Why is Val so game breaking, I understand the extra card each turn, but beyond that I don't get it.

Would someone please enlighten me?

It's a good card in the right deck, but I would hardly deem it as game-breaking. You'll need a deck with low-cost cards to really benefit from it, such as a Baratheon rush deck? I suppose even in the wrong deck, couple of discards may not hurt much unless it's an event-heavy one.

Draw is always a boon and in this case you get a potential 3 card draw per round for a 2-cost character. However, it tends to be hard to keep her alive (e.g. Venemous Blade, Flame-Kissed) for long.

So perhaps an auto-include in low-cost and wildling decks but you may want to opt for other means of draw for others.

Oh, she does not have to kneel. Lol that is much better than i thought...

I have a Targ Wildlings attachments deck, that runs Blood of the First Men to give me an extra cheap Wildling. Val knocks three cards off my deck, hopefully netting me one or wildlings per turn, in addition to my normal draws. Any attachments that I can't afford (or don't need) can be brought back later with Lady Dany's Chambers. Now I'm seeing 5 cards a turn, and probably using all of them...

I saw a deck that uses val and 6 agendas... so she pretty much marshalls from the deck and you keep the hand.

Val is deadly against decks that don't have immediate character removal. The moment she hits marshalling... the opponent gains a significant advantage. Since she's a 1 str character with no protection... not game breaking, just does force players to put in milk of the poppy if they don't have any other direct character control.

bloodycelt said:

STR 2 effectively (Threat from the North, Grey Wind).

She is just VERY efficient. In a regular deck she is 2 cost, 2 icon, 1 strength, potential 3 cards a turn without kneeling.

In a Wildling deck she is 0 cost, 2 icon, 2 strength with stealth, potential 3 cards a turn (even better potential since every wildling in your deck usually costs 0 to 2 depending on the build/character).

Yes, she has a huge target on her. But that is what makes her so good - they waste their efforts on her rather than trying to win. In Top 8 Dobbler was trying to kill her for 4 straight turns before finally doing it. In that time, she won 3 challenges and probably drew me 8 cards...all for 0 cost .

I believe she is also efficent in the aforementioned Bara Rush deck. Especially with Dupes and Bodyguards. Accidentally discard a Royal Entourage you can't afford? Oh well get it later. Plus she make back Jon Aryyn useful in the sense if you discard say Fat Bob, you have a chance to bring him back. Again not game breaking, but there is some nice synergy available.

goshdarnstud said:

Also, she gives draw to a house that hasn't historically had much. But, yes, she is really good in Bara if you get her!

The trick with her is that you have to build for her. The most obvious use for her is in Marshalling, obviously, because you won't be able to play characters, attachments or locations otherwise. But if you have a lot of events in your deck, using her is very likely to lose you some events.

She is not good in an event-heavy deck, unless you are able to use some of the deck-stacking effects (like the Heralds) or build in a recursion theme.

i dont think val is an auto incued to any deck i build because i love winter and it hard to have the gorl need to play whatever card come up you kind of have to build a deck around here a little sometime people will only draw one maybe 2 card with her because the card they draw cost to much and were great toons to play like the viper or what not

King Blith said:

But your deck is built around Winter, correct? So you cards should be cheap?

Card draw is never bad in a deck that is built around a theme...or even one that isn't

well no it build around controling the fleet so i only have to play one or two cards plue when running over 10 or so event card the chance oh you discard that card is high

Actaully, I just slotted two copies of her into my Martell deck, made no other changes, and it has made a TON of difference. She's amazing, perhaps the new SoT Samwell. In a deck built around her, she's got to be fantastic. And I run something along the lines of 12-15 events, almost all of which are Responses or A game of Cyvasse, which works well with her ability.

JerusalemJones said:

Keep in mind that the only Response events that will work with her or ones that respond to you triggering her effect or just having drawn a card. Most (if any?) events don't respond to these actions, and are consequently discarded. Also, A Game of Cyvasse can only be played during the Challenges phase. That's not to say Val can't get it for you to use, but her ability is mainly triggered while being the Active Player in Mashalling. In general, the only time events are going to work with Val is if they are "Any Phase" or drawn in the particular phase they can be triggered in (i.e. Challenges, Dominance, etc.).

Hmm, I seem to have totally misunderstood how this card worked. The wording of Val, "Play that card as your next response or action, if able." seemed to imply to me that I could hold onto it until the opportunity to play that type of card presented itself, not that it had to be played when the first opportunity of that card type would be played. It took me about three times reading through the FAQ entry just now to realize that I have been playing it wrong. However, being able to combo her with Herald of the Sun to get Darkstar, using Val to draw him, and taking a different action since I can't pay for him would still be legal, or would I have to hold onto him until a) the next time I could marshall him legally or b) taking a player action such as bringing a card out of shadows/declaring defenders/etc.?

JerusalemJones said:

If you draw a response event you immediately discard it since there is no such responses at the moment which can react to draw/reveal.

If you draw other type, you keep it in hand, then there is opponent action (if any), and then (your next opportunity) you must play that card. If you can't (because of gold or restriction or rule) it is discarded.

Yeah, Rogue30 has the right of it. Interestingly enough, if you can't pay for Darkstar, which you must if you can, he'll come into play for free when you try to discard him due to his ability.

JerusalemJones said:

#1 - The card that you reveal/draw with Val must be played at your next opportunity to play a Response or take an action. If you cannot play it, it is discarded. So yes, a Response to anything other than triggering Val or a "Phase" action that can only be played in another phase is going to go to the discard pile pretty darn quick. WIth Val, there is no "holding onto" the card in any way, shape or form. Next opportunity - you play it or discard it.

#2 - If you can play the card you revealed/drew at your next Response/action opportunity, you must do so. The Darkstar thing is a good example. If you use Herald of the Sun to put him on top of your deck, then use Val to reveal/draw him in Marshaling, you must play him as your next action if you have the 4 gold. It doesn't matter that it would have been more cost effective to take some other action and "discard" him. If you can play him as your action, you have to. If it is legal to use the card you revealed/drew with Val as your next Response/action opportunity, you cannot choose to do something else and discard the card instead. (The better play with Darkstar is to load him on top with the Herald in Marshaling, then use Val in the Challenge phase; you don't have to worry about the "must" stipulation that way.)

With these caveats - that the card you get with Val cannot be held until play restrictions are met, has be played immediately, and must be played if you are at all able - she is not a "no brainer, easy draw." She can kill a deck that isn't built to use her properly.