Sorry, we had a slight delay this week due to some server changes it seems, but we're up! Go here to check out episode 5- FAQtastic!

Aside from discussing the FAQ update, we also have a rather controversial Top 10 of 2010 and more Dobbler's Dating Disasters!

Kennon said:

And of course, many, many thanks go out to Darksbane who not only provides our hosting, but also conquered the server issue for me.

All glory to Darksbane!

Also, we're slowly rolling out our social media presence. Be sure to check out 2 Champ and A Chump on Facebook as well. I'm having a bit of trouble with the Twitter linkage, but we should have that ironed out eventually as well.

Now I'm really curious about how the one turn win mentioned at the beginning happened.

Fox is either a grandmaster of the game of plays with really broken cards.

The one turn win was actually off of a deck very similar to the Siege of Winterfell/Epic Battle decks available in the LCG. It utilized the War of the Five Kings agenda (functionally the same but without the House Stark only text, though he did actually play it with Stark) and a greater variety of ways to make additional military challenges. If I remember right, Sam Tham had no military icons on the board at the end of the first marshalling, so Jeppedo (Justin Fox) did a little thinking and then asked if Sam had a cancel for the events, because otherwise he would win the game. Turns out Sam didn't, so he proceeded to claim 15 power that challenge phase.

Solid episode...good job! I really liked how you broke down the segments into (1) discussion of recent events (FAQ), (2) Top 10 most influential cards in 2010, (3) Dobbler's Dating, and (4) Props/Slops. Very nice mix of issues.

With regard to the Top 10, I agree with Dobbler's observations. In particular, Venomous Blade, KotHH, and Narrow Escape should make the top 10 in terms of environment defining and/or affecting deck building. Honestly, how many 3-gold, 2-STR characters does someone run without considering Venomous Blades? I suspect part of the trouble with these lists is that there are SO many cards to choose form within one year. I hope to see more of these Top 10 in the future...maybe next time break it out by block and/or by larger tournament (ie "Top 5 most influential cards at Ice and Fire 2010). I know the Top 10 doesn't only apply to large competitive tournaments, but those might be a better way to gauge nationwide trends (rather than some of the cards that seemed a bit more meta-specific).

The only real criticism I have is that although some of the friendly banter kept things light, I think there was a bit too much fluff in the first segment. The banter made the first segment feel a bit like it dragged on, though the content was (of course) great.

Since you asked, here are some items I'd like to hear about:

1. What do you think Targ and Greyjoy need to be competitive? (You mentioned that none of their cards made the Top 10 list for last year...what should they have gotten?)
2. What will the post-Wildling errata environment look like? I know you mentioned Seige, which is a great observation. Any other ideas for how houses will turn out? (I realize this is sort of a loaded question that may be affected by meta-specific trends more than anything else, but just curious.)

Also, not that you guys need more issues to fill your episodes, but I thought I would offer an idea for a new (perhaps only occasional?) segment. I frequently peruse the Rules threads of the FFG forum for answers to questions I never even knew I had. Might be kind of neat to pull a question and related answer from one of the threads every once in awhile...there's a lot to learn there about extremely rare but potentially critical situations. (For example, as you mentioned with regard to the FAQ, the Dragon Skull + cancel issue comes up, but I would say that's an issue that was actually pretty common and came up perhaps even more with Tyrion when shadows were new. The way the clarified timing works, Tyrion has a chance to respond and give himself "no attachments" before the attachment hits. This was questionable before, with some Targ players arguing that you could attach Dragon Skull without responding, thereby not giving your opponent a chance to respond first with Tyrion.)

Listened to the newest episode this morning and really liked it, good job!

The thing with GJ and Targ is pretty interesting... the only cards that come to mind, or I've seen any real talk about are the hills (mainly Rhaeny's and Aegon's), which have seen quite a bit of play in very control-heavy Targ builds in Europe. Especially around and before Stahleck. I think one reason they were pretty popular was that such reset-heavy decks were one of the few decktypes that could hold their own against Wildling/6 Agenda decks, and there was a very high seated spanish guy at Stahleck who was running quite a brutal Hill deck. But in the end they're pretty similar to See Who is Stronger and Queen of Thorns in being quite meta-specific. Another card that could be squeezed into a Top 10 would be Frozen Solid.

~Could Motley Crewman be counted as meta-defining, in that it represents all of the overcosted mill cards that really defined GJ to start sucking?

I like how the podcast discusses recent topics, and would be pretty surprised if Laughing Storm isn't touched upon in an upcoming episode... also the Mountain Dew and Combos section works really well. Now, if we only got the new CP out, so you guys could argue over it again...

@Twn2dn: Agreed. Both topics 1. and 2. are ones I would also be pretty interested in hearing more about.

Greyjoy mill cards should be under-costed. If Sea Raiders discarded a card or two when they came into play I'd play them all the time.

I do believe it would be fun to discuss what GJ and Targ should have gotten. That sounds like an interesting topic for it!

Any thought on getting the designers in for an interview? Well, remote inteview by phone or skype or something?

Penfold said:

Penfold, great idea, and I have already sent some introductory emails to try and make this happen.

Also, for those that might have interest, in looks like we are going to attempt increasing the frequency of the show to weekly.

Thanks to everyone who is listening, offering feedback, and enjoying it. Heck, thanks to those of you who are listening, hate it and cursing us. I'll take both.

Listened to this episode not too long after it came out -- I enjoyed it. The beginning was a bit slow; otherwise, everything else was great. The top 10 was a bit meta-specific, but IA and Dobbler did a good job mentioning cards that I would have put on the list.

Getting interviews with Nate and/or Damon would be great. Perhaps you guys can try getting interviews with tournament champions or have them on as guests; sharing their thoughts and ideas on whatever topic is being covered.

Great episode, guys. Got around to listening to it on Friday. Props for the Captain Hammer T-shirt - slops for choosing the bad guy!

I honestly don't think Targ or GJ are that far removed from competitive builds, but rather, that they just aren't as popular at the moment. Mainly because they haven't had many(any?) cards lately that help their main builds, and people get tired of static decks. Lannister has a similar problem. Hopefully that will be rectified soon...

Dobbler said:

@Fatmouse

In the interest of fine tuning the show, what exactly felt slow about the beginning? Too much banter, too little, not funny enough? Not enough, or fast enough analysis? Just not an interesting topic? Also, was it just this episode, or do we start slowly in general?

Ok, come to think of it, I welcome feedback on the topic from anyone, not just Fatmouse.