My bet is that the elemental cycle will push unicorn to the middle tier.

Uni is in a strange spot now, but is a flexible clan to run different strategies, you can use many splashes and they look promising. Comparing to Lion, we have too much "only when attacking" card effects, and this limit too much the deckbuilding.

Crane and Lion are in a weird position now, they still can have decent results against scorpion (who is supposed to be the easy matchup) but against other clans they are struggling. Crane better builds atm are "weaker versions" of scorpion, that rely too much on Yoshi to win. The imperial cycle and phx pack were not nice for Lion and the clan is still "trapped" in the core set strategy. I think they are the most threatened clans to get the uni position after the new cicle.

Dont forget we will get Yoritomo and probably a 4-5 shadowlands neutral card too, propably great targets for gaijin customs.

13 hours ago, L5RBr said:

My bet is that the elemental cycle will push unicorn to the middle tier.

Uni is in a strange spot now, but is a flexible clan to run different strategies, you can use many splashes and they look promising. Comparing to Lion, we have too much "only when attacking" card effects, and this limit too much the deckbuilding.

Crane and Lion are in a weird position now, they still can have decent results against scorpion (who is supposed to be the easy matchup) but against other clans they are struggling. Crane better builds atm are "weaker versions" of scorpion, that rely too much on Yoshi to win. The imperial cycle and phx pack were not nice for Lion and the clan is still "trapped" in the core set strategy. I think they are the most threatened clans to get the uni position after the new cicle.

Dont forget we will get Yoritomo and probably a 4-5 shadowlands neutral card too, propably great targets for gaijin customs.

I think that everyone except Scorpion and Phoenix could end up being bottom tier after the cycle (at least without restricted list), but the most likely would be lion or unicorn, because Policy Debate counters them and Unicorn pretty much need either a lot of very good, or some OP cards, which I don't think that FFG wants to do that.

6 hours ago, Ignithas said:

I think that everyone except Scorpion and Phoenix could end up being bottom tier after the cycle (at least without restricted list), but the most likely would be lion or unicorn, because Policy Debate counters them and Unicorn needs pretty much need either a lot of very good, or some OP cards, which I don't think that FFG wants to so that.

Do you have inside information? Because that sounds like serious conjecture. What if there is a military equivalent to Policy Debate, in the Elemental Cycle, or something better? You say that you "don't think that FFG wants to (do) that," but they did, in some respects, so why not others?

4 hours ago, FunTimeTeddy said:

Do you have inside information? Because that sounds like serious conjecture. What if there is a military equivalent to Policy Debate, in the Elemental Cycle, or something better? You say that you "don't think that FFG wants to (do) that," but they did, in some respects, so why not others?

I don't have inside informations. Even if there is a Military equivalent to Policy Debate (which wouldn't make any thematic sense) it wouldn't change much, because the two best Midrange clans (Dragon & Phoenix) would now stomp Lion with 5-6 discard events instead of 3. I don't think that the powerlevel increase in the first cycle was that high for any clan that wasn't Phoenix and Dragon. And Unicorn would need much more support than that to be even T2.

20 hours ago, LordBlunt said:

maybe the same argument can not be made for AGoT (as the 2nd edition addressed and tweaked the houses), but here too the Lannister continues to dominate quite a bit if my memory serves....

I really don't see a Lannister domination. In fact, I don't see many Lannisters these days...

16 hours ago, Khudzlin said:

I really don't see a Lannister domination. In fact, I don't see many Lannisters these days...

Yeah, at the moment Martell, Targ, GJ and Tyrell are top tier. Lannister Crossing is currently better than Bara, Stark and NW though.

17 hours ago, Khudzlin said:

I really don't see a Lannister domination. In fact, I don't see many Lannisters these days...

Thus, it took a whole new edition, 2nd edition, before Lannister was ‘balanced.’ From what my AGoT gaming buds told me was that Lannister dominated in 1st edition throughout the life of the game. (I might have misunderstood them, which is possible as I never cared for the game and never really gamed it)

that was the point I was trying to make.

1 hour ago, LordBlunt said:

Thus, it took a whole new edition, 2nd edition, before Lannister was ‘balanced.’ From what my AGoT gaming buds told me was that Lannister dominated in 1st edition throughout the life of the game. (I might have misunderstood them, which is possible as I never cared for the game and never really gamed it)

that was the point I was trying to make.

Lannister definitely didn't dominate throughout the life of AGoT LCG 1st edition (2008-2015). There was a period of Lannister domination before I started playing (in 2011), I think, but it didn't last. Can you imagine a single faction dominating a game for 7 years through 12 cycles? That would be an epic fail of the design team...

On 4/24/2018 at 2:01 PM, caseycheesecake said:

How many cavalry do you commit to POL conflicts, by chance? The buff only applies to cavalry...

I think I might just be feeding a troll, but I'll assume this is a genuine question.

Cav cards have pol stats, too. For Example, Shono makes Border Rider more relevant in Pol battles. He makes Outrider swoops more effective. He raises the value of Favored Mount and the Seal.

Unless you are Aggressive Moto. Decks that want two conflicts every turn don't run Aggessive Moto.

On ‎4‎/‎25‎/‎2018 at 3:21 PM, Ignithas said:

I think that everyone except Scorpion and Phoenix could end up being bottom tier after the cycle (at least without restricted list), but the most likely would be lion or unicorn, because Policy Debate counters them and Unicorn pretty much need either a lot of very good, or some OP cards, which I don't think that FFG wants to do that.

On ‎4‎/‎25‎/‎2018 at 10:21 PM, FunTimeTeddy said:

Do you have inside information? Because that sounds like serious conjecture. What if there is a military equivalent to Policy Debate, in the Elemental Cycle, or something better? You say that you "don't think that FFG wants to (do) that," but they did, in some respects, so why not others?

On ‎4‎/‎26‎/‎2018 at 3:51 AM, Ignithas said:

I don't have inside informations. Even if there is a Military equivalent to Policy Debate (which wouldn't make any thematic sense) it wouldn't change much, because the two best Midrange clans (Dragon & Phoenix) would now stomp Lion with 5-6 discard events instead of 3. I don't think that the powerlevel increase in the first cycle was that high for any clan that wasn't Phoenix and Dragon. And Unicorn would need much more support than that to be even T2.

This is a good point - cards will have to be carefully designed, so as to help struggling clans, while not further boosting the top tier. Although you misunderstood me a little (or perhaps I miscommunicated). My point was that there is plenty of room for strong, targeted events to be designed/printed, potentially shaking up the power dynamic. We've seen it already. Lion was #1 out of the gate, and now you're already talking about them being bottom tier. So who knows what could happen? Speculation is fine, and good, and fun, but anticipating the outcome after 6 more unknown packs seems a little...out there.

I agree that Unicorn needs some OP cards to be widely competitive, although in all fairness, OP is a subjective term. Basically, they need some bad*** s***. But who would begrudge them that? They've been limping along, on four hooves no less, since release. Maybe they'll get something really sweet, with no influence, or 4+ influence, which totally alters their place in the environment. It's as reasonable as anything else. Perhaps my faith in FFG is exaggerated, but I can't imagine them watching a single clan suffer, without taking eventual action. Granted, this game is still new, and I'm a patient man.

18 hours ago, FunTimeTeddy said:

This is a good point - cards will have to be carefully designed, so as to help struggling clans, while not further boosting the top tier. Although you misunderstood me a little (or perhaps I miscommunicated). My point was that there is plenty of room for strong, targeted events to be designed/printed, potentially shaking up the power dynamic. We've seen it already. Lion was #1 out of the gate, and now you're already talking about them being bottom tier. So who knows what could happen? Speculation is fine, and good, and fun, but anticipating the outcome after 6 more unknown packs seems a little...out there.

I agree that Unicorn needs some OP cards to be widely competitive  , although in all fairness, OP is a subjective term. Basically, they need some bad*** s***. But who would begrudge them that? They've been limping along, on four hooves no less, since release. Maybe they'll get something really sweet, with no influence, or 4+ influence, which totally alters their place in the environment. It's as reasonable as anything else. Perhaps my faith in FFG is exaggerated, but I can't imagine them watching a single clan suffer, without taking eventual action. Granted, this game is still new, and I'm a patient man.

Yeah, speculations without inside informations are out there and chances are pretty high that I am wrong. But they are also fun and good to reflect in your percieved knowledge about card games and their designer.