ive only played this game for week now got into it because huge fan of the books and was looking at maybe going to this event because i live in mn and only 25 entry fee if what i saw on there page was actually the entry to the tournement and not just the event type of thing. and was wondereing i have one core set and getting all the house expansions (besides the greyjoys least favorite house in books so not looking at getting them for now ha) and was wondering if i could make good enough deck with just those cards, or will everyone there have crazy decks with buying every single chapter back because i dont got large gaming group so rather not spend ton of money the hundred dollar investment already kinda spendy ha (and i have alot of experience with deck building though so with limited cards can probably make fair deck but still can be hard to compete with just some exstreme cards) any feedback be great (:

AGoT players are awesome, and you will have a great time if you attend. But, it is best to go in not expecting to win. I debate often on these boards about the importace of having access to the entire card pool, which I view as nearly necessary to be highly competitive. But, it is a card game, so lady fortune is also involved…

Do you live in MN?

divinityofnumber said:

Going in expecting not to win is good advice, but I think it's more a function of experience than cards. That said, people with less than a year's worth of experience do very well for themselves all the time at events like this.

divinityofnumber said:

I am a big proponent of not needing the entire card pool, or even access to the entire card pool. When you really look at people's decks, they tend to be about 90% from the Core Set, expansions, and a single CP. People insist that they need access to the entire card pool, but then use less than half of it in most of their decks. Having the entire card pool gives people a psychological edge, and there are certainly "one-off" cards that you can pull from a past set that really clicks with what you are doing today, but if you really look at most competitive builds, the cards actually used are concentrated.

That's not to say that only parts of the entire card pool are competitive. It's all competitive. But any single deck is unlikely to have cards that come from across the entire card pool. Meaning that even if you only have some of the card pool available to you, you can build a competitive deck (although your options for the kinds of decks you can build will be more limited.

For example, if you want to build a Night's Watch deck, you are unlikely to reach far beyond Core Set, the expansion for the House you play out of, and the Defenders CP cycle when you build. There just aren't as many cards that fit the theme. And that deck is just as likely to be able to stand up to Brotherhood, Maester, or Joust decks as anything utilizing more (if any) cards from those cycle. Of course, if you don't have the Defenders CP cycle, you are much less likely to be able to build a Night's Watch deck, but the deck you do build can probably stand up to the NIght's Watch deck someone else brings.

Anyway, the moral of this story is that whether you have the entire card pool or not, you can play the event and not be out-classed just by someone else's card collection - because they're going to have 60-70 cards during the game, just like you. Experience is by far the better edge than card pool, and you have to get that somewhere! And the events and people are enough fun that, especially if you don't get angry if you don't win, you'll have a blast just participating.

mason240 said:

yes i do, northern mn though but have family by cities that probably spend night at ha actually bought "ticket/pass" whatever you call it yesterday so excited to go, day after my 21 bday too haha so should be fun even though wont go great haha i did end up buying some important chapter packs for my secret deck (; but sucks when spend 12 bucks for one card :/

Right, no single deck is likely to have cards spanning the entire card pool; but that is sort of obvious. My point is that the ebb and flow of the game in general, of your meta, etc., will bring certain deck-types to the fore one month, but those same decks could be relatively non-competitive the next month. So, in order to really get into deck building, and be competitive for more than just a month or two cross-section of the game's lifespan, you really need access to (perhaps not all, I admit) a large card pool.

The other part to my argument is that if you are playing against someone of equal skill, but they have a larger card pool available, then you are likely at a disadvantage. Can you compensate for having fewer available cards with general skill, attention to detail, and detailed knowledge of game mechanics and rules? Somewhat. But, it is nonetheless preferable to have more cards at your disposal than to not have them.

I have played this game for a long time, nearly since the beginning of the LCG. I will say that my arguments about card pool are meant to be quite rational, mathematical, and mechanical in nature. You absolutely can be competitive (i.e., win a few games at a big tourney) , at least at this point in the game's life, with the core set, an expansion or two, and some random chapter packs.

But, your probability of winning games is a function of your general skill, creativity, game rule and mechanics knowledge, and also the card pool available to you with which to craft decks. The relative importance of the card pool variable in that equation surely differs between individuals based on the levels of the other variables. But, increasing it can never hurt.