Summer is in full force in wonderful Westeros, and with it comes a small update to the Restricted List. After discussion within the Restricted List team, we came to the conclusion that we should stay fairly limited in our actions this time around as new cards are finally released from the new cycle, and give time for the meta to shape up a bit more after new cards hit the table. The Restricted List v1.15 will be available online during the week of June 30th to July 4th, with no specific date yet decided.
Without further ado, here are the changes for the v1.15 Restricted List.
Joust
Greyjoy
A card getting a lot of traction lately inside Thrones discussion is Nightflyer. Already included in two pods, it continues to see consistent success in two prominent meta decks in Greyjoy Winter Choke decks and Night’s Watch Banner Kraken Choke decks. Therefore, Nightflyer has been added to the Restricted List, but also was removed from Pod 15 (Nightflyer + Nothing Burns Like The Cold). This should force the choke decks to choose between Nightflyer or playing one of the Restricted cards that they have been running currently.
Martell
Martell is still seemingly having issues to succeed in the current meta after getting some cards released from the Restricted List. We are monitoring the situation and are trying to slowly release cards to allow the moving of the needle to ensure that they get back on track in terms of success in the competitive meta. With that said, War Scorpion has been seen as a problematic card for a certain period of time (Coming on and off the RL several times now), and think it needs to be addressed. Therefore, War Scorpion is added to the Restricted List, but will also come with the removal of Pod 18 (War Scorpion and The Water Gardens). This should help mono Martell decks to succeed while also making it harder for decks like Uniting the Realms as it prevents both of them to be played together. In addition, we have decided to help Martell further and Remove In Doran’s Name from Pod 6 to further alleviate Martell decks with another tool.
The Night’s Watch
Night’s Watch was hit fairly harshly last Restricted List, and after further discussion, we have decided to Remove Three-Finger Hobb (R) from the Restricted List. This should help Night’s Watch not fall off too much after the last hits, while still preventing them to run cards like Sentinel Stand and The Crone in a deck filled with small units.
Neutral
Last Restricted List, we have hit non loyal decks quite harshly by adding both The Hollow Hill and Uniting the Realm to the List. While we do want to prevent those Uniting the Realm decks to fetch any card as they play non loyal characters mostly, we don’t want to limit other decks to be harmed by that mostly problematic interaction. With the being said, The Hollow Hill has been removed from the Restricted List but Added to a Pod with Uniting the Realm. This should allow decks who want to focus on not playing loyal characters as a way to draw their needed characters as this prevents them from running any loyal cards which usually are the cards with Insight.
Melee
As for now, we are making no changes to Melee, but with the online feature now available, it will be better monitored in the future updates.
We hope these small changes along with the new cards coming out help players find new decks that they can enjoy building and playing, and expect bigger changes in the next update once more cards from the Sea of Shadows have hit the tables and gives us a clearer picture of a direction to take for the meta for the greatest event of the year, Stahleck.
