They just announced the next chapter pack cycle A Tale of Champions . I am stoked this cycle sounds extremely fun.

Although I imagine the folks who dislike melee might be less than enthused.

I am very excited. That new Varys - Melee Lannister card..

I mostly play joust (by circumstances more than preference), so I prefer the design of the new Euron to Varys or the stark attachment: an ability that is better in melee, but still usable in joust decks.

YYYYYYYEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

I hate melee, but the theme for the new cycle is cool, so it's bittersweet. Hopefully the promise of joust support is true too.

I hope there are cards in this set that can shake up melee games and make them play differently, but I also hope that a bunch of these cards don't become auto-includes in melee (since this set has more melee specific cards, I could see them making cards that turn out to be much better in melee than the kind of more joust focused cards we have gotten so far).

I also hope there are not too many cards like the ones previewed in the article that discourage players from making challenges. Players are already discouraged from attacking in multiplayer games since attacking can leave you vulnerable to multiple opponents and making multiple enemies early in the game can be disastrous. Games where it is in everyone's best interest to wait for someone else to make the first move are not fun.

Davy Back Fight said:

Davy Back Fight said:

i think they already did joust support. . . it was every single chapter cycle before this one

I've never played melee, but the Varys looks really nice for it.

I think I'll like the cycle because I expect there to be a healthy amount of cards that are good for joust as well.

Looks fun. I love having new versions of important uniques, just hoping we get a new Balon soon.

Looks fun indeed. No gimmicks, just solid cards with some melee love. And Meera Reed!

Yes, Meera Reed, the Smalljon, and ole Gregor Clegane. It's nice to see them all get LCG representation finally.

Hooray for Ser Gregor and Meera Reed. I´m crossing my fingers for "non - melee" versions of this two great charachters.

I would also prefer cards that have an additional ability (or are simply better) for the melee game like Euron. The new Varys will even push me further way from playing melee games. I simply don´t like the idea of redirecting challenges.

Finally something different from the umpteenth neutral-traited cycle (with my luck, the next news announcement will say that 50% of the cards in the cycle will be 'Champion' traited neutrals...). Feels somehow really fresh. And I love the idea of some more interesting uniques.

Also the Melee support will be a nice touch to open up more variety on that side.

Oh. And the new Euron is quite cool. Don't remember if any other characters actually have 4 traits so far. And with Support of Saltcliffe he might become pretty interesting even in Joust.

...I just hope the Mountain is so strong that he causes lots of hate...

It's a bit odd that for this melee-oriented chapter pack cycle the identifying icon seems to be a jousting knight...

jack merridew said:

i think they already did joust support. . . it was every single chapter cycle before this one

True in a way, but while those cards are just fine in melee, cards like this new Varys are nearly auto-coaster in joust. I'm just hoping not everything in the cycle will be sub-par compared to the existing pool if you don't have more than one opponent.

I am TOTALLY stoked about this new cycle. I think that Melee will get some much needed love, and I seriously hope to see some Lanni and Kingsguard love in there as well... My guess is that shortly after we'll see the announcement of the LAnni box to boot.

+1 to FFG!

I'm excited since it appears that this cycle will flesh out what we already have instead of tacking on a new mechanic, trait, theme etc. Woot!

This is really exciting. I love the theme - I LOVE the emphasis on uniques, I love the focus on melee and specific effects designed for that format - for the first time since the King's Landing cycle was announced - I am really juiced about an upcoming cycle. The neutral tarited themes all elft me cold at first - this is more of what I am looking for in terms of an immersive gaming experience.

Can't wait.

Stag Lord said:

Totally agree - I just love uniques (hoping for a Put to the Question reprint!). Reminds me slightly of the King's Edition which probalby is my favorite set of all time.

And although it is well-documented my feelings on (competative) Melee I am actually excited they are dedicating some of the cards to it. I know people and even whole meta's that play it more than Joust, and anything that gets more people involved is a good thing.

Also agree that it will be nice to have a theme that isn't taking a subtheme and making it crazy (and usually nuetral or useable in all decks al la Wildlings, Brotherhood - which was done well IMHO, and even Maesters which has really left me surprisingly cold). It will be nice to focus on the main house themes and hopefully see more different strategies within houses.

i agree with you completely rings, its nice to see a fleshing out of already existing tech in the houses. I'm waiting on some more non-unique Kingdom locations and Siege attachments.

New Posting

Im digging the noble crest KoF. Also, that Arya will be fun. I think this cycle is really going to shake up melee. Its going to be multi dimensional.

*Head pops the f*** off in awe*

I'm already in love with this cycle. First time since King's Landing that I've thought " F*** Yeah!! " about a set of pack's concept and content.

The first preview got me a bit excited (Euron is obviously awesome, Varys is great fun if not gamebreaking, and Name of the King is interesting as a concept), but the stuff in the second is just plain old cool.

Knight of Flowers: Bananas. It's like having Robert-Renown, plus the ability to gain actual renown on top. Then a noble crest and some good traits to go on top of that. Hilarity ensues (and doesn't stop when your spoilsport opponent puts a card into shadows).

Arya: Cheap noble crest + icons + efficient stats + trait = good enough on its own. Joust makes her gooder (though perhaps not as good as the CoreSet original?), meleeing ability makes her insane vs multiple opponents.

Daario: He'd be runnable with just the ability (current Daario sucks anyway). 3 gold to zap a Knight = deal. The fact that he's a tricon war crest with a keyword that makes him at least 3 strength whenever it matters just seals the deal with super-glue. Obvious Achille's heel is the fact that he shoots himself in the head if your opponent doesn't have a Knight or Traitor on the table, which I guess could happen occasionally in joust.

The Sparr: Looks like he'll make life pretty miserable for Greyjoy's opponents if you can keep him on the table (but generate a metric fucktonne of hate against you in melee), possibly a little bit too fragile against the Venemous Blades and Flame Kisseds of this world to justify 3 gold?

I am very much looking forward to this set. Like Rings, I don't find the current melee environment all that interesting...it's a personal opinion, but I just think it rewards the *wrong* type of (non-in-game mechanics) strategy. Though I can see the other side, and this is a subjective interpretation, I know I'm not alone.

That's why I'm really excited for this block. Cards that actually affect who a person wants to attack more than diplomacy or meta-mate/pre-game alliances have been seriously lacking. I hope this refocus isn't just a "this block" thing...if enough melee-focused cards are printed and actually see play, many of the joust players who currently dislike melee may begin to view the format more favorably.

Put another way, all those ultra-competitive control players who hate to play aggro will now be able to play control in melee...that's pretty cool.

+1 to FFG

I can't wait to get my hands on these. I've never been a big fan of neutral-heavy packs, and I've always loved melee. This looks really intersting and fun for new players as well, especially because a lot of board gamers seem to naturally gravitate towards the more board-gamey melee rather than the more CCG-ish joust.

I hope we see another version of the Blackfish though. I mean, I love Butzlaff's Blackfish, but I think he deserves more than 1 version .

I'm really liking some of the cards spoiled so far, especially new Euron , new Arya and new Varys. Not a big fan of the new Stark attachment (unless you get 3 copies and stick them on every single opponent's house card...), or of the new Knight of Flowers - Bara isn't particularly good at strength buffs, and there's always going to be someone with more strength than him - he might work in melee, but then again, you'd rather have several renown characters goign in rather than just one.. New Daario looks good, but is too conditional - Only Bara really runs significant numbers of knights, the rest usually only have one or two knits per deck (Stark has the Blackfish, and some Tully Knights in a tully deck, Lanny might run Jaime, Balon Swann, new Gregor and at a stretch Bronn, Martell has the Darkstar and some of the Dayne knights). And i've always wanted to run a Grejoy choke deck, so the Sparr seesm hilarious