I recently bought the core set with a friend, and we each claimed two decks. Him Stark/Baratheon and me Targaryen/Lannister. I'm having a REALLY hard time beating him when he uses his Stark deck and if I play him with Lanni, I get destroyed every time. We are both still new to the game, but have a good grasp on how to play decently well.

Is there anything I can do to counter his Stark deck? Is it just me, or is the Stark core deck that much more powerful than the other starter decks?

Those direwolves are excellent cards. Eddark Stark is great for him since his has stalwart. Winterfell Castle which is just an auto +1 STR for the whole game. If he's having trouble drawing his characters and I have my good ones out, he has the plot card that wipes out all characters from play. I am just about always outgunned in STR so it's tough going trying to win a challenge.

How 'bout some kneel or burn?

That would definitely bring him in line some, but there aren't too many kneel/burn options in the Lannister starter deck that I'm aware of. Can't remember about Targ.

Are you playing the decks straight out of the box or are you modifying them?

kpmccoy21 said:

We're playing them straight out of the core set box, no modifications(yet).

enemy informer, cersei's attendent, and you killed the wrong dwarf are all kneel options in the core set. Lannisport brothel is devestating to keep their best character knelt the whole game.

Try a bodyguard on jamie or just hold all your good cards in your hand until valar hits (stark can't really touch your hand with the core set deck).

two really good events for you in the core set that don't kneel are I'm you writ small, surprise deadly is very good, and devious intentions +2 STR and draw.

Also, do you guys use only one core set? if you build with 2-3 core sets the lanni events and cheap characters really shine over the stark events and cheap characters

There are about 3 repeatable kneel options for Lannister in Core Set IIRC. There are quite a few burn options for Targ. Exploring these options and finding out yourself is half the fun. I've put in just over a dozen play with CS only and I find that Targ has a slight edge over others in CS, but no one house is noticeably dominant. If you add in a few Chapter Packs, you'll find that Lannis have an edge in Joust.

Thanks for the suggestions/tips.

Lars, we just have one core set currently. I never thought to buy any additional core sets. We ordered 4 chapter packs: Scattered Armies, War of Five Kings, A Song of Summer, Battle of Ruby Ford. We made an agreement to give the other person all house cards that correspond with their decks. We will split the neutrals in Scattered Armies, he gets all the neutrals in War of Five Kings, and I get all the neutrals in A Song of Summer and Battle of Ruby Ford.

Those are my options at this point.

you already have the best lanni kneel card then, http://www.tzumainn.com/agot/cards/card.php?card_id=3649

Tommen baratheon (in scattered armies will help you draw and make the King Joff's host (war of five kings) a cheap kneel card (4 gold for 2 kneels). Add that to the carrion bird lion's gate combo in song of summer and his characters soon won't be a problem.

You'll do better after modifying a little bit. Remember that the Core decks were designed primarily for 3-4 person games. In full constructed 1-on-1, Stark usually has trouble with Lannister because, between draw and gold, Lannister can brings and plays more options to the table.

In general, you may want to shift your thinking from character control (something Stark does very well with all their military STR) to card control. Stark vs. Lannister Core Decks puts Stark into a very bad position with the intrigue challenge. Rip as many cards out of his hand as possible - there is almost nothing he can do to stop you. And use the kneel you have to take out his power icons first; remember, he might have 1000 military STR on the field, but when he wins, only one of your characters (the weakest one at that) will usually die. Think of it:

"I come at you in a military challenge for 15 STR."

"Okay. Unopposed. I kill my Cersei's Attendant and use her ability to kneel out your only remaining guy with a power icon. During my challenges, I get an unopposed intrigue and an unopposed power challenge. So I took 1 of your power (the one you got for the unopposed military challenge), 1 of your cards, and got 2 power for unopposed. And you killed my little 1-STR guy."

"But I slammed you with my military challenge!"

"You sure did."

ktom beat me to it, but yes, the decks are meant to be played differently. You won't win consistant military challenges against Stark with Lannister. So don't worry about it to much. Keep putting your claim soak out there and destroy his hand with intrigue challenges.

The only thing that matters is getting your 15 power. It doesn't matter how maby characters you have in play or how many challenges you won, as long as you get 15 power before your opponent. Keep your eye on the prize.

Well, I think I found out why I've been getting smashed when I play my Lannister deck against his Stark. We didn't realize that you can only defend with characters that have the corresponding challenge icon. We thought any character could defend any challenge. Woops, LOL.

That changes everything of course. He wouldn't have many options in defending my intrigue challenges.

oh, yeah that would make a really big difference.

Tugglife2 said:

In fact, he only has 2 options in that whole Core Deck.

Something else I've found a few new folks missing: ties go to the attacker (so one of his 2 options, at 2 STR, is probably not much of a concern for you).

ktom said:

I was one of them. I played two whole matches in the wrong way, before casually reading the correct rule on the manual. We were probably influenced by other games, like Call of Cthulhu, where ties translates in "nothing done", hence the typical supposition mistake. Perhaps that rule aspect should be in bold on the manual.

It took us about a week to figure out the 'tie goes to the attacker' rule. I bet I'll find something else I've been doing wrong in another week.