They had come together at the ford of the Trident while the battle crashed around them, Robert with his warhammer and his great antlered helm, the Targaryen prince armored all in black. On his breastplate was the three-headed dragon of his House, wrought all in rubies that flashed like fire in the sunlight. The waters of the Trident ran red around the hooves of their destriers as they circled and clashed, again and again, until at last a crushing blow from Robert’s hammer stove in the dragon and the chest beneath it. When Ned had finally come on the scene, Rhaegar lay dead in the stream, while men of both armies scrabbled in the swirling waters for rubies knocked free of his armor.
“In my dreams, I kill him every night,” Robert admitted. “A thousand deaths will still be less than he deserves.”
Our staff has put together a first blush analysis of the newly released “Fury of the Storm” deluxe box. Answers to frequently asked rules questions can be found on the individual card pages on thronesdb.com. Cards are listed in number order and scored on a scale ranging from one through five, with five being the best possible score.
Let us know in the comments how you feel about the cards in this pack!
Robert Baratheon (4.8 Average)
scantrell24 – 4 out of 5
Core Bob and Box Bob both love to kneel opposing characters, but this version only has five strength (making him more likely to burn) and the kneel is delayed (challenges vs standing phase). In exchange, Box Bob gains the versatility to kneel locations or potentially massive numbers of opposing characters depending on the board. Milk of the Poppy completely neutralizes both version, so no change there. This is undoubtedly a strong ability in the same vein as Selyse — Blackwater Bay players rejoice.
Von Wibble – 5 out of 5
The textbox on this had to be good to even consider including this over core Bob, and thankfully this is the case. I really like the flexibility this card offers, as any one of the options can be valid depending on your opponent’s board state just as much as your build. Yes, it’s a double sided effect, but you can build around it by including characters with stand effects such as Cortnay Penrose, Justin Massey, or Fiery Followers, and economy with fixed gold rather than kneel-to-reduce effects. I also like that you can keep your own Barristan Selmy knelt, ready to save Bob in the event of Valar Morghulis.
Hybrid92 – 5 out of 5
Even though I have some reservations about exactly how much this will see play over Core Robert, I have to give this a 5 out of 5 for sheer versatility. This is a fantastic alternative option if you want to include a different type of Robert for a different type of deck. Rather than focusing on high strength and intimidate, this one gives you three very powerful control options. The two effects that relate to characters not standing could be the shot in the arm that Bara kneel needs to be competitive again, while the location effect is critical for Bara to nullify some of the more powerful locations causing Bara problems these days (Skagos, Plaza of Pride, Victarion’s warships, and so on). All three of Robert’s effects need to be built for, but it’s a great card design that gives Bara options going forward.
Q&T Curmudgeons – 5 out of 5 (Just JCWamma and Ire this month, as Drakey and Istaril are both otherwise engaged sadly)
It’s a relief that our first Bob since the core set can actually compete with the original. We don’t think it’s tough at all to build a deck that works towards the locations trigger and can manage one of the others too (either-or), then trigger whichever effect matters more at the time. Core Robert might still be the GoodStuff one, but the potential for mass-control here is so high we can’t help but rate this high. And yes, Stark is top of the meta with loads of stand, but at least this Robert can’t be Meera’d and can shut down Skagos.
hagarrr – 5 out of 5
Robert is a tremendous card, powerful in multiple ways, and provides different ways to build your Baratheon deck. Look at him, laughing his head off at your futile attempts to win the game whilst he controls your pieces. In particular I like his full location control aspect, which you can take advantage of by building your own deck with static economy and minimal locations. Alternatively you might choose to control the big dudes and keep all the little ‘uns knelt instead. Whichever choice you choose, when Robert hits the board he’ll need to be answered quickly, or he’ll just straight up control the game.
Stannis Baratheon (4.2 Average)
scantrell24 – 5 out of 5
Is the Bara tax a thing of the past? This Stannis boasts three positive traits, a whopping 7 strength, immunity to opponent’s events, and draws you cards for winning any power challenge (Stannis doesn’t even have to participate!). Stannis also benefits from both Fury (which grants Intimidate) & Lightbringer (grants renown and stand). He compares favorably to Victarion and Cersei in my book.
Von Wibble – 4 out of 5
At first glance this effect may not look strong, but note that there is no limit on it, and it triggers off winning on defence. Baratheon don’t struggle to win power challenges as a rule so should expect to draw at least 1 card per round. The immunity to events is a nice bonus, especially with Put to the Sword being such a common option of late. This together with strength 7 ensures Stannis is very unlikely to be killed by terminal burn, so becomes a natural choice whenever this takes over the meta. In comparison with the other Stannis’s, he is certainly a better choice in a good stuff deck, though I feel that the others still have their place in given decks.
Hybrid92 – 4 out of 5
There’s lots to love about the newest version of Stannis. His high strength will allow you to push through those key power challenges, while his event immunity will prolong his life on the board as many popular kill effects can’t target him. Dodging Nightmares is pretty handy too. If you can help him reach his final form with Fury and Lightbringer then he becomes a 7-for-7 hero with event immunity, renown, intimidate, and a draw effect. Pretty good, but it’s an 11-gold and 3-card combo. As for his traits, King and Lord are always good (and expected), but I’m loving the R’hllor trait which will allow Bara players to run Seen in Flames even outside of dedicated R’hllor kneel decks. His effect is a bit controversial for me. I would have liked to see a more flashy and powerful effect, something like “Super Stannis” (from the Valar Morghulis chapter pack of 1st Edition) which would have been worthy of the great character that Stannis the Mannis is, but alas. This Stannis will probably draw you a card a round — 2 cards if your opponent makes a power challenge that you block, 3 if you have Stormlands out… and more if you have Cape Wrath out as well. One big incentive is that it may stop your opponent from throwing a random power chud power challenge at you knowing that it’ll draw you a card or two. Overall, he’s better than his previous two versions and will definitely see play, but it still feels a tad underwhelming for some reason.
Q&T Curmudgeons – 4 out of 5
Much more boring than Robert (thematic we suppose?), but still strong. Stat sticks are good, draw is good, immunity is good. Obviously lacks keywords but with Lightbringer and Fury there are options. He can bring some much needed STR to Baratheon’s game, especially if you’re switching Roberts. The value only goes up in Melee, as people are less likely to want to poke power challenges at you.
hagarrr – 4 out of 5
Lord. King. R’hllor. Mannis. For me Stannis is great; 7 STR, bicon, immune to events, and draws cards. He can work well with king tech, R’hllor tech, and also the new claim raising in power challenge tech. With Fury and Lightbringer too, he’ll be a monster. Some people will underrate him I feel because he’s not exciting or flashy. That’s super Nedly in my opinion; this dour, stern, powerful man absolutely befits this somewhat dour, stern and powerful card. The main strike against him is that he does little to help you win the game if you’ve fallen behind, whereas Robert would certainly help change that.
Melisandre (5.0 Average)
scantrell24 – 5 out of 5
All aboard the Bara Sun hype train! Chooo chooooo! Murder Mel and Desert Raider will be a popular duo this summer. I also expect Bara Kraken or Greyjoy Stag to use Melisandre for pushing through Pinch of Powder triggers, as she has the right icons, strength, and stealth.
Von Wibble – 5 out of 5
If 7 cost Mel is sniper Mel, I suppose this one is Shotgun Mel? With stealth and strength 5, there aren’t many decks that can reliably beat Mel on defense in an intrigue challenge, so the effect is fairly easy to trigger – assuming you have characters to leech power from. As scantrell24 says, Desert Raider is one such option, and Baratheon Banner of the Sun already exists as a deck. Martell Stag is also an option of course as she isn’t loyal. Baratheon also have options in faction, though these require a bit more work, for example using a Red Keep Gaoler together with a Stormlands Fiefdom. Even if you don’t get the kill with Mel, stealing a power is still a good effect – if you squint she is a Bastard of Nightsong with stealth and a kill effect. Interesting to note that if both players have Mel out then each is unlikely to trigger for fear of being killed by the other!
Hybrid92 – 5 out of 5
Finally, a competitive Mel that we can include in ‘goodstuff’ Bara decks without relying on kneel or dominance. This card is great. It’s a big intrigue/power bicon with stealth, and two great traits. The effect itself is a fantastic threat. Even if you never trigger it, the threat of activation is there. Your opponent will have to immediately answer it or marshal inefficiently, lest their Balon Greyjoy or Robb Stark is immediately sniped.
Q&T Curmudgeons – 5 out of 5
Bloody hell, she’s a scary lady. The stealth matters a lot here – it’ll be very hard to stop her winning challenges she wants to, and it’ll be interesting to see if she leads to less renown being taken in the Bara (or Banner Stag) matchup even when she’s not in play. If she is in play, we imagine she essentially reads “opponents character do not gain power for renown” more often than not, which… yup, still great. Throw in combinations with Desert Raider, Starry Sept and whatnot, and she’s worthy of the name Melisandre. Or as Ire puts it: “stealth, kill, shifts power, what more do you want?”
hagarrr – 5 out of 5
This version of Melisandre is frightening. A slightly more convoluted Mirri Maz Durr, but with the additional stealth that makes the intrigue win more of a formality. The trick then is to ensure the opponent has power on characters you want to kill. Cards like Desert Raider, Starry Sept, Consolidation of Power, and A Cask of Ale will help there, and the very threat of her on the board may deter some renown too. She good!
Renly Baratheon (4.7 Average)
scantrell24 – 5 out of 5
Renly might be more narrow than Hizdarr in terms of what decks want him, but those decks that do want him REALLY want him. Tyrell Starg or Bara Rose gives access to strength pumps of course, but the Warhammers later in the box can also get the job done. Even without any extra strength, Renly can jump (or threaten to jump) Dornish Spy, Starfall Spy, Areo Hotah, Southron Messenger, Olenna’s Informant, and Shrewd Diplomat. The faction card kneel isn’t even much of limitation because you’ll have a Banner agenda anyways, not one with a faction kneel.
Von Wibble – 5 out of 5
As we know with core Arianne, the ability to throw in a character in the challenges phase is very powerful. Renly provides this without returning to hand himself, and has renown thrown in too! There are plenty of good non-Baratheon characters with cost 3 or lower, but where this gets more fun is by using strength pumps to ensure Renly can cheat in much bigger characters. House Tyrell has plenty of ways to manage this, and I can see Renly achieving a lot of House Florent Knight triggers. Alternatively, a Martell deck with Dawn and Princes Plans can give Renly a high strength, and also has many more characters with enters play abilities (a significant number of which don’t even require a strength pump for Renly). As someone who likes Banner decks I think he is very powerful and will need answering when played out.
Hybrid92 – 4.5 out of 5
For banner decks, he is a stellar auto-include. Three icons, two good traits, renown, AND a surprise ‘ambush’ effect that costs nothing other than a faction kneel. His strength is quite low, and probably for good reason because of his effect, but it stops him from being a 5 out of 5 for me.
Q&T Curmudgeons – 4 out of 5
The comparison with Hizdahr is interesting – faction kneel and only non-Bara characters, but can get extra value with a STR boost and the character has an extra icon and renown. Tough to say who is better, and Hizdahr is restricted. So why only 4? Simply the build-around necessity. He’ll feel like a 5 in those decks built to leverage him, but he’s not going everywhere.
hagarrr – 5 out of 5
The Bara Tax is definitely a thing of the past! The fourth strong character in this box is tricon Renly with renown with a pseudo-Flea Bottom effect. Wonderful. He’s going to be very popular in banner Stag, with Martell and Tyrell likely to be leading suitors for his ability. A simple attachment that boosts his STR in these builds can make him an economic monster; imagine him with Dawn turn 5 casually throwing Arianne (JtO) into play… *shudder*. He’s certainly a fun card, and I think he’ll make a big impact in the competitive scene too.
Salladhor Saan (4.5 Average)
scantrell24 – 4 out of 5
Salladhor is both a great tempo play and an answer to a weak spot for the faction. 1x in many Bara decks and even 3x in some.
Von Wibble – 5 out of 5
Another card I really like, this box is looking strong! A rare power icon on a Smuggler already interests me, and the way I read Salladhor’s ability, if you can just kneel a 2 cost location like a Dornish Fiefdom, not only are you getting a nice control/choke effect, you also effectively paid 3 for a strength 3 tricon. This suggests that even without smuggler support Salladhor is an easy include in the deck. Add in any extra triggers and this is really strong ,with the dream scenario being a +6 gold boost each round for the New Wall.
Hybrid92 – 4.5 out of 5
Huge character for Baratheon: great mid-range cost slot, three icons, single-handedly shapes the Smuggler archetype, and an extremely powerful effect that makes him worth running as both a Smuggler linchpin and a cheeky 1x in goodstuff decks. Great versatility for this character in terms of the options he gives you and the variety of decks he could potentially go in. He loses half a point for dangerous low STR but he’s otherwise stellar.
Q&T Curmudgeons – 4 out of 5
One-of in GoodStuff, more in Smuggler-heavy decks. We like the utility of kneeling your own Iron Throne or Starry Sept or whatever for consistent economy if the opponent lacks for good targets. We also like Baratheon getting a hint of some consistent location-kneeling effects, between this and Khorane (another smuggler!). You could almost say with a strong, interesting ability such as this, that the game is finally starting to get some wind in its sails…
hagarrr – 5 out of 5
I can’t believe I’m giving out 5’s like candy for Baratheon cards. This flamboyant wizardly looking Salladhor is excellent tempo, providing a tricon body, location control and economy in one simple marshal. If you care to TIBWHID him or run a dedicated Smugglers module, then he’s like a Core Melisandre for locations that earns you money too! The flexibility to kneel your own static locations for gold is lovely, and I think he’ll be a lot of fun to play.
Ser Davos Seaworth (3.5 Average)
scantrell24 – 3.5 out of 5
Stealth on a midrange character is excellent. Stealing power is excellent (though only discarding it and not getting one in return without a King is much less excellent). I’m not really bothered by the opportunity cost of losing Core Davos — Bara has draw now to replenish the board after a reset, and Spears of the Merling King anyways. The real downside is that Davos’s 5 gold for 4 strength body without a power icon leaves something to be desired. So, good card, not quite great.
Von Wibble – 4 out of 5
A great support character. With stealth on the intrigue challenge Davos helps ensure that Shotgun Mel can win intrigue challenges on the rare occasions where she can’t do it alone. The smuggler trait ensures that Salladhor gets another trigger. The ability provides easy power for your kings – standing them if they also have Lightbringer. He even has the The Seven trait for Baratheon Faith decks. Yes, Core Davos is a great 1 of character, but unless you are really worried about military claim, this one is even better.
Hybrid92 – 2 out of 5
The great curse of Davos is that any new version will be inevitably compared to Core Davos which has been one of the most stellar and efficient Bara characters since the release of this game. 6-cost Davos failed that test in a pathetic fashion, does this one stack up? Well, this one is better than 6-cost Davos straight off the bat, so that’s a start. As for the comparison with Core Davos, they both have stealth, they both have the Knight and Smuggler trait (both of critical importance for Bara especially with this box), both have a military icon. Core Davos has a power icon and a pseudo-save effect for 1 gold less. For 1 gold more, this new Davos has an intrigue icon, The Seven trait, and a power discard effect (that may POTENTIALLY be a power steal if you happen to have a king out). Given the importance of the power challenge for Bara, I think Core Davos is still too difficult to usurp. Stealth on a power icon, and also on a character that is difficult to permanently kill, means Core Davos is still too good. I’m sorry but I’m not paying one extra gold to be DENIED a power icon and a pseudo-save. That’s what this comes down to. If only this effect was on a character with a different name, then I’d play this card all day long. But as is, it’s a no for me. The Bastard of Nightsong does what this card is trying to do so much better, and he also has a power icon! The sad part is I probably would’ve rated this card 4 out of 5 had Core Davos not existed.
Q&T Curmudgeons – 4 out of 5
It takes a lot to beat out Core Davos, but a 2 power swing every round if you have a King (and still a 1 power swing if you don’t) seems worth it to us. Unlike, say, The Bastard of Nightsong, this is on any challenge, attack or defence. He also has a trait that plays well with a pre-existing deck that is already playing towards power-denial, so there’s even a natural home for him to shine in. Our only fear is that Baratheon will often not be thrilled about removing power without gaining any back if you don’t have a King out.
hagarrr – 4 out of 5
Ser Davos has a lot to live up to, given that Posh Davos failed miserably to usurp the core version from decks. Lucky then, this version is pretty good. The stealth is very relevant, allowing him to push through challenges, and he has three positive traits that make him a consideration for three different decks in addition to being a tempting support piece for the new Melisandre. The Seven trait is possibly the most interesting; with the Faith Militant able to steal power on any challenge, and Davos’s ability further complements the theme. If you have a King on the board, the extra power gain is the cherry on top, but if not, even slowing the opponent down by discarding a power is still very good, especially since it can be triggered in any challenge type!
Alester Florent (3.8 Average)
scantrell24 – 4 out of 5
V-A-L-U-E. Easy to slap 1x Alester in any deck with at least a spattering of other R’hllor characters, and if you happen to have other Florent characters (House Florent Knight, Vanguard Lancer, Selyse) then maybe even consider 3x Alester.
Von Wibble – 3 out of 5
Solid rather than spectacular but that’s still decent enough. There aren’t that many House Florent characters, so expecting to get more than 2 cards out of Alester is probably unrealistic for now, but if you treat a card draw as worth 1 gold (its probably more in practise) then paying “3” for a strength 3 bicon who grants a kneel on leaving play is perfectly sound. Worth a 1 of if you have a decent R’hllor character base, otherwise don’t bother.
Hybrid92 – 4 out of 5
This guy is a fantastic mid-range body for Baratheon. Good traits, decent cost-STR ratio, affordable cost. His ability will allow you draw a card off himself when he comes into play (effectively replacing himself with a cantrip). Additionally, you’ll get to draw a card from Selyse and your three Vanguard Lancers (who, unlike Axell and probably Imry, are oft-played cards). When you factor in Bara Rose / Tyrell Stag options, then his value simply increases. The fact that he will, in all likelihood, kneel someone on the way out is gravy. Past Bara decks simply didn’t play R’hllor cards unless it was a dedicated kneel deck, but now with the arrival of Red Priest (excellent ability) and Acolyte of the Flame (great chud), the chance of you having another R’hllor character out when Alester has to leave play is high. Overall, a very solid character.
Q&T Curmudgeons – 5 out of 5
Bara are really cleaning up with efficient mid-range characters, huh? Without a single other Florent in your deck, he’s solid enough if you’re running R’hllor – draw when he enters play, kneel when he leaves, sounds good to us. If you can get another draw or 2 from him first – Vanguard Lancers, either small Selyse, Imry from later in the box, or be still our beating hearts House Florent Knights – the value goes up a lot. Also because it’s enters/leaves play, not marshal/dies, there’s tricks to be had – combining him with The Iron Bank Will Have Its Due, for instance, or dropping those other Florents in through challenge shenanigans. Lastly, if the opponent plays any House Florent characters you can get some extra triggers there too, because it doesn’t say “you control”!
hagarrr – 3 out of 5
At first I thought he was a little underwhelming, but at the very least he’s a cantrip when he enters play. The ‘Core Shireen’ effect when he leaves play (providing you control a R’hllor character) is also of value too, particularly if you’re a victim of an aggressive Valar Morghulis. But the more I consider it, when paired with other House Florent characters and TIBWHID he could actually become quite useful, and there are actually more House Florent characters available than I first thought!
Selyse Baratheon (2.8 Average)
scantrell24 – 3 out of 5
I have her at 3x in my Prince Robert/Stannis deck along with Azor Ahai Reborn, Glamor, Lightbringer, and Red God’s Blessing. That’s probably her ceiling, and even there the shenanigans might not be worthwhile, but the jank is screaming to be used and I’m happy to oblige.
Von Wibble – 4 out of 5
I like cards that encourage you to play less used cards, and this certainly does so, with Lightbringer the only really commonly player R’hllor attachment so far. If you consider all of the other options to have a cost of 0 they suddenly become very strong cards, so Selyse could be the centrepiece of a new archetype. Whether that will be any good I am less sure, but with Azor Ahai Reborn coming in this box we already have 1 very good 3 cost R’hllor attachment. Hopefully a few more will be printed in the near future, I am rating optimistically based on this.
Hybrid92 – 2 out of 5
Look, credit to the designers of the game for trying so desperately to make some of the God-awful R’hllor attachments playable, but I think even getting them into play for free couldn’t convince me to include such absolute stinkers as Glamor and Ruby of R’hllor in my deck. If I’m playing a control deck, I’m playing 6-cost Selyse. Otherwise I think my boy Stannis might appreciate the intrigue icon from Core Selyse. I’ll pass on this one.
Q&T Curmudgeons – 2 out of 5
We’re divided here, with Ire of the opinion that her main value, improving the playability of crap cards, is not relevant if those cards are still crap, and leaves her crap too. JC greatly appreciates the design to try to make those cards good, and thinks she has enough value if you’re on a deck with Azor Ahai Reborn and Lightbringer that you run her anyway, and that the deck with more R’hllor attachments will be fun.
hagarrr – 3 out of 5
This iteration of Selyse seems tailor-made for those overpriced R’hllor attachments released in the early cycles of the game. It’s almost like the designers realised their mistake and tried to make up for it! With no R’hllor attachments in hand she’s below the curve, but when you can play cards like Ruby of R’hllor, Azor Ahai Reborn and Red God’s Blessing for free, that’s excellent value.
Griffin’s Roost Knight (2.4 Average)
scantrell24 – 2 out of 5
Why would I play this over Penrose, Davos, or Alester Florent? Bara has better 4 cost options. Maybe if you have a deck with overlap between winning power challenges and winning dom, he helps guarantee the dom win.
Von Wibble – 2 out of 5
Yawn. Cortnay stands for winning power challenges which seems a far better way to play the game. +4 strength for dom doesn’t really excite me. He’ll fit in a deck nicely with Box Bob but even then I think there are better options.
Hybrid92 – 3 out of 5
He’s fine, not particularly exciting, but a decent body with a good trait that will hopefully do a challenge and then count itself for dominance. If you’re playing new Robert, this guy can stand up to give you another 4-coster to use next round should you decide to keep the 4 cost and lower characters kneeling using Robert’s ability. Long gone are the days of including Stannis’ Cavalry in your deck just for the 4-for-4 body.
Q&T Curmudgeons – 2 out of 5
It’s too expensive just to stand at the point it doesn’t matter anymore. It also puts the onus on you to defend power challenges successfully to get the stand – compare and contrast with Ser Cortnay Penrose.
hagarrr – 3 out of 5
This knight seeks to reward you for not losing power challenges; something most Baratheon players want to achieve. The timing of the stand though isn’t of particular use in challenges, but does have application for decks that care about dominance and decks that run Core Stannis. I’m not sure if either of those decks exist anymore, and I’m even more dubious that this card will be the one to bring them back if they don’t. With that said, box Robert will bring some control decks back into the metagame, and this knight complements him well.
Dale Seaworth (2.2 Average)
scantrell24 – 2 out of 5
Shame he’s loyal and only targets Bara locations. This Dale is a ghost of his 1st edition version.
Von Wibble – 2.5 out of 5
If you run Spears of the Merling King or really fear Greyjoy in the meta, he’s a decent answer. However he isn’t doing much otherwise, unless you really need that Captain trait. He works well with Ser Imry Florent and gets a half point boost for that.
Hybrid92 – 1.5 out of 5
Unlike in 1st Edition, there are no Bara locations worth playing that have to discard for their effect other than Spears of the Merling King. So with this guy you’re just fetching back locations that were blown up or claimed for intrigue, and Bara has a glut of 3-cost characters as it is. Meh. #BringBackSeatOfPower
Q&T Curmudgeons – 3 out of 5
Memories of the ridiculous first edition version remain, but this effect is much, much weaker. Baratheon doesn’t have any obvious locations he synergises with (Spears? King’s Gate?) but it’s not tough to have one of your locations discarded over the course of a game. If he gets you back a Red Keep or Chamber of the Painted Table or whatever else, there’s value there. The issue is it’s conditional card advantage on an otherwise pretty unspectacular body. If you’re on 3x King’s Gate he probably sneaks in 1x, at least, and the value can only really increase as more cards are released.
hagarrr – 2 out of 5
I’m not really sure what the point of Dale Seaworth is. Baratheon don’t really have many locations that sacrifice for their effect, and he’s far too situational to include just in case you run into a pillage deck. The best application I can see is recurring a King’s Gate, but I don’t clearly see why you’d even bother including Dale in your deck in the first place.
Ser Imry Florent (3.2 Average)
scantrell24 – 3 out of 5
I’ve gone back and forth on this guy a few times, and he’s one of the toughest cards in the box to pin down, hence the cop out rating. On turn 4 or 5, I’ll gladly kill Ser Imry and sacrifice some economy if it makes the difference between winning or losing multiple challenges. The problem is that he’s mediocre in the early game, somewhat telegraphed, and easily cancelled. One upside is that your opponent constantly has to respect the threat of activation at literally every action window.
It’s also tough to slot Imry into decks. I don’t run many 3 gold characters in general because I need the most slots for chuds (1 and 2 gold) and beatsticks (4 gold+). So is this guy better or more important than Begging Brothers? Red Priest? Cressen? He’s unique and kills himself so I’m not running more than 1x, but that’s not very reliable, so why even bother? Tough call.
Von Wibble – 3 out of 5
Because your opponent gets to choose which characters to kneel, you are going to need to sacrifice a lot of locations to hurt their bigs – assuming you didn’t use a mass kneel or non-stand effect like 6 cost Selyse or Box Bob. At this point it could be game winning. However, Imry is nothing special before this ability triggers, and you are putting yourself in a tricky position if the ability is cancelled with Vince or Treachery. This is one of those cards where you will remember the game he single-handedly won for you, and forget the 10 others where he didn’t do much and you would have preferred to have drawn any other character. Edit – With Vince now restricted I like him a bit more and have added 1 to the score.
Hybrid92 – 1 out of 5
Convoluted almost beyond comprehension. First of all, he’s got a bad cost-STR ratio. At 3-for-2 I’m really looking for an effect like new Shireen or Asshai Priestess, something that makes him worth playing despite his low strength. This effect isn’t it for two main reasons: 1) He has to kill himself. If it was when he was killed, then maybe we could talk. 2) You’re nuking a bunch of your own locations for a small tempo gain (perhaps a negligible tempo gain if your opponent has too many characters out because your opponent is *choosing* which characters to kneel here). Imry is a mess, and almost totally unplayable except on the turn when you’re about to win the game and your opponent happens to have a small board. Compare Core Arya, Alysane, and Submarine Theon in the same cost slot — it’s like this clown is not even from the same game.
Q&T Curmudgeons – 4 out of 5
A slight division here, as per the below.
JC: Love it. I think people rating him poorly are doing it the wrong way. He’s not a 3-for-2 character with some kneel effect. He’s more like a 3 gold event that you can leave in play until you need him, with the effect of the event being “win the game when you get to 10 power, -1 power for each count of renown on the board you have”. As long as you have at least many locations as the opponent has characters, you’re getting their board flattened and getting 3 unopposed, power claim and dominance. Now imagine this in, say, a Bara Rose deck with Tourney for the King and a couple of Green Apple Knights, with Jousting Pavilions to sacrifice. At first I knew he might be kinda fun, but that I really liked him; the more I ruminate on him the more I think he’s quite possibly the best card in the entire box. Just don’t trigger him if your Stark opponent has an unmilked Robb and you’re set. Even if his effect gets cancelled by Drowned God Fanatic or Treachery, at least you only lose him and not all your locations. Bara players: do not listen to the false prophets. Play this card. Win games. Thank me later.
Ire: Can’t give this 5 as it is only good in one purpose – even when that wins you the game. This does however not help you in anyway to get there.
hagarrr – 5 out of 5
Ser Imry Florent is AMAZING. He might look like a 3 for 2 STR bicon character, but he’s really Baratheon’s version of Doran’s Game. With similar stats to Bastard in Hiding, that 1 extra gold gives you the ability to nuke your entire location base in order to completely kneel out your opponents’ board for the round. With all the unopposed and claim you can achieve, you can potentially win the game from a position of 10 power; potentially even fewer if you have renown characters available to you. This gets even funnier on your Desperate Attack turn if you can kneel out the opponents’ characters so they cannot take advantage of the extra claim you just gave them, before destroying them for 3 claim in every challenge. You can even just play Imry out onto the board in the early game, so he’s safe from intrigue claim, and terrify your opponent round after round with the ever looming spectre of their impending defeat knocking at their door.
Of course, there is the potential for Ser Imry to backfire on you if you foolishly trigger him against a faction like Stark with obvious stand tech on the board, or if you fail to close out the game after sacrificing your entire economy base. Yet with more hand control like Red Priest combined with other cards such as Seen in Flames, you shouldn’t need to be worried about Drowned God Fanatic, Nightmares or Treachery ruining your fun. This little guy is the most Shagga card in this box, and I can’t wait to play him!
Red Priest (4.2 Average)
scantrell24 – 4 out of 5
Very solid character that’s basically a straight-up improvement on Queen’s Men (which is sad because the Queen’s Men artwork is better).
Von Wibble – 4.5 out of 5
Seen in Flames with legs! OK, your opponent gets the card back when Red Priest leaves play, which probably won’t take that long, but the hand knowledge and short term safety from your opponent’s best card are well worth it. In a deck with other hand control effects like Seen in Flames, Queen’s Men, Without His Beard, or His Vipers Eyes, I can see this being particularly good. I think he’s worth including in many matchups even without other R’hllor tech for the hand knowledge alone.
Hybrid92 – 4.5 out of 5
Now this is a chud! Two icons, good trait, and an incredible ability: a pseudo Seen in Flames when it enters play (NB: it’s not only when it’s marshalled, thank R’hllor, so it works with Flea Bottom). Hand knowledge is great, but even better is choosing any card in that hand in removing it from the game. Even if it’s only gone for a short while, this is a powerful effect and it means that this guy will see play in R’hllor and non-R’hllor decks alike.
Q&T Curmudgeons – 4 out of 5
A Magic card reprint, fun times. Immediate knowledge of the opponent’s hand and ability to disrupt a key part of it is great; I’m less thrilled about them getting the card back if/when this very vulnerable character leaves play. We can’t help but envision getting one of these on the table, maybe even two, and locking off our opponent’s best cards; then the opponent flips a reset and gets them back just when we don’t want them to. But similar “what about the later downside?” worries haven’t stopped Umber Loyalist being good, so we imagine this is too, albeit not game-breakingly so.
hagarrr – 4 out of 5
Red Priest is really good hand control. There’s not a lot many opponents’ can do about the trigger, and hand knowledge combined with removal of the most dangerous card is superb. A shame then that this is only temporary, as when there is a reset or the Red Priest taken for claim, the opponent will get the card back. I imagine this will still see a lot of play however, particularly for the ability to screen for cancels, in order to protect those precious triggers for Melisandre, Robert, Selyse, and Imry Florent!
Shyra Errol (2.4 Average)
scantrell24 – 2 out of 5
Meh. A power monocon with a marginal ability is not exciting, and Bara isn’t trying to capitalize on the Lady trait.
Von Wibble – 3 out of 5
This ability is fairly niche, with Baratheon only really having renown on characters that can already be fairly easily saved -why not just run bodyguard and keep the guy on the board? She also doesn’t work if the character was Pinched, Marched, or Dohaeris’ed. However, she is a cheap lady, which plays well for Heir, and she works well in a Knights deck where your chud knight was awarded 3 power from Lady Sansa’s Rose. She also helps with Martell decks running renown characters such as Knights of the Sun and the Bastard of Godsgrace. A niche character but one to consider nonetheless.
Hybrid92 – 2 out of 5
Having access to another 2-cost Lady (other than Core Shireen) is nice, but this ability is pretty niche. If you’re going to use the ability on yourself, then Bara doesn’t have a great deal of renown, so the only time I could see her ability actually used is in a Prince deck with Robert, or in a Knights deck that has a lot of renown running around. Using it against an opponent is possible but the only time you’re probably willing to sacrifice her is in a Valar Morghulis situation when everyone is dying anyway. I was initially very tempted to include her in a more standard deck just for the option to use Heir to the Iron Throne, but I’m not sure Bara has enough different lords and ladies for that plot yet.
Q&T Curmudgeons – 3 out of 5
Slightly better than the first edition version, in that she at least works on a mass reset like Valar Morghulis now. She can even be chosen for claim then sacrifice to save herself if you’ve got power on her, so that’s neat. Overall the utility is quite useful. She’s still kinda awkward card disadvantage to preserve power once you’ve already got it, though.
hagarrr – 2 out of 5
Baratheon have been crying out for some solid 2 cost chuds to solidify the bottom end of their curve, but this isn’t it. Whilst the Lady trait is nice, the effect is pretty niche, given that you’d rather the target character not die in most circumstances. At least she works in a Valar Morghulis so I guess that’s nice.
Acolyte of the Flames (3.8 Average)
scantrell24 – 4 out of 5
Acolyte will be 3x in many Bara decks as literally the only 2 gold, 2 str, Int/Pow Bara character. The R’hllor trait and ability are just icing.
Von Wibble – 3 out of 5
If R’hllor Infiltrator didn’t exist I’d give this a great score just for being a 2 cost R’hllor card for Mel. To be fair, any 2 cost 2 strength bicon with the R’hllor trait is worth a look in a R’hllor deck, but having to kneel for that ability feels a steep cost. At this point if you compare it to the infiltrator you gain better challenge abilities in exchange for direct power gain. I think I prefer the infiltrator, but there are some decks that will happily take the card filter, Mel trigger, and claimsoak, so it’s OK.
Hybrid92 – 4 out of 5
This rating alone is based on the fact that this is probably the best chud Bara have gotten in terms of well-roundedness and playability. Not a flashy effect, but 2-for-2 to help smooth out setups and the cost curve in general (Baratheon generally have a low amount of playable 2-costers), and two solid icons. I actually can’t state this enough: the low end of Bara’s cost curve is either made up of awkward 3 costers or 2 costers with come-into-play effects (Devan, Vanguard Lancer). Having just a simple 2-for-2 chud is honestly a respite for this faction. Additionally, it’s a rare power icon on a R’hllor chud, and a rare intrigue icon in general for Baratheon. The fact that this character has a power icon and 1 extra strength means it’s automatically better than the R’hllor Infiltrator. In fact, it might as well be a blank text box because it will probably never be used for its effect. It will be used for intrigue and power challenges.
Q&T Curmudgeons – 4 out of 5
The effect is…meh. Not bad or detrimental, but pretty ineffectual. However, unlike the R’hllor Infiltrator, we will give this points for its cost slot, as she is the 2-cost chud who was promised. R’hllor benefits a lot from not just a 2g character, but a 2g 2 STR bicon that includes a power icon. That’s a first, and an important one for a deck that is otherwise looking at Fiery Followers, Queen’s Men, Red Priest, R’hllor Infiltrator and Asshai Priestess to fill out its lower curve – all either monocons or lower STR than cost, and none with a power icon between them. Even in other Bara decks, this is the first 2g 2 STR int/pow character, and the first non-unique 2g 2 STR bicon of any combination for them.
hagarrr – 4 out of 5
Cool name, 2 cost, INT/POW bicon, R’hllor trait, and situationally useful ability. The more I think on this card, the more I like it. Great value for R’hllor triggers, and combines nicely with the hand spying theme Baratheon are developing. This will see a lot of play solely for being a rare R’hllor chud with a blue icon too! I’m just getting a little nervous about playing a game when my opponent can know all the cards in my hand at all times…
Bastard of Robert (3.5 Average)
scantrell24 – 3.5 out of 5
A free body that cantrips sounds reasonable. I’m not a huge Eager Deckhand fan, but I know some people are and Bastard of Robert is even better, especially in a Prince Robert deck that also has King Stannis or King Renly.
Von Wibble – 4 out of 5
The Baratheon version of the Eager Deckhand. Often this chud is free to play, and draws a card on top. No complaints there!
Hybrid92 – 4 out of 5
This is a fantastic little chud for one specific deck: a deck that has both King Robert and King Stannis in it. In such a deck you’re more likely to get the cantrip trigger off, and you’re more likely to get this character into play for free. And a free 1-str power icon that replaces itself is pretty damn good.
Q&T Curmudgeons – 4 out of 5
A very respectable chud for Baratheon. Not as good as Greenblood Trader for a direct comparison, but a cheap cantrip is something they’ve been badly missing. We imagine between this box’s one and the core one, every deck runs 3x Robert Baratheon, and if you’re getting him free and digging a card deeper he’s just really good. Now because this is cost 0 when Robert’s out, JC is slightly nervous we’re going to get some combination deck based around this, Robert and Orphan of the Greenblood to draw loads of cards in quick succession, but he had a quick playaround in ThronesDB and couldn’t make anything work, so let’s put this at “fine for now but on a watchlist”. What a lovely little bastard.
hagarrr – 2 out of 5
I’m a fan of the country art style of this, but I’m less enthusiastic about the card itself. It’s great if you have Robert out, being a free body and card draw on top. But guaranteeing Robert is on the board is tougher, unless you’re running him as your Prince that Was Promised. The cantrip is much easier to trigger, with Bobby B, Stan the Man, and the king attachment all giving Baratheon a reasonable chance of having a king on the board. Even so, drawing this in those games without Robert or a king, this is worse than a Storms’ End Maester.
Wily Smuggler (3.1 Average)
scantrell24 – 3 out of 5
A perfectly acceptable chud for Smuggler decks with an ability that’s nifty but not compelling enough to run outside of his home alongside Salla and crew.
Von Wibble – 3 out of 5
The obvious application of his ability is the protection from intrigue claim, but in a Conclave deck he gives you the chance to get rid of dead cards, and he plays well with Tyrell challenge trickerry such as Mullendore and Hightower Spy. He is also a bicon with a good trait. He will see play.
Hybrid92 – 2.5 out of 5
I mean, he’s okay… two icons, a Smuggler trait, and a nifty little ability to protect a key card in your hand from intrigue claim. But looking at Three-Finger Hobb and Scheming Septon with envy, he kinda feels lacking. 1 extra STR and/or a more efficient draw ability would’ve been nice. On the plus side, he’s an easy trigger for Salladhor Saan.
Q&T Curmudgeons – 4 out of 5
We accept we’re overrating this, but we really like the effect. Whether you’re hiding your best card from intrigue claim, setting up a combo with Mark Mullendore, drawing an extra card for Siege Preparations, using the trait or just enjoying the name, what’s not to love. The sort of card we’d like to see more of in the game.
hagarrr – 3 out of 5
A Smuggler chud is just what Salladhor needed! This card gives a little more reliability to the Smuggler deck, if that ever becomes a thing, and the Lyseni Galley gives this little fellow some teeth. I don’t expect the ability to be used for anything more than protect from intrigue claim, so whatever.
The Stormlands (3.8 Average)
scantrell24 – 4 out of 5
Both of these abilities are touch on the “win more” side, but if any faction can capitalize on them it’s Baratheon.
Von Wibble – 4 out of 5
Baratheon win power challenges and have kings and queens that tend to be involved in winning those challenges, so both parts of the textbox are good in pretty much any Baratheon deck (maybe not Smugglers). An all out rush deck doesn’t want the tempo hit, but otherwise this is an easy include.
Hybrid92 – 3 out of 5
I’m feeling hesitant about this one. The Stormlands is unlike the other big 4-cost locations which help you from the get go (Winterfell and The Wall give blanket strength boost, Dorne can start drawing you cards almost straight away, and Lanni Harrenhal and Silence can bring a character and warship, respectively, into play almost immediately). In contrast, The Stormlands requires you to be already set up: you need to have a king and you need to have enough characters out to do 2 power challenges. It’s a powerful effect, for sure, but too expensive in the early game where you really need to spend the money to help get yourself set up with other more important cards. It’s also more effective in mid to late game anyway. For this reason it might only be a 1x in decks where the Red Keep, for example, would be a 3x.
Q&T Curmudgeons – 4 out of 5
Expensive for either effect. Casterly Rock gets you an extra challenge for half the price, and while we don’t have a perfect stand analogy, the likes of Castle Black, Northern Armory, Plaza of Pride and Maiden’s Bane suggest it’s overpriced there too. However, the two effects synergise nicely, especially with Core Bob. It’s funny, the first card in the box is a new Bob, yet most of the cards in it seem to synergise more with the old one… Ultimately we’re torn between 3 and 4, erring higher because extra power challenges feel like Baratheon’s bread and butter.
hagarrr – 4 out of 5
Quite obviously, being able to do an extra power challenge is excellent, especially in a faction in which power challenges are the one thing they’re supposed to be good at. Khal Drogo shows the power of extra challenges, albeit in a far more devastating fashion, and Lord of the Crossing decks love that flexibility. The reaction feels a little bit too regulated, pigeonholing this card into decks that must run a King, and having this without one feels like you’re losing out a little bit; similar to having the Silence and no Euron Crow’s Eye. However don’t underestimate the indirect benefit of doing two power challenges; if your opponent is blocking two (or more!) of yours, they’re less likely to be initiating one against you!
Cape Wrath (2.8 Average)
scantrell24 – 3.5 out of 5
As long as you win more power challenges than your opponent (something Bara can do more often than not), Cape Wrath is a solid investment. I wouldn’t run it without box Stannis though.
Von Wibble – 3.5 out of 5
On its own it appears a weaker card, given that the effect is double sided. However, in Baratheon it’s strong, because they are good at winning power challenges, and because when you combine this with the Stormlands you are gaining a lot more from the effect than your opponent. Not a great card in turn 1, but it looks like a nice play turn 3 to close out the game.
Hybrid92 – 3 out of 5
The double-sided nature of this card I think is OK because it allows power to flow in the game and to build up quicker. Nothing worse than winning big power challenges with Bara to make your 3000 triggers but the opponent has no power on faction card to steal. There’s obvious synergy with the new Stannis here, but if you’re up against Stark/Greyjoy where pow challenge is probably guaranteed to be lost, then you were probably going to lose anyway whether you had this card or not. Against other factions it’s definitely worth it. I’d love to guarantee 2-claim power challenges against Targ, Martell, Lanni and NW, for example, where it might be harder for them to win those same 2-claim power challenges against me.
Q&T Curmudgeons – 2 out of 5
We think there’s serious potential for this in a rush deck, but it sure isn’t for every deck what with being cost 2 and dual-sided. The synergy with Stannis is nice, at least. We can’t imagine anyone being happy to topdeck this though, and we don’t know if it adds enough to justify a slot, even if it does have an upside.
hagarrr – 2 out of 5
Cape Wrath is a card we spoiled on the White Walkers YouTube channel, and it’s fair to say it didn’t work out well for me. It’s a good card when you’re winning, helping to speed up the game, but terrible when you’re behind. It synergises well with the new King Stannis, but the dual nature of this means you really must be comfortable with the risk/reward aspect; and as a risk averse player myself, I am not a fan. Still, this sounds comical in my freshly theorised Imry/Desperate Attack/Stormlands deck!
Lyseni Galley (2.7 Average)
scantrell24 – 3 out of 5
Strength boosts that last the entire phase are always welcome against Targ burn, and I tend to rate most cards with at least one eye towards that matchup (my Achilles’ heel). Stealth is useful enough to warrant a couple copies in decks heavy on the right traits, but Lyseni Galley alone isn’t going to make or break Smuggler or Captain decks.
Von Wibble – 2 out of 5
You are only playing this in decks with enough Captains or Smugglers to make the stealth count – and many such cards already have this stealth to compound that problem. Strength pumps are nice to win challenges, but if you use the threat of activation to make your opponent overcommit you lose the stealth anyway. It seems a natural fit in a smuggler heavy deck or a warship based deck, but even there I think its a solid choice rather than necessarily being the best one, so the rating of 3 for being good in 1 deck type doesn’t apply here.
Hybrid92 – 1.5 out of 5
Stealth is nice but required for a particular deck type which may or may not be competitive — we simply don’t know yet. On its own in a standard deck it is too weak. +1 STR is really subpar. I can’t help but feel this, like Ser Imry Florent, is a wasted card slot in this box which could have been used to create something better or more compelling.
Q&T Curmudgeons – 4 out of 5
A high rating because we think Greyjoy Stag will be a very strong deck after the box and this is very efficient for a deck running Captains and Smugglers. It’s like Pyke, except non-unique, a better trait, half the cost and with a STR pump on top. In mono-Bara, we doubt Smugglers are ‘a thing’ still, so this will struggle more there, but we’re ranking it on the good deck we think it sees play in. Plus it’s a ship, and that’s always nice.
hagarrr – 3 out of 5
This little boat seems alright. The STR pump I expect will be largely irrelevant, but giving a River Runner or Willy Smuggler stealth to push through larger boards will be invaluable. The fact this is non-unique means that extra copies can become useful for multiple stealth, or for Khorane fuel to further control the opponent. The ideal home for this though is in Greyjoy banner of the Stag, with the multiple Captain traited characters available. One small downside of the Greyjoy Warships deck is the lack of stealth on Euron and Victarion. Lyseni Galley shores this weakness up nicely and makes them a force to be reckoned with.
Azor Ahai Reborn (3.8 Average)
scantrell24 – 5 out of 5
This rating may be inflated by how good I want Azor Ahai to be rather than how good it actually is. As a jank and voltron enthusiast, Azor Ahai hits the spot. It doesn’t matter if attached character is knelt or Craven’d, he or she is still coming as long as you have enough R’hllor characters. Much like Core Jon Snow, the ability is not optional, so you have to be careful in some instances lest you walk into a Dracarys!.
Von Wibble – 5 out of 5
I think they missed the bit where the attached character had to be Baratheon! Core Bob is a great choice for this, but Chintarion, Fast Eddie, and Gregor Clegane are also very good. Voltron Jon decks based around Core Jon Snow have existed and done OK in the past. This attachment allows you to voltron up anyone, and the fact it can go on higher strength characters means the typical weakness for Core Jon, namely burn, is not so bad. The fact this only works on attack and requires you to have 2-3 R’hllor characters that you can attack with makes it a little weaker than Queensguard, but I’d say the fact you don’t need to discard cards, and that the character in question doesn’t even need to be standing makes up for that.
Hybrid92 – 2 out of 5
Eh… you need a big target for it, you need a bunch of R’hllor out on board, and you probably need new Selyse too because 3 gold is insanely expensive for a positive attachment with TERMINAL. Not really impressed.
Q&T Curmudgeons – 3 out of 5
Well this one’s exciting. A pay-off to running R’hllor characters other than one kneel a round and Seen In Flames, nice! Getting this on someone like Core Bob is even better than getting Seal of the Hand on him, and it goes greatly with Davos from earlier in this box too (how unthematic). Couple it with the box’s agenda, and voltron gets a big boost here. Art’s lovely too. 3 gold and terminal holds it back from true greatness for us, hence the middling rating. And surely this shouldn’t be terminal, it feels like potential Azor Ahai candidates change like whack-a-moles.
hagarrr – 4 out of 5
This card will straight up win you games on its own if left unchecked. Having a Robert participating in all your challenges with renown is lovely, but there’s no need to limit your targets to Baratheon only. Any unique can be Azor Ahai Reborn, but Core Robert seems to be one of the best with his intimidate and renown, although having Shireen (MoD) as Azor Ahai Reborn seems hilarious. This seems to be costed appropriately and is going to be great fun in plenty of decks!
Hunting Accident (4.7 Average)
scantrell24 – 4 out of 5
Oppressive in Blackwater Bay decks. Might singehanedly force Confiscation, Weapons at the Door, or Nothing Burns back into plot decks.
Von Wibble – 5 out of 5
With so many decks running stand effects such as Queensguard, Plaza of Pride, Wyman Manderley, this acts as a strong counter to such plays. The ambush effect is very potent too, acting as a “gotcha” play for anyone who uses their 7 cost Cersei in a power challenge as well as intrigue. Banner of the Stag is going to be a lot more popular now, both for this, and for Cressen as a counter to this.
Hybrid92 – 4.5 out of 5
Incredibly powerful attachment. It’s probably too late to save the kneel archetype which has been completely eviscerated in this game, but this is a good enough card that ‘goodstuff’ decks and decks not centred around kneel will want to run it. The ambush is just gravy.
Q&T Curmudgeons – 5 out of 5
The attachment card kneel so badly needed (and good in non-kneel too, honestly). The Ambush so you can make it a ‘gotcha’ is legitimately useful here rather than just being a cute gimmick, as one of the best attachment control cards in the game (Skagos) requires the character be standing to clear the attachment. With the meta mostly being dominated by big guys standing (Euron/Victarion in Greyjoy, Queensguard stuff, anyone in Stark, etc.), this is as strong as it is necessary. The theme is strong too – the character you put it on just needs you to give them something for the pain and let them die.
hagarrr – 5 out of 5
You’re going to get plenty of ironthrone.net rage quits when you play out this, guaranteed. A lovely card that will catch people unawares with the ambush, leaving that character completely useless in future challenges. This significantly raises the potency of Baratheon decks in the metagame, and raises the value of repeatable attachment control too. I expect Bara Qohor control decks to be a real force with Isle of Ravens to repeatedly enforce Hunting Accidents, and there’s a likelihood that Night’s Watch (no attachments) and Targaryen (lots of attachment control) will get an indirect boost to this existing too.
Warhammer (3.9 Average)
scantrell24 – 3.5 out of 5
Warhammer would see a lot of play in Bara Prince decks, except Robert has Intimidate already. Intimidate is great on non-kneelers, so maybe in an aggressive deck with Cersei and Jaime, or Queensguard, or Victarion and Euron.
Von Wibble – 4 out of 5
Another strong positive attachment! The +2 strength isn’t that exciting, we already know from the likes of Widow’s Wail that this part is on the weak side. An easy strength pump for Renly is nice I suppose. However, intimidate for 1 cost is another matter entirely, particularly if you can get this onto a character who can attack in multiple challenges.
Hybrid92 – 4 out of 5
One of the few positive attachments I’ve ever been excited for. Non-unique, non-terminal, strength boost for weaker characters, intimidate for stronger characters. It’s super versatile. Can’t wait to slap intimidate on new Mel.
Q&T Curmudgeons – 4 out of 5
A well-costed positive attachment? This box truly is special! We’re always hesitant to rate positive attachments too high because the game is littered with cards that appear good but aren’t played (see: Harlaw, Support of). That said, 1g for Intimidate is strong, and while it only works on bigs, the +2 STR is a solid consolation for cheaper characters too (and is actively good on Renly from earlier in this box). JC is also probably biased in its favour from it being his first ever assigned spoiler, so there’s that – if you want more in-depth thoughts, go look at the Listener Questions episode that spoiled it!
hagarrr – 4 out of 5
This is so superior to most other Bara attachments that it almost feels overpowered! Paying only 1 gold for intimidate is very cheap, and these are non-unique and non-loyal too. The fact this is useful on lower STR characters makes it useful in any stage of the game, and Qohor decks will love it too, being able to attach these post-claim to intimidate a character of their choosing.
“A Cask of Ale” (2.1 Average)
scantrell24 – 2 out of 5
Hardly worth an event slot. Even if it isn’t immediately errata’d to prevent power moving to plot cards, I’m not interested. I want my opponent to have power on his faction card so I can steal it!
Von Wibble – 2 out of 5
It has some uses – Stark banner of the Stag can get power onto the Blackfish more quickly, you can set up kills for shadows Varys or Shotgun Mel, you can move power to a faction card to steal it. Winning a power challenge is an easy enough trigger. The song trait has some applications too. But is this really a big enough effect? I can’t see myself having room for this except in a stall deck.
Hybrid92 – 1.5 out of 5
This card has two reviews – one for if/when it will be errata’d into its intended version, and one for its current version.
In terms of what this card is probably supposed to be:
I have to include this card in my deck, draw into this card, win a power challenge, and then hope this card isn’t cancelled to do what? Move some power around? I don’t even gain any power, it’s just power manipulation. Yeah sure, there are some cute applications like moving your own power onto locations so it can’t be stolen, or moving power from faction onto characters for new Mel to kill them, or moving opponent’s power onto faction card to steal it — and that’s all well and good. But they require other pieces to take advantage of. On its own, this card does almost nothing. I don’t think decks will find the space for it. 1.5 out of 5.
In terms of what this card currently is:
This event can move power onto revealed plots, causing the power to fall off after it enters the used pile, which is dumb and hilarious. It’s not as good as stealing the power, but guaranteeing your opponent is down 2 extra power after you win a power challenge (on top of claim, etc.) is pretty damn good. 4 out of 5.
Q&T Curmudgeons – 3 out of 5
Another “dividing the Curmudgeons” one, with JC on 4 and Ire on 2. The interactions with the revealed plot card (moving opponent’s power from faction card to revealed plot card, so that the power falls off when the plot enters the used pile) and in Melee with a title card (which leaves play in the taxation phase, again causing the power to fall off) is the main sticking point for us – JC is rating with it in mind, while Ire assumes they’ll probably be ‘fixed’ or errated out.
hagarrr – 2 out of 5
Incredible art, somebody make a playmat please! This seems to exist solely for ensuring the opponent has power on the faction card to steal for claim or Painted Table, or to move power to a specific character to kill with military claim or Melisandre. You can also make niche plays such as move the power to the Fickle Bannerman your opponent stole, so you can nab that power back with Stormlands Fiefdoms. Ultimately though, this card will see minimal play if (when?) errata’d to its intended purposes.
Nightfire Visions (1.1 Average)
scantrell24 – 1 out of 5
Not even almost.
Von Wibble – 1.5 out of 5
Draw equals win, right? Well, the problem with this draw is that your opponent might be able to have a say as to whether you get it or not. Naming Omen when you expect a reset is decent enough, and if you are facing a summer, winter, or city plot deck then all the better. For bonus jank points, run Old Nan to guarantee the trigger! I’m just not convinced that it is really needed given Baratheon have Red Stannis, Red Keep, and Blackwater Bay as easy draw options.
Hybrid92 – 1 out of 5
This might have been remotely playable if it was an interrupt that takes place after an opponent choose a plot but before that opponent reveals that plot, so that way your opponent is stuck with his decision and you can capitalise accordingly. Here, you have to have a R’hllor character out, you have to play it a phase early and you’re not only taking a guess at what’s in your opponent’s plot deck, you’re also hoping that your opponent doesn’t simply just play a different plot. I’m not about to waste a card slot in my deck for this kind of low reward gamble. It’s honestly trash and will not see play.
Q&T Curmudgeons – 1 out of 5
Now, we get the idea of this. We even like the idea of this. Getting to say to the opponent “change what plot you’re playing or I draw 3 cards” is really interesting. But any trigger from hand after the challenges phase is always worse than it looks. Mutiny at Craster’s Keep was meant to be the best card in the game according to some people upon release, yet it being a dominance action stops it from being close to that. Now this one, you have to draw it; have the tempo loss of it being worthless for 5 phases, one of which it can potentially be discarded in; and then choose to keep it for reserve, potentially chucking something else instead; all to maybe draw 3 cards later and maybe spend a card for no benefit. The reward isn’t worth the tempo hit, and that’s when it even has a reward. If it got you 3 power or something, it could at least be an engine for a clock deck. But no. Just, no.
hagarrr – 1 out of 5
Garbage. Baratheon have so many better ways of drawing cards that they don’t need to waste a slot or two in their draw deck for this rubbish. It would be so much better if this interrupted post-plot selection, but alas, the opponent is free to change their mind after you play this card. The fact it also has the R’hllor limitation too hinders it further, but I guess you could argue that if naming “Omen” deters the opponent from playing that damaging reset, it’s worth it? Not for me.
Botley Crew (2.3 Average)
scantrell24 – 2 out of 5
Obnoxious, but choke isn’t really there yet as an archetype thankfully.
Von Wibble – 2 out of 5
It’s a choke card, so I really hope it turns out to be bad, as this is the worst of NPE for me. Facing 3 of these together with Meagre Contribution and White Tree is not a pleasant thing. Thankfully there is enough economy in the game, especially with Gates in the meta, to ensure that not too many players go for this card, and as a monocon Greyjoy probably have better options for the most part.
Hybrid92 – 1.5 out of 5
Military monocon at 3 cost is pretty bad, but the effect can be pretty annoying, especially if you have two or three of them out. Alas, Greyjoy isn’t really the choke faction of 2nd Edition it once was in 1st Edition, so I only really ever see these guys getting out of the binder for NW Kraken choke.
Q&T Curmudgeons – 3 out of 5
A choke card? Lovely, it’s been far too long. We welcome our new Botley overlords. Now, it’s non-unique, and the potential for stacking can get nasty, but 3 gold is a little too much for my tastes. With people routinely counting 7 or more gold a round, taking back 1 isn’t huge. But it’s a start of something.
hagarrr – 3 out of 5
I’m not especially impressed with the price point or monocon status, but I am a fan of the potential for some choke effects to return to the game. I still ‘member the dark days of double Trade Routes and Trading with those Pentoshi heathens, and I yearn for some games where the careful management of expenditure actually matters. With the recent addition of Nightflyer to the cardpool too, I think there’s an interesting, if not competitive, deck to be built around these.
Every Captain Is A King (2.6 Average)
scantrell24 – 3 out of 5
I have a Bara Kraken deck built with Stormlands, March on Winterfell and Sailing the Summer Sea for extra power challenges, and Fleet Captain with Every Captain Is A King for non-kneeling attackers. The deck probably isn’t even close to consistent, but that won’t stop me from taking this event as far as it can go.
Von Wibble – 2.5 out of 5
Whilst there aren’t that many targets for this (without using the Fleet Captain attachment), those that do exist are all great options, particularly Chintarion and radish loving Asha. Dale Seaworth and Salladhor Saan aren’t quite as exciting but could also help if needed. 2 gold feels steep though, given you probably will only affect 1 character most of the time. I’d consider it for most decks, but I have a feeling I’d end up cutting it more often than not.
Hybrid92 – 2.5 out of 5
I like the effect, it’s fun and could actually be quite strong. However, there are very few good targets for it. For that reason, its cost means it’s actually too expensive to play considering how few targets there are. Greyjoy probably can’t afford the event slots anyway.
Q&T Curmudgeons – 2 out of 5
Cute, with an amusingly literal take on the name, but captains aren’t reliable enough. The king thing is neat flavour but in practical terms adds little, and while the non-kneeling is definitely good, a 2 gold event is a tough sell for rush when you might only have a single captain out at a time. The potential of mass non-kneel still needs respecting though.
hagarrr – 3 out of 5
This card is hilarious in theme, and actually very strong if you have more than one renowned Captain on the board. Getting ECiaK with a Fleet Captain attachment on Core Balon will rush you quickly, but often then it would just be better to run Maiden’s Bane. I’m unsure what exactly Greyjoy decks would cut from the deck to fit this in; certainly not Risen from the Sea given the latest FAQ update. Despite that, if you’ve let Greyjoy play out multiple Captains like Victarion, Asha, Euron, and Dagmer (!) and they play this, you probably deserve to lose anyway.
Ser Gregor Clegane (1.4 Average)
scantrell24 – 1 out of 5
If we get more “steal your dudes” effects like Recruiter for the Watch, then I might be interested. Gregor also might have been worth a look if he had renown as well to really make it tempting to keep him around.
Von Wibble – 2 out of 5
There are some times where Gregor’s forced kill reaction doesn’t hurt as much, for example killing a character you bought in with Harrenhal who is dying anyway, or using him in a banner deck to kill your Viper when you have 3 Bastard Daughters in play, making your opponent discard 3 cards, or killing Benjen Stark. He’s also good in Drowned God, if they want a non-Sun banner at any point. But there are enough good Lannister options to negate the downside for Harrenhal, and the Hound provides enough challenge efficiency without such a big downside.
Hybrid92 – 2 out of 5
In the Lanni jumper decks that have characters that will be killed or discard because of other effects, this guy is really good. Outside of that, he’s probably too risky to play. You never want to draw into him when you have a small board or are behind. Amusing side note: if he kills himself, he won’t be around to apply his intimidate.
Q&T Curmudgeons – 1 out of 5
There’s potential with temporary steal and whatnot – he can be friends with Pillage Balon, Recruiter from the Wall et. al. – but it’s not enough to get him above a 1, he just doesn’t do enough for the downside not to overpower him. The theory of soaking the self-claim with the jumpers…exists, but we don’t think you give up cycle Gregor for this.
hagarrr – 1 out of 5
Ser Gregor Clegane is terrible. Sure, his STR is higher than his cost similar to The Hound, but the downside is pitifully bad. With the Hound, returning him to hand affects himself only, and doesn’t decimate your board, whereas with Gregor the downside is very real. It’s likely that a good opponent will use your own Gregor more effectively against you, causing you more headaches that it’s worth. There are decks in which you might want to kill your own characters like Bastard Daughters and Desert Raiders etc., but you’re probably best just to leave him in the binder.
Lionstar (4.7 Average)
scantrell24 – 5 out of 5
Now Lannister just needs good characters worth jumping into play and they could become relevant again. I guess the design idea with Gregor was that you don’t have to worry about discarding him if he’s already dead?
Von Wibble – 5 out of 5
There are plenty of good characters you can put into play with this effect, with Painted Dogs being a particular favourite. The downside is less steep than that of Harrenhal, and just as easy to negate, plus the tempo hit of getting it into play isn’t so bad. Clansmen have plenty of options, and Regents Guards also work very well with this. There is always the option of just using it to get some claim soak into play as well. It’s a great card, one I’m looking forward to playing.
Hybrid92 – 4.5 out of 5
A great card for Lanni decks, and stellar in particular for Lanni jumpers. Will we see a return of Clansmen or Crossing rush? The only thing stopping this card from getting a 5 out of 5 is the restriction on it being 4 cost or lower only. Otherwise a great card for Lannister.
Q&T Curmudgeons – 4 out of 5
Mini-Harrenhal. Another headache card for your opponent, and probably what Lannister needs to help re-establish their identity. Not much more to say really!
hagarrr – 5 out of 5
Superb card. Jumping Lions are definitely back, and this is a shot in the arm for Clansmen, and also good stuff Lannister now that Hear Me Roar has been removed from the Restricted List. The Clansmen deck will love using the Painted Dogs every turn with this, fuelling Tyrion triggers and gaining action advantage, and The Hound will be as prevalent as ever. The downside is easily nullified, and can even be an advantage with Flea Bottom. Lannister are surely on the up again!
Prince’s Attendant (2.1 Average)
scantrell24 – 2 out of 5
A couple years ago he might have seen play, but the economy in our game has reached a point where Prince’s Attendant isn’t necessary.
Von Wibble – 2 out of 5
He’s OK for being able to afford Doran or Arianne and still run low gold high effect plots, but Martell have so many good 2 cost characters that I’d rather include over this. If a core Doran lord and lady deck becomes a thing then he will be part of it – that’s about the only reason I’m rating it as high as I am.
Hybrid92 – 1.5 out of 5
Cute enough to help you afford 7-cost Arianne every round but I’m not sure why Martell needs this card. Just the one icon (which Martell has in abundance) and not a good trait.
Q&T Curmudgeons – 3 out of 5
Great card for 7g Arianne decks and does basically nothing else, next.
hagarrr – 2 out of 5
Martell players are going to be so sad to open this box and see…. a reducer chud. It’s not bad economy but it’s not really what Martell need.
Kingsgrave (2.7 Average)
scantrell24 – 2.5 out of 5
Kingsgrave is a good Rookery card (if that counts for anything). It’s a reaction to losing so it happens before keywords, which could be useful to prevent Renown or Intimidate in a pinch.
Von Wibble – 2.5 out of 5
1 cost Ghaston Gray seems good to me, and there are plenty of kings in the game on strength 5 or more, so the lose by 5 condition isn’t as difficult as it may first appear. Losing on attack with cards like Reckless, Fowler Twins, and Ellaria could also be an option for point and click removal of a King (especially if done on a Bloody Flux turn). However, I think Ghaston Gray more than justifies the extra 1 cost by allowing no saves at any time and by working on any challenge. I can see this going into a Martell Hollow Hill character light deck, but that deck isn’t quite there yet. Overall I’m not that impressed.
Hybrid92 – 2.5 out of 5
If you squint, it’s kinda like Ghaston Grey except it only works for power challenges, it’s only when you lose by 5, and the character can be saved from the effect. So a bad Ghaston Grey then. On the plus side, you can trigger it when you lose a power challenge in attack, and the King kill effect is super nedly.
Q&T Curmudgeons – 3 out of 5
Unless Baratheon becomes the meta, the kill part is pretty meaningless (and can still be saved from). This is 1g and non-loyal and works on attack or defence, but the comparison with Ghaston Grey still feels unfavourable – any challenge rather than power by 5 is a huge difference. That said, with the Fowler Twins, there’s a lovely potential to force the issue. We’re not sure it beats out Ghaston Grey or maybe even The Prince’s Pass, and there’s only so many of these types of cards Martell need, but there is at least extra utility – you can bounce your own character to hand to prep for a reset, for instance.
hagarrr – 3 out of 5
Kingsgrave looks menacing and foreboding, and is yet another Martell effect that terrifies Lord of the Crossing players. Similar to Ghaston Grey and The Princes Pass, except Martell have since gained more control effects like Ellaria Sand and the Fowler Twins to really put you in a bad spot. This will most likely temper your opponents challenge STR in the power challenge, allowing you to use a trick like Arianne/Obara to surprise and win, but Ghaston is a better deterrent.
Protectors of the Realm (2.1 Average)
scantrell24 – 2 out of 5
You could run reserve boosters and high reserve plots to have a 5 gold 10 strength bicon, but why? What’s the endgame? To push through one challenge per round? The Army trait isn’t relevant (sadly). Core Wall decks care more about opposing challenges than actually winning them. Stealth or a marginal ability would have made them interesting, but I’m not keen on paying an extra gold for what’s essentially a beefier Ranging Party.
Von Wibble – 2 out of 5
One of many cards that will earn the tag of boring but efficient. Night’s Watch Kings of Summer or Hollow Hill will provide a reserve buff already, and you have other playable cards for further boosts – its not too much of a stretch to see this as 8 strength on most turns. Some decks like having beatsticks at times, I could see Martell Watch using this with Arianne to cheat it in and Dorne with Summer Sea Ports for a boost. For most decks there is probably a better option though.
Hybrid92 – 1.5 out of 5
Pretty vanilla and uninspiring. Your reserve has to be 8 or over consistently for this guy to even be under consideration for inclusion. Otherwise you’re paying 5 gold for effectively a blank 5 or 6 STR beatstick which NW doesn’t really need right now. It doesn’t even have a relevant trait (eg Ranger or something).
Q&T Curmudgeons – 3 out of 5
Fun gimmick. NW are one of the factions that run reserve boosting tech, so let’s err on the side of them being STR 7 on average (though obviously you can build to them being much more with a plot deck of Coppers, Exchange and whatnot). 5g is really expensive though, and Meera makes them super-sad. It’s super-beefy most of the time, but might be in the wrong faction to stand out, given Ranging Party.
hagarrr – 2 out of 5
Boring, vanilla, efficient. Nightmares and Meera Reed make them sad.
The Horn That Wakes the Sleepers (1.4 Average)
scantrell24 – 1 out of 5
FFG really missed an opportunity to mirror I Shall Win No Glory. We could have had one event to kneel your characters and one event to stand them.
Von Wibble – 2 out of 5
1 cost for 3 stands is undoubtedly efficient, but building a deck with the right proportion of traits, then managing to have one or more of each out, and having all of them knelt, and then benefitting for a stand of more than one at a time? It’s a lot of hoops to jump through when cards like Castle Black or (depending on deck) Satin exist. Too fiddly for me, but I’m not giving it a 1 because I have a feeling a strong deck builder could be able to do something with this long term.
Hybrid92 – 1 out of 5
NW decks rarely have characters with all three traits out simultaneously as they usually focus on one of the three traits. Not really a fan of this card. It’s far too niche.
Q&T Curmudgeons – 1 out of 5
To confirm, you do need all three traits knelt to be able to trigger this, making its application depressingly narrow. It’s not completely worthless, especially with Sworn to the Watch to help hand out traits and especially especially in Melee, but we don’t think it’s good enough to justify it in a regular ol’ Night’s Watch deck, and while the payoff is nice we don’t think it’s good enough to justify distorting your build to include it. If only the effect was on a character, or location, or even an attachment.
hagarrr – 2 out of 5
Whilst the effect is solid, the application is too narrow, and requires a lot of setup to achieve. It’s not even a simple action, which makes it harder to play, although much more Nedly. The best NW defence deck is currently Builders, in which this definitely does not fit.
She-Bear (2.6 Average)
scantrell24 – 2 out of 5
I’d rather just play good characters than a bad character than lets me play a good character.
Von Wibble – 3 out of 5
If you squint this is cost 0 for 3 strength as long as it isn’t used on setup. I can see this being very effective in an aggro Winter deck. In a more balanced good stuff deck I don’t think there is room – Stark have so much competition in the 3 cost slot as it is.
Hybrid92 – 3 out of 5
The sole icon and the awkward cost slot are two points against this card, but on the flipside, it has an excellent ability (reminscent of Salladhor’s Crew from 1st Edition) and an increasingly relevant trait.
Q&T Curmudgeons – 3 out of 5
She’s good in swarm decks, where a 0-1g 3 STR mil monocon will help add to the general approach (not always 0g because you won’t always have another 3-cost character in hand). Stark is at a point though where, good though she is, she doesn’t make the cut in the GoodStuff list. Who’s she beating out? Arya? Alysane? Sansa? Meera?
hagarrr – 2 out of 5
That’s a nice doggo you got there She-Bear. What a good boy. I think this is my favourite thing about the card though sadly. She-Bear brings economic advantage and tempo, neither of which Stark really need at the moment. What deck does she go in? You can flood the board quickly with Mormonts, but will it win you the game? Maybe. Is it interesting? No.
Bearskin Cloak (1.3 Average)
scantrell24 – 1 out of 5
This looks like a common card in draft that gets passed around and around until its the only card left and some poor soul ends up with five of them.
Von Wibble – 1.5 out of 5
In a Qohor deck a surprise stealth for a future challenge could make a big difference. Dacey and Maege are both decent targets, but even on a chud the stealth can be the difference between winning and losing a challenge, or opening up a board by forcing defence from a bigger character. In that deck alone this sees play as a 1 of I think. Elsewhere there are too few targets for this to really see play.
Hybrid92 – 1 out of 5
Alysane already has stealth. So the only other option is… Dacey? The other House Mormont characters are either too weak or unplayed. Hard pass.
Q&T Curmudgeons – 1 out of 5
House Mormont has actually become a thing now, with the Scouts, the Bears, Alysane, Dacey and Maege. All of them are reasonable enough targets for the Cloak, too, as Stealth is one of those keywords that’s good on anyone. The thing is, even in a deck with all those cards, the Cloak is still going to be a fringe inclusion because it’s not doing anything the deck cares about actually doing, it’s just a “nice to have”.
hagarrr – 2 out of 5
Crap without House Mormont characters, but passable on the Scouts, Loyalists, Dacey, and Maege. Paying 1 gold for a non-terminal stealth attachment isn’t bad, as stealth can win you important challenges, and the STR pump can be important, especially in the Targaryen match up. But wouldn’t you rather just play a stealth character like Meera/Alysane/Arya?
Haggo (2.9 Average)
scantrell24 – 3 out of 5
An average character that will see play occasionally and be okay in that deck.
Von Wibble – 3.5 out of 5
A Bloodrider with decent enough stats is fine, even with a blank text box he switches on a lot of other Bloodriders. The text box is generally going to do little, but getting dupes back for key characters could be clutch. He also allows you to effectively trade a non-Targ card for a Targ card in hand, which makes it easier to use Qohor or Consuming Flames even with fewer cards in hand. All the usual discard tricks such as Missandei or Flea Bottom apply here too.
Hybrid92 – 2 out of 5
Seems fine. 4-for-4 with two icons and two great traits. His ability doesn’t strike me as particularly powerful or interesting. Obviously you can do your usual Missandei or Second Sons + Flea Bottom shenanigans here but… why? What Dothraki card are you getting from your discard pile? Apart from cards claimed for intrigue, I can only think of Dothraki Sea and nobody is playing that, are they?
Q&T Curmudgeons – 3 out of 5
Solid for Dothraki decks obviously. Getting to trade Missandei/Freedmen level cards for the likes of Khal Drogo seems effective in a pretty straightforward way, and that’s the sort of deck that will probably suffer intrigue claim over the course of the game and therefore have Dothraki to be getting back. We wish it had slightly better stats.
hagarrr – 3 out of 5
Another of Drogo’s Bloodriders, with fair stats and a niche ability. Sure, you can do a few tricks with Freedmen and Missandei to recur your discarded Dothraki cards, but the one I’d most like to recur is a sacrificed Dothraki Sea, which isn’t even Dothraki-traited. The only thing saving this guy from a 2 rating is the Bloodrider trait, which has great value with Raiding Khalasar, Jhogo, and even Rakharo.
Dothraki Steed (1.3 Average)
scantrell24 – 1 out of 5
If you want to demonstrate to a new player why most positive attachments are so bad, then play this card. Otherwise, don’t.
Von Wibble – 1.5 out of 5
Solid enough if you have the Dothraki to ride this, but Dothraki don’t lack good attachments to run instead of this with Drogo’s Arakh, Warrior’s Bread, Queensguard, and Bloody Arakh to name just 4. Maybe this sees play in Sea of Blood to help with the win by 5. Another card that doesn’t get a 1 simply because it has a possible deck, but it’s close!
Hybrid92 – 1 out of 5
It’ll see play probably as a 1x in Dothraki decks because +3 STR is pretty good, but that’s about where it starts and ends for this card.
Q&T Curmudgeons – 1 out of 5
The Widow’s Wail comparison isn’t kind, to say the least. +1 STR (if on the right target, -1 STR if not), and non-unique, but loses Ambush, only grants the STR when attacking (not even “when participating”), has a worse trait, only goes in a trait subtheme deck and even the non-unique bit is counterbalanced somewhat by limit 1/character. Or we could maybe go with the more similar Fleet Captain – a different condition for the +3, easier and harder at the same time, but doesn’t grant a trait, can still only go in a much more narrow deck selection, and still has the pesky limit 1/character. And Fleet Captain barely even sees play! Trash. Why would anyone play this?
hagarrr – 2 out of 5
Another below average card; the non-Baratheon cards aren’t faring too well here. The gold standard of STR-buffing attachments is probably Widow’s Wail, but the Dothraki Steed isn’t as good as that. It is limited by the tribal restriction, attacking restriction, and doesn’t really have anything else going for it. At least +3 STR on attack is okay if you really need that win by 5…
Hightower Knight (3.0 Average)
scantrell24 – 2.5 out of 5
Does his shield look off-center to anyone else? It’s late and I’m struggling to finish these reviews so any further boring cards will be judged solely by the quality of their artwork.
Von Wibble – 3 out of 5
Efficient if boring, clearly a good option in a banner deck featuring knights, clearly not a good option otherwise.
Hybrid92 – 3.5 out of 5
As mentioned, this card is efficient but boring. Looking forward to kneeling a Vanguard Lancer to bring this guy in though.
Q&T Curmudgeons – 4 out of 5
Niche, but highly-efficient in that niche and in quite a straightforward way. It’s not really a card worth spending hours waxing lyrical over – beef is beef.
hagarrr – 2 out of 5
Oh cool, a Knight that doesn’t do anything except reduces the cost of itself by (usually) 2 gold. How thrilling. Now my First Snow of Winter is less efficient against these irritating pests. Great.
Fields of the Reach (2.5 Average)
scantrell24 – 3.5 out of 5
This might be a reach, but I love falling into a good trap card and trying to make it work. I put 3 into my Bara Rose Qohor deck alongside Honeywine, Rose Garden, and Jousting Pavilion.
Von Wibble – 3.5 out of 5
Tyrell have access to plenty of The Reach locations so the requirement to have 2 additional targets is not that difficult – Jousting Pavilions and Rose Gardens see regular play, and most of the rest of them are decent options even if not for every Tyrell deck. As a non unique location you could theoretically get to +3 claim from these, but in practise +1 will do. In a deck already running plenty of Reach (Knights or Armies) this fits in nicely.
Hybrid92 – 1.5 out of 5
Strange card. It does nothing on its own but it needs to be combined with two other Reach locations. I could see this card being useful in Bara Rose knights where you could kneel these Fields and the Jousting Pavilions for the claim raise.
Q&T Curmudgeons – 2 out of 5
Goes in the Reach-swarm deck, if such a thing exists, and nowhere else. We could see including 1 copy if you’re already on 3x Pavilions, 3x Rose Gardens and the like. The trap will be including multiple copies, because unless you have 6 Reach locations out you’ll never really want to draw a 2nd one.
hagarrr – 2 out of 5
Despite the low rating, I quite like this card. ‘The Reach’ tech never really took off, but there are plenty of good ‘The Reach’ traited locations, in addition to the Highgarden Honor Guard and Wardens of the Reach army characters that synergise from this trait. Shame though that it’s all just a collection of good locations unless you’re specifically running Jousting Pavilions for Knights. In that case, I couldn’t care less. Nice card, but probably destined for the binder.
Lyn Corbray (2.2 Average)
scantrell24 – 2 out of 5
Lyn Corbray is right to scowl because he’s overcosted and uninteresting to boot.
Von Wibble – 2.5 out of 5
If you go first and use the stealth then Lyn forces your opponent to do their power challenge last, unless they want to face an additional defender. Unfortunately, power tends to be the last challenge in many a game – but at least you are getting strength for dominance! If you go second and defend a mil or intrigue challenge then your opponent needs to either forgo a power challenge or face a return challenge, again either option is good for you. In short, Lyn is an efficient character. I’d say he’s an easy include in a knight heavy or brotherhood deck, elsewhere he falls just a little short of the best in-faction options.
Hybrid92 – 2.5 out of 5
Seems… fine. I’m not really sure which faction is so desperate for a 5 cost mil/int bicon that will include him in their deck. I think he only sees play in Knights decks, and there he might be quite handy I guess.
Q&T Curmudgeons – 2 out of 5
Nah, we’re not seeing the use here. If they’re going second, the opponent’ll just save the power challenge until last and not care; if they’re going first, they can just open with it while he’s still stood. The reaction is therefore worth little, and without it he’s definitively below the curve – Bronze Yohn Royce and Core Eddard aren’t stalwarts of the meta, are they. Not completely useless, but let’s not pretend we’ll see him in action.
hagarrr – 2 out of 5
I don’t see Ser Lyn Corbray being played at all. The effect is okay, but nothing special. If he’d had an effect that let you find his Lady Forlorn however… much more playable. As he is, he perhaps alters the challenge order of your opponent, and he has stealth too which is fine.
Unlikely Champion (2.2 Average)
scantrell24 – 1 out of 5
There must have been a printing error that left off the “and +1 strength” like Hedge Knight. I can’t imagine ever running Unlikely Champion, especially without a Knights agenda.
Von Wibble – 3 out of 5
We are back to efficient if boring cards – put this in knights decks with lords or ladies, don’t bother otherwise.
Hybrid92 – 3 out of 5
A tricon knight seems pretty good. He’ll probably see play in Knights decks, especially the mono Tyrell ones that focus on Ladies. I guess he’s decent enough as a way to bolster your icon spread in if you can reliably play out a Lord or Lady.
Q&T Curmudgeons – 2 out of 5
Situational 3g 2 STR tricon with a good trait, seems fine but not outstanding. Another Knight to throw on the pile, provided you have the supporting traits – in our experience most Knight decks don’t really have icon deficiencies for him to plug though, so he’s probably unlikely to see significant play.
hagarrr – 2 out of 5
Another cheap Knight who can situationally be a tricon. Wouldn’t you rather just put a Noble Lineage on your Green Apple Knights? Please stop with all these dumb, boring knights.
Anguy the Archer (4.3 Average)
scantrell24 – 4 out of 5
Tied with Haunted Forest Scout as the cheapest non-kneeler in the game, and he can take positive attachments! I might be able to voltron Anguy somehow, and if not he’s still an efficient chud in the right deck.
Von Wibble – 4 out of 5
Again, very efficient if dull. He will see play in many decks that currently run Ghost of High Heart, even when switched off he is a 2 for 2 bicon with the R’hllor trait so Baratheon decks should certainly look at him every time.
Hybrid92 – 4.5 out of 5
Fantastic character for both Brotherhood and also certain Baratheon decks which don’t use many loyal characters (except maybe Core Robert). Very efficient chud.
Q&T Curmudgeons – 5 out of 5
A whiff of first edition’s Mad Huntsman about him. Good enough and cheap enough that you don’t mind if he’s blank, but a great upside that’s really not all that tricky to reach – and can obviously be made 100% in Brotherhood or Free Folk. We anticipate him seeing play as a curve-filler in a great many decks.
hagarrr – 4 out of 5
Anguy is really efficient in his deck- Brotherhood without Banners. He’s probably also good in some other decks that don’t rely on their loyal characters that strongly. The non-kneeling to attack AND defend is quite nice, and it’s not an effect usually seen in a R’hllor deck, which he could absolutely go in too.
The Hollow Hill (3.4 Average)
scantrell24 – 3 out of 5
Two gold is decent tempo hit for an effect that doesn’t pay off until Dominance, but it’s repeatable and the search goes through enough cards to usually find something worthwhile.
Von Wibble – 3 out of 5
Because this card is completely blank if you have any loyal characters it isn’t anywhere near as good as Anguy or Ghost of High Heart. The action is good and makes it a definite fit in Brotherhood, or in decks with very few loyal characters, such as Bara Rose.
Hybrid92 – 3 out of 5
A decent card advantage engine for Brotherhood, and specific decks with a high amount of non-loyal characters (eg Bara Rose knights). Just a shame it’s a dominance action.
Q&T Curmudgeons – 4 out of 5
2 cost is a very fair price for a repeatable search effect like this, even as a dominance action. The biggest issue it has compared to the likes of Anguy the Archer is it being switched off entirely when a loyal character is present, so it’s very much an all-or-nothing card you probably need to build around. That said, it’s good enough though that we were tempted to go 5 anyway (and indeed Ire wanted to, but pessimism prevails at all times).
hagarrr – 4 out of 5
A location where you can just tutor a character from the top 10 cards is just gravy. The caveat of only being able to control non-loyal characters and tutor non-loyal characters will pigeonhole this to only a few decks, in which case I think it’s fine at this power level. A dominance action is usually a downside, yet this keeps it safe from intrigue claims and allows you to set up your next plot accordingly.
Lady Forlorn (1.9 Average)
scantrell24 – 2 out of 5
Aside from Warhammer, FFG is really struggling with the positive attachments in this box.
Von Wibble – 2 out of 5
Given that neutral economy exists, and that At the Gates also exists, you can safely expect this to provide a buff, but many in-faction weapons cost 1 for +2 strength or better. On that basis, I wouldn’t really consider this unless I am likely to have at least 4 neutral locations out, or am running that Knight deck that has multiple Lyn Corbray, which it is clearly meant for. It’s not terrible as such, I just think there are better choices.
Hybrid92 – 1.5 out of 5
So you play this if you’re playing Lyn Corbray, I guess, otherwise you don’t play it at all.
Q&T Curmudgeons – 2 out of 5
Super-niche, but should be fun in the decks it’s good in, because if you specifically build to run neutral locations you can easily run 12 or more and make this absurd pretty quickly. Those decks probably still won’t feature Lyn Corbray, mind. We’d love to see more positive attachments that do something other than STR, icons and the occasional keyword.
hagarrr – 2 out of 5
This is quite expensive, but has a high ceiling for power level- it’s not outrageous to think this could provide +5 STR or more to a character when built for, with no restrictions on whom the character might be. This does also give Lyn Corbray a power icon, but who cares about that. You’d much rather throw this onto repeatable targets, like Core Eddard or Bronze Yohn Royce (synergy!), but then they don’t see any play either!
Defiance (1.9 Average)
scantrell24 – 2 out of 5
Another possible Rookery card that won’t see play otherwise. At least it’s a Nedly home run and captures one of my favorite scenes.
Von Wibble – 2.5 out of 5
There are plenty of characters that can be effective in the challenges phase without making a challenge, such as Grey Wind or Sultry Marge, so you don’t have to be facing a kneel deck to get a lot out of this event. Getting a second use out of a Highgarden Courtier, wolf Bran Stark, or Jeyne Westerling can be a way to get around the condition of not having participated in a challenge. As a 0 cost event it has decent flexibility, and any deck running enough cards like those listed should consider it.
Hybrid92 – 2 out of 5
The antidote for Bara kneel decks that literally was not needed. I suppose it’s also good for getting two uses out of characters that have to kneel for their ability.
Q&T Curmudgeons – 1 out of 5
There’s narrow application in decks with cards that kneel for an effect you might want to repeat (like Grey Wind, Ghost of High Heart, Khorane Sathmantes and so on), but you’re not going to run it as anti-kneel tech, because spending a card for a stand you might not even be able to use in a ‘normal’ matchup is a bad deal. Given that, are you realistically going to slot this in any deck?
hagarrr – 2 out of 5
This card is situationally good in quite a few instances. It’s good against Intimidate and kneel effects like Forced March, as well as re-standing those characters that kneel for their abilities. My first instinct was to use this for Wolf Bran and Grey Wind, and it’s also useful the round following The Withering Cold. The problem is that this is a fairly limited application, and is likely to be unreliable in a competitive setting game after game.
The Prince That Was Promised (3.5 Average)
scantrell24 – 5 out of 5
It feels like I won Worlds and got to design a champ card! The only thing more more disheartening than having your Jon Snow, or Robert, or the Red Viper die is never drawing that character to begin with. So I’m glad there’s both a search function and a reset button of sorts. Winning a power by 5 without your voltron candidate might be difficult though — best include some other good power icon characters. Overall, I love this agenda’s flavor and the potential variety even if it fails to be tier 1 in competition.
Von Wibble – 3.5 out of 5
This one is tough to rate. The downside is more of a deck building limitation than anything else, chances are you simply won’t run renown characters, and we have a large enough card pool for that to not really hurt any deck, even if Desert Raider does become more powerful against you! The upside has so much potential, winning a power challenge by 5 isn’t that difficult to do unless your opponent goes all out to stop you – chances are they spoilt their own plans if this is the case. There are so many good candidates for the role of the Prince. You could go for a renown character with high strength and other keywords and abilities and go to town with multiple challenges – Tyrell Renly Baratheon, core Bob, the Red Viper, Balon Greyjoy, just to name a few. Or you could go for a character who doesn’t stick around for long, but keeps coming back to disrupt your opponent – how about Ramsey Snow or Areo Hotah for example? So much potential, which always makes for a good agenda.
Hybrid92 – 3 out of 5
One of the only new agendas in recent times that has actually made me excited to try it out upon release. It’s fresh and interesting but I have my reservations about how good it will actually be. Due to the ‘no renown’ downside, it may be that Bara is the best candidate for this agenda over GJ, Stark, etc., given Bara’s natural lack of renown. Within Bara, Core Robert and New Stannis would probably be your best Prince candidates.
Q&T Curmudgeons – 3 out of 5
This feels like a cop-out rating, but we think this agenda, like House with the Red Door, will be misused by people who want to build voltron but don’t have a coherent gameplan for when their character isn’t in play. With a lot of people still building to beat Sea of Blood (Old Bill Bone, Rickon Stark, that sorta thing), Prince will take a lot of damage in the crossfire. We don’t think this is a GoodStuff agenda either – JC has heard talk about just slapping it in a Greyjoy deck to get any one of their bigs, but the point of that deck is the redundancy of those bigs. Why would one want to dedicate their agenda to finding one of them, rather than doing other stuff well? That said there will definitely be some decks that can utilise the agenda, and giving those voltron character decks more consistency (plus some extra draw) will be pretty solid. Feels like a well-balanced agenda – less interesting than Rains, but less overpowered than Sea of Blood, so we’ll give it a thumbs up. As for who the Prince is, didn’t the TV show answer that in the last episode?
hagarrr – 3 out of 5
I am underwhelmed by this agenda. One of the things I like most about the game is how each game is heavily impacted by a different character each time. I can imagine finding the Prince game after game will quickly lead to a duller playing experience. Aesthetics aside, the agenda does provide a good degree of consistency, providing you can trigger it. Finding that key character that makes your deck tick is sometimes harder than it should be, and this helps, even if that character has been killed. If you’ve already got your Prince, then the pay-off is somewhat uninteresting too. It’s decidedly okay.
Parlay at Storm’s End (4.5 Average)
scantrell24 – 3.5 out of 5
Parlay is great against Khal Drogo, box Cersei + Casterly Rock, and other Bara decks with Stormlands. Most often I expect the choice to be military, as many Bara players have already discovered how good In the Name of Your King! can be. Four gold leaves a bit to be desired though and I’m having a hard time fitting Parlay into some decks. It’s not high gold, not draw, not a reset, not a closer, not really an oponer usually. Parlay has been my 8th plot several times already when deckbuilding because there just isn’t room for this ability that feels more like a luxury than a necessity.
Von Wibble – 5 out of 5
Calm Over Westeros on steroids – if you can’t issue a challenge you don’t need to worry about any reactions to winning or keywords, which is way better than just reducing claim by 1. I’ll take -1 gold for that all day long. I think this is FFG’s way of apologising for The King’s Peace.
Hybrid92 – 4 out of 5
Excellent plot but would it have killed them to make it 5 gold? Bara is one of the most econ starved factions as it is.
Q&T Curmudgeons – 5 out of 5
We’re much more excited for this in Melee than in Joust, but it’s still a powerful denial tool in Joust too. Being able to say “nope, no military” relieves such a huge amount of pressure at a key point in the game. It might be the tool those slower control decks have been badly waiting for. Ire especially wishes this had been around in first edition – his weakness against the Siege of Winterfell would’ve been a thing of the past!
hagarrr – 5 out of 5
Parley at Storms End is an excellent control card. This can shut down entire agendas for a turn; Rains, Prince, SoB,and Lord of the Crossing will all suffer at the hands of Parley.This is also useful early game to close off military challenges, or you can time it later to close off power challenges if your opponent will goes in for the kill with a two (or three!) claim plot. I don’t think Baratheon players will ever look at Calm over Westeros in the same way again.
Outwit (2.8 Average)
scantrell24 – 3 out of 5
I don’t think Outwit will see much play, but decks with unique Maesters anyways will see the benefit of threatening it and making opponents think twice.
Von Wibble – 2 out of 5
If you are running a Conclave deck, or Here to Serve (maybe for Cressen or Aemon) then you should be able to get a unique maester with enough consistency to make this worth it. The problem is that you need to be able to cope with those bad stats – 3 gold needs the plot to be so powerful, and I don’t know if a single cancel (costing a kneel at that) is worth it. If the effect isn’t a plot effect then many factions already have cancel to use instead. If it is a non reset plot, then you should probably run Forgotten Plans instead, and that doesn’t see play. That leaves resets – seems a lot of work to go to in order to prevent the Valar – and chances are that playing Here to Serve in the previous round will mean your board state is weaker than your opponents – are they really going to reset you at that point? I want to like this card but can’t unfortunately.
Hybrid92 – 3 out of 5
Plot cancels should not exist in this game.
Q&T Curmudgeons – 3 out of 5
Don’t sniff at plot cancel. The actual plot is very weak honestly, but we can think of quite a lot of mid-rangey rush decks that will be more than happy to have a blank plot with poor stats and a potentially-knelt Maester if it means they can guarantee not facing a reset for an entire round. If you try to use it as a ‘gotcha’ plot to catch out the opponent it’ll go poorly, but as an “I don’t care, I just want to close” plot it will have tremendous value. The only thing holding it back from a higher rating are the Maesters themselves – the Venn Diagram of “Unique Maesters” and “Cards for a rush deck” has very minimal current cross-over.
hagarrr – 3 out of 5
I’m not a huge fan of the idea of plot cancels, but at least this is tougher to play than Someone Always Tells by virtue of having to include a unique Maester to kneel to complete the effect. Most maesters are rubbish and having multiples of them in your joust deck isn’t ordinarily a recipe for success. Still, there are some poor souls that are oddly obsessed with Conclave, and I’m amused that this doesn’t cancel the First Snow of Winter, which hurts masters a great deal. I don’t believe this will see much play outside of Conclave, but Here to Serve can set this up nicely if you actually want to try it.
Siege Preparations (3.7 Average)
scantrell24 – 3.5 out of 5
It’s a decent second or third turn plot for KotHH decks with the potential to draw 4 or 5 cards consistently. Might be good enough to replace Exchange of Information and Coppers.
Von Wibble – 5 out of 5
There are plenty of decks that can end a challenges phase on 3 or fewer cards without even really trying to spend it all. At that point, assuming no reserve boosters, it seems feasible you can draw 4 or more cards without even trying. Now imagine this in a Hollow Hill deck, or in Nights Watch, or in a Targ deck focussed on discarding cards for effects. Drawing 5, 6, even 7 cards is not beyond the realms of possibility. Aggro decks with burst economy can play out their hand, knowing that even if they have overextended then they have the cards to refill a board simply by playing a high gold plot next round. Yes, the effect is delayed compared to Counting Coppers and Exchange of Information, but the timing of this plot is different to those. Use Coppers when you need cards straight away. Use this when you want to play cards this turn, and get loads of cards too.
Hybrid92 – 3 out of 5
Unless you have a heavily increased reserve value, you probably want to play Exchange or Counting over this card as they have better initiative, better reserve, and give you the cards straight away.
Q&T Curmudgeons – 3 out of 5
It’s kinda like a souped-up Ranger’s Cache. We barely see that plot, and often when we do it’s in a Winter deck, but the ceiling is so much higher here. We can see this maybe being a go-to card for Targ KotHH, that looks to ditch its entire hand in the first two turns to recover board position while flipping this plot 2, then draw back up and only have the upside. It also could be nice for Martell as while it’s tougher to include Dorne it can still run the Summer Sea Ports, or Night’s Watch with Eastwatch-by-the-Sea and the like. Whether it justifies slots in those decks we’re not sure – it’s an interesting effect, but we’re not sure if it’s enough.
hagarrr – 4 out of 5
An obvious fit for Targaryen, as they possess the discard mechanism to exploit this. With Qotho, Queensguard, Plaza of Pride, Viserion etc., the potential to draw back up to six cards is fantastic. This improves further when you incorporate reserve modifiers, with KotHH, NW, and Martell all boasting reserve boost abilities. I’m a sucker for mass draw cards, and so perhaps I’m overrating it, but I think this is going to be a fun card to try and abuse.
Rationing (3.8 Average)
scantrell24 – 4 out of 5
Much like Fortified Position, you’ll want to deckbuild at least a little with Rationing in mind. Unlike Fortified, Rationing can be included in your plot deck twice, so it’s possible to take full advantage by relying mostly on passive abilities and keywords. I can see it working but this type of blanket “no you can’t” ability is always frustrating to play against, ala Barring the Gates and No Surprises against Shadow decks.
Von Wibble – 3 out of 5
I like that this plot exists, it’s a nice counter to Sea of Blood and to Martell delayed rush for sure, as well as being a good early plot to keep Crossing and rush in check. As a meta call plot its OK.
Hybrid92 – 4 out of 5
Stopping triggers in the way that this plot does is powerful. This is a great plot to slot into ‘honest’ decks that don’t have many tricks. It’s also a great Winter plot as it actually has high gold and high initiative, unlike a lot of Winter plots out there.
Q&T Curmudgeons – 4 out of 5
Another denial plot to throw on the pile. We’re well aware that this should be a 5 but it’s too crushingly boring to bestow upon it that honour. Also Sea of Blood just got restricted so it’s less necessary now. But yeah, it’s really good and really dull.
hagarrr – 4 out of 5
At first I thought this was pretty niche. Then I looked on thronesdb and typed x:”after you win” and I was amazed to see 167 results. So I guess this plot shuts down a lot more tricks than I first thought! This is most likely to be seen if you’re worried about Sea of Blood or Prince that was Promised triggers, but with the former now restricted and the latter not explosive, I wonder if I’m overrating this a little. That said, there’s probably another 150 reasons why I’m wrong and it should be a 5.
Desperate Attack (1.8 Average)
scantrell24 – 3 out of 5
Imagine flipping this against an opponent’s Retaliation, or even better another Desperate Attack… It will take some practice and a lot of trial and error to find the right home for Desperate Attack, but there are a few possible landing spots.
Von Wibble – 1.5 out of 5
Given you will be almost certainly going second by flipping this plot, you will need to be able to defend the challenges you care about facing that extra claim from an opponent, and still be able to win on attack Chances are if you can do that, you would win the game with any plot, and should try using one with better gold and reserve. There are 2 ways I can think of to maybe get this to work – one is Martell Hollow Hill/Wars with Cletus, the other is to use Seize the Initiative.
Hybrid92 – 1.5 out of 5
3 claim is pretty huge and I’m sure there is some stupid Free Folk deck that will take advantage of this, but the downsides are significant: 2 gold, 0 initiative, 4 reserve, and the opponent gaining 1 free claim for themselves. I’m not sure this sees play, to be quite honest.
Q&T Curmudgeons – 1 out of 5
Those are some mighty poor numbers (with one obvious exception) to go with the horrible text. You have to be so on top that you can soak/defend the increased claim and still win on attack, or you have to run loads of initiative boosts. Or Vengeance we guess. JC is slightly higher on this, but not by much.
hagarrr – 2 out of 5
Giving your opponent the initiative (probably) and letting them have increased claim seems like a recipe for disaster, even with the bonus of three claim yourself. This is saved from a 1 rating for me because Greyjoy can Seize the Initiative, and Baratheon can kneel the entire opponents board with Imry or Selyse, and capitalise accordingly. Also Vengeance for Elia out of Martell KotHH is going to be absolutely disgusting.
The Hand’s Tourney (2.8 Average)
scantrell24 – 2 out of 5
The low initiative is a real bummer. It feels like a less flexible Calm Over Westeros, and how often does Calm see play anymore?
Von Wibble – 4 out of 5
As a defensive measure against aggro early game, or as a closer for your own power grab late game, this looks good. This fits any deck looking for quick power that doesn’t mind not being able to kill things.
Hybrid92 – 3 out of 5
I actually like the flexibility of this plot, as Von Wibble alluded to. Flip it early to negate military claim against aggro decks. Flip it late to close out the win. Decent gold and reserve too, but initiative is too low for it to be a top tier closer plot. Also, it works for both players so it could blow up in your face if not timed correctly.
Q&T Curmudgeons – 3 out of 5
Good to flip early for stall decks that need board presence? Quite niche though, and we’re not expecting it to gets used aggressively to gain power late on (unless that stall deck gets past plot 7). That said, we like these kinds of messes.
hagarrr – 2 out of 5
This is an interesting summer plot that can stave off those aggressive military decks in the early game, and push power challenges when military is no longer important. The reserve of seven is more suited to the former and I think that’s where it might see more play. But will this actually be played? Probably not.
The New Gods (4.2 Average)
scantrell24 – 5 out of 5
Six gold with four reserve is an interesting stat line not seen often. Non-kneeling is even stronger than stand, with Hunting Accidents aplenty, and non-kneeling for multiple characters is unheard of. I won’t be surprised if this plot single handedly makes Faith Militant relevant.
Von Wibble – 4 out of 5
It’s only really for Faith decks, but it is really strong there, especially if you can use the Seven Pointed Star to get a big character into an extra challenge for free.
Hybrid92 – 4 out of 5
A pretty solid plot for Faith Militant decks. This plot is obviously inspired by the old Power of Faith from 1.0. Reserve is a bit low but the upside is a good one – 6 gold and a standing board after you initiate your first challenge.
Q&T Curmudgeons – 4 out of 5
An updated Power of Faith? Non-kneeling and 6 gold seems really good. In Melee it obviously shines the most, but in Faith with cards like this set’s Davos, Poor Fellows or other good challenge-win effects holding a Seven-Pointed Star, there’s a lot of potential power here in Joust too.
hagarrr – 4 out of 5
This is a direct buff to The Seven trait and the Faith Militant agenda. The gold is very generous, and the effect is great for tempo. Faith Militant decks aren’t too prevalent in the game thus far, and the fact this isn’t plot deck limit one might push this theme a little harder.
Total Pack Average: 3.05 (slightly lower than the Greyjoy, Tyrell and Martell boxes)
Top Cards:
Melisandre 5.0
Robert 4.8
Renly 4.7
Hunting Accident 4.7
Lionstar 4.7
Salladhor 4.5
Parlay 4.5
Bottom Cards:
Nightfire Visions 1.1
Dothraki Steed 1.3
Bearskin Cloak 1.3
The Horn That Wakes the Sleepers 1.4
Ser Gregor 1.4
If you’re hungry more content, check out the library of podcasts, articles, game video and more in the Community FAQ. Let us know in the comments how you feel about the cards in this box, and we’ll see you again soon to review “Pit of Snakes”.
