In joust games with a friend, his Stark deck is giving me fits. We split a core set halfway(he got Stark/Baratheon I got Lannister/Targ). We've bought about a half dozen chapter packs, he bought the Lords of Winter expansion and I the Martell expansion(name escapes me).

Anyway, is there a general strategy and/or deck that can deal with Stark? Bear Island is ridiculous and not to mention Eddard Stark, all the Direwolf attachments, etc. I can never have enough characters out to deal with him. I can't hang with his military challenges and he has quite a few characters with renown as well. Add in great utility cards like Hodor to the mix as well.

Later when I get the time tonight I can post exactly which chapter packs I've got to let you know what I've got to work with. I'm totally open to buying more. Thanks for any/all help.

The snarky reply that has nothing to do with you or your predicament is "hope for a large enough outcry from the player base for the cards you don't like to be put on the restricted list."

Having gotten that out of the way, the real answer is to destroy his hand with intrigue challenges, then reset the board with Valar, Westeros Bleeds, etc. and make him play off what he draws as you climb back into the game. That's the simplest, most basic stategy of the control houses(Lanni, Targ, and Martell). Obviously, your gonna have to tailor that strategy to the cards you have, but that's the basic strategy of dealing with Stark, Baratheon, and Greyjoy.

What types of deck are you running out of Targ and Lannister now? This week the Queen of Dragons box should be out and I'd suggest you buy it, it will have one event that will be pretty nasty vs a Stark deck using alot of locations, Favorable Ground . You could also look at picking up A Time of Trials to get Condemned by the Council . Also run some character attachments so he can't target your characters with Bear Island.

Use attachments on your own characters to protect against Bear Island. Devious Intentions (Lanni), Taste for Blood, Venomous Blade (Martell), Rusted Sword, Bodyguard (neutral).

Use Lannister's kneeling (Castellan of the Rock, etc) and cards like Distraction to kneel out his strong military characters. Martell has events like Red Vengeance and Burning on the Sands to prevent winning of challenges like military.

Against Bear Island directly, location control cards (Condemned by the Council (event), Fleeing to the Wall (plot) and the new event in the Targaryen box will help).

Lanni has a ton of kneel, but also a good amount of kill cards - Lanni Pays it Debts, I am you Writ Small kills on non-military challenges a lot, Illyn Payne, everyone can use Seductive Promise to steal non-uniques, etc.

There are a good # of search sites - here is one but there are more: http://info.wsisiz.edu.pl/~szczesnj/index.php or http://www.cardgamedb.com/

Look through there to target some cards you think might help, and good luck!

I play Lanni myself, and Stark is almost never an issue with me. Stark has a strong military but if you're playing lannister you either have strong intrigue, or in the case of clansmen, strong military and power, with a ton of claim boosters and cheap tricks.