward’s Fear)
3x Daeron’s Runes (Foundations of Stone)
3x Drinking Song (Mount Gundabad)
3x Elven-light (The Dread Realm)
3x Heed the Dream (Flight of the Stormcaller)
1x Hour of Wrath (The Dread Realm)
1x Oath of Eorl (The Black Serpent)
1x The Hammer-stroke (The Blood of Gondor)

3 Heroes, 50 Cards
Cards up to Challenge of the Wainriders

Sideboard

Event (2)
1x Khazâd! Khazâd! (Khazad-dûm)
1x The Galadhrim’s Greeting (Core Set)

Decklist built and published on RingsDB.

Gloin (Hero)

Background

Card Theme