Hello everyone. First time poster, been lurking for a while. To cover the basics first, I'm a huge fan of the books and the TV show, just recently got into the card game. Former Magic player from WAY back in the day, so picking up the rules was a snap. Long story short, I'm in love. The way the game captures the feel of the books is really impressive, and I like the depth of strategy involved, and the LCG format is great.

So I haven't really been able to find any AGoT gaming groups in my area yet (North Carolina, near Raleigh) so its fallen upon me to have to introduce people to the game if I want to have any opportunities to actually play. Some people have CCG backgrounds, some don't but have been willing to give it a shot. My goal is to provide a quality deck for each of the houses for people to be able to sample, but also ones that are relatively cheap and straightforward for a new player to assemble if they take a liking to it.

To that end, I followed the most common advice I've seen around here for starting out, and purchased a second copy of the starter box. Being able to swap plots around certainly helps, as well as having second copies of different cards to bulk up house-appropriate themes. Then to get the other houses I got a copy each of Princes of the Sun and the revised Kings of the Sea. I assembled a Martell and Greyjoy deck first from each pack, and then moved some of the extra cards into core set houses where appropriate, as well as using the larger pool of plot cards to every house's benefit.

The thing I'm wondering about now is adding the deluxe expansions for the other houses (Stark, Lannister, Baratheon, and Targaryen). From an affordability standpoint I think that's plenty reasonable, as if someone likes one of those house's decks, they're only looking at buying the core set and one expansion to be able to duplicate it. My concern is whether that's going to really overpower some of the houses compared to the rest. For one thing it gives the four core houses roughly double the card pool of the Greyjoys and the Martells to draw from. I know both can be quite strong in the current meta, but that's with them being able to draw from a bunch of chapter packs I don't want to invest in just yet. My other concern is that Stark already comes off as quite strong, particularly for new players, and that's without an influx of new card from Lords of Winter, and the newly released Lannister deluxe expansion looks to have some pretty potent cards in it as well.

So what are your thoughts? Do the deluxe expansions provide a roughly comparable boost to each house? Should I pick and choose some of the deluxe expansions selectively? Are Greyjoy/Martell going to be hampered by the limited card selection if I go that route?

Thanks for any input you guys have!

Should I have broached this topic in a different forum? Fifty views without a reply, whereas dumb rules questions that are explicitly spelled out on the card get a half dozen replies in as many views, and off-topic threads in general discussion rack up pages in days...

Sokhar,

There is a small bunch of players in the Eastern NC area located around Raleigh, Chapel Hill, Fayetteville, and Jacksonville. Have you ever been to "cardgamedb.com"? There is a "member map" tab and we are listed there. A few of us have met each other and played over the last several months, but nothing has coalesced yet into a cohesive "Meta" (as far as I know - I am currently exiled in Afghanistan for a couple more months...). If you want more info, PM me and I can help get you linked up with some of them.

As far as finding new players, such threads are usually posted in the "Organized Play" or "Metagame Discussions" topic areas, and of it helps if you put your location in the subject line (just for easy searching).

As for your "Decks for New Players" question, let me just say that I am in a similar situation (i.e. no existing players, bought all the stuff myself, bought the same stuff as you initially, and worked towards going beyond the "core" decks for everyone). Having said that, here are my thoughts/experiences:

1) I don't think that buying the 4 House-specific deluxe expansions should overpower the GJ and Martell boxes (assuming you have at least two copies of each card for those houses - not sure if you bought the older or newer (i.e. 3Xcopies of each card) editions). There are enough good plots, neutral events, attachments, etc in the other deluxe expansions that you should easily be able to make a GJ or Martell deck that can hold its own added with the cards they already have.

2) We just started playing with some decks I made based on the "recommended decklists" from the deluxe boxes (modified a little bit - but still about 90% the same as the recommendations). Did Stark vs. Bara vs. Targ. Was a great game with no "runaway" winner. Didn't get to try my home-made GJ deck out, but I'm pretty confident it could stand up with the others. (Don't have the Lanni box yet - still waiting for it to arrive)

Good luck and hope to catch a game with you soon.

- Stephen

Great post Zordren, thanks for that! My main goal in posting here at the moment was just to get some feedback on intro level decks to build for people, but I'll definitely be following up on your suggestions for finding NC-area players. That was definitely an unexpected bonus.

Thanks for the input. I guess if nothing else, the best way to find out would be to give it a try, right? I've got the new revised versions of both Princes of the Sun and Kings of the Sea, so the decks are good from that standpoint, having 3 copies of each card. I've already got copies of Queen of Dragons and Kings of the Storm, so Baratheon and Targaryen could get a nice shot in the arm. Lords of Winter and Lions of the Rock will probably be a near-future purchase, but I think both of those houses have real solid core set decks and can probably manage in the meantime.

Thanks again for the reply, hopefully we can get a game in sometime in the future. Stay safe in Afghanistan.

Hi Sokhar - I live in Raleigh, as do at least two other players that I've played recently with (I think one is a member on cardgamedb, but not the other). We are planning a game night in the near future at a store (maybe Game Theory?) and we'll try to get sWhiteboy, a player from Chapel Hill, in on that too - I've played quite a few times with him as well, out at Sci-Fi Genre.

I have a few decks that I've built to be theme-based, mostly because I'm more a fan of the books/show than I am a badass gamer. But I'd be happy to get together with you some time if you want to run through some games!

Sokhar,

I'm one of the players ikatowi just referred to.

I got interested after watching the HBO series with a friend. I figured as popular as the series appeared to be, certainly there were some games based on it. After discovering the LCG, I suggested it to my neighbor who I watched the series with. Though he had no previous card gaming experience, he figured he'd humor me - and now he's hooked as well (and the other player in ikatowi's post). We're basically pooling our cards and between us we have 2 core sets and every expansion save the Lannister one that just came out. We're just now starting to expand into some of the chapter packs with a couple of the houses we are most familiar with.

The past few games with ikatowi have been my only forays into melee and I'm still getting used to the difference in the game dynamics compared to joust. My neighbor and I try to get a game in one a weekend, but sometimes one or the other are too busy. As ikatowi posted, we're considering making our next playing session more public. How far out from Raleigh do you live - do you live near either of the places he mentioned? If all 5 of us (sWhiteboy included) could show up somewhere, we could play one melee game and one joust game and see if we get any interest from others.

Hey, I just wanted to chime in as a NC player. I'm about an hour south of Raliegh. Unfortunately I don't have as much freetime as I wish but give me a heads up on any meetups and maybe I could make it up there. On a side note, it looks like me and sWhiteboy are making a road trip up to DC in February for their tourny on the 25-26th if anyone else is interested. Happy Thrones-ing

Intriguing...I'd love to see how the pros do it.

Hey fellas, thanks for the replies! Its great to find local players on here, as I definitely wasn't really expecting that.

I live in Holly Springs, within about a 20-30 minute drive from Raleigh. I'd definitely be up for making a reasonable drive (anything up to an hour or so) for a game night, as I'd love to get some more opportunities to play, particularly with players more experienced than myself. I haven't played at Sci-Fi Genre or Game Theory just yet, but I do get around to some local game stores to play Warhammer 40K, so meeting up at a central location like that would be great.

I'm adding you guys as friends on here and I'll include my e-mail address. I'd love to be kept in the loop about any potential get-togethers you guys are planning. Thanks again for the response!

Sokhar,

I'm somewhat familiar with Holly Springs - I used to live just down the street from the Bass Lake Ale House. I livein South Raleigh now - probably less than a half hour drive from you. In between any future joust events we get set up, I'd be happy to melee with you.

That's like a minute away from where I live. I got a few friends who live over in Raleigh so that sort of drive is nothing at all. You've got my e-mail address, feel free to hit me up if you want to schedule some games.

sabrefox said:

Well you know you really don't need to go to DC to see how the "pros" do it - our very own B3 was a semi-finalist at the GenCon World Championship last year! (he's just too modest to say anything himself!)

Great to see more players from Eastern NC on the boards. Hopefully those of you that haven't yet will get on CardGameDB's "Member Map", and I look forward to meeting/gaming with a bunch of you in a couple months! I don't mind driving to Raleigh or F-Ville once a month or so for a good Thrones session.

Good luck to you all up in the D.C. tournament. Show those Beltway-weenies what the Carolina "Hrakkar" (i.e. Panther) meta can do!

I am very new to AGoT, also living in Raleigh. Stumbled onto this thread after lurking for a while. I play with a couple of other guys now that we're all graduated from college. We only have a Core Set and are noobs, but looking to get more involved. If people play at somewhere like Game Theory with any regularity, I think we would be interested.

Hey darkblade - shoot me an email! [email protected] - I think you'll be pretty stoked to hear about what we've got going on.

Definitely get in touch with ikatowi, he's like the event coordinator for our little group. We usually have something like a small weekly gathering at a card shop or home of a couple people, and then more like a monthly get-together of a half dozen or more. The group seems to be growing and flourishing very quickly. I've only been involved for a short time, but its been a blast!

I thought I would chime in to your original question as well. However by this point you probably already bought more cards so these words will be little help.

I am in a similar situation. I have been approaching this game “Board Game Style” where I provide the cards for others to use. After countless analysis, plotting, planning, etc. I decided not to go for the big box expansions yet (save Greyjoy and Martell). In all reality you are the one who controls the balanced decks. Just because there are more cards available for deck building for the four core houses doesn’t mean you have to use them; you could just prune out anything that makes a house “overpowered.” Because I wanted to have a bigger card pool for Martell and Greyjoy I decided to get a 2nd core set and then an entire chapter of cards (Kings Landing or Brotherhood Without Banners work well for this purpose). This gave me a lot of cards to play with while not overpowering any particular house. Maybe a better way of putting it is that I don’t feel like I have to refrain from using many cards in fear of one house being “overpowered”

From an investment standpoint this course of action is very similar in price. If you were to buy a core set and then all 6 big boxes you’re looking at a total cost of $147 (Miniature Market prices). My route in buying 2 Core sets and then 6 chapter packs cost $154. While the big boxes certainly give you more cards, I felt my course of action made more sense in light of the fact I’m new to this game and am still introducing it to others. Should things progress well I can then add the other big boxes knowing I at least have other cards Greyjoy and Martell can draw from.

Best of wishes to you

Attention All North Carolina Players-

I'm a game promoter and organizer at my local store in Wilmington, NC. A group of us just recently picked this game up on a whim and now have a player base of about 15 players. We are interested in putting together a tournament in the summer and meeting some other players on the East Coast. Feel free to email me at [email protected] and let me know if you'd be interested in joining us!

Thanks!