Baratheon Second Cycle Review (By James Booker)

Nice article, thanks! So, I wonder if the two best rated cards are a little contradictory. The Priestess shines in a classic kneel deck with core Stannis, but in builds with king stannis she has an effect that, to me, is not really worth the costs (as her stats do not justify 3 gold)? What do you think?

How does their relative position to each other on a subjective list make them contradictory? Kneeling out someone's character can affect how they play the rest of the round, from marshaling characters to selecting whom to attack or defend with, and whom to leave for dominance. In cases like these dominance would normally be relegated to an afterthought, but with King Stannis on the board, who knows?  This doesn't mean the two characters complement each other like chocolate and peanut butter, but failure to synergize in no way means a contradiction.

 

 

Also,  

Stone Drum is pretty good.  The Valyrian and Sally mostly just open up a banner build, and the recent article on banner problems aside (lol) They only really work in a banner right now. The Valyrian is a bit overhyped in my opinion

but failure to synergize in no way means a contradiction.
 

Maybe is misinterpreted the ranking. I interpreted it more like "the top two cards Baratheon players have to include in their decks" being a review for only one cycle, this doesn't make sense, true.

Also,  
Stone Drum is pretty good.  The Valyrian and Sally mostly just open up a banner build, and the recent article on banner problems aside (lol) They only really work in a banner right now. The Valyrian is a bit overhyped in my opinion

Agreed. Stone Drum is a nice economy booster with the right plot build. And the fact its free doesn't hurt!

Salla is great for his cost and icon spread, and his ability will only get better over time. There's only 3 in-faction targets at the moment, but a free Lightbringer or Warhammer is never going to be a bad thing. And with Black Betha coming in the not-too-distant future (Watchers on the Wall, I think), he's definitely worth including.

Valyrian I'm undecided on. I was at a GNK last weekend where it ended up on the table in every game, bit never got triggered. The reliance on the defenders gold pool is something outside of your control, and I don't like that. Still, one copy to get into play for free with Salla is something I'll continue to test.

The thing about Valyrian is that its possible it doesn't get to trigger because the opponent plays around it - and that alone makes it worth playing.