Forging the Chain - Surprise!

Welcome to another edition of Forging the Chain. This week I'm going to discuss a subject critical for every improving player, the blowout event. There's no worse feeling than making a plan, executing it, and getting blown out by a card you didn't know exist or didn't realize you should expect in a given situation. Of course this list could easily be 100 cards long. However, I have restricted it to ten especially troublesome cards and of course, I've fallen victim to them all at least once. These cards are listed in no particular order. However, I invite you to provide an order to them and add any you think I missed.

1.) Field of Fire (QoD) - With Targ receiving two amazing new, cards in the most latest cycle, you will be seeing a lot of this house. Moreover, Summer is a popular agenda for Targ as it helps solve Targ's biggest problem, card draw. Like many of Targ's cards, this one is hard to prepare for. However, if it is summer and your opponent has 2 influence standing you should be a bit wary. On the plus side, since Targ has so much good burn it is unlikely you will ever see this card.

2.) Lethal Counterattack (Core) - If your opponent has 2 stark characters standing (which is always) you should have in mind that this blowout is a possibility. However, this is an especially difficult card to work around because no one plays it. How can you be ready for a card that no one plays? Better yet, should you really warp all your plans around a powerful card that never sees action? I'm going to say probably not, but with a caveat. If you don't need to send all your guys on a military challenge, don't. I've fallen victim to this card twice. Once, in my early days of playing, when I didn't know it existed, it crushed my own Stark deck killing at least five characters. Also, again recently I lost a Meera Reed (TftH) and another decent character to it. Was I stunned? I sure was. Even worse it was against a maester deck and Meera was supposed to be my answer. An answer in the dead pile is no answer.

3.) Terminal Schemes (LotR) - So everyone is used to getting crushed by Stark Murder kill events. However, it's still a little awkward when someone plays a kill event after winning an intrigue challenge. This event is restricted to Baratheon and Lannister which cuts down on the time you need to worry about it. However, be especially mindful of Cersei. It can be hard to ensure you don't lose 2 intrigue challenges by 4, but keep this option in mind when making your decisions.

4.) Seductive Promise (Core) - Have you ever had a Conclave with 5 chains on it and had it stolen? Well neither have I, but the prospect of this happening terrifies me. In fact, during my testing for Gencon I stole my buddies Maester of the Sun with 6 chains on it. You should be especially wary of this event when your opponent over commits to a challenge and runs a lot of high strength power icon characters. Expect to find this card in Baratheon and Wildling decks. Thankfully it can be a bit easy to spot coming. Just today someone attacked me with 2 characters totaling 10 strength. I had a strong suspicion Seductive Promises was coming and I let it go unopposed because I had two counters in hand and wanted to eliminate the threat. He was unhappy and a bit more unhappy when I told him that he telegraphed the event.

5.) I'm You Writ Small (Core) - So your Lannister opponent just attacked you with only Cersei and you have a big intrigue character on the board that you can block with huh. Be careful. Against Lannister it's always dangerous to block with just one character you don't want to lose. A surprise deadly can be absolutely devastating. If you don't believe me read my GenCon tournament report and you will find me losing a Conclave to this event. I would talk more about this particular blunder except for my face is turning red and my fists are clenching so I will move along. You should expect this card pretty much in every Lannister deck. You won't always see it, but it's better to be safe than sorry.

6.) Red Vengeance (PotS) - Oh how I hate this card. I will never forget my first regional in which I was crushing everyone with my 2 claim, save heavy, Greyjoy maester deck. It was a thing of beauty. Tons of military icons on the flop leading to a first turn Fear of Winter which leads to board wipes every turn. I was on cruise control until I hit Bruno's Martell Kothh in which he played Red Vengeance and tons of cancels. In both of our games (my only two losses of the day) he broke out 3 of these and used them to crush my board. The card can be absolutely devastating. Be especially on the lookout for this card against KotHH and any Martell deck where there seems to be influence for no reason. Did they just At the Gates (GotC) for Maester Kedry (FtC)? Alarm bells should be sounding in your head. Of course you should be expecting other influence tricks as well such as Favorable Grounds, but I'm most terrified of Red Vengeance and you should be as well.

7.) Misinformation (TWH) and Frey Hospitality (LotR) - Misinformation can be a frustrating event to see especially in combination with Shadows and Spiders (LotR). However, it becomes a blowout card with Frey Hospitality. I've seen many a Lannister PBTT player do this dirty trick. They will make 2 intrigue attacks you cannot defend and kill 2 of your guys. Then they will leave themselves open to your intrigue attack. When you get that glint of glee in your eye thinking you will kill one of their characters and draw a card from their agenda, they drop Misinformation on you and kill yet another one of your characters. So the lesson is: when Frey Hospitality is up don't try to win an intrigue challenge unless you have a character that you are willing to lose.

8.) A Game of Cyvasse (ACoS) - The epitome of a blowout card. So you think you defended that 2 claim challenge huh? Think again. If Martell ever has a character with more strength and an intrigue icon than you do, you need to factor this card into your decision process. Is it critical you win this challenge? If the answer is yes you probably need to over commit. Here's the real problem. Every Martell deck runs 3 copies. Expect to see this card a lot until it finally gets restricted. Thankfully more times than not I've been on the winning side of this card. I've won so many challenges with this card I can't even provide one example. They all run together into one beautiful image of me crushing people's souls.

9.) Westeros Bleeds (Core) - So you lured your opponent into playing Valar. Huzzah it's time to flood the board. Wait one second they have 3 influence standing. Hmm. If they are playing Martell Kothh and they are not playing many characters I would be very wary. This card has grown in popularity of late. Since The Red Viper (PotS) is immune to it, it can be insanely powerful. Expect to see this card many times if you see it once. They will probably be recurring it with a Prince's Plans. Also, don't expect to have any fun this game. You thought Greyjoy Winter was NPE, just you wait.

10.) Narrow Escape (KotStorm) - You finally killed a bunch of characters or you just played Valar. They play this card and you are forced with a terrible decision. Do you discard your hand and lose that kind of game or do you give them back all their characters and lose that type of game? The only good answer is to have a cancel handy. Remember the errata, they can only play one per phase. This card used to be insane in Martell Maester decks and I used it often. Now you will mostly find it in Stark and Baratheon decks. However, with the large amount of cancel in the current meta I find myself running it less and I am seeing it less from others. Baratheon decks usually choose Val (RotO) over Narrow Escape. However, until you see a restricted card from a Stark player, you should expect Narrow Escape.

Well that concludes my list of blowout cards. Excuse me while I drown my sorrows over #5. Until next time, keep improving!

Tiny Grimes recently migrated over to AGOT, in January 2012. Although he has not played the game long, Tiny spends far too much of his time playing and thinking about the game. He has played in four tournaments, placing first in a 15 person local event, 2nd in the 2012 Pasadena Regional (32 players), and 3rd in the first regional of the 2012 season (32 person event - Kingdom Con), and 10th at Gencon 2012.