House of Thorns AGoT LCG Review Part 2

"The roses?" Nute laughed. "What rose can harm the krakens of the deep? We have taken their shields from them, and smashed them all to pieces. Who will protect them now?"

"Highgarden," replied the Reader. "Soon enough all the power of the Reach will be marshaled against us, Barber, and then you may learn that some roses have steel thorns."

Our staff has put together a first blush analysis of the newly released “House of Thorns” deluxe box. Answers to frequently asked rules questions can be found on the individual card pages on thronesdb.com. Cards are listed in numeric order and scored on a scale ranging from one through five, with five being the best possible score. Let us know in the comments how you feel about the cards in this pack!

Now onto the reviews, starting with....

River Runner (2.0 Average)



Joe From Cincinnati - 2 out of 5
What is this? Baratheon players don’t declare challenges…
On a more serious note, 3 for 3 bicon is...average. This hurts a little bit against renown heavy factions like Tyrell (as per usual, the other faction cards often counter the faction featured in the deluxe box) especially GoH Brienne, but your opponent will see this card and can potentially play around it accordingly. And attacking with their renown characters isn’t exactly a bad thing most of the time, so they won’t always be too broken up about not being able to defend with them. Situational card that can be paired well with kneel effects to get some cheap unopposed wins off.

Von Wibble - 2 out of 5
Stats are OK but nothing more, and he gets bonus points for the fact he doesn’t have to be attacking alone. He works nicely with Consolidation of Power too if you want to prevent chud blocks. However, there are some matchups such as Martell and Night’s Watch where he may as well have a blank text box, I’m not sure I like that at all.

emptyrepublic - 2 out of 5
Meh. Meaningful against decks that are heavy on renown, but they generally don’t care about defending anyway so the effect will often be wasted. Otherwise it’s an okay mid-range character for the cost. Maybe the smuggler trait will be a thing one day.

Bend the Knee (3.0 Average)



Joe From Cincinnati - 3 out of 5
If you are running cards that make more characters King, this becomes a bit more consistent. As it stands in Baratheon right now, you have up to 6 king cards in your deck, Robert and Stannis. Any other kings would need to be imported via attachments from other factions (and a few non loyal/neutral kings) , as of the writing of this review. That said, kneeling any lord or lady is very strong for just 1 gold. Hurray for more solitaire Baratheon!...Luckily, Night’s Watch avoids this, for the most part > .

Von Wibble - 3 out of 5
In order to have a decent chance for this event to do something you probably need 10 or so Kings in your deck. Robert and Stannis provide 6, maybe a Crown of Golden Roses? The effect is really powerful for the cost so it gets a solid rating nonetheless, but I feel it is a gamble to include more than 1 cheeky copy in decks.

emptyrepublic - 3 out of 5
I wish the only condition wasn’t so conditional! Kneel is really good but the King requirement is high and is not a sure thing even if you stack up your deck with them and attachments that give the trait. It’s at least cheap and not limited by a particular scope of targets.

Drowned God’s Apostle (1.5 Average)



Joe From Cincinnati - 2 out of 5
Ah, and the slow march towards a Drowned God deck continues. There’s obvious synergy here with cards like Drowned Disciple and...Well Drowned Disciple anyway. Beyond that, you are losing economy by killing a 4 cost character for a 3 cost character. The non-unique restriction seems kind of stupid, as that will just make Drowned God decks focus on nameless lowbies, which isn’t a very fun deck to build or play most of the time. Especially since its main win condition right now appears to be abusing the disciples...and stacking power on low cost non-uniques seems like a flimsy win strategy. And, obviously, you actually need an eligible target in your dead pile in order to trigger this guy. Lots of conditions to meet with a questionable return on investment equals a low grade from me. Give it a 2 for future (maybe in like 3 or 4 more cycles) Drowned God deck that can actually do something.

Von Wibble - 1.5 out of 5
As an Ironborn himself, if you have the core Damphair in play you can get the Apostle back straight away, meaning that Damphair’s ability has effectively been used on a non Ironborn. You may also have a particularly important piece of your deck that you don’t want to see dead, though the non unique restriction limits that somewhat. I’m sure there is a big combo forming with Greyjoy and Drowned God, I’m just not seeing it yet. One for the future I think.

emptyrepublic - 1 out of 5
How is this remotely better than Aeron Dhampair? Being able to fish out non-Ironborn characters is hardly useful as nearly all the good Greyjoy characters are Ironborn. You have to win dominance. Plus it’s for non-unique. Plus you kill a more expensive character for a cheaper one. What is the upshot here?
Corpse Lake (3.3 Average)



Joe From Cincinnati - 4 out of 5
Ah, and the slow march towards a pillage deck continues (sound familiar?). I will say that this adds infinitely more viability to its chosen style than the previous card did to the Drowned God deck. If you get multiple pillage effects off per turn that hit characters, this could win you the game before your opponent has time to draw their location hate, as it can trigger 3 times per turn. Considering most decks are still running 30 to 35 characters (certain ridiculous decks not included), you have roughly a 50% chance of getting a power each time a pillage character wins (though that chance goes down as the game goes on if you continue to hit characters). Luckily for Greyjoy, they seem to be one of the factions that is most resistant to Nothing Burns Like the Cold, with multiple low cost locations to soak the effect most of the time, between Iron Mines and their warships. Combine this card with the upcoming agenda (*looks up its stupid new name*), The House With the Red Door, and you got a fairly hard to remove location that can just pile on power over the course of the game. Not needing to kneel to do its effect makes it even harder to control. I could see a deck being built around this card.

Von Wibble - 3.5 out of 5
Clearly a pillage card, and as it is non loyal Lannister will want to look at this as much as Greyjoy. Since such decks are not tier 1 yet I don’t see this making general play, but games against decks using it might be that bit scarier now. Watch out for opponents playing Sea ***** to steal this just at the point where it gives them enough power to win! Thankfully if any faction can deal with locations its Greyjoy...

emptyrepublic - 2 out of 5
I think this will be fun in Melee where the potential for milling will be higher. In Joust, Greyjoy doesn’t seem to care about milling that much outside of specific things like Euron’s location stealing. People tried to make this work in first edition as a game winning mechanic but it never seemed to find much success. No reason to think it’s any different now.

The Hound (3.0 Average)



Joe From Cincinnati - 3 out of 5
Another card that can recycle your House Florent Knights? Nice !
I don’t see how this card makes it into most decks over the other version of the Hound, although it is worth stating that this version is evergreen while the 3 cost version is (thankfully) rotating out in about 27 years (may be a slight exaggeration). Considering knights often have renown or other ways of gaining power, this can be a fairly nice tempo play. He also synergizes with jumper effects. Could be outstanding if the Tyrell knight deck takes off, but may be a rather underwhelming card in many other games, as knights aren’t all that common in about half the factions.

Von Wibble - 3 out of 5
This has to be good to replace the jumping Hound in decks, and I think it qualifies in some cases. Even if your opponent plays the character out again, they have lost tempo, and possibly some power from their character. The alternative is to use the Hound on your own knights with enters play effects, such as House Florent Knight and Ser Arys Oakheart, and maybe combine with Daring Rescue to have a different form of bouncing Hound. There is nothing stopping you from running maybe 1 of this and 2 of the bouncing Hound in your decks of course.

emptyrepublic - 3 out of 5
There are lots of good knights out there and to get one off the board in order to dump their power or thin out your opponent’s board presence can absolutely be worth it. The question is, is it worth more than jumping Hound? I’m not so sure.

Lion’s Tooth (4.2 Average)



Joe From Cincinnati - 4 out of 5
Clearing out chud to make military attacks hurt more seems like a very good strategy that Lannister has multiple ways of abusing. A surprise strength buff is also not bad. Granted, a 2 cost ambush is expensive, but since when has Lannister cared about challenge phase action costs?

Von Wibble - 4.5 out of 5
As we already know, removing chuds before military claim can be game changing, and the fact this has ambush on top just makes declaring a chud block against a Lanni challenge that much scarier. It isn’t loyal, but you might not have enough targets or it in a banner deck, so be careful there. Being able to get Areo Hotah back to hand is always nice though!

emptyrepublic - 4 out of 5
Very good to clear out chump blocks for unopposed and get to the important meatier characters that you really want to kill. Also helps clear the way for Rains activation and close other STR activation gaps. Two gold is a touch expensive to ambush but the surprise factor usually is worth such a cost.

The Bastard of Godsgrace (4.0 Average)



Joe From Cincinnati - 4 out of 5
Martell never hates to see renown, as that was one of its biggest weaknesses early in the game’s life. You could be way ahead on board state, but still only have the power on your house card. Paying power for economy is also not a horrible deal. Martell has a good number of powerful ambush characters as well as strong events, so if this guy has a power or two on him, there are multiple possibilities, such that it would be very difficult for your opponent to accurately predict what’s in your hand or what you’re planning. Very Martell-y .

Von Wibble - 4 out of 5
Renown on a Martell character is nice, and that icon spread is very good for ensuring you win a challenge with him early game one way or another. Once you have a power on this guy you have threat of activation. An obvious use is that you won’t have to sit on any gold to threaten a use of Vengeance for Elia or The Prince’s Plans, but being able to threaten a use of Areo with 3 gold when you actually intended couple of cheap events instead is also good.

emptyrepublic - 4 out of 5
It’s a universal two cost reduction. It’s not faction or card type specific. It’s applied pretty much to any card you want to play. Bannering in Martell might be worth it now especially if you are Tyrell as you can use Lady Sansa’s Rose to turbo charge him. Burning power is a potential tempo hit, but the effect is super strong and as usual will reward the more creative and inventive players out there.

Hellholt (2.5 Average)



Joe From Cincinnati - 3.5 out of 5
I like this card since, often, if your opponent attacks with their bigger characters and you choose not to oppose the challenge, that’s a loss of 5 or more right there. This not only circumvents the power loss of losing power challenges but also gives your opponent something to think about when they declare their challenges. The more you make your opponent thing about stuff, the more often they have an opportunity to make a mistake . That said, if you are using this as an unopposed strategy, then your opponent is gaining a power for the unopposed as well...but chump defending would solve this solution most times, unless they’re attacking with exactly 5 strength. I will say that collecting power on locations will be much safer once the new agenda, The House with the Red Door, comes out.

Von Wibble - 2 out of 5
I want to like this, just as I wanted to like the Lord of Hellholt when he came out. I just worry that losing by 5 enables so many nasty things, often resulting in my opponent getting further ahead than that single power I am gaining. 2 gold is enough to hurt my tempo, and with so many Martell locations requiring sacrifice to work I think location destruction becomes a real problem for any strategy using Hellholt too much. As a card that causes a dilemma in a tight game to prevent my opponent throwing too much into a challenge, I like it - but I can think of other cards I’d rather have.

emptyrepublic - 2 out of 5
I think Boneway is a safer course if you are wanting to go the route of passive power gain through challenge loss. This almost encourages you not to oppose challenges, when you really need to in order to make that strategy work. Also, the power goes on the location which can be really vulnerable with the growing number of location hate effects. At least the response is not limited, which is what keeps this from being in the toilet.

Small Paul (2.0 Average)



Joe From Cincinnati - 2 out of 5
I could see this being played as a 1x in a Night’s Watch Rains deck, because it is a fairly large intrigue icon. But other than that, I don’t see it making the cut too often. If you want the effect you gain from him dying, you could just run The Watch Has Need instead. For 4 less gold, you get the same effect that is simultaneously more flexible because you could, if needed, look for Rangers or Builders instead. Of course, you could run 3 The Watch Has Need in addition to this guy, at which point I start to think you must really love looking for Stewards!

Von Wibble - 2 out of 5
In a pure Night’s Watch deck, paying 5 for a character who you want to die probably isn’t a good idea. A strength 5 bicon is not a bad thing at all, but overall I think there are better choices for the cost slot. In a Banner Watch deck, things improve as you may want to search out particular stewards such as Ricasso - being able to play him out with a dupe or 2 makes him so much better. However, given Ricasso is the only impactful example I can think of outside Night’s Watch (I don’t think Garth quite fits given Watch’s dearth of Lords and Ladies) I’d call that a corner case. Only just a 2 I think.

emptyrepublic - 2 out of 5
As as one off in a Stewart build I think he’s reasonable and potentially worth it in order to rebuild from a Valar. With Crastor you could even repeat the process if you wanted! The strength and icon spread support NW Rains builds of course but that seems like the only build he’s really good for as his effect doesn’t contribute much outside of that.

Broken Vows (1.8 Average)


Joe From Cincinnati - 2 out of 5
I trade a card, a gold and a character (that I must give to my opponent) in exchange for a lower cost character. Not great. The non-loyal restriction also seems unnecessary. You’re telling me I can’t take control of Janos Slynt with this card?
If the Night’s Watch ever gets more potent “enter play” effect characters in the future, this card suddenly becomes much stronger. Once you get the impactful enter play effect, the body is typically mediocre (see cards such as Yoren, Starfall Cavalry or House Florent Knight), so you wouldn’t mind trading them for a good 4 or 5 cost character. Hell, you could even build a janky Sworn to the Watch deck that turns non-loyal ‘enter play’ characters into Night’s Watch characters before trading them to your opponent. But...that feels like a hard to achieve combo. Edge case uses for this card include trading a milked Jon Snow for a Randyll Tarly with multiple power to win in the marshalling phase (or stop your opponent from winning in the challenges phase.) This should have been a challenges action :\.

Von Wibble - 2.5 out of 5
An excellent card if you have a Grizzled Miner, passable if you have Yoren out, otherwise it seems like a bad idea as you are trading money and 2 cards for an inferior card. There will be examples where you really want to deny your opponent a particular card such as the only Targ dragon in play, or maybe they had a cost 2 knight gain 3 power from Lady Sansa’s Rose. But generally I think this one doesn’t make decks, at least not until Night’s Watch get a few more powerful enters play effects with weak stats. Bonus jank marks for using this card with Sworn to the Watch!

emptyrepublic - 1 out of 5
The narrow case where I can see this being amazing is to trade out your 7 cost character in order swipe a cheaper character that’s loaded up with power in order to close a win. No doubt there’s perhaps some insane Shagga build that will come one day that makes something interesting of this but for now I don’t see this getting space.

Ser Dontos Hollard (3.0 Average)



Joe From Cincinnati - 3 out of 5
Lady decks are becoming more and more viable as packs continue to come out. Saving ladies seems good. I don’t know the exact thematic basis for it (Is it just Brienne’s connection to Catelyn? Or Sansa’s attraction to KoF?), but Stark and Tyrell LOVE bannering together in this game. More to the point, I’m curious why Ser Dontos is a Stark card. Sure, he helps Sansa (and was saved by Sansa), but he was ultimately working for Littlefinger and his house was previously a vassal to a house in the Crownlands so...seems like shaky faction assignment on this one. Granted, it is basically a reprint of the 1st edition card.

Von Wibble - 3 out of 5
Barry Junior is better than his first edition counterpart as ladies are much more common now. If you are first player it’s not so hard to ensure he is knelt either, which at least helps neuter military claim for the turn. I think he is worth a copy in any deck with 10 or more lady cards, and given Stark have 4 good ladies to choose from that’s fairly commonplace, even before considering all the Tyrell options in a banner.

emptyrepublic - 3 out of 5
Since he can be bannered in I think he has potential see quite a bit of play but it requires a Lady heavy build obviously. Unlike Selmy, he can save from discard as well so there’s a broader range of effects that balance against the narrow scope of characters that can be saved.

Last Hearth (3.7 Average)



Joe From Cincinnati - 4 out of 5
1 cost location that consistently gives you +2 to any challenge that you may need it. +3 if it’s early in the game (or really late in the game ). I have absolutely nothing bad to say about this card. Slots will always be tight, but I could see this being a 1x in many Stark decks without having much difficult fitting it in.

Von Wibble - 4 out of 5
Solid enough effect and decent on setup. Not much to say here, strength is strength and wins challenges after all. Great for Direwolves to increase the intimidate factor, great for win by 5.

emptyrepublic - 3 out of 5
Perhaps useful when the deck build requires pushing through big STR challenges for effects. Winterfell is still better because it’s always on and provides important protection. This is set up friendly, cheap and repeatable though so it can’t be discounted.

Qotho (4.0 Average)



Joe From Cincinnati - 4 out of 5
Surprise 5 strength bicon seems strong. Discarding two cards can be tough, since Targ still doesn’t have all that reliable of card draw, but they commonly run Counting Coppers, so it shouldn’t be too bad. Plus, there are ways to use cards in your discard pile nowadays, such as Annals of Castle Black etc.

Von Wibble - 4 out of 5
Targ like Flea Bottom so discarding 2 cards doesn’t hurt too much, especially if your reserve is low anyway - meaning Qotho fits nicely into an aggressive plot deck. In a deck not running a banner or a lot of neutral cards he’s an auto-include. He is also another option to trigger Rains in those decks.

emptyrepublic - 4 out of 5
In a Flea Bottom world this is good. Plus with A Dragon is No Slave and other return to hand effects it’s perhaps easy to mitigate the onetime cost of getting this very solid body into play.

Tokhar (1.0 Average)



Joe From Cincinnati - 1 out of 5
“Stop trying to make Targ Attachment decks happen. It’s not going to happen.”
Okay, it may happen someday, but this card almost certainly won’t be the one to do it. It’s a fine card to basically chump block renown characters and they can’t gain power when they win but...I mean, are you investing card slots to do this? How about you just play cards that more directly deal with those characters? By, like, beating them in a challenge...or killing them...or both.

Von Wibble - 1 out of 5
As with River Runner, I don’t like that some factions are unaffected by this. Night’s Watch for example aren’t known for accruing power on characters. Even in factions that do like to get power, such as Tyrell, you often find they do run positive attachments such as Heartsbane and Crown of Golden Roses, so are immune anyway. Until attachments really take off I can’t see a +2 strength pump being likely either. Maybe this is the card that lets the voltron Merchant Prince build take off. Probably not.

emptyrepublic - 1 out of 5
It’s far more narrow of an effect than how it reads. The character has to be participating in a challenge and it makes the most sense when chump blocking. Would you build a deck to deliberately attach stuff to chumps that you plan on killing? If you are defending with Danny presumably you are intending to win, so renown doesn’t matter then. Also, attachment voltroning is exceptionally rare so the STR boost is largely meaningless.

Archmaester Ebrose (3.7 Average)



Joe From Cincinnati - 4 out of 5
As far as I can tell, you’re building the Conclave deck around this character. Re-using characters like Maester Aemon or Maester Cressen seems very powerful, and there are a good number of smaller maesters who don’t mind being knelt for the cost. Also, a bicon Maester will be of great use to that deck. Now all we have to do is find a way to get some military icons on these guys…

Von Wibble - 3 out of 5
In a conclave deck getting multiple uses out of Cressen, Caleotte, Aemon (either version) and Ballabar seems strong. Kneeling the Novice is a nice way to pay for it as they trigger on kneeling rather than by kneeling. Solid character who will see play as long as the Conclave is a decent agenda, the rating will fluctuate based on this.

emptyrepublic - 4 out of 5
In the context of a Conclave deck he’ll be great. The Citadel Novice is designed to feed the effect here in order to maximize the utility of the Maester characters you care about. Cressen comes to mind in order to drop two condition attachments. Maester of Starfall to remove two renown. Tons of utility, but really only in a Conclave deck which is the only place where the rating is meaningful.

Faceless Man (4.0 Average)



Joe From Cincinnati - 4 out of 5
Another extremely interesting card courtesy of “best beard ever” competitor (or maybe champion? ), Ryan Jones. It relies on impactful characters dying which, to be fair, is never guaranteed. But as soon as a strong character or two hits the dead pile, this character becomes very powerful and flexible. Being able to fetch the best keywords, icons and traits of a dead character based on the situation seems like a great way to utilize your ‘gone but not forgottens’ (or your opponent’s). I particularly like the idea of using this in a Targ deck just so that, if Dany does die, you can still use her Stormborn trait to make the dragons continue to be productive! Definitely worth considering in Maester decks too .

Von Wibble - 4 out of 5
As with the previous design by Ryan Jones, there are too many uses of this card to be listed here. The fact he has ambush means you have at least 1 turn without Milk to worry about. If you are first player than Nightmares can be mitigated too. He goes in any deck running Valar as even cheap characters can have decent effects. He also goes into decks reliant on traits as he will usually have the required trait himself.

emptyrepublic - 4 out of 5
I really like the potential for shenanigans with this guy. You get to play with traits in a manner that isn’t gross and overpowered. You get the utility of (potentially) picking the icon spread you need for that turn. The ambush is great to optimize the timing and provides a bit of protection from milk (for at least a turn). The faction affiliation element shouldn’t be overlooked as he’ll become eligible for a host of your own in-house effects as well.

Citadel Novice (3.3 Average)



Joe From Cincinnati - 4 out of 5
Combos very well with Archmaester Ebrose, as you can kneel this guy to stand another maester, then potentially draw a card. Or just participate in a challenge with him and potentially draw a card. I can’t, in good faith, give it higher than a 4 since it will almost certainly never be played in a non Conclave deck, but it’s mighty fine in that deck so...Call it a Conclave building block. Every deck needs chud, after all.

Von Wibble - 3 out of 5
Clearly an easy call in a Conclave deck, and as mentioned in Ebrose’s review works well with him. Beyond that there is little to say, you certainly don’t want him in a non Conclave deck.

emptyrepublic - 3 out of 5
It’s cheap with decent utility and fodder in order to make Conclave work. Done.

The Citadel (3.8 Average)



Joe From Cincinnati - 4 out of 5
Another building block for the Conclave deck. Once played it’s a free action to just “summon” a Maester every round. This deck will be teeming with selective card draw. I can’t wait to see it all come to fruition! Plus, if I feel so inclined, I can include this in a Night’s Watch deck to make a duped Aemon nearly guaranteed. Will I? Probably not, but it’s fun to think about .

Von Wibble - 3.5 out of 5
Obvious include for Conclave, probably not otherwise. As with Ebrose, the rating can easily fluctuate depending on the power of that Agenda, but it feels so powerful in that deck that an extra half mark is merited.

emptyrepublic - 4 out of 5
Important for Conclave decks so I’ll give it a 4 for that, otherwise it’s a 1 is pretty much any other deck as it's near impossible to put in enough neutral/inhouse characters to justify its presence in any other deck.

Strangler (2.2 Average)



Joe From Cincinnati - 2 out of 5
Characters that rely on their strength total to be effective, such as the Mountain or core Balon, will absolutely hate seeing this card. That said, 2 gold is a lot for this effect. I’ve seen better 2 cost attachments not make the cut (granted those are mostly positive attachments, whereas this is a negative attachment), so I wouldn’t be surprised to see that happen with this card as well. I do think the combo with Little Theon is hilarious though (attach it to him, so the only people who count against him are 1 strength characters). Viable? Probably not, but definitely hilarious.

Von Wibble - 1.5 out of 5
This is a nice attachment against cards like Randyll Tarly and Gregor Clegane, and also a nice attachment for your own characters if you fear the burn in challenges against Targ - Asha Greyjoy for example. The problem is that I think Milk is a better negative attachment in general, and I think the positive uses are corner cases.

emptyrepublic - 3 out of 5
I find this interesting as both positive and negative attachment. For sure it cripples high STR characters who swing hard, but it can also boost the newer version of Theon and can even act as burn protection in challenges. Is it better than Milk of the Poppy though? In most cases no, but it has some utility where milk doesn’t. I thought Marriage Pact wasn’t worth its three gold but it’s seen a fair amount of action. I think this attachment falls into the same category.

Words Are Wind (1.0 Average)



Joe From Cincinnati - 1 out of 5
The Hand’s Judgment is already a very powerful (and fairly consistent) event cancel that still doesn’t make the cut in a lot of decks. It’s hard to imagine this event cancel being worth slots if THJ isn’t, especially since your opponent will likely be okay just giving you the card draw in exchange for their event (that they played, meaning they want it to happen) actually triggering. Since it costs a card to play, you only effectively gain 1 card from this event. And it’s reactive and it gives your opponent a choice? I’m not inventive enough to come up with a reason to play this.

Von Wibble - 1 out of 5
I think Joe is right, Hand’s Judgement is generally better. This card reads “Gain 1 net card if your opponent plays an important event, or cancel an unimportant event”. Whilst cards that give opponents a choice of effect have been good in the past (Pentoshi Manor in 1st edition was restricted) the effects have to both be really powerful to justify that. Not worth the slot until Dark Wings Dark Words comes out - maybe not even then.

emptyrepublic - 1 out of 5
I think on the whole you don’t want to give your opponents cards. This could be a clutch event but THJ is better and you are probably running that already. Also, I’m not sure you’d want to run this over THJ so if you are making space for this what are you giving up and is this worth more than that? I think 95% of the time the answer is no.


The Conclave (3.8 Average)



Joe From Cincinnati - 5 out of 5
New deck build options will almost always get a 5 in my book. I know some may disagree with that, but I think agendas and deck defining cards are the most interesting part of this game, so a card that you can build an entirely new deck around is worth top rating for me (Welcome to the CardgameDB review, the article where everything’s made up and the ratings don’t matter ). As for the power level of the card itself, it’ll definitely be interesting. It thins your deck by 7 cards right off the bat and it allows for, essentially, selective card draw each time you win a challenge with a maester. Unfortunately, triggering it twice in the same round (assuming no cards were drawn between those two triggers) is relatively pointless, but card draw and deck shuffling effects make it useful multiple times in a round. It’ll only get better as more maesters come out and, considering there are only 2 loyal maesters, you have access to basically every maester in the game for your deck building purposes. Card choice is good, deck thinning is good, now if some supremely impactful maesters come out that can anchor this deck (read: maesters that specialize in winning challenges), I think it could be very powerful very quickly.

Von Wibble - 3.5 out of 5
I really want to like this, after all I was one of the people who voted for it! Getting to include Maesters out of faction is nice, most of them make their respective decks after all. Getting choice of cards is really powerful and can start to form the basis of a more reliable combo deck. Some people are down on this because of the lack of military icons - but there is nothing stopping you having those with the other 48 cards in a deck - in fact out of Greyjoy and Stark this should shore up an intrigue weakness. I see this being good for decks that have a win condition card such as Martell (Doran’s Game). With the next pack being called The Archmaester’s Key I’m hoping that means we get decent support for it too, as I don’t think it’s there yet.

emptyrepublic - 3 out of 5
I hate reviewing Agendas because the potential to warp the card space/play experience is so high it’s hard to know what the card will *really* do once it's out in the wild. Same applies for this one. My suspicion is that this agenda will reward clever players who are able to manipulate their decks in order bank particularly useful cards for moments when they’ll need it. It has no major downside except that it supposes you are running a fair amount of insight in order to get the draw your are optimizing for.

Besieged (4.0 Average)



Joe From Cincinnati - 4 out of 5
I think this plot will make people think about the go first unopposed Greyjoy deck again. Little Theon has already given Greyjoy players that option and this plot only makes it more appealing. The biggest issue with that deck was, going first, you could get 2 or 3 unopposed challenges off, but then your opponent would just get 2 or 3 unopposed challenges right back unless you had the cards necessary to punish them for allowing the unopposed through in the first place. This plot mostly solves that problem. It may even make Baratheon players want to declare a challenge or two! With this plot you are compelling your opponent to defend each challenge you declare which means that for your third (or maybe even second as well) challenge you could reasonably predict a guaranteed unopposed (depending on what characters your opponent has and what icons they each have, you could predict what characters have to defend what challenges using stealth to create openings for other challenges). Plus, forcing them to declare their characters into a Raiding Longship could mean you can potentially win those first 2 challenges unopposed as well. This isn’t limit one per deck, so you could bring 2 with you if you’d like. And, at 5 gold, it isn’t even a tempo hit to play it. But, just like with a few other plots in this box, there is backfire potential here. If you play this plot, you better make sure you win initiative and go first. Because if you don’t, your opponent can do the exact same thing to you. Luckily, 6 initiative is above average. Potentially makes Ahead of the Tide a playable card.

Von Wibble - 4 out of 5
I like this plot a lot, it makes chud attacks more meaningful and makes first player very appealing. Greyjoy will get a lot out of it with Threeon attacking and Raiding Longships actually being used instead of merely threatened, Tyrell will like it with their ability to stand and remove characters, Targ will like it as the opponent has to throw characters into challenges to be burnt. Stark might even have use for the non kneeling core set army. This could be a very interesting plot for melee too!

emptyrepublic - 4 out of 5
Really good plot overall in order to make challenges a bit more meaningful interaction outside of the wiff fests they typically are. Given some of the effects to remove or maniplate challenge participants in this box this plot could help you pull off some neat tricks. Stats are also really good, given that you’ll want to be first player more than likely if you run this.

Your King Commands It (3.8 Average)



Joe From Cincinnati - 4 out of 5
In the Core Set, first cycle and early second cycle meta, I often ran Fortified Position in my Wall deck because it was a good way to stall out renown characters for a turn in order to either close the game or catch up in power. The downside, of course, was that it blanked my Maester Aemon for a turn (in which he usually got milked, if my opponent was running it) and I didn’t get effects like Halder’s strength buff or the Messenger Raven’s card draw. This plot almost serves that same purpose except it doesn’t affect my characters for the most part, other than Qhorin and maybe someone holding a Longclaw. It doesn’t remove other powerful effects or keywords (like stealth) from my opponent’s characters (and kings and queens are immune), but it should still slow most renown characters (and other ways of characters gaining power, of course) down enough that I could see it be worth using in tempo or “stall” decks that don’t rely on renown for their power gain. Also, kills the Tyrell Knights deck, which will probably be flavor of the month for at least a little while after this box releases. And it has 6 gold, which is great!

Von Wibble - 3.5 out of 5
6 gold is nice, but the effect seems mediocre, with only Night’s Watch and maybe Bara liking it. Every other faction has enough characters wanting to claim power (even Martell) that this can hurt them. Maybe in a rush deck that usually expects to win early enough that they don’t need it, but fears losing out on early draw in a mirror match? Maybe a delayed rush? It’s a very high score for some factions and not worth it for others, so a slightly above average rating makes sense.

emptyrepublic - 4 out of 5
It’s not a plot that will get a lot of play but I think it’s critical with this box set as Tyrell will be even rushier than it already is. Combo based decks or more generic aggro decks are usually renown light (or no renown in general) and need time to gain momentum and this plot will help accomplish that.

The Spider’s Web (4.0 Average)



Joe From Cincinnati - 4 out of 5
Intrigue challenges galore! Imagine a Tyrell deck with The Queen of Thorns out winning an intrigue challenge by 5, playing Hidden Thorns, getting it back to hand, doing another intrigue challenge and winning by 5 and playing it again. That’s...7 cards out of your hand! It’s janky as hell, but fun to think about. On top of that, 7 cost Cersei loves this plot and it pairs perfectly with Small Council Chamber and Casterly Rock...Good lord that deck is going to suck to play against…

Von Wibble - 4 out of 5
This is powerful to the point of not being fun if 7 cost Cersei is on the board. Cards like Hidden Thorns can make this even nastier. It is a good thing to have in the game to discourage too many resets, but I’m not sure I want to face decks running it, even before the combo with Trial by Combat is considered...

emptyrepublic - 4 out of 5
A low bar that needs to be hit for a powerful effect. Reserve limit isn’t great, but seems a reasonable downside given the potential to discard three cards from the opponent's hand. If you have Lannisport as well you could bring that up to five cards even! Brilliant with LoR Cerci, plays well with Rains, synergizes well with Lords of the Crossing too.

Now It Comes To War (2.2 Average)



Joe From Cincinnati - 2 out of 5
Hmm...This plot seems risky. If you’re running an attrition deck that wants to go first and is capable of winning all 3 challenges using a combination of intimidation, stealth and various tricks, I could see this being very potent. However, it also leaves your board open to your opponent doing the same thing. Plus, 3 initiative (not to mention just 3 gold and just 4 reserve) means this plot could easily lose initiative, allowing your opponent to go first and then you would have to contend with your opponent’s potential 3 military claim before you even got a chance to attack. Let’s call it a powerful double edged sword with horrendous stats .

Von Wibble - 2.5 out of 5
This is dangerous to play as your opponent can trigger it too, and they might have 2 claim - but in some decks you might not be anywhere near as worried about military claim as your opponent. For example, you might have a Conclave deck with Aemon and Ebrose out, so you can repeatedly stand him and save from claim. Also note that if facing a Conclave deck opponents might play less chuds as they won’t expect military claim themselves.
There are a couple of uses I can see for this plot, the first is as a counter to Valar. No downside for you, and if they try to refill the board they potentially need 3 guys. The second is if you are running a choke deck and want a potential finisher. However, with reserve 4 and weak stats, why not use a winter 2 claim plot instead?

emptyrepublic - 2 out of 5
If you are using Lannisport or future locations that allow multiple intrigue/power challenges this plot could be a useful way to maximize the potential if the deck is skewed to win those challenges (and thus likely weaker on the military).. Replacing military claim on a intrigue challenge is generally only useful for gambits when you have claim raising effects like core Cersi as hitting the hand is usually more important.

Trade Routes (2.7 Average)



Joe From Cincinnati - 3 out of 5
Builder decks will probably love this plot. And it’s Summer too? Wow. Locations are becoming more and more important as we continue into the 4th cycle and this allows you to cash in on that investment.

Von Wibble - 3 out of 5
A nice answer to an opponent running Summer Harvest, and a decent amount of gold as soon as you have a couple of locations each, which isn’t that rare. In short, it’s a mid to late game plot that provides a lot of gold with no drawback aside from opportunity cost. An excellent answer to Valar. But if you have locations out already, do you need a later game economy plot or would you rather have a nice effect?

emptyrepublic - 2 out of 5
The theoretical amount of gold you can get out of this is potentially high, though that probably requires 3-4 locations controlled by each player upon reveal. The catch is that it probably takes 2-3 turns in order for that condition to be in place at which point economy typically isn’t the issue and if it is an issue I don’t think this plot will turn things around.

Nothing Burns Like the Cold (3.7 Average)



Joe From Cincinnati - 4 out of 5
Marched to the Wall for Attachments and Locations…ugh.
This plot is situational in that there may be games where your opponent doesn’t really have that many valuable attachments and locations, not to mention the possibility that it could backfire on you in the case that you don’t see the attachments or locations you need to protect your important ones, but the blowout potential here is substantial. The Night’s Watch, Stark, Lannister (occasionally) and Tyrell (presumably per this deluxe box) have viable decks built around 4 cost locations and not being able to set them up alone anymore due to this plot will make those decks change the way they approach set up (and their priorities throughout the course of the game). This also, tangentially, makes other location control better. Newly Made Lord can’t target 4 cost locations, but he can discard the 2 or 3 cost location your opponent is using to block this plot, then you can follow with it the next turn to discard that 4 coster. Similar scenario with Dagmer (steal their location, discard it and their 4 cost location to this effect). Knocking out a Wall and a Craven in one go, with decent initiative on the plot to boot, seems like a pretty good play if you can set it up that way.

Von Wibble - 4 out of 5
At last, some much needed location and attachment hate that cannot be saved. It has decent enough stats that putting it into a deck and waiting isn’t so bad, a bit like Duel. Played out of Greyjoy it creates a large dilemma when playing locations - dupe them to protect against Newly Made Lord, or leave it to at least play it out again after this plot? Given how impactful most non limited locations that make decks are, taking out any is a good thing, even with opponent’s choice. The same applies to attachments, just be careful in either case when you play out your own. This plot is probably at its strongest played as your 2nd plot, where the tempo hit of losing a location matters more to your opponent if they tried for something big like a full bestow Astapor or a Wall, and couldn’t afford a second non limited location. The threat of this plot could well change how locations and attachments are played early game.

emptyrepublic - 3 out of 5
When this was previewed I saw some people make reference to Duel and I think the comparison is apt. The potential is absolutely there to force off negative attachments and hit a valuable utility location. The catch is that the opponent has to choose it for you. On paper it looks good, the question--as always--is what happens in the real world. Optimizing its utility requires your opponent to tech in a manner that makes the effect worthwhile while you minimize opportunities for it to backfire on you.
Total Pack Average: 3.00

Top Cards:
Lion’s Tooth 4.2
Bastard of Godsgrace 4.0
Qotho 4.0
Facless Man 4.0
Besieged 4.0
The Spider’s Web 4.0

Bottom Cards:
Tokhar 1.0
Words Are Wind 1.0
Drowned God’s Apostle 1.5
Broken Vows 1.8

If you're hungry for more content, check out the library of podcasts, articles, game video and more in the Community FAQ. Let us know in the comments how you feel about the cards in this box, and we’ll see you again soon to discuss either The Archmaester’s Key!