As I understand it (still waiting for the postman) the Core Set contains enough to form a deck for Stark, Lannister, Targ, or Barratheon, but only a fairly basic one.

Kings of the Sea contains 60 cards, mostly Greyjoy. Princes of the Sun provides a similar number of cards for Martell, but two copies of each of them.

If I've got anything wrong so far, please correct me, otherwise i'll be working things out based on false information.

What I'm wondering is - if I pitched a Greyjoy deck from 1x Kings of the Sea, or a Martell deck from 1xPrinces of the Sun against one of the initial 4 houses from a single Core set, how would they compare for power? would one be massively under or overpowered?

If there is a big discrepancy, I'm sure there's plenty of ways of correcting it with Chapter packs, just trying to get an idea of starting levels.

There is a good discussion on how to take two core sets with 1 copy of Princes of the Sun and Kings of the Sea and make fairly balanced decks here .

With just one core set, the Greyjoy set will be lacking in resource cards, and the Martells will have more options than the rest. Overall as a new player myself who was going through a similar stage of trying to find out what to buy next, I recommend two core sets, perhaps even three as your first additions. This will give you options to build decks instead of just play with what is given, and it won't unbalance any of the houses. Chapter packs are great, but different packs will boost different houses by variable levels. If you are building decks just for yourself and other players have their own cards this isn't a big deal.

How ever, if you providing all the cards for all the players in your group, then keeping the decks balanced is important and you can risk overwhelming people with too many different cards, too early if they are just learning. That would further increase the value of multiple core sets when starting out as it does give more options, but no new rules or cards to learn. Or just sticking with one core set and seeing just how much your group likes the game before going all in on further purchases.

If you are just providing cards for yourself and your opponents have their own cards, then keeping your set of decks balanced is not a requirement and you can focus on specific chapter packs that will boost your favorite house. Stark is the cheapest to make competitive with the Lords of Winter expansion.

It can also be helpful to browse Dabler as it shows what cards, and how many copies are included in each set and chapter pack. And if you are looking for an affordable online retailer, Miniature Market has the cheapest prices I have found so far.

Thanks for that- there's some interesting ideas, and A LOT of detail in the BGG thread.

I can see the logic of getting more Core sets, just seems a shame with all those different cards out there to be buying something new and knowing that all it will come with is cards I already have.

On a related note, do people know if there's such a thing as a "cards only" version of the core set (i.e. for people wanting second or third copies of the cards), that doesn't contain any of the other bits and pieces?

No, there is no cards only version unfortunately. If you can get a friend to buy a core set, and you don't feel the need to own every house yourself, you could both pick two houses and split the cards up evenly that way, and both of you could keep a copy of the bits. You could also mix the plots up so both of you have 1 copy of every plot for variety and flexibility in deck building.

While I understand that it isn't as exciting to buy another copy of something you already own, it really does add a lot to the decks when you have 2 or more copies of the important cards and it is the easiest way to ensure your purchase adds equally to every house. It also gives players the options of running the same plot that another player is running if they so choose. My group found it easier to learn what the cards did when they were seeing the same cards more often due to adding duplicates, rather than every card being different as it is with one core set. This helped speed up the game some while learning.

But you can get by with one copy as long as your opponents are playing with the same restriction.

Miniature Market has free shipping after $75? Wow, Karazax.. really nice find there. I'll have to try them out.

Karazax said:

I resisted getting a second Core Set for a long time. I just got my third Core Set a few days ago, and I have to agree with Karazak. Chapter packs will add variety to your decks (and since the core set decks are mostly 1 copy of each card, they already have a lot of variety). Additional copies of the Core Set will add reliability to your decks. If you want to run a Targaryen "Burn" deck, there are some cards in the chapter packs that can help (Dragon Attack in Time of Ravens, for example), but it won't help as much as being able to run 3 x Forever Burning, 3 x Flame-Kissed, and 3 x Poisoned Wine.

Alternatively, you can now get the Lords of Winter and Kings of the Storm deluxe expansions. They will allow for some really beefed up Stark vs. Baratheon jousts (or even melee), but be warned, you'll have a lot more options for Stark and Baratheon than any of the other houses.