Dear Game of Thrones Community,

You are a wonderful community but there are those among you, some much praised and others much hated, that make this game not fun to play competitively. So much discussion has passed on these forums about colluders and how they show up to play with their friends instead of just playing random decks by themselves, so I will start with the snakes.

John Bruno is a snake, and not a rattler or something like that who makes himself obvious. Bruno is more like that snake from the garden of Eden, befriending you while he brings paradise to an end. I know this because everyone seems to love him without realizing how he actually behaves. "The Good Guys win! The Good Guys Win!". Anyone who was at worlds until the end of the joust last year heard those words shouted. Apparently, no one was watching his run up to the top though and no one seemed to worry about all his snide, sarcastic, and self aggrandizing forum posts following his regional wins. Everyone was too focused on lamenting their lost melee icons.

Let me tell you a story now that shows another side of the champion. I have a jovial friend, a kind friend, a lover of games both card and board, who had the opportunity to sit across from Bruno during the Swiss at worlds last year. My friend was playing the winter agenda (Greyjoy, not Stark, keep your heart rate in check) and Bruno would routinely ignore its activation. Whenever he was first player, he would draw his two cards for the draw phase and immediately take a marshaling phase action. I do mean immediately, lift two, drop one. My friend, at first amused by this, said or would say:

Friend: "You skipped my winter agenda, you have to discard one before you can play".

Bruno: "I have already taken an action, we can't go back."

I'll let that sink in for a moment. Bruno is saying that I or anyone can ignore passives at will by taking an action immediately.

Friend: "It doesn't work like that, you rushed your action, probably on purpose to try and make me forget winter."

Bruno: "Decisions have been made, we can't go back because you missed a passive."

Friend: "Well, lets see what the judge says."

The judge, KTOM or Nate, I can't remember, is called over. Bruno takes the lead, talking over my friend.

Bruno: "He is trying to go back to the draw phase for a passive he forgot after I took actions during the marshaling phase. I have made decisions based on not discarding that effect the game."

Friend: "I didn't forget, he rushed into the marshaling phase, and took an action before I could say anything. He did it intentionally to skip the discard."

Judge: "Decisions have been made, you can't go back now."

Bruno goes on to win the game by a slim margin, all the while attempting to skip passives and ignoring negative effects. My friend, not normally one to be so, was forced to harshly enforce the basic rules and mechanics of the game against a player who should and does probably know the rules better than anyone. The judge consistently ruled with Bruno because he is known and probably friends with the judge. Is this fair? Is this in the spirit of friendly competition? How can a community that will condemn someone for building decks with friends glorify another who will behave so pettily around strangers, just to win then talk ****? I am not even opposed to this. Bruno is a competitor, he came to win, as well he should to an event labeled a "Championship". What I don't understand is how he is not the one loathed by a community that absolutely hates "negative player experiences", which he undoubtedly brings to the table through his attitude.

So I make this plea, to the community at large, without further singling out the players who collude or attempt to take advantage, bully, man-handle, lie, cheat (mostly a European problem it seems), or just plain are petty and mean:

Be decent. Play it straight up. Be kind. It's a game. It's fun. You can probably win without bullying your opponent or cheating. If you can't, then at least don't talk **** about him afterwards. Don't hate the player who beat you, just because his deck and play are better.

If everyone comes to Gencon and Worlds with a smile on their face, a good deck in their hands, and basic human decency in their hearts, it should be a very different and positive experience from the one last year, which was obviously tense and hate filled. Then certainly, whoever wins, it will be a win for the good guys. Should Bruno himself play it fully straight up and win, I will be the first to cheer.

Who is with me?

While the message of being decent and playing straight up is one I can get behind, you cast a bit of a shadow on it with what is essentially a thread devoted to a personal attack. That attack happens to be an anonymously reported second hand account of an anonymous match 8 months after the fact, that stretches credulity somewhat given the very odd precedent that would be set by those judge rulings.

I've only played Bruno once (Swiss Round 2, at worlds last year), and had no such complaints.

I seem to recall the "Southern Cavalry Flank" being an idea joked about by the DC crew the night before Joust - so we may have met! Who are you?

I don't know Bruno personally, and I have never played against him, so I can't comment on your accusations. But I won't put much stock in them until I hear similar things from people who are, you know, actually a part of the community. As opposed to the solitary ramblings of what smacks of a sock puppet.

Oh, and there's this little gem:

cheat (mostly a European problem it seems)

Now, this one I am taking exception to. Why the hell would you drop an aside like that into your little exercise in character assassination, if not to stir the pot and get a rise out of people?

So, until there's independent corroboration of your little rant, I will think of you as a troll, and a coward, and kindly suggest you go know yourself in the biblical sense.

Well, he did certainly succeed in getting a rise out of people, it seems.

Still, I've been playing the game for a decade and have played Bruno several times in that duration with not a whiff of similar behavior to what is claimed here.

Well, he did certainly succeed in getting a rise out of people, it seems.

*Sigh*. I know, I know, don't feed the trolls and all that. I'm just not a wise man, I fear.

And now I just want to read Patrick Rothfuss...

Wait - did he also write a book called "The Non-Wise Man's Fear"? Maybe it was an early draft...

Wait - did he also write a book called "The Non-Wise Man's Fear"? Maybe it was an early draft...

Just to be petty (and get further rise out of you), wouldn't that have to be "The Unwise Man's Fear"?

And now I just want to read Patrick Rothfuss...

I wish his new book would come out already. My favorite new fantasy series of all time. Probably one of the best wordsmiths ever in any genre.

Your post is the only thing worth commenting on in this obviously malicious troll thread.

This is the most pathetic and petty post I've ever seen on a card game forum, and that's saying a lot. There is no way you are someone known to these forums who created this log-in just to post this alleged bombshell in disguise, is there? That wouldn't explain why this "GoTLove?" account has so few posts, would it? You're certainly not a DC-area GoT player, talking **** as part of your apparent contractual obligation to pointlessly irritate others as a member of the world's least liked and least respected Thrones meta, are you? I'm sure none of that could be the case.

You sad, boring, unfunny f***er.

I like to think that the DC meta talks **** about people without being under the guise of another account.

Dear Game of Thrones Community,

Who is with me?

You are a f**king coward. I don't know know who are, but you have come on to these boards, hiding behind an anonymous name, calling someone else a snake. You talk about being decent, but you are slinging around the biggest pile of gossipy stinking hypocritical s**t I have ever seen.

Congratulations a**hole, you have just made me madder than anyone else in the history of this game.

I would give my life for Mr. John Bruno, because I truly know what kind of man he is. Clearly you do not.

You, on the other hand, I would like to kick in the nuts with vasectomy-inducing force

Wait - did he also write a book called "The Non-Wise Man's Fear"? Maybe it was an early draft...

Just to be petty (and get further rise out of you), wouldn't that have to be "The Unwise Man's Fear"?

But certainly not. A non-wise man is one who lacks wisdom. An unwise man is one who has un-wisdom. That's a whole different ballgame. I will admit to the former, but deeply resent being called the latter. Unfortunately for you, the general tone in this thread is instigating me to physical violence, so this means I will have to find you and kick your ass. And, unlike the blissfully anonymous thread starter, I do know where *you* live.

Let me tell you a story now that shows another side of the champion. I have a jovial friend, a kind friend, a lover of games both card and board, who had the opportunity to sit across from Bruno during the Swiss at worlds last year. My friend was playing the winter agenda (Greyjoy, not Stark, keep your heart rate in check) and Bruno would routinely ignore its activation. Whenever he was first player, he would draw his two cards for the draw phase and immediately take a marshaling phase action. I do mean immediately, lift two, drop one. My friend, at first amused by this, said or would say:

Friend: "You skipped my winter agenda, you have to discard one before you can play".

Bruno: "I have already taken an action, we can't go back."

I'll let that sink in for a moment. Bruno is saying that I or anyone can ignore passives at will by taking an action immediately.

I've attended countless tournaments with John Bruno; observed him in countless tournament games, both against him and as a spectator. He plays so fairly that when he makes a mistake and you offer to let him take it back he consistently declines because it would not be fair to his opponent.

The mere notion that John Bruno would recklessly throw away his integrity, reputation, and love for the game to have an edge against your friend is inconceivable.

If John Bruno said it was too late to go back, in my experience that means he gave his opponent more than a fair opportunity to do whatever it was he wanted to do. In fact, he will very often times make sure the opponent confirms this by asking whether or not they have any actions etc.

I've played the winter agenda against John Bruno something like 5 million times and I have very often forgotten to trigger its effect. Not once in my those 5 million games did I ever place the blame on him rushing an action. Every single time the effect didn't trigger it was 100% my fault. In game of thrones there is so much crap going on at all times that each player really is responsible for knowing his own cards. It was never John's responsibility to remind me of my triggers, in fact if he had done so, it would have made me a worse player. After all those games with him it forced me to learn from my mistakes and I eventually started playing winter agenda perfectly, never again forgetting to trigger its effect.

I'll end with this:

1. It isn't your opponents responsibility to play your cards for you.

2. According to my vast experiences observing and playing against John Bruno, there is no way he would ever intentionally rush actions to deliberately deny a passive effect.

3. Your friend is probably like me a very slow player. Game of Thrones often requires players to play at a brisk pace given the time limits. Your friend was most likely awe-struck by the massive beat down John Bruno was laying upon him that, in his daze, he lost track of the time and believed that John Bruno was doing everything instantly whereas in reality your friend was remembering his winter effect too late and trying to justify time-machining by accusing him of cheating.

4. You are an unpleasant person.

Let me tell you a story now that shows another side of the champion. I have a jovial friend, a kind friend, a lover of games both card and board, who had the opportunity to sit across from Bruno during the Swiss at worlds last year. My friend was playing the winter agenda (Greyjoy, not Stark, keep your heart rate in check) and Bruno would routinely ignore its activation. Whenever he was first player, he would draw his two cards for the draw phase and immediately take a marshaling phase action. I do mean immediately, lift two, drop one. My friend, at first amused by this, said or would say:

Friend: "You skipped my winter agenda, you have to discard one before you can play".

Bruno: "I have already taken an action, we can't go back."

I'll let that sink in for a moment. Bruno is saying that I or anyone can ignore passives at will by taking an action immediately.

I've attended countless tournaments with John Bruno; observed him in countless tournament games, both against him and as a spectator. He plays so fairly that when he makes a mistake and you offer to let him take it back he consistently declines because it would not be fair to his opponent.

The mere notion that John Bruno would recklessly throw away his integrity, reputation, and love for the game to have an edge against your friend is inconceivable.

If John Bruno said it was too late to go back, in my experience that means he gave his opponent more than a fair opportunity to do whatever it was he wanted to do. In fact, he will very often times make sure the opponent confirms this by asking whether or not they have any actions etc.

I've played the winter agenda against John Bruno something like 5 million times and I have very often forgotten to trigger its effect. Not once in my those 5 million games did I ever place the blame on him rushing an action. Every single time the effect didn't trigger it was 100% my fault. In game of thrones there is so much crap going on at all times that each player really is responsible for knowing his own cards. It was never John's responsibility to remind me of my triggers, in fact if he had done so, it would have made me a worse player. After all those games with him it forced me to learn from my mistakes and I eventually started playing winter agenda perfectly, never again forgetting to trigger its effect.

I'll end with this:

1. It isn't your opponents responsibility to play your cards for you.

2. According to my vast experiences observing and playing against John Bruno, there is no way he would ever intentionally rush actions to deliberately deny a passive effect.

3. Your friend is probably like me a very slow player. Game of Thrones often requires players to play at a brisk pace given the time limits. Your friend was most likely awe-struck by the massive beat down John Bruno was laying upon him that, in his daze, he lost track of the time and believed that John Bruno was doing everything instantly whereas in reality your friend was remembering his winter effect too late and trying to justify time-machining by accusing him of cheating.

4. You are an unpleasant person.

Bad trolls are bad trolls. Hiding being anonymous forum identity as the OP does is the epitome of weak sauce.

The OP needs to grow some nuts or STFU

Ugh... I'm going to have to be an irritating rules lawyer again (due to certain choices of vocabulary, which are probably just slightly off by accident):

I need to remind everyone of the fact that passive abilities are not triggered , not optional and it's the common duty of all players at a table to remember them . Unless there's some kind of ' may ' involved in the wording, which Kings of Winter does not have. So, it's not a case of the player with The Kings of Winter Agenda being the only person who needs to remember it. I'll refer you to the Code of Conduct portion of the Tourney Rules, particularly that for Misrepresentation .

However, that said, I've got no doubt whatsoever that a player of Mathlete's caliber would resort to anything in the form of Misrepresentation. Oh, and backtracking after choices/actions are made is always difficult thing in competitive games.

So, I guess I mainly wanted to point out to the would-be Jaime's out there that any kind of ignoring of mandatory passives is not ' playing to win ' but rather ' playing against the rules '.

...the world's least liked and least respected Thrones meta, are you? I'm sure none of that could be the case.

I'm willing to concede least liked. But least respected? Hate DC's behavior all you want. You can't argue with results my friend.

I've played against John Bruno many times in casual games and don't recall ever seeing him try anything shady. He's also been very helpful seeing as I was a new player at the time and having trouble building my deck by selling me cards cheaply from packs I couldn't find and making helpful recommendations on directions I could go in deck building.

Other than that, as has been said, I find it rather disappointing that you're posting anonymously. Seems like if you were really trying to bring cheating or poor sportsmanship to light, you'd want to make your friend's and your own identities known...

...the world's least liked and least respected Thrones meta, are you? I'm sure none of that could be the case.

I'm willing to concede least liked. But least respected? Hate DC's behavior all you want. You can't argue with results my friend.

Well you can be least liked and least respected while getting results. You guys can be great players but just because your great players people don't have to respect you. People can simply not respect you because they don't like you guys. However, they can also concede that you are group of great players at the same time without respecting you.

I'm personally up in the air about it. Haven't seen you guys outside of the forums so i can't say. You can all act like ass clowns on the forums but when it comes to real life face to face talking, you guys could be a pretty chill group. Just with a very sarcastic tone to things. Note boys and girls, sarcasm is hard to detect on the internet. XD So, as i said, i'm neutral on whether or not i like you guys. To be honest, i'm not even all that upset about the whole world's Melee thing. You took advantage of a system that wasn't put into effect correctly. Its part of a card game, i've seen it in many card games in the past and have gotten used to it. So, it doesn't impact my opinion nearly as much as it does other people i guess.

As far as Brunno goes, i really couldn't say to tell the truth. I haven't met the guy but from the interview that TC made he sounds like a pretty laid back guy to be honest. Forum trolls will always be trolls. Not a lot you can do about that.

Fair enough. But as a point, I have no idea who OP is and/or whether or not he is from DC, which people seem to be assuming. But that has not been confirmed yet, so I ask for the benefit of the doubt here until such time that he wishes to identify himself.

Aside:

Hope to see everyone at Gencon. Morgan and I will be bringing 2 cases of a beer that we brewed specificay for thrones players, so if you see us, come say hi and grab a bottle The Queens Faithful Imperial Red.

Fair enough. But as a point, I have no idea who OP is and/or whether or not he is from DC, which people seem to be assuming. But that has not been confirmed yet, so I ask for the benefit of the doubt here until such time that he wishes to identify himself.

Aside:

Hope to see everyone at Gencon. Morgan and I will be bringing 2 cases of a beer that we brewed specificay for thrones players, so if you see us, come say hi and grab a bottle The Queens Faithful Imperial Red.

Nice. I'm going to bring some beer from a micro brewery in Philly. I'll trade ya.

I see this is generating some decent discussion and friendly banter, per my plea.

Patrick Rothfuss is great, agreed. If you like him I highly recommend Scott Lynch's "The Lies of Locke Lamora". Book is dope. True story.

I look forward to seeing you all at Gencon.

GoTLove? is Bruno himself, just looking to have some fun on the board.

Let me tell you a story now that shows another side of the champion. I have a jovial friend, a kind friend, a lover of games both card and board, who had the opportunity to sit across from Bruno during the Swiss at worlds last year. My friend was playing the winter agenda (Greyjoy, not Stark, keep your heart rate in check) and Bruno would routinely ignore its activation. Whenever he was first player, he would draw his two cards for the draw phase and immediately take a marshaling phase action. I do mean immediately, lift two, drop one. My friend, at first amused by this, said or would say:

Friend: "You skipped my winter agenda, you have to discard one before you can play".

Bruno: "I have already taken an action, we can't go back."

I'll let that sink in for a moment. Bruno is saying that I or anyone can ignore passives at will by taking an action immediately.

I've attended countless tournaments with John Bruno; observed him in countless tournament games, both against him and as a spectator. He plays so fairly that when he makes a mistake and you offer to let him take it back he consistently declines because it would not be fair to his opponent.

The mere notion that John Bruno would recklessly throw away his integrity, reputation, and love for the game to have an edge against your friend is inconceivable.

If John Bruno said it was too late to go back, in my experience that means he gave his opponent more than a fair opportunity to do whatever it was he wanted to do. In fact, he will very often times make sure the opponent confirms this by asking whether or not they have any actions etc.

I've played the winter agenda against John Bruno something like 5 million times and I have very often forgotten to trigger its effect. Not once in my those 5 million games did I ever place the blame on him rushing an action. Every single time the effect didn't trigger it was 100% my fault. In game of thrones there is so much crap going on at all times that each player really is responsible for knowing his own cards. It was never John's responsibility to remind me of my triggers, in fact if he had done so, it would have made me a worse player. After all those games with him it forced me to learn from my mistakes and I eventually started playing winter agenda perfectly, never again forgetting to trigger its effect.

I'll end with this:

1. It isn't your opponents responsibility to play your cards for you.

2. According to my vast experiences observing and playing against John Bruno, there is no way he would ever intentionally rush actions to deliberately deny a passive effect.

3. Your friend is probably like me a very slow player. Game of Thrones often requires players to play at a brisk pace given the time limits. Your friend was most likely awe-struck by the massive beat down John Bruno was laying upon him that, in his daze, he lost track of the time and believed that John Bruno was doing everything instantly whereas in reality your friend was remembering his winter effect too late and trying to justify time-machining by accusing him of cheating.

4. You are an unpleasant person.

Bad trolls are bad trolls. Hiding being anonymous forum identity is the epitome of weak sauce.

This loser needs to grow some nuts or STFU

I'm not hiding behind anything my name is Christian Na.

Dear Game of Thrones Community,

Who is with me?

You are a f**king coward. I don't know know who are, but you have come on to these boards, hiding behind an anonymous name, calling someone else a snake. You talk about being decent, but you are slinging around the biggest pile of gossipy stinking hypocritical s**t I have ever seen.

Congratulations a**hole, you have just made me madder than anyone else in the history of this game.

I would give my life for Mr. John Bruno, because I truly know what kind of man he is. Clearly you do not.

You, on the other hand, I would like to kick in the nuts with vasectomy-inducing force

" Wow, you managed to turn Steve Carell into an *******. "