So, out of necessity, I've been buying Brotherhood packs to fill out our AGoT LCG collection. My wife players Lannister, and I made an executive decision to go buying up the packs from Brotherhood that feature the Clansmen for two reasons: 1.) I could see and read the card abilities on the Dabbler and 2.) I couldn't find any of the Lannister cards (besides their names) and their abilities from the Secrets of Oldtown packs. So, Clansmen it is.

She has asked me to help her build her deck when we get back home and lay our hands on the cards (I don't have them in hand yet). With a single starter, and a single pack of each of the following: Illyrio's Gift, Mountains of the Moon, Dreadfort Betrayal, Rituals of R'hllor, and Isle of Ravens, what kind of Lannister deck can I build around Clansmen?

Also, how do the Clansmen play in general?

Thanks in advance for helping a new guy out!

Clansmen a strong on military and power, weak on intrigue. Their abilities activate when you have less cards in hand than the opponent, and often gain abilities when knelt. They're kinda the opposite of your standard Lanni deck, which is usually strong on intrigue, card draw and kneeling opponents characters. Clansmen can also raise claim through a few effects.

For the deck I would just throw in all the clansmen, with multiples of Timmet for his great ability. Campfire mime will take on the Clanmen trait too. Then fill the intrigue gap with a few core set characters. Lannisport Brothel could be used to either kneel opposing characters or to keep your own Timmet knelt in anticipation of a Valar Morgulis next turn. Be careful with how much draw you add. You benefit from having less than the opponent, but you still want some.

Also, here's a couple other card databases:

info.wsisiz.edu.pl/~szczesnj/

cardgamedb.com/

www.agotcards.org/dashboard (requires registration)

Thanks for the help!

So running Clansmen, keep an eye on card draw.

BenStark said:

I find you'll want lots of draw, as with any other deck, really. The clansmen-themed cards offer plenty of ways to keep your hand size down, and at least one way to give your opponent additional draw. You can also run the Kings of Winter agenda and Black Ravens. When it is Summer, your opponent will draw a card if he does not have more cards in hand than you.

Clansman is one of my favorite themes, if not my favorite at the moment. It's quite unusual, but they can do some very fun things. They're not very competitive yet, but the Lannister deluxe expansion coming out later this year will have some more Clansmen goodies. They're super fun in casual play, though, and they do quite well in melee, which is always a plus in my book.

But if he's got one copy of the coreset and 5 chapter packs any deck he makes will be fairly low on draw, except for Lannister. So if he puts his copy of Golden tooth mines, Insidious ways, Tyrion, Qyburn's Informers and Vale Scavenger in the Clansmen deck he'll outdraw other decks most of the time, deactivating the clan abilities.

Alando said:

Most of the draw you listed is optional. So if it's beneficial to not draw, just don't trigger the responses. He'll also have more gold than the average player, allowing him to empty his hand again during marshalling. Also you can make your opponent draw with Vale Scavenger, or discard cards from your hand with Tyrion's Thug, if need be. So it evens out. Playing events during the challenges phase is also a great way to reduce your hand size and surprise-activate your Clansmen abilities while getting the benefit from the event. Better draw always gives you more options.

Trust me, Clansmen play a lot stronger with plenty of draw than with too little. If you don't draw, you will be often stuck with too few options; you'll often end up with more cards in hand than your opponent if you have too little draw than if you have plenty of draw available.

Aside from that, even with only the core set and the BwB chapter packs, I'm not sure I'd have room for Tyrion and the Informers. Well, I'd probably play Tyrion, but leave out the Informers. Even with Lannister income, 4 gold is a bit pricey.

Yeah, run a lot of draw, but run draw that goes off in the challenge phase. That way, you still have time to roll them with at least 1 high claim challenge before you draw.

Stuff like insidious ways or qyburns informers is good.

Martell is going to give you a lot of grief by cancelling your challenges, so try to pick up the targ box at some point for paper shield. (This is also good for dissention.)

But yeah, they aren't quite competitive. In my experience, they typically do really well in the beginning, and then lose steam about 1/2 to 3/4 of the way through the game.

Alando said:

Not true. Since his meta currently uses cards from CS and BWB, I 'd say the best in draw are the Targaryen with Xaro's Home, Vaes Dothrak and Jhogo. Situational draw to be sure, but Dothraki know how to fight.

I can NOT make this deck competitive, so I wanted to share a few tricks I'd found to help out other potential clansman players. Maybe in tandem, we can make it a little bit better : )

-Clansman army + Vale Scavenger + High Ground : Pretty good draw engine for you or the opponent (if you need to get your abilities off), painted dogs is the best choice for this b/c they are cost 2.

-Narrow escape + Hidden Vale pass: If you hidden vale pass in a Burned Men, you can narrow escape to try to keep it. If they don't have a paper shield, you win either way. Also if they keep emptying their hand to beat your effects, Narrow Escape is a free recovery from Valar.

Golden Tooth Vaults to get rid of excess cards while doing something constructive with those cards too. Discarding a Greedy Councilor to help fund your Burned Men and then playing the Councilor cheaper out of your discard pile than it would have been out of your hand is always nice. I don't think you have those cards yet, but something to keep in mind for future purchases maybe.