Hey so just a few questions. I’m a returning player, used to post occasionally a long time ago under “yourmom”. Recently picked up the core set as well as a few chapter packs and have been playing casually with a couple people, but am contemplating whether or not to try and start league play or tourneys or whatever. I also grabbed Call of Cthulhu stuff, but was a bit discouraged to read that the GenCon event indicated that the environment is really skewed, most decks were the same, and the game is essentially blitz right now… so I haven’t been interested in continuing to purchase the asylum packs.

How’s Thrones? I used to prefer one on one/joust better. Is it balanced for multi and joust? Dominant decktype diversity? Does it exist or is there a problem build right now? Not having any exposure currently to competitive play, I figured this would be where to ask. Thanks muchly.

I can't really comment on balance since I've not played a lot of the newer sets much yet. However, there should be a good amount of diversity in deck options. I think there are about 900 cards in the LCG format right now.

Looking at the gencon reports there seems to be several viable builds in the current environment.

Yeah I just read Cha0s and deathjester's reports down below. Good stuff and seems like it's pretty diverse. Any houses noticeably worse right now though, and also, do houses have more than one viable build that plays differently than the other or is it more of a put the best utility cards in for each house and that's it?

It is as balanced as I have seen the game in a LONG time, IMHO. I saw pretty much every house with a viable deck.

Martell was probably over-represented in the top 8, but not by much, and not really when it got to the top 4 really (the two Martells that did make it top 4 were VASTLY different, with maybe 12 of the same cards). Lanni won it (again) and Targ showed high (again) but there were very strong builds in Stark (10th) and Bara (I know there was one pretty high) and GJ (I saw one pretty high, and it won Multi).

Welcome back - I remember an old poster yourmom...back in the day...

Davy Back Fight said:

I would say with the semi-limited card pool, you still see a decent amount of the same cards - but you can easily be successful with various strategies. This will be compounded with the new chapter packs and new Bara house supplement (Brotherhood sub-theme, Dothraki, Raiders, Clansman, Knights in the Bara box). Add that to Wildlings, Winter/Summer, etc...

As an example, 2nd was a Martell Red Viper deck, while 4th was a Martell Wildling deck. I have seen at least 4 different Stark builds (Fear of Winter/Epic, Rush/control, NW/Wall, Direwolves).

Thanks both, that's really good to hear. I was hoping that was the case before I went out and nabbed every chapter pack. It's also really cool to get back into the game especially with the HBO series coming and hopefully the new book. But yeah, I remember it being fun back when I played the ccg, so more balanced, is amazing.

Davy Back Fight said:

Yeah, I just bought about 14 of the chapter packs/sets to catch up on the ones I was missing. So, I'm looking though them and building decks. It really seems that the basic feel of the game, book tie-ins, and overall game play that make the game so cool back in the earlier days is still there. Two thumbs up to Nate and the rest of the FFG crew.

Holy crap! What's up Dave! I remember your posting as well as the hilarious avatars! Great to hear you are playing again. Still up in Robin Hoodville or whatever its called? Up in Canada right? The game is def more balanced than it was before I think. A lot of people say it is too much of a rock paper scissors right now but I don't think that's exactly true. I think that each house has an equal chance of beating any other house. i also think that even though the houses have a build that is probably the best for that house, the other themes or builds for that house are almost as good just harder for some people to play. Def a great time to get back in!

Hey Josh, yeah I'm still in Sherwood Park. A lot has been going on but the years have not been kind to me. =) Good to see you're still around. Fun times spamming the meta threads. I think I just needed a break from the game back then, but recently I had seen some new card art and it gradually drew me back in. I'm currently trying to build a Martell deck, but have no idea what I'm doing. It hasn't been like riding a bicycle.

I'm from Sherwood Park, lived there when I was a kid, still have tons of family there. I'm in Nova Scotia now.

That's nuts. My friend actually just moved to Halifax for a job and I was talking about finding work out there myself. How's the meta out east? There doesn't seem to be one around Edmonton area anymore as far as the LCG is concerned. But hopefully we can start something. Right now I only play with two other people, but once I get enough of a collection I'll try and demo it a bit more.

Davy Back Fight said:

Solution to your deck building problem: Buy a Martell box or two, obtain 3 Lost Oasis, and win.

Actually, the I win card for Martell these days is Burning on the Sands.

Kennon said:

QFT

ROFL, yeah, I suppose you could grab a few of those too.

Or you could not be a d-bag, and forget about them accidentally.

I was going to say the "i win" card for Martell was Taste for Blood...and then I thought of The Red Viper......ouch.

Just goes to show you, Martell has many cards at their disposal that are considered very very good.

Kennon said:

Actually, isn't that the "I don't lose" card?

They do have a wealth of stuff right now, but a pretty thin character base compared to most houses (other than a couple of heavy hitters like RV).

Lost Oasis is trash in the Wildling-current environment...

Where were we? Oh, yeah, talking about how balanced the playing is - stop being contridicary with all the Martell talk

No that's good. I was thinking of concentrating on Martell anyway. I've been playing around with a House Dayne build but it's not nearly as "controlly" as I'd like, or at all. I remember running an absolutely brutal icon lockdown deck out of them in the ccg era and want to play something control. Are they okay for that? Would a different house be a better way to go, speaking in terms of traditional conceptions of control vs. aggro styles of play? I'm not a fan of rush, and am looking for the best option to run something really meticulous but still competitive.

For control style of play, probably Lanni-hyper kneel or Grejoy Winter? I'm still new to the game but those are what I've read about.

Martell still has some icon reduction stuff, but NOTHING remotely as good as in the past (Broken Arm was...um...broken, and I liked some of the others like Vaith and the maester).

They have an attachment now that is so-so and a pretty good event...but nothing as good, they don't have as many control options. Lanni is probably the best control deck with kneeling (although Bara has some pretty cool card that doesn't let characters attack or defend, or with a big penalty), and GJ does location control the best.

rings said:

If we want to get really technical, it's the "nobody wins" card.

Sad, but true... IMHO Martell doesn't really have a good control build right now (other than perhaps a shadows build with Venomous Blades as shadows hoppers to fuel the Black Cells and AGH).

I'd love to see Martell Icon Control come back in UNBROKEN form. I think Student of Subtlety is the way to go.

That's a shame. My favourite card for a time was The Scorpion's Sting, but I can see why design wouldn't want a control deck of that caliber running around. I'll look into Greyjoy but maybe try and cook something up in Martell anyway.