I was just sitting here at work, bored and assembling decks in my head and I realized how bad the cards are for the Starks. I don't mean the House, I mean the family. Aside from Arya, most of the Stark characters have bad cards, or certainly not good ones. Compare them to the other major characters in the book, for example: TRV, Arianne, Robert, Stannis, Mel, Cersei, Jaime, Greyjoys, Daeney, etc and the Stark family comes up pretty short. There's one Eddard that might be useful in a Bara deck, one Robb that's kinda ok, one Sansa that's just ok, Bran doesn't really work outside of a specialty deck, Catelyn probably has the best cards of all of them. Five of the six TRV and Khal Drogo cards are good, and how long did those guys last in the books? How long was there a Tommen card (and a badass auto-include too) before we got a Rickon card (that no one uses much)?

Since we're going back to old themes this cycle, old characters are getting new cards, I'm just hoping we get some shiny new Stark guys. And a new Jojen too.

actually,

1. Core Ned is very good. Renown, Deadly and 1 auto power. You don't play it just because he don't have a combo but itself is a good one. Compared to Stannis, which version do you think is much better than this one? Remember, this Ned is not required to be a king and it is a lord.

2. All versions of Catelyn are good, especially the jumper.

3. Robb can: +1 to a trait (compared to the north Stannis and GotC Dany), reduce cost (compared to Renly), and choose to kill. No need to mention that there is wolf called the gray wind.

Let's come to other kids. Before that I need to recall you that each kid has a wolf which has a good combo.

4. Sansa looks weak. But she gives you draw and a free wolf and she costs 2. Who else you mention above costs less than 3? And if you play the other sansa, you may get a 4 str char with only 2 gold cost in many cases.

5. Rickon looks weak, but he has a great combo with At the gates and the Widow's watch and the raiders of the red folk.

6. For Bran, Arya and Jon snow, you know they are good, especially when they have their wolves.

All these main Stark characters are good. I am not saying that they are better than those you mentioned. I am just saying that they are good, and if they are worse, not that far. You don't play these characters just because the Black fish, Meera Reed, Maester Luwin or even Hordo are far more better.

I also want to have some new versions of these characters. I just don't want to hear that "how bad the cards are".

That's not just a Stark thing. The entire game has it's fair share of "who is that?" characters that are quite good, and many major or POV characters that are quite bad. There are also now 3 different versions of Preston Greenfield - the same number as Cersei and Jon Snow, and more than Sansa.

I think you're more struggling with the overall reliance on Stark for the opponent to let you play the game on the board. Stark, moreso than any house except maybe Baratheon, relies on its characters and cards that are on the board. Almost every Stark effect is dependent on a challenge, Dominance, or something else that is easily disrupted by cards that don't have much reliance on the board (e. g. Flame-Kissed).

It sucks to come to that conclusion as I play primarily Stark, but it seems to be the case. I do not think there is any reason to play Stark at the moment, sadly. I don't even think that there is an easy way to fix this. Stark, thematically, is the most straightforward house. Unless they introduce a card like, "While your opponent has more cards in command than you, they can not trigger effects from their hand", Stark will likely continue to get the short end of the stick.

actually,

1. Core Ned is very good. Renown, Deadly and 1 auto power. You don't play it just because he don't have a combo but itself is a good one. Compared to Stannis, which version do you think is much better than this one? Remember, this Ned is not required to be a king and it is a lord.

2. All versions of Catelyn are good, especially the jumper.

3. Robb can: +1 to a trait (compared to the north Stannis and GotC Dany), reduce cost (compared to Renly), and choose to kill. No need to mention that there is wolf called the gray wind.

4. Sansa looks weak. But she gives you draw and a free wolf and she costs 2. Who else you mention above costs less than 3? And if you play the other sansa, you may get a 4 str char with only 2 gold cost in many cases.

5. Rickon looks weak, but he has a great combo with At the gates and the Widow's watch and the raiders of the red folk.

6. For Bran, Arya and Jon snow, you know they are good, especially when they have their wolves.

All these main Stark characters are good. I am not saying that they are better than those you mentioned. I am just saying that they are good, and if they are worse, not that far. You don't play these characters just because the Black fish, Meera Reed, Maester Luwin or even Hordo are far more better.

I also want to have some new versions of these characters. I just don't want to hear that "how bad the cards are".

I don't think you can argue the value of a card when used in combination with other cards. Saying that the Stark family is good when used with their wolves (which are not strong cards) doesn't really hold water, especially in a House that has relatively poor draw and is therefore unlikely to put combo pieces together quickly.

Core Ned is ok, just ok. The combination of Deadly and Renown is nice but the Noble version is better. Both Core Stannis and VM Stannis are better.

Catelyn as jumper is good but the others are mediocre: Winter Shadows Cat is phenomenal but only if you have that build.

Comparing Robb to GotC Daeny is just silly, one increases STR of every Character you have on the board, the other raises it once per round for only some Characters as a triggered effect (i.e. cancellable). Army Robb only works if he is the only King. Core Robb is a Flame-Kissed waiting to happen and doesn't have Renown or even a N crest!

Shadows Sansa is good, but the other one is very meh, what Attachments are you running anyway? Oh I forgot, you like the Wolves for some reason.

Rickon - more combo pieces! Yes, he works with At the Gates and TBaW and a few other cards but by himself he is useless.

No version of Bran is as good as you suggest.

And yes, you're right, I do choose to use Meera, Blackfish, Hodor, NCF instead because they are better cards! That's my whole point, I think maybe the difference between our viewpoints is that I'm talking about playing at a competitive level, although I do enjoy fun non-competitive play as well.

On the other hand, the new Winter Bran is both amazing and Nedly and it's been so long since we've seen cards for the Starks (because the packs are themed, I understand that, but we keep getting Khal Drogos and TRVs) that I'm hopeful we'll see new versions.

Core Robb is a Flame-Kissed waiting to happen and doesn't have Renown or even a N crest!

But core Robb does have a noble crest. Renown would be nice indeed...

Stark gets all the

Love. Have you seen the new resin?

KLE Eddard is very powerful. But he, Robb and Arya are the only members of the Stark family that are competent.

There is a reason behind the naming of the "Sansa" award.

And Bran/Rikon are just kids.

OK, now consider are their awesomeness compared to Blackfish or Brienne of Tarth?