I am a new player to Game of Thrones, and I was looking at the tournament rules, and it didn't have Beyond the Narrow sea as legal chapter packs. Will they update it, or do they want everyone to play with the same cards?

I can't really speak for FFG, but I would say generally they want everyone to have access to the same card pool and they dont want players to be facing brand new cards that they've never even seen before. It wouldnt make much sense to offer Regionals winners a free round at an "international" tourney if players at the last Regional that occurs this summer had access to builds that were unheard of for players in the first Regional held this year. For example, imagine if the timing of the CPs had been a bit different last year and players in the final Regional event of the year got to use pre-errata GG + Myrcella but players at the early events did not…

They usually do not update Tournament rules and the FAQ during Regionals season unless it is unavoidable. The idea being that then everyone has access to the same card pool and the same deck archetypes all throughout the season.

for some reason i was under the impression that FFG had already locked the card pool for regionals to pre narrow sea, but i have been told by my TO that each TO at each regional can decide for him/herself what the legal card pool is.

Beyond the Narrow Sea is NOT legal for the 2012 regional tournament season.

Please go here and read the tournament rules. Page 8 lists the cards that are legal. This is NOT up to the tournament organizer.

Dobbler said:

Not what I've been told by our Regionals Organizer.

dcdennis said:

Then you need to print off this document and show it to your regionals organizer.

What happens if someone reads this readily available document produced by FFG, plans accordingly, and shows up at your regional? Is that really fair that your regionals organizer has instituted different rules that are only known to specific local players? Not at all.

While the document does note TOs have the final say regarding rules interpretations it doesn't say anything in regards to having a say on card legality.

Dobbler said:

@Dobbler - You're completely right that the tournament rules list the cardpool available for regionals and it would be unfair to deviate from that. What dcdennis is referring to I think is a conversation we had a couple weeks ago where I told him that I had heard from someone that knew someone that got an email (or something equally convoluted) that it was up to TOs if they wanted to include later packs. I recognize that that was contrary to the tournament rules, though (and at this point I have not seen that email or any post, or anything else supporting this). I told dcdennis that I would see if other regionals do something different in regards to card legality - that is all. I have no intention to allow cards that no one else has allowed for other regionals, and if you look at my post regarding DC regionals, it says we're following tournament rules. I hope that clears it up.

@dcdennis - Let me know if you have any other questions about card legality for DC regionals.

I was told that the list would be updated as packs were released based on a 30 day availability in stores policy. That is why it was said the TO's could make adjustments to legal pack availability, if rather than 30 days it falls to 26 or so the TO could choose to allow it.

It has yet to be seen whether this was stated intention that will result in followthrough or if it was a stated desire that may not be practical to follow through.

The most recently updated rules say that those are the cards for the 2012 Regional Season. I read that as Regional=Special and specific rules rathar than regular tournament rules where a TO could adjust rulings if they felt they needed to. If there is never any sort of cut off date for regional-legal cards, then that creates the potential for players having to constantly scramble and revise decks all season long. (even more than some of us already are)