Hey all. I've a couple questions:

Is there some place that actually lists all the cards in the Core Set? Basically, I'm looking to buy the Core Set, Lords of Winter, Kings of the Storm, Princes of the Sun + a half, and Queen of Dragons + the reprinted Kings of the Sea. If I want to get anyone else to play (and they will, knowing many fans of both games and the novels), I'm still going to have to provide the materials. As I see it, Core Set + 3.5 expansions (at a place that has nice prices locally) isn't going to be much more a boardgame + expansion. ($91 if I estimate correctly)

With the Core set, if I buy more than one, or even up to three, how many wasted cards will I have sitting around waiting for the recycling bin? If it's going to be significant, I'm not going to bother, and will probably look around to see if I can get Stark/Barr/Martell decks that are balanced with each other made from the above stuff, and Greyjoy/Targ when the boxes come out.

I'll likely get the Brotherhood without Borders chapter packs at some point if we want to get more stuff, but I'm going to be avoiding the previous ones. I'm not after this from a competitive or a deckbuilding standpoint (I don't even know if there's a scene in the Toronto area), but mainly I'm kind of weird about having playsets, so I'd rather have 0 of a card than 1, if I can't have 3. Mainly, I really like the SoIaF series, and I'm a fan of card games for their portability and... feel, if that's the right word. My favourite games of magic were big multiplayer ones with lots of bargaining and wheedling, and it seems this game has that built right into it, so awesome.

To be honest, I'm probably just going to start with the core set, but since to add in the Martells and Greyjoys I'll be getting 3-ofs anyway, I might as well do the same for Targ/Stark/Barr, and hopefully the Lannisters at some point.

PS Assuming familiarity with the game, how long do games with 4 or 6 players take, and are games okay with 3 and 5, or does it become a matter of ganging up?

PPS Can you build a coherent Tully/Tyrell/Arryn deck, or at least as a contingent to one of the playable houses?

There are a couple of websites which you can check for lists of the core set and other expansions: agot.dbler.com and cardgamedb.com are the most popular, I think. There's also agotcards.org, but you'll need to register to use the site, and Rogue30's site of which I have forgotten the url.

As for wasted cards, I'm not sure. If you don't buy a lot of chapter packs, there will be a fair amount of cards to use from the core set, I think. And you can try making spare decks with the left-overs. But there'll also be a bunch of cards which you might not put in a deck. Anyhow, you can always start with one core set and then buy more if you think it'll be worth it.

You've probably read about the Kings of the Sea (Greyjoy) expansion only having one copy of each card, so you'll likely want to wait till the reprint with 3x each card hits the stores, but that's probably still a couple of months off.

I haven't played with 6 players yet, and with 5 players only once, but that want on for a good long time (~2.5h+). I suspect it'll vary significantly depending on the decks, the alliances forged during play, etc. If you prefer shorther games, it might make sense to limit the game to 90 minutes or a certain amount of rounds, and then whoever leads wins. Our 4 player games usually last 60 to 90 minutes, sometimes 2h, but we're not the most efficient players, so your mileage will probably vary

As for Arryn, Tyrell, Tully, they used to be bigger in the CCG version of this game, with them having their own themes and solid cardpool. Nowadays, Tyrell and Arryn are more or less non-existant in the current LCG version of the game, except for a handful of characters with the Tyrell trait. The Lords of Winter expansion box expanded Tully as a Stark based trait and comes with an example deck list, but there's not much support for it outside the LoW expansion.

Bento said:

http://www.cardgamedb.com/index.php/GoTDeckbuilder.html

That's an excellent website featuring all sets and their cards, though I do not think it has the count of each card. Probably you can find somewhere (maybe the NY players site?) that lists that info, not sure though.

Tully, yes, you can build quite a good Tully deck. Arryn and Tyrell are considerably less developed in the current environs - I don't think it would be possible to build a deck on those themes.

If you start with just one core set, you should be fine, but there are quite a few cards in it that are key for Lannister. That's all I have time to answer now, but I'm sure someone else has better answers anyway.

WolfgangSenff said:

The deckbuilder doesn't list the quantity but the spoiler list does under the quantity heading.

Bento said:

and to specifically answer your questions, these are the cards which come in multiples:

Crossroads x5

Great Keep x3

The Goldroad x3

Aegon's Garden x3

Eastern Fiefdoms x3

Northern Fiefdoms x2

Narrow Sea x2

Western Fiefdoms x2

Stormlands fiefdoms x2

Temple of the Graces x2

Distinct Mastery x2

Rhaegal x2

Robert Baratheon x2

Thanks guys. I'll probably get a single copy of the Core Set this weekend and crack it open - if the Storm and Winter expansions are in stock I'll get those as well, so in two-player setups I'll get another gamer-type to deckbuild with me, and for multiplayer we'll play the four as they come in the box with fans of the novels. I hear the balance amongst those four premade decks is pretty good.

Good to know about the Tullys, too bad about the Tyrells and Arryns. Still, the game seems to be doing quite well, so I hold out hope - maybe if we're lucky the Westermen will get a deluxe expansion after the Sea reprint & Dragons release - once the six there are done I'd love to see a deluxe for the Tyrells - maybe the Arryns are better off as a smaller neutral or something.

As long as this game has been around there have been people asking for new houses. I heard a rumor that at one point FFG had considered introducing Tyrells or Arryns (which it was is a little foggy), but when they floated the idea to GRRM he said if they were going to add a sixth house (this was after Targ and Greyjoy had been introduced already) that it should definitely be Martell. That gave us our six. And ever since then people have clamored for a seventh, an eighth, and even a ninth. This has been going on for years. To save yourself disappointment you should probably expect the playable houses to be these 6 with everything else being either neutral, in another house, or a dual house card of two existing factions.

Not to say it couldn't ever happen, but there has been no indication of consideration beyond these six in years.

Cool, thanks for the heads-up.

I cracked open my Core Set today and read through the cards - looks like the Tyrells have some representation in the Barratheon deck anyway, and I guess if they follow along with the novels I guess I'll see various factions that have cards tagged with one of the six player houses.

I also got the Storm and Winter expansions, as well as Sun (now, if only I could get another half-Sun), and I'm planning to get the Sea reprint and Dragons. For now though I'm going to play out of the core set - any suggestions on balancing the premade decks out, or are they good? I'm not much of a card metagamer and neither are the folks I usually play with, so I'd rather ensure 4-6 balanced decks rather than have to convince others to strategise builds. I gather that the Storm and Winter expansions have suggested decklists in there, and presumably so will Dragons and the Sea reprint, so I hope one of those for each house should make for a decent melee game?

Are there any other suggestions for cards from the chapter packs that I can scatter around to each of the six houses to keep them on par with each other? I was tempted to pick up the Brotherhood cycle, but held off on it since the Sea and Dragons expansions were listed as in stores in late April.

Now, here's hoping the Lannisters get their deluxe expansion, so that, for those of us who just treat it as a boardgame, all the factions have a roughly equal number of options.

Bento said:

The core set decks are all fairly well balanced with one another, just make sure if you are not playing multiplayer to take out the plots that are only good in multiplayer. Once you add in the deluxe expansions you'll want to get a second core set for Lannister and then I'd say the King's Landing cycle if you need to make the Lannister deck more competative. Don't count on Kings of the Sea as having a decklist in it, it and the Martell expansion aren't in the same vein as the other house expansions. It should be fairly easy to put together a deck with them though.