Fire and Ice Review

Our staff has put together a first blush analysis of the newly released chapter pack Fire and Ice. 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!

Overall a very good pack. Two cards got perfect scores and a third just came up 1 short.

71% - 642 out of 900

Top 3
Damphair's Drowned 45 out of 45
The Kingsroad 45 out of 45
Dothraki Vanguard 44 out of 45

Bottom 3
Bran Stark 14 out of 45
Longship Great Kraken 15 out of 45
The Long Plan - Winterfell 22 out of 45

[CRB='forums/uploads/got/med_ser-imry-florent-fai.jpg'] Ser Imry Florent 26 out of 45

emptyrepublic - 3 out of 5
Oh no! A character immune to Ghaston Gray! In all seriousness though the immunity is a bit weak as return to hand effects mostly reside with the Martells and more than likely you’ll have other characters that a Martell player prefer to return to the hand. Big thing here are the traits. Bannerman supports the theme and makes the latest Florent addition from the previous chapter pack a bit more interesting. Knight is rarely, if ever, bad. The +2 and Deadly from it being either season is pretty good though you need to get that season change in quickly otherwise he’s a 2 cost weiny asking to get sneezed on by a Targ player.

Ire & WWDrakey - 3 out of 5
Stats and ability are nothing too interesting, as he does not add anything for Baratheon than a very efficient unique body. Bannerman trait might still have some more uses and the Knight trait is always useful. In season decks and season heavy Metas this guy will be a complete auto-include choice, as there really is no reason to not run such an efficient character. It will be seen if the cannot be returned to hand ability will be utilized further, and perhaps on characters where it might have a larger impact.

JCWamma - 4 out of 5
In a Summer or Winter deck, this is a very strong, efficient card. In a deck that doesn't care about seasons, is he up to anything? He has two interesting traits, so there's that, and being immune to bouncing effects is okay but not amazing. Is that enough to make up for being a 2-for-1? Not for me. But he's such good value in a seasons deck as a one-of that I can't go lower than 4 here.

mnBroncos - 3 out of 5
Yep just as solid of a character for two gold you could ask for.

Nate - 2 out of 5
Now you may think I’m being harsh on this guy, but I’ve seen nothing yet that will indicate that bara summer or winter will be a good deck type. Playing this guy just incase you hit those seasons match-ups to have a chance of having a efficient character doesn’t weigh up for all the times he will be in inefficient character

OKTarg 2 out of 5
I think Bara Winter has a chance to be OK, but this guy’s just not that thrilling. Compare to Lancel Lannister: Imry is conditionally as good as Lancel is right out of the box. Eh, two positive traits is good but I’m not that excited here.

Reldan - 3 out of 5
I guess he’s okay in some sort of Bara Knights Seasons deck. He’s not that exciting but he’s fairly efficient in any deck that would use him.

scantrell24 - 3 out of 5
Similar to Qarl the Maid and Lancel Lannister, Ser Imry is an efficient character that doesn’t do anything fancy but gets the job done. Most of the time he’ll be a 2 for 3 bicon with deadly and a minor immunity, but I doubt that’s enough to be a catalyst for Bara Winter.

Sygmaghost94 - 3 out of 5
He’s got that nifty Bannerman trait to help with Alester Florent and he has the Knight trait to help with knight stuff. Getting a bonus if it’s summer or winter is nice because it allows Baratheon players to take either season and do crazy things with it. Still, just a pretty basic 2 gold character otherwise.
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[CRB='forums/uploads/got/med_ser-garlan-tyrell-fai.jpg'] Ser Garlan Tyrell 39 out of 45

emptyrepublic - 4 out of 5
If you can keep it from becoming Summer then you are golden. He’s really very close to a 5 for me but that text effect is just a bit too much of a liability. I just know if I played this character I’m going to face off against someone who builds a deck with a Black Raven solely for the extra gold and nothing else; making it Summer for no particular reason and then I’m stuck with a perma-knelt character. Everything else is perfect. That passive text though… likely to be more annoying than you anticipate (especially given that Summer is probably going to be making a raging comeback).

Ire & WWDrakey - 5 out of 5
Now if the last guy was efficient and bland this one does both of those and better! Again there is really a no reason to not run 1x of him in most Baratheon non-Summer decks as a 3 cost, 3 strength, bicon, Renown, Deadly, War crest is just too much to be passed.

JCWamma - 5 out of 5
Knight trait, the increasingly valuable House Tyrell trait, a War Crest AND two great Keywords on a 3/3/Bicon spread? This is a tremendously efficient card. That Summer passive ability is obviously a downside. Given how small a percentage of decks run Summer though (and also the text of the new Song of Ice agenda, later in the pack) I don't think it's enough to knock his rating down.

mnBroncos - 4 out of 5
AMAZING if you never go against winter, getting close to Knight of Flowers territory with not being restricted and getting the added deadly, sure a noble crest would be better than war in Baratheon but overall an amazing card.

Nate - 4 out of 5
Now this is more like it, 3 cost 3 strength bicon with two good keywords and a crest that works without me having to hope for a particular build, sign me up. Yes there is the summer downside which is what is stopping him from getting a 5 however unless you do play that crazy guy that is playing black raven just for the one gold you should be able to see if your opponent has any summer cards or not and play him accordingly.

OKTarg 4 out of 5
Happy times. Great keywords, great efficiency, and of course, being Bara, a built in liability to balance it. That Tyrell deck is looking pretty fun with Randyll Tarly and all the power grabby characters, like Blackcrown Knights and Knight of Flowers.

Reldan - 5 out of 5
Now we’re getting into something meaty. Baratheon loves renown any way they can get it, and this guy is a monster in every sense. Unless Summer becomes some sort of incredibly dominant theme in the meta, expect to see him in every Baratheon deck.

scantrell24 - 4 out of 5
Garlan approaches auto-include territory. Two keywords and a crest make him a bargain whenever it’s not Summer, which is probably about 90% of the time (depending on your meta).

Sygmaghost94 - 4 out of 5
I love this card. Why? Because it is a simple, great card. A 3 for 3 bicon with renown and deadly, awesome traits, and a war crest! Sign me up! The drawback is a nice way to keep this crazy guy in check, but otherwise he is perfect.
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[CRB='forums/uploads/got/med_the-kingsroad-23-fai.jpg'] The Kingsroad 42 out of 45

emptyrepublic - 5 out of 5
I love the novelty of both the new Kingsroad locations. First, I think 1 gold for a +1 initiative and +1 gold is actually not a bad deal on its own. Second, this location dovetails brilliantly with Bay of Ice. The text effect is also excellent. Locks out the other Kingsroad locations regardless of seasons then you get the bonus effect if it is Winter. A random discard with such a broad and easily activatable condition is great. I cannot see how The Kingsroad won’t be a staple in future seasons decks from this point. I just don’t see why you would leave them out.

Ire & WWDrakey - 5 out of 5
Even if it didn’t have the passive ability it would still probably be of a rating of 5, considering how good a combination initiative and gold are. Interestingly enough, there is some anti-synergy going on with this location and the new Song of Ice agenda since it makes it less likely that you actually get to use your own agenda. A risky possibility with this would be to use it with the old Kings of Winter agenda for a really brutal hit to your opponent when it is Winter.

JCWamma - 5 out of 5
Some people run cards like Kingdom of Shadows (KotS) or Lord Eddard's Chambers (LoW) just for the +1 gold from a non-limited card, even if they get no benefit from the rest of the card. This is a card that does that in any house, also gives +1 initiative, AND has an additional strong effect in Winter? The only thing that could stop this going in most decks is the other Kingsroad later in the pack.

mnBroncos - 4 out of 5
I think this is the worst of the two Kingsroads since the opponent has to discard down anyways. However, there is always that chance to get that nice pull you want or getting to the point that opponent has even fewer cards. Still amazing card but don’t think a 5.

Nate - 5 out of 5
Now the stats warrant the grade it gets but the passive ability means that playing it with the song of ice agenda can be counter productive but if you manage to draw into events or use it to aggressively cycle into more useful cards it could work.

OKTarg 4 out of 5
I’m with Broncos here--great card, but doubles up on your agenda anyway. However, it is a nice pseudo-intrigue for winter decks (of which Greyjoy is typically fairly light, though perhaps less so lately) and great cost for benefit even without the discard. I think the summer one is better.

Reldan - 5 out of 5
This is fantastic and will go in every Winter deck.

scantrell24 - 5 out of 5
What’s not to like? Good stats and quasi-intrigue challenge claim make Kingsroad an auto-include in every Winter deck. Two copies sounds about right.

Sygmaghost94 - 4 out of 5
All around good card. Gives gold, initiative, and discards a card from your opponent's hand. It seems a little redundant with the A Song of Ice agenda already discarding cards, but hey, at least with the location the card is random.
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[CRB='forums/uploads/got/med_balon-greyjoy-fai.jpg'] Balon Greyjoy 37 out of 45

emptyrepublic - 4 out of 5
I’m close to giving him a 5 but the Winter requirement holds me back just enough. Greyjoy specializes in locations so the secondary part of the effect is not really an issue. An always on +2 STR is so huge when you take Intimidate into account. Other winter decks might actually delay making it winter just prevent the bonus from kicking in. Cost/STR/Icon balance is right. Good traits and the right crest along with renown put him just in the right place. Interestingly he’s not a King so won’t have to worry about his ability getting turned off. I’m pretty confident this will be the number one Balon.

Ire & WWDrakey - 5 out of 5
This is what winter decks have needed in House Greyjoy for a long time and the former Balon Greyjoys haven’t been anything special so he is easily stealing the place from his older incarnations. What winter aggro and choke have been vulnerable against have been opponents that are able to go more aggressive when it is winter and this Balon here will make it so that your characters are likely going to be more efficient than anything else there is. The location restriction shouldn’t be underestimated however, since some GJ locations just won’t stick long on the board (like Iron Mines and Sunset Seas) and there are many control builds that can flood locations faster than GJ can destroy them. Renown and noble crest just make him even more powerful and harder to deal with.

JCWamma - 3 out of 5
Burn was a weakness of choke. With this guy...well, it still is for a variety of reasons. He's burnable himself, he costs 4 in a deck that generally has a very low gold curve, and he requires you to have more locations out than any opponent (when burn is one of the few decks capable of doing that against choke). And if you're using him in other decks for the passive STR boost, ...it's not like Greyjoy are lacking in that regard. Also, boosting all your characters' STR is looking a whole lot worse now that Stark's getting loads of anti-efficiency tech. But despite all those downsides this is still a perfectly good card. I don't think he's overpowered though.

mnBroncos - 5 out of 5
The ONLY weakness on this card is the fact that you have to pay four gold for this guy in a winter deck, besides that he is amazing. Chokes main weakness in my eyes was burn and now they just got a huge boost against burn. Worlds is going to be very interesting to see how popular winter really is going to be because I think it is safe to say we should be expecting a lot (but maybe shouldn’t play it then since I bet 90% will have good amount of counters for it) but this just made probably Greyjoys best deck type even better.

Nate - 4 out of 5 (edit 5 out of 5)
For me the only thing keeping him from being a 5 is the four gold cost and even then I still think you’re getting a bargain in fact……..
Now aside from making greyjoys already efficient characters even more so he provides better defense against greyjoys weakest match up Targ burn this ability is just sick when combined with the Greyjoy keyword intimidate. He doesn’t even end up really fighting for places over the other balons and they very rarely see play.

OKTarg 4 out of 5
I’m actually closer to making him a 3 than a 5. I just think his 4 cost in Winter is going to be tough to justify, even if his effect is amazing and plugs one of choke’s big weaknesses--burn susceptibility. The renown is nice and will help close a game, but I still think he’ll be just a tiny bit too expensive.

Reldan - 4 out of 5
He’s pricier than you’d want to pay in any deck that could actually use him, but the ability is strong enough that I think it’d be worth making the effort. If you get him going, it will be extremely difficult for your opponent to win against you, and having that degree of board impact is the hallmark of good card.

scantrell24 - 4 out of 5
Balon does so much for choke decks. A four gold cost during Winter might be difficult to manage, but I like everything else about this card. Greyjoy will almost always have more locations because 1. Greyjoy plays a ton of locations and 2. Greyjoy can discard opposing locations. And when that’s the case, every single one of your characters becomes an unburnable-monster. It’s not even limited to only in-house characters. Samwell, for example, will be at 3 strength and almost always win dominance.

Sygmaghost94 - 4 out of 5
For Greyjoy and their many saves, nothing is more irritating than having your characters burned and not being able to do anything about it. Well this guy solves that problem and then some. I can see him fitting in well with a winter choke deck, but I can see him fitting in better with a winter aggro deck. Who cares if your Ice Fisherman is a 3 str? I won’t attack with him anyways. It shouldn’t be hard having more locations than your opponent so his effect will almost always be active. Renown is always nice to see in Greyjoy, but this guy will only see play in one deck type.
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[CRB='forums/uploads/got/med_longship-great-kraken-fai.jpg'] Longship Great Kraken 15 out of 45

emptyrepublic - 3 out of 5
Not an unreasonably difficult effect to pull off. Good to time on a round where a Valar just occurred. If the dead piles are particularly deep could be really annoying. However, it’s just tool in the larger milling kit that Greyjoy has. It won’t do anything compelling on it’s own. I say save the slot for more interesting Greyjoy locations.

Ire & WWDrakey - 2 out of 5
This is nice support card for mill - unfortunately that’s part of its problem. Mill is currently not supported enough and this card doesn’t bring onto the table anything which could help them get a better footing. As it is Dominance: phase restricted, there will not be any challenge tricks available with its mill. It will also be fairly useless during the first few turns, when no characters are killed, and mill decks are not well known for their killing capabilities. This will still finds its way to most mill builds as a single copy to help trigger Fishmonger’s Square or Corpse Lake. In the case of Corpse Lake, it should be remembered that the lake is looking for a trigger not cards discarded, so if you manage to hit several characters, you can still trigger Corpse Lake only once.

JCWamma - 2 out of 5
It's a nice effect for a mill deck, but mill decks still don't work as a general rule, and for the first few turns of a game this will basically do nothing. It IS at least better than Nightmares in the North (RotO) since it's repeatable and doesn't hit you (at the cost of not letting you potentially draw), but you know what card nobody plays? Nightmares in the North.

mnBroncos - 1 out of 5
I never understood mill and it seems that the best mill deck is actually a weird Martell deck, so I don’t see this ever seeing play. It probably isn’t as bad as a 1 but I really doubt this will see any play besides a deck really trying to mill and thats it.

Nate - 1 out of 5
I dont like the mill theme and I always feel sad for a wasted slot in chapter packs when they give a card related to it. I know for certain abilities to trigger such as Asha Greyjoy or Baelor Blacktyde its a necessity but as a deck concept I find it weak. This location doesn’t really do much for maybe the first two turns (providing your not paying another GJ player then it could be even longer) and after that its maybe just an annoyance. Or if you’re playing vs targ or martell your giving them full discard piles to pick their goodies from.

OKTarg 2 out of 5
It’s not good yet as Mill isn’t competitive (albeit fun for a casual deck and sometimes OK in melee). That said, how can mill become good if we don’t get more options? This is also non-conditional mill, so I’m pretty pumped for it.

Reldan - 1 out of 5
I don’t think Mill is completely dead as a hypothetical concept, but FFG just keeps printing cards that don’t make much of a case for it. This is another such card.

scantrell24 - 1 out of 5
At least it cheap and repeatable, but I wish FFG would recognize a sunk cost and let the whole “Mill” theme die. These cards simply aren’t effective, and against things like Bara recursion you’re doing them a favor.

Sygmaghost94 - 2 out of 5
Yay another longship! I think I’m starting to see a pattern here; Greyjoys like boats, right? Maybe? I don’t know. What I do know is this card is not great. The 1 cost and not kneeling to trigger its ability keeps it from being a 1 out of 5, but I still don’t see this making the cut any time soon.
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[CRB='forums/uploads/got/med_damphairs-drowned-fai.jpg'] Damphair's Drowned 45 out of 45

emptyrepublic - 5 out of 5
Yeah, I’m giving a perfect score to weiny but I think I’m justified because it really is that good of a card. It can fit into so many different Greyjoy decks with all the hooks it has. Naturally it dovetails perfectly with the new Balon, but even without him the cheap cost, bi icons, trait, crest and effect are all great. FFG focus a lot on the 3 and 4 gold levels with new characters that often 1 gold characters seem to be overlooked. Solid filler for the low end of the cost curve.

Ire & WWDrakey - 5 out of 5
Easy efficient weenie for most GJ builds. This will also greatly help the holy themed decks get some more footing in house Greyjoy and as this character is good for challenges he is also good to be kneeled for Confession and Finger Dance. This drowned group will see plenty of play and might even overthrow Distinguished Boatswain in shadow heavy metas, which we might see after the next CP when we will get more shadow support. Not to mention the fact that he is great support for Greyjoy BS as one more possible cheap naval character.

JCWamma - 5 out of 5
Um, what? Firstly, sucks to be you, Follower of Two Gods (CD) (why even print that card if less than two cycles later you're going to print a card that is many times better and fills the same role?). Secondly, um, what? Greyjoy's one main weakness is intrigue icons on the cheap - other than the Limited Kingsmoot Hopeful (FtC), they don't have any efficient green icons. So now we're giving them a card that, the vast majority of the time (let's not kid ourselves, 9 times out of 10 Greyjoy has more locations out than you) will be a 1 cost, 2 STR bicon with a good trait, a very nice crest and a Naval enhancement? Totally underpowered, should clearly have Renown too. And in that rare instance when the bonus text isn't active, the Drowned are still a perfectly reasonable holy weenie card. This card is nowhere near the flashiest card of the pack, but in pure strength it's un-bloody-touchable.

mnBroncos - 5 out of 5
Okay I don’t want to be that guy but how does Greyjoy ever lose, they don’t even need unique characters. They have by far the best weenie characters after the refugees got restricted I think these guys and boatswains and many other guys really makes Greyjoy scary to play against, especially since it makes them able to still play a bunch of characters out in winter.

Nate - 5 out of 5
Holy hell these guys are the nuts, for one gold even without their passive these guys were pretty strong backing up those botswains but when these guys are in full effect they’re the best french vanilla characters in the game helping to support choke, BS, holy and anything that needs an ironborn!

OKTarg - 5 out of 5
Great great great. Good in all decks; amazing in Holy or Black Sails. The biggest problem will be deciding which ones to include among all the amazing 1 cost Greyjoy dudes.

Reldan - 5 out of 5
I can’t believe a 1 cost chub is going to probably be the highest rated card of this entire pack, but here we are. At worst he’s great and at best he’s amaze-balls, and he’s an actually efficient Holy card in Greyjoy to boot! Greyjoy is a house that seems to struggle with making Holy work despite FFG seeming to want it to be a theme for them. This is a good start down that road.

scantrell24 - 5 out of 5
I love it. Holy decks, Black Sails, and Choke can all use this guy. He’s cheap, efficient and has a positive trait (unless you’re facing a Lannister deck with A House Divided). I could even see some decks replacing 1 or 2 Boatswains with Damphair’s Dronwed if shadows decks become prevalent after the next chapter pack.

Sygmaghost94 - 5 out of 5
I can’t see one thing wrong with this card. Let’s pretend for a second that you have less locations than your opponent; he’s still a 1 cost bicon with an awesome trait and crest. Now when you have more locations, this guy is awesome. He gives Greyjoy a much needed intrigue icon and is very cost efficient.
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[CRB='forums/uploads/got/med_kings-landing-guard-fai.jpg'] King's Landing Guard 29 out of 45

emptyrepublic - 4 out of 5
A quick search finds that there are 26 other Lannister character cards in the 4 gold slot. Granted a lot of that is trash/boring, but of out the 26 there are 6 that are Army characters. Personally, I think I prefer the House Clegane Brigands. The cards are very similar with the notable exception of the text boxes and that the Brigands have a war crest (not insignificant in my opinion). Oddly the Brigands don’t have No attachments and this one does. Arguably more a positive than a negative. These guys are pretty good but I’m not certain how much play they’ll have.

Ire & WWDrakey - 4 out of 5
All around solid army choice for Lannister decks who are planning on using an agenda. No negative trait, good stats, good icon pair and an amazing Response:. It is just slightly missing something. With War crest these could easily wreck the board alone. What makes it easier for these is the fact that there is not much going currently in Lannister at the 4g slot - if you are running an agenda, that is. Most likely you will have a couple of copies of Cersei and one of the Jaimes, but that’s about it.

JCWamma - 4 out of 5
This is a really strong card in a very small subset of decks, namely Gecko builds built around Ser Addam Marbrand (LotR). Note that this works on both attack and defense, making it a very versatile ability if you can stand the Guard or make them not kneel. Beyond that decktype they're not the best, if only because Lannister has one of the more crowded 4 gold spots in the game. In particular, the obvious comparison would be with House Clegane Brigands (AToTT), who just seem superior in most instances. Essentially, when you get to 4 gold or higher the effect has to be pretty amazing for a card to see a ton of play, and while this effect is strong, it’s not a “must deal with it” card the way that others are. That said, these guys are still perfectly serviceable in non-Army decks, and they're so good in those Army decks that I feel 4 out of 5 is fair.

mnBroncos - 3 out of 5
To me this is a great card that probably deserves a spot in more decks than it will be in. The non unique part is what makes this army so great. Being able to discard two cards with two of them out on a military challenge and then do an intrigue challenge for even more discard. I don’t know if it belongs in a Pbtt deck but if you build a deck around including this army your opponent could easily be top decking after first turn.

Nate -3 out of 5
They’re well costed for their strength, icon spread and response but seem to be missing that war crest that design seem reluctant to give to lannister. I’m not sure what build these guys fit into, the Kevan deck, PbtT, KotHH but I’m sure they’ll find themselves somewhere nice to call home.

OKTarg 3 out of 5
I like all the options Lannister is getting by way of armies. This one isn’t as good as the Brigands (who to me are a clear five) but these guys are not bad. Sure, no crest, but let’s look at what they give: Army trait (always positive in Lannister), redundance for Manning the City Walls, and card advantage in winning MIL challenges. I can’t really think of a better 4 coster for Lannister that has a MIL icon, except for maybe one of the Jaimes and of course the agenda restricted Brigands. That said, I can’t go higher than three because they look a bit sad compared to options that other houses have, like that gosh darn Northern Cavalry Flank.

Reldan - 2 out of 5
I don’t see why this is ever going to see play in any deck. This isn’t any better than many of the 4-cost options Lannister has already, and even if you were looking for a 4-cost army it’s not even better than House Clegand Brigands. It also has no crests or traits that would make it at least fit into some kind of playable theme. It’s not a bad card, but it’s outclassed on every side by better ones you’ll be playing instead.

scantrell24 - 3 out of 5
Unlike some other “straightforward” cards that actually complement a theme or fill in a missing piece, King’s Landing Guard serves no purpose. It doesn’t have a war crest for Army decks, and it’s too expensive to be better than average. Maybe there’s something there with Addam Marbrand, High Ground and King’s Pavillion, but that’s being optimistic. Summer decks might want 1-2x of KL Guard because they’ve got extra gold and can draw a ton so every card isn’t crucial.

Sygmaghost94- 3 out of 5
This is a pretty average card. It offers a military icon and it’s another good army out of Lannister with a solid effect as well. The problem I see with this card is what deck to run this in. Sure, a Lannister army deck will make good use out of this, but other than that I don’t see where it would fit in nicely.
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[CRB='forums/uploads/got/med_tommen-baratheon-fai.jpg'] Tommen Baratheon 28 out of 45

emptyrepublic - 3 out of 5
This to me seems a weak tutor effect given that Lannister really doesn’t have a problem draw capping itself. Maybe that’s the point though. This isn’t a draw effect, but allows you to pull a card without revealing like many other non-draw effects do. The summer requirement is a bit of hindrance since that’s not a traditional Lannister focus. If nothing else he’s a cheap/easy way to turn off “only King in play” effects of your opponents.

Ire & WWDrakey - 3 out of 5
This plucky little document stamper unfortunately has to go up against the great button-eyed Tommen (with added kitty!) which means that in most cases he is just not flexible enough because of his Summer requirement. However, despite the weaker flexibility, his ability does offer quite interesting possibilities. Searching the top 4 can give you access to two possible uses, and in the best case you get to do both - you can use his ability to either place cards into a more safe place than your hand and look for something that you can use straight away. He also has strange anti-synergy with the new Song of Fire agenda, since he actually isn’t drawing a card. Oddly enough, he actually works a lot better with the old Kings of Summer agenda. It should be also noted that he is one of the fewer “honey badger” Kings, as he does not care if there actually is another King on board.

JCWamma - 3 out of 5
Okay, here's the thing. That Any Phase ability is absolutely great. I love that it's Any Phase, I love that it lets you dig for exactly what you need without providing outright card advantage (which would be too powerful), and I love that Tommen doesn't need to be the only King in play to trigger it (while still turning off opponents’ Kings). I also like the art, capturing Tommen engaging in his favourite activity. But let's look at this reasonably - having to be Summer is a big, big cost. Is Lannister Summer even a thing? And beyond that, the other Tommen (Tommen Baratheon (SA)) is just so ubiquitous in Lannister decks, providing actual-factual card advantage, that this guy has to be phenomenal to get a look in. The easiest way to run Summer (possibly the only way right now) is with the Song of Fire agenda later in the pack. If you want to take advantage of that increased draw cap you need all the draw you can get - yet to run this guy you have to pass up on one of Lannister's best options. It just doesn't make sense to me, I'm afraid. Also he's going to be annoying as hell to play against, the opponent triggering him every turn. That said, I do think ability is very strong, I just wish the card wasn't called Tommen Baratheon.

mnBroncos - 3 out of 5
I think this card on its own actually deserves a higher rating but after quick search for Lannister summer cards, there is almost none, so besides the additional one card that you could get a turn currently there is no real reason for Lannister to want to make it summer. However, the effect is really strong and if wasn’t house Lannister I would probably pay 3 gold for this guy in whatever summer deck I want to run.

Nate - 3 out of 5
Tommen may end up one of those super uniques where you’re really spoilt for choice (much like the rest of the lannister family). His ability is interesting allowing you to manipulate your hand and the top of your deck allowing such tricks as offloading that extra limited card you have in hand and can’t play with something more readily playable or if you have a pyromancers cache allowing you to pick which two out of the four cards you want that turn. Now he doesn’t need to be the only king in play which is good with the plethora of kings being used in the current meta however the summer thing is a real turn off as lannister don’t really get much currently from the seasons.

OKTarg 3 out of 5
I like it. Song of Fire seems like a decent shout for Lannister, since they can cap up pretty quickly with some Mines and Caches. This Tommen will give them a filtering, card-quality option. We’ve seen how effective things like Much and More can be, and this is REPEATABLE and ONLY HELPS US. Whoa there, I got a bit excited. But--I can’t go much more than a three given the other Tommen’s autoincludedness and the seasonal restriction.

Reldan - 3 out of 5
I like everything about this card except for the name. If this wasn’t another Tommen it’d be an easy 4 or 5 rating, but he’s competing in a deck slot against a 1-cost character with “Kneel to Draw a Card” as an ability. I’m not even certain you play him over the old Tommen even in a Song of Fire deck, since you’ve got the increased draw cap to work with that’s not reliant on the season to function, and I’m not sure how likely we’ll see Summer decks not running Song of Fire in the future due to the need to protect the Summer theme against Song of Ice.

scantrell24 - 4 out of 5
His pseudo-draw actually works better than standard draw in many ways because it doesn’t count against the cap, and between Sam, Cache, GTM, Kingsroad and Bay of Ice you can reach 4 cards drawn without the old Tommen. Also he’s any “Any Phase” rather than “Marshalling” so you can use Tommen pre-plot before Valar, or whenever. I’d give him a 5 if the other Tommen didn’t exist, or if Lanni had other legitimate reasons to make it Summer. Unfortunately, that’s not the case, so “rubber stamp” Tommen will probably just collect dust unless you’re running Song of Fire.

Sygmaghost94 - 3 out of 5
I wish I could rate this card higher than a 3, but I just can’t bring myself to do it. His ability is awesome. I think it’s downright better than the other Tommen. It doesn’t turn off if there is another king in play, it can be used even if you have already draw capped, and it’s any phase! The problem, and this is a big problem, is that it has to be summer. Summer is by no means a bad thing and making it summer is not too hard either. But the problem this little kid faces is that he is only good out of one deck. The other Tommen is in almost every Lannister deck. The same argument could be made for Wintertime Marauders, but at least they have a war crest, 3 str, and 2 icons. This guy is only useful in one deck, and that’s why he gets a 3.

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[CRB='forums/uploads/got/med_the-kingsroad-29-fai.jpg'] The Kingsroad 45 out of 45

emptyrepublic - 5 out of 5
Essentially copy my comments from the other version of Kingsroad. Again, with Bay of Ice you are setting up a beautifully efficient draw engine. If you can get three copies of each card out you are looking at +6 initiative. You get card advantage and control over the round. Brilliant card in my view, nothing else to say.

Ire & WWDrakey - 5 out of 5
Same as before, but however where the other Kingsroad doesn’t synergize with the new agenda this one does it perfectly with the Song of Fire agenda. Both of these locations can also be included into non-Seasons decks if you are looking for metaing against Season players, the stats are good enough alone without the effect.

JCWamma - 5 out of 5
Some people run cards like Kingdom of Shadows (KotS) or Lord Eddard's Chambers (LoW) just for the +1 gold from a non-limited card, even if they get no benefit from the rest of the card. This is a card that does that in any house, also gives +1 initiative, AND has an additional strong effect in Summer? The only thing that could stop this going in most decks is the other Kingsroad earlier in the pack.

mnBroncos - 5 out of 5
Now I love this one, getting same basic stats as the other one but this one is actually enhancing your agenda because there will times you won’t have enough effects to get that extra draw and this helps giving you another card in about half your turns (safe estimate) which is really nice.

Nate - 5 out of 5
Again the stats warrant the grade however with kings road you help hit that extended draw cap of song of fire making this location far more synergistic than its winter counterpart.

OKTarg 5 out of 5
What I like about the phrasing on these cards is that they are not double sided like Kingdom of Shadows. If I control a Kingsroad, it waits for me to trigger it unless the opponent also has one. And, given the amazitude of these cards, that will be fairly often.

Reldan - 5 out of 5
This is fantastic and will go in every Summer deck.

scantrell24 - 5 out of 5
Very, very good.

Sygmaghost94 - 5 out of 5
I like this card more than the winter Kingsroad. Mainly because this version actually works with the agenda you need. All around solid card. Draw, gold, and initiative. What’s not to like?
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[CRB='forums/uploads/got/med_ellaria-sand-fai.jpg'] Ellaria Sand 36 out of 45

emptyrepublic - 4 out of 5
The response strikes me a particularly easy to pull off in general, more so in Melee. What’s particularly good is that she activates off of Ambush and similar mechanics. Additionally the response scope is limited to the phase so you can potentially get power during each Shadow step at the beginning of any of the 7 phases as well as Marshalling and Challenges. Could possibly be a soft/indirect choke on your opponents. Martell Summer is definitely going to make a comeback and I’m sure she’ll be floating around for a while in the that deck archetype so we’ll see how she compares with the PoS version. Summer condition keeps her from getting the gold star but otherwise she’s quite strong. Cost/STR/Icon ratio is right and I’m of the opinion you can never have enough stealth.

Ire & WWDrakey - 4 out of 5
Nice to get some more Martell summer support, if any House epitomizes Summer… it would have to be Martell. The Response: on this Ellaria is possibly even stronger than the older one, as it is possible to gather more power and even force your opponent into unwise decisions. In melee this card is a clear 5 and has to be dealt with immediately or the Martell might get too big a lead by just having Ellaria on the board. In Summer builds she will definitely make instant friends with the Maester of the Sun in order to protect all that power. All-in-all she is fighting for the spot against an auto-include Ellaria, and does so remarkably well… even though she will often lose because of her Summer requirement.

JCWamma - 4 out of 5
The only reason Ellaria is not 5 is because Martell Summer is not a particularly dominant deck right now (although it may become one soon). Without the season, Ellaria is still a very solid card - 3 for 3 bicon with Stealth, not to be sniffed at. But the ability is a killer. Once she's on the table, if you're going second then your opponent is basically stuck between giving you power or leaving their board near-empty for you to dominate the challenge phase. The less said about her in Melee the better, because she's absurd there (although in my experience Lady characters tend to get bloodily married before long). Also worth noting that this includes cards put into play, and the limit is per phase, not per round. This means it bones Ambush, and can also work beautifully with cards like Called to Court or Narrow Escape.

mnBroncos - 4 out of 5
Yes very quick power gain crazy strong, only downside is that it is best in melee but with melee being so quick and won’t be summer first marshalling (unless you get to go first) won’t get to trigger first turn and then you get in the problem of being too big of a target I would not play this card in melee but is a strong card in both formants.

Nate - 4 out of 5
Such a nice power grab ability on top of a well costed body that will undoubtedly draw attention as soon as she hits the table lest she gets out of hand. Between her and TRV in melee you can close games very quickly providing you can keep it summer.

OKTarg 4 out of 5
She’s good. Real good. A great one-of in Summer decks and a pain for your opponent to work around. But--they can work around it, given that her ability is public. I really like that she has stealth even if it’s not summer, so definitly worth it over the other Ellaria in any summer Martell deck.

Reldan - 4 out of 5
I’d put one of her into pretty much any Martell Summer deck. I don’t think you can build a deck around her or that her ability is strong enough to warrant adding Summer, but if you’re already headed that way then be sure to take her along for the ride.

scantrell24 - 4 out of 5
Like Bran and Tommen, Ellaria gets a slight downgrade just because of her Title. In a Martell deck already committed to Summer she makes the cut, but does this Ellaria cause you to include Summer in the first place? Is she a catalyst, or just an add-on? Stealth combined with such a noticeable ability makes me lean toward catalyst.

Sygmaghost94 - 4 out of 5
This card is great in joust. In melee, this card is crazy. The summer restriction is a slight drawback, but she is still a solid 3 for 3 bicon with stealth. This card alone gives Martell players a reason to run summer. She won’t find a home in every deck, but the ones she is in will be annoying to deal with.
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[CRB='forums/uploads/got/med_oberyns-shield-bearer-fai.jpg'] Oberyn's Shield Bearer 33 out of 45

emptyrepublic - 2 out of 5
I see this guy being really great for edges cases and not much more than that. Blocking Greyjoy saves during a Valar, burning cost reduction during marshalling or possibly interrupting combo play. The Valar ploy however is plainly obvious and telegraphs to your opponent what you have in mind (though this would cancel Outwit). It also requires you have a sense of what your opponent is playing. It requires good timing and strong ability to read into what those around the table are doing. Above all that it needs to be Summer. Oh, he’s also an mono-icon Ally. I don’t think he’s worth it, though I’m glad to be proven wrong.

Ire & WWDrakey - 3 out of 5
Unfortunately for this little Bannerman he just has too many little things going against him to warrant a 4, making him a very strong 3. Martell doesn’t have any shortage in monocon low cost characters and this is one of those, as well as an ally. What saves him is the Any Phase: ability, which is also the first general triggered effect cancel/prevention Martell has easy access to. In Summer builds he can guarantee that your Doran-like schemes don’t get interrupted by opposition stating them to be mere Paper Shields, and on the sands of Dorne during the height of Summer… all opposing “men” truly must die. There are however ways to oppose this great wall of trigger cancels… such as using triggers that cannot be cancelled, or don’t care about being cancelled. For example, a single Catelyn Stark (LoW) can spend all of Oberyn’s Shield Bearers trigger cancels by herself and still hit the table after all that.

JCWamma - 4 out of 5
Having toyed around with the Shield Bearer a bit, I'd say he's not as good as Ellaria in Melee, but in Joust he's even better. 3 cancels is a pretty big deal. Being able to kill off dupes before a Valar Morghulis, stop your opponent from engaging in challenge math trickery, stop them from being able to use their Westeros Bleeds in Dominance... it's just an incredibly good utility card. Open Market (ASoS) was practically made to fetch this guy back, over and over and over.

mnBroncos - 4 out of 5
I love this card, making me rethink making my current Martell deck as a summer one. 3 cancels?? That is crazy strong. Also it makes your tricks more easy to pull off when you know that your opponent can’t cancel them. I will definitely have to play around with this guy but paying 2 gold for a character that could use to cancel three effects at any time is great. Of course has the downsides of an ally, and that have to trigger before opponent uses an effect.

Nate - 4 out of 5
Having proxying this little guy up and seeing first hand how annoying that round long three cancels can be just by effecting your reducers but also locking out a lot of challenge phase responses, players will learn to hate this character. With the amount of situations when this guy will be useful from making sure your valar hits those pesky greyjoys to laughing at maesters trying to trigger chains, in martell summer decks this guy will always be a good option.

OKTarg 4 out of 5
This is incredibly annoying to face off against. Yeah, sometimes your opponent can burn your cancels, but oftentimes you can shut down an entire marshalling phase or force a cannot-be-saved Valar. If it wasn’t summer conditional, then it’s a clear five.

Reldan - 4 out of 5
2-3 copies of this guy will probably make the cut into any Martell Summer deck. Considering the effect is a discard rather than kill, you could probably do some sneaky stuff with recursion and just have him be a repeated pain in your opponent’s side all game long. Also great right before a Valar to screw up your opponent’s saves.

scantrell24 - 4 out of 5
What’s better than one cancel? Two! What’s better than two cancels? Three! Sure Khal Drogo and Catelyn Stark can trigger, be canceled, then trigger again to burn up Oberny’s Shield Bearer, but most of the time he’ll majorly interfere with your opponent’s plans. Because of Ally-hate and things like Enslaved you might want to trigger that ability ASAP before anything goes awry.

Sygmaghost94 - 4 out of 5
This guy can cancel so much stuff you’d think he’s a Greyjoy. The fact that his ability lasts the whole round is annoying. The fact that he is in a house with a lot of recursion is even more annoying. Imagine playing someone who uses this card and then gets it back each turn with Open Market. The summer restriction is the only reason this card is not a solid 5.
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[CRB='forums/uploads/got/med_the-long-plan-fai.jpg'] The Long Plan 22 out of 45

emptyrepublic - 4 out of 5
I’m willing to admit I may be overrating this card but I’m viewing it from a Melee perspective. Losing 3 challenges (note that it can be attack or defense) in Melee is easy, especially when you are in the lead. If people have been power feeding off of you this can spring you right back into the lead or take the game altogether. In Joust I’m much more doubtful of its use. Being a shadow card is quite good as it keeps it out of your hand though you have to keep that 1 gold handy.

Ire & WWDrakey - 2 out of 5
The rating given here is purely a Joust view where you will rarely see an event with combined gold cost of 3 played. Even in Joust getting the conditions for it shouldn’t be too hard, unless you are completely dominating the board position. So it definitely has its uses in Joust, but might be bit too expensive. Now, in Melee the conditions are a lot easier to achieve and tricks that give you surprise power are always bigger, so it’s Melee rating would be somewhere around 4.

JCWamma - 3 out of 5
Being able to be triggered after losses on attack or defense makes this event eminently playable. At the same time, the cost of the event and the limit per phase, as well as being turned off by clever use of Euron Crow's Eye (ASoSilence) or Brienne of Tarth (PotS) make it pretty balanced. But will you be able to sit comfortably when Martell has a card in shadows and 10+ power in the future? I don't think so.

mnBroncos - 3 out of 5
I am not sure if even deserves a 3. This will need a very specific build and will only be used really in melee. But you are getting 1/5 of your power just from this one card, but in melee you don’t want to be getting attacked that much and Martell does best at melee when you put yourself in a position that everyone is too scared to attack you. Also having to save a gold back in hopes of playing this event greatly affects marshalling.

Nate - 1 out of 5
I had a long look at this card trying to think of ways to maximise its effect in decks (in joust as it is obviously stronger in melee decks) and came up short. In fact if you’re in a position where you are been beat on every challenge do you want to put three power on your house for your opponent to steal during power challenges? I can think of much better ways to spend 3 gold in those positions.

OKTarg 2 out of 5
I don’t think it will even be strong in melee. Maybe as an end of game closer, but if you have lost tons of challenges you’re probably not in a super strong position to protect that 3 power on your house card. I’ll look elsewhere I think.

Reldan 4 out of 5
This rating is for Melee, where just about any effects that can grab sizable amounts of power have been restricted for good reason. This one is harder to stop than most because it can’t be cancelled with Paper Shield. The thing to remember in Melee is that you often work out challenge trades and the like with other players, where you purposefully might “lose” some challenges in ways that don’t even hurt you. The major point is that counts total challenges lost on both attack and defense together, so I don’t see this being hard to trigger at some point in the game. In Joust this is a 1, nobody’s going to play it.

scantrell24 - 2 out of 5
In joust this will rarely be effective. Even in Melee you’re paying 3 gold to gain 3 power one time with no other effect on board position. Meanwhile your opponent’s have spent 3 gold to marshall an Asha, or Ser Arys Oakheart, or something else with staying power that can actually win challenges. I’m skeptical.

Sygmaghost94 - 1 out of 5
Another lose-to-win card for Martell. However, you really have to lose to use this card. With every other great Martell event out there, I just don’t see this one ever making the cut. I feel like the 3 power is not worth losing 3 challenges.

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[CRB='forums/uploads/got/med_bran-stark-fai.jpg'] Bran Stark 14 out of 45

emptyrepublic - 2 out of 5
First off this is the worst art we’ve seen a in a while. I guess FFG can’t hit it out of the park all the time, but man is this card is ugly. Too bad the ability is so damn situational. With some reliable trait manipulation (Old Nan perhaps) he can really irritate your opponents, but I don’t find that to be a particularly compelling combo. It gets point for Nedliness but given the limitations and need for it to be Winter I don’t see him as all that compelling.

Ire & WWDrakey - 2 out of 5
We finally get our 4th Bran Stark and oddly enough this is the first Skinchanger of them all. His ability is interesting, but there are few flaws in it - 5 actually. It has to be Winter in order for him to have the ability in the first place (1), the character must be standing (2), the character must not be participating (3), the character cannot be an Army (4) and the character also has to have higher strength than printed cost (5). Thats a lot of restrictions in a single ability, and we’re not even taking stuff like Bran needing to be standing himself into account here! In melee it might be easier to trigger him, but if you are playing Winter in melee you’re already making plenty of enemies with that White Raven (Crown of Winter might actually work better there).

JCWamma - 1 out of 5
If he didn't have the "STR higher than cost" restriction he'd be a 5. The other restrictions are all pretty easy to meet, but unless you build a deck around characters who Bran can Warg into, you're relying on an opponent to provide you targets, and that's always a bit risky. From a Nedliness standpoint this card is phenomenal incidentally - particularly how potent it makes Hodor!
Update: Having played a few games with him I've lowered his rating from 2 to 1. The ability is just horrendously unreliable, even in a deck that specifically tries to exploit it.

mnBroncos - 2 out of 5
Since stark is now getting all of these effects against characters with higher strength than cost it is getting to the point could build a deck around it, however, there is about two or three too many restraints on the card I don’t even know if they have ever made a card as conditional before.

Nate - 2 out of 5
Wow that is a lot of restrictions on an ability that may not be all that useful, coupled with the other Bran Starks on offer which aren’t necessarily amazing but are just far less situational than this one I can’t see him getting a lot of play time.

OKTarg 1 out of 5
Sorry buddy. I’m just not convinced that I’ll ever be able to trigger your abilities given all the conditions.

Reldan - 1 out of 5
This card works in a hypothetical future deck where Stark gets a ton of efficient, reliable Challenge phase character STR pump ability. However the day that happens is the day they restrict Breaching the Wall and that entire theme comes crumbling down. The best part about this card is the art.

scantrell24 - 2 out of 5
I want to like this Bran. There are certainly situations where his ability could swing the course of a game, but they will be few and far between given the laundry list of conditions. If Stark gets more ways to pump strength on opposing characters then it could be useful. On the bright side, Bran can make an opponent’s character with deadly participate (defending on your side), and then die to its own deadly.

Sygmaghost94 - 1 out of 5
This card does not have a lot going for it. The ability is extremely conditional, the artwork is pretty terrible, and the other Brans are just so much better (well two of them anyways). This guy would be a solid 4 if we were rating this based on how Nedly the card is, but alas, we are not.
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[CRB='forums/uploads/got/med_winterfell-fai.jpg'] Winterfell 22 out of 45

emptyrepublic - 2 out of 5
Be honest with yourself and ask if this is better than core set Winterfell. I think if you are you’ll agree that it really isn’t. If it didn’t have the Winter condition then I’d be almost willing to say it’s a toss up. Core set Winterfell is a passive always on that helps you win any challenge. This raises claim once per round. In theory that’s all that needs to be said.

Ire & WWDrakey - 3 out of 5
Repeatable Winter is Coming sure seems like a nice thing to be able to do. The problem comes in with the Winter restriction this location has. It means that you cannot run it in House of Dreams deck without a great risk and in no-agenda with Maege isn’t any more optimal. In decks that run winter this might even be too expensive to play thanks to the slight choke your own White Raven is giving you. What would make this card better is if we see more viable ways to make it into a season than the current Raven attachments. Very powerful ability, and sure to give your opponent chills… if you can figure out a deck that can adapt it’s cost-curve appropriately.

JCWamma - 2 out of 5
This card is just a bit too pricey. If it was one less it'd be amazing, but as it is, it's sitting very uncomfortably right now. The Winter restriction makes it very hard to use in House of Dreams with the new agendas later in this pack; the high cost makes it expensive to play normally, especially during Winter; the easiest way for Stark to put pricey locations into play, Maege, won't work with the Song of Ice agenda; all other search effects that find this card only put it into hand. So in the end it's an amazing card, but unless you can guarantee a meta that doesn't include Song of Fire, it's too difficult to play sadly.

mnBroncos - 2 out of 5
Three gold in winter is huge, and as long as some people play song of fire (hoping someone does) then you can’t house of dreams this. Sure it is repeatable effect so is very good but like Bran, Stark just got another to conditional card. If no one plays Song of Fire though then could be a 3 or 4 card.

Nate - 3 out of 5
Now in a vacuum this thing looks terrifying to be looking at from the other side of the table, as anyone will know weathering two claim plots nearly every turn can be difficult especially with starks love of both Die by the Sword and No quarter, with this added in the mix and you have an aggro deck that will flatten board positions. Now with all that said the winter condition brings with it deck restrictions as playing winter without playing Song of ice is taking a risk that can end your run in a tournament. Coupled with the 3 cost which can be very prohibitive in winter decks and this location ends up being more of liability than an asset.

OKTarg 2 out of 5
Man, I just don’t know that I can spend three gold in a Winter deck for this. Now, the ability is strong (howbout shenanigans with Steel Link and NCF!) but I can’t really see it seeing a lot of competitive play given the restriction and cost.

Reldan - 2 out of 5
This is a tough sell because you’d totally play it with Maege or HoD but then you’d really want to be playing Song of Ice and but you can’t. I have a hard time seeing this one getting much play because the Winter requirement kills it for me.

scantrell24 – 3 out of 5
Winterfell is versatile and repeatable, and Stark loves Winter anyways, so there are possibilities - namely with Maege Mormont or House of Dreams so you’re not paying 3 gold -- but then there’s a potentially horrible matchup vs. Song of Fire.

Sygmaghost94 - 3 out of 5
Winter is a setback for this card, but high claim is exactly what you need with the new agenda. With everyone going down to 4 cards each turn, hands are going to be smaller and board position will be lighter. That means that a well timed military or intrigue challenge with this to raise claim could give you a huge advantage. 
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[CRB='forums/uploads/got/med_green-dream-fai.jpg'] Green Dream 36 out of 45

emptyrepublic - 4 out of 5
I’m not sure why this is a Dominance only card. I suppose the tutoring effect is too powerful for the marshalling phase? I’m doubting that given the limitations of the card chosen having to be non-Raven and have Summer or Winter in the textbox. Clearly excellent if you need to dig out those Wintertime Marauders out quickly or other key non-Raven cards for a season based deck. Otherwise, clearly useless for anything else.

Ire & WWDrakey - 4 out of 5
What this card will be used most often will be to search for Wintertime Marauders. Some combo decks might also want to go for Inn of the Kneeling man to get a stand loop going. There is a point to be made with this card - while Summer might not have as powerful of a season card as Wintertime Marauders, the Song of Fire agenda doesn’t care about the Dominance: timing of this card… while The Song of Ice does. In Song of Ice you have to keep this in hand until a time when your agenda kicks off, which brings a slight anti-synergy to it, but the effect is still well worth it.

JCWamma - 5 out of 5
Easy 3x auto-include in any Seasons deck. Deck-thinning and combo-enabling, what more could you ask for? Only downside is receiving the card in Dominance Phase rather than Marshalling, but hey, in most cases it'll still be there next turn.

mnBroncos - 4 out of 5
Most search effects are good and this one is just as good as the other ones, I don’t have too much of a problem with dominance since there are times that I wish could use other tutors like Mustering in a different phase when I can’t afford to marshall the card search for that turn and don’t want the card you want to be discarded, so still good search effect.

Nate - 4 out of 5
This is a really useful tutor for both season decks as mentioned above when building a deck around card with summer or winter in the text box this will be hard to pass up. Im not sure if the dominance thing will be a factor but im sure it will be tested a lot with anything that has meera/wintertime marauders in it.

OKTarg 4 out of 5
Good card--tutoring is very solid especially with the power levels of the season effects. Being a dominance effect limits it severely, as does the agenda restriction (which I actually like). Surely a 1-of in a season deck at least, right?

Reldan - 5 out of 5
It’s Wolf Dreams but with a hell of a lot more targets. I think Wolf Dreams is an utterly fantastic card and am completely sold on it. This is even better. I don’t see any decks running the Song agendas that don’t run at least 2 copies of this. It’s also crazy card advantage with Rickon Stark.

scantrell24 - 3 out of 5
I’m not confident with this rating because there’s no precedent for a straight 1-1 search effect. Muster requires a kneel as the cost. To Be A Wolf requires a Military Battle plot. Fetching something like Wintertime Marauders or Slaver’s Bay has it’s uses, but you’ll have to wait until the Dominance phase, and that’s a major downside.

Sygmaghost94 - 3 out of 5
This card is great for searching for those awesome winter or summer cards. There is no card advantage here, but it is a solid tutor. Unfortunately, this card does take place during the dominance phase so you have to plan around A Song of Ice.
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[CRB='forums/uploads/got/med_khal-drogo-fai.jpg'] Khal Drogo 30 out of 45

emptyrepublic - 4 out of 5
Personally I’m a big fan of core set Drogo because his Response pairs well with a lot of the character jumping mechanics that have been showing up in the Targaryen card pool lately. He’s an alternate version of the new Balon and while not bad I don’t think his effect is as reliable to pull off as Balon’s. Most likely he’s best in a heavy Dothraki deck where hand out lots of Weapon attachments. Even then attachments are generally more vulnerable than locations so the effect is more susceptible to being disrupted I think than Balon’s. On top of that you need it to be Summer. Nonetheless, a decent choice even for non-Dothraki decks.

Ire & WWDrakey - 5 out of 5
Basically a copy of what Balon did for Greyjoy. Now the ability here is as powerful, if not even more powerful. That is because the restrictions are easier to meet - Targaryen is still probably the strongest house when it comes to the Season Wars and attachment control. While everyone is running locations, not all decks are running attachments, and most likely just a moderate amount of attachment control (like a Meereenese Brothel or few Dragon Thieves) will secure that your Black Raven will be the only attachment in play - thus activating Khal Drogo. Now, unlike Balon he has the drawback of having good cards with the same title, so there is definitely some competition going on here. Still the card itself is very powerful.

JCWamma - 3 out of 5
Don't get me wrong, this guy is much better than 3 out of 5 implies. The problem he has, much like Tommen before, is his title. He's the fourth Khal Drogo, and depending on whether you're running Dothraki or not he's probably the worst Khal Drogo. But if you're running a Summer Attachments build AND don't want to use any of the other Drogos, he's a shoe-in!

mnBroncos -4 out of 5
The biggest problem is that out of any unique character Drogo probably has the most GOOD copies of himself. He already has four solid copies that can go in decks. So even in a summer dothraki deck I don’t think this is the guy, but more a non-dothraki summer deck since the dothraki focused Drogo probably better in the other deck.

Nate - 3 out of 5
Unlike Balon this Khal Drogo is fighting it out with some real competition to be the version you put in your deck. I can’t see him being used in the dothraki no agenda/screamer deck as pretty much all the other drogos are better for that deck, the jumper deck will forever use CS drogo as will maesters. Now in straight summer decks he may get use what with red warlock to help your attachment count up and mereneese brothel / dragon thief keeping theres down but I’m still unsure if he’ll see play.

OKTarg 4 out of 5
I’ve been experimenting with this guy and I like what I see. Very easy to meet the condition, since you’re running at least a Raven anyway. It’s also great to keep Sam and his Carrion Birds around during Threat from the North.

The only drawback is the opportunity cost by leaving out the other Khal Drogos.

Reldan - 2 out of 5
Unlike Balon above, the biggest problem with this Khal Drogo is that he has previous versions that are much more playable. The ability and crest and cost and everything about him would be a stellar card, a 4 or 5, with almost any other name printed on top.

scantrell24 - 3 out of 5
Meh. I don’t see what this iteration of Khal Drogo accomplishes. Dothraki decks that splash Summer will probably keep the other Khal that fetches more Dothraki. Summer Burn decks need Core Set Khal to jumps around and win challenges. Besides, their main attachment is Flame-Kissed, and if that stays on the board very long then it’s not doing its job.

Sygmaghost94 - 2 out of 5
Maybe it’s just me, but I’m not seeing it with this card. I don’t think his effect will be hard to activate, but then again, I don’t see Targ’s need to boost their str. Looking at the other Khal Drogos, I don’t see why this guy is necessary. Don’t get me wrong, his ability is cool in one deck type, but even then I feel like it’s unneeded. If you want str boost, Daenerys can do that with less conditions to meet.
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[CRB='forums/uploads/got/med_slavers-bay-fai.jpg'] Slaver's Bay 32 out of 45

emptyrepublic - 3 out of 5
That Summer limitation strikes again. It’s a good thing otherwise this might be broken location. Targeting non-uniques in the discard pile prevents too much craziness but a simple power challenge win is a seriously low threshold to steal big non-unique Army or other useful characters out from under your opponent’s nose. The cost is a touch high though so it might not see quite as much play as one might think and that’s what also keeps this from hitting a 4 for Joust at least; in Melee the costs are probably more justified since you can target any opponent.

Ire & WWDrakey - 4 out of 5
So you get to permanently take a non-unique character from opponents discard pile? That sounds really great! Slaver’s Bay however suffers from the limitations of there needing to be Summer and you need to somehow get the characters to the discard pile in the first place. Simplest way is to just win intrigue challenges, but that can be very hard against opponents like Martell and Lannister. This card itself might be enough to make the Summer trait-manipulation build with bouncing Jorah and Daario viable. Now, in melee this can get strong and fast, since there will be intrigue challenges going all around the place and you can take the character from any players discard pile after winning the Power challenge.

JCWamma - 3 out of 5
I feel like this is a 'trap' card for people to go crazy over. Yes, permanent character stealing is a phenomenal power. And against certain decks, for instance Kindly Man decks or Bara Recursion decks, the card is bonkers. But let's weigh up the restrictions here. You need to get the card in play - and as 2 cost unique, it's not something you're going to want to run multiples of most likely. You need it to be Summer. You need to win a power challenge. And, most importantly of all, you need to have your opponent have non-unique characters in the discard pile. That means either winning intrigue challenges, requiring you to win both intrigue AND power challenges consistently with your deck to justify its inclusion, or discarding in other ways (most likely Threat from the North). It's therefore not exactly a card with a great deal of utility. Even when you do get the stars aligned to trigger it, you're still relying on your opponent having juicy non-uniques. I've played against this a few times now, and it's just never really that much of a threat.

mnBroncos - 4 out of 5
Amazing card, crazy strong, however, this card will be going down to a 3 when it is errata to until the end of the phase and I do believe that is how it was meant to be. But if not getting a free character every turn is amazing strong.

Nate - 4 out of 5
This is a card I would like to build around either in a summer deck or in a Kothh deck (altough the latter would have it in rather than be built around due to the new agendas). When you look at the ways targ commonly have to discard characters intrigue challenges, jorah/ daario, TFtN, marched, rule by decree, greyscale, dragonbite, thundering cavalry and thats of the top of my head. The fact that you get to keep whatever you whip out is crazy good meaning you’re going to be really pressuring the opponents side of the board what with discarding their characters, stealing their characters then killing them in military claim and burn.

OKTarg 4 out of 5
I’m on the fence between a 3 and 4. I ended up tipping upwards since the sheer power of the effect outweighs the conditions in my mind. A permanent character is pretty solid.

Reldan - 4 out of 5
The power of the effect tips this one up to a 4 for me. It’s not House Targaryen only, and it’s strong enough that I could see other houses giving it a go, especially with Supported by the Smith being out there.

scantrell24 - 3 out of 5
Pay two gold, make it Summer, discard an opposing non-unique character, and then win a Power challenge. That’s a lot to accomplish, but the Kindly Man-esque reward might be worth the trouble. Only the Song of Ice agenda keeps Slaver’s Bay from scoring higher. I wonder if it might see play in Martell or Lannister, Houses with an easier time of discarding characters, via Support of the Smith.

Sygmaghost94 - 3 out of 5
If only this said from the dead pile instead of the discard pile. This card, while fun, goes against a lot of really good cards in Targaryen. A few of these being Aegon’s Hill, Visenya’s Hill, and all of the burn cards. When I think of a summer deck out of Targ, I think of Field of Fire and Flame Kissed. All of these cards are putting characters in the dead pile, not discard. But wait! This card is not House Targaryen only, and who is the king of getting cards in the discard pile? I would love some shagga player to build a Greyjoy summer mill with this card.
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[CRB='forums/uploads/got/med_dothraki-vanguard-fai.jpg'] Dothraki Vanguard 44 out of 45

emptyrepublic - 5 out of 5
This is pretty crazy as a 3 cost character could beget you a 6-7 cost Army for free. There’s lots of potential here beyond the cost savings. Particularly for decks built around “entering play” effects. Thankfully it’s only activated from playing from the hand because if it was triggered from being put into play you could set up a ridiculous chain effect. It’s another Bannerman for Targaryen so more support for the character introduced in the first pack. Otherwise it’s an average character… thankfully.

Ire & WWDrakey - 5 out of 5
Comes into play abilities are always the ones that are the most powerful and these guys are a nice Bannerman to support that Targaryen theme as well. This card is pure card advantage with slightly below average stats, but he will help the dothraki builds tremendously. It seems like the developers are really pushing Dothraki to be valid competitive build and after this card it should definitely rise up further in power level.

JCWamma - 5 out of 5
This is why Braided Screamers were errata'd, basically. Being able to pay 3 gold for a free card into play is an amazing power, especially given there's absolutely no cost limit on the Dothraki character you grab - Refugee of the Plains, Bitter Crone, Khal Drogo, Khal Drogo's Horde, Thundering Cavalry, all are equally grabbable with this guy. The biggest problem Dothraki decks face is maintaining cards in hand for after their horde is inevitably Valar'd away, and this allows you to keep your characters in hand and take them from your deck instead. Ultra-powerful, ultra-efficient.

mnBroncos - 5 out of 5
I think it is getting close to say that the Dothraki deck is now Targaryen’s best deck. But maybe that is good because burn is scary to face, but wow I don’t know how many decks are going to be able to handle the 10 characters on the opponent's side of the board.

Nate - 5 out of 5
Now I’ve proxied this guy up and tried him and he’s as good as i thought he would be. Now a couple of times you’re going to hit bitter cron or refugees or maybe even nothing however those are far outweighed by the times you hit screamers/horde/one of the dothraki uniques and when you have a screamer out things can quickly get out of hand spewing dothraki forward to crush dreams.

OKTarg 5 out of 5
He’s amazing. No doubt. The problem is with the Dothraki deck as a whole--very reset vulnerable, very intrigue light, and very dependant on challenge wins for triggering effects. In short, probably too many problems to win a tournament.

That said, two bodies and a card advantage just for three gold is FANTASTIC. I’m pumped to see what we can come up with to leverage him over the coming months.

Reldan - 5 out of 5
This is an auto-include in every Dothraki deck from now until forever. I’m imagining a Targ Dothraki Summer deck using Summer Encampment to keep triggering this guy over and over. So efficient, and a Bannerman to boot!

scantrell24 - 5 out of 5
His stats and icons are mediocre but that hardly matters. For 3 gold you get a chud PLUS another character, and even if that’s just a Refugee or Dothraki Handmaiden it’s more than a fair trade. The key to success for Dothraki aggro decks will be how well they can recover from Valar, and the Vanguard helps tremendously in that regard.

Sygmaghost94 - 4 out of 5
Now this card is fun. Bannerman, check. Dothraki, check. Grabbing any Dothraki and putting it into play for free, that’s a big ol’ check! The reason I’m not giving it a 5 out of 5 is because this card will only see play in dedicated Dothraki builds. Now, I’m not saying those builds are bad necessarily. I’m just saying that a 3 for 2 bicon with no keywords will not see play in any other deck.
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[CRB='forums/uploads/got/med_a-song-of-fire-fai.jpg'] A Song of Fire 32 out of 45

emptyrepublic - 3 out of 5
So these new agendas have been getting a lot of chatter since being spoiled for a while. A Song of Fire unfortunately doesn’t strike me as a particularly compelling agenda to play. It provides no direct benefit to you. You need to bank that you have a super strong draw engine in your deck to make sure you take advantage of a draw cap of four. The big problem is that you’ve giving your opponent a draw cap of four for free. If s/he has a stronger draw engine than you… well, I think you see my point. Good counter to agendaless Winter decks I suppose but it’s a high cost if that’s your goal. One last point, note the wording. What happens in a 4 player melee where everyone is running this agenda and it is Summer?

Ire & WWDrakey - 4 out of 5
We have a feeling that in the long run this agenda might actually be more common than Song of Ice (largely due to the solid draw from the accompanying Kingsroad location). The good thing here is that it will be good against every opponent, as you are building your deck around it, while most of your opponents will not be building for it, unless they are running this agenda as well. It also demands much less from your deck than Song of Ice, and it’s nice to see that the new take on Summer is not at all phased by it being Winter, which may have a much larger impact on the whole Season balance than one would initially think. While earlier on Summer decks were the worst equipped for facing off against Winter due to their own drawback, now they’ve suddenly jumped up to being some of the best - built with solid draw to make up for lost cards, both Black Ravens and Carrion Birds to remove Winter, completely stopping non-Song of Ice Winter decks etc. A meta-call that may have some interesting impacts.

JCWamma - 5 out of 5
This agenda isn't so great for helping you make it Summer so much as it is the rest of the text. With both of these new agendas, the main benefit is the Seasons trait and the "cannot be the other season" text. Fire's passive is probably slightly better than Ice's, just because it synergises more directly with the Summer Kingsroad than Ice does with the Winter Kingsroad, but both are cards that help define the meta. The last card I felt that about was Negotiations at the Great Sept (TPoL), and I'm not going to fall into the trap I did there and not give them 5/5!

mnBroncos - 4 out of 5
Underrated agenda by the community as a whole I think, this will be a good deck I believe. Just as strong as the next agenda, but won’t appear as good since most people don’t have the same reaction as when facing against winter. If the choke gets going turn 1 and you can’t do anything it does really suck, but thing this agenda can be just as good but more consistent.

Nate - 3 out of 5
This agenda bugs me as the house most likely to take advantage of this doesn’t really use summer (that being lannister) both Targ and Martell rarely have such efficient draw that they can fully capitalize on this agenda but will end up having to run it because of the fear of running into its evil twin brother and having a good percentage of its cards turned off.

OKTarg 4 out of 5
Try it before you knock it--summer lends itself to draw anyway, and this hoses all winter decks that try to get cheeky without the agenda. After some preliminary play, I’m quite happy with it and think it has more staying power than Song of Ice, strangely. There’s enough draw in the game to hit four out of any house, especially those that like Summer anyway.

Reldan - 3 out of 5
You’ll run this card not because you expect to get much advantage from the effect, but because you have to run it to protect your Summer cards from Song of Ice. That’s not a great reason to run an agenda, but then again I think FFG is trying to steer away from having agendas that are great in every way.

scantrell24 - 3 out of 5
I’d rate this higher if your opponent didn’t also receive the draw-cap increase, or if Lannister had reasons to run Summer. Even if Samwell + Kingsroad + X other draw card (Cache, Jaime, Meraxes, etc.) is enough to take advantage of the agenda, the opportunity cost of running this agenda is too high. The Brigands for Lannister, Screamers for Targ, and Quentyn for Martell are compelling reasons to avoid Song of Fire.

Sygmaghost94 - 3 out of 5
This agenda is nice in the sense that it stops your opponent from making it winter unless they run a seasons agenda. The down side is that anyone wanting to make it winter will almost certainly be running a seasons agenda. So the first part of the agenda is pretty pointless. The increase in draw cap is fun and works well with the summer Kingsroad. Other than wanting to make it summer and running Green Dreams, I don’t see too much going for this card.
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[CRB='forums/uploads/got/med_a-song-of-ice-fai.jpg'] A Song of Ice 35 out of 45

emptyrepublic - 4 out of 5
Clearly the better of the two new agendas in my view. This can have a substantive impact starting on turn one. Downside is that it hits you too, but conceivably you’re building your deck with this in mind; in theory your opponent hasn’t. There’s already a lot of talk about how much this agenda will appear in the various metas around the world. We’ll have to see how much it takes off, but in my view I think the effect is balanced and fair since the owner has to contend with the discard themselves. Additionally if you keep a “balanced” hand size throughout the game the agenda will be barely noticeable to you. The flip side is if you have a strong draw engine you might have to throttle back so you don’t end up drawing just to discard.

Ire & WWDrakey - 4 out of 5
The effect certainly is powerful, but against two of the primary deck archetypes this agenda does absolutely nothing. Rush and Aggro will rarely have more than 4 cards in their hand, so your agenda will be mostly blank against those decktypes. While it is very brutal against Control there are some control builds which can adjust their playstyle to increase their card expenditure instead of hoarding. It’s interesting how hoarding suddenly creates a bigger risk for the Control player, where there before was none. It should also be noted that this agenda forces very heavy deckbuilding restrictions. You need to have a deck in position, where it will be able to make it into the correct season fast, be able to play all but 4 cards and continue to do so when you are soft choked by your own Raven. It might not sound like much, but it needs more optimization and creates a serious First Snow of Winter weakness for the deck as it will be mostly running low-cost cards. The winter builds will also have to give-up their old restricted choice in Fear of Winter for good, as then you are hurting yourself a lot. All that said, the power this agenda has over Control is what makes it so strong. An interesting point is to note that many current Choke decks tend to rely on their draw from Samwell, which comes in fits and spurts, usually in the first few rounds… the exact scenario you would not want to face with Song of Ice.

JCWamma - 5 out of 5
See A Song of Fire.

mnBroncos - 4 out of 5
Good agenda but to me clearly not as good as the other winter agenda. But still good and for the time being we won’t see the same old school control decks with 15 card hands but for most decks this isn’t a big problem, to me the biggest problem is this will just get more people to run horrible choke since this agenda is the new fun thing.

Nate - 3 out of 5
I also dislike for the same reasons I dislike the song of fire agenda (forcing you to play it to play any winter cards in fear of its brother) however this has a much more obvious effect which also needs to be built around. The thing is both rush and aggro decks have learnt to play against control decks keeping their hands around the four or five mark so this probably wont him them as hard meaning its effectiveness is lessened, the saving grace is that punches control decks in the junk hard capitulating to the choke and this agenda.

OKTarg 3 out of 5
Going out on a bit of a limb, I think that Song of Ice is overhyped and overrated. I highly doubt we will see a song of ice deck make the cut at worlds.

EXCEPTION: if the Kingsguard pack is legal, I think Stark Shadows has a real chance for a comeback with this agenda in play. I’m not nearly as worried about the Greyjoy iterations.

Reldan - 5 out of 5
I think this is stronger than Song of Fire because the effect is more game-defining and easier to build around in such a way that the “symmetric” effect hurts your opponent worse than it does yourself. I still think Winter is stronger than Summer as well given the card pools. I don’t think we’re going to see the impact of this card right away because FFG still needs to clean house with the current meta in which I don’t see any Seasons-based decks really competing. The biggest impact may be that Martell Quentyn Summer is dead and the Martell Quentyn Nobles version will be all that’s played, because that summer deck can’t afford to run Song of Fire and its theme falls apart against Song of Ice.

scantrell24 - 4 out of 5
Song of Ice and Greyjoy Choke have some serious potential together, although it’s not as strong as Kings of Winter. If your opponent holds cards in his hand (because he’s choked or playing conservatively), he’ll have to discard some of them. On the other hand, if he manages to flood the board, you Valar and leave him with no board and little to no hand. Baratheon Winter can potentially abuse The Laughing Storm, but I’m not if that combination is viable.

Sygmaghost94 - 3 out of 5
My thoughts are almost the same with this agenda as they were with A Song of Fire. The first part of the ability is pretty pointless. The second part seems like fun with a constant Rule by Decree. This agenda doesn’t work as well with its Kingsroad as A Song of Fire does. So other than wanting it to be winter and running Green Dreams, I don’t see a whole lot here for this agenda.

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