I remember reading threads that hated auto-include cards, because it shrunk the overall variety of the metagame. Venomous Blade, To Be a... Plots, Wildlings before the banning, Val(not sure on this one, but I think she's been included). No one's throwing that around about the Heir to the Iron Throne agenda, but I can think of 6 or more deck archetypes where the adding the agenda has virtually no drawback and it makes the deck more efficient immediately(Bara Rush, Bara Asshai/Hand Destruction, any Stark build not running an agenda currently, any Greyjoy deck not currently running an agenda, Targ Dothraki) without having to modify the build dramatically.

I'm really surprised the "auto-include police" haven't jumped on this card. Am I missing something?

It's a strong agenda, but it's not nearly as auto-include as you might think. Strong, and helpful, yes. Autoinclude, no.

Not being able to declare a type of challenge is very significant, and remember that the effect lasts throughout the entire game. It's good for rushing, but it is basically surrendering either board/hand control to your opponent. Not having to worry about their characters dying or protecting their hand means your opponent will be free to concentrate on attacking you rather than defending. It is a very important consideration, and it's the same reason why Siege of Riverrun isn't in every Siege/Rush deck - Statwise, it was the best Claim 2 plot in the game (until Retaliation Came along) , but the threat of an intrigue challenge that could rip cards out of your hand, forcing opponents to hold back some intrigue defenders rather than just throwign everything at you. That's just for one round - imagine that for the entire game

Tomdidiot said:

i think it falls into the the deck has this hole already so might as well get an advantage out of it. think about a greyjoy unopposed deck, how many time doe they declare an intrigue challenge during a game? bara rush builds (has as been mentioned) are similar.

Also, it would be an interesting counter to TLS. fine i can;t discard cards from your hand, well i don't want to so nanana poopoo.

i'm also not sure its an auto include, just as i'm not sure the maester agenda is an auto include if no other agenda. however i can see lots of times where it would be more beneficial then hurtful. I think its going to be an interesting one in melee for sure.

Heir to the Iron Throne will lose to a decent challenge control deck.

Why did my deck crush FoW/Siege decks last year? I did so well since most of my opponents were doing that until I faced Ktom's crazy targ deck. Reason? I built a bara/martell deck with enough challenge control to lock the player from making a military challenge.

And Lars Intrigue is a big part of Greyjoy unopposed. Wex Pyke anyone?

I think it will make a real splash at first, but as players start to realize that they can freely exploit one challenge for an entire game and start building (if they are not already) decks with that in mind. A rush deck that does double power challenges is very nice, but one which has the versatility to hit an opponent in whichever challenge they are the weakest is every turn is potentially better.

It also requires a commitment to wining that power challenge, so as you concentrate your deck build around the POW icon, you will either be short icons in the other challenges, or having to play some more expensive cards. It changes the whole build. It's the same reason KotHH isn't an auto-include. Some decks it helps just by being there, but most have to be built around the agenda. Having 7 or 8 gold to spend first turn doesn't always makeup for losing your setup hand. This deck suffers from a similar setback, but lasts the whole game. There will be some interesting builds coming out of it, but not everyone will slot it into their decks.

Except for Stark (but they have a better agenda for them already) I can't think of a deck that I would just throw this in. Greyjoy might come closest. I really think most decks aren't built to take adavantage of multiple challenges of the same type naturally so I can't imagine that this would be an autoinclude in the sense that I just put it in any deck. I could totally see designing various decks around this agenda but just throwing it in my current decks I doubt would work very well.

I plan on putting it into my Baratheon deck.

Toqtamish said:

One problem: my (and likely most) Baratheon already has Knights of the Realm. To me, that's the biggest drawback of the new agenda: I would lose my 3 cards a turn. Not sure I can live with that...

What about utilizing it in melee?