First Tilt - Player Personality: Jaime

The First Tilt – Defining Your Player Personality, Pt. 2 “Am I Jaime Lannister?”
Welcome back to another edition of “The First Tilt!” I’m honored to pick up where BenStark left off on this series about Player Personalities. Last time, he did a great job defining the “Nedly” player – a person who plays for flavor. Looking at BenStark’s article, we were supposed to tackle Shagga next, but I opted for Jaime this week. We’ll hit the Shagga style next week!

Before we jump in, there have been a few comments made to me and that I’ve seen regarding the specific “point” of player styles and why we’re devoting articles to defining them here on CardGameDB. This column, specifically, is devoted to new players written by a new player (I’ve only been playing for 5 months). Wherever you go in the AGoT card game world, whether here or other sites, the Player Personality names are used often. Ned, Jaime, and Shagga are used to describe people, decks, and even specific play sequences. The goal of these articles is to make it a little easier to understand the context of these descriptions, how they’re used and, hopefully, reduce some initial confusion for players new to the AGoT LCG world.

The other advantage is helping you to understand your play style. If you’re a Nedly player and someone gives you a Jaime deck to play – you’re not going to have as much fun as you would if you were playing a themed deck that fits the stories of the book or the show. The same is true for Jaime players. So, let’s talk about that…

What is a Jaime Lannister?
A Jaime player is someone who plays to control the game. The thematic elements of the deck are less a concern. A Jaime player looks to impose his will upon the playing field and force his opponent to play on his terms.

How do I know if I’m a Jaime Lannister?
Think about your games – when were you having the most fun? Were you cackling like a mad man (or woman) when your opponents were completely out of options because you knelt, blanked, returned, or killed everything? When looking at your deck, are you looking to see what cards you can play to force your opponent into playing defensively? Are you scouring the boards to figure out the best way to make your opponent more miserable (by making their cards useless)? If you answered yes, then you’re probably a Jaime.

Now, we all have a little Jaime in us, most likely. Everyone wants to exercise some measure of control to win more decisively, but a Jaime player tends to focus on the control elements of the game.

I know that I’m a Jaime Lannister. Should that bother me?
YES! It should. No, I kid! It’s fine, really! (I’m pretty much a Jaime player… with a little Shagga thrown in from time to time.) As a Jaime, you get a thrill out of optimizing your deck for the win and finding strategies that cause much grief and pain to other players. You’re really looking to bring low that finely crafted deck your opponent has fielded by making much of it either useless or very difficult to play. It keeps the game interesting for everyone (especially for you).

How does being a Jaime translate into which House I choose?
When it comes to controlling opponents and forcing them to bow to your will, a very potent theme right now seems to be Greyjoy Choke. Other Houses are Lannister (of course) and the House with a ton of control options – Martell. I play Targaryen most of the time and streamline my deck to burn my opponent’s board as quickly as possible, ensuring they have as few characters as possible (killing characters is, in my opinion, the best form of character control there is).

For some great examples, and more detail, check out Clu’s column, “The Things I Do For Win,” which focuses on the Jaime play-style. There are two articles specifically featuring decks made for Martell and Lannister with full deck lists and a breakdown of why certain cards were chosen.

Why Jaime? Nobody likes Jaime!
How far have you read in the books? Never mind – I won’t spoil it. Jaime Lannister is a multi-faceted and very interesting character in the books, but I respect that he just knows what he wants and goes after it with all of his might and on his own terms. Of course, you can choose not to play as a Jaime and you may discover it’s just no fun for you if you play this way. It really depends on why you’re playing.

If you got into AGoT because of the story and you just love the characters and how they’re represented in the cards, you’re leaning towards the Nedly player type. If you find that after every game, you’re evaluating your deck and trying to find ways to streamline it to exercise even more control over the field; you’ve got a strong Jaime component in your play style. So, regardless of my tongue in cheek comment earlier, roll with it! In the end, AGoT LCG is a game. There’s nothing wrong with wanting to win decisively by deleting your opponent’s competitive edge… though they may hate you.

We’ll be tackling Shagga next (really, I mean it). Oh how I love the Shagga style! I can’t wait to talk about the comborificness of AGoT.