"I only sing the songs that better men have made."
- Mance Rayder

Hello and Welcome Back, Loyal A Game of Thrones fans!

This week, our card spoilers return to the closing Chapter Pack of the Defenders of the North cycle of expansions, coming soon to a game store near you. Fittingly, this week we will take a quick look at automatic game closers. Not exactly "surefire, can't fail, slam dunk" game-closing combos, although they probably exist somewhere, so much as cards that you play to give you that last little bit of power you need to win the game.

As everyone who plays A Game of Thrones knows, the game instantly ends when one player achieves fifteen power. This number can be adjusted up or down by cards like Treaty with the Isles (City of Secrets, F11), Formal Petition (Princes of the Sun, F44), or Summer Tax (A Song of Summer, F3), but in any case, as soon as the magic number is hit, in any phase, the game is over. There usually isn't much recourse for the person who hasn't just hit 15 power, since the game ends instantly, rather than finishing out the round. As such, surprise power drops can be quite useful in your arsenal when you're close to the finish line. Rather than slug it out in the challenges, when not just get the game over with in the Plot phase or Marshalling phase?

House Stark seems to be pretty good at this sort of power grab, and right out of the Core Set we have Eddard Stark who not only has renown, but comes into play with one power on him. If you've got 14 power and 4 gold in the Marshalling phase, with Eddard in hand, you've pretty much got the game won.

Going one step earlier, into the Plot phase, we have Winter Festival, introduced in Wolves of the North. It's not particular to House Stark, but given Stark's inclination towards the winter environment, it's a pretty good fit for a game closer. There are some conditions that can turn Winter Festival against you, for example if both you and your opponent have 14 power, but she has higher initiative through locations or characters and she plays Good for the Gander (Core Set, B185), or if she plays Valar Morghulis and wipes out all of your renown or infamous characters. Still, barring those conditions, Winter Festival is very like a slam dunk.

This brings us to this week's card spoiler, The Minstrel's Muse. The Minstrel's Muse was actually voted into the card pool by league participants a while ago, but is just now coming out. (Thanks to all league players!) It's not exactly a surprise to your opponent, given that its effect kicks off in the Dominance phase. Your opponent will see those three power barreling down at her right from the plot phase and have plenty of opportunities to deal with it. However, in a situation where you have more characters than your opponent, or higher strength, you can just lean back and pass on the challenges phase, except perhaps to defend against a power challenge, or a military challenge that might cost you a renown character. If you're feeling especially mean (and rich), you can play the new Iron Throne (A Sword in the Darkness, F46) out of house and just sit back.

So there you have it, one more weapon in the Stark arsenal. This card alone probably won't make Stark the ultimate master at Worlds (Gen Con Indy: August 5th-8th, be there!), but it's one more thing to watch out for if you're playing against them. Good luck and see you next week for more A Game of Thrones card previews!