Really just hoping to start a discussion - should Castellan be pulled from the restricted list at this point?

When the list first came out we didn't have the power characters that are available now, so does a 3-cost Ally with Limited Response belong on the restricted list at this point? Would un-restricting it mean Lanni decks get out of control like when Alchemist GH wasn't Limited Response? Would un-restricting it encourage more use of Attachments, which are still "weak" even after TMP got an errata and got restricted?
Seems like we don't have much to talk about in the lull between Worlds and Regionals, so lets all fight about something!

I'm all for it. When the restricted list was created, Memories of Lanni Hyperkneel's absolute dominance of the game were fresh, and it was still a very strong build. These days are long past. Hyperkneel is not a particularly competitive decktype anymore. Castellan has no business being on the restricted list anymore. There's no harm in taking him off for a while. If, against expectations, he should prove to unbalance things, he can get back on in no time.

I hope not. If Lannister needs a boost I'd prefer something other than marshalling phase kneel. The designers seem to be going for more interactive/challenge based control like Penny, Pentoshi Manor and whatnot. Same deal with GJ not getting any choke cards for so long, and Martell getting stuff that controls single icon characters in challenges instead of stripping them of icons completely.

FFG will do whatever they decide they think is best for the environment for regionals. The real speculation is, how close to the first regional will we have to wait for the next FAQ? We know that one is coming, but will players in the first regional be scrambling to rebuild their decks?

I think it should be unrestricted. It's a three-cost ally with a limited response! Good chance you only get to trigger its response once, it doesn't affect maesters, and it keeps alchemist's guild hall from triggering. Or to put it another way, how is it better than the presently-unrestricted Meera?

That being said, my real hope is for a cool, workable version of Compelled by the Rock, and a top-notch Lannister character. Lannister has great locations, some pretty good events (though not top-level), but a fairly weak character base. Would love a three-cost character with a top-level response. Maybe a captain in the new cycle.

Remove from Restricted: Castellan, Burning on the Sand, Venomous Blade, Narrow Escape

Add to Restricted: Cyvasse, Long Lances, Meera Reed, Collusion

Ban: S+D

game fixed.--or at least shaken up in a meaningful way.

Oh and fix young griff to not have to stand a character in order to bring another card out of shadows.--stupid ruling.

I would love to see the restricted list come down to just a handful of cards. A lot of cards just basically become banned and they are the ones that are the worst on the list because no one will ever waste their restricted slot on it. Most of the Furys are a good example of this. No bans S&D has its flaws giving up fp to hit an opponents card and it can not be attached. Lances has a negative trait (albeit one of the less weak negative traits, and is still crazy good overall) and Meera idk what to say shes tough but not unbeatable. I just hate all erratas and restrictions.

Skowza said:

Won't removing Castellan just mean that every Lanni deck will now play Cache as well? That seems like the legit reason to keep Castellan restricted. At least you have to choose between Cache and Castellan right now. If they added Pentoshi Manor and removed Castellan, I'd be cool with that.

the pentoshi manor needs to be unique, i'm not saying full on restricted, but its so strong and you can dump 3 on field in no time

I'd like to see Castellan removed from the restricted list, limited reponse on his ability is limiting enough. They already have enough draw options that having Pyromancer's Cache available as an option won't make much difference, more likely they will run with Search and Detain.

I can't see any significant benefit to restricting Long Lances given the already limited selection of cards for Targ on the restricted list. Limited Response would be a stronger change.

mdc273 said:

Cache is vulnerable to both Location and Attachment hate and Lanni still has plenty of other draw options; I think its most useful as protection for your HoD at this point.

Skowza said:

And that is going to make Cache a bad card how? I'm pretty sure there are some builds that still use Cache. Are they tier 1? I don't think so. Will being able to play both Cache and Castellan increase the viability of an already significantly improved House? Yes. Pentoshi Manor has already been introduced into the meta. That is a MASSIVE buff to Lannister. You wait to see the results of a buff or nerf (restricting being a nerf in this case) before you make a new decision. That is unless you've already done all the math that needs to be done to determine the balance. Unfortunately, this game does not appear to have any basis in calculable card balance and so patience on the ramifications of Pentoshi Manor is better suited than the knee-jerk reaction of bringing Castellan off the list because people think Lannister isn't competitive.

Again, put Pentoshi Manor on the restricted list and you make it so that you aren't introducing multiple buffs at once. You are simply changing it so that they choose either Pentoshi Manor or Cache with Castellan (which is pretty fair to me).

mdc273 said:

When did I say Cache was a bad card? If I thought it was a bad card wouldn't I be arguing that it should be unrestricted too? And personally I think Lanni is competitive, they have so many awesome toolbox cards these days.
I just think Castellan isnt nearly as strong in the current card pool as it was when the list came out; a lot of people are screaming for Long Lances and Meera to be restricted - I dont think either one should be, instead I'm saying maybe we could free up some tech for other Houses to balance things a bit more. (But leave all Martell's crap restricted please, I dont ever again want to joust against a deck that can use TVB, BotS, and VB all at once!)