Hey all,

I'm very much interested in getting into GoT 2.0 when it's released. I currently play board games casually, and then split the rest of my gaming time between X-Wing, Imperial Assault and Armada. They're all great, but all 3 are of course miniatures game and IA and Armada particularly take a while and are a bit tiresome to set up and pack away.

Since getting out of MTG a few years back I miss the quick ease of play that comes with a card game. So GoT 2.0 is a great jumping on point for me, not least because at £10 a month for a new pack it's basically *free*.

BUT - If I did get into it I'd be sharing my gaming time between boardgames, and the 3 aforementioned games. So I'd probably be getting only a handful of GoT sessions in a month. Not playing all the time wouldn't bother me much, as I've always got alternatives. But my main concern would be feeling as if I'm always out of touch or behind the meta.

So my question is: given that a new pack comes out each month, how fast does the meta of LCG's change? Is it basically changing every month with each pack? Or is it slower?

It really does depend. Early on, when adding a new pack (20 cards) will add 10% more cards to the pool, I strongly expect the meta to shift monthly - and then, on average, that'll decrease, with 'spikes' at deluxe boxes that progressively get smaller. Once we hit a certain point, the meta will shift slowly (or be helped along with a restricted list) until rotation starts, and then I'd expect the meta to undergo a huge upheaval every year, as 2 blocks rotate out.

Obviously individual cards can shift the meta and break this pattern, but that's the 'global' pattern I'd expect.

There are quite a few easy ways to keep a finger on the pulse of the meta, though, even when not playing: listen to some podcasts, read articles, or follow a blog or two about the game.

You can expect the meta in an LCG to shift far more slowly than your average CCG.

Because you're familiar with MtG, look at it this way:

In MtG every couple months 150 or so cards are released as part of an expansion. And you're typically getting several expansions per year.

The impact they have on the meta typically is immediate and drastic.

In an LCG, fewer cards are released and overall longer span of time, which will cause a meta to shift more slowly.

Certainly, deluxe boxes that focus on one faction will cause sharper changes in the meta-but those instances have been relatively few and far between.

Another benefit of the LCG model vs the CCG is the lack of chase rares. With equal access to all cards everyone can respond to the meta-shifts relatively easily.

For someone thinking about playing the game casually or even semi-competitively, I don't think you'll have any trouble keeping up with the meta.

Good luck, and welcome to the AGoT community family!

The rate of Meta evolution is also impacted by the FFG mission statement with the "modern" LCGs to keep the Core Set relevant. Three years in, and I can build Core Set Only Netrunner decks that can get the job done. They've made a commitment at the design levels not to make new players buy into the games with boxes of obsolete filler cards.

OK - thanks for the replies guys.

As I've said - I'm not too bothered if I'm not playing it every week - but I would feel frustrated if everytime I came to play it (realistically once or twice a month) I was out of the loop or behind the meta.

I suppose another way of looking at it is that each pack contains 20 unique cards, and there's 8 factions + neutrals + plots. So what they'll be like 1-3 cards per 'section', per pack? And what are the chances of them all being really good/powerful/meta defining?

As long as the meta isn't changing drastically every month then I'm fine

Following up on the comment about Magic, another good comparison would be the Modern Format. Although LCGs will cycle out (except the Core Set) it's going to be a 5 year rotation, which is pretty slow.

Or Magic rotates obscenely rapidly, take your pick.

it also depends on whether a given pack merely augments what's already out or if it introduces a bunch of new concepts. One of the issues I had with the Star Wars LCG was it felt like every pack was veering the game off in a new direction, never giving players the chance to get a feel for what the previous pack could do.

The reason CCGs rotate much faster than LCGs are scheduled to is that they introduce much more cards in each set: a Magic block has about 3 times as many cards as an LCG cycle and both are published over 6 months.

You will only see sweeping changes in boxed sets. However, there will be chapter packs that will have a card(s) that could make a deck jump a tier and add that into the meta.