Would it help if they were Bret to the novels?

Sorry. Flight of the Conchords. Couldn't help it.

LordofBrewtown said:

On the other hand it's a fitting signature character for the Time of Ravens chapter. The big battles between the 8-strength armies are over, now it's a feast for crows. I like it.

Rubinon said:

Seconded. It´s thematically fitting. ~The real problem is that George R.R. Martin is to lazy to offer a raven name appendix in his books. We could make a name contest for upcoming ravens in the card game, some suggestions: Rupert, the raven. Christa Corbie. Corvin, raven of starfall... ;-)

Yeah, we've really seen those Ravens wreak mass destruction in the novels (military icons & stealth, really?).

well a carrion bird would fest after a military battle, and since they come by once everyone is off the field they are stealthy (and hard to catch!!!)

One did eat the Bear's face

I hate it when non-uniques are the power cards.

another league night in the books....plenty of Carrion birds flying around the tables...not a single one had a direct impact on the games/results (though i am still smacking myself for not drawing 2 cards off same and my black raven........stupid)

rings said:

Interesting thought. Is Carrion Bird a utility card or a power card? Or is it a utility card that looks like a power card in the LCG environment.

Kinda reminds me of waaaay back in the day. Shadowcat was widely considered to be overpowered in the WES/IF environment. Not terribly different, and it couldn't even take attachments!

Power, super power overpowered ... Card which is staple in every deck in 3 copies is behing his power stupid card, special in such small environment like LCG when you cant deal with it...

With stealth they are a great value at 1 gold, for sure, but I don't see Carrion Bird overpowered and I don't see a problem with it being a near-staple given how the current prominent theme is seasons and the changing of them. The combo is nice, however, I don't think it's too good. Stark has it easiest for using the combo (Old Nan being in house and reusable), but Stark also has other options for targeted or one-sided character removal in the LCG environment so I don't think the combo dramatically changes what a Stark player can accomplish. Plus with so few good characters for Stark to choose with the Intrigue icon in the LCG environment and limited card draw to rebuild your hand, I find myself more apt to use Nan for a challenge (and thus not her ability which she needs to kneel for) than I would have in standard, so I may end up forgoing trying to pull off the the combo even when the pieces are in place. And you can see this combo coming and have a chance to take steps to thwart it --if your opponent has the pieces in place for the combo, you can factor that into how important it is to successfully defend a Military challenge. Plus Lanni and Targ have hurdles to using the combo in any easily repeatable way. I'm much more concerned about Lanni's repeatable kneel effects --which you can do little about-- than a Lanni player working this combo. I haven't played against Targ using League or LCG decks, so not sure how the combo ranks in their bag of tricks in those formats.

targ would much rather use ragher's harp to add another dragon on thier side for dragon bitten characters

I actually was able to try this combo last night with the Targs. While it was fun, and I enjoyed the expression on my opponents face when I place Rhaegar's Harp on Tywin, and then in the Challenge phase, won the military challenge with the carrion bird.. He says.

"Ok so I guess its no longer summer.. no big deal".. I said.. Think again as I moved Tywin to his deck.

Also just think how cool it would be if your opponent had just played a herald to find that all important card and you were able to reshuffle his deck :-).

My opponent still ended up winning the match, but the expression on his face was priceless.

I need a few more sessions playing the combo, but right now I do not consider it overpowered.

I thing much better is the combo with Old Nan, because you dont have to spend the gold on the Harp which could be discarded etc. and you give your opponent a surprise and for more it is reusable.

Still I dont thing the Bird is overpowered, Stealth is good but withou it it would be almost useless and one icon is limited enough, if you dont win military you have to wait an other round to use its ability.

To the weenie control. I thing the game could use a bit more of First snow cards, but even on Wildfire assault, what do you think your opponent will get rid of, his 1 cost Bird or his Tywin, Robb, Robert or Daenerys? It can be also easy burned.

Of course, Ktom, No Attachments was really quite a boon in that era. No Shadow's touch or the like on the Shadowcat.

Kennon said:

Yeah, but in that era, where "Voltron" was a more common strategy, it was also a curse. I will readily admit, though, that in this game, "No attachments" tends to be a good thing more often than a bad thing because attachments are generally used more for negative impact on your opponent than positive impact on you.

This card and some others like Dan remians me times when I played YGO. There were couple of staple cards in every deck and there was no theme at all... it's going slowly in this direction... lot's of neutrals and good staples... wuth ion exception in YGO card pool was 10 times bigger than in AGOT

who's Dan? He/She/it is not in my deck.

I think Carrion bird is the only card that comes close to being in every deck, other then that there is no card I have to have in a deck (i do like Jon, but in bara i don't need him, and in Lanni I can't find room for him).

Really? You think Baratheon has enough renown/power rush in LCG that they can afford to eschew Jon?

I don't see it.

play against Kevin's Bara Summer deck.....

and he even goes a little slow at first.

Off the top of my head:

Double Renown Bobbie

ITE Reprint Mel - great for mirror matches too btw

Lord's Stanis

King Renly

3x Summer Champ

3x House Florent Scouts

3x Fox's teeth

add in vigilant, other renown chars, and multiple power challenges via edrick and he gets power at ease. He obviously has more to the deck, but Jon is not needed (he wouldn't hurt, but is not needed)

ktom said:

In early times, utility cards are power cards. Again, I don't think he is THAT bad, but saying Stark already has too much kill is silly. They actually don't have THAT much efficent kill. It is an easy combo, and gives targeted removal. At least there is a small negative (bird turning off Bear Island), although I have seen the "Nan chooses target, opponent chooses that character for claim, bird returns itself to deck, now able to use Bear Island" combo.

Shadowcat was good, and that was in a block that had more power cards (IMHO, especially in plots - remember they were 2X for most of that time) and you played the cat for the stealth...here you get it for 1/2 price and it uses the only one-sided search in the game.

berto said:

Not really, because 95% of YGOs card pool are utter jank. If you have a creature with 1800 Power all vanilla creatures that have less power become obsolete, but they print tons of them every set.

Just yesterday someone was raging about Magic becomming YGo because of Planeswalkers, on the same hand he continued to tell me how much he loved to play Type 1 Magic because of the powerful combos and fast decks, which is a format very similar to YGO.....

Carrion Crow is the only card in all my decks, the DEN is in none. Any other staple I should be aware of?

rings said:

rings said:

I have seen the "Nan chooses target, opponent chooses that character for claim, bird returns itself to deck, now able to use Bear Island" combo.

Somewhere in the world, a cute, fluffy kitten spontaneously combusts into molecules of ashes whenever this cruel, cruel combo goes off.

I don't mean to sound like a snot, but I honestly thought everyone knew about Rhaegar's Harp, Lion's Gate, etc. and Carrion Bird. I've been personally playing Carrion Bird and Old Nan in my stark deck for as long as the seasons chapter packs were available here.

Old nan in particular is awfully flexible with this, she can remove the raven trait from your opponent's carrion bird to protect your seasonal raven, she can make someone a raven to shuffle them back with your carrion bird, she can remove the raven trait from your own carrion bird to protect against their carrion bird...

Carrion bird has been an 'everydeck' card for us since it was printed. A good cheap weenie with stealth with a near exclusive metagame ability has made it necessary to play with. Nerf? It's available for everyone, and can be searched for with A Time for Ravens. I don't think it's too strong, though it's ubiquity in our decks have made it clear that it should be included very frequently, if not always.

It is much better in Stark than anywhere else. It really doesn't take much of a combo, it is recurring, and doesn't use cards that are subpar without the other part(s). That is my only issue with it. But I agree that other than Stark using it better, there isn't really a reason that other people can use it.

To be honest, non-unique Brothel (i.e. Broken Arm...light?) and Lanni's iron grip on card-draw is getting more complaints in my play-group. Seriously need something like Market Street or the plot Alliance (is that the name, the old 4 cost no out-of-house penalty plot) to even that up a tad.

rings said:

Check the LCG FAQ. The Brothel is unique.