I just discovered the series when the HBO television show premiered, watched it, and have loved it thus far. I've never heard of it before, but all of a sudden it's all over the place. I'm big into gaming, and it's not often I find something I like on television, so I was considering picking up the LCG, but I had a few questions before I committed to it.

The first thing I would like clarified is how the game works. Not in terms of game mechanics, but as far as collecting and customizing go. I thought the LCG concept was interesting, but didn't quite understand how the packs worked. Each one is predetermined, from what I was told, but are all the packs from a given set identical; I'd just have to purchase one pack from each expansion set to collect all the cards from that set?

The other thing that comes to mind right now is how the sets break down. The product listings show expansions, and each one has listed within it what appears to be sub-expansions or something. What's with that? Is it just a different pack that's needed to complete that full expansion, and are there ones that can't be mixed together (kind of like in the Lord of the Rings TCG from Decipher) due to being from different periods of time or something of the like?

All help is much appreciated, so thanks ahead of time. I'm sure I'll have more questions as I start to get more into this.

The core set and all LCG cycles are legal (with exception to the very few banned cards).

Each LCG cycle consists of six chapter packs. Each chapter pack has set cards in them. Starting with the "Defenders in the North" cycle, all cards come 3x in each pack. Prior to that FFG was using a different distribution model where some cards were x3 and some were only x1. If you want multiples of the x1 cards in earlier sets, you will need to buy additional copies of each chapter pack that contains the card you want.

The expansions are separate from the core set and cycles. They specialize in one of the great houses of Westeros and so far there is an expansion for each of the main six houses except for Lannister (which we can all assume will get their expansion next).

To get an idea of what cards are in what chapter packs, take a look at one of the card search sites available on the internet. I like to use AGoT Dabbler myself, but there are others as well.

Good luck, and welcome to the game.

One minor correction to ASolaFfan's post is that the 3x distribution model for the chapter packs does not start until the Brotherhood without Banners cycle, not on the Defenders of the North cycle as stated.

That was as about as quick a response and informative an answer as I could've asked for. Again, much appreciated. I thought the television series was awesome, and was quite excited to find out that it had a card game but I wanted to have a better idea of how the packs worked before I went and poured a ton of loot into it. I think the LCG idea is unique and fair, and I'm looking forward to purchasing some cards and getting started.

Edit: So the Core Set is four decks, the deluxe expansions are house-specific super-packs, and the other expansions are divided into six different but predetermined chapter packs which are released each month?

ClarkJ1626 said:

That is correct. The easiest way to start is to purchase a Core Set, find out which house you would like to play, and then just purchase that corresponding Deluxe expansion(except for Lannister of course since they don't have theirs yet). Then once you find out how you like to play it is easy to use a GoT search engine online to determine which cards you want and what pack they are in and then you can pick and choose which ones you want to buy. Or just do what I did and buy 1 of every pack, 2 of some and 3 of most.

P.S. - This is the best card game I have ever played and will never love another game the way I love this one. It has pretty much ruined all other card games for me forever.

widowmaker93 said:

Ah, a like-minded gamer! Of course, I don't know how someone could resist purchasing at least one of each pack in this game; I haven't even begun to collect cards, build decks, or claim victories and I'm super excited about this game! Just based on bias from the television series, I think I'm gonna lead towards Stark or Targaryen. Of the Lannisters I only care for Tyrion and I'm quite neutral towards House Baratheon as it stands.

As for ruining all other card games, I should hope that is not the case... not quite, at least! I love Lord of the Rings, and I'm hoping to check that LCG out, too. I'm not sure how good the co-operative aspect of the game is, or how well such a game works, but I have high hopes for this LCG stuff.

To complement the replies of others, which are going into quite a bit of detail at times, the Core set provides you with a stand-alone, slightly more board-gamey experience of the game. It has pre-build decks of 4 of the 6 playable houses, with 1 copy of each card: Stark, Lannister, Baratheon, Targaryen. The decks are generally balanced, but do not always perform equally, particularly as they don't differentiate between 1-on-1 games and multiplayer games. However, this should provide you with a great introductory experience, and if you really enjoy the game, the common wisdom is to get a second Core set to allow for deck customization with cards that you are already familiar with. It really allows you to smooth out some of the rougher edges of the pre-build decks while sticking close to the Core set experience.

If you find you want to expand your card pool and get more into deck building, the next step would probably be the deluxe expansions. Each deluxe expansion give a significant boost to a single house as well as including some neutral cards playable out of all houses. The more recently released boxes for Stark, Baratheon and Targaryen come deck lists which you can use to build differently themed decks utilizing cards from the Core set and the respective expansion only. The two older expansions for Martell and Greyjoy give you a decent starting card pool for their respective houses, as they are not included in the Core set.

The last step is purchasing Chapter packs. They are organized in cycles, with each cycle generally focusing on a certain theme or new mechanic. There's 6 chapter packs to each cycle, each with a fixed set of cards. If you reach the point where you want to purchase Chapter packs, come back to the forums for some guidance, if you are unsure where to start and what might be best for your prefered house(s).

Indeed. A lot of people here in Cincinnati are starting to pick up the game for the first time and it is really taking off for them And as Saturnine was saying, they seem to be picking up the core set, and then grabbing their favorite house's super box, then looking online for the best cards to compliment their forming decks and getting those packs. As for me, I was unfortunate enough to start playing during a "Core-set Drought" so I started by just purchasing the Martell super-pack and running with it, playing games vs. myself >_< ahh, those were the days.

On that, you should post your city on these forums. See if you can dig up some local competition. Or maybe just hang out at the local game shop winking and nudging around the Game of Thrones section until you bump into some players (The tactic works!) Welcome to the game! Also, I'd highly recommend the book series while we wait for season 2 on HBO. The fifth book is near it's release

ClarkJ1626 said:

LOL, well I was sort of joking about it ruining all other card games. I have the Lord of the Rings LCG and it being co-op is certainly a different selling point for me. Also you can play it solo so that is cool. What I should have said is that FFG has ruined CCG games for me. I don't know how I could ever see myself opening another booster pack. It just seems like such a waste of time and a money sink that I'm not about to get into again. Such an archaic way of making a card game. Blah!

I'm a Targ player at heart myself. The only bad thing about that is that I had to buy multiple core sets to build a solid Targaryen deck. You really need 3 copies of a couple key cards that come in the Core Set. If you can find someone who will get into the game with you and you each split the cost of a core set then pick 2 Houses a piece to play. Much easier on the wallet that way.

Good Luck!

~Nathan

Saturnine said:

Thanks a bunch, the bit on the Core Set is good to know, and the advice is much appreciated!

anavasoothed said:

I searched earlier to see who came up for Massachusetts. Not a whole lot (26, I think it said), but that's a fair share, I guess. Also I guess it's catching on at the local game store where I live, and I've got a friend or three who'll join in, I'm sure. Once I get some cards, I'm gonna be networking as much as I can to make sure there's never a shortage of friends or foes. As far as the books go, I'm reading the first one right now and looking to get a good, full set of them!

widowmaker93 said:

Ooh, that's rough. Armed with the knowledge of the Core Set's contents, I'm gonna split it between me and a friend, or me and three friends if I can. So, I'm gonna be pitching this game this weekend, and pushin' it hard. Also, having been reading a bit from the first book since I last posted, I'm gonna be going with House Stark, me thinks! I loved them in the show, and I love 'em in the book (thus far), and I can't imagine not liking them in game; the description of their strengths sounds like something I'd like. So I'll see if I can't split a Core Set between me and some friends, and then get them to go in on a second one after we're sure we all like it, or just split a second one between me and one other. After that, I'll be looking to expand as soon as funds permit, 'cause it's not often I find a game with this much potential, and that's still alive (let alone popular where I'm from)!

fhornmikey said:

Yes, thanks for the correction, Fhornmikey. My brain was going one direction and my fingers the other when I wrote that.