Meet the AGoT Chapter Pack Reviewers

Since last November when Fantasy Flight Games announced the reboot of their flagship LCG, we've been following every scrap of news: rules changes, spoilers, new mechanics, and more. But now, at long last, we have the complete picture, and in the following series of articles the review team will offer a compelling and insightful look at every single card in the Game of Thrones 2nd Edition Core Set. But first, some of us would like to introduce ourselves and describe the rubrics we use to analyze fresh cards.

agktmte
Hello there Thronesers, I’m Alex K. (not to be confused with the Alex you all know from Beyond the Wall). I am a first edition veteran and have been playing for more than three years. I don’t play much Melee, so my reviews will be from a purely Joust perspective. Also, I won’t be trying to anticipate how good these cards will be in the future since I have no idea what will happen. With that said, here’s my rubric:
5 - The only question is how many copies to use.
4 - Consider it for inclusion in most decks.
3 - Works well in many decks.
2 - Rather niche, only a few/some decks should use it.
1 - Don’t bother.

emptyrepublic
Hello all. I’m Martin D. I’ve been playing Thrones for over three years now. I play a lot of Melee Thrones. A lot. So when you read my reviews keep that in mind. If there’s something specific about Joust I want to say I’ll let you know.
Here’s how I score:
5 - At least one in every deck / Metakiller.
4 - Exclude only if there’s something you need more.
3 - Useful but not game changing.
2 - Probably only good for specific deck builds.
1 - Unusable or so narrow you’ll likely never use it.

Istaril
Hi, I’m Alex, co-host of the Beyond the Wall podcast, 2014 World Champion, founder of the Annals of Castle Black, Honorary member of the Quill & Tankard Regulars (although I’m still not sure what that means), and an editor for the AGOT2.0 core set. Look how pretentious that sounded. All that really means is that I apparently have some credibility, so people believe me even when I’m horribly wrong. Which is often. My rating system is basically the same as JCWamma’s.

JCWamma
Hi, my name is James, and I’m a Thrones-obsessive based in the UK. I started playing at the start of 2012, and have been to Stahleck every year since. I prefer not to describe the details of my rating system on the grounds that I’d rather express my thoughts on a card with words than I would with a number, but the essentials are that 5 is better than 1.

LaurenF
Hi everyone! As you can tell from my extremely creative forum handle, I’m Lauren. I started playing Thrones in 2013, when I and a few friends formed the Boston meta. AGOT is my first card game, but I’m a reformed competitive Scrabble player. I love seeing an absurdly complex combo succeed and building terrible decks that annoy my opponent. Here’s how I’ll rate cards:
5 - Autoinclude in every possible deck. The Brightwater Man-At-Arms of Thrones 2.0.
4 - This card is good. You need a good reason not to play it. It is appropriately costed with a relevant ability.
3 - Average card. May not fit into every deck, but works in the right ones.
2 - This card is rarely good.
1 - This card is never good and is a waste of cardboard. Includes overpriced cards, terrible abilities, or cards with antisynergies to other cards that you would actually want to play.

mnBroncos
Hello my name is Brandon Zimmer and I am from Minnesota. I have been playing the game since a month before Worlds 2012 where I took my first ever tournament. Good amount of people probably have seen me on the forums as I am way too addicted to these card games. I don’t have anything fancy with my rankings except I look at them more from a joust view unless specifically note otherwise, and I am trying to rate these not just now but where I think they will be for the game in the long run as well.

OKTarg
My name is Buz, I play Targaryen, and I live in Oklahoma. I’ve played the LCG since 2011 or so and couldn’t be more excited for the reboot. I love to explore the fringes of what the cardpool brings, with constructive combos being my favorite things to try to break. As a busy guy with a family, I don’t get to make many weekly tournaments but I do try to OCTGN 2-3 times per week on my lunch break!
I’ll be rating cards like JCWamma, who is the British version of me, except without the children.

oldshrimpeyes
Hello everyone, my name is Lol Craven and I have been playing Thrones since 2011 (ish). I played a lot of Baratheon once but I was drowned and reborn last year and have played Greyjoy ever since. This means I like to inflict high claim and low income upon people, but have been known to throw competitive spirit out of the window and pick cards just for the lulz. I’m co-host of the new upstart podcast, Banter Behind The Throne. My rating style is pretty much the same as Wamma’s. High score good, low score bad, with anything worth pointing out mentioned in my comments. If my score is influenced by potential for top banter, I will make it clear!

rave
Hey all, my name is Brandon, and I’ve been playing AGOT since late 2002, around the start of the CCG days. I’ve been a die-hard Lannister player since I opened my first starter deck. I’ve had a lot of great times with this game, and met a lot of great people. I’m really looking forward to this refresh! I'm more of a Jaime-type player than anything. I do appreciate the Ned and Shagga aspects quite a bit, but they don’t factor into my ratings. I don’t really like melee all that much, so anything related to that doesn’t factor in either (though if a card is obviously a card meant for melee, that will be considered)
My ratings typically go as follows:
5- Autoinclude or near, either because it’s super-efficient, a necessary evil, or helps define a competitive archetype in some way. These should become more rare as the card pool grows.
4- Cards that are above average, or appear to have serious potential in a way that is yet unproven. Vulnerable cards with insane abilities.
3- Average alley. Cards that have a power level expected for their cost or slot. Solid yet risky cards.
2-Jank. Cards with a resource requirement greater than its potential. Below average for the cost. Weird combo cards. Really expensive cards that are costed appropriately.
1- The inverse of 5. The tragic legends that we love to hate. Horrible cards that were needed to finish out a subtheme. Really expensive underpowered cards. Cards with combo requirements you will never see. Cards that never leave the binder. Cards you back your proxies with. Stark cards(j/k).

scantrell24
Hey ya’ll, I’m Steven and I’ve been playing Thrones in the Atlanta, GA area since early 2012. I rate good cards higher than bad cards (hopefully), and I only consider a card’s efficiency and potential in tournament-level Joust decks.
5 - What was FFG thinking!
4 - Above average, will be played for a long time
3 - Average, could see play depending on the meta
2 - Below average, will only see play in unusual decks or circumstances
1 - What was FFG thinking?

cockbongo
What? Oh, right. I’m Tony, I’m based in Edinburgh, Scotland and i’ve been playing AGoT LCG for nearly 3 years. My tournament winnings amount to 1 play mat and a wooden sword, but I couldn’t care less because I love this game to bits. My rating style is erratic and probably complete nonsense, but the likelihood is that no non-Baratheon card will get a 5.

VonWibble
Hi, I’m Stefan. I’ve been playing Thrones competitively for a couple of years. I will be reviewing purely from a joust standpoint, but if I think a card is clearly better in melee I will point it out. In general I am scoring cards based on how they fare in the current environment rather than long term. Also if a card is available to multiple factions (eg plots, neutrals) I will score for the majority of factions but mention if any have higher scores.

kizerman86
Hi, I’m Chris. I’ve been playing AGoT in the Tulsa meta for about 3 years. Got into the game by accident (went to Team Covenant to demo what I thought was the board game) and fell in love with the huge cardpool and the idea of an LCG. My rating style will match agktmte’s exactly, so I’ll just paste that below. :
5 - The only question is how many copies to use.
4 - Consider it for inclusion in most decks.
3 - Works well in many decks.
2 - Rather niche, only a few/some decks should use it.
1 - Don’t bother.

WWDrakey & Ire
Quill & Tankard Regulars, Rules Lawyers, Tourney veterans (Stahlecks etc.), Finnish AGoT philosophers and theory crafters… We were there from the beginning of the LCG, and have seen the game pass through myriads of different phases and environments.
1 - Hopeless.
2 - Hopefully not as bad as it seems?
3 - Hoping this can find a home in some decks.
4 - Hope I draw into this.
5 - Here’s hoping this isn’t TOO good.

Check back later tonight for the first installment: Plot cards! We'll follow up with Neutral cards on Friday, then kick off the factions one-by-one beginning with Stark next Monday.