FFG will undoubtedly get all of the information up and looking pretty soon, but as the earliest Regional, I wanted to get some details up so that if anyone wanted to start making plans, they could.

AGoT 2010 Regionals Event: ChiCON Snow (The Bastard Child of ChiCON....)

When : Saturday May 15th, 2010
Doors open @ 11am
Registration opens @ 11:30am
Registration closes @ 12:45pm
First round starts @ 1pm

Where: Xtreme Games ; 2108 E. Grand Ave., Lindenhurst, IL. 60046
Approx. 5 miles west of I-94 on IL-132 north of Chicago (the Gurnee Mills/Six Flags exit)

Regional Format: LCG Joust
4-5 Rounds of Swiss w/ cut to Single Elimination Top 4 (Swiss rounds and cut can be adjusted based on size of the field).
FFG AGoT Tournament Rules - including banned card list - and the most recent FAQ will be followed.
$8.00 Entry Fee; Decklists required

Legal Card Pool : Core Set, Kings of the Sea Expansion, Princes of the South Expansion, Clash of Arms Chapter Pack Cycle (except for banned cards), Time for Ravens Chapter Pack Cycle, King's Landing Chapter Pack Cycle, Defenders of the North Chapter Packs # 1 - 3 and any additional AGoT LCG cards released for retail distribution by 5/8/2010. ( Note: Official announcements made by FFG regarding Regionals card pool will preempt this information.)

Side Events : AGoT-Speed Joust Tournament; starts approx. 6pm (during single elimination rounds of main event).
AGoT-Speed Joust is played using all standard AGoT Rules with the following modifications:
1. Minimum deck size is 20 cards; 1 copy of any card by title per deck. Plot decks are exactly 4 cards.
2. Each game ends at the end of Round 2 - regardless of power totals.
3. The player who has achieved the highest percentage of their victory total is considered the winner of the game (note that percentage may be greater than 100%).
4. Tournament rounds are best 2 of 3 games.

Prize Support: Full details TBD, but this is the "Bastard Child of ChiCON;" everyone will go home happy.

Questions/Additional Information : Forthcoming.
Tournament Organizer - Kevin Tomczyk (ktom). [email protected]

Thanks, Ktom. I just heavily plagiarized your description of the legal card pool for the Kingsmoot in the East information.

LetsGoRed said:

Thanks, Ktom. I just heavily plagiarized your description of the legal card pool for the Kingsmoot in the East information.

No problem. Cut and paste is a wonderful thing.

We were playtesting AGoT-Speed Joust last night to check the format. It's a blast! The game changes when you know it's only going to last 2 rounds, and cards you don't think of as being strong in the regular game suddenly become key in the limited time frame. And so much hinges on the plot psychology!

I will be doing my best to try and attend this event

With about 1 month to go, I felt the need to bump this.

It's gonna be a good time! And someone's gotta take Shiek down. Who's in?

ktom said:

~I need a good spanking.

For those who will be coming in from other areas, here is some hotel information. All of the below hotels are about 10-15 minutes from the Regional site (see post above by Ktom). Also, there are a ton of restaurants in the area (Reb Lobster, Outback, Lone Star, White Castle, McDonalds, Rainforest Cafe, Taco Bell, TGIF, Chili's, etc etc).

Fairfield Inn - 6090 Gurnee Mills Circle East, Gurnee, IL‎ - (847) 855-8868‎

Hampton Inn - 5550 Grand Avenue, Gurnee, IL‎ - (847) 662-1100‎

La Quinta - 5688 Northridge Drive, Gurnee, IL‎ - (847) 662-7600‎

Comfort Inn - 6080 Gurnee Mills Circle East, Gurnee, IL‎ - (847) 855-8866‎

There are plenty of restaurants near the Xtreme Games and outside food is allowed. Here's the store's site:

http://www.xtremegamesonline.com/

Three weeks and counting. And since FFG has not posted the Regional Information and details on the site, I feel the need to bump this thread.

There has been precious little discussion about Regional season so far. Do people generally not care about Regionals or has the game become so localized that the events taking place outside the local are just don't hold that much interest?

I care quite a bit about Regionals, etc. and have a blast every time I travel to play AGoT.

Speaking for myself, it's going to be hard for me to travel this year for AGoT. Frankly, I'd love too, but I'd need to finicially plan for it (ie. butter up the wife more), and I just don't have enough time prior to the events to do that for tourney's this year. I guess I am traveling up north for Kublacon, but that's still on the west coast, and less of an impact on my wallet.

If I had to speculate about what prevents others from traveling, I'm willing to bet people are timid about making a comitment to travel, not knowing what kind of a turn out they can expect for such events. Kind of a catch 22 where you need people in order to attract people.

Excited about the event, count on at least 2 more players showing up.

I'm just curious, who is planning on attending? We are close to 2 weeks away, I'm planning on bringing myself and a friend. Any clue on how many we can expect?

ccgtrader99 said:

I'm just curious, who is planning on attending? We are close to 2 weeks away, I'm planning on bringing myself and a friend. Any clue on how many we can expect?

My understanding thus far is 9 confirmed.

- 3 from local NW Chicago Suburbs area

- 3 from west-central IL

- 1 from downtown

- 2 from SE MI

There are 3-8 on the "maybe"-train that I know of.

I assume by trio is the "west-central" grouping. Though, really. That's your geography? In fact is you were to fly as a the crow generally does over half of the city limits is SOUTH of Dekalb. Including US Cellular field, the President's House, Grant Park...... Central Illinois is at least south of I-80, not just outside the collar counties. So in closing, 3 from the far west suburbs as a stretch or the DeKalb area, I'll give you north-central, since with central being listed second it is modifying north. (Ok can anyone tell I"m just procrastinating at work yet?) Either way, I'll see you at regionals.

goshdarnstud said:

I stand correct.

~ Everyone knows that people in the Chicago suburbs think of anything outside of the collar counties as "west."

Sorry to keep bumping this but....any idea of what the "legal" card pool will be? By that I mean will any and all new chapter packs and large expansions be included in the card pool?

Taking that question a step further, will the card pool be in flux for the duration of the regional season? (the May regional card pool would be smaller than say, a July regional card pool).

If FFG doesn't make an announcement, can the organizer make a ruling so we know what to expect? If anyone who is running other regionals reads this, can they chime in their thoughts?

The legal card pool for this event is specified in the original post of this thread, right under the format and entry fee,

All non-banned LCG cards released for US retail distribution before 5/8/10 are legal. So Defenders CP #4 is legal, and if Defenders CP #5 or the Stark set happen to come out in the next week (not likely), then they'll be legal, too.

Each TO is making their own ruling since FFG has not taken an official position. (Heck, it's 2 weeks before the first non-FFG Regional and they still haven't posted the event details each TO sent it....) Most are saying cards released within 1-2 weeks of their individual event are acceptable. Since new cards come out every month with the LCG - and Regionals are spread over 2 months - the TOs are mostly taking a "variable carpool through the season" position. The cardpool will change before GenCon anyway, so why does it necessarily have to be the same for each Regional?

ccgtrader99 said:

Ktom has already made a "ruling" on this for this regional --see the original post. I am following for the June NYC joust regional a similar pattern that he is using, that is, cards available for retail purchase by a set date that is about a week out from the event date are valid. So there will likely be one more chapter pack, and perhaps the Stark expansion, that is in the legal pool for the NYC joust event than what will be legal for the Chi event.

EDIT: Why the hell does this forum like to strip out double-hyphens, forcing me to edit to put them back in? Weird.

Bumping this up, but with a discussion question:

The Speed Joust event, in our local practice and playtest, is shaping up to be a lot of fun. The knee-jerk thought, of course, is to build a Baratheon deck. Lots of weenies, renown, etc. But other Houses have some serious possibilities, too. Anyone have thoughts on which House might be best suited for 20-cards, 2 rounds, maximum power grab?

And, of course, the plots are key. You're only going to get 2 of them (most likely) Which 4 are you thinking, and why?

We have our opinions, but we've been playing it. Anyone want to do some theorizing?

Well, I'm always looking for a way to play Stark successfully, so I'd try to build something for them. First thoughts are Core Set Eddard (get a freebie power, has renown and deadly) however he's expensive, Core Set Arya (to swing renown from one of their characters to mine if I have the influence or possibly "recycle" Eddard's renown), standing (Distinct Mastery and To Be a Wolf), and maybe Kings in the North event. To be able to use the To Be a Wolf, I'm probably starting with Seige of Riverrun --I don't expect to win or try to win Int round one as an attacker most likely and the claim two if I can get a Mil through will hurt my opponent badly. Probably throw in Carrion Bird to have its stealth to try win that Mil challenge. Since my opponent is certainly going to deny me an event for To Be a Wolf's search, I might stick a Rusted Sword in just for something I can possibly grab and jump into the game round two, but may not be worth it. Tales from the Red Keep Sansa is a strong candidate since an opponent probably can't afford to have cards left in shadows and so she gives you renown for only 2G which you otherwise can't get in the game. Ser Jorah Mormont is crazy cost effective and has stealth for a possible unopposed. Maybe Hungry Mob for a potential free claim soak. Perhaps Former Champion for add'l renown on a challenge Stark should win (and that FC can win on its own). Probably need Power of Blood in the plots just in case I get Eddard working round one and he ends up with two or three power or Sansa is on the board with power. May put in Shivering Sea for zero cost not-limited inf that I can flop (good if I have Arya and/or Rusted Sword) and/or to pay for the Carrion Bird. Narrow Sea is a no brainer. You may have to put in Winter Festival as it has solid stats and if your opponent decides to make it winter, you pretty much have to assume they have that plot in their plot deck and you will need to play your Winter Festival to counter theirs.

(Rules question: Can Sansa's renown, assuming no cards in Shadows, be stolen by Arya? I would think so, unless something about how Sansa gets Renown from a passive effect means it isn't a "keyword". But that I don't think that can be.)

Thanks for playing, LGR.

You kind of bring up an interesting point. There are two ways to approach Speed Joust. The obvious one is to gain as much power as you possibly can in as short a time as possible. The less obvious approach is to create such a lock-down on your opponent that they cannot gain power. Whether the score is 13-11 or 3-1, you win.

LetsGoRed said:

Yes. So long as the "Renown-check" comes up "true" when you trigger Arya, the character is a legal target and the "+1 Renown for Arya; -1 Renown for target" still happens.

Nice avatar ktom! Oh wait...maybe I should change mine.

I didn't realize this game was still active. Maybe I poke AY in the head and we come down, although I don't think we have any legal decks. Do they sell cards at this location?

themountainthatpwns said:

Whoa! A voice from the past! Nice to hear from you, dude! How goes everything in SWMI?

The location doesn't carry the cards in stock yet. Depending on the interest/converts we drum up through the Regional, they might start. But if you want to play, give a shout. Sheik and I can make sure there are extra legal decks about.

I've gotta confess total ignorance as to what's new. After they killed the last box I bought a month after I purchased it and tossed out Greyjoy from the game I was rather miffed. However, I understand Greyjoy is back and chapter packs LCG structure fits way more in my budget than rare-chasing ever did, I'd like to see what'd it take to get back into the swing of things.

I'll talk with AY, if he's down for the trip, then we'll see about stealing decks!

SWMI still rocking along. We've continued playing GoT, but we're basically back to what we did when we started..."classic" I guess. I have nfc anymore. I made a King of Rock and Salt (whatever the Greyjoy Agenda is) that is pretty fun. I finally made a Brothers deck too. It can be real sick. Basically we're just playing with whatever we have around. In a "friendly" game the other night AY played king Joffrey from RoK with Ser Ilyn...I was so pissed. I said, "I thought this was a friendly game!" Illyn is sooooooo wrong. If I had known we were building decks like that I would have rebuilt my Bara jouster and jammed a Voltron-ORP down his throat.

Anyhow. I'll check in with the team, but I'd love to get back into the swing of things...where we're standing we really haven't stopped. We just stopped buying stuff because 1) they killed my favorite house 2) nowhere near us ever sold anything and still don't!

btw, I heard they have War of the Five Kings Stark only now...that'll give AY a chub. God I hated that card, but always laughed when I saw Stark Wo5K across from me in tourneys because I lived and breathed playing against it in my meta.

edit: I hooked up with some of my old friends lately too. Turns out they've been playing MtG still, but haven't bought any cards since we all used to play together. Nobody owns cards past the Rath Cycle, I love it! So I built a few Magic decks recently too and earlier today went through the nickel/dime bin at the comic store in kzoo for cards to flesh out my collection. They play multiplayer, so I needed some mass removal stuff. omfg my deck theory has changed so much from GoT tourneys from when I used to play Magic. Wrath of God is still worth tons of RL cash! phaw! I was hoping as stuff rotated out I could get some good cards cheap and I was right for the most part, but that card I guess never went out of style! I just built a 'Static Orb' deck out of Green that I'm thinking will make me a significant target in our next engagement. It's fun because these guys are laid back and not jerks and nobody ever chased rares, we were either too lazy or broke, so it's been fun playing that game again too. Also working on a 5 color monster, mainly blue and green, but basically I just picked every badass card from ever color and then decided how to put the lands together. (They allow red's lightning bolt!)

@themountain: I think you'd find this game in a better place than when you left it. The power level of some LCG-era cards isn't quite what it was before the switch (for good or bad), and Lanni tends to be a bit stronger than some of the other houses, but otherwise the environment is a ton of fun. I've played against some Greyjoy decks lately that gave me a very hard time...I would be surprised if Greyjoy doesn't win at least one regionals in the area. And the distribution couldn't be better. Beginning with Stark box (expected sometime this month), every LCG product will be 3x of each card (I think) which means not only is there no rare chasing, you don't even have to buy more than one of each pack. It costs a bit more if you planned to play a lot of singleton cards, but for most people I think this will save money.

@Others: Man, I'm getting excited to see the results of this regionals. Will someone post a round-by-round update of what's going on? I don't expect to see decklists posted right away (might be unfair for people attending multiple regionals), but I'm anxious to see which houses take 1-4.

So how many do you guys think you'll draw in the Midwest Regional. This time of year shoud be good for your numbers right? i know you have to plant crops in the spring and the fall harvest can get hectic for you out there in the Midwest - but this time of year its kind of quiet in farm land isn't it?

See the West Coast regional thread to see where I'm kind of going with this.....