Reviews for N00bs - A Time of Ravens: A Change of Seasons

A Change of Seasons

Overall Theme: 7

Overall Efficiency: 6


This pack rounds out some of the new mechanics for Summer and Winter introduced in the first two packs. Greyjoy and Targaryen are the winners in this pack, and it gives you one of the best Martell events in the game.



House Stark

Overall Theme: 6

Overall Efficiency: 2.5


The Long Winter (ACoS) - Theme: 8; Efficiency: 4

• As a 2-cost attachment conditional on it being winter, this is already a lower efficiency. And it bounces to hand if it becomes summer, which is 2 gold wasted.
• It’s slightly better in joust than in melee because you can target your only opponent rather than 1 of 3 opponents.

Secret Hideout (ACoS) - Theme: 4; Efficiency: 1

• This card seems to be designed to prevent Stark’s stalwart keyword to choke its draw. If you draw 2 cards and both are stalwart weenies, or Eddard Stark (Core), then you might have good claim soak, but no other cards to answer other threats, and it also makes you predictable.
• You could combine with Lannister cards like Raff the Sweetling (Core) or Shae's Manse (TTotH) to manipulate your deck.
• Even in those two situations, this card is not very good.

House Lannister

Overall Theme: 3.5

Overall Efficiency: 2.5


Taxed Dry (ACoS) - Theme: 5; Efficiency: 2

• A 1-cost attachment conditional on a season is not good. This might be okay if it were 0-cost. It’s also Condition attachment so it’s more easily discarded.
• You are paying 1 to cancel 1 income for your opponent, or paying 1 to get 1 on your next turn, if it’s not discarded before then. It has to last for at least 2 turns to make it worth it. The Tin Link will seriously make it not worth it.

The Lion's Law (ACoS) - Theme: 2; Efficiency: 3

• This is an interesting card to make House Lannister. Lannister isn’t exactly known for running Military Battle plots, or for war-crest characters (it has 4, all at least 4-cost), so the trigger already is difficult. And if you’re running Military Battle plots, you’ll have less gold on average to throw around to trigger this effect.
• There are easier-to-trigger kneel effects for Lannister, unless you’re interested in events that can’t be cancelled by Paper Shield. If so, try The Lion's Will (Core).
• I could see this in a Lannister/Greyjoy Alliance deck perhaps, but if you have to look at out of house options to play a card, it is automatically less efficient.

House Baratheon

Overall Theme: 6.5

Overall Efficiency: 5.5


Burning Sword (ACoS) - Theme: 5; Efficiency: 5

• As a 2-cost attachment conditional on it being winter, this is already a lower efficiency.
• +2 strength and immunity is pretty good, but that’s only if it’s winter.

Shadow Stalker (ACoS) - Theme: 6; Efficiency: 5

• A 4-cost Ally. Not great with all the ally hate in the environment (Varys (SaS) and Ser Arys Oakheart (PotS), and Dissension (QoD)).
• The direct kill is rare for Baratheon and very good, but it has to be winter, and it has to attack alone, so it’s harder to trigger. Stealth helps a little here.

Vigilant Stag (ACoS) - Theme: 8; Efficiency: 7

• Technically neutral, but only works for Baratheon characters, so you can play it in a treaty deck at least.
• If you have the influence, adding vigilant to a character like Robert Baratheon (Core), Melisandre (Core), or Stannis Baratheon (Core) can be a very nice thing.
• This would be most helpful in a rush deck, but influence tends to be a rare thing in a Baratheon rush deck, simply because you’d rather have Aegon's Garden (Core) and Seat of Power (WotN) over Stormlands Fiefdoms (Core) (since they’re all limited). But if you’re intentional about including influence, this could be effective.
• An alternative for giving characters vigilant is Banner for the Storm (CtB).

House Targaryen

Overall Theme: 8.5

Overall Efficiency: 7


The Long Summer (ACoS) - Theme: 9; Efficiency: 6

• As a 2-cost attachment conditional on it being winter, this is already a lower efficiency. And it bounces to hand if it becomes winter, which is 2 gold wasted.
• It buffs all your characters, including neutrals, which is not too bad. Combined with A Song of Summer (ASoS) plot and Daenerys Targaryen (GotC) you can get some serious buffs.

Maester Aemon (ACoS) - Theme: 8; Efficiency: 8

• This is similar to Maester Aemon (Core) except his save ability is conditional upon it not being Winter, and since you get it even without a season, and you are probably playing this version in a summer deck, he will probably stick around long enough to get some use out of him. So he’s pretty good.
• Whereas the Core Maester Aemon does not have an intrigue icon, this one does, which is helpful in those opportunities when you know you won’t need him for claim-soak.
• He has no attachments except boon, which is good since he can’t be burned by attachments like Flame-Kissed (Core) (but he is still vulnerable to Venomous Blade (TBoBB)). The only boon attachment worth considering is The Dragon's Blood (WotN), to give him a power icon for more flexibility, and a noble crest to protect him with The Power of Blood (Core).

Dragon Attack (ACoS) - Theme: 8; Efficiency: 7

• Technically neutral, but only works for Dragon characters, so thematically it’s Targaryen.
• This event wasn’t so great when it came out since you would have to kneel a big dragon with 4 strength to get a -2 strength effect. With hatchlings it became slightly more useable.
• Now with the Copper Link (GotC), you can kneel your maester with it attached and name any of your little weenie dudes to become a dragon, and then kneel it for this event.

House Martell

Overall Theme: 7.5

Overall Efficiency: 7.5


Southron Scavengers (ACoS) - Theme: 5; Efficiency: 6

• This is a meta-defining card. You will want to play this after considering what other people you play with typically play. If you tend to face a lot of Martell and Greyjoy, then this might be a good card for your deck.
• If you aren’t playing against Martell or Greyjoy, then the risk is that you discard a card from your hand. If you’re running a lot of Darkstar (PotS), then that may not be a bad thing. But your opponent may also have a Darkstar...
• It’s a pretty good cost-power ratio, but only one icon. Consider Lost Spearman (MotM) for something similar but better.

A Game of Cyvasse (ACoS) - Theme: 10; Efficiency: 9

• Probably one of the best events out there. Playing this at the right time can dramatically shift the board in your favor, like using it to bounce your opponent’s beefy military dude to push that military challenge through unexpectedly.
• This event works even if your opponent has no characters with intrigue icons, so can amount to “Kneel a character with an intrigue icon to choose and return any character to its owner’s hand.” Which is great - that 6 or 7 cost dude your opponent just put out is gone... Played at the right time can slow your opponent considerably.
• It can be cancelled by Paper Shield (QoD), which is why it’s not a 10.

House Greyjoy

Overall Theme: 9

Overall Efficiency: 9


Wintertime Marauders (ACoS) - Theme: 10; Efficiency: 10

• Best winter card, period. Must have for a Greyjoy winter deck.
• Already has a good efficiency. War crests in Greyjoy are always nice. No negative traits.
• The effect is the most impressive thing: discard any non-unique card, including attachments, locations, characters, even duplicates, any time you win a challenge with them. So attaching a Support of Harlaw (KotS) to them is pretty formidable.

Theon Greyjoy (ACoS) - Theme: 9; Efficiency: 9

• Another great winter card. Another include for a Greyjoy deck.
• Already has a good efficiency. War crests in Greyjoy are always nice. No negative traits.
• There is the meta factor if you’re playing against a lot of Greyjoy or Stark, the direct kill is pretty nice and not an effect that Greyjoy typically has. The cool thing about his effect is that if you get caught playing against a summer deck, then he can stand himself or any other Greyjoy dude you have. That’s almost worth building a Greyjoy summer deck.

Thuggish Tactics (ACoS) - Theme: 8; Efficiency: 8

• Technically neutral, but only works for Ironborn characters, unless you do some fancy trait manipulation on out-of-house characters.
• Intimidate at the right time can be devastating, especially if your character has a Support of Harlaw on it and you have a 2-claim plot out (not to mention out-of-house Melisandre (RotO)).
• This is best used as a surprise attack when you know your opponent will commit some lower-strength characters.

Neutral

Overall Efficiency: 6


Demon's Dance (ACoS) - Efficiency: 7

• This attachment seems fun depending on your meta. I would hate to see this if I were running a season deck, especially because of the “cannot be saved” part.
• An interesting combo would be to run this with Crown of Azor Ahai (KotStorm) and Ser Davos Seaworth (TBoBB). You could kill up two of your opponent’s characters each round.
• It’s a condition attachment though, so easily discarded.

Walder Frey (ACoS) - Efficiency: 5

• This card is Nedly, but it won’t make you many friends at the melee table. Only really useful to beat down the loser, which is just mean. This prevents a loser from trying to wriggle out of losing with buff events, by providing a nice 4 strength buffer. Deadly is just icing on the cake to make sure that the loser really suffers. But hey, it’s a game, right?
• It’s a passive text, so you can’t trigger it. It automatically goes off for the first player to initiate a challenge, including potentially against yourself, which means you may have to let it go unopposed or Walder will betray you. Damn those Freys. By the way, House Frey trait does nothing.
• Give it an icon with something like Rusted Sword (PotS), Shade of the Evening (QoD), Devious Intentions (BoRF), Court Advisor (PotS), Driftwood Crown (MotM), The Art of Diplomacy (PotS), or The Dragon's Blood (WotN). Then you’ll have a really cheap deadly character that has to be declared on the first challenge initiated, because if he’s kneeling, his passive text doesn’t trigger.

Den of the Wolf (ACoS) - Efficiency: 7

• Characters lose all immunities. Ouch. Characters with immunities include such baddies as The Red Viper, Euron Crow’s Eye, and Joffrey Baratheon.
• There are all sorts of tricks you can think of with repeating a phase. Repeat plot to cycle through Valar Morghulis; repeat challenges if you have board domination. Just can’t repeat Marshalling phase.

A Time for Ravens (ACoS) - Efficiency: 8

• This is a must for a seasons deck.
• You can pull out a Raven attachment, Carrion Bird, or Oldtown Raven.

Unconventional Warfare (ACoS) - Efficiency: 2

• 4-income (actually 3 if you want to use the ability). 3-income isn’t that great.
• This plot is pretty worthless. Most of the events that trigger off of these traits happen when it’s revealed, so it won’t work with them. There are a couple characters that trigger with these different keywords, but I don’t think there’s ever any reason to have to have multiple different plot traits because there isn’t really much to include in a deck that would justify having this plot.