Announcing The Iron Chronicle

Hello, Thrones Community!

We come now to the penultimate chapter of the Mists of Memory cycle, dubbed The Iron Chronicle. This pack takes its name from the history of ironborn dominance over the riverlands; coming to you on the 28th of August, these cards hope to evoke that legacy of cruelty, sabotage, and blood.

Speaking of blood and Legacy, we can look first to the War that has most recently defined Westeros: Robert’s Rebellion, a new faction plot for House Baratheon.  Fearsomely effective in all values, it counterbalances this by severely punishing your defeat in Power challenges; turning the faction’s greatest strength into a debilitating weakness is a gamble, much like Robert’s own decision to march against the Mad King. But not all gambes pay off, as the Blackhaven Rider can attest, having followed Ser Beric Dondarrion from the Dornish Marches to King’s Landing, then the Mummer’s Ford, and into the lion’s jaws… An innovative addition to the Brotherhood, this character’s arrival demands each player kneel a loyal character they control.

Next in The Iron Chronicle comes Harren Hoare himself, last of the ironborn to rule the riverlands, depicted here in Harren the Black, House Greyjoy’s Tapestry card. Not only does the unique attachment deny locations to opponents, it also causes each pillage you inflict to discard the top card of all decks. Its effects are as brutal, restrictive, and self-destructive as the Hoares themselves were when Aegon came to Harrenhal. Subtler cruelties are found with The Knight, Ser Harras of House Harlaw, who returns discarded characters to a defender’s hand so as to raise the attacker’s claim – and in doing so, creates fodder for reserve checks as is the Harlaw way.

House Lannister has much to say on both subtly and cruelty, of course. This can be seen in their founder – and now their Tapestry – with Lann the Clever. This attachment rewards victory in Intrigue with either gold or power, while also expanding one’s hand and securing the safety of a Lannister character. Should a character be killed, however, Qyburn can still find use for them. Ousted from The Citadel but elevated by Cersei Lannister to the Small Council, this soft-spoken schemer can emerge from shadows to pluck a character from any dead pile and briefly place them into your service.

The additions to House Martell each serve to control and deny one’s opponent, as the Dornish are wont to do. In Ser William Wells, ill-fated protector of Prince Quentyn Martell, players have the opportunity to remove an instance of each challenge icon from a character until the end of the challenge phase – at the cost of killing the Knight himself. A different style of restriction comes with the Red Mountains. These natural borders separate Dorne from the neighbours with whom it has so often warred, and networked by narrow and well-defended passes; this history and strategic significance is reflected in their ability to demand an opponent’s next challenge be Military, while also providing a small boost to their controller’s initiative.

Previous packs have shown the darker and more insidious aspects of the Night’s Watch, but with this chapter comes support for their most brazen tactic: reappropriation. Maester Harmune, a drunkard serving under Cotter Pyke at Eastwatch-by-the-Sea, reacts to the movement of gold from an opponent’s pool to yours. And perhaps Pyke – a Bastard of the Iron Islands – has rubbed off on Harmune, as the Maester’s reaction to stealing gold can discard characters from the top of his victim’s deck! Moving from theft to conscription, we have Saved by the Watch, an event which plucks a discarded or sacrificed character and places them back into play. Similar to Ward, stealing control requires the character being able to retain attachments, and thus works best for characters from other factions – and is useless on an Army, Direwolf, or Dragon.

But House Stark has other means of changing the allegiance of characters, or rather House Bolton does with the likes of Reek and now the ironically-and-aptly named Bolton Loyalist. As diligent soldiers of a successful traitor, this fickle follower punishes defeat with Intrigue by defecting to the winner – unless a character other than them is sacrificed, a cost House Stark can easily turn to their advantage. From those who brought down the Young Wolf, we move now to the last of his supporters: Raventree Hall, home of the Blackwoods. A shrewd family and one of the last bastions still fighting the War of the Five Kings, this location gives House Tully sustained support by rewarding power on characters with gold into your pool.

For the Targaryen faction, a new mechanical direction is being pioneered: the avoidance of Military claims, which is not necessarily the avoidance of Military challenges… Galazza Galare describes peace as “the pearl beyond price” and her new Pink Graces reward all players who refrained from applying a Military claim with card draw at challenge phase’s end. This may seem uncomfortable for a faction capable of fielding a Dothraki or Dragon, which is why the Temple of the Graces offers to covert any Military claim into an Intrigue one. The Grace family of cards demonstrate how a Targaryen can remain fearsome even in peace, and has other means than blunt warfare to kill their enemies…

Dragon is to be feared as much as a rose is to be observed, and House Tyrell has grown a strong collection of mechanics who thrive on revealing one’s own cards to an opponent. Alla Tyrell and A Wall of Roses exemplify this, and a new variant of Margaery Tyrell herself has joined this group; a Queen boasting renown and shadow, she uses the revealing of Tyrell cards from your hand or deck to whisk them away into shadows as an economic and protective boon. Aiding her in this is House Redwyne’s new event, named for their founder: Gilbert of the Vines. One can spend any amount of gold to reveal that many cards, then add any two of them to your hand before replacing the rest – assuming Queen Margaery has not plucked any first.

Every garden has its spiders, and the odd Little Bird as well. These children are the mute agents of Varys. Each of them is a gifted Spy, capable of emerging from the shadows to sneak a peek at the top of opponent’s deck. You and this opponent then have the opportunity to draw a card, as information is a curious resource and whispers need not be hoarded to be valuable. To help accommodate excessive card draw is The Blue Fork, completing the trio of tributaries to The Trident. As with the others this location is summoned by sufficient victory in a challenge – Power, in this case – and boost an aspect of your plot – reserve, in this case.

And two new plots now join each faction’s repertoire, each with their own nasty tricks. From the paranoid mind of Lysa Tully, we have Enemies In Every Shadow, which functions as one might expect by helping discard – and kill, if possible – cards from an opponent’s shadow area while empowering your own characters once all shadows have been cleared. Next comes an Omen of the Old Gods and a glimpse of Bloodraven‘s cunning: The Last Greenseer may have uninspiring gold, claim, and reserve values, but it can also swap them with those of another revealed plot. One must truly be careful what one fields against a skinchanger, lest one’s own strengths be turned against you!

The second-to-last entry in this cycle is bringing plenty of new material to our community, and as ever our goal is to give new life to existing strategies while creating exciting innovations. The final pack from the Mists of Memory will be detailed soon, but for now we hope you enjoy The Iron Chronicle!

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