Is it correct that League play is a modified version of the LCG Format for tournaments and, thus, Jaqen and Pyromancer's Cache are banned for League play? The posted Tournament Rules is, to me, ambiguous about whether cards are banned for League play, but I'm assuming the bans apply.

They should be banned in League play which is, after all, LCG format.

So it's still early, but my initial reaction to the Storyline League is quite positive. We had a successful League night this Monday. Turnout was relatively good; we had seven players, of which a couple had either previously left the game completely prior to its LCG shift or had been absent for some. And at least one more person who didn't make it has told me he's ordered all of the LCG era stuff and plans to participate going forward. Compare that to our meetups over the prior few months in which turnout had dwindled to about 2-4 players on a given night. I'm pretty much following FFG's recommended joust tournament format, awarding 3 points for a win and 1 point for a draw and using Swiss pairings with the top two playing an additional round for first and second place.

I think everyone enjoyed the evening (even Stag Lord, who captured the Sansa vote ) and the "Storyline" aspect of voting on the future of the game's design is, to me, a lot more interesting then getting some promo card or other handout that would have been the norm in the past; the storylines certainly generated some entertaining chat and smack talk --Thorns Tywin is polarizing!

I don't know if everyone else felt this way, but I ended up liking the deck builidng constraints --it was entertaining struggle trying to decide which two chapter packs I'd choose and what, if any, out-of-house cards I'd use (something I almost never did when building a standard deck but was more open to given the limited card pool I could build from). To anyone who has dismissed League play as not worthwhile, I humbly suggest you reconsider --the heart of AGoT is still there (and we can all agree it's a great game to play) and making the most of a "suboptimal" card pool when building and then having to eek the most out of your deck when playing is a fun challenge. Thanks again to FFG for letting the nomadic NYC meta run a league.

LetsGoRed said:

Not that i'm accusing Stag of such a devious move, but the sansa award makes me pause in this case.

I've wondered if a player who lost his first game would tank the rest to ensure a vote (yes it would be a leftover vote, but its still a vote). I am okay with the sansa house getting 1 'vote' as it might help weaker houses catch up, but i think the additional vote in the other three catagories should go to the 3rd place finisher and the sansa award gets to choose one card out of the winner's unused card pool to add to their deck (thus helping them not be sansa next week).

I get the theory behind the Sansa award (give the worst player something either nominal or something to help them get better so that they do not feel bad) but i'm not sure if a vote is the right prize for such an 'honor'. I think my proposal is more along the lines of that theory.

Thoughts? Am i being too neferious?

Stag was not taking a dive; he was trying really, really hard to win, but just couldn't (teehee!).

Seriously, though, I see what your saying. I think competitiveness and the public shaming that would befall someone losing on purpose will keep this from being a problem, especially since, as you point out, with the Sansa vote you don't get to pick your storyline and the vote you cast has a lower weight. And losing does work against your win% if you're trying to capture one of the season-end double-weight votes (although, again there's a Sansa vote there). I think a solution to use, which I'd given a little thought to before now, is to not let the same person capture a second Sansa vote if there is anyone participating that League night who has not had a chance to vote (we haven't had a repeat Sansa yet). That should help mitigate some of the upside of deliberately losing and increase the chance that everyone who participates in the League will get a chance to vote at least once. So, say next week the person who comes in last voted the prior week, I'd skip him and look at the second-to-last finisher and, if they haven't yet voted, let him have the Sansa vote. (If every participant has voted at least once at some point during this season, then last place would automatically get the Sansa vote.) As I type that, I'm liking this idea more and more. I'd like to hear what other people think.

And how did I end up getting the sansa award anyway?

i beath sithlord in Round 1 (which made the evening a success in my book anyhow) and I beat Josh in our post tourney sparring match. Did my second sparring match to milamber, which i lost 15-14, net me the vote? Cause I ended up2-3 on the night and that last loss was as close as it could be - if I could ahve gotten rid of Bones of a Child, my massive pwoer grab would have netted me that elusive 15tyh point.

But yes - the format is fun, though it still feels more casual than I am used to. But with the NY rivalries, even that is mitigated. Its a good thing we are all jerks in New York.

So how may leagues are actually up and running in the US?

We had 7 at the first night and 8 at the second.

Deathjester26 said:

Good question, and one I'm curious to know as well.

I have to say I am enjoying the league, and the building constraints are tough. Of course, I am also playing Martell, and that just makes it all the tougher. What I am finding out the most about my deck so far is that it is very, very slow in the early rounds, but as the game continues it gets stronger. My biggest weakness is locations -- being one of the odd houses out I don't have access to in-house reducers and gold like the four big boys, so my gold curve bites it hard. I recently decided to swap out Fleeing to the Wall for Good for the Gander, knocking my gold curve down in the process but hopefully allowing me to hurt my opponent. I also added Selmy for the renown and discard pile recursion effect. and we'll have to see where it goes. Martell may not have much in the way of Renown, but between Obara, Varys and the Carrion Bird I seem to be getting the better end of Stealth.

Our results:

1st week -- Martell wins, Targ 2nd, Bara gets Sansa

2nd week -- Targ wins, Martell gets second, Bara gets Sansa

3rd week -- Martell wins, Targ gets second, Stark gets Sansa

We only have five players, and I expect to see alot more movement in the rankings in the next three weeks, but I have to find a way to remain on top. My votes for The Minstrel's Muse mean more to me than the other three options.

For our League nights, I've been running them along the lines of Swiss format and using FFG's recommended points system (3 for a win, 1 for a draw, 0 for a loss). First round is random pairings and subsequent rounds are pairings based on bands (those with the most points paired up and moving on down), but juggling so there are no repeat pairings. We play three rounds and then the top two play a final game to decide first and second. Sansa vote goes to whomever finished worse after the three rounds, however I've taken the liberty of passing over someone if they've already had a chance to vote during the season thus really giving the Sansa vote to the lowest finishing player who has not yet had a chance to vote. The idea is to increase the number of people who participated in our League that got to join in on the voting at least once and, to a lesser degree, avoid people taking a dive (although I really don't think that would happen with the competitiveness in our group).

To split ties (players with the same accumulated points) when needed, I use, in descending order: 1. head-to-head result, 2. strength of schedule (total points accumulated by a given player's opponents), 3. aggregate net power (a players total power accumulated in his matches less those accumulated by his opponents against him --like "+/-" in hockey), and 4. coin flip/die roll. When we've needed a bye because of odd number, the bye is worth 3 points (on the down side, having a bye undermines your SoS since you have less opponents). Nothing carries over from week to week as far as any sort of rating/ranking.

I didnt get the whole Sansa vote thing...

Rozy said:

The Sansa vote is the vote that goes to the last place finisher. One of the "old guard" players may know the origin of that term. In an effort to have more people get to vote at least once during the course of the season, at the conclusion of a League night I've instead been giving that vote to the lowest finishing player who has not yet voted during the season. (It turns out that we've reached the point --barring a new player joining for the remainder of season one-- that everyone in our league has now had at least one vote, so I'll revert to simply giving the Sansa vote to the last place finisher.)

in the novels, Sansa is the worst player at the game of Thrones. Naive, guileless, simplistic.

Hence - lowest finsiher at tournament gets the "Sansa" award.