I am a new player so please forgive my ignorance or anything I may be mis-understanding.
Ive started to read articles about the game and occasionally come across people casually mentioning decks that are trying to win in the first 2 turns (Bara Rush is the only one ive heard about)
Im not to intimate with the rules (just learned using the core set rulebook) but how is winning that quickly possible? It doesnt seem like there is that much power in the game on those turns to take and win with.
I havent been able to do alot of research on account of being on a military boat in the middle of the ocean and the internet is slllllllooooowwww. Like, slower then 56k.
anyone who could enlighten me, it would be most appreciated.
winning the game on t2/t3?
Renown on a character means the character claims a power when you win a challenge in which the character participates. Baratheon has many characters with the keyword, so they are able to bring enough power into the game to win that early. There are also events and other effects that let you bring power into the game, besides unopposed challenges and dominance.
An important element in such decks are not only the renown chacacters, but also different methods to have them participate in several challenges during each challenges phase, either through standing or not kneeling in the first place.
A good example from the Core Set would be Robert Baratheon and Distinct Mastery. If you had two Distinct Mastery events, you could feasibly have him participate in three challenges in one phase (maybe one military on defence, and both power and military on offense). Now, if you won all three of those challenges, he would have 6 power on him. Imagine getting one power from an unopposed challenge, and another one from winning dominance… then you would be already in the right pace for a Turn 2 win (8 of 15 in one turn). Expand from there to consider a deck with lots of renown characters, effects for pushing challenges through unopposed (Bastard of Robert and Stannis Baratheon in the Core Set), and methods to speed up the amount of characters you're able to play on Turn 1 (Narrow Sea etc.).
Also Superior Claim and Make and Example event cards are generally part of these strategies as well.