Can someone please explain to me in meaning of "Save Davos from being killed", same applies to Viserys. Does it mean, for example, when I lose challenge and I have to kill one character I can save one of them instead and fullfill the claim?

Yes, you can choose either for the claim of a military challenge and then trigger their responses. You could even trigger their responses if one of them was chosen as the target of any direct kill effect or discard (in Viserys's case) as well.

Thanks!

Note in the case you have to fullfull a claim of two, you cannot choose to kill and save twice your same character. The chosen victims must be different.

I found this post when trying to seek clarity of Viserys response from the core set.

"Response: Save Viserys Targaryen from being killed or discarded from play, then return him to his owner's hand."

The answers on this post are saying that this response allows you to save Viserys from being killed. My interpretation of this Response is that you must fulfill the "Save" condition in order to return him to his owner's hand. Therefore if you can in some way save Viserys from death or discarding, you can then return him to your hand. I didn't interpret this as an automatic save.

If this is an automatic save, then how do you end up killing anyone in Joust when Viserys is in play without a claim of 2 in a military challenge? And he only costs 1 gold to put down as a meat shield? I know there are ways to enable "cannot be saved", but he costs 1 gold and has 1 strength. If he is meant to be Saved at all times without other cards saving him, then I'd think that would be explicit text that is not part of the response.

It's just confusing how often you can reuse the help of that one cheap card, which is why I'm asking for additional clarity in case I misunderstood this post and replies.

Responses are always optional. You dont have to save Viserys if you don't want to.

I found several more posts that clarified how Viserys is used. Seems like a very cheap and powerful character to have in play that is very difficult to get rid of as an opponent. You either need to have him killed when "cannot be saved" is in effect, 1 or more additional claim on a military challenge in order to effectively claim military wins as an attacker, or need to attack frequently with standing deadly characters. Just seems to be a bit too game breaking for 1 gold cost.

Oh well, there are plenty of powerful cheap cards in this game so why over-analyze this one?

Bomb said:

You just need to play more. Only beginners see it as a problem.

eloooooooi said:

Thank you for the reply. Why wouldn't you want to save him as the controller? Maybe if you took control of him from an opponent? That is the only case I can think of where you wouldn't want to fulfill the response.

Rogue30 said:

I definitely agree with you on that one. Do you have any advice on how to counter him in Joust?

Bomb said:

Just focus on your winning 15 power. Try attack military first and then intrigue (with chances of discarding Viserys).

Rogue30 said:

"Military, then intrigue" is one way to do it. Direct kill and discard effects outside of military claim is another way. Cancel and text blanking effects are another good way to deal with him.

Thank you very much. I appreciate the overall advice.

I really enjoy how much strategy can be used to play this game effectively that is not as direct as some games.

ktom said:

I'm sorry but I think I misunderstand how this doesn't apply to the Response text on Viserys' card. I mean I'm thinking you are suggesting to get rid of him before the military claim is in effect even though he will be put back into the owner's hand but just making sure.

Bomb said:

Your Martell opponent has just played House Messenger. It turns out he has put They Call it Thinking in his hand.

OR

You really wanna use To Be a Dragon but don't have any valid character in your dead pile.

OR

Many other things you will discover after you play a lot.

Bomb said:

Also, another trick to use (mainly by the Targ decks) is direct burn, by reducing a character to 0 or below str, it kills that character (if so stated on the card), and they cannot be saved unless the save action also gets rid of the negative strength as well. Which means davos and Viserys' saves don't work to save them.

Also, there are cards that force players to make saves outside of a marshalling challenge, "Deadly", Condemned by the realm and many more.

Keep playing and good luck!

Winged_Human said:

So this tactic for getting rid of Viserys doesn't actually work.

Pardon my inability to remember the complete text for Viserys, and thanks KTom for pointing out the mistake. So it's back to the tride and true... milk of the poppy and Dragon fear... I Love Targ burn.

Winged_Human said:

This is where the plot Threat from the North comes in handy. And stymies me everytime I play Targ... I'd say there's a 1/3 chance I forget my own plot and lose him to the discard pile. At least some times I'm running two... since he's so good for triggering Lady Daenerys' Chambers.