Hello everybody! So jcwamma has decreed that we must finish the entire cycle of pack reviews before Stahleck. Yeah, I know, how unreasonable. That has forced us all to sit in our underground libraries and eke out these words by candlelight. Sadly, House Maester Xelcor fell asleep and didn’t complete it time, but here comes Grandmaester Johannes to the rescue! So without further ado, let’s get into it…
Ser Andrew Estermont (3.3 Average)
Hagen – 3.5 out of 5
Despite looking a bit niche, I like this card. A loyal body with good traits, the lacking intrigue icon for Baratheon and a save effect that also gives power? The R’hllor requirement limits him a bit (and that’s a good thing), but kneel decks should consider at least one copy of this guy.
hagarrr – 3 out of 5
Fair cost for stats, and seems like a playable save in a few decks. Where Spears of the Merling King allow you to save and recur characters for effects, Ser Andrew allows you to save your big dude by killing a R’hllor character. Seeing as the most likely kill effect is Valar Morghulis and that R’hllor character is going to die anyway, seems fine to me. The additional power is just a cherry on top, bonus points if it goes on Fast Bob.
jcwamma – 4 out of 5
Firstly, just to answer questions I got about my reviews last time, these are genuine first flush reviews from me. I’ve made no attempt to keep up with the meta, and am using my experience with the game to predict the power level of these bastard cards. So yeah, a couple of them were probably very wrong, and a couple of these doubtless will be too. But they’re not me trolling or being blind to the meta, they’re just me being honest and wrong. Don’t let that detract from how definitely-correct all the other reviews are though!
Anyway, this card. Gross. I don’t think it goes in many decks, but giving Bara a way of preserving their Voltron in Qohor without needing to rely on Long May He Reign seems strong. And who knows, maybe we can get a functioning Melisandre-centric deck at some point too!
Johannes – 3 out of 5
Ser Andrew is a very balanced card in my book. A cost slot and icons Bara doesn’t have that many. Having two positive traits is also nice, especially since The Seven characters lack 4-costers. Suites well to a knights deck as well. The ability is quite niche but can be effective with the Fast Bob and both can be kept for Dohaeris as well, so it’s a good char to keep Bob safe if you just have a R’hllor character.
Von Wibble – 3 out of 5
Plenty of R’hllor chuds you can use for this effect, so its decent insurance for your big guy. Worth a 1 of in a R’hllor heavy deck I’d say.
The Laughing Storm (3.9 Average)
Hagen – 4 out of 5
I’m not a fan of expensive attachments that are useless until you have the right location and fragile once you play them. But the card’s text is unquestionably strong, both for the great passive and the easy trigger reaction. Strongholds needed a while before people started to use them properly, so it could happen the same with tapestries, at least the strongest ones like Laughing Storm.
hagarrr – 4 out of 5
Ha ha ha ha! The Laughing Storm is lovingly (!) remembered by Baratheons in Tapestry form. The ability to block cards from being discarded from hand now has an off-switch, paired with an action that encourages you to use it by winning a challenge and triggering a kneel effect. This seems good as the second player; ignore intrigue challenges, or defend and trigger this and then sequencing your challenges to maximum effect. The only question is though, can you easily win challenges with the tempo lost from setting this up? Add in the inherent vulnerabilities a Tapestry has, and I think it is for a specialized deck; so not an auto-include by any means.
jcwamma – 4 out of 5
The only reason I’ve not gone 5 here is that it is an expensive attachment that requires a unique location for it to go on, allowing for counterplay. But holy balls, my Stahleck deck from last year would’ve *loved* this.
Johannes – 4 out of 5
The passive is very good for Baratheon. Bara doesn’t have that many powerful intrigue icons and protecting your hand can be difficult. The Laughing Storm solves that issue. The reaction is also great. Since it works on defence, the opponent must be careful with chud challenges. The opportunity cost for Baratheon to have an unique location is average. It doesn’t fit all decks, but some decks run a lot of unique locations. Lanni players might hate this card.
Von Wibble – 3.5 out of 5
Sad to see the flavour text is gone. On the card, the standing condition is nowhere near as onerous for an attachment as it is for a character. The kneel is a nice option, the immunity to intrigue claim is good, and if you are second player, which non intimidate kneel decks like, you can have the best of both. Bara run unique locations so you have targets to attach this to. As with all the tapestries there is a real tempo hit though.
Tarle the Thrice-Drowned (3.3 Average)
Hagen – 4.5 out of 5
I’m inadequate to judge Drowned Gods cards as to me they all look bonkers. Similarly to Intimidate Tywin, this old man suffers only from the name they slapped on him. The effect is extremely good, and the solid body with renown makes him a perfect candidate for being the staple of a new wave of those filthy decks. I just hope people are not brave enough to give up on the old Tarle.
hagarrr – 3 out of 5
I like this Tarle a lot, even if he does look like a slightly murderous grandpa. Providing multiple Acolyte of the Waves and Drowned Prophet triggers is really good, as well as having Aeron Damphair or Victarion being brought into play and swapping it out for a chud. Beware of the double Prophet trigger allowable from the nested reaction window; or maybe not actually because this Tarle probably won’t see much play unless the other one rotates out.
jcwamma – 2 out of 5
If the lad wasn’t called Tarle he’d be at least a 4. Getting to trigger recursion and death effects is nice, and the renown isn’t shabby either. But he’s called Tarle and I think the other one is better, soz.
Johannes – 3.5 out of 5
I love this new Tarle. Having renown encourages doing challenges and with help of Priest he can be very beefy. The ability is also great. Triggering Disciple and killing Acolyte twice is just so strong. Only thing keeping this card’s score this low is the other, boring, Tarle. It’s a card that has made drowned god decks click before. I’ve enjoyed playing the new Tarle far more than the old one though.
Von Wibble – 3.5 out of 5
Solid if boring. A relatively rare chunky intrigue icon too.
The Drowned God Wakes (2.4 Average)
Hagen – 3.5 out of 5
Same as above. I never saw it in play but I already hate it. I’m not wasting my time thinking in how many ways you could play this but the combo with Victarion should be illegal.
hagarrr – 1.5 out of 5
What a scary looking card! It is a pity it isn’t good enough to see play. The conditions and cost are fairly steep for Greyjoy players, who don’t usually like to keep a lot of gold through to dominance, and who struggle to protect their hand. In Drowned God this is obviously best, but you probably aren’t triggering this in the early game until you can comfortably win Dom, and your opponent just keeps their best character anyway and carries on as normal next round. In a world where Great Wyk and No Godless Man are consistently playable, this could have better value. Until then, play better cards.
jcwamma – 2 out of 5
As always, the power of dominance-only events, that cost gold and have a condition attached to them, is going to be majorly overrated. If the effect wasn’t so strong I’d give this a 1. (Worth also saying that the dominance phase is the worst point in the game to get a reset off.)
Johannes – 2.5 out of 5
The effect is very strong and drowned god decks surely can trigger this. Biggest issue for me with this card is the investment you have to make. And you actually have to save the 2 gold and not to use The Highroad when needed. Most times you can trigger it, you are already ahead, and you don’t need it. If you are behind, you’d rather want characters on the board.
Von Wibble – 2.5 out of 5
This feels like a card that may well sit in your hand for a while, as winning dominance by 10 is a big ask, and holding on to 2 gold, even if it does help with the dom win, is also not ideal. The effect is very hard to ignore though.
Warrior’s Sons (2.5 Average)
Hagen – 3.5 out of 5
Design wise this card is perfect. Super thematic with its agenda, strong body and effect but with downsides coming from the fact he’s an expensive fragile non-unique, and forces you to choose with the old version (to be fair this one is much better). If new Lancel wasn’t enough to justify a Lannister Seven deck, those beautiful armors can dissolve all of your doubts.
hagarrr – 3 out of 5
Standy non-unique beatstick. Cool I guess? Will certainly see play in Faith Militant (if anybody plays Lanni Faith Militant), and these are probably quite nice for free with Lancel. Otherwise, meh.
jcwamma – 2 out of 5
Fun personal story. My first ‘infamous’ review in Thrones was a first edition card called House Clegane Brigands. It was a non-unique army for Lannister that was quite expensive and didn’t do anything super-fancy, but it did have 5 STR and stand for a relatively easy reaction. Part of me is worried I’m making the same mistake again here. But I think we have a couple of key differences – firstly, 5 STR doesn’t mean as much in second edition as in first, so standing this bad boy isn’t as impactful; secondly, and probably more importantly, the reaction to stand this requires another card effect. Yes, you have Sparrows or the Faith Militant agenda or what have you, but still it’s an extra step and if you’re running those cards, you presumably already have triggers for them. So yeah, I think this will shine in decks that actually leverage it, but overall it’s unimpressive, and I look forward to being wrong again.
Johannes – 2 out of 5
Six gold investment is just big for Faith Militant decks which Warrior’s Sons belong. I guess it’s meant to be cheated in with Lancel Lannister. Other than that triggering Faith Militant agenda on him gets you use it twice but not sure if that’s enough for 6 gold 5 str bicon.
Von Wibble – 2 out of 5
The other Warrior’s Sons is serviceable enough, this is in effect just a beatstick you can get to use twice – if you can get power onto them. The Faith Militant agenda seems the most obvious method, Brotherhood without Banners is another. Not bad, but I’m just not sure the deck I want them in exists yet. If this was a Baratheon card I’d be rating it higher.
The Sack of King’s Landing (2.3 Average)
Hagen – 2.5 out of 5
It’s not a bad in itself (great stats, War trait and passive effect), but from a faction plot you’d expect better. The trigger is much more difficult than it seems on paper, and it’s hard to justify its inclusion for something where you have little or none control of. Lannister Pillage is a super cool concept but it’s all fun and inconsistency, and this plot doesn’t help it.
hagarrr – 2 out of 5
This plot looks like a lot of fun if you like the Lannister gambling effects. Seeing as it works outside of challenges too, it pairs well with Lay Waste and other location discard tools. But if you’re using it in ordinary challenges, don’t expect it to work amazingly well, even with pillage Tywin. Most cases you’ll whiff completely, but when you do kill that 1 cost reducer, you will rejoice!
jcwamma – 2 out of 5
Lots of 2 in a row for me here! The Pillage deck is fun but it’s hardly meta-shaking (I look forward to learning it dominated the summer now), and one turn where you get to pick off some claim soak, maybe, won’t change that. The reaction is scary, and if this card is better than I think it is then my guess is it’s probably because the Pillage part is a red herring and this is actually meant to go with Put to the Torch and its ilk.
Johannes – 2 out of 5
This card is from Lanni pillage jank yard. It can be fun for the player using it but, in the end, Lanni pillage just lacks a win condition and this card just doesn’t help in that regard. Lannister just has too many more effective decks and some might be even more fun to play.
Von Wibble – 3 out of 5
Ignoring the reaction for a moment, we have a plot with decent gold and good initiative, together with a likely mill of 3-4 opponent’s card should you want. After that we have pot luck. You might hit a dupe of a big stronghold and take out their big. You might hit a Great Hall and take out their claim/Marched soak chud. But more realistically, you are probably just going to make them not want to kill their reducer chud by using their Kingsroad this turn. This has the feel of being the 8th plot in my Lanni plot deck before I cut it.
Ser Arys Oakheart (4.1 Average)
Hagen – 4 out of 5
This orange Knight of Flowers has an interesting design that fuels the cool concept of manipulating who can and cannot partecipate in challenges. A strong body with renown would normally find space even in goodstuff decks from his faction, but the cost limits his playability. We’ll see him in every White Book deck though, even if someone would argue they didn’t need more renown bodies.
hagarrr – 4.5 out of 5
Apology Arys has good traits, good cost to STR ratio, renown, and a synergistic ability to some Martell themes. A lot of this rating goes towards the fact he has a lot for his cost rather than him being a really impactful card, but despite that, I doubt he will be an auto-include in all Martell decks. I do expect him to be imported into all the White Book decks across the land though so you’ll be annoyed by him more often than you think.
jcwamma – 4 out of 5
5-for-5 renown bicon with two good traits and a good ability, yeah seems like this’ll play. Auto-include for White Book at a bare minimum.
Johannes – 4 out of 5
Ser Arys is the best Tyrell card of the cycle. Martell has some synergy in forcing characters in the challenges but those don’t tend to be the best decks outside Qohor. But Ser Arys is just a good body with renown and nice ability. The White Book decks just love him as he is another good target for The White Swords plot. And getting renown character with a good ability into multiple challenges is just great.
Von Wibble – 4 out of 5
Finally, The Right Ser Arys Oakheart. Unusually beefy for a Martell character too. He has enough of an impact on the challenge maths to really help your board, and is just cheap enough to play nicely with core Arianne.
Vulture King (2.1 Average)
Hagen – 2 out of 5
And the winner for the best artwork is… an attachment that gives pillage. In a faction that doesn’t have a single pillage card. The lose icon concept is nice, but why do you also have to discard your own card? I wanted to like this so badly, but the effect is niche and in the end you’re still paying one for an attachment with a bad keyword. Maybe could have at least made the character a King?
hagarrr – 2 out of 5
I’m not down with the lore on this but I find it amusing that an attachment called the Vulture King doesn’t grant the King trait! As for the effect, flexible icon removal conditional upon winning challenges seems… a bit weak I guess? There are easier ways to remove icons, and I think the shadow Arianne decks wouldn’t have room for this.
jcwamma – 1 out of 5
I’m meant to play a unique attachment that costs gold, just to get to remove one icon that I can’t even remove before the challenge? Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure this can be used well, but there’s so much icon control I’d use before it. Unless there’s some wacky combination with the self-mill aspect I’m overlooking, this looks like a card designed mostly to just be flavour for something from a fictional encyclopedia.
Johannes – 1.5 out of 5
Another Martell icon control card. I don’t think Martell has much pillage synergy and since it doesn’t give a King trait Martell lacks, not sure if it fits Martell icon control decks. There are just better options for Martell. I guess in theory it might feed Flea Bottom or Edric Dayne. Probably the latter is more consistent since Shadow City can discard cards in shadows for draw. Some sort of janky Gold Mine.
Von Wibble – 4 out of 5
Fuelling your discard pile isn’t necessarily a bad thing, and 1 cost flexible and repeatable icon control, even with a condition attached, is good. Put this onto Caleotte, win or lose you are removing their icons. I love any Martell card that makes your opponent’s decisions all about doing the least worst thing.
Marsh’s Conspirator (2.7 Average)
Hagen – 2.5 out of 5
As if this faction wasn’t running already 3 Milks, here’s another way to blank characters, but really expensive. He probably doesn’t make much sense unless you’re trying to build around shadows and want more triggers, and even in that case, he’s not going to be irreplaceable.
hagarrr – 3 out of 5
Non-repeatable Meera but for the Night’s Watch. This seems fairly weak on the face of it, but there are some possibilities available for this. The new Bowen Marsh released in this cycle has a need for a number of shadow triggers, the Steward trait is still relevant, and being a monocon works with Sentinel Stand. Is that enough? Dunno
jcwamma – 3 out of 5
A complicated 3, this. Meera is great. Part of the reason Meera is great is for having the same ability, at the same cost, as Marsh’s Conspirator. But the main reason Meera is great is because you can trigger it several times. And she survives lots of things. And she has Stealth. I was very tempted to give this a 2. But, the Steward trait is very useful. A relatively cheap, non-unique Steward with a playable ability goes a long way towards making the long-vaunted Steward deck a thing that might actually function.
Johannes – 3 out of 5
A non-unique Meera cannot be terrible, right? But probably isn’t that great either, since there are no built-in recursion for them. The body is ok, but nothing great. The NW doesn’t lack intrigue icons anymore.
Von Wibble – 2 out of 5
I think I’d rather just run Nightmares if I want this effect cheaply. Nightmares coming with an extra cost of 3 for a character just isn’t worth it. Yes, you can repeat this, but at 2 a pop that’s a bit much.
Legacy of the Watch (2.9 Average)
Hagen – 4 out of 5
This is close to the Baratheon one, having a stronger effect but a more specific trigger. The great advantage here comes from the fact every NW deck is going to play the Wall or other unique locations and has more ways to defend them against opponent’s hate, so they are going to be one of the best factions for running tapestries.
hagarrr – 1 out of 5
Ugh. Tapestries have their own problems being quite vulnerable, but one that requires win by 5 triggers is a tougher sell. If you are only able to trigger this once per round, the only one that I think makes it worth it is the ability to draw 2 cards, but even then, NW have myriad ways to draw cards already. The participating characters requirement makes this just really awkward to use. Triggering this multiple times a round provides fantastic value, but I am very sceptical about the likelihood of doing so. I reckon it stays in the binder.
jcwamma – 2 out of 5
If I was to describe this in one word, it would be “fiddly”. It goes on a unique NW location. Mostly – not entirely, but mostly – those are the more defensive cards. But then here you need to win by 5 STR to get the triggers. And to properly leverage the triggers, you need to have more than one of the various traits. The dream version of this effect is incredible, but I feel like you were already winning that game. Maybe the best bet is combining this with Sentinel’s Stand, where you have a pretty solid spread of the different monocons? But yeah, fiddly, final answer.
Johannes – 3.5 out of 5
NW has enough unique locations to have good targets the Tapestry. The upside is huge for the card if you can trigger it multiple times a round with different traits. Maybe the generalist NW decks just aren’t the best ones and Builders, Stewards and Rangers are just better as themselves. Rangers might want the power but lack unique locations, Stewards don’t really need more draw. So I think it’s best used in builders that can win power challenge back and might not need to care about defending the Wall that much.
Von Wibble – 4 out of 5
No limit on the triggers here, so you could get all 3 effects in 1 challenge or across 3 challenges. Well, you could in theory get all 3 effects across all challenges in the phase, but if you are in that position you have already won. Feels worth a 1 of for the draw effect for sure, and if you run a Wall deck you can go for a more aggro (dare I say, interactive) Builders type deck – you don’t care if they kneel the Wall if you can just stand it again! Early tempo hit though.
Galbart Glover (2.5 Average)
Hagen – 2.5 out of 5
It could be an interesting concept if Ralf Kenning wasn’t around, but Galbart is basically doing the same thing in a more expensive and inconsistent way. With that cost and the absence of keywords you’ll definitely find something better in Stark.
hagarrr – 3 out of 5
A blank 5 cost 4 STR bicon when the opponent has a Summer plot is a pretty bad deal for Stark, especially with Summer plots being evergreen in their popularity. If they do not though, Galbart applies some minor, likely inefficient, choke effect. I don’t think this will be hugely impactful unless Stark is already winning the game, but then I think it’s fine if Stark doesn’t have access to the strongest choke tools in the game.
jcwamma – 2 out of 5
The effect is fine. But it’s a choke card in a faction that doesn’t really do that, and it adds nothing else.
Johannes – 2 out of 5
Stark choke isn’t much of a thing so Glover just doesn’t have enough support. Stark might play the Winter plots but usually not from Kings of Winter agenda. And for another kind of Winter based decks the body is just too weak to compete for all the other effective Stark characters.
Von Wibble – 3 out of 5
I’m probably overrating it as I tend to with choke cards, but when people design their cost curve they often have just enough money, so even a 1 gold difference makes all the …difference. The requirement of more Winter than Summer does make this card harder to justify, and the fact he’s not a squid makes it harder to combo with other effects beyond Kings of Winter.
Ice (3.0 Average)
Hagen – 3.5 out of 5
Glad we have the new version of an iconic card that doesn’t see play anymore. They’re quite similar in what they’re trying to achieve, except this one will stick around and haunt you for the whole game. Cost 3 attachment is always hard to justify so I don’t expect to see it often, but it’s a strong card for a deck focused on attachments or heavy on resets.
hagarrr – 3.5 out of 5
I like this design of Ice quite a lot. Being able to cancel duplicates was a thing in the first edition, but not so much in the second edition. In having this ability, it makes the opponent’s reset more likely to backfire on them should they have saves, but then in some matchups it will do little. I like the flexibility of being able to play this aggressively with claim raise to render saves useless, but I am on the fence whether this is just worse than Core Ice in most aggressive scenarios.
jcwamma – 2 out of 5
‘spensive innit. It’s a neat effect, but ‘spensive.
Johannes – 3 out of 5
This Ice is just very nice especially in Qohor. It might be even better without the other version of the Ice. Aggro decks just might prefer core set version. It’s a nice card anyway and can be very annoying for the opponent.
Von Wibble – 3 out of 5
“His name is Dave. He cancels saves.”
This should be a Martell card, right?
Daenerys Targaryen (4.4 Average)
Hagen – 4.5 out of 5
This card is amazing: most useful keyword in Targ, perfects traits, potential synergy with Drogo and multiple power grab that even goes on faction instead of characters. The issue of the name she brings is here softened by the fact Dothrakis rarely used to play Daenerys anyway, so it won’t be difficult to find space for her. I’ve not seen her enough in action to justify an higher mark, but the card is looking incredibly strong.
hagarrr – 5 out of 5
Fr-aenerys Targaryen is a great tool for Dothraki decks. The cost to stats are good when paired with insight and giving Drogo intimidate, but the real good stuff is in that reaction. Many times I expect it will trigger for a small number of powers, but combinations with Overwhelming Numbers and other jump cards gives this a lot of potential. When playing against passive decks that play to the board, this can generate an awful lot of power quickly.
jcwamma – 5 out of 5
I assume this goes in all Bloodrider decks, right? Draw, power-grab and intimidate, all highly useful. And she even has the Dothraki trait to boot. 6 money is expensive money, but as a complete package Dany seems wholly worth it here.
Johannes – 3.5 out of 5
This Dany is just sweet. I guess this Dany fits better for Dothraki Crossing or something like that instead of full aggro. Still it’s a great body for the Womb and might help Dothrakis to close the game faster. Sometimes she feels a bit like a win more card though.
Von Wibble – 4 out of 5
Getting Daenerys plus 2 Bloodriders on the board isn’t too difficult. At that stage you have effectively a character with double renown and insight. The problem isn’t what this card can do, it’s the opportunity cost of not just running a different Dany. But I think this does have a niche to fill.
Naught But Ashes (2.3 Average)
Hagen – 2 out of 5
Apart from the disturbing artwork, it doesn’t feel it will do enough. It wouldn’t be difficult to give a huge malus in an Assault deck, but if you don’t have restricted Dany or Summerhall it’s pointless spending 3 gold just to win a challenge whilst you can do that with classical burn and less restrictions. Glad they’re pushing the theme further, the problem will always be the comparison with the stuff we already have.
hagarrr – 2 out of 5
A card that costs 3 gold to trigger, requires investment of multiple more golds and cards to make it worth it, and doesn’t provide a “kill if STR is 0” kicker is unconvincing. Clearly aimed toward Dragonpit and/or Assault from the Shadows decks, it will have a place where it can do some damage and be a threat. The newly released Summerhall also looks to give this event some teeth too, but after years of burning victims with ease, Targaryen players aren’t going to be eager to gobble up this chaff.
jcwamma – 2 out of 5
So it’s 3 gold total, only works on participating characters that don’t have attachments, and needs you to be running shadows cards (immediately after it itself has left shadows), and isn’t terminal? I respect the power of burn as an archetype too much to go zero, but this feels like a pretty bad deal.
Johannes – 2.5 out of 5
This card is hard to review. It feels like a perfect card for Targ Assaul burn deck. The issue is that Targ Assault, or hardcore burn for that matter, isn’t very strong at the moment.
Von Wibble – 3 out of 5
You aren’t running this just in case your opponent has shadows, so clearly it goes in 1 deck, Dragonpit burn. Which is fine in itself.
Willas Tyrell (3.4 Average)
Hagen – 3 out of 5
Justifying 5 cost for 2 strength is extremely tough, and the past showed us those cards turned out incredibly bad because they are useless in challenges (I’m looking at you, Janos and Shavepate). The risk with Willas is still there, but he has positive trait and keyword, an effect that cannot be cancelled and a continuous strength boost that’s always helpful. Not a card for every deck, but I like him.
hagarrr – 3 out of 5
I consider this quite a fun design for Tyrell, even though they are the indisputably most boring faction in the history of Thrones. Why on earth are we giving cool effects to a faction that exists just to draw cards and gain gold I do not know! I will have fun experimenting with Willas in attacking/defending alone decks, as a single STR pump on him will be active for all challenges in which the condition is met. Is it competitive though? I think it could be one day.
jcwamma – 3 out of 5
+2 STR in any challenge as long as you only have one participating character is… fine. It’s fine. But is it “5 gold” fine? I guess the way you leverage this more is by boosting Willas’s STR so he sits in the back while you win every challenge with chuds, and I don’t hate that, but it feels janky and disruptable even if it’s powerful when it works. So yeah, middling rating.
Johannes – 3 out of 5
Willas is a good card and nice design. It’s easy to fit in Tyrell good stuff decks and it can be built around as well. There are a lot of synergies with cards like At the Palace of Sorrows, Grand Melee, Core Knight of Flowers, Jousting Contest etc. I guess the problem with building around Willas is, that he is a weak body himself and doesn’t really help you win games. He might be very annoying for your opponent though and I would like to try him especially in melee.
Von Wibble – 5 out of 5
The design on this one is great. He has to participate for you to get insight, but the fact he gives the STR even if knelt makes your opponent have to commit so much more to be able to attack or successfully defend. The wording also means he doesn’t just get burnt straight away too.
The Warden of the South (2.8 Average)
Hagen – 2.5 out of 5
Alright, standing is always strong especially if you slap it on Renly or another Tyrell beef. Problem is there are already better cards that do the same, either standing a pumped guy or giving strength boost and useful trait. It’s not bad, it’s just a bit boring (the artwork is beautiful though).
hagarrr – 3 out of 5
A straight up upgrade on Seal of the Hand in Tyrell, with plenty of ways to provide STR boosts to characters. Playing this attachment in Qohor or Valyrian Steel will allow you to attach the Title and react immediately which is very appealing, and the Commander trait gives it some more flexibility with other agendas. The only downside is that Tyrell only have a limited number of really desirable targets for this, although I suppose any renown character would be just fine.
jcwamma – 2 out of 5
If Highgarden Courtier didn’t exist I’d rate this at least a 3 and maybe a 4, but I think you run 3 of those before 1 of this and that just makes it way too niche, especially given it costs 2 and can only go on Tyrell Lords.
Johannes – 3 out of 5
It’s a good attachment that helps Tyrell Battle of the Trident but fits in good stuff decks as well. But especially in the former, you don’t necessarily have a lot of targets. I guess standing Renly is always a good thing though. And getting him to 7 str is also nice.
Von Wibble – 3.5 out of 5
Randyll on a stick. As this lets you stand a character after being ambushed in or appearing from shadows, decks like Valyrian Steel like this effect. Even in other agendas you have enough strength increases to trigger it without difficulty.
Belligerent Heir (1.2 Average)
Hagen – 1 out of 5
What a mess: the strength/cost ratio is just horrible (in Free Companies he will be 1 STR unless you waste a trigger for him); the Lord trait is great, but Freys already have cheaper Lords to sacrifice for Heir; and the trigger would be ok, if it wasn’t extremely risky (imagine putting a gold on Vargo and then lose the challenge for some reason). Glad to see more Frey cards, but not like this one.
hagarrr – 1.5 out of 5
An interesting use of gold on characters with this card, with the target almost always but not necessarily, himself. I have had enough of House Frey cards though and I don’t think there is anything interesting about the theme anymore, so whilst I think the sacrifice condition is a bit harsh, I couldn’t really care any less.
jcwamma – 1 out of 5
I cannot jive with that reaction even a little bit. Without the reaction, it’s a 4-for-2 bicon with no upside. And the reaction is a win-more. You see the contradiction there, right?
Johannes – 1.5 out of 5
I don’t think Frey bestow decks are a thing despite getting some support for them. I guess you kinda want to rush with Freys and Belligerent Heir is just too weak body to start with. With a big downside, I’m not sure it’s worth the investment.
Von Wibble – 1 out of 5
Seems expensive for what he does, given that only neutral characters get the gold. If Begging Brother had enough challenge clout this would be a nice way to ensure he is topped up I suppose, but I think I’d rather just bestow an extra 1 there. I just don’t see which deck he goes into.
The Red Fork (1.6 Average)
Hagen – 1.5 out of 5
I was a firm believer of Trident’s potential, but nobody has proved me right yet. The Forks are meant to enhance it, but I feel they are too expensive for this. Sure, once the engine rolls you’re getting advantage in the long run, but until you have one Fork, the Trident and are able to win the exact challenge with margin those locations do basically nothing. Red Fork could find space in some aggro that needs to go first, but between Maiden, Kingsroads or Refurbished Hulk for Greyjoy do you really need this?
hagarrr – 1.5 out of 5
Designed to be combined with The Trident, and the initiative modifier is likely the most appropriate one for a deck that likes to win military challenges by 5. I expect the Trident deck is a bit of a meme rather than any consistent viable archetype and so this rating will reflect that.
jcwamma – 1 out of 5
I’m not playing a maindeck location that only serves to get +2 initiative, even if I can sometimes put it into play for free. If there’s an external synergy that I’m unaware of, soz. (I don’t think The Trident alone is enough.)
Johannes – 2.5 out of 5
I guess the Forks are designed to support The Trident. This might be the best fit for them, since in general you want to do military challenges with the high claim early. And you want to go first, so initiative is a thing. Just bit unsure if The Trident decks can afford to pay 2 gold for this in order to keep tempo and board advantage.
Von Wibble – 1.5 out of 5
As with the other Forks, there is clear Trident synergy here, and it is nice to have a location to recur for Rickard Karstark. But I’d rather have the Green Fork and would struggle to fit both in.
Greyscale (2.0 Average)
Hagen – 1.5 out of 5
I liked the idea, but are you really going to risk giving your opponent a card only for the chance to kill a chud (because obviously you’re not putting this on a big character)? And even in that case, the chud with this card would probably not survive challenge phase, making it useless since it’s terminal. There are potential synergies with Sweetrobin or Martell/Baratheon that manipulate the hand but it’s a very niche usage.
hagarrr – 3 out of 5
This design of Greyscale is really quite thematic. I appreciate the symmetry of people catching greyscale from others in the lore and the movement of the Greyscale attachment in this game. Sadly though, it seems that Greyscale is more potent in the lore, as I have not seen this attachment kill a great many characters. As a repeatable ongoing effect though, it has to be respected, and I’m sure there will be a day when it has a great impact on a game when the stars align!
jcwamma – 2 out of 5
This is cute, and I like it a lot. But I don’t think it’s super-powerful unless you can, like, shred the opponent’s hand and combine it with stuff like The Father. The upside is strong but unwieldy.
Johannes – 2 out of 5
The design is cool, but the card is janky for sure. It’s probably not intended but it’s also a mill card. Not sure if this card and be played reliably and consistently for the effect.
Von Wibble – 1.5 out of 5
Anything with Dominance action tends to be a lot weaker than it looks (OK, Core Varys may be an exception to that!). Killing a 5+ coster seems unlikely to happen, and if you swing and miss you give your opponent a card. Killing a chud to set up Marched feels all well and good, but if your opponent had 2 chuds out before challenges and you attached this to one of them, then that’s the one they take for military claim, which discards this Terminal card. Hand information is nice, but chances are they play the card you saw in their next marshalling anyway. I;m giving half a point for the possible deal making in melee – eg I will put this on your 7 coster and trigger it to give you cards if you let my challenge through unopposed. Apart from that, am I missing something?
City Blockade (3.7 Average)
Hagen – 3 out of 5
Not much to say, a safe choke starter with good stats. I’m also glad the City plotline has an alternative to At The Gates, so if you want to run Gulltown this is probably better than Manning as first plot. Sadly most decks run non-limited economy anyway so I don’t expect this to warp the meta.
hagarrr – 4.5 out of 5
Finally! Another viable City plot opener to change up the City plot lineup, and also a tool for choke decks to apply pressure. An extra half point given from me for spicing up the plot game by blocking At the Gates completely, making turn 1 more impactful over multiple games. Whether it will deter people from playing AtG remains to be seen, especially when I have seen many opening The Maiden and playing At the Gates turn 2 instead. For a chokey plot, the 5 gold is quite generous too, making a fairly easy inclusion compared to more impactful 4 gold plots.
jcwamma – 5 out of 5
LOL. To elaborate: At the Gates has been the ultimate no-brainer opener for most (not all, but most) decks since its release, to the point where it was banned for a bit. This hard-counters it, and has a bunch of application beyond that. So it gets a 5 for being viable and making the plot game interesting again.
Johannes – 3 out of 5
City Blockade might not be great but it’s a possible City plot opener in addition to At the Gates or some sub-optimal options. It’s a meta call but not necessarily a real choke card. It might be annoying for your opponent though but not sure how you utilize it best yourself. Maybe in a 321 deck, but I assume plots slots are tight in those decks.
Von Wibble – 3 out of 5
A hard counter to At the Gates, and an alternative opener to a city plot deck for those who don’t like giving their opponents cards. It’s a nice opener for a non-winter choke deck too.
Card Averages
4.4 Daenerys Targaryen
4.1 Ser Arys Oakheart
3.9 The Laughing Storm
3.7 City Blockade
3.4 Willas Tyrell
3.3 Ser Andrew Estermont
3.3 Tarle the Thrice-Drowned
3.0 Ice
2.9 Legacy of the Watch
2.8 The Warden of the South
2.7 Marsh’s Conspirator
2.5 Galbart Glover
2.5 Warrior’s Sons
2.4 The Drowned God Wakes
2.3 Naught But Ashes
2.3 The Sack of King’s Landing
2.1 Vulture King
2.0 Greyscale
1.6 The Red Fork
1.2 Belligerent Heir
Well if you though the review for CP2 was curmudgeonly, it seems like we’re not much happier with CP3 either! Who knew that Ser Andrew Estermont wouldn’t be in the bottom 5 cards of this pack?! Why is The Laughing Storm so busted and overpowered but only received an average of less than 4? And we almost all agreed perfectly on Willas until Von Wibble bowled in with his 5/5 rating…. We’ll see you again in a week or so when we review CP4: Ten Thousand Ships!
