Beheading Ned - Spoils of War

Warning: This article may contain spoilers from any and all of the books.

Hey everyone! Welcome back to Beheading Ned; the article all about Nedly stuff. I would like to start out by apologizing for not having an article up for the last few weeks. But you’re reading one now, so try not to complain too much. Anyways, we all know that in the last month or so, Store Championships have taken off with great success. These smaller scale tournaments have done wonders to fulfill our need for competitive play and have even given us a chance to test out some new deck ideas in a not-so-high stake format. With this in mind, I want to reach out to everyone reading these articles (all two of you) and ask if you had taken a chance and brought a Nedly deck to any of these tourneys. Maybe you just wanted to take a fun deck or maybe you actually set out to try and bring home the gold with one of these thematic decks. Whatever the case, if you took a Nedly deck to any of these tournaments, I would love to hear about it.

Also in recent news, the first chapter pack of the new Conquest and Defiance cycle has been released. The pack Spoils of War offers a brand new game mechanic and some pretty crazy cards. As many of you are familiar with, the Small Council here at cardgamedb reviews each new chapter pack as it comes out. Well it struck me that these reviews are generally made under the scope of a Jaime or even a Shagga player. But what about the Nedly player? Sure, a card may rate low on the Jaime scale, but it could end up rating really high on the Nedly spectrum. A recent example would be Bran Stark from Fire and Ice. This card received a very low score based on its poor Jaime applications; however this card would receive a much higher score based on its thematic qualities. With all of this in mind, I’ve decided to shake things up a little and give some brief reviews of each new chapter pack using a Nedly lens to rate cards.

Just like the reviews done by the Small Council, I will rate each card on a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being the most thematic and 1 being not thematic at all. Now, bear with me here on some of these reviews as I may stretch a little to make the cards either less or more Nedly. So without further delay, let’s jump right into it.

Conquest – 4 out of 5
This agenda allows you to align yourself with another house at the risk of giving your opponent more power. This card is very thematic as it gives you the opportunity to create decks that represent powerful alliances from the story. Whether you choose Lannister and Baratheon, Baratheon and Stark, or even Martell and Targaryen, you will have a powerful Nedly combo. But be careful; making the wrong alliance could end up hurting you in the Game of Thrones.

Defiance – 3 out of 5
This agenda allows you to run a few more plots. This is somewhat thematic because in order to defy an enemy or leader, you need to plot against them. However, if you plot too much, you can ultimately end up losing control.

Seasoned Smuggler – 2 out of 5
Yes, he has the Smuggler trait, and I guess smugglers could be an Ally to the right people, but that’s where his Nedliness ends. Why would a smuggler have a power icon and not a military icon? And to top it off, I can’t see why a non-unique random smuggler would have the potential to stand something as strong as a prized card.

Bitterbridge – 3 out of 5
I mean I guess this makes sense. It’s a Stronghold so it’s not going to be affected by any one character. And it protects those inside from the characters outside.

Right of Conquest – 4 out of 5
Alright, now this is a Nedly card. Let’s look at this in context. So after you win with a Lord (Robert Baratheon) or Lady, you get to take control of a location (The Iron Throne)! So thematic!

Enraged Crewman – 4 out 5
Ok this one is pretty straightforward. He’s a Raider, he has a naval enhancement for those boats, and he has melee because we’ve seen how those raiders can fight multiple people at a time.

The Reaver’s Song – 2 out of 5
This doesn’t seem very thematic. Yeah, the Greyjoys are known for their reaving, but why would they lose their locations as well and not be able to play any others?

Frey Armsmen – 3 out of 5
This character has the House Frey trait and the Lannister affiliation! And by itself, it’s pretty mediocre. But when you get a bunch of these Frey guys together, they can actually cause some damage.

Traitor – 2 out of 5
Ok, so the Lannisters don’t like traitors and they will make it hard for any traitor to attack them. Other than that, I don’t see a lot of thematic stuff going on here.

Doran Martell – 4 out of 5
Doran is a master of intrigue and he makes his moves in a stealthy manner. He is also very smart, so all of that basic stuff is thematic. His effect is really Nedly, though. When Doran sees an opportunity, he will seize it and take power with him.

Spy from Starfall – 1 out of 5
Aside from having the House Dayne trait and having Starfall in her name, this card really doesn’t have any other thematic implications.

You Murdered Her Children – 1 out of 5
I might be missing something, but I don’t remember The Red Viper getting rid of The Mountain. Yeah, you have to lose in order to use this, but that’s about the only Nedly thing about this.

Catelyn Stark – 3 out of 5
I’m going to make a stretch here and say something about when she left Winterfell, Bran woke up or whatever.

Show of Force – 3 out of 5
I like this card because it perfectly captures Robb’s underdog status in the war. This card exemplifies how the Starks could not only hold off an enemy attack, but also turn the tides of battle in an instant.

Aegon Targaryen – 3 out of 5
The learned crest, traits, and icon make sense. I don’t quite understand where the burn effect is coming from though. Although he does get rid of Young Griff when you have him in play, so that’s a plus.

Lysono Maar – ? out of 5
I know a lot about the Game of Thrones world and those who inhabit it, but I do not know much about this guy. Is he thematic? He has 3 icons and a learned crest. Does that make sense? I just don’t know.

Theon Greyjoy – 4 out of 5
Why does he have the Traitor trait if he has the Stark affiliation? Other than this minor blemish, this guy is really thematic. Theon is responsible for the death of his enemies and his allies in the case of his failed siege of Winterfell.

Tycho Nestoris – 4 out of 5
This guy is from the Iron Bank of Braavos and he provides both gold and resources, much like this card does. The neutral affiliation also makes sense due to, well, his neutrality in the war.

Seizing the Prize – 2 out of 5
Not a whole lot to go off of with this card. I guess you “seize” more power when you use this plot so that sorta makes sense.

Crossing the Mummer’s Ford – 2 out of 5
This card gives a lot of resources and I don’t think crossing the Mummer’s Ford gave anyone a lot of resources.

And there you have it, the Nedly review of the Spoils of War chapter pack. Some of these ratings are very similar to their Jaime counterparts and others are vastly different. Feel free to comment to let me know if you agree or disagree with any of these scores. I would also appreciate any feedback you may have. Thanks for reading!