After watching the HBO series and looking at some video reviews for this game I think I'm going to invest in some cards. I used to play a lot of CCGs, haven't in years and I'm really looking forward to building some decks.

Initially I want to play both Stark and Targaryen decks, one house for me, one for my wife. After looking at some articles here's what will be in my initial purchase so far:

Core Set x2

Lords of Winter X1

Queen of Dragons x1

Epic Battles x3 (I'm assuming 3 is good)

Mountains of the Moon x1

Sacred Bonds x1

What I need advice on is if there are any other expansions that are must-haves for Stark and Tagaryen. What else do I need to build solid decks for those 2 houses? I want to be able to do a little customization (having more than 1 decent deck for each of those 2 houses) right off the bat.

What kind of deck do you plan to build for Stark and Targaryen? If you're buying 3x Epic Battles it seems like maybe you're trying to make a Siege of Winterfell deck that focuses on getting in tons of military challenges.

Without knowing the kinds of decks you want to make these are my best suggestions:

1. Ancient Enemies : Very good plots for all houses, Dragon Thief is good for Targ and Bear Island is good for Stark.

2. Refugees of War : Good 0 cost characters for all houses.

If you're interested in a Dothraki deck you should buy the Brotherhood Without Banners cycle (Illyrio's Gift, Rituals of R'hllor, Mountains of the Moon, A Song of Silence, Of Snakes and Sand)

There are some very good characters for Stark in Princes of the Sun , at least 4.

Honestly, having multiple Core sets and the Lords of Winter and Queen of Dragons will give you the vast majority of what you're going to want for both houses. Depending on how serious you get into the game and such you may want to buy certain chapter packs that have a really good card or two.

I'd probably take Ancient Enemies over Sacred Bonds, especially since the Feral Pack comes only x1. IMO it has much more consistently useful cards, but Sacred Bonds isn't bad either.

Song of Summer so you can build a great Targ summer deck.

I second Refugees.

A Song of Summer to give you the option to make your targ deck a summer deck is a must. I'd also consider City of Secrets for Dragon Skull and a different version of Ser Barristan Selmy .

Thanks for the replies everyone. If I add Song of Summer, Ancient Enemies, and refugees of war is 3 of each essential?

EDIT: A Stark Deck with a ton of military challenges does sound good. So does a Dothraki deck but I might want to wait until I get some games under my belt belt.

3 of each is way more than enough as you will end up with 9 copies of some of the cards and 3 of the uniques. Which really you don't need that many. Plus I strongly suspect we might see reprints of the older packs in 3 of each card collation same as they are doing with CoC.

I wouldn't do 3x any pack until you've played a number of games.

I would say in the start you are safe with the core set and the House expansion boxes. Then I would look to expand after you have played some.

Agree with others...the only pack you'll want 3 of each is the Core Set, and even then 2 is fine for most houses. There are some very useful cards like Hatchling Feast that are only 1x per pack, and in certain cases I can see buying a second or third pack just for that card. But these are for top-level tournament competitive builds. Anything less than that, I would probably just buy no more than 1 of each pack.

Ok you good people have convinced me not to buy multiple packs besides the core set. I appreciate the input.

An update...it was really hard to reign myself in and not go crazy on chapter packs. I'm interested in playing Greyjoy Raiders and Dothraki but I should definitely hold off on those until I know how to play the game. I did add Greyjoy to my initial collection. Very simple reason-they use warships. I don't know if I will love that style of play but the naval wargamer in me made me do it. I had also read that Kings of the Sea was generally just a good expansion. Here's what I ordered, should have my stuff this week:

Core Set x2

Queen of Dragons

Kings of the Sea

Lords of Winter

A Song of Summer

Ancient Enemies

Refugees of War

Sacred Bonds

I think that will be enough to get me started. I blame all this on HBO.

Please tell me your copy of Kings of the Sea is the reprint that comes with 3x each card, and not the original issue that had each card only 1x.

Ratatoskr said:

Yes sir.

That's good, then. Carry on. ;-)

TakeshiKovacs said:

This should definitely be a good start for you - good choices. I love playing Greyjoy, but I don't love the raiders subtheme. When you're ready to expand, you've got a few directions you can take. Buying the GJ expansion gives you a good base to jump into the shadows mechanic, and now you can build a Targ shadows deck. If you play GJ and like them, eventually you'll want to pick up The Winds of Winter and A Change of Seasons, because Greyjoy is best played with a winter build right now. (And there's some other good cards in those as well.) Martell summer is awesome and fun, so you'll want to get your sixth and final house shored up with Princes of the Sun.

danach81 said:

Thanks for that advice. I wasn't sure what packs I needed for an initial boost to Greyjoy.