Noob questions

By Nomemories, in General Discussion

So I bought what I guess is the core set when I saw it for a good price but haven't had much time to research it.

I'm curious, do different houses lend themselves to different play styles or all viable and you're thus free to just go with your favorite?

If they do what do the different houses best lend themselves towards?

Most houses have multiple aspects toward them. Take Night's Watch, for example: You can play them as a very aggro/tempo deck or you can play a defensive game and try to gain Power from The Wall.

Most of the times you'll play towards a house theme, and they'll tend to determine the playstyle. Not every house can do everything, but most of them have multiple options. There's also Agendas and neutral cards to consider - e.g. the Lords of the Crossing agenda is fairly aggressive and has synergy with House Frey characters, so any house could potentially choose to use that playstyle and build around the Freys, where as a naturally aggressive House may just play the agenda and not worry about the Freys.

Stark: Has some options to be rushy, gaining power very quickly. Also has a slower, more controlling build -'fun police' is often used to describe it, and it's a pretty good description.

Lannister: Honestly, it kind of feels like Lani hasn't really solidified that well into specific themes. They've got lots of Ambush/put characters into play effects, and they like doing Intrigue challenges. But it often feels like it doesn't really come together very well.

Baratheon: Kneel, win Dominance. That's pretty much what they do. Bara is probably in the worst place in terms of having options.

Targaryan: Burn/kill is definitely what they are known for, and Targ decks tend to be fairly aggressive. But they've got a lot of options in how they actually do it.

Greyjoy: Possibly has the most distinct themes. Winning Unopposed challenges, using Warships and Pillage (mill) all tend to be fairly aggressive, but they tend to be more mid-range rather than rush. Drowned God tends to be comboy and non-interactive.

Night's Watch - Probably the other house with fairly well defined themes. They were initially all about defending the wall and waiting out a victory, but these days they can play a more aggressive build based around Rangers, or stealing your opponents characters.

Martell: A little bit like Lannister in that their themes aren't particularly well defined; however unlike Lannister it comes together well because pretty much everything feeds into them being about soft control. This means they've got a myriad of ways to achieve the same basic goal.

Tyrell: These guys tend to be pretty simple. Lots of economy, lots of power gain. They can play fast or go a little bit slower, though they generally don't really do control (they've got some options, but not a ton). They did have a non-interactive 'passive' build, but this has been broken up via the Restricted List.