“Compared to the magnificence of Joffrey’s nuptials, the wedding of King Tommen was a modest affair, and small. No one wanted another lavish ceremony, least of all the queen, and no one wanted to pay for one, least of all the Tyrells. So the young king took Margaery Tyrell to wife in the Red Keep’s royal sept, with fewer than a hundred guests looking on in place of the thousands who had seen his brother joined to the same woman.”
–George R.R. Martin, A Feast for Crows

In November of 2011 , Grégoire (Fishiste) traveled to Castle Stahleck for the A Game of Thrones: The Card Game European Melee Championship tournament. There, over the course of several rounds, he sat down with dozens of players and negotiated, battled, cajoled, plotted, and manipulated his way to the Iron Throne while playing a Lannister Knights of the Realm deck.

Now, as we look forward to the upcoming release of A Turn of the Tide , the fourth Chapter Pack in the A Song of the Sea cycle, Grégoire provides us with a look at the creation of his Champion Card, Margaery Tyrell, which appears in the pack.

Grégoire (Fishiste) on Margaery Tyrell

Hello, everyone!

I am proud to introduce the new version of Margaery Tyrell ( A Turn of the Tide , 77) that I had the chance to design with Damon Stone, after being lucky at the 2011 European Melee Championship.

I started playing the game a few months before the release of the great House of Thorns expansion (for the CCG), which introduced a biaffiliated Tyrell family as its main theme. I am a real Tyrell fan; I feel they’re the cleverest family, and since that time, I still think House of Thorns was the best CCG expansion ever made. Meanwhile, as a long-time Lannister player, it’s frustrating to see these LCG Tyrell characters belonging exclusively to House Baratheon, especially since the alliance between the families ended rather quickly in the books. So designing a biaffiliated Tyrell character actually mattered a lot to me, for both nostalgia and the chance to play one the way I hoped.

Choosing Margaery as my Champion Card allowed both Baratheon and Lannister players to get a new Queen , which is great, especially for the Pyromancer’s Cache ( The War of the Five Kings , 13). Also a Lannister player will be able to field both Queens in play at the same time: the king’s wife and the Queen Regent. It was also great to get a new card with stunning art by Magali Villeneuve. I'm such a huge fan of her work. I was so happy when I learned such a talented artist (and a French one!) said yes to my request. The Margaery from House of Thorns had the most beautiful art during the CCG period; this one is just as beautiful, even with a picture of me crouching near her!

As for playing with Margaery, you can quickly see that she is a grappler: when you kneel her for attacking, you can choose an opponent's character and force him to participate in the challenge as a defender. This type of ability is new to the LCG and fits well within the manipulative House Lanniser arsenal, but is still useful for House Baratheon, too.

When you look at how Margaery plays off of Brett Zeiler's Arrogant Contender ( Lions of the Rock , 44), her grappling ability establishes a small sub-theme for House Tyrell characters: these Tyrells gain bonuses from being opposed. This theme is kind of Nedly since Tyrells are not afraid of challenging ennemies…as long as they end up on the winning side! Choosing your opponent in a challenge is one way to determine which side is most likely to win, so it’s natural that Margaery is a key character for such a theme.

Even if this theme of opposed challenges never expands beyond these two Tyrell characters, Margaery’s grappling ability still offers a lot of possibilities. You can lock in a strong Army to help your other characters win a Military challenge right after the Intrigue or Power challenge you've just initiated. You can force your opponent to kneel a character and prevent him from winning dominance. Or, a trickier option, you can attack your opponent’s only character with an Intrigue or Power icon after Margaery gains the Deadly keyword, thanks to a Dragonbone Dagger ( The House of Black and White , 86). Your options are numerous.

As a bonus, she can also gain Melee, which is especially cool when your purpose is to draw out your opposition. You'll need a Lady in your opponent's ranks, though. After all, Margaery wouldn't be such a great character in the story if Cersei weren’t around for the catfights.

I hope you'll enjoy this versatile, new character and that she'll help you to get out of some nasty situations. In the meantime, I have to thank FFG a lot for allowing me to participate in this design; it's a player's dream to get his name on a card!

Grégoire in action during the 2011 European Championships

The Tide’s Coming In

Our thanks to Grégoire for designing a Margaery Tyrell worthy of her crown!

You can look for Margaery to make her authority felt when A Turn of the Tide rolls into retailers later this month.