Hello Thrones Community,
We have an unprecedented announcement from the GOT Design Team: the first chapter of a full cycle of more than one hundred new cards! Today will see A True Telling revealed, the first entry in the Mists of Memory cycle; with a mix of both innovative and familiar mechanics, this cycle seeks to give players fun and faithful depictions of figures central to A Song of Ice and Fire. This initial chapter will be released on the 29th of January, 2024; however we will be providing the print files now, so the community can start their print orders!
Beginning with Baratheon, and the biggest card boasted by this chapter, behold Beric Dondarrion. Seen here in his first life, en route to bring the king’s justice to the false knight Gregor Clegane, his victory in battle appropriately applies an effect similar to those of Baratheon’s The Black Cells. And with Lady Marya, the ship of Allard Seaworth, Captain and Smuggler characters gain the ability to steal the top card of a foe’s deck in a mechanic shared with Baratheon’s own Valyrian’s Crew.
We move next to the gods of Greyjoys, with new interactions for both R’hllor and the Drowned God. We have Victarion Greyjoy, whose devotion to the former yields insight and immunity, while the latter grants renown and invulnerability. The god of salt and sea receives further support through the first faction plot of the cycle, Cast Me Forth, which allows Drowned God characters to be ambushed from your dead pile.
The new cards for House Lannister make use of more familiar mechanics. Myrcella Baratheon, for example, rewards her successful participation by both returning to your hand to increase its size as well as providing you with an additional Intrigue challenge! Accompanying her are the ruins of Castamere, which can make such challenges even more devastating! Should you win an Intrigue challenge by five or more strength, the location can immediately follow the initial Intrigue claim with Military claim.
Continuing with this theme, A Bed of Scorpions for House Martell peers into the conniving past of House Qorgyle, and rewards a successful Intrigue challenge with the opportunity to kill a participating character; beyond adding an element of danger to any Intrigue challenge involving the faction, the event also helps Martell’s tactic of forcing opponent’s characters to participate. Helping this event to succeed is the Scheming Snake, a new non-unique Sand Snake whose arrival during a challenge can prevent a participating character with fewer than two challenge icons from contributing to the final strength totals.
The Night’s Watch, as ever, thrives on restriction. We can see this with Gared, the first character mentioned in the first chapter of A Song of Ice and Fire, and a welcome addition to this first chapter pack! One of only a few men of the Night’s Watch to survive an encounter with the Others, the Ranger embodies his faction’s love of control by kneeling each opponent’s faction card when an Omen plot is revealed. Conversely, Sentinel Stand rewards restriction oneself, specifically one’s use of challenge icons by significantly boosting each of your characters with fewer than two challenge icons.
For House Stark, this chapter gives new additions for its first turncloaks and fiercest friends: Karstark Lancer for House Karstark and Lonely Hills for House Umber, respectively. The former gives power to all players when sacrificed or killed, and one should therefore be careful to keep Karhold itself to ensure only you benefit from this. The latter helps simulate a used pile with a low number of cards, helping their family whose cards thrive in such circumstances, such as Greatjon Umber and Last Hearth. With both of these being non-unique and non-loyal, they can give some great reliability to decks looking to use them!
With the Targaryen faction, we have an Army from the dynasty’s most recent conflict and a Legacy from one of their oldest. The Free Brothers allow you to tactically move any Ally costing three or lower into your discard pile, most clearly helping cards like Freedmen or Mother’s Men, while also setting up any other retrieval from discard. The Dance of the Dragons plot, the second faction plot of the cycle, is far more direct in its effect; through the use of Dragon characters, even a mere Hatchling, your Military or Intrigue claim can instead see two power stolen from your defeated foe!
And from the Reach we have chivalry and wealth! Red-Apple Knight serves as a parallel to his Green-Apple Knight cousin; rather than being incrementally strengthened by each Knight you control, this new character works best with only a single, unique Knight of House Tyrell. In addition to strength manipulation, the familiar Tyrell mechanic of removing characters from challenges also sees support in the form of the Highgarden Treasury, which yields gold with each use of this tactic.
Finally, for the neutral cards of this first chapter, we have yet more versatile and iconic cards. In addition to being a rare example of the Old Gods trait outside of House Stark, Bloodraven gives an enviable amount of forewarning on a foe’s choice of plot card in addition to the insight keyword. Additionally, due to only costing three gold, he can be saved when killed with the new event Calm as Still Waters; rather than being killed, any player could instead return him to his owner’s hand.
And for the chapter’s two plots, we have At the Tower of Joy and Open Revolt. The former is relatively humble in terms of gold and initiative, but grants invulnerability until the plot is replaced; the latter is more involved, granting two power as a reward for not failing an Intrigue challenge, rising to four power if you have removed enough Scheme plots from the game. With one having the Scheme trait and both boasting War, the plots not only have potent effects on their own but provide new opportunities for The Rains of Castamere, Battle of the Trident, The Wars To Come, and other cards like them.
This is only the first of many chapters. We hope they leave you motivated to explore new possibilities, and intrigued about what more can come; within the next two months, expect to hear about the second chapter of the historic Mists of Memory cycle!
