Crimson and Gold - Know Your Enemy

If you swear allegiance to the Lions of Casterly Rock, you need to know what they’re up against. All the might of House Lannister – kneel, draw, intrigue challenge superiority, and the rest – comes with a price.

“If you know your enemies and know yourself, you will not be imperiled in a hundred battles.” – Sun Tzu, The Art of War

Location Control

Lannisters often flood the board with locations. It’s no secret that Pentoshi Manor (AHM), Golden Tooth Mines (Core), and The Iron Throne (LotR) are vital to most Lannister decks. As a result, cards like Favorable Ground (QoD), The Price of War (KotS) and Fleeing to the Wall (Core), all of which discard multiple locations in a single shot, cause major headaches. Targeted location removal like Newly Made Lord (TftH) is troublesome too, but to a lesser extent. Finally, Rally Cry (TBG) and A City Besieged (CD) can target an otherwise-immune House of Dreams (ARotD) location, making Tunnels of the Red Keep (CoS) a risky proposition.

Recursion

Lannister control decks make a living in part by reliably winning intrigue challenges every turn until the opponent runs out of options. Unfortunately, cards chosen for intrigue claim make their way to the discard pile, which is far from a permanent home. Several houses boast powerful recursion effects like Melisandre's Scheme (RotK), Dale Seaworth (AToTT), Supported by the Smith (AJE), The Prince's Plans (TIoR), Recruitment (VD) and The Kindly Man (VM).

Standing

In direct opposition to Lannister’s kneel effects, we find standing effects spread over several houses. Cards like Long Lances (THoBaW), Ser Arys Oakheart (TK), To Be a Kraken (SB), To Be a Wolf (SB), and To Be a Dragon (SB) make life difficult. You should also be aware of the vigilant and vengeful keywords as seen on Ellaria Sand (PotS) and Ser Cortnay Penrose (KotStorm). Turning a character sideways is satisfying, but he won’t always stay that way.

Burn

Lannister players love their chuds and weenies. Targ players love burning said chuds and weenies to the ground. Cards like Threat from the North (PotS), The Dragonpit (TftRK), The Hatchlings' Feast (ASitD), and Incinerate (VM) punish characters with poor cost-to-strength ratios.

Ally Hate

A boatload of Allies call House Lannister home, so watch out for trait-hate. In particular, Varys (SaS) and Ser Jorah Mormont (WLL) have passive abilities that cannot be canceled.

Shadows Hate

Shadows cards like Tyrion Lannister (CoS) and Alchemist's Guild Hall (TBoBB), along with the new Kingsguard, are popular in Lannister decks. The King's Law (KotStorm) become suddenly relevant to counter them; however, there aren’t many other effects that directly target shadows. Maester Pylos (KotStorm), for example, rarely sees play, but you might see cards like Margaery Tyrell (TftRK) for example, who went from collecting dust in binders to making top decks at both Worlds and Stahleck.

Cancels

Many of Lannister’s best effects are triggered, not passive, so cancels will inevitably get in the way. He Calls It Thinking (PotS), Paper Shield (QoD) and Maester Murenmure (CbtC) regularly muck things up. I’ll even lump Brienne of Tarth (PotS) in this category because she prevents our triggers in the first place.

Rush

A Noble Cause (FF) is the new hotness. I’ve found that most Lanni builds handle it easily, but in theory rush decks cause problems for slow control that takes time to get off the ground. If Pentoshi Manor is restricted again, Noble Cause will be a pain.

Immunities

The Red Viper (PotS) and Stannis Baratheon (VM) are two of the heaviest hitters in the game, and they’re not easy to slow down. Damon Dance-For-Me (VD) and Riders of the Red Fork (FtC) resist event-based kneel too.

Ambush / Jumping

Anything that enters play during the Challenges phase will avoid Marshalling-phase kneel effects like that of Enemy Informer (Core). Characters with Targ’s ambush keyword, as seen on Company of the Cat (THoBaW), and other characters that jump into play like Khal Drogo (Core) will evade our best attempts to control them.

Hand Control

Finally, a typical Lannister deck features multiple draw engines and tries to hit the draw cap ASAP. As long as the engines stay in place you should be able to shrug off effects from cards like A Song of Ice (FaI) and Rule by Decree (Core), but occasionally a well-timed attack is truly debilitating.

Thanks for reading!