Prize of the North Chapter Pack Review

Our staff has put together a first blush analysis of the newly released Prize of the North chapter pack. We’ve used a one through five scale; five being the best. The cards are listed in numeric order. Our reviewers are listed in alphabetical order. Let us know in the comments how you feel about the cards in this pack!

Total Pack Score: 67.8% (339 out of 500 possible points)

Top Cards:
The Aftermath
Seneschal Ricasso
Royal Decree
The Wall

Bottom Cards:
Green Dragon Egg
Defenders of the Wall
Black Dragon Egg
White Dragon Egg

With five reviewers this time around, all scores are effectively on a 5-25 scale. Now onto the reviews!

Defenders of the Wall
12 points

emptyrepublic - 3 out of 5
The mono-icon nature of this is really hard to get past. Otherwise it’s pretty strong. The being able to defend when kneeling is great for frustrating the challenge math of your opponents and the traits are good. But only a military icon? Shame.

Ire & WWDrakey - 2 out of 5
At the end, they’re just a pretty plain monocon weenie. Harder to burn than usual, but the cards they have to compete for the same gold cost slots…

JCWamma - 2 out of 5
This is obviously designed to be used with the new Wall (see below). That said, unless you're running it as a House of Dreams location you cannot rely on it, and on its own merits this guy sucks. 2 for 3 is nice, and the ability to occasionally defend while kneeling (and also get round icon control for what that's worth) is nice, but for a monocon who doesn't do anything? Meh. And obviously the Night's Watch agendas can make him a tricon, but in that case you're running what is generally considered a poor theme. Not the most inspiring card, all in all!

mnBroncos -2 out of 5
.... not even great in a Bara Night’s Watch deck...that alone is saying something.

scantrell24 - 3 out of 5
The positive traits, keyword, strength and ability are tempered by Defenders of the Wall’s sole icon (unless you're using the NW agendas). He’s a solid piece for niche decks. Of course, if you add a few more solid pieces together then maybe you’ve got something tournament worthy.

Deserted Castle
16 points

emptyrepublic - 3 out of 5
Cheap, repeatable and reliable character boost on a non-unique location. It doesn’t rise above Smuggler’s Cove though. Nonetheless, useful if you need to temporarily grant that Night’s Watch trait without needing The Wall and it to be winter.

Ire & WWDrakey - 3 out of 5
Opens up a way to extend the usefulness of First Ranger, and is one of the more efficient 1 gold STR pumps around… But still, First Ranger is of an obsolete cardtype (positive attachment), and this has pretty tough competition in Smuggler’s Cove.

JCWamma - 3 out of 5
The ability to boost STR as an any phase action is nice. Again with The Wall below there's some real potential for fun here, too. The trait manipulation aspect will be useful on occasion, and combos with cards like the Jousting Knight of Flowers present themselves. A 'good' card, but a fair one.

mnBroncos - 4 out of 5
A four in a dedicated Night’s Watch deck with the agendas because more important than the plus 2 is a surprise icon.

scantrell24 - 3 out of 5
Hey look, another solid piece for Bara Night's Watch (and anything running Ygritte). It holds it's own in comparison to Smuggler's Cove.

The Wall
21 points

emptyrepublic - 4 out of 5
I wish this had “no attachments” or “immune to X” because as is I think it’s a bit too vulnerable to anti-location tech. You can always House of Dreams this location though; which will certainly buy you a lot of insurance against the Prized 1. For a purpose built Night’s Watch deck this is perhaps the best Wall now. The granting of the Baratheon affiliation is intriguing and can possibly introduce some interesting combo hooks.

Ire & WWDrakey - 4 out of 5
This card should really be read as: “Prized 1. Any Phase: Kneel The Wall to stand all Night’s Watch characters you control.” The Winter portion, while cute, is not strong enough for relying on. Oh, it may do something once in a while, but trying to stick Winter in the same deck with a 3 gold central location (or HoD) is it’s own “reward”. That said, the game doesn’t currently have any locations that can stand a huge swathe of characters at a time. And with Trait manipulation, this also provides Baratheon Maesters with a nicely efficient stand engine.

JCWamma - 5 out of 5
Something something something Any Phase mass stand effect something something. Yes it's a vulnerable prized 1 location, and yes the "if it is Winter" effect is fairly janky, but you'd better believe that Any Phase effect is amazing. It's the sort of effect you can build a deck around with ease. It's also another great tool for Maester decks for what that's worth, using trait manipulation or Maester Aemon. It would also make for a great counter to kneel in general for Baratheon, but Lannister got The Westerlands last pack, so nevermind.

mnBroncos - 4 out of 5
Anything that supports a concept that is considered horrible is a huge plus to me and this is actually a crazy ability that people will build decks around.

scantrell24 - 4 out of 5
As JC already mentioned, the synergy is strong with Maesters, especially considering they’ve got Maester Aemon and the Copper Link. However, if you House of Dreams it then you can’t use The Maester’s Path or the Stewards/Rangers/Builders trio.

Lonely Light Envoy
13 points

emptyrepublic - 3 out of 5
The cross-faction Bannerman fun continues. The key with these types of characters is figuring out the combination that you need/want in order to make a deck concept work. The second effect is particularly striking as it makes the character immune to Valar and other plot resets. Otherwise he’s a middle of a road type of character that needs just the right type of deck really.

Ire & WWDrakey - 2 out of 5
Well, at least he’s not *as boring* as most of his peers due to the “Immune to Plot effects”. Not that it changes anything, but still. 2.

JCWamma - 2 out of 5
The first effect is "meh", but the second effect is very interesting. Unfortunately, right now Targ and Greyjoy have essentially zero synergy except for Greyjoy decks that run Jaqen H'ghar, so this guy's not seeing much play. Decks that do run him (and frankly it feels like you'd have to build such a deck specifically to have an excuse right now) will find a solid weenie and no more, so it's difficult to get too excited, but the effects are nice.

mnBroncos - 3 out of 5
A meh overall but okay in a Targ conquest deck

scantrell24 - 3 out of 5
‘Immune to plot effects’ just begs for someone to build a deck around it. Gorold Goodbrother looks better now with these new Bannermen floating around.

Farwynd Explorer
19 points

emptyrepublic - 4 out of 5
It’s probably not worth it to jam Cape Wrath into your Greyjoy deck in order to make this repeatable though it’s an interesting thought. Will be a bit weaker in Melee format where it’s a tougher to insure being first player. Otherwise it’s a very strong cancel with decent side benefits.

Ire & WWDrakey - 4 out of 5
The card City of Shadows decks, especially Baratheon, have been waiting for! Oh, yeah, it also widens the GJ Shadow arsenal a bit on the side.

JCWamma - 3 out of 5
Surprise cancel is nice. Not having a good way to put it back in Shadows limits its use somewhat, but the initiative boost isn't bad if it is stuck in play. Overall I feel like Greyjoy have better options for their triggered effect cancelling. This card will probably be played more in Baratheon with City of Shadows than it will in the House of the Kraken. The prospect of a powerful cancel for that deck, especially paired with Cape Wrath to make it repeatable, could be the impetus it needs to become relevant.

mnBroncos - 4 out of 5
With rivers restricted now Greyjoy will go back to Bay of Ice for draw most likely so your getting a one time cancel that ends up being an extra card for sure every turn (most likely with captured cog with this). This will see good amount of play.

scantrell24 - 4 out of 5
Farwyn Explorer is my favorite card in the pack. It’s exactly what a shadows card should be: an investment that will pay off down the road whenever you need it. Greyjoy could actually run shadows Jaime now and trigger him with some reliability. With that said, I think this card is slightly above average, but far from an auto-include in a House with many other locations and cancels vying for deck space.

Longship Iron Wind
18 points

emptyrepublic - 4 out of 5
A few cycles ago this might not have been that great but given the amount of cheap and solid Greyjoy characters that have been produced lately this is certainly worth it now. Additionally many of the non-unique bannermen in this cycle are cost 2 (look in the rest of this pack). Good investment for bypassing a lot of out-of-house penalties.

Ire & WWDrakey - 2 out of 5
The problem here is that… what 2 gold cost character are you gonna get a lot of impact from, with this glorified Bloody Keep? It’s not like GJ decks have the luxury of holding many characters in their hand usually…

JCWamma - 3 out of 5
This is a really cool effect. The mind immediately jumps to some sort of rainbow “deck of all the talents” that runs the best cards that are 2 cost or lower from all houses and this as a house of dreams location. I’m pretty sure that deck would be awful, but great fun to play with. What this is most likely going to be best for is the boring stuff you’d expect - jumping in a Distinguished Boatswain, Damphair’s Drowned, Wex Pyke, etc. - although the times you put your surprise out of house card down (Painted Dogs? Practical Believer in a Holy deck? Lucas Blackwood?) will be the sweetest.

mnBroncos - 5 out of 5
I don’t know the combo yet but there will be some crazy stuff that comes out of this location being to drop in out of house characters into play at anytime during the challenges phase is really scary. Every Turn you have to be worried about so many cards that could jump into play.

scantrell24 - 3 out of 5
I’m not as impressed as everyone else. It’s kinda like a reducer, and it’s kinda like giving all of your cost 2 characters ‘ambush’, which can come in handy but isn’t game-winning unless you have a way to take advantage of it. Last I checked, Targ has Long Lances, Company of the Cat, and Magister Illyrio, not Greyjoy.

Ashemark Councilor
18 points

emptyrepublic - 4 out of 5
Memory is failing me at the moment but with the exception of Martell the other four houses very much lack for mono-icon intrigue characters, in particular ones that are regularly used so I can see this guy making an impact. Almost certainly a must for PBtT decks and probably worth a copy or two in a lot of other Lannister builds.

Ire & WWDrakey - 3 out of 5
One more of this shtick. As before, the cards bring interesting options onto the board, with the trait here being a bit less useful.

JCWamma - 4 out of 5
Great in Power Behind the Throne to force through challenges or stop opponents from getting them through to score off your agenda. Probably doesn’t see too much play outside of that decktype, because Lannister has a multitude of other options for denying opponent’s challenges (kneel, Misinformation, etc.) that aren’t taking up a valuable character slot and prized 1. In PBtT though, Damien Lewis is a beast.

mnBroncos - 4 out of 5
I love all these mono con guys and this one even has a perfect agenda for him.

scantrell24 - 3 out of 5
The trait on this guy, House Marbrand, has no synergy right now, unlike the traits of the his cousins - Dothraki, Knight, House Dayne, and House Tully - so that’s disappointing.

Marbrand Outrider
17 points

emptyrepublic - 3 out of 5
The ratios are just slight off to make this really interesting. Either the STR should be higher, the Prized value 1 lower, or no Ally trait. One of those three. If you thread it right it can be amazing; especially if you have more than one out. Problems remains that there are way too many vectors that can take the character out easily and for Prized 2 at cost 3. Very much high risk for potentially high reward.

Ire & WWDrakey - 3 out of 5
A bloody difficult card to rate. A 3 gold STR 2 Ally with Prized 2 should be an almost automatic “1”, but that ability does it’s best to try and compensate… Middle-ground is a safe bet, since the cards strength will shift with the Meta.

JCWamma - 3 out of 5
So very vulnerable. But so very powerful. But so very vulnerable… At the risk of suggesting jank to improve jank, this guy is amazing with Seal of the Crown. There’s also obvious synergy with the likes of Ghost of High Heart, Threat from the East, the Winter Kingsroad (though not Kings of Winter since it’s end of phase and there’s no response) and, oh yes, the intrigue challenge. Plus Without His Beard, for what that’s worth. The obvious problem here is it’s a 3 cost prized 2 character who goes away to ally hate, venomous blade and burn. But it’s an engine that, if you can get it working, will provide you with an obscene amount of card draw very quickly.

mnBroncos - 4 out of 5
Yes has some bad matchups with its weaknesses, however, if not answered quickly this guy can give serious card advantage.

scantrell24 - 4 out of 5
I’ll try to build a deck around him eventually because that ability is so tempting, but my expectations are kept in check by the Ally trait, low strength, and Prized 2 keyword. Kings of Winter, PBtT, and No Agenda for Summoned by the Conclave are all options to get the most out of him, paired with things like King’s Landing Guard, Confession, etc.

House Dayne Escort
14 points

emptyrepublic - 3 out of 5
It’s House Dayne support so don’t complain! In all seriousness though the context of this characters need to be kept in mind with the other ones like it. Not especially useful on its own but I’m still going with a middle of the road rating because the passive effects are quite good and synergy with Targaryen is not out of the realm of possibility with Martell.

Ire & WWDrakey - 3 out of 5
Hmm. “Immune to plot effects” in a Martell card? And a House Dayne one at that? Seems like the best one in the Cycle.

JCWamma - 2 out of 5
As with the previous Bannerman of the pack, this guy is for a deck that doesn’t really currently exist. Possibly he goes in that HoD Iron Wind deck? Maybe a Neutral deck if you feel confident you can get him out at the same time as a Targ character? If you can make that deck work then more power to you, but right now it’s just not worth it for me.

mnBroncos -3 out of 5
I want to see a Targ deck with this guy and the greyjoy guy and just have bunch of people that survive valar..

scantrell24 - 3 out of 5
He’s perfectly acceptable if you’re confident that either of his abilities will be turned “on”. Deadly paired with an intrigue icon wins challenges unopposed more often than not, and “immune to plot effects” means he sticks around through either player’s Valar, Marched, First Snow, etc.

Seneschal Ricasso
22 points

emptyrepublic - 5 out of 5
I’ll risk a high rating on this guy because the potential for some amazingly plays is very high here. Martell has been presented with a fair number of discard from the deck effects and this provides an opportunity to have some fun with the timing of bringing characters into play. There’s always the possibility of bringing back a character who was killed of course. The Ally trait is not a disadvantage because you won’t have a problem with ally hate as the whole point is to get him out of play to trigger him. Too bad there’s no good way to grant him a Noble crest, else he’d be brilliant Ghaston fodder.

Ire & WWDrakey - 4 out of 5
So… leaves play recursion. On face-value that should be pretty hardcore, but there’s the unfortunate limitation of it being tied to those Prized cards that you perhaps won’t be as happy to see late-game. The current Martell Prized cards really don’t justify him yet, which doesn’t say that future ones won’t. Well, Mr. Waumsley at least seems to be especially enamoured with the card, since he’s really giving a 2-for-2 Ally a 5!

JCWamma - 5 out of 5
He’s seriously good. “Leaves play” card advantage is a strong effect, especially on a 2 cost guy with no drawback (unless they kill/discard him while you have no prized card in dead/discard, I guess). You thought you got rid of that Desert Raider by discarding it rather than killing it? Sorry, nope. Pleased to see the highly efficient Doran die? Think again. You can do fun tricks too - for instance, ditching a character like the new Elia Sand into your discard pile with an effect like Dornish Hermitage right before a First Snow of Winter kicks in. But principally lets go with “cheap, learned crest, card advantage, no downside” and leave it at that.

mnBroncos - 4 out of 5
Very effect card only downside is risk of giving more power away which makes him little scary if relying on abusing him.

scantrell24 - 4 out of 5
My only reservation is that he’s mediocre in the early game before you have a Prized character to revive, but that ability kicks ass. He’ll slot right into many Martell decks to revive Doran, Spy from Starfall, or even something out of House like, say, Daenarys Targaryen, who would turn on the previous card.

Elia Sand
20 points

emptyrepublic - 4 out of 5
With Game of Thrones and To The Spears! both available to Martell, I think some room could be made for her. The balance is good on this one and probably slightly better tuned for Melee as you’ll likely have a better chance of having an opponent with more characters in that format. It’s also a decent characters in the 2 gold bracket and doesn’t crowd the 3 gold space as much.

Ire & WWDrakey - 4 out of 5
Lovely art. Lovely card too. Not much to not love, here. Oh, and I think we discussed this at some point already…

JCWamma - 4 out of 5
Only for specific decks, but oh boy those specific decks. Obviously amazing in Melee, too, although at the same time the prized is riskier there. As any Power Behind the Throne player will tell you, extra intrigue challenges are powerful. I’d say there’s obvious Bloodthirst synergy, but I don’t know if Bloodthirst decks can afford a character that isn’t Arianne or The Red Viper…

mnBroncos - 4 out of 5
Remember they have already announced the next cycle with new Sand Snakes effects that alone makes this women better.

scantrell24 - 4 out of 5
She’s good while “on”, but mediocre otherwise. It’s nice that her ability creates a lasting effect, so you can trigger it if your opponent is ahead on characters for any part of the Challenges phase. Also, with Mummer’s restricted, 2-claim intrigue challenges matter again. However, if you have less characters will you have enough firepower to win that 2nd intrigue challenge? That’s the question that needs answering.

Riverlands Hunter
18 points

emptyrepublic - 3 out of 5
I don’t think this guy is quite as strong as his counterparts from the other houses as mono-icon military is not that uncommon in the game across the houses. Nonetheless, with a bit of stealth from another participating character it’s likely not that hard to make work. Good naturally synergy with Tully actually as the effect makes building a defense much easier if the attackers strength is easily neutralized.

Ire & WWDrakey - 3 out of 5
Once more for the road?

JCWamma - 4 out of 5
House Tully is very quickly (and quite quietly) becoming “a thing”. I’m not necessarily talking about the Riverrun build, though he’s obviously great in that too, but the trait is becoming more and more relevant thanks to Hoster. The most commonly seen Military monocons are all Stark anyway, so you can dominate the icon type with this guy. He’s great in Siege where you can force through those military challenges with the greatest of ease. He’s just generally very good and very versatile.

mnBroncos - 4 out of 5
Again love these mono icon characters and just like the lanni one, also has a agenda that works amazing with theme (also having a relevant house is nice too).

scantrell24 - 4 out of 5
Where does he fit? Siege? Kindly Man? I’m not sure yet, but the House Tully trait actually means something with the next cycle promising additional support.

Hand of the King
16 points

emptyrepublic - 4 out of 5
The plethora of strong Lady and Lords in Stark can make this a reasonable risk. At 1 gold cost with Prized 1 it’s not that dangerous and the effect has a high degree of utility. I probably wouldn’t put more than one copy in a deck for the usual reasons but I certainly don’t think this will fall into the typical pile of “need but useless” attachments.

Ire & WWDrakey - 2 out of 5
Talk about House flavor! Standing of a Lord or Lady, sounds like a really *Stark* thing! Errm. Oh, it’s not bad for either abusing Brienne or in plot-cycling with Bran. Still, it’s also an obsolete cardtype.

JCWamma - 3 out of 5
Stand is a very powerful effect. The problem it has here is that Meera Reed is a highly prevalent card who immediately makes the attachment fall off and gives all opponents a power. Viserys does the same thing. People have talked about doing this with Bran, but in that case First Snow of Winter will do much the same. There are too many terrible aspects to this card. And yet, the effect is powerful enough that I give it 3.

mnBroncos - 3 out of 5
Yes stand is great, however, it is still an attachment which does make it still hard to run in many decks.

scantrell24 - 3 out of 5
I have a hard time rating a prized attachment above 3, especially with a condition like “Lord or Lady character only” that limits where it can attach. This will be a dead card at times. It’s nice on Brienne, plot-phase Bran, Army Robb, and the old Blackfish.

Black Dragon Egg
12 points

emptyrepublic - 3 out of 5
This clearly is not usable outside of a purpose built dragon deck. If the Prized 1 was not present you might be able to justify it for getting cheap deadly on a character, even if you didn’t have a single dragon in your deck. In a dragon deck it’s perhaps desirable if you are running the Ambush dragons. Then at least you can bring the dragon out immediately during a challenge phase and not need to wait until the next marshalling phase to bring the character into play.

Ire & WWDrakey - 1 out of 5
Ha. A Prized 1 attachment giving deadly? Which lets you search for a specific named Dragon. Obsolete...

JCWamma - 2 out of 5
The prized 1 is a minor drawback here since this is very clearly meant for a rush deck in my opinion - Deadly forcing unopposed. It’s also solid in Dragon decks, but I’m more interested in the 0 cost to give Deadly part - the first 0 cost attachment to unconditionally give it out. Will it be enough to see play? Let’s see...

mnBroncos - 2 out of 5
Not set up, limit 1 per deck (probably most wouldn’t want to run more than one anyways but limits consistently.) Deadly is nice but won’t see play in non-dragon decks anyways. They already got an event that lets them go get a dragon for 1 influence which I would rate higher.

scantrell24 - 3 out of 5
It gives deadly for zero cost and replaces itself when it leaves play, but is that worth a deck slot? Maybe in a few Dragon-themed decks, but those aren’t top tier.

Green Dragon Egg
10 points

emptyrepublic - 2 out of 5
Copy/paste the comments from Black Dragon Egg. Slightly worse because melee doesn’t impact the game as much as deadly.

Ire & WWDrakey - 1 out of 5
More fire for the binders!

JCWamma - 2 out of 5
There’s a very obvious comparison with Champion’s Favor here, which costs 1 more but has the Setup keyword. That card never sees play, sadly. Therefore this one relies more on fetching the dragon, and fortunately Rhaegal is the best of the dragons in most people’s opinion, so it just escapes a 1.

mnBroncos - 2 out of 5
Same as the other egg.

scantrell24 - 3 out of 5
It gives melee for zero cost and replaces itself when it leaves play, but is that worth a deck slot? Maybe in a few Dragon-themed decks, but those aren’t top tier.

White Dragon Egg
12 points

emptyrepublic - 3 out of 5
Copy/paste from the other eggs again. Ties with the black egg because stealth is right there with deadly regarding importance as a keyword.

Ire & WWDrakey - 1 out of 5
Sigh.

JCWamma - 2 out of 5
Stealth isn’t bad for 0 cost again. In the right deck this could find a place, but the more I look at these eggs the less impressed I am.

mnBroncos - 2 out of 5
Would probably give this really a 2.5 because is the best of the keywords. After thinking about it since they have prized I wish these had ambuse (yes of 0 cost) be nice one time trick.

scantrell24 - 3 out of 5
It gives melee for zero cost and replaces itself when it leaves play, but is that worth a deck slot? Maybe in a few Dragon-themed decks, but those aren’t top tier.

In the Hands of the Qohorik
18 points

emptyrepublic - 3 out of 5
I’m excited about all this support for Neutral Faction, but why restrict this event to just that faction? I love events like this that muck with people’s ability to plan for things. Loses points because it’s going to see so little play because of the faction restriction.

Ire & WWDrakey - 4 out of 5
Interesting, more cards to truly shape-out the Neutral Faction identity. And let’s get one thing straight, this is a beast of a card, and should cause specific player-types fits. Fun!

JCWamma - 4 out of 5
Plot decision is an important part of the game. Messing with it is a very powerful effect. This event is well-worth its prized, and could genuinely make the neutral faction a worthwhile house to play around with. Emphasis on “could”.

mnBroncos - 4 out of 5
This can just destroy a player if the wrong plot gets picked. I am worried they are starting to give out to many Neutral faction only cards.

scantrell24 - 3 out of 5
I’ve already pointed out that I’m not fond of the “random” part - why make Luck play an even bigger role in this game than it already does? - but the idea behind it is cool and useful for disrupting Cities and Rivers.

Royal Decree
21 points

emptyrepublic - 4 out of 5
Perhaps the most powerful unconditional cancel in the game? Wording is a touch odd in that non-prized non-event cards could still cancel it; though it’s protected from the main cancels (HCiT, Paper Shield and Finger Dance). Prized 2 is probably worth the cost to make sure that Bleed or other event based reset doesn’t happen unless you want it to.

Ire & WWDrakey - 4 out of 5
Perhaps the *hardest* cancel around. The neutral cancel options needed a bit more fleshing out, so this hits the spot. Nicely balanced as well.

JCWamma - 4 out of 5
I’m a fan of this. It’s a tough price to pay but a powerful cancel. Look for rush decks to like it most and control to like it least. Note that cards like Alannys and Harrenhal can still cancel it, but at the cost of visibility, so you’ll only play this when it’s safe to...oh, right, Greyjoy got that ship earlier in the pack, nevermind.

mnBroncos - 4 out of 5
Yes it is prized and I am usually not a fan of cancel because we have events like paper shields which doesn't hit ever event and hand’s judgement which makes you constantly saving a gold. I would much rather give 2 power away and have a for sure event cancel in my deck.

scantrell24 - 5 out of 5
Of course this shows up now that Bleeds and The Red Keep are restricted. One copy goes in every DWDW deck for sure.

Heads on Pikes
19 points

emptyrepublic - 3 out of 5
Amazing support for Greyjoy mill decks of course and in that context it’s probably a 5. Depending on how deep dead piles get in some games one or two of these might have a reasonable chance of actually decking a player. However, unless you have some janky combo you are working on to pull stuff out of your opponent’s discard pile I’m not sure this will find much space in decks.

Ire & WWDrakey - 4 out of 5
Now, that’s a Mill engine, if there ever was one. Against many decks, post-Valar, you should easily get something like 14 cards discarded with a single event, and if the amount that you need to mill from a ~60 card deck to empty it in 4-5 rounds is around 35 cards (factoring in draw, setup etc.) then that’s a large chunk right there. Oh, and Any Phase is big.

JCWamma - 4 out of 5
This is the first genuinely great mill card I’ve seen. The most important part for me is the Any Phase aspect. There are numerous cards that play around with the top of the deck. Combined with a card like When I Woke or A House Divided this is effectively spot removal. It kicks the Heralds hard in the nether-regions. As a pure mill card it’s the most powerful yet. The third consecutive event to be worth its prized cost, how novel!

mnBroncos - 4 out of 5
If it wasn’t for the last FAQ i’d give this a 5. I know many people have heard of the Martell mil decks and this card would make that deck broken so fast, however, that deck did just lose a lot of pieces so maybe it will still be strong with this but I am not like worried it be the go to top deck. However, this could be powerful in many houses with that much discard.

scantrell24 - 4 out of 5
I’m worried that they went too far here. Obviously it only sees play in a dedicated Mill deck, but it’s an Any Phase event, which means there’s no trigger condition like winning a challenge or dominance or something. This is screaming to be abused, especially in Melee, where it affects every opponent.

The Aftermath
23 points

emptyrepublic - 4 out of 5
A soft Wildfire Assault and I love it. Great control against decks dependent on a broad character base in order maintain board presence. Good for dealing with an opponent with a large character presence already and also slows down “spam” decks that can quickly fling out characters during marshalling. Probably a good Wildfire Assault replacement as the initiative is much higher.

Ire & WWDrakey - 5 out of 5
A harder sister to Wildfire? A card that actually gives a decently viable alternative to running Valar in every deck? A reset that *discards* for Baratheon, with Mel’s Scheme back off the list? What else could you rate it?

JCWamma - 5 out of 5
Ire and Drakey sum this up perfectly. Every deck that ever “umm’d” and “ahh’d” about whether to include Valar or Wildfire includes this. Any deck wishing for one more reset includes this. A great friend to shadows decks, and Alchemist Guild Hall or Black Cells based ones in particular. A great friend to icon removal. To discard-pile recursion. To “heavy” decks that fancy their three characters will out-match the opponents’ three. It’s also great to see a hard control reset that gets hit by Forgotten Plans rather than Outwit. So many different decks will love this card. I love this card.

mnBroncos - 4 out of 5
I am very interested to see how much play this actually gets. I remember the last new reset that everyone that was going to see a ton of play and now no one plays it, I am sure this will see some play but curious how much. With Mel’s Scheme back bara will love this with it being discard that is for sure.

scantrell24 - 5 out of 5
It’s about time we got another reset. This one is going into many soft control decks like Martell icon manipulation and Lanni kneel. It’s miles better than Wildfire Assault.