Hello everybody! I know you have all been waiting feverishly since March since this pack review, but the greatest things are worth waiting for isn’t that right! Right?! Anyway… please try to enjoy these amazingly correct but different views on the cards from this chapter pack from the latest Mist of Memory cycle. Without further ado…
Acolyte of the Shadow (3.3 Average)
Hagen – 3.5 out of 5
I’m not a huge fan of situational keywords, but occasional insight is better than no insight at all, and Baratheon already have a few interesting cards that make things go back to shadows. He probably wins the race against Acolyte of the Flame and Antler Men in the 2 cost bicon slot.
hagarrr – 3 out of 5
Acolyte of the Shadow is R’hllor chud of the month, triggering a lot more often than Acolyte of the Flame I expect. Even so, I don’t expect the card to have insight all that much, unless the underdeveloped Baratheon theme of “pushing the opponent cards into shadows” gets more love. It might be even better in melee where you will have multiple opponents.
jcwamma – 2 out of 5
Cromulent stats but you aren’t running it in a tournament for the ability and without that it doesn’t offer enough to justify including in a deck. It does power-creep on Acolyte of the Flame well enough though, so an upgrade if you just need a blank body with the R’hllor trait.
Von Wibble – 4 out of 5
Feels like its competing with Acolyte of the Flame. Obviously if your opponent runs shadow or you run Banish like tech a lot, this one wins. Feels like that will more often than not be the case, honestly a single trigger of insight is enough to justify this R’hllor chud in general.
Xelcor – 4 out of 5
A very strong contender for the Baratheon 2 cost slot and now seen very often in decks. It is fighting for that spot against Acolyte of the Flame but seems to win it more often than not.
King Robert’s Legacy (1.7 Average)
Hagen – 2 out of 5
Feels unfair rating this now, after (not) seeing people playing it. At the time I genuinely thought it was a strong piece: stealing characters can swing games and the trigger is not that difficult, but probably the huge cost is a big obstacle for Baratheon’s economy. On paper it’s still scary, maybe it just needs more time.
hagarrr – 2 out of 5
Flashy, but expensive and with a highly conditional trigger. That’s probably just as well given that character stealing isn’t something Baratheon should be really good at. In theory, you might think Core Bob will have a great time with this, threatening intimidate and forcing you to commit to opposing, but why do that when it is cheaper to kneel the character out instead?
jcwamma – 2 out of 5
Fun swingy effect, but you’re only triggering this on unsuspecting people once. Bara don’t really save characters well or attrition away at opponent’s boards, so it’s harder to leverage this than it looks, either constructively or as removal. Not ideal for an expensive event your opponent can play around.
Von Wibble – 1.5 out of 5
You need a King in the challenge, and 3 spare gold, and a defending character worth taking. On top of that, chances are if they are kneeling you won’t get much use from them in the round you take them. With all that in mind, it feels like too much to do even if the ceiling of the card is really high. But this is a game winning ability. I’m giving it a bit of credit in a Rose or Sun deck as you can force characters into challenge a bit, but that still feels unreliable.
Xelcor – 1 out of 5
If you get A+B+C and have 3 gold left while attacking as Baratheon this can steal some characters that might make it worthwhile. But most often it falls flat even in good scenarios.
Ralf Kenning (4.5 Average)
Hagen – 4.5 out of 5
It’s probably the only card stronger than the agenda he’s supposed to work with. The fact he doesn’t care about the opponent playing a Summer plot is still blowing my mind, and did he really need a keyword too? Champ cards are supposed to be strong, but the fact people played only Greyjoy Winter for months probably tells us it was too much for a 4-cost card.
hagarrr – 5 out of 5
Ralf is a strong champion card; multiple icons, multiple traits, and multiple effects. Whilst I think Greyjoy Winter decks are strong, I doubt they will be as popular in the game as Greyjoy Fealty unless more Winter or House Harlaw support arrives. As a -2 to your opponents’ income in Kings of Winter, he will be a staple and that will make people shout a lot. I like that he can find a spot in multiple decks though with his three traits, yet those tribal decks in Greyjoy have never really risen to the top of the game with any consistency.
jcwamma – 3 out of 5
It seems a fair choke card, in a game where to the best of my knowledge the archetype isn’t really supported properly, and only choking a little bit doesn’t do much of anything. But if the archetype gets more support then Ralf is great.
Von Wibble – 5 out of 5
OP restrict pls.
Xelcor – 5 out of 5
An auto-include in every Greyjoy Winter or House Harlaw deck (even without Winter sometimes)
the amount of gold you can deny your opponent now in those decks is quite a lot. By far the strongest card of this set.
Old Captain (2.1 Average)
Hagen – 1.5 out of 5
Keywords are supposed to be used while knelt, and Greyjoy isn’t known for being a non-kneeling faction. Even with Maiden’s Bane, if you’re choosing this guy instead of one of your 7 costers there’s probably something wrong with your game, and Old Captain is not going to save you.
hagarrr – 1.5 out of 5
I can’t really see a world where a Greyjoy deck plays this. Every Captain is a King and Maiden’s Bane are both for the big characters, and I can’t easily think of other in-faction support for this character. Non-unique two cost chuds are usually there to do a challenge and die, so I don’t think I’ll be jumping through hoops to put a renown on this guy. This gets an extra half point for potentially useful traits.
jcwamma – 3 out of 5
A melee card for a specific deck. And that’s fine.
Von Wibble – 2.5 out of 5
Renown on a non-unique with 2 good traits is great, even if it is conditional, but you probably want ways to get that power to your faction card, or to close quickly. Seems a great option in Crossing if you have the stand tech.
Xelcor – 2 out of 5
This doesn’t seem like a bad chud for Greyjoy but it never replaced Orkmont Reaver and nor will it. You can make interesting decks with Every Captain is a King , but if you use Maidens Bane to stand them to get the renown and have no better target then your board is probably sad already.
Tywin Lannister (2.7 Average)
Hagen – 3.5 out of 5
The biggest issue with this card is its name, as we all know the true Tywin is the pillage one. But I have trust that he will find his space somewhere even without focusing on the reaction, as Intimidate on a tricon can be a deadly combination. Or we just have to wait for the combo that makes him win in one round.
hagarrr – 3 out of 5
What a mad game this is that a 7 cost tricon with intimidate and pseudo-renown only gets rated as mid. I think the intimidate is really nice for Lannister alongside his non-kneeling children, and he has parallels with Core Tywin in that gold pool management is important. Unfortunately, Core Tywin is also the reason he won’t see a lot of play outside of dedicated decks, and intimidation is everywhere these days.
jcwamma – 2 out of 5
Core Tywin is just really good, folks. Intimidate is very good, but this doesn’t really help you win challenges and the payoff is hard to leverage more than just having renown would be in the first place. A fun “shoot for the stars” card though.
Von Wibble – 3 out of 5
The name is the only problem really. Even in a realistic worst case, where you treat the ability as renown, which is doable for sure using money you save for shadow and ambush, the fact remains that you have an intimidate tricon. He feels nicely balanced against core Tywin.
Xelcor – 2 out of 5
There will be a point in the game this card breaks the meta and you can combo off with him. This point isn’t here yet, so he is just losing to core Tywin in deckbuilding. It is not a bad card in itself, but with the same name as core Tywin it doesn’t go into many decks at all.
Boots (3.5 Average)
Hagen – 4 out of 5
Everybody love cats, it is known. But I wasn’t quite happy of seeing an easy way to give renown to characters because I already feared a voltron era behind the corner. I was right, and Boots proved to be the missing piece to make Qohor and attachment decks in general stronger than ever.
hagarrr – 3 out of 5
Completing the set of Cat attachments is Boots, giving renown for the meagre sum of 1 gold albeit only for a 3 cost or lower character. I expect this will see play in Qohor decks, along with the other attachments to wring maximum value from your chud character. Boots is non-loyal too so expect to see this in every Alliance and Qohor deck featuring your favourite Lannisters. I’m probably underestimating this because #TeamDog
jcwamma – 3 out of 5
I don’t know how good the Lanni weenie deck is. But voltron decks sure do like renown, so it probably works out ok. Also, Cat.
Von Wibble – 3 out of 5
Easy pick in Goat and VS. Not a bad 1 of in a rush agenda – Myrcella or Shae for example feel like nice targets (though the newer Myrcella makes that a less easy choice).
Xelcor – 4.5 out of 5
Boots makes all the Cat decks way faster and it is a very cheap form of renown with ambush. Not much to say, very good, has many meta decks it goes into.
The Old Hawk (3.5 Average)
Hagen – 4.5 out of 5
I’m glad we’re reviewing this now, so you couldn’t make fun of me because I underrated him. My main concern was, are you really going to adapt your whole plot deck to bad Summer plots only to make him work? Apparently yes, and he proved to be an amazing addiction to any big guys deck. Don’t underestimate the power of insight in a faction where the main draw tool will be forever restricted.
hagarrr – 4 out of 5
It’s that time again where I hilariously overrate Martell cards! Obviously Martell Summer decks will play Old Hork with The Greenblood and Core Doran and all the Lords and Ladies with a bajillion STR with To the Spears! to get one hundred million renown in a single challenge. This always happens, why haven’t they restricted it yet! On a more serious note, I expect this will happen 100% of the times I play against it.
jcwamma – 1 out of 5
Conditional power gain, that is expensive, for a deck that doesn’t need help gaining power when it has loads of high STR characters. Nah.
Von Wibble – 4 out of 5
A centrepiece for Crossing, where he alone in the 3rd challenge is a 2 keyword bicon. Definitely one to help make Core Doran great, and a good option for Martell banner of the other faction decks.
Xelcor – 4 out of 5
Fully set up Martell boards don’t always need Viper now and can go very easily from lower power total to winning the game in 2 challenges. Old Hawk makes that possible, it needs quite a few cards to fully work, but the RL also keeps those decks in check as well.
The Throne of Dorne (2.0 Average)
Hagen – 2 out of 5
This card suffers the fall of every shadows deck and specifically the Martell ones. The “Tyrion effect” is great, but the uncertain trigger and the fact it forces you to play the cursed lose dominance theme (thanks FFG) makes it much less interesting. Hopefully it will rise with the next shadow cycle.
hagarrr – 3 out of 5
Hmmm, I’m almost certainly underrating this one for some reason. Shadow recursion cards always make me shudder involuntarily, as we all picture the worst case scenario. Obviously this one is going in the shadow Arianne deck that has a gazillion shadows triggers and icon removing cards to force you to win dominance so Archibald can murder stuff and Nymeria can kill your hand and you just watch them play their stuff and you can’t play your stuff and it’s so unfair I hate Martell.
jcwamma – 1 out of 5
So I’m very far from being in touch with the meta, and this might be great in a relevant deck. But I’m going with my gut and assuming an expensive location that has a low-impact trigger that you can only do as a reaction to losing dominance is probably just always bad.
Von Wibble – 2 out of 5
In theory it’s a nice card, but it needs to go into a deck with plenty of shadows options, that also has a way to lose dominance, indicating icon control. Cards like Arianne do combine both nicely, but I’m just not sure there’s enough to justify the card slots needed for this.
Xelcor – 2 out of 5
The whole lose dominance thing in Martell is a bit of a hit or miss, it is a nice to have card but not that game changing.
Highborn Recruit (3.3 Average)
Hagen – 3.5 out of 5
You can’t rate this card without Sentinel Stand in mind. If you’re playing that kind of deck this chud is a must: cheap guy with 3 strength that can give easy keywords every round. If you’re not running the Stand, then he doesn’t make the cut due to the lack of good traits for other NW archetypes.
hagarrr – 4 out of 5
Highborn Recruit looks like a really nice card. A classic great-for-setups NW card that improves any monocon you might have that can win challenges whilst providing claim soak. If this card can’t make Core Jon Snow see play in a NW deck with Sentinel Stand, potentially giving him renown or insight in all three attacking challenges, then I don’t know what will!
jcwamma – 3 out of 5
A cheap character with upside is tough to look too down upon. It’s not exactly hugely impactful though, and lacks one of the three core NW traits to take it over the top.
Von Wibble – 3 out of 5
If you look at the insight, he’s like a Messenger Raven who triggers earlier and doesn’t leave play. If you look at the renown, its one more thing that helps you to close out games. Throw that on a 1 cost setup helper and its looking good. The only drawback to that is the need for enough monocon targets. The potential with Core Jon is definitely there though.
Xelcor – 3 out of 5
This card can slot in quite some decks you would normally expect, but the whole monocon theme isn’t the greatest strategy NW can do. But with a renown in NW this is in a quite unique spot for the faction.
Insubordination (2.2 Average)
Hagen – 2 out of 5
You could argue playing a crappy Craven is still better than nothing, but if you’re already running Craven and Milks how are you supposed to find space for these too? It opens up nice synergies with cards like Jousting Contest or with Martell icon removal, but for now it feels too limited.
hagarrr – 3 out of 5
Everybody is going to compare this unfavourably to Craven, and rightly so, but I don’t think this is a terrible card. I don’t believe getting the kill effect is very likely, as people will not willingly fall into that trap, but instead I see it creating some (weaker) Grand Melee type effect where the opponent needs a bigger board to push challenges through. If you ally this with Craven, Maester Mullin and the new Bowen Marsh, it might be a “fun” new deck to try…
jcwamma – 2 of out 5
You always want 3x Craven before 1x of this, which greatly hurts its prospects. But Craven is a 5/5 card still, so this isn’t quite binder fodder. I wish this was action rather than reaction so it could combine with remove from challenge effects better, but oh well.
Von Wibble – 1 out of 5
Probably should cost 0. The word “initiated” is what really lets it down as you can’t combo with harpoon tech. Insert unfaithful boyfriend meme with this and Craven…
Xelcor – 3 out of 5
If you have 3 cravens, and you wish for more cravens, you can take budget craven. It is just a worse craven but craven in itself is very good. You can trick your opponents with Tyrell Watch banner and sneak in a kill, that’s about it.
Ghost (4.4 Average)
Hagen – 4 out of 5
This is how I like champ cards: strong, thematic and balanced. 3 cost monocons are generally bad, but Ghost provides constant draw like no other cards for Direwolves. The save effect is just the cherry on top, as most of the times he will be more useful than Jon itself.
hagarrr – 5 out of 5
This is another excellent champion card. Monocons have to be really good or synergistic with their deck themes to see play, and this one is that for sure. An underwhelming STR/icon/cost ratio is made up for by the ability to draw at least once per round, potentially multiple times if the deck is built for it. This definitely makes the Direwolf deck more playable, although if that save ever triggers I will be amazed! Ghost is likely too narrow for goodstuff decks, and that is okay with me.
jcwamma – 5 out of 5
Really strong. Draw, that can theoretically get you multiple cards per turn, remains very good. Then as a bonus, there’s a save you’ll never trigger!
Von Wibble – 4 out of 5
At worst it’s a card with pseudo insight. At best you get 3 cards a turn and might even use the interrupt. At 3 cost he can be fetched into play. No room for him in a non-doggy deck though.
Xelcor – 4 out of 5
Ghost is a very nice draw engine in Direwolf decks, often drawing 6+ cards if you can keep attacking. 100% in every Direwolf deck, sometimes in goodstuff.
Taste the Blood (1.7 Average)
Hagen – 2.5 out of 5
Plot manipulation is always strong and the trigger feels pretty easy to activate. The possibilities on a When Revealed are endless, but you’re relying on your opponent choices and sometimes it will be just a dead card in hand. I haven’t seen anyone playing it, but if I were a Stark player I would be at least intrigued to give it try.
hagarrr – 1 out of 5
This card is not for me. In my opinion there are just too many hoops to jump through to activate what is admittedly a potentially powerful effect. If you are copying your own plot then you could just, y’know, play 2 of that plot and free up your draw deck space and then play better cards that aren’t Old Gods. If you want to copy opponents’ plots, then that is too inconsistent and reactive for me. In hindsight, the Design Team showed too much respect to the potential of the effect, and made it unplayable in the process.
jcwamma – 3 out of 5
Another where I’m not super-qualified to rate it, because my understanding of how arduous a trigger that is is very much lacking. But the effect is hella strong and needs to be respected greatly.
Von Wibble – 1 out of 5
Quite a lot of hoops here; one challenge type, the Old Gods restriction, having 2 spare gold lying about, and a useful plot of your own in the used pile. The dream is to get a surprise reset, but realistically are you going to manage all of that if you are behind and just used your own reset? Whereas using your opponent’s reset again is probably win-more.
Xelcor – 1 out of 5
Probably one of the worst cards in this set, just setting it up is very difficult. You have to invest quite a bit in deckbuilding to even attempt to make it work, and then you come into situations where you don’t even wanna reveal a plot if you go with Valar Morghulis or Heir to the Iron Throne (Heads on Spikes is always safe though!).
Arstan Whitebeard (3.7 Average)
Hagen – 4 out of 5
Probably my favourite card of the pack, I love chuds with a disadvantage to balance their high strength. In this case, Arstan’s downside is not even a downside, because he can still work as a mini Iron Throne for dominance, and if he dies, well you just paid 1 gold for him. I can’t see a single reason for not running him in every deck with a few Lords/Ladies in the list.
hagarrr – 4 out of 5
Arstan is lovely for setups and claim soak at his worst, and actually a cheap useful character if the criteria is met. He might be best in banner decks with multiple Lords and Ladies but I bet most Targaryen decks will play him as a 1x anyway.
jcwamma – 3 out of 5
Dany decks love efficient cheap pieces to help their setups. Even if he can’t kneel he can still be claim soak, or Marched soak or what have you.
Von Wibble – 3.5 out of 5
Very nice for setup and claim soak. In some decks you might even get to use him in challenges. Really, the only issue is the card name, as both Barristans are still good.
Xelcor – 4 out of 5
Arstan is in most if not all Targaryen decks a 1 of at least. Just very good for setup and even with the few lords/ladies they have it most often can do challenges. I am probably one off the few that plays Blood Magic Ritual so he gets blanked and it is a lot of fun but by no means is that worth the effort.
Summerhall (3.1 Average)
Hagen – 3.5 out of 5
Burn has a lot of haters, so designing something like this had more risks than benefits. Design team nailed it: Summerhall is thematic, balanced and doesn’t feel too oppressive for the opponent. If artworks would get an award too, this would be my choice for the pack.
hagarrr – 3 out of 5
Summerhall is the card Burn-deniers wish FFG had implemented in this game instead of Terminal Burn. Now that it actually does exist it feels… a little bit underwhelming. Duplicates and saves can still save from this, but it does grant ADINS and Astapor the ability to be more potent too. I think this card is probably in a good spot.
jcwamma – 3 out of 5
One of those cards it’s almost weird to think didn’t exist already. Feels fairly-costed with a clear application that isn’t game-breaking, I approve.
Von Wibble – 3 out of 5
ADINS just got a lot more dangerous. However, burn decks do have limited slots, and I don’t think there is quite enough efficient non-terminal burn for this to replace the terminal stuff just yet. Not much more needed though.
Xelcor – 3.5 out of 5
Summerhall lives and falls with how good Burn is in the meta, it is a good kill effect and works great with Astapor, but it also allows counter-play in the form that things can be saved because it is not a terminal kill just a normal one.
Ser Parmen Crane (2.6 Average)
Hagen – 3 out of 5
I was glad to see this theme getting more support. Sadly Rainbow Guards are used for their general good effect and not for their synergies, and in this view Parmen is probably the weakest of them, struggling to make the cut even in a Kingsguard deck. Rating will go up in case we’ll see more of those shiny guards released (but I’m not sure we will).
hagarrr – 2 out of 5
Another boring Tyrell card with far too many traits. I guess Parmen the Plucky holding the blade of his sword is as exciting as this card gets
jcwamma – 2 out of 5
Aggressively unexciting. A 3-for-3 renown bicon is fine but it just doesn’t get my blood pumping. Being conditional makes this worse. Traits are good though. Consider this a high 2.
Von Wibble – 3 out of 5
Very little to say here for a conditional French vanilla character, even if the condition is easy enough to fulfil.
Xelcor – 3 out of 5
It is a nice body with sometimes renown, Rainbowguard decks aren’t really on that high of e level, and in WB it is just a nice body for setup and surviving VD better, but he doesn’t give you the punch the decks sometimes wants from the big bodies. Solid char though.
Chivalry of the South (3.2 Average)
Hagen – 3 out of 5
Another interesting design that hasn’t had much success. Stats and traits are good, effect is strong but the trigger is harder than it seems. The main problem is you can’t play it early because the deck is hungry of gold, and you can’t run it late because boards will be bigger. It could work more as a stall plot than as a power grabbing one, as a smart opponent will not attack unless he’s sure of overcoming your triggers.
hagarrr – 4 out of 5
This plot is a great plot for the “remove from challenge” deck. In theory, it is quite easy to trigger this at least once per round with the amount of support this card has. The opponent must attack you with multiple characters to avoid having a single attacker removed and giving you two powers. The fact it can be triggered in challenges amongst your opponents in melee is quite fun, and in joust this gives you a way to directly gain power without wasting your board resources.
jcwamma – 2 out of 5
It’s a fun payoff effect for a theme I still am suspicious of the viability of. So much effort to dodge challenges when you can just use your high STR to win them.
Von Wibble – 2.5 out of 5
An interesting finisher for a different type of deck. The potential to gain 6 power is huge, especially if you manage it off an opponent’s challenge so you can still get a power challenge off. Whether it is fitting a top tier deck I’m less sure though. But it does look fun to try.
Xelcor – 4.5 out of 5
The only thing this plot is held back by is that remove from challenges doesn’t work against all the decks you normally have in a meta. If you play vs control this plot can do nothing sometimes, but if you can fully get all the triggers then 6 power is no joke, this plot is insanely strong and will just keep getting better. It even sees play in decks with minimal removal just because chars that jump back with reactions to winning also triggers it if they attacked alone.
Jalabhar Xho (2.8 Average)
Hagen – 3.5 out of 5
This unpronounceable man made a welcomed comeback in the game with a design I like a lot. Differently from Bronn, he succeeds in the purpose of making a strong body with a big downside playable. His value changes from game to game, but I found out him to be a great addition for rush or chuds decks, and even goodstuff playing Heir to the Iron Throne.
hagarrr – 3 out of 5
Whilst I don’t think Jalabhar the Hutt will see much play, I think he is halfway decent. He is alright against decks that prefer power on their characters, but I expect his main usage will be to smooth out setups and give non-Stark decks another option for Heir to the Iron Throne. He might be an option for stall decks to keep the power totals low and prolong games, and that might be something to keep an eye on.
jcwamma – 5 out of 5
I really don’t like this card existing, because stall decks can just permanently deny you power to steal unless you let them have the efficient chud. But it’s undeniably potent in those decks.
Von Wibble – 1 out of 5
Great for setup. Decent for a stall deck, as you can just keep spending a power to make your opponent spend one – or have an efficient character in play. Overall I’m just not sure the risk is worth the effort.
Xelcor – 1.5 out of 5
In theory this could be seen as a pretty good stall card to get your power from your faction card, but it hasn’t been figured out yet how to use it best, if at all.
The Moon Door (3.4 Average)
Hagen – 4 out of 5
I’m sure nobody expected such an impactful card when it was released, as the main focus was more on the passive effect rather than the reaction. Turned out the trigger is easier and stronger than it looked, opening to new strategies for Baratheon and Greyjoy. Some argued the combos are so good they are even worth of a pod, I think this card is a brilliant piece of design that is healthy for the game.
hagarrr – 4 out of 5
I’m pretty sure this rating is much higher than it would have been prior to release… At that time, I would have considered the Arryn tech to be weak and this to be niche. But then I forgot about Victarion being able to kneel a Warship and this to kill participating characters. That’s multiple cards to kill lesser characters but it can add up fast in the right environment. I guess giving another use to cards like Lay Siege can be a bonus to having cards like the Moon Door in the cardpool.
jcwamma – 1 out of 5
Two disparate and unconnected effects here. The first is underwhelming – if it had “+0.5 init., this location counts 0.5 str for dominance” I think it would be poorly received and that’s basically what this translates to – and I’m fascinated what happens when two or more players control this at the same time. The second is a narrow, visible kill effect opponents can play around for a niche deck I’ve never actually seen played. I think it’s probably just binder fodder.
Von Wibble – 4 out of 5
Repeatable kill, even requiring some deckbuilding and opponent’s participation in challenges, still can’t be ignored. The passive is very nice for some Martell decks too.
Xelcor – 4 out of 5
The Moon Door is in a very weird spot where the easiest to trigger it is with location control that is normally meant for your opponents locations. It can kill 59.62% of all characters in the game. It might stop some decks right in their tracks, very strong card but the kneel has to be a bit “cheesed”.
A Southron Peace (2.8 Average)
Hagen – 4 out of 5
The direct comparison is with Calm over Westeros, as both plots can help you survive on a difficult turn. Calm is more flexible and Peace is not as good as an opener, but negating military in a claim 2 round or against Khal Drogo makes it much better for mid-game. It’s a solid tool that a lot of decks will love.
hagarrr – 3 out of 5
This feels a lot like a Baratheon plot in many ways as it is similar to Parley at Storms End and their military nullifying tactics. Although this plot was introduced amid the plethora of claim raising and kill effects in this cycle, the fact I haven’t really seen this played at all despite plenty of fast kill decks in the meta means it is probably a failure of sorts. I think the plot is fair for the stats, but maybe overshadowed by other more easy-to-include plots with 5 gold or more.
jcwamma – 2 out of 5
This is one of those “release valve” plots that does nothing unless a specific deck is on top in the meta, at which point mid-range decks consider it for their 7th slot. Except, the benefit is so narrow here that is not worth considering. I know this stops all claim plus effects from the challenge happening, but if you need to delay aggro then just run Calm Over Westeros, it’s more flexible than this and gets you more gold, and isn’t dual-sided. And since you probably weren’t running Calm…
Von Wibble – 2 out of 5
This is decent if you go second in a Rains deck, so you can have a military challenge and your opponent can’t. Chances are your Rains flip would prevent a meaningful military challenge anyway though. I really want to like this, but would just want that 1 more gold.
Xelcor – 3 out of 5
It is a very solid plot if you don’t want to get aggroed out, but the gold is a bit of an issue. It works great in summer decks and might replace Calm over Westeros sometimes, if you are fine giving up the flexibility and that 1 gold. Always fun to have it vs a Sea of blood deck.
The Gold Price (2.2 Average)
Hagen – 2 out of 5
I had great expectations, but I had to reconsider my hype for this agenda. It goes from strong to useless depending on the matchup and your luck (which I don’t like), and if you try to build around that you’ll end up with some jank that is fun but not exactly competitive. I believe the addiction of the “random discard” took away most of the creative ideas that the card would have generated. You can still run it as a goodstuff agenda hoping to steal something good in the first rounds, but then why not run Rains of Castamere instead?
hagarrr – 2 out of 5
I think this agenda is only really viable in Lannister, given that they have more random discard effects than most. Other factions have to contend with their fewer discard options and the location kneeling drawback. The amount of times this whiffs on intrigue claims is truly a wonder to behold! The saving grace of this agenda is that it is something that can easily be supported in future with random discard effects and static location abilities.
jcwamma – 3 out of 5
This is fun but fair. The random factor makes it tough to justify trying to win a major tournament with, but the upside is obvious. I’m glad the trigger is narrow to stop it being op, but part of me wishes it was easier for more decks to use. Several factions will just always struggle to use this at all. But better than it being bloody everywhere I guess.
Von Wibble – 2 out of 5
This feels like one that will hit big in some rounds to virtually win the game off one discard, and will whiff the rest of the time. You have to discard a character, who, if unique, isn’t dead or already in play. Your opponent knows this so can play around it to an extent. Also, to get the most out of this and keep the character, you need to have spare cash lying around. Maybe a Lannister deck using non-pillage Tywin would do that. Maybe Stark can get something out of the fact the character is sacrificed. Martell could return characters to hand as well to improve their odds. I’ll be generous with the score to consider all of that.
Xelcor – 2 out of 5
The kneel on locations and the randomness makes it not a very viable agenda. You can have a lot of fun with it but with still limited random discard effects, it stays right now in only a few factions.
Card Averages
4.5 Ralf Kenning
4.4 Ghost
3.7 Arstan Whitebeard
3.5 Boots
3.5 The Old Hawk
3.4 The Moon Door
3.3 Acolyte of the Shadow
3.3 Highborn Recruit
3.2 Chivalry of the South
3.1 Summerhall
2.8 Jalabhar Xho
2.8 A Southron Peace
2.7 Tywin Lannister
2.6 Ser Parmen Crane
2.2 The Gold Price
2.2 Insubordination
2.1 Old Captain
2.0 The Throne of Drone
1.7 King Robert’s Legacy
1.7 Taste the Blood
Wow, it seems like a pretty weak pack of cards overall for CP2 of Mists of Memory! Who knew that The Gold Price wouldn’t be in the bottom 5 cards of this pack?! And why is Arstan so highly rated yet slated on Odrl’s YouTube channel?! And poor old Jalabhar Xho being one of those rarities that got both a 1 and a 5 rating…
Don’t forget to tell us all where we went wrong in our ratings, and thanks as always for reading!! <3
