Anyone got some pointers on deck building. I looked at tzumainn.com and didn't really see an article about "Beginner Deck Building".

I've got a core set and one of each of the first set of chapter packs. I mostly just plan on adding too the core decks and maybe switching out some cards till I get up to 60 cards.

Are there any good rules of thumb for how many events, characters, and attachments to have in a deck?

Thanks much

I'll give you some general rules (not imperative), just for good balancing and to give you something to think about.

1- Try to stay into the minimum/maximum number of cards. Generally, if the minimum is 60, is because the basic game interactions work at the maximum level with that number of cards. Let's try to build up a deck of excactly 60 cards (even, as a flavor note, one championship was won with an 80 cards deck, but that's another thing)

2- When you decide the House you wanna play, I'd try to figure out the "type" of deck you wanna play.

I think we can list 4 different types of deck (it's not an imperative rule, but it could help you):

- Aggro: who hits first hits twice. Generally these decks are Characters-based, with lots of low cost cards, some improvement by locations and attachments and key events/abilities to get rid of control decks (Heavy military decks, Power token rush).

- Control: aggro decks need 3/4 rounds to win (maybe 2 or 3, but we're talkin' about basic deckbuilding). Control decks need 3/4 rounds to gain control of the game, but when they do it, they gain some advantage that's difficult to get rid of (card advantage, i.e.). The idea is to gain table control, using events and strong abilities, in order to reduce the oppo's choices and possibilities. Lock the oppo. (heavy intrigue decks, removals, more events/locations than usual, "heavy" chars).

- Combo: a combo deck is generally based on an interaction between cards that lets you win the game or, at least, lets your oppo without any possibility to win.

- Toolboxing: you can involve toolboxing in any kind of deck, even if I'd like to list toolbox decks as a separate category. It's like you want to have an answer for just about every question. You've not a basic idea and a deck that turns around it...You have a lot of "utility" cards and different ways to get them, in order to be competitive against the most different types of decks.

Said this...

I suggest you to start up with a Stark Deck (not because I find Stark simple, but because their basic mechanics and the military challenge are the most direct in the game).

With this quantities, we'll get an Aggro/control deck, that lets you avoid the basic treaties and get the right advantage on military challenge and, in consequence, chars advantage.

Characters

- 11/12 Strong/Key/Unique chars (Eddard, Arya, Greatjon): good strength, strong abilities. They are both "utility" and "aggressive". Consider that these chars "have" to be the chars you pay the most (this is a rule of thumb to take care of the cost curve, that's pretty important).N.B.: Ignoring the duplicate rule, right now, just pick up "1x" them.

Core Set suggestions: Eddard, Arya, Greatjon Umber, Jon Snow, Jory Cassel, Catelyn.

- 9/10 Medium chars (avg cost: 2/3): nice abilities and good STR/COST ratio.

Suggestions: House Umber Berserkers, Jory Cassel, Winterfell reserves.

- 5/8 Utility chars (avg cost: 1/2): I usually pick up some of them. Support abilities, challenges tricks, cost reduction, STR manipulation, etc.)

Core Set suggestions: Knight of the thumlestone, direwolves in general, house umber recruiter.

TOT: 26 (more controlling decks) 30 (more aggro decks)

Locations

- 6/10 Cost reduction, gold producing, influence producing (if needed).

Suggestions: Northern fieldoms, Great Keep, Narrow sea, Lord Eddard's Chambers.

- 3/5 Utility/Key locations, depending on the strategy you're using (kneelin' locations, table control, draw improvement, recursion, etc.)

Suggestions: Winterfell Castle.

N.B. DO not use too many limited locations. They can give you troubles on set up and become a problem during the game.

Attachments

- 6/8 STR control/char saving/text manipulation depending on the strategy.

Suggestions: Icy Catapult, Ice, Summer.

Events

- 8/10 draw/kneel/kill effects...I suggest you some KILL and TUTOR effects for stark.

Suggestions: Guilty, Winter is coming, To be a wolf.

TOT (Aggro choice): 30 Chars/15 Loc/7 Att/8 events = 60 cards.

Plots: The choice in the LCG format is limited. Try to pick up some high initiative plots with average incoming of 3+ (in my Stark deck I have an avg init of 4.4, i.e.)

Suggestions: Fury of the wolf, Ruled by decree, Rains in autumn, Wildfire assault.

I repeat that these are not IMPERATIVE rules (I'm something like a noob too in deckbuilding :-) ), but I've been playin' card games for a while and it helped me when someon gave me the same suggestions.

Hope it helps, my friend.

Let me know!!!

Bye

DB.

While what D.B. gave you is a very good guide, the great thing about deck building is that you can do it however you want and experiment with all different types of options.

Someone like Ser Athur Dayne makes it better for you to have less characters out on the table. some decks are event heavy or locatioon heavey, and everyone seems to have differeing opinions on the number of attachments to run.

My only 'general advice' would be to stick to 10-15 income generating locations until you get the feel for your cold curve [how much resources your deck requires to function at a consistient level].

Lars said:

Good point, Lars :-)

What I forgot to write (even if I wrote a lot, sorry :-) ) is the most important thing: do whatever you like the most.

With time you'll notice that this general "suggestions" could mean nothing to you, my friend.

My only aim was to give you some guidelines for a basic building, nothing more, even if it seemed that I was writing something like a "Deckbuilding - The Ultimate secret" textbook :-P

We wait your first building, man...

Hurry up.

Winter has come.

:-)

I got my core set and one of each of the first 6 chapters. I built decks mostly by fluffing out the core decks with cards from the chapter packs to bring them up too 60. Thanks for all of your input. Now I just need to find someone to play againest. I did play one solitaire game Stark vs Baratheon, Stark won but I think that had something to do with poor shuffling as I had Ned and 3 Midnight Sentries out by turn 2 or 3. (I believe that the Sentries ability stacks, correct?)

Thanks for the help, and if any of you happen to be in North Dakota, let me know and we'll play a game. - Stu

yup midnight sentries stack.

look here, http://new.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_foros_temas.asp?efid=21&efcid=4, for players in your area. YOu might even start up a thread.

uberursine said:

I used to play alone for a while...You'll find someone and you'll be trapped by this wonderful game ;-)

Ned + 3 Midnight sentries is a GOOD shuffling, not a poor one!! :-)

Let's write and ask for any suggestion you might need.

I like Midnight Sentries so much, I'm playing those Stark Bannermen who grant Stalwart to people they attach to.

Oh, thank you so much for the tips!

I bought my first Starter deck today, together with some random guy at our local game-shop. Never heard of this cardgame before, but HEY! I really liked it, EVEN if it was a little complicated at first... But after 2 matches it went pretty smooth

ninjafisk said:

So...Welcome to the game, my friend!!

Basic rules are not too complicated...But some game situations can be very difficult to get rid of, especially whit 3 or 4 chars per side with combined Deadly, renown, stealth and so on.

If you accept a suggestion: try to understand the timing of the game as soon as possible, in order to play correctly. At the beginning it can be rough to learn, but it's very, very important.

Enjoy the game and the boards, man!

DB_Cooper said:

Oh, thanks a lot for all tips ^^ I need all info I can get.

HAPPY NEW YEAR BY THE WAY!

And, one more thing... How often does there come new cards to AGOT? There are 3 diferent types of boosters, right?

new cards once a month and they come out in what are called Chapter Packs.

The older cards can be found in many forms.

First of all, since it's my first post here i'd like to say 'Hi' to everyone.

Few days ago me and some friends of mine have decided to get into AGoT LCG (with it being based on Martin and switch to LCG we fianlly gave in).

So, with few games with Core Set behind us and recently bought chapter packs I have some general deck building questions and this topic seems like a good place to ask them.

Here it goes:

1. Is there any general rule regarding ratio of the different card types in a deck, as in how many Event/Character/Attachment/Gold and Non-gold Locations should i normally put in my deck ?

2. Concerning Lannister - is the ratio the same if i'd like to build intrigue oriented deck for example ?

And two rules questions as i want to be sure:

3. Abilities on characters in play may be played many times per turn if all conditions are met ? For example: Bringers of Law can defend many challanges per turn or i can decrease strength with Drogon as long as i have enough gold in treasury ?

4. Can i stand standing character ?

Thanks for the answers.

p.s.

not really the rules question but maybe i can avoid creating new topic for this: when you enter FFG's AGoT site there is a little flash intro near the top.

Can anyone tell me what's the name of the card that the last art (the one when the 'The only game that matters' text appears) in the intro is taken from ?

Welcome! You and your friends will enjoy the game. It is one of the best customizable-deck card games you'll ever see.

pete said:

There isn't really anything hard and fast. Many times, it depends on the strategy you are pursuing and what you need to pull it off. In general, people usually try to go 40-50% characters, 20-25% resource cards (gold producing locations, reducers, etc.) and the remaining 25% or so split between non-resource locations, events and attachments. And yes, it is advisable to lump events and attachments into the one category of "game modifiers" when building decks. They serve different functions in the game, but they essentially fill the same "deck slots."

pete said:

There is nothing particularly different about the general deck ratio for Lannister or some other intrigue-based deck. What IS different is the icon mix of the characters you choose in those slots, probably a little heavier on events than attachments in the "game modifiers" category, and maybe a little lighter on resource cards because there are some characters that can serve double duty in that particular Lannister strategy.

pete said:

That is correct. Just be aware of ALL the play conditions and restrictions. For example, any "Response" effect can only be used once for each game event it is responding to. (A really clear example of that is Robb Stark in the Core Set; after you win a challenge with him, you only get to kill one character with his Response effect, not every character they have under the justification that "the 'after you win a challenge in which Robb participates' conditions are still true.") Oh, and while you can use Drogon as many times as you have gold, notice that his ability has a self-imposed limit of one time per phase.

pete said:

You technically can try, unless the effect specifically says to stand a kneeling character. However, if you do stand a character that is already standing, the standing effect is not considered to have been successful. So, if you have a Response to "after a character stands," you would not be able to trigger it because no character actually stood. And, if you are using any of the events that say "stand a character to do (whatever)," since standing a character that is already standing is not considered successful, yo haven't paid the cost. And if you haven't paid the cost, you cannot have the effect.

Make sense?

pete said:

That particular picture (we're assuming it's Cersei) has not been released on a card in the CCG or LCG that I am aware of.

Thanks, everything's perfectly clear. I appreciate your detailed explanations.

We're after a few games with Core Set only and the game is really fun to play. Time to leave the safe confines of the CS and experiment a bit.