This subject is somewhat odd, admittedly. Technically, I've already built a meta for another game, but it was a miniatures game and I had a far more experienced player build it with me.

Essentially, I'm starting from the ground up. I love A Game of Thrones, the books, games, settings, etc. And I want to share that with other people. I've got around 4-6 players who are either playing the game (and are new to it like me) or are interested in it but have no play experience. And we have a store who is not only willing to host us, but to order anything that they don't carry in stock.

So, that being the case, are there any suggestions on how to really build a league or meta? Where should I start?

I'd say you've got a couple of really nice advantages- you're starting from a small group rather than NO group, and you have a supportive FLGS (not everyone does). Some basic suggestions:

•A regular casual night, so people always know when they can find Thrones games

•Flyers/posters at the FLGS- but also other places. A couple ideas would be a local college bulletin board, or maybe at a bookstore where people will be buying the book series after watching the TV series

•A Facebook group for your local area- allows people to discuss upcoming events, find new players, etc.

•Word of mouth- presumably the 4-5 people know other gamers, have them tell their friends about it

For our meta (which is only about 6 months old aside from the four of us who have been playing for much longer) I've tried to encourage diversity in builds (I'm so sick of playing newbs with Dragon decks, Valar Dohaeris should never be an almost auto-include in your plot list) by tossing together a variety of classic builds just so they can see how things work. In the past six months I've played or let others play with Siege Direwolves, Turbo-Viper, Martell Beric, and Lanni kneel, to name just a few. We even put together a Bara civil war deck; given that you already have some interested players, this idea may help once they are tired of Dragons.

Agree with Imrahil.

• Set up a game night every week, same time. People are more likely to show up if theres a dedicated night to it.

• Posters, post on the forums, etc to do what you can to get more people to show up.

• Determine (If you can) what kind of a group it is. Will you be focusing on single player 1v1 (joust)? Or will it be multiplayer games (Melee).

• Talk to your store owner about getting a B2B account with FFG (If they dont have one) so they can buy league kits. Prizes always draw a crowd.

• Play some casual nights, then maybe a league and then lead into a small tournament.

• Potentially encourage the meta to start off with different people playing different houses. This might make it more flavorful and cheaper to share in the cost of buying packs.

DeathJester and Bronson should post in this thread. They built one of the largest metas in the country from a foundation of 1 player (Deathjester).

LaughingTree said:

Very true- they both do an awesome job of making people feel welcome and getting people excited about the game! Their groundwork is the main reason I'm as into the game as I am- the other CCG I play has exactly one other player here in San Diego, but I know that every Monday I can find Thrones games (and good people to play them with). It motivates players to continue to grow and improve to have a good group around. I'll drop them a line and let them know that this thread is here.

imrahil327 said:

My biggest problem is the story. Most of the people I know who would even consider playing this game get lost on the story. They have the attention spans of gnats...

Fieras said:

Bronson and I ran demos at a local con (Kingdom-con). That increased our numbers from 2 players, to 5 or 6. I managed to convince the guys to come to Calicon to meet other players (regional season will help, when it comes, if competitive play is what your group wants).

By the time Kingdom-con rolled back around, we were ready to have a small tourney, and ran demos again. It just so happened that Kingdom-con was the same weekend the HBO show started. At our next meet-up we had 21 players, and decided to run a league.

Right now, I'd say we have about 15 who play consistently. Although, people have been taking a break lately.

Really, that's what worked for us. Some of it is just luck, but playing each week and being visible in a store goes a long way.

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The NYC meta is strangely decentralized. I think it has to do with long commute times for just about everyone to anywhere (for example, my commute to where we play is 1+ hours, even though it's only a few miles). It may sound odd, given the size of NYC, but most of the regular players in Manhattan have been playing for only a few months. Other "local" players are all based in Long Island, which is often a bit difficult for a week-day evening commute, and I think that group is larger. Counting everyone in the NYC area who plays at least occasionally, I'm guessing we have 20+ players...but really, only about 6 of those play every week in Manhattan, and they're mostly newer.

What I've found helpful in addition to what's mentioned above is (1) keeping local players informed via email (we have a separate email account that several Night's Watch can check), and (2) providing the local game store with a stack of business cards and asking them to hand out with chapter packs. The local shop isn't 100% consistent, but they're pretty good. It makes all the difference in the world if you have a supportive store, and we've picked up at least 4 regular players in the past 6 months via this method.

Twn2dn said:

For example, Pensacola FL is around a 6 hr drive one way to Atlanta GA, and I think theres a group in/around Tennessee, which is upwards of a 8 to 10 hr drive one way.

Thanks for all the advice so far, folks. I've never built a meta for a card game (they tend to come pre-installed anywhere where there are copious amounts of pizza, soda, and low sunlight) and this is advice is very helpful.

A few more questions:

1.) Can anyone give me a rough estimate as to the cost of the prize packs stores can purchase? My FLGS is a small, family owned establishment, and I want to support them and this game without putting too much stress on them financially.

2.) Any suggestions as to the types of tourneys I should run? Standard Swiss, Single Elim, etc.

BenStark said:

The league kits are under 20 dollars. Each kit supports 8 players. They have achievement books, participation prizes, and some prizes for the league winners.

I would play for fun first. See what kind of games people like first. If they like joust, do swiss. You can also do round robin for 6 or less players. If they like Melee, you do random pairings.

Deathjester26 said:

I'm doing the same in MN during Con of the North. The popularity of the show will draw people into demos, and then they will be hopelessly trapped into a life of paying FFG $15/mo for chapter packs