My interest in the house is piqued by the announcement of Queen of Dragons. From what I've read, Targaryen isn't a very popular house right now. I imagine that the expansion will add a lot more viable cards to the house. I have some questions about Targaryen's characters - they seem very odd to me compared to other houses.

Rhaegar Targaryen: Does anyone use this guy? I know that a 4 cost for 5 str tricon with war and noble symbols is nice - but is he worth using? I can see his response being a major detriment if he's hit by Valar, because they get to immediately end the round and move onto a better plot card with initiative and claim. The noble symbol makes him viable for 2x Power of Blood and there's some other cards you can save him with however. I'm really interested in some experienced player's opinion on him.

Khal Drogo (Core): He looks pretty cool to me - just keeping him in your hand and dropping him after you win a challenge. I'm not sure how effective that is but it sounds really interesting. Is that how he's used?

Ser Barristan Selmy: I quite like this guy. He doesn't seem as good as the shadow Tyrion Lannister, but he has renown and an interesting ability. I'm not sure how popular he is in Tagaryen decks but he seems like an auto-include to me. What's the consensus on him?

Daemon Blackfyre: He's pretty cheap for being 4 str with renown and a special ability. I'm not sure exactly how useful all your characters having a war symbol is. Outside of Power of Arms what else has synergy with it? I like him but I'm not really sure how useful the war symbol is overall.

Daario Naharis: I like him. You can use your opponent's gold to keep him out which is nice. How often do you see him in Targ decks? What's the consensus on him?

Xaro Xoan Daxos: Interesting ability. I saw the potential to bounce back characters who have "comes into play" effects, but I don't see many Targ characters with those. I see Dragon Thief and King's Landing Assassin with useful effects you'd want to bounce back. I guess you could just bounce a really cheap guy like a refugee or something to minimize the negatives. You could also use it to bounce back an important character before you Valar or something. Can anyone comment on him?

The Titan's Bastard: More of the "bounce" effects that seem so rampant. I have to imagine these effects Targ has where characters don't stay on the board was designed so Targ can use "wipes" like Valar and Westeros Bleeds without harming itself? Can you really make a deck like that? It's a really cool idea, I'm just not sure the card pool has enough to support it right now. I really hope Queen of Dragons has a lot of new characters that flesh out the Targ themes.

I'm new to the game and seeking people's opinons on Targaryen's characters. Which ones you like the most, how to use them properly, etc.

Stasis said:

I am probably not the total expert on Targ, although I really think I will be playing them more and more.

Rheagar is good due to his crests mainly. A 4/5 isn't anything to sniff at, his ability is situational to be sure, but having both War and Noble gives him some possibilities in various decks. To answer you question, the War ability gives you probably two of the best control cards in the game (the new put ot the sword/torch events - I forget their names). And the plot like you said. The noble crest mainly uses Power of Blood to stop Valar from hitting him/Drogo/Dany - although they also have an anti-kneeling guy as well for nobles I think.

That version of Drogo is heavily used. His other version is just as good (unlike many main characters that have zero playable versions). The jump ability protects him from claim/Valar and other effects much of the time.

Selmy is pretty blah. His abiity is very situational - he does have renown which is something I guess.

Blackfyre is pretty much only used in combo with the War events/plots. I have seen some pretty decent builds actually.

Daario is pretty bad - a 3-cost ally (two heavily played cards discard him) needs to be VERY good, and all he is good for is being a tri-con with a negative.

Daxos is a combo card - if you have cards that do cool things when they enter play, he is good. But, again, he is a 3-cost ally with a possible draw-back (you HAVE to return someone to hand, even if you don't want to - sometimes that backfires).

Titan's Bastard - a pretty decent card. But somewhat tough stats (3 cost, 2 strength) which puts it in the area for a lot of additional kill cards (Venomous Blade, Grey Wind on Rob, much more Targ burn, etc.).

Good thread and welcome

First off - notice that all fo teh characters you mention except for Core set Khal are too expensive for their effect. Thsi is a problem with Targaryen in general - for three and four gold, you don't get the same bang for teh buck that other Hosues do in that rice rnage. Teh box set shoudl help - but most competitive Targrayen decks only run one or tow of these characters and relay far more on cheaop utility charatcers like Street Waifs, Dragon thieves, Maegi Crone, Dothraki Refugees and the like. Brown ben Plumm and Ser Jorah Mormont also see a lot of play becuase of thei cost. And teh dargons soemtimes pop up. But most of the guys you mention don't quite make the cut in tounmaent decks.

That being said:

Core Set Khal Drogo is an all star and one of Targ's Hosue defining cards. His ability works exactly teh way you think - basically giving you the ability to shift the challenge field after a win with a surprise, stealthy character. i usally run at least two in my deck. Losing him to an INT challenge (or to my own Val....grrrr) has cost me games.

I'm a fan of Rhaegar, though few other Targ fans are. Yes - you see the problem in your opponent's Valar catching him - and I admit its an issue. But it works for you as well - so try and get your reset off before your oppoennt's (often do-able since Targ starts slow) adn shift into a better Plot ot re-seed and come back. I aslo liek him agaisnt stark siege decks - especially when tehy ahve played their epic events and have syrio on teh baord. Kill him and lock them in place until next turn and deny them extar miliatyr cahllenges. And besides the tricks stuff - he's a tricon King with great STR - you can work with that and make him formidable.

Shadow Barristan is interesting - but pricey for the effect. You will find with Targ that your effects and characters will drain a lot of gold turn after turn. He's not bad - but you are probably better off with other sahdows cards to put in your deck - the burn Assassins in House, Varys for sure out of House and quite farnkly, you will find that he is just not worth the effect.

Daario is solid - and you can keep him aorund with your opponent's gold. Problem is: that doesn't always work so soemtimes he will atx your limited resource curve, and he's an ally - making him an easy target for your opponent's Varys. he still ahs utility and makes a lot of my decks. Deadly tricons are nothing to ignore, but recognize his limitations and don't paln on him being a key aprt of your push for victory.

Xaro is similar - but since Targ has lost a lot of their "Come into Play" effects (they used to have a few in CCG days - and he's a CCG reprint) I don't run him as much as i once did. His drawback is now almost purely a drawback and it can be annoying to repaly a cheap character - though its certainly do-able and opens up some quirky little combos, but deck space is limited, and unless you are going all out wiht teh tricon theme or if you have some specific tricks in mind - he's kind of not worth it.

Titan's Bastard is really not worth it. Again - Targ lost a lot of abilities when things came in or elft play. he was much more effective in CCG. rarely makes the cut.

Daemon is pricey again at four gold. How many four gold charcters can you really play? In a dedicated war crest deck, he is money, but I'm not convinced war crest decks are a winning strategey for Targaryen. Martell won't let you win a challenge. stark is bigger and harder hitting, Lannister is going to kneel eevrything, Baratheon will beat you before you have the pieces in play...i just don't think its there. The renown is nice - but for four gold - ehhh....I just can't fit him in anymore.

You'll find Targ works best with effects that bring your opponent's character STR down to zero - and then rmeoves them. You will also find that o make this work effectively, you will need to devote many card slots in a 60 card deck to this thesme, adn theat in play it costs a great deal of gold and influence to keep it running consistently. With that in mind, character sltos are at a premiun and the ones you play must be cheap, efficient and hard hitting. Many of Targ;s uniques fall short of this standard.

Very helpful comments so far.

I like the unique Dothraki guys that are out, I think if some more and better non-unique Dothraki are released it could be a very viable theme.

I hope they flesh out the "ambush / bounce" mechanics in the new expansion. It seems like it could be very fun to run a deck like that.

I looked up the events that rings mentioned, they are:

Die by the Sword - After you win a military challenge with a war character participating, kill 1 character controlled by losing opponent.

The Price of War - After you win a military challenge with a war character participating, discard from play up to 2 non-limited locations controlled by losing opponent.

Right now I'm fooling around with Daemon Blackfyre, Randyl Tarly, Power of Arms, and those 2 events to see what kind of deck I can come up with.

You'll be able to do a decent build with that - but it will be very focused on the military challenge. i like my decks ot be a little more versatile - but you should be able to kill with claim and the event. You'll struggle with draw and probably be vulnerable to intrigue, so tiem your reset well and don't count on carrying the day simply through challenge phase. You'll need some spot control and a little mass rmeoval just in case they shut down your war crest guys.

And yes -some of the new Dothraki make for very interesting cards - especially Dany's Bloodriderss and their gear.

Sounds like a cool deck - Good luck!

Don't forget about KotSea "Jack of all Trades", who could help out with the "WAR" crest thing, too (as well as provide you some intrigue, and at only 2 gold).

I agree with Stag Lord - most of Targ’s power characters are too expensive for their cost. Just to weigh in on the specifics…

Rhaegar: You’re right…he doesn’t see much play. Since he doesn’t have renown, there’s less of a reason to keep him around, so noble crest doesn’t help a ton. Also, Targ doesn’t have a lot of amazing noble crest characters, so running Power of Blood out of Targ is significantly worse than out of Bara. Similarly, Targ doesn’t have a lot of good warcrests, so the war crest doesn’t help a ton. (If Targ gets some serious war crest support, Rhegar might become more playable.) In general though, it’s probably the effect that keeps people from playing him, since it is quite a drawback.

Khal: Awesome card, and yes, people play him exactly like you described. It’s *very* effective.

Selmy (shadows): Not great, but OK. If gold wasn’t such an issue in Targ, this guy would be more playable. (You can’t reduce his cost, which really hurts in Targ.)

Daemon: Expensive, but decent. As mentioned above, war crests don’t get you a ton in Targ, since there aren’t many good warcrest char’s to begin with. Since this guy grants war crests, there’s potential, but it’s dangerous to be so reliant on one character. That said, I think some people have had success with him.

Daario: I’ll have to revisit this guy. He’s quite good, but given Targ’s lack of in-house draw, effects that discard your own characters are especially dangerous. In a faster environment (as the card pool expands, making all decks more efficient), this guy will probably become even better.

Xaro: Decent, but again, gold is hard to come by in Targ. And as you mention, there aren’t enough characters that have such good come into play effects that you want to pay a lot of extra gold to use the ability twice. (Red Warlock might be one, and Dragon Thief another, but I wouldn’t play this guy just to use those abilities twice.)

Titan’s Bastard: Great card, except for the 2 STR and ally trait. If he were 3 STR or didn’t have the ally trait, he’d see a lot more play. That said, he’s still pretty popular. (He’s always one of the last 1/3 cards I cut when I’m refining a new Targ deck.)

Generally speaking, a lot of the cards above would be *much* better if Targ had more reliable, in-house draw and/or more gold-providing/cost-reducing locations.

I play Targ very heavily, so I'll cough up my thoughts even if they are very similar to everyone else...
Rhaegar is nice but he's a double-edged sword like you said. I do use him in some decks, his cost to STR ratio is good since he's a tricon with multiple crests. If I'm going to be using him I usually try to do 2-3x in the hopes that I can get a dupe on him so I can ignore the dupe and kill him only when the time is right for me, but I find it hard to fit him in a deck most of the time.
Core Khal Drogo is the man, hes pretty much an auto-include in all Targ decks.
Not a big fan of either Barristan Selmy, or Daemon Blackfyre since War crests aren't a great theme for Targ; I guess Daemon combos well with things like Randyl Tarly and Mercenary Contract, but I dont use him much.
Daario and Xaro don't fit in most of my decks because there are just too many better characters, Hatchlings, BwB Jhogo, Street Waifs, etc. all trump both of these guys.
Titan's Bastard is interesting, comes into play when you use Forever Burning, which is a Targ staple, but again, he just doesn't make the cut most of the time.

i may be a minority in my feelings about targ. i tend to see them as appropriately costed as an overarching house. The fact that some are expensive with "little payoff" as some would say isn't completely without merit, but used correctly are devistating (ie. megi crone). also when dealing with the expensive characters, you have to take into account the amount of cards that don't need to be marshaled with gold. the ambush keyword offsets the expense of the higher costed stuff by using a different resource than gold. targ also has the largest amount of cards that you can add to play outside of the marshaling phase. that being said, i would like to see more ambush and "put into play" effects in the expansion (ie dragons which look awesome, ambush keywords, and stuff to combo off of come into play effects) to really offset expenses and make targ a house to be feared. i have been trying since i got back into agot to get a targ deck to be a top tier competitive deck. so far, it hasn't worked (i did come close with my targ shadows). i look forward to the expansion with high hopes for a house that hasn't seen much love.

Stasis said:

Stasis said:

Like Stag Lord said, Brown Ben and Ser Jorah are nice, just don't let Ser Jorah die when Threat from the North is out. The Hatchlings, especially the new Black one, are all pretty decent. Street Waifs are good, Maegi Crone too since you can use spare Forever Burnings on them to activate their draw ability (if you can afford them, KotHH helps). The newest Jhogo is pretty awesome, by himself he's good, and if you consider that Refugees are Dothraki you can potentially hit the draw cap every turn if you can get attacks through. Core Viserys is also an auto-include most of the time. If you are using Summer, Red Warlocks are pretty useful; though they are an Ally and cost 3 gold, the search ability is great for finding Dragon Sight or Flame-Kissed, especially when Lady Daenery's Chamber is out.
You didn't ask about locations, but Rhaeny's Hill and Aegon's Hill are both incredible, and are both King's Landing locations which helps when you are relying on King's Landing for draw; Meereenese Brothel is also a staple for most burn decks, as is The Dragonpit (another King's Landing trait) if you have even a few shadows cards in the deck.

Stasis said:

I really hope Queen of Dragons fleshes out the house and makes it possible to build more competitive decks. I think all of the 6 cards they've let us see in advance look amazing.

I wonder if FFG made their characters slightly underwhelming because of all their burn cards. You can put a lot of -STR on opposing characters and maybe they were afraid to make Targ characters stronger? Not sure at all, just an idea I had.

Aegon's Blade looks like the best character attachment in the game to me - especially with all the tricons Targ has.

Thanks to everyone for their comments on the house and their characters. Targaryen and Greyjoy characters seem the hardest to figure out to me.

Stasis said:

I don't know, they have some really powerful characters. That new Danny coming out in the next chapter pack is very nice, both drogos are good in their own way. Jhogo/Aggo/Rakharo, etc. I really like Rhaegar too, his ability has helped me more than it has hurt. Killing him at the right time takes some planning but when you can make it work I've had it swing games.

I disagree darksbane - I suspect stais is close to the truth. I think R&D was VERY careful with costing targ characters, and what abilities they got becuase burn is so powerful. They were worried Targ would eb too competitive - which at times in the past they ahve been. unfortunatley, IMO they erred too far on teh side fo caution and few of Targ's uniqeus are playable in top tier decks - just not enough bang for the buck.

Nick aludes to ambush being a balancer on the high gold cost - but note how many of Targ's effects require gold, how many lcoations thy typically need in a build, their requirement on neutral characters to round out tehir roster and you can see that the cost is just off on a lot of these guys.

i know where they are coming form though - bomb characters + great control isn't really good for the environment. though it doesn't seem to affect Martell designs....but whatever.