I'm hoping veteran players here could help our group with deciding on what to purchase next.

To give a summary of our situation first, I have a local group of friends (4 of us) that started playing last fall. We try to play weekly together. We started out with the Core set & Clash of Arms expansion (up to 3 of each). Now that we've been playing awhile we are ready to mix in more cards to allow for more options. We held off opening up everything into our "meta" at first to help with costs, keep it simpler to start, and also see if we liked the game long enough to keep playing. Obviously, we're having fun and eager for more.

So the question is... what would you recommend we purchase next to introduce into our available card "meta"? We don't want to bring everything in, yet, and like adding something appropriate to slowly work our way to the current releases. We like the idea of staying chronological and playing just how it was released previously, but also want to get the best bang for our buck. It's temping to mix in Greyjoy/Martell deluxe expansions sooner (coming back to chapter pack expansions later) so we'll have more house variety sooner and so we can better utilize Greyjoy/Martell cards we already own. We realize choices could dictate having to restrict certain cards temporarily (shadows/seasons for instance).

Here are the choices we believe would be best:

1. Time of Ravens Expansion

2. Kings Landing Expansion

3. Kings of the Sea

4. Princes of the Sun

5. Combination of the above

The only real restriction is trying to keep costs reasonable so we can invest in chunks at a time and enjoy additional strategies to their fullest before we add in more. Our initial thought was to go with the Time of Ravens expansion now, Kings Landing & Kings of the sea for our next future purchase, and finally Princes of the Sun & Defenders of the North to finally catch back up to current releases. However, we're toying with the idea of getting Kings of the Sea/Princes of the Sun now and holding off on more chapter pack expansion(s) until our next purchase.

What are your thoughts?

I hope that makes sense.

Appreciate the insight!

I would start with Kings of the Sea and Princes of the Sun for just the reasons you mention. If you want "bang for your buck" you'll get way more mileage with those sets adding two new houses to your options, not to mention cards which fit well into other houses (e.g., Make an Example [great in Baratheon], Ser Jorah Mormont, and the Kings and Queens from KotS). Then as you add chapter packs later, you'll be getting the most out of the Greyjoy and Martell cards in those packs as well.

longclaw said:

That was our thought too, but we were concerned we didn't know the expansions well enough to know if that may be a mistake by skipping chapter packs. Appreciate the insight!

I agree with longclaw's point in general, but another consideration (since you're planning on getting everything eventually) is whether you're happy with the deckbuilding options you have now or would like a broader card pool. Buying Kings of the Sea and Princes of the Sun will allow you to build two more with roughly the same amount of deckbuilding options as you currently have for the four Core Set houses right now (and give you some things for the Core Set houses too, but not too much). Buying A Time of Ravens and/or King's Landing Edition will increase the options you have for your Baratheon, Targaryen, Lannister and Stark decks but still not really give you enough for Martell and Greyjoy decks.

As for your concern, there are a few cards in KotS and PotS that have a Shadows crest and one in PotS that works with Summer, but I wouldn't let that stop you from getting them before the expansions. Also, there are a number of cards in King's Landing Edition that interact with Summer/Winter. I don't think I'd let that stop me from getting King's Landing Edition before A Time of Ravens if I were much more interested in the shadows mechanic than the seasons mechanic, but that's getting to be a bit more of a judgment call.

I too would get the expansions (KotS and PotS) before the chapter packs. After that, I would buy King's Landing before any of the other chapter packs. It was the first cycle made especially for the LCG format, and in my opinion, it was absolutely amazingly well done.

Hey all,

I'm of the mind that the more houses one has to choose from, the better. That said, I'd go for the Kings of the Sea and Princes of the Sun expansions. This way, you'd have Greyjoy and Martell to consider as well as the four others from the Core Set. I like what they did with the PotS, giving us two of each card in the expansion. Some nice cards in there too.

Now, after that, I'd recommend Winds of Winter and Song of Summer for some winter and summer options. Not everyone is a fan of the seasons, but I think they add some flavor to the game, and I actually prefer seasonal play to the new shadow mechanic.

Good luck, and hope your meta enjoys the game as much as I have over the past two years or so.

ASoIaFfan