What house will rule all?

Maybe,,, Lannister?!? Well I mean, the new 'starter' has that kind of back to basics thing going on, and what with all the reprints... its like its westeros all over again, M I Rite?

Lannister wins! WOOO!

Your thoughts?

We has a tourney way back after Gencon playing with the decks from the Core set. Targ pretty much won 3 out of 4 tables every round.

It'll be interesting to see what decks people can build out of the core set, but I still see Targ as kings of the AGoT world for the next few months.

I presume Tzumains sight is still up so I can get a spoiler of the core set? I still only have the money set aside for its purchase... and then had to tap in to it. I fail at money right now. heh.

I think Bara is in really good shape they have a lo of options open to them and some intersting cards in the Core set.

Also they don't mind too much if it is summer or winter, but they seem to be able to take advantage of someone else's summer (which i think a lot of targ decks are going to be)

vermillian said:

May first thought was " Did he ever play that Lannister Core set deck?" ;-)

So you can take from my reaction that i don´t think that Lannister wil be top tier for a while. Stark seems to have some strong cards around, but is really lacking intrigue icons. Bara rush could turn out to become really good, Fat Robert + Selyse and a Bannermen of the storm could grap up to 10 power in one round ( claim 1 and every challenge unopposed), add Edric storm to the mix and you end up with 14 power. I see Targaryen in lead right now, they can deal with attachements, locations and charachters relative easily and ambush is just great, so they are my No.1 for the moment.

Right now I think that its a toss up between lanni and bara. I'd probably give the edge to lanni right now. Especially with the extra gold counting for str during dominance. For some reason I just don't like stark at the moment. They're probably just as good, but nothing seems very fun with them.

It's a tough call without more cards and reason to experiment with them. I want to go with Lannister on general principals though.

Staton said:

this is exactly wath I think.

Maybe the Core Set Lannister deck is not so "destructive", but I do feel something weird about them in an Lcg environment (gold/dominance rule, play OOH cards with less troubles than other Houses, good "icons balance").

On the other Hand, I think a Lannister building using "old principles" of the House is going to be too slow to get rid of the others.

BTW, An LCG Bara deck is the one I like the most, right now.

(This is just a feeling...I'm still waiting for the core set and I am making assumptions with Tzumainn's site help :-) )

I'd like to build up an LCG Targ deck too...But just to understand if its strength is a Core set matter or something more...

I basicly agree with the stark statement too...They do not have any particular appeal, right now...even if there are powerful cards in AcoA, in an LCG point of view.

In the end, all the Houses have been well managed, IMHO...even if my final vote is for Baratheon (even if I'm not saying this for personal preference...I'm Lannister inside :-8 )

I

I've actually been having the most fun with my LCG Stark deck right now. It seems pretty adaptible and with the reserves guys it gets soem nice discard pile recursison going.

It is all about Martell... oh wait. This is about Kings and not Princes. ****.

As you were.

Last night my group got their newly arrived core sets out, and we played a few games. After that, i'm left asking....

Is there something i'm missing with the Lannisters? I simply couldn't get anything going. I think the most power I got was around 6-7. Afterwards, in an effort to understand the contents a bit better, I went through the entire deck of cards one by one trying to piece it all together. Again, maybe i'm missing something, but it seemed like it was trying to accomplish too much, instead of having a directed focus.

Has anyone else gotten this impression? Am I way off kilter and missing something here?

The out of the box Lanny deck is a little slow and can get hit by a bad gold curve if Littlefinger and Tywing are not out, but the cards that are avaible to it allow for some interesting and focused self constructed decks.

It's also worth noting that the Lannister deck and it's "one by one" control-by-kneeling strategy puts them at a disadvantage in Melee. In constructed Joust, where they can load up the kneel effects and direct them at one opponent, they're going to be a force to reckon with. Particularly since they are the House with the most consistent draw.

Finally I played with the Core Set...

We played for two looooong nights, in a 3 players melee...

With the Core Set decks we did 2 long games and I wanna write down a little report in order to give an help to newest players and a tell a couple of thoughts I had.

1st Match

Decks: Bara, Targ, Stark.

Mission: demonstrate if, as has always been said, there is the Targ supremacy.

All the decks did pretty well. They seemed to be balanced and capable of nice different choices...

Bara deck started fast, as well as the Stark kill/military machine...But after 2 long rounds, the Targ deck exploited, gaining total control on challenges. A Dragon + a couple of insidious attachments + right choices in Plot phase turned the game to fire and blood.

In the end, I had to say the Targ deck seems a little bit stronger than the others, especially in the mid late games. Good chars with good ratios and funny deck in general.

2nd Match

Decks: Bara, Lanni, Stark.

Mission: leave Targariens at home and see if Lannisters are so weak.

Funny game with incredibly balanced rounds. I played Bara and started, in the first 2 round with: Robert (with duplicate) + Brienne + Shadow's blessings + Renly...Terrifying.

Fortunately (or unfortunately), the Stark deck started to give me some troubles and the Lanni deck had the time to build up his board...

On the 7th round we were: Bara 13, Stark 14, Lanni 14 (or something similar). One mistake, one dead.

One shot, one kill.

And the word "kill" was the law.

In the end, Winter came and we fell down in an abyss, covered by snow, blood and power tokens.

But Lannister did pretty well...I've to try it again to judge, but it seems to be a pretty consistant deck, more than is usually said.

Even if it has nothing to do with a Standard Lannister, if we talk about fun and options.

Final comments: the Core Set is a funny stuff, with helpful and nice pieces (that helped a lot the other noobs to catch the flavour and understand the titles mechanics).

Then, when we thought about the games trying to figure out some game mechanics in the LCG format and talking about some rounds, we decided to give the crown to the Dragons, followed by (the order is by fun/worth playing and costcurve/chars/general impact ratio ): Baratheon, Stark, Lannister.

I wrote a lot, sorry..But I felt like I had to do it...and I did it.

Winter came, as I said.

And now it's time for ravens.

In our meta we have some experiace too, I didnt play just with CoreSet, cause it seems stupid to me, but others told me that Targ was far more power full then the other Houses, 2nd place Bara and they big biiiiiiiiiiiiiiiig pause and then Stark and Lanni. The game is also slower due to the lack of better power grab. And also a little lacks resets, due to the Valar and Westeros Bleeds are the only way of massive killing.

Actually, I did not say that it was the greatest experience in my life... :-)

I said that it was more funny than we can normally think...And that it is a useful way to teach noobs playing the game, letting them understand game mechanics and titles mechanics in melee format in a funny way.

BTW, I'm going to do it again, just to figure out well the differences between decks, cause is the great chance we have, IMHO, to understand correctly the LCG format dynamics.

And...I do not see this great difference between Targ and Bara...The difference is bigger than that between Bara/Stark and Lannister.

Cheers :-P

Wildfire is still a very good reset and in the core set.

There is also a hand reset (rule by decree) and a location reset (fleeing to the wall) so i do not think it is lacking on resets (it has one less then it did when winter was around).

The game is slower in the lcg format, but i'm not sure if that is a bad thing.

"And that it is a useful way to teach noobs playing the game, letting them understand game mechanics and titles mechanics in melee format in a [fun] way."

couldn't agree more.

You also have to remember the perception of how much superior a Core Set House is, will rely a lot on who is playing the House. If you have Lannister and you try to go on a mass killing spree like you were a Stark, don't be surprised to find yourself on the loosing end.

I've been noticing that the more the decks are played the way the Houses tended to be portrayed in the books, the better they do.

Stark is great if you sit in the icey North, kill anything that ventures to close, and sweep in and ravage the oppnent who has defined themselves as your enemy.

Baratheon does well with setting up a great strong power structure and just dominating your way through the game. Make alliances where they suit you and avoid making more enemies than you can defend against.

Lannister works great when you get everyone else to do the fighting for you. Bribe them, cajol the, intimidate them, but don't do the work yourself until it is time to slide a blade between their ribs or fling someone out of a tower.

Targaryen on the other hand has to consolidate, remain unobtrusive, defend as best able, run from engagements until you have built up an unstoppable force and then wreck havoc on someone with a coalition of players and just sweep through the land conquering one House after the next until the throne is yours.

Thisis the way the Core Set should be in my opinion. Not a bunch of even decks with the same strengths and abilities, but decks each designed to be able to accomplish certain things well, allowing each player to be ablet find th ethemes and play styles of the House which best suits them.

I think Targ tends to be the strongest, because it rewards cautious but decisive play, something a lot of people with experience in this kind of game naturally gravitate towards.

Why can't I find the edit button? I can't fix my tpos and spelling errors! Good lord now people will think I'm a figament of Stag Lord's imagination.

Having nobody to actually play with, I can't say which house I believe to be the strongest in the LCG format. I've always been a Greyjoy at heart, but they're obviously not top dog currently. My guess is that Targaryen should be best as they simply have what appears to be the best cards available currently. To Be A Dragon certainly has to be one of the strongest cards out there, I think, especially in concurrence with the Ambush characters.

After other games and another analysis, I've to say that the Lannister deck is bad-built...Funny interactions, as I said, but nothing there is so consistant...

Targaryens won again...both times.

Hope Martin gets some inspiration here... :-) (No spoilers please if I got it: i'm still reading the 8th italian book....One book left to read the whole opera) :-)

But I've a little question about the whole LCG environment...Which house, in your opionion, is going to be the "best friend" of Greyjoy? And Which one of Martell?

It's Just for curiosity...I know the new agendas will take some time before coming out (maybe a couple of centuries), but I've to prepare for winter...or summer, as you wish :-)

Depends... we don't know what the Agenda's themselves are going to be like and that may have a direct impact on it... as well as the cards that come out with them.

That said I enjoy pairing Martell and Stark together. Challenge control doesn't get much more unforgiving. Targ and Martell also look like they would be a good compliment if you are making a seasonal deck.

Greyjoy and Targ also look interesting assuming you aren't making a seasonal deck. If you are I'd suggest giving a look to Greyjoy and Stark.

That said, if they come up with some Bara power control or serious rush It is the house that should probably be thought of the most as the one to defeat or pair with the Agenda if that opponents need less power to win is substantial.

dormouse said:

Well said...If the reduction is something like "your oppo needs 10 powers", new-treaty Agendas could be quite unplayable, and sadly it could become the end for Martell and Grey joy more than their "new life", in that sense.

Even if LCG bothers someone (me too, initially), now I've to say that deckbuilding and LCG games in general are not so bad.

My meta began playing just because of the LCG environment and they're not going to spend lots of money on old cards.

Last night all of us got "all" the LCG cards and we started to enjoy some deckbuilding and format analysis.

We tried to figure out 4 different deckbuildings (1 per house) and it's not that bad, as we usually said.

I know that the card pool is restricted, but not as it seems. It's like you have to build up something at the beginning of a Standard Cicle, basically.

The choice is not that simple if you wanna stay into the 60 cards limit.

But the biggest surprise is...

We built a Lannister Heavy control deck and it works pretty well...When I used to build up something with the Tzumainn's deckbuilder I didn't realize the inner strength of this house in this format...But believe me...

To build it up, we used: 1 Core Set, 1x each CP and a coupl of adds from other core set to get some 3x (Lannisport Weaponsmith, i.e.), just to figure out a basic building with the average card pool (of a player that doesn't want to spend money).

I don't know how the game worked at the beginning, but after some deck analysis on Tzumainn's Site and on some articles, I feel like a "back to the root" step, at least for Lannisters.

Strong and fast Card advantage, lots of control by events, Intrigue "domain" and good military environment.

We tried out a Stark built too...It works fine, but lost both the games played against Lannisters. The friend of mine who built the Stark deck made some strange choice that I don't like, but the deck is consistant and can Start up very quickly...

Both the games ended with a 15/12 thanks to "Epic phases" of the Lannisters.

I know..You can say that we're noobs and maybe our buildings or our skills doesn't count as a "general rule" or "indicator"....But let me say that LCG is funnier than I thought and that in the near future, with the upcoming Summer/Winter mechanic and with the Martell/Greyjoy Agendas, we're going to have a very good time.

P.S. Remember. A lannister pays his debts.

EDIT: the Plot pool sucks.

DB_Cooper said:

QFT, and the biggest problem seasoned players will have in terms of enjoying the LCG-only environment, likely for a long time.

And DB: I'm glad someone else finally realized it. The Lannister Core Deck probably is at a disadvantage in an out-of-box Melee game. Personally, I believe that's because their type of control works best against a single opponent. In the LCG constructed Joust environment, Lannister is going to pimp-slap you 7 ways from Sunday with their steady draw, consistent control (never underestimate kneel-based character control) and intrigue proficiency.