Samwell Tarly

If I play SAMWELL do I draw two cards for playing himself (SAMWELL)?

Samwell is not a Raven card, so playing him does not satisfy the play restrictions and you cannot draw. 

That said, there might be some convoluted combo in which he gains the Raven trait during the Response window after he is played, which would allow him to respond to himself being played. But 99.99% of the time, he can't draw off of himself.

For those decks that run Samwell as a draw engine, how do they guarantee getting him out? Just run him 3x and hope?

Basically.

Then cry when Threat from the North, Venemous Blade, Grey Wind, Iron Throne, etc.. show up.  He is good, but on too many players radars at the moment.

That said, there might be some convoluted combo in which he gains the Raven trait during the Response window after he is played, which would allow him to respond to himself being played. But 99.99% of the time, he can't draw off of himself.

-  Have the 4-7-1 castle that cheats a 1g card into play when moved to used.

-  Play Citadel law to kneel a maester (w/ copper link attached) to reveal a new plot

-  New plot resolves, castle resolves putting Sam into play from hand

-  Respond with Copper link to give the Raven trait to Sam

-  Respond with Sam to draw

Does this work? 

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Haha nvm, Sam is put into play instead of being played, doesn't work even if the (questionable) timing would allow for it to work otherwise.

As you say, Sam only works after he is "played," not "put into play," so you wouldn't be able to draw for that reason, but if you could, the combo would give him the Raven trait in time to be useful.

Essentially, to use Copper Link to give Sam the Raven trait so he could draw off of himself, you'd need to find a way for him to kneel a Maester when he is played. Some sort of "after you play a Night's Watch character from your hand, choose and kneel a character" effect, maybe.

Basically.

 

Then cry when Threat from the North, Venemous Blade, Grey Wind, Iron Throne, etc.. show up.  He is good, but on too many players radars at the moment.

Or just use Summoned by the Conclave. I usually will mulligan if Sam is not in my hand, unless it is just too good to pass up. However, if I am playing against Targ, Stark, or Martell I will reserve my Conclave for Edmure Tully for those very reasons and just put Sam back out. Even if I only get, say, 4 cards out of him before he dies, he was still worth running in my opinion. 

PS - I am even considering running Benjen Stark (Core) for this reason too. I have always been fascinated with that card. Anyone ever try running him?

Benjen is a risky play in my opinion. While you're right he's great for pulling your recently deceased Sam out of the dead pile he can also bring back annoying character of your opponent's (Super Stannis, Mel, Viper etc.) and isn't really worth it. He runs the risk of being a dead card if you don't want your opponent to get something good back and even if you do play him, 3 gold for a card which you intend to kill needs a pretty great reward (although I suppose if you have a second Sam in your hand getting rid of a dead card and having potential draw if probably a pretty great reward). All in all I think that if you're playing stark Edmure is an infinitely better option. Outside of stark I'd say maybe run him if Sam is your main/only source of draw.

Yep - he always never quite makes the cut due to how situational he basically becomes. 

Edmure out of Black Sails is amazing.  Another option if you want to get Sam early and keep him around.