('cause you asked for it)...and applaud you.
Great end segment by the way. Loved the fact that it mixes in a bit of humor with some half-buried truths (or quirks of game).

http://teamcovenant.com/galactus/2012/02/07/two-guys-one-throne-initiative/

As someone who played Magic for 15+ years and just started getting interested in the Game of Thrones LCG, I also found it strange to see so many "1 of's" in deck lists. I understand about potentially drawing dead cards if a unique is in the dead pile, but without running some sort of tutor effect, I don't see how you can count on a single card you might not ever see over multiple games. I look forward to actually testing things out very soon.

I definitely enjoy listening to the Two Guys - 1 Throne podcast, especially since I can see where they're coming from being new to AGoT.

I think a key thing that you are missing is even if a char is not dead and you can play an extra copy as a dupe it is still not giving you more challenge strength bandwidth. Drawing extra copies are NEVER as good as some other char that you can play and do violence with. Ok maybe if you are going to have a lot of power on that char, like new cercei.

The 1 of's was an alien concept to me also. From my experience the consistency comes from running multiple x1 uniques with similar abilities, with abilities that are mutually supportive to your archetype, or ones with abilities that mesh with a (sometimes lesser) x3 non-unique to create a sort of x4 effect.

I think Infernarl hit it dead on.

Think of it this way: assuming an average of 3.5 card draw per round, not all of them will be characters; however, at minimum 1.75 characters should be drawn in such a scenario (with a deck composition of 50+% characters). Now, if that single card or two that was a character card that happens to be a duplicate of a unique, then buried in dead pile or not this duplicate will not be an additive presence on the board. It will be a preservative card, but will not advance grounds in building up board presence.

My opinion is that you want to be constantly and actively be on the lookout to expand your character base (with moderation to growth due to resets) in order to achieve and keep board dominance. Aside form a full on GJ savescapade, some preservative gestures here and there are acceptable, but shouldn't be the predominant potential draws.

When I first started playing, it was definitely my impulse to triple-up on pretty much every unique I was putting in a deck, but it really doesn't work out that well. I'd say these days I include multiples of a given character less because I want to actually get all the copies, but to make it more likely to get one of them early. If I draw the second copy later, that's nice, it's good to have protection, and hey, maybe that guy got in the discard pile instead of the dead pile, but another character is likely gonna do you more good.

Most of my uniques will be singletons in a deck. If there's a guy who I'd like to have out early and I don't want to use a search plot, I include a second copy. If it's a deck that revolves around essentially a single character -- a Red Viper rush deck or a Brotherhood deck for Berric -- you might want 3 of a given unique, but putting all your in one basket like that never seems to work out.

Infernarl said:

I don't think it even needs to be Power - some characters are just a lot more useful than others. If I've got Cersei out in my new Power behind the Throne deck, and no save, I'd much rather draw a dupe than another character- it protects me from Valar, or even allows me to play an offensive Valar and use her for 3 challenges against an open board. Same applies to Timmet and Shagga in a clansmen deck, anti-shadows Bob etc.

I think lots of decks have 1 or 2 characters where a dupe is better than another character.

And if you're running widow's watch, then you want dupes for almost everbody

Duplicates let you maintain existing "bandwidth"

It depends how you look at it. In a tully deck you want Blackfish, so you run him x3. In a run of the mill lannister deck, Lancel can be really strong at the right claim 2, but hes not necessary to the function so you keep him at x1 and if you draw him you draw him. Plus, valar resistance on key characters is phenomenal. Widows Watch with brotherhood is a prime example. Just don't get caught with their Burning Bridges at the same time.

in addition to the comments already made about dupes not increasing your board presence, there is another way that they hurt your card advantage. the save from duplicates is a response. gj has a ton of cancel, including 1 event the specifies saves, and martell has hcit. it is precisely the ability to cancel saves that most martell players choose hcit over paper shield. as tokhua said, you get consistency through nonwuniques and selecting uniques with similar abilities.

I think another part of it has to do with the lack of a sideboard. traditionally this is where you pack your disenchants etc right?

well, here you kinda have to roll with them in your deck or none at all... and if they turn out to be useless, having more than 1 or 2 starts to hurt. This applies to things like ill tidings, pyromancers apprentice, and to a lesser extent frozen solid & newly made lord.

then there are cards like a champion arises, or make an example. which may be hard to trigger in some games, and even when you can, its only 1 per round. so chances are, if you get more than 1, the others are gonna be dead options for at least a round. id only ever include 1 or 2 of these.

I think you guys are getting to the point where, you cant neglect attachment control. from all your great combos you talk about, attachments tend to play a pretty big part, so splashing some control can really ruin those plans.

as a side note: I actually havent heard you mention maesters at all, let them seep into your meta then try play attachments.

I'd completely agree about putting non-uniques at 3x, with only a few exceptions. But while dupes save from most kills, discard etc they don't help against kneel, icon removal, burn etc. Whereas drawing another separate character might have helped.

I think this ties into 2G1T's earlier podcast about them not using Valar (unless I'm misremembering). If no-one runs Valar and there's few direct kill/control cards dupes might seem a lot safer as long as you have enough weenies to use for military claim.

About Breaking and Entering: I agree it's stats are good for a 2 claim plot. But its effect will rarely happen against most decks. Of the 10-20 location most decks run most will be 0-1 cost resource locations played straight away. Attachments are played less because of maesters and are also fairy cheap. And the you have to rely on random discard to get it.

Wow, lots of great comments and a bunch of stuff I haven't considered. I didn't even think about drawing a duplicate doesn't have a direct impact on board presence. This thread has just increased my anticipation to get some games going locally. Thanks everyone!

Arikon said:

While that statement is correct, as others have said, duplicates affect post-board wipe presence, which is sometimes more important. Don't discount the value of dupes. Who cares if you have 10 characters, if your opponent plays valar and they all die.

I care about having ten characters... of course five of those are likely in my hand when you do your reset and I just flood the board again.

During the latest 2G, 1T latest podcast, they say that the plot card breaking and entering has 5 init, but it only has 4 ...

Breaking & Entering is somewhat new, so it'll take a while before it establishes its place in the meta... especially ours where pretty much everyone else seems to settle on the seasons, Loyalty money can buy, retaliation, and a reset of some sort(if any, its a melee meta).

So, I can't really speak for how B&E measures up to others in joust, but as i melee player i see it as a solid filler plot as it outright replaces Siege of Riverrun in most decks. That said, In melee the plot init & claim matter alot less imo.

Oshi, run a deck with both valars, wildfire, first snow, and fear of winter. just see what happens.

I might just try this...

oh ya, and bungled orders for the mid challenges Herding The Masses