The Captain's Command Card Reviews

A Song of the Sea - The Captain’s Command Staff Review

57% 454 out of 800

Our staff has put together a first blush analysis of the newly released chapter pack The Captain’s Command. We’ve used a one through five scale; five being the best. The cards are listed in numeric order. Our reviewers are listed in alphabetical order. Let us know in the comments how you feel about the cards in this pack!

The Starks aren’t getting much help this month but Targ gets another way to bring characters back from the dead.

Top 3
Blood Magic Ritual 38 out of 40
Desperate Measures 37 out of 40
Judged by the Father 36 out of 40

Bottom 3
White Harbor 8 out of 40
Anointed by the Mother 10 out of 40
Guided by Quaithe, Aurane Waters -tie- 12 out of 40


Arbor Guardsman 31 out of 40

doulos2k - 3 out of 5
I think this card is actually quite good. It’s not quite a 4 in my opinion because it doesn’t really do anything on its own. You have to really build your deck a certain way to truly capitalize on this effect, but it can be a great effect when used well.

emptyrepublic - 4 out of 5
Haven’t we had the discussion about the 3 cost slot being stupidly packed already? It’s very good in the context of this this cycle with the new Lannister event and other effects that require gold outside the marshalling phase. Could be useful in shadow heavy decks for some gold on demand.

Ire & WWDrakey - 4 out of 5
Wait, another non-unique, non-ally character for Lannister? That sounds good by itself already, but we also have the added naval here which gives some BS support and some flexibility for challenges. Now the response will probably be the thing why this card will see plenty of play. Use a Distraction during marshalling, kneel their military threat and get extra two gold to be spent for other shenanigans... sounds great. Now the amount of gold you can gain when you have multiples of these on the board is pretty interesting, as is the synergy with Castellan of the Rock.

JCWamma - 4 out of 5
Lannister have been getting a lot of nice effects involving gold this cycle. This one is in the form of a 3 cost, 3 STR MIL/POW bicon character, a category Lanni are always happy to get a boost in. The Naval icon on military is a great boon for Black Sails decks, as other than when Blackwater Bay Veteran is given a power, it's their first in-house Military Naval character. In other decks it still performs its usual useful role. Overall a very solid card. Note that this is a card effect, so the likes of Cersei's Scheme and City of Sin can trigger it too, not just triggered effects. The only problem it has is that "Limit once per round" text, although at least it's not a Limited Response, meaning it can synergise with Castellan of the Rock or Alchemist's Guild Hall (or even Dockside Brothel if you're feeling confident of your kneel effects and want to maximise their benefit). Lanni also loves any non-ally card they can find. Now to watch House Redwyne become negative...

mnBroncos - 4 out of 5
no negative traits, solid gold/strength ratio, gets a navel enhancement on an icon that matters more than if was on the power, and a solid ability that many lanni decks can take advantage of. Nothing bad to say good solid non-unique card.

OKTarg - 4 out of 5
Solid, solid, solid. The ‘gold matters’ theme is becoming quite viable for Lannister, and these guys should be quite easy to trigger since they are just looking for card effects--Cersei’s Scheme, Kevan charagenda, even Relentless Persecution if you’re feeling shaggy.
Point of rule--I’m pretty sure that Naval declarations are not considered to be card effects but rather “game mechanics.” If these guys could trigger off of hopping in as a Naval guy that would be ridiculous.

rave - 4 out of 5
This guy sits right in the middle of 4 for me. 3 gold is a lot, but in decks with guaranteed kneel effects like City of Sin, this guy will shine. Shadows decks also will make good use of him, since they have Alchemist’s Guild Hall and can make use of gold outside of marshalling. Not every deck is really going to care about the extra gold though, and really would just benefit from being tweaked to be quicker or tighter in its effects. Regardless, this is definitely someone you want to see in your setup hand.

scantrell24 - 4 out of 5
Shagga players love this guy for making their “shit gold” decks better, but I’m just glad to have a solid character for Black Sails and Hyperkneel. Note that you must kneel the character via a card effect, NOT by paying a cost. For example, kneeling Tommen to draw a card will NOT meet the requirements. That minor quibble aside, count me impressed with what an extra gold can mean, especially in a House with plenty of draw.


Iron Islands Brigand 29 out of 40

doulos2k - 2 out of 5
I love cancels and Greyjoy does cancel better than anyone. While seeing a card like this can make you, the opponent, even more depressed, it requires you to spend a gold and it’s a one time shot. Does Greyjoy need this card in the environment? I don’t think so. Will we see it? Sure, in some decks, but I think this will not see play in most decks... if only it had more than one icon.

emptyrepublic - 3 out of 5
I’d be nice if it could cancel another triggered effect type aside from just locations (maybe characters too?). That said, it’s cheap and has a naval enhancement icon plus the Raider trait. Decent filler depending on the deck type.

Ire & WWDrakey - 5 out of 5
When people think of GJ they tend think of cheap non-unique high efficiency characters. The problem with this is the fact that when it comes to the 1 gold slot, there really is only one such card - Distinguished Boatswain. Most of the other cards are highly specialized, Fishwhiskers for warships, Ambitious Oarsman for Raiders, Follower of Two Gods for Holy... now this guy slots well into many deck types, but especially well into choke and BS. It stops your opponent from using seas and is a pure nightmare for Baratheon who tend to rely on their Seat of Powers... not to mention Targ with Rhaeny’s Hill on the board. This character can also single-handedly interrupt any pesky Maester location-stand-loops that might be causing you problems. Cheap Cancel with legs should never be underestimated.

JCWamma - 4 out of 5
I'm a big fan of this guy - 1/1/M is nothing special, but perfectly adequate, especially when that M has a Naval Icon. Raider is a nice trait and each new card like this makes it moreso. That response is great though. Longship Red Jester is an underrated card in my view - having a non-unique character equivalent with a Naval icon and in-house trait synergy to boot is just lovely.

mnBroncos - 3 out of 5
Great ability that many houses would love to have and is a cheap option to have control around locations, the down side is greyjoy is the best at just discarding locations so not as good of a solution for house Greyjoy. But is a cheap character good for setup and solid ability can see decks that definitely will find room for this card, especially in choke decks.

OKTarg - 4 out of 5
I like it. I’ve been having my eye on Choke for awhile as a theme that’s due a resurgence, and these guys just help so many aspects of that build, from setup boosts to reducer cancels. Sure, the cost on it is pretty high but with Negotiations at the Great Sept running around you should have a full hand anyway.

rave - 4 out of 5
Interesting card. He is just kind of out there on the table, so I see him not getting utilized often, and then getting hit with a reset, but this is pretty disruptive for one gold, especially early. 1 for 1 naval is pretty great for Black Sails also.


scantrell24 - 4 out of 5
I’m digging this little guy. He goes straight into Greyjoy Long Voyage, Black Sails, and probably most iterations of choke just for being efficient, plus he possesses the Raider for pairing with Longship Grief.


Iron Fleet Scout 21 out of 40

doulos2k - 3 out of 5
If you are building your deck specifically to take advantage of an effect like this and We Do Not Sow… then this card will be amazing. Anywhere else… why would you include this card? It takes up an already tight location slot (Greyjoy tends to run location heavy already) and the effect is pretty meh. I’d just run Dagger Lake Galley and have more flexibility overall.

emptyrepublic - 2 out of 5
Personally I find these turn a location into a charcter effects pretty gimmicky and not as interesting as they might sound. The only upshot is that you get a naval enhancement on both of the icons. The only purpose I can see for this is to get more naval enhanced capabile characters in order to get the BS agenda to work.

Ire & WWDrakey - 3 out of 5
Now this is interesting. If you have 1 gold lying around, your opponent has to always count that you could Naval in a location... and it’s things like these that are usually forgotten, and will catch people off guard. This is good support for both BS and also to charlite builds, which are now looking a lot more viable thanks to this. It also goes well with things like Ambitious Oarsman and Naval Escort if needed, but it will often shine the most post-Valar to have even more characters on the board. While it will have a hard time slotting into decks, it can be well worth the investment.

JCWamma - 3 out of 5
From a fun-factor perspective, possibly the card of the pack. In Black Sails decks I'd give this card a 5, if only because it's a Greyjoy card with a naval icon on Power. Since the ship has Naval icons, if you keep a gold in reserve the defending player will have to keep this card in mind all the time when you attack. It also dodges Bleeds and Valar, making a certain type of janky combo deck absolutely love this card. That said, this isn't the most efficient of cards. The first time you trigger that effect it's fairly 'meh', and each subsequent time it gets worse and worse, to the point where I don't know if non-Black Sails decks will run it unless they're heavily pushing Warship themes. Really fun card though.

mnBroncos - 2 out of 5
Outside of a Black Sails deck I am not sure what deck would rather play this card then a character, unless in a meta that is heavy in character removal outside of the challenges phase.

OKTarg - 2 out of 5
And perhaps that’s overly generous. I like things that help me dodge Valar--you know, like Shadows, Core Set Khal Drogo jumping back to hand, saves, etc.--and this guy will help with that. The problem is that Greyjoy is the house that worries least about resets already. An on-demand Naval icon isn’t terrible, but if it was doing ANYTHING else before I turned it into a character I’d really like it.

rave - 3 out of 5
Maybe overkill for Greyjoy Black Sails at this point. This is a pretty big step towards character-lite decks though, which had been pretty good in AGOT’s heyday. The problem is, that having to pay for this every round to actually use it as a character if you actually need one is pretty inefficient.

scantrell24 - 3 out of 5
Being an unusual card, in that he’s sort of a character and sort of a location, means there will be a lot of hype and inflated ratings (he’s close to a 4 on agotcards right now). I’ll probably run a copy or two in my Black Sails deck, but not in anything else. The versatility is nice because you can kneel him for Naval Escort one turn, and then naval attack with him to trigger Black Sails the next turn, and so on, but one gold per turn is a hefty price to pay.


Lyseni Pirate 26 out of 40

doulos2k - 3 out of 5
Quasi renown on military challenges is cool, for sure. He’d be a 4 for me if he had even one other icon or if he were one less gold. As it stands, I think you’ll only see him in Bara Black Sails. That said, he’s still a solid way to add a little extra acceleration, but Bara doesn’t usually have issues with acceleration.

emptyrepublic - 4 out of 5
I think this guy works because he’s priced right. Being a monocon is a bit rough, but the keywordless renown is actually kind of strong in my view. On top of that he harmonizes perfectly with Baratheon smugglers and is cost effective to keep the new Sallador triggering away the location desrtruction. Though he doesn’t have to be in a smuggler only deck; would work find alone in a standard rush deck.

Ire & WWDrakey - 2 out of 5
A cheap Smuggler/Naval for Baratheon is very much welcome. Now, that being said, this card doesn’t add much to the theme. It’s more of another loose puzzle piece that fits normal Baratheon decks better than the actual Smuggler theme. What this card has going for it is the Naval and a semi-renown. The “renown” needs specific use of Naval so you cannot do chump challenges with it alone to have the threat of more power gain... and it can also be cancelled. Faster rush decks might try this out, but it will most likely not make the cut in anything outside of Black Sails. Perhaps the best part of the card is that it’s another cheap Smuggler to help trigger Salladhor.

JCWamma - 4 out of 5
People run Joffrey Baratheon in Bara rush decks almost solely for being a 2 cost Renown character. This guy effectively has Renown for most intents and purposes, has a trait that Bara is heavily playing to right now (and especially wants cheap cards with said trait, as it lets them trigger Salladhor Saan easier), and has a Naval icon to boot. All-round incredibly solid, while not threatening spectacular.

mnBroncos - 3 out of 5
Not a great card but a cheap “renown” smuggler, which I really like the theme of, but isn’t the best though and probably won’t see much play if any at all outside of a smuggler deck. However, most of the smugglers seem to have higher costs so having a non-unique smuggler for 2 gold can be very effective in those decks.

OKTarg 3 out of 5
I really like Bara Black Sails right now. This guy will help it, but a 2 cost monocon isn’t that great. The Power grab is pretty solid, the Smuggler trait is nice, but I think it’s just a notch below some of the other solid Naval nonuniques. Check out the Greyjoy 2 cost nonunique for a comparison, or even the Lannister one.

rave - 4 out of 5
Pretty solid little pseudo-renown guy without bad traits that can chump block and die if need be, also a good trigger for Salladhor. I like it. Bara Black Sails being one of the better houses for the agenda gets good use out of him too.

scantrell24 - 3 out of 5
Greg Atkinson just won a Regional with Bara Black Sails and ran 2 of this little guy. He’s nothing special, but a naval enhancement on military and the Smuggler trait are a fair bargain.


Khorane Sathmantes 26 out of 40

doulos2k - 4 out of 5
Talk about adding to the growing Smuggler theme! Stealth is one of the best keywords in the game and the more the merrier. This is an auto-include in a Smuggler deck. The downside of your opponent’s Smuggler characters also gaining stealth is a minimal concern, I think.

emptyrepublic - 3 out of 5
It’s been discussed before but the problem with naval enhanced characters having stealth is that you are forced to use the character before any defenders are declared and you lose any possible leverage with the naval enhancement. Perhaps you don’t care about that and only care to trigger Naval Superiority or Black Sails. Not terrible, but certainly not stellar at the 3 cost slot.

Ire & WWDrakey - 3 out of 5
This character makes us question even more on what Smugglers are about since currently their theme seems to be all over the place much like Raiders were during the cycle they were introduced in. 3 cost for 2 STR is rarely a good deal, unless the character is able to give card advantage... and Khorane doesn’t do that. Stealth is also one of the ‘not so useful’ keywords for heavy naval. If you are looking to let your opponent make bad decisions and Naval in guys after defenders then that stealth was useless. Not to mention that the Smuggler fleet already has it. Naval characters can also come into the challenge before stealth as defenders so there is not much use for it there either. This might have its best use in a Maester deck so that they can give themselves the smuggler trait and then use the stand from Masey’s Hook to start the stand loop. Looks like the whole Smuggler-theme will still be pretty underdeveloped at the end of this Cycle.

JCWamma - 2 out of 5
You have to be amazing at 3 cost 2 str to be great (see Dale last pack, or Meera Reed). This guy isn't. He has a cool effect (although I'd be rating him 3 not 2 if it was limited to characters YOU control), but it's not outstanding. That said I can already see a deck, probably piloted by Greg Atkinson, involving trait-manipulation, this guy and Massey's Hook. It definitely will be possible to use this guy well, but as an overall package I'm thoroughly unimpressed.

mnBroncos - 3 out of 5
I was close to giving this guy a four, however, in a house that always seems to have too many characters with cost 3 or higher it is hard to give a 3 cost character with only 2 strength a four. But, late game if it can give around 3 characters stealth that is a very strong ability. Also, with Dale out if just keep using seat of powers over and over three cost doesn't seem as much of a big deal. I do believe this guy will be a key figure though to the smuggler decks.

OKTarg 4 out of 5
This rating assumes that you’ll be using this guy in Black Sails or a Smuggler deck, because he’s pretty useless outside of that build. Within his niche, though, I think he’ll shine. Stealth to help push through your Naval challenges is great, and a Naval enhancement on the Intrigue icon adds even more icon spread to the already surprisingly diverse Smuggler crew in Bara. Don’t discount how important his role is in making Massey’s Hook more reliable in your Black Sails deck as well.

Point of rule: If I naval in a Smuggler (or any character for that matter) who has stealth before the declaration of defenders, I’m pretty sure I get their Stealth use as well. That’s not too shabby. Look for some of my secret tech: Terminal Schemes out of Bara Black Sails. Easier to trigger with the Stealth.

rave - 3 out of 5
Good in Black Sails with a ton of smugglers. That’s about it. This guy will do a great job pushing through that card from the hold. Even then, just based on how Naval works, I don’t know how necessary having stealth will really be. 3 for 2 is still pretty bad to have because of burn, so I’m not sure it’s worth the risk in other decks.

scantrell24 - 4 out of 5

Lots of positives to discuss here. Stealth is widely considered one of the strongest keywords, and Khorane grants it to himself and probably 1 or 2 of your other characters as well. Sadly the Bara Fleet already comes with stealth, but River Runner, Lyseni Pirate, Summer Sea Corsair, Salladhor Saan, and 2 versions of Davos will benefit.


Wylla Manderly 15 out of 40

doulos2k - 3 out of 5
The Stalwart theme grows with yet another cheaply costed character. Yes, Stalwart chokes your draw, yes, it’s one of the worst House-specific keywords in the game. But, with enough cheap Stalwart characters, redrawing them to continually apply pressure with pseudo claim soak is nothing to sneeze at. With cards like Midnight Sentry and Follower of the Many-Faced God… you have a theme that can actually be incredibly annoying to deal with. Cheap characters that get stronger as you flood the board. Yes, I gave a Stalwart character a 3 even considering how terrible that keyword is.

emptyrepublic - 2 out of 5
I’m not sure what the point of this card is. I’m giving it a 2 because there are a lot of Ally characters out there so the +3 STR will trigger pretty often. Problem is she’s a mono icon with Stalwart; which I’m still convinced is the absolute worst of the six house keywords.

Ire & WWDrakey - 3 out of 5
Dontos gets more targets for his ability, finally! Now, seriously speaking, this card is a gamble and not a great gamble to be honest. Stalwart monocons are rarely a good thing since you don’t want to see that card over and over. Most use of this card will be in Maester decks to add some more standing with Follower of the Many-Faced God... not to mention how it synergizes nicely with Copper Link, Black Iron Link and Iron Link. This can also give you more reasons to run Red Wedding in your Stark deck. It has a few good uses, but it is a bit of risky card to run.

JCWamma - 1 out of 5
Outside of very specific decks (where she's solid but unspectacular, let's say a 3) Stalwart is a BAD keyword to have. If you're in a good position she'll be useful, and a second card that makes Traitor an unwanted trait is welcome (even though this only working on defense is pretty weak), but when you're up against it the last thing you want choking your draw is a 1 drop monocon. Tempted to push her up to 2 for being a unique Lady, but ultimately that's not enough.

mnBroncos - 1 out of 5
umm yea unless I am really desperate for a better setup I don’t think I would ever run this card. Even heavy defense decks don’t need this card with only one icon.

OKTarg - 2 out of 5
Meh. Unless I’m missing something, I shouldn’t be too excited about her. Stalwart? LOL

Is it bad that I think her best use is as the Lady in Red Wedding?

rave - 2 out of 5
Not horrible in a Black Sails deck. It’s a naval icon that never goes away, and costs 1 gold. Stalwart is also nice if your deck is cut pretty small. For all others, probably best to leave it in the binder.

scantrell24 - 1 out of 5
Less than useless. Stalwart is more of a detriment than a bonus, and because Wylla has only one icon her mediocre ability will rarely help either.


White Harbor 8 out of 40

doulos2k - 1 out of 5
Yes, yes. I know it has utility. But, really? I’m going to include a 2 gold location that is only useful if my opponent has 6 power on their House? It will be a dead draw so often that I can’t even conceive of why I’d include this card.

emptyrepublic - 1 out of 5
Nice to see the northerners also get 2 cost unique locations that are pure turds. This is only useful for Beric in my view, and the horrible irony is that it won’t work because Brotherhood decks don’t keep power on the house card.

Ire & WWDrakey - 1 out of 5
This location has one job and one job only, to get rid of übercharacters. It also does its one job badly, it’s inefficient with its cost, very matchup-dependent and has too heavy of a requirement for activation. With lower cost this might have seen more play, but currently it shall remain as a very specialized expensive silver bullet. Also, as a curiosity, Mance Rayder can blank this.

JCWamma - 1 out of 5
The pack's seemingly obligatory "silver bullet that therefore won't see play" card. If you're in a Greyjoy-heavy meta or noble rush-heavy meta, the ability is okay...ish I guess. And even then it's overpriced. Against a lot of opponents it won't do a thing. But the type of characters you want to take out with this are generally the type that collect power on themselves, meaning you can't even use the effect until right near the end of the game in those match-ups. This would get itself a 2 (possibly even a 3) if it was Any Phase, but being Challenge phase-only to stop you forcing through a Valar is the nail in the coffin here.

mnBroncos - 1 out of 5
You know Martell is the house I play with the most and I know they haven't been getting much support but it really seems like Stark is getting the worst cards this cycle. Now right now I don’t see this card ever being played, but maybe if someday there is a strong character that has cannot be killed then maybe this card gets played, maybe if it was six power and not just on the house so could affect Beric maybe could atleast get a 2.

OKTarg - 1 out of 5
I’m curious as to how they arrived at the 6 power on your house condition. Not five? Not ten? Anyway, I can’t see myself ever running this. It’s not like Power of Blood is taking over the meta or anything and the 6 power condition means you can’t hit Beric out of most builds. So......why would I use this again?

Perhaps I’m underrating Cannot be Saved, but Sun Stroke and the Greyjoy attachment (Scurvy?) already provide this and it’s not like they’re used that much.

rave - 1 out of 5
Too expensive for something that potentially maybe quite possibly may be used once in a tournament.

scantrell24 - 1 out of 5
I’m not seeing the point. If I’m going to spend two gold on a card that’s blank for roughly half the game, it better have a badass ability. A few Stark kill decks might run a single copy but they’ll almost always have something better to spend the gold on.


Manderly’s Scheme 20 out of 40

doulos2k - 1 out of 5
House Stark is not really weak in Intrigue anymore except for some very specific builds, but I don’t think those builds are going to benefit from the ability to defend Intrigue on ONE turn (except maybe the Riverrun build… but even that’s pushing it in my mind). This is one of the worst “Schemes” plots.

emptyrepublic - 3 out of 5
I’m up in the air about this. I just don’t know. If it weren’t for this cycle and the last then this might be a must use for Stark. These days though it’s not as necessary. That said, it might be funny to see a near pure Direwolf or heavy Army deck run this. On a seperate note, this is will be horrible against Martell targeted icon removal. Only need to remove the military icon to also lose the intrigue.

Ire & WWDrakey - 4 out of 5
Kind of funny that Stark who used to have a heavy intrigue hole in their defence is now in a point that they shrug to cards like this that could have before been one of their most useful plots. Now let’s see... the stats of the plot are pretty decent, so it can easily slot into decks. This plot actually has a quite a clear target in decks that don’t want to dilute their military-focus (many of Starks intrigue characters don’t have military), and as such should fit into Siege and Murder decks quite nicely... as well as the obvious ones - defense decks.

JCWamma - 2 out of 5
When this was the spoiled card months ago, everyone (myself included) thought it was great. I have no idea why! For some specific Stark defense decks the ability is nice. In Melee in particular it's very nice for dissuading people from challenging you. But for the most part that effect is nowhere near good enough to give up a plot position for. It does at least have 4 gold, so if you're struggling for a 7th plot for your Stark deck it might occasionally make the cut, but most of the time you'll have much better options.

mnBroncos - 1 out of 5
I hate that I am ripping on all the Stark cards, but really with all the plots that are out right now why would you choose this one? Sure it has ok gold but mid-low initiative and only one claim and the effect isn't anything worth running. I don’t even see this plot making it into Tully decks, because unless you're really set up nice this won’t help you, because then you are just using all your mil guys to stop the int challenge instead of a mil.

OKTarg - 3 out of 5
At first when I saw this I thought it was DRASTICALLY OP. Then I thought it was useless. Now, I’m somewhere in the middle. It’s great in a defense deck but I think it a bit niche anywhere else. Stark’s INT hole sure isn’t as big as it used to be, and this can still paper over a lot of the cracks. I think my opinion will settle out in it one way or another in the future, but for now, I’ll say niche but good in its niche.

rave - 3 out of 5
Not bad at all. It’s a little too passive for the current state of Stark I think. But you will praise the LCG gods the moment you run into Power Behind the Throne with this, which a pretty relevant Lannister decktype right now. 4/3 is solid stats for a plot as well. Maybe not bad for the turn before your Negotiations?

scantrell24 - 3 out of 5
I’ll probably use Manderly’s Scheme in my deck for teaching new players because it’s simple to understand and comes with decent gold, but it won’t see much competitive play. Frankly, why not just run Loyalty Money Can Buy instead?


Planky Town Orphan 20 out of 40

doulos2k - 2 out of 5
I’ve heard that a lot of people like this card. I don’t play Martell that often, but I’m really not getting this card at all. Yes, it has potential card advantage… but only potential. It doesn’t support self-mill (since the card goes back to the top of your deck) and it cheapens one of Martell’s greatest effect – the surprise revenge event (especially if that happens to be what you reveal). It only prevents itself from being a 1 because it does actually have the opportunity to provide you a card that you need.

emptyrepublic - 3 out of 5
Not so hot if control is your thing, but an interesting toolbox effect that might prove useful later on depending on how the meta players out. Honestly, what I like the most is that it’s not tied to this cycle and has sufficently broad potential to be useful in the future even if it isn’t now.

Ire & WWDrakey - 2 out of 5
This card is a weenie that is taking Martell into new more aggressive direction. Control decks will rarely want to use effect like this as they like their responsive events too much, but aggro, combo and rush will have less problems with it. There is nothing special in the stats, the usual fare for 1 gold, but without any useful trait. It has its uses in gaining better board position, but it is not for every deck... and there’s something pretty ‘meh’ about having a 1g character that doesn’t want to be in setup...

JCWamma - 3 out of 5
Macaulay Culkin, is that you? The effect here is interesting. It lends itself to abuse with Herald of the Sun, although subject to reducers that's starting to get to be expensive. Outside of that one nice combo, he doesn't offer too much. That's fine though, Martell is lacking in solid 1 cost characters and he'll help the cause. And Martell doesn't exactly dislike potential card advantage. Also the meta seems to be starting to gradually shift towards "Comes into play" abilities being important, and effects like this will only help.

mnBroncos - 2 out of 5
I think I will have to play around with this one until I can rate it fairly, but right out of the box, it is a solid card. Martell needs more one cost characters besides the Lost Spearmen. Card advantage is always nice, and Martell likes hiding the events they have, but sometimes it is nice to put intimidation into the opponent as well. Also, I can see this card being very effective if you build a deck that uses good amount of marshalling or any phase events.

OKTarg - 2 out of 5
I love the pseudo-card advantage, but the 1 STR and 1 icon are holding it way back. Especially so since you don’t want to play this on setup but that’s half the reason you include 1 cost dudes. Kind of a weird card.


rave - 3 out of 5
I don’t like the idea of running 1 cost cards that I shouldn’t be setting up, outside of amazing cards like Iron Cliffs. This guy can’t hurt, but I’m not sure it’s really going to turn any heads.

scantrell24 - 3 out of 5
I’m not often a Martell player, but I can see Planky Town Orphan competing with Dornish Paramour or House Messenger in a few builds. He’s great to draw when you’re low on cards later in the game, but most Martell decks don’t find themselves in that position thanks to the Bannerman, Prince’s Plans, etc.


Salty Dornishman 15 out of 40

doulos2k - 3 out of 5
So, Martell now has a way of gaining quasi-Naval dudes. If you’re already running an influence-heavy build, this card can be a great addition to help defend Naval challenges or just to cause some challenge math headaches. The reason it isn’t a 2 is because you get to choose ANY icon you want. This actually makes it a very interesting card.

emptyrepublic - 1 out of 5
This doesn’t count as naval enhanced character! People get annoyed with expensive Ally characters already and this one is no different. Scroll back up to the top of this review article and compare this character with the Arbor Guardsman. Both are 3 gold and 3 STR non-uniques. The guardsman has the benefit of two icons, one with a naval enchancement, already out of the gate. He also has no negative traits. The Salty Dornishmen would be far more compelling if they had vengeful; the utility of spending the influence for the on-demand challenge icon could be maximized then, at least in melee.

Ire & WWDrakey - 2 out of 5
~ Finally we don’t have to hear the “Martell doesn’t have any naval” talk!
The stats on this one are strange, no icons and a negative trait. For 3 cost this isn’t helping Martell much. Most uses for this would be for defensive deck, but they already have better in-House tools for that... so it’s only place is in a Martell Black Sails deck which doesn’t sound very promising. All in all its a surprise 3 STR boost to any challenge, if you have influence, but for that it is definitely on the expensive side.

JCWamma - 2 out of 5
Fantastic name. Let's start by making him sound terrible then build him back up - he's a 3-cost Ally that is useless without influence, and who supports a theme Martell doesn't specialise in. There's already a card that performs a similar task to this, Skinchanger, and that only sees play in Wildling decks because he's not good enough unless he has +1 STR and Stealth, so why would you use our Salty friend instead? That all said, if you have the influence to spare (and Martell is one house that likes its influence), this is more versatile than Skinchanger, simply because of the Naval icon. It means you can attack, without ever having knelt out the influence, and the opponent will have to consider the possibility that Salty's joining the fray - only for you to give him a completely different icon later. Also, unlike Skinchanger this guy's effect is not limited to being once per phase. He is also the only in-house Martell card to (sort of) have a Naval icon, so he goes a long way towards making such a deck possible. All that said, I'm keeping him at 2, there's just too much not to like to make up for what's good.

mnBroncos - 1 out of 5
This card really sucks. Martell players don’t fool yourself, the game doesn't go long enough to try to do something crazy with black sails, it just isn't for us. So don’t try to do something clearly not capable of doing. There are way too many good 3 cost characters in this game that I would never spend a slot in my deck or gold to play this card compared to so many other options.

OKTarg - 2 out of 5
Compare this dude to Skinchanger. 3 cost, 3 STR pseudo-tricon is nice, except this guy costs an influence to trigger. Yeah, he gets the Naval enhancement, but I fail to see how this is enough to make Black Sails really go for Martell. Yes, there is talk of weird self-mill BS decks out of Martell, but even I, who loves janky stuff more than most, think those are a bit far-fetched.

rave - 1 out of 5
He’s a 3 cost ally that can’t do anything by himself, which is a dealbreaker.
Even for a Black Sails deck, you need to have 1 influence, and then an already participating character. Then you have to win to get any real use out of him.

scantrell24 - 3 out of 5
Salty Dornishman won’t see much play due to the Ally trait and the fact that Martell Black Sails isn’t really a thing. In fact, I find it strange that FFG gave Martell any naval cards after Lady Nym’s Guard missed out on the fun. On the bright side, if you find yourself with an influence to spare and if he survives Arys/Varys/Dissension, then Salty Dornishman can darn useful, but those are two big IFs.


Ser Cletus Yronwood 28 out of 40

doulos2k - 3 out of 5
This would be a 4 if Martell had a decent No Agenda build. As it stands, you’re only using this in a Quentyn deck. While that’s thematically fitting, it makes this card’s overall usefulness quite low. Now, in a Quentyn deck – card advantage PLUS another Renown body makes this a solid character choice. (Though the Renown is counter-intuitive to his ability… you never want him killed if he has power on him.)

emptyrepublic - 3 out of 5
Honestly, I prefer him for the Melee and Renown. There’s already quite a bit of draw effects that Martell has it’s disposal. I’m not sure what more you gain from a probably one time usable response. Also, I’m not so keen on him having renown if he’s primed to be burn or kill bait for the draw. Keep in mind him having 2 STR is only an issue outside of opposed challenges; so in essence only an issue for lower level burn effects, but I guess that’s the point of the response. Nonetheless, I think I prefer his version from the previous cycle.

Ire & WWDrakey - 4 out of 5
Remember what we said on 3 cost 2 STR characters? Now this one actually gives you card advantage, and therefore is more playable with the stats lineup that he has. Keyword pairing is interesting and the amount of renown Martell can wield these days is scary considering they have the games best Rush plot in To The Spears! This guy will die, but at least he will replace himself and also give an additional card for it, so your opponent will not be getting rid of him unless he really has to. Now, a couple of these new Martells characters who want to die with Retreat, Narrow Escape and Judged by the Father and you might really get a lot out of the abilities... as well as greatly frustrate your opponent.

JCWamma - 3 out of 5
3 cost 2 STR is bad as previously discussed, but Melee immediately makes up for the low STR, and the other issue with being 2 STR - vulnerability to the likes of Flame-Kissed and Venomous Blade - is made up for by the fact that he gives you 2 cards when he dies. Of course, this is all assuming you're running no agenda (or Quentyn) - outside of those decks he's a 1. In those decks however, he's a 4, borderline-5. Martell players should seriously be thinking about making a Renown rush deck right about now, they have pretty much all the tools for it at this point.

mnBroncos - 3 out of 5
Good solid card that will see at least one of in every non agenda or quentyn deck that Martell runs. 3 cost for 2 strength is usually bad for a character but isn’t as bad when you get a positive when the character dies. Also, To the Spears is becoming a very scary plot with how many renown characters Martell is getting. Now people complain with Martell moving to a rush/aggro options. However, I feel every house should be able to play with any play style. Hopefully some of the other more rush/aggro houses are then later given options to have control theme.

OKTarg - 4 out of 5
I have to say that I’m pleased that FFG continued to give support to charagenda type builds in this cycle, and this guy is an easy 1-of in your Quentyn deck--maybe more with the new Prayer event featured below. His response makes him good early game; his keywords make him good late game. All told, very solid card for a fast-becoming very solid build.

rave - 4 out of 5
Since Martell doesn’t draw cards much at all, this guy is always going to be useful when dead, because of that, he’s not dead weight against burn. Against decks that can’t burn him, he’s 3 cost renown. Solid.

scantrell24 - 4 out of 5
I’m rating Ser Cletus in the context of a Quentyn-agenda build, because that’s the only place he’ll ever see play, and even then probably only a single copy. The draw is especially nice if you haven’t found Quentyn yet and need him ASAP. After Quentyn has died, then you want to keep Cletus alive and let him rack up power via Renown by winning challenges with his strength boost from the Melee keyword.


Ser Rolly Duckfield 21 out of 40

doulos2k - 3 out of 5
Solid character, but not earth shattering. Another Knight, so that’s cool, but other than being protected from discard effects, his ability is not giving you much. At 3 gold, he’s competing with a solid bevy of characters already. I’d be hard-pressed to include him except in some specific builds.

emptyrepublic - 3 out of 5
Not much to say on this one besides he’s well balanced but otherwise vanilla. I suppose he fills in the house via the traits and naval enhancement on power fits the house theme. I guess the question you need to ask yourself is what are you going to give up to use him since there’s lots of good stuff you can get at 3 gold.

Ire & WWDrakey - 3 out of 5
We are kind of sad that such an awesome book character gets his first card and it’s kind of lackluster. Stats are ok and he is the second Targaryen Kingsguard. He is one support for Targaryen Black Sails and also for reset heavy Targ using Westeros Bleeds over and over (maybe combine these two themes?). The Knight trait might be of use if we continue on getting more Knights for Targaryen. Other than that, the Duck has fairly little going for him. However, there is an interesting Nedly aspect to Targaryen benefiting from Westeros Bleeding more and more, with most of their characters on another continent...

JCWamma - 2 out of 5
Solid, but unspectacular in the extreme. Rolly's not in much danger of being discarded generally, so immunity to it when there's a Lord or Lady present isn't that useful. Being a Targaryen Knight is cool, and having a Naval icon could prove useful. But other than some very specific decktypes he's too expensive and unspectacular to see play.

mnBroncos - 2 out of 5
Obviously there is the connection with Bleeds, however, I don't know why Targ would go that route when they can just kill everyone anyways. I do like the random Kingsguard trait though. But, like stated before no real negative trait that is going to have him get discarded often anyways. For targ the cannot be discarded is great for the one cost characters to be comboed with threat from the north. Maybe a good bleeds deck will be made at sometime or if other discard all cards, cards, come into the meta then maybe gets to see play.

OKTarg - 3 out of 5
While a Knight is nothing to sneeze at, I did a quick glance at the playable Lords and Ladies out of Targ. And, there’s not a ton. This guy screams “use me with Westeros Bleeds!” but I think it’ll be harder than you think to trigger. So we’re left with a 3 for 3 Knight with a usually blank text box and a Naval icon. Meh....but rising to more in the right build.

rave - 2 out of 5
Doesn’t take advantage of Targ’s strengths at all. And at 3 gold, that means this guy is going to get cut often. Targ Black Sails doesn’t really flow either.. Not a fan. The art is cool though!

scantrell24 - 3 out of 5
I’m not Targ player either, but If I were, I’d be disappointed. Targ characters have plenty of naval enhancements, but they’re all on the weakest icon, power, and that makes Black Sails nearly unplayable. Still, Rolly is a 3 for 3 bicon so he isn’t horrible, and there’s some potential for future shenanigans in combo with discard effects.


Blood Magic Ritual 38 out of 40

doulos2k - 5 out of 5
Right now, as worded, it’s possible that you could choose a character with the “No attachments” keyword and pull it out of the dead pile. This attachment can never attach, so the kill effect would be null and the character would remain in play. I don’t believe FFG will allow that, but right now, it’s a 5. If they errata this so that it must be attachable in order for the character to come into play, then it’s a 4. Still, I love this effect – anything that recurs characters that you thought were dead can completely change the course of a game.

emptyrepublic - 5 out of 5
This card is going to encourage some hardcore trickery. It’s not inconceivable to get a character back into play (and use their enter play effects) with this, use Power of Blood to protect it and then discard the attachment to safely keep it in play. You could also just dupe the character to save it; or use any other legal save effect. You get the point. This really should have “(Cannot be saved)” in the text to minimize the potential abuse.

Ire & WWDrakey - 4 out of 5
Hmmh. This one. Now, the card is pretty good, especially with Daenerys’ Chambers. So it deserves a good rating. However...

Rant from WWDrakey: There’s a lot to be said about the rules complexity of AGoT, and this is yet another black mark in that book. The hugely unintuitive nature of the interaction with No Attachments characters is yet another way for people to push for an advantage by simply having spent hours-upon-hours keeping up with the latest rulings on the FFG Rules Boards, instead of... well, doing something as drastic as playing the game. Cards should never require a huge amount of explaining to players in order for them to catch up with what it does. That’s what the lengthy text on the card is supposed to do. Clearly, and concisely. To put it bluntly: A card with this much text should be absolutely obvious, once you go to the bother of reading it through.

JCWamma - 5 out of 5
I've seen this compared to Maegi's Promise, but for various reasons I think this card is much better. The better comparison point for me is Fiery Kiss - and that card's definitely a 5 out of 5 for me. This costs one more and sacrifices Vigilant for permanence - subject to the opponent not having attachment control, which could be an issue. However, this gets the edge for me because of the fact that, as it's worded now, there doesn't seem to be a reason why you couldn't choose something with "No Attachments", get the character into play, then have this fail to attach and be discarded WITHOUT killing the character you brought back. So it's instant Dragon in other words. Frightening, especially when you can repeat its use through Lady Daenerys's Chambers or Street Waif.

mnBroncos - 5 out of 5
This card is amazing, freely get back any one character you want that was killed, and in a deck that really is heavy on combos or abilities with one character can run city of shadows to play this out of house, love that they didn’t add a house targ character from dead pile. I don’t think will go in every targ deck, but probably at least one of in many.

OKTarg - 5 out of 5
This card makes Ned, Jamie, and Shagga all happy. It’s basically a To be a Dragon with a cost, but it gives you more! First, there’s no cost restriction--any cost is fine. Next, there’s no cost to your plot deck--no more suboptimal Power Struggles. Third, you can save it for whenever you need it, fueling your Dragonpit or hurting their Boatswain all the while. Fourth, recur it with Lady Dany’s Chambers or search for it with Red Warlock or Captain Groleo.

Just think about all the come-into-play effects Targ has--Jorah, Daario, Illyrio, Dragon Thief, Dragon Knight, Long Lances, and more! Double them with this card. Then, think about the OOH options--Arys Oakheart for one, House Umber Beserkers for another--this keeps you away from the Gold penalty. (You can use Visenya’s Hill to get them into your Dead pile if you want!)

Then, let’s think about the rules. Say I have a Dragon in my dead pile (no attachments). I trigger BMR to put it into play. Then, I try to attach BMR to it but I can’t because of the No Attachments clause on the character. So I just discard BMR, have a Dragon in play with no downside. Yes, please. (BTW: This ruling was confirmed by Nate as far as I know). So, yeah, basically this card is amazing.

rave - 5 out of 5
Will always be good, and will get better the bigger Targ’s character pool gets. Unlike To Be a Dragon, it doesn’t require Power Struggle, which can help give some breathing room to your plot deck.

scantrell24 - 4 out of 5
Blood Magic Ritual alone makes me want to try Shadows burn. At first glance this card appears solid, but not spectacular....until you consider all of the characters like Jorah, Illyrio, Daario, Dragon Thief, etc. that have awesome come-into-play abilities. I’m afraid.


Guided by Quaithe 12 out of 40

doulos2k - 1 out of 5
What? I get what this card does. It’s not confusing. What is confusing? Why would you do it? Why take an event slot simply to put a non-shadows card into shadows? Somebody help me here… I just don’t get it. This card is terrible.

emptyrepublic - 1 out of 5
Low rating for confusion factor alone. I spied what Ire and WWDrakey said and their last line is a really good question that I’d liked answered. Beyond that I’m sure someone will figure out something clever. It’s an interesting way to get something out of your hand to protect it from discard. I’m not sure if it’s worth the complex machnications to do that though.

Ire & WWDrakey - 2 out of 5
Let us get our spectacles... Huh. Whadda ya know, that little scribbling was actually text! Now this is one interesting card. The best use for this will be in Melee where it gets to really shine. Many Melee games have been won with shadow cards that were able to help the player make their last alpha strike possible. Cards such as Qyburn and Southron Mercenaries are good examples of this. Now with this event you could hide your power gain tool out of reach... and keep it there until you need to make a push for the win. Something to ponder: Is an attachment that’s on an out-of-play card in-play?

JCWamma - 1 out of 5
There are definitely some applications for this card. However, they are few and far between as far as I can tell, and mainly limited to stuff like "I don't want to risk getting this card discarded, and/or I want to save it when I trigger an effect that replaces my hand". What that means is that outside of janky decks that I'm not sure exist yet, it won't get played because the effect simply isn't beneficial, so why waste a slot on it?

mnBroncos - 2 out of 5
well I like how weird it is but it does seem terrible, however, there just has to be some crazy good combo out there for this card, maybe not but got to be at least someday. Like the added factor that can put a location into shadow.

OKTarg - 2 out of 5
This card is weird. Therefore, I like it. In this case, though, I’m not sure how I could use it well. One way would be to get around OOH costs. I’m just not sure that’s consistent enough or important enough to take up an event slot. You might could use it with Blood Magic Ritual, but I’m not convinced it will be very good. I’ll try it, for sure, but not with much expectation.

rave - 1 out of 5
Using the card’s printed cost is interesting. But using an event just to do this is pretty inefficient. It’s still bound to your shadows phase too, so the element of surprise this card gives is going to be pretty limited.

scantrell24 - 2 out of 5
Wall-of-text cards make me want to cry. This one in particular has no practical application, at least not yet, and candidly I have no idea what inspired its creation. If I were designing, there are about 10,000 more useful and yet equally interesting cards that I could draw up before this one.


Dagger Lake Galley 28 out of 40

doulos2k - 4 out of 5
Black Sails is now viable out of most any House with this card. Being able to choose exactly which icon you want to create whenever you want to create it is amazing. It’s well-costed and it’s non-unique. I don’t see a downside to this card. The only reason it isn’t a 5 is, well, it’s very specific... but man, the utility for the cost is incredible.

emptyrepublic - 3 out of 5
Good support for Black Sails decks in order to fill in gaps when your naval enhanced characters aren’t just showing up. It’s not terribly useful though if you are pretty flush with them. Maybe one or two might make the cut for a naval enhanced deck? Ideally you shouldn’t need this card though.

Ire & WWDrakey - 3 out of 5
A long needed support for the Naval theme. The question remains: why did we get this so late in the Cycle, as this could have really helped the theme get started. Now this will make challenge math as much nightmarish as White Harbor Dromon already does, which is a good thing. Chintarion will also be happy to use this galley to make sure you have more naval icons.

JCWamma - 2 out of 5
A poor man's White Harbor Dromon. However, given that the Dromon was an easy 5 and House Stark only, that leaves a lot of wiggle room. For a non-Stark Black Sails deck this is an important card; however, it won't see play in any other deck, I can pretty much guarantee. Even in a Black Sails deck it's limited by the "unique only" part - a Baratheon Black Sails deck will cope slightly better than others, but the other houses have too many non-uniques they’ll regularly run - so it's not that great there either. A little disappointing all in all.

mnBroncos - 3 out of 5
I don’t think black sails in the end is going to be that great of a deck type compared to others, so unless I am completely wrong about black sails I don’t see this card being played often. I don’t think the added navel icon is worth it in any non Black Sails deck. White Harbor Dromon is a great card, but more so for the fact that can give a card like, Northern Cavalry Flank renown more so than the navel icons.

OKTarg - 4 out of 5
I like this card. It single-handedly makes Black Sails more consistent, as well as giving your opponents hard choices on defense. Knowing you can commit more characters at any time makes it hard to properly commit your characters. Am I convinced that this will knock many of the amazing in-house locations that every house has off of their pedestal? Well, no, but there is use here.

rave - 5 out of 5
This is the card that is going to give Black Sails bite. At 1 cost, this card is very friendly to a Black Sails deck that goes over 60 cards. Most importantly though, with this out, it’s going to be pretty difficult to keep Black Sails from accessing the Hold most turns, which I feel is the #1 reason why Black Sails is thought of as underpowered. Keep an eye on this one.

scantrell24 - 4 out of 5
Dagger Lake Galley will probably only see play in Black Sails, but even if the agenda didn’t exist, I still think it’s useful. Being an “Any Phase” and a potential threat to trigger mid-challenge can screw with challenge math for opponents. It also makes “win by X” responses like Terminal Schemes and Seductive Promise easier to trigger because you can overcommit after your opponent has already declared defenders.


Anointed by the Mother 10 out of 40

doulos2k - 1 out of 5
This is, so far, the worst of the Prayer events that I have seen. You’re including an event that will only work IF your opponent is running triggered draw effects. They have to trigger them, you have to have this event in hand and be able to pay the associated cost, then you have to hope your event isn’t canceled. Too risky and not worth an event slot. Just run your own draw.

emptyrepublic - 1 out of 5
Here’s the thing, there’s lots of “draw like” effects out there that don’t have the word draw in the text so this event won’t work. Also, many draw effects only draw one card at a time. Is it worth spending influence or kneeling a character to get a net-zero benefit? There is literally no change in card advange when using this most of the time. Finally, the biggest draw effect in the game right now (TLV) doesn’t even use a trigger so it’s immune.

Ire & WWDrakey - 1 out of 5
Highly situational and opponent dependent event. Currently there are too few good targets for this and those are in only a few Houses, as well so most of the time you are looking at a useless event with a heavy cost. Now if seasons become dominant again, then this cards value will raise as Samwell Tarly will be all over the place drawing 2 cards for every Raven out there.

JCWamma - 1 out of 5
The power of this effect needs to be balanced out by its "silver bullet" nature. Outside of Martell decks and Seasons decks, the most popular effects that let players draw cards right now are passive (The Long Voyage, Golden Tooth Mines and their like). So this can't be triggered off as much as you'd like. And it requires influence or a holy character to use. So the decks it works against and the decks it works for are both limited. And unless they're drawing 2 or more cards, you aren't gaining card advantage for playing it, only stopping the opponent. Too many hoops to jump for for the effect at the end. That said, in and against very particular decks this could be a fantastic card.

mnBroncos - 1 out of 5
This chapter pack is weird, a lot of bad cards. I would much rather include a card that gives me something then draw cards, rather than holding on to this card for three turns then finally using it just to cancel my opponent from drawing one card and then just replacing the event. Maybe if it was a effect and not just a triggered effect would at least get a 2 then.

OKTarg - 2 out of 5
In general, I like the prayers. It’s like they exclude the house that “owns” that type of effect and then give all of the other houses a weaker version of that effect. I like that the prayer cycle opens up Hollow Hill possibilities for each of the houses. In specific, however, this prayer is bad. I would never play it. Maybe if it hit TLV I would, but probably not even then.

rave - 1 out of 5
Way too limited. Would you run this if it was free?

scantrell24 - 2 out of 5
Flea Bottom Scavengers, Samwell Tarly, and Pyromancer’s Cache are three of only a handful of cards that can draw in multiples, and therefore would be worthwhile to cancel with Anointed by the Mother. This event isn’t worth the space unless you expect to see the 3 previously mentioned cards A LOT.


Judged by the Father 36 out of 40

doulos2k - 5 out of 5
This is simply amazing. It opens dead pile recursion to every single House. (Targ can already do this easily – so the exception makes perfect sense.) This is a meta-defining card. It now means you can no longer count on hard control completely nullifying a character like Melisandre or Robert Baratheon. I love it!

emptyrepublic - 5 out of 5
This is brilliant with the new Quentyn or other Martell characters that let you get something for killing them. Let’s you cycle those characters in and out of play very easily. Plus if you can get Prince’s Plans firing consitently then losing characters is hardly a loss. I’m sure the other non-Targ houses will find this useful too!

Ire & WWDrakey - 5 out of 5
The best Prayer we got this time around. Character recycling is good, so that you can play duplicates more easily as well as get to use comes into play/leaves play abilities more out of those characters. The cost can be heavy on some decks, but this card will definitely see plenty of use for some nice trick purposes. Unfortunately it doesn’t go too well with the Holy theme that GJ and Lannister have, which is characters going on the bottom of the deck when they die... but Baratheon will have plenty of use out of it.

JCWamma - 4 out of 5
This is a very, very powerful effect. Only the limits of the influence/holy cost stop it from being a 5. The 3 STR limit isn't bad at all, because the vast, vast majority of non-army cards are STR 3 or less, even the most powerful ones like The Red Viper, Melisandre and Cersei Lannister. If it returned the card to play this would be an easy 5.

mnBroncos - 5 out of 5
I don’t mind that it goes back to your hand, if your getting a key character back into hand that is huge. Brotherhood decks practically give up once Beric dies now can get him back, Viper rush doesn’t have to give up if the Viper dies, and many other scenarios where one key character is a MAJOR factor.

OKTarg - 4 out of 5
Now this Prayer is a lot better. We Targs know how powerful Dead pile recursion is, and this is just a solid option to include to protect your key uniques or just provide character redundancy.

rave - 5 out of 5
Amazing card. The first deck I thought of was Lanni KOHH that makes use of Castellan and Enemy Informer. Of course, the uses for this go way beyond that.

scantrell24 - 3 out of 5
Getting a dead Stannis, Cersei, or Beric back sounds great, but it’s only to hand, not into play, and that’s a big difference. Not to mention that Judged by the Father is only useful late game when you have a larger selection in the dead pile. Turns 1 and 2? Meh.


Nurtured by the Crone 21 out of 40

doulos2k - 5 out of 5
Another amazing effect. The fact that it cannot be cancelled is what makes this a 5. You want to Die by the Sword my Daenerys Targaryen? I don’t think so. What about Routing the Charge? Yep, that’s triggered too… I’ll see your “Cannot be Saved” and trump it with “Cannot be Cancelled.”

emptyrepublic - 3 out of 5
It seems awesome at first, but then when you start thinking about it you realize that it’s not quite that great. Here are the three major choke points: first is the unique character or location, second is the ‘only target’ requirement, and finally is the cost of triggering it. The cannot be canceled is what makes this usable still, but the effect is a bit too narrow to be as awe inspiring as it might be on during an inital read.

Ire & WWDrakey - 2 out of 5
Another highly situational Prayer. Events like these have never seen much play in this game. Fear Cuts Deeper than Swords and Futile Gestures for example are cards that haven’t seen play. This one has higher cost than both of those, but it has cannot be cancelled which helps, but isn’t that great. Now cards like this that have seen play are Maester Kerwin and Eddard Stark... and in both of their cases they have bodies so they can do challenges as well as being very useful for the themes they support. This card is more limited as it is a costly event and it doesn’t support any kind of theme either, except maybe something centered around a specific unique location but not running House of Dreams.


JCWamma - 1 out of 5
See Martell players, it's not all bad, the Prayer event that exludes you is the worst one. Again the Influence/Holy cost hurts it badly, limiting its use to some very specific decks. Unless you're desperate for some very limited protection in an influence-heavy or holy rush deck, I'd look elsewhere. If it at least was any effect the card could get a higher rating, but only Triggered effects and only for effects that have a single unique character/location as the target means there are far too many nasty effects this can't touch.

mnBroncos - 2 out of 5
Just way too situational that I would probably never run this card. So has to be a unique target, and has to be a result of just one card being the target, that means that doesn’t even cancel like Price of War. Paper Shield 85% of the time are going to be a better option, now to be honest I rarely play paper shields either I am of the mind set that I would rather use an effect to my benefit than to hold on to a card to eventually cancel my opponent from doing something.

OKTarg - 3 out of 5
Then, this prayer is somewhere in the middle. I’m not a huge fan of cancel in general, and this one seems a bit narrow. It’d be nice for Dragon decks, Bara Noble decks, or something like that, but I can’t see this being very useful.

rave - 2 out of 5
It’s still a surprise cancel so it’s not horrible, but that cost is a lot in anything but KOHH, and KOHH may have trouble fitting this in.

scantrell24 - 3 out of 5
I’m intrigued. It cancels a triggered effect from any card type, but only if that effect triggers a unique character or location as its only target. It has a cost that’s pretty steep, but it can’t be cancelled. Perhaps out of Lanni/Targ KotHH or Bara/Greyjoy/Lanni Holy.


Desperate Measures 37 out of 40

doulos2k - 4 out of 5
In the wrong deck, this is a terrible include. That’s why I give it a 4 and not a 3. This card should only see play in a deck that’s designed to build specific things using specific cards and you need effects to dig in and grab those pieces. In that type of deck, this card is absolutely gold.

emptyrepublic - 4 out of 5
See, it’s another draw like effect that Anointed by the Mother can do nothing about! That aside it’s pretty good. I’m not a huge fan of self-mill right now, but depending on the deck you probably don’t care. Seems most appropriate in a TLV deck where all you care about is pulling out ideal cards to setup a strong aggro build. I can’t see event based control decks using this much; rush is probably ambivalent.

Ire & WWDrakey - 5 out of 5
We have said it before and we will say it again. Self-mill is never a cost unless you are playing against a mill deck which is very rare in the current environment. Some decks might even be happy to get their discard pile filled with more cards. Now the real cost is 1 influence, and this event definitely gives decks more reason to run an influence base as searching the Top 5 cards is really strong. The art is really great on this one as well.

JCWamma - 5 out of 5
Easy 5, pretty much any influence deck should include it x3 from what I can tell. Much and More is a great card that does a similar effect - this is a one-sided Much and More that lets you search a card further. The vast majority of decks won't notice the difference between the non-selected cards being shuffled back in and being discarded, and there are some decks (namely Baratheon and Targaryen) that prefer stuff in the discard pile to the deck. On top of that it's a Small Council event for some reason (given the scene the artwork is depicting I have no idea why), meaning it can serve an extra purpose in some theme builds. What's not to love?

mnBroncos - 5 out of 5
Wow just great get to search top of five cards and take any one card into hand, so isn’t really card advantage, however, get a card of your choice. Any KOTHH deck or anyone that runs a fair amount of influence will always run this card. Also, they seem to be pushing recursion very heavly so the downside of discarding cards isn’t even as big of a deal.

OKTarg - 5 out of 5
This may be the card of the pack. So, people thought Much and More sucked, then we realized it was awesome. This is a one-sided Much and More. It’s amazing.

People also freak out about cards in their discard pile. It’s about time you realized that was a good thing--there’s plenty of other cards in your draw deck, so don’t worry about that one specific card you just saw go by. Also, there’s so much discard recursion in the game now that you can treat this almost like your extra hand--Mel’s Schemes, Street Waif, Archmaester Marwyn, Dale Seaworth, Shores of the Summer Sea, just to get us started.

rave - 5 out of 5
Wow. This is really good. Baratheon gets a lot from it obviously. But man... the top FIVE cards. If you have key cards in your deck this is the card to play.

scantrell24 - 4 out of 5
Martell, Targ, and Bara will love this event. The other houses not so much.


Aurane Waters 12 out of 40

doulos2k - 2 out of 5
Now, let me get this straight. I pay 3 gold to put a character into play that when he dies, ANYONE gets to use his ability going forward? That’s… not cool. It would be cooler if his ability were actually something of note, but honestly, I cannot conceive of a game state right now that would cause me to want to choose Aurane Waters over any of the other titles. He’s only a 2 because the concept is innovative.

emptyrepublic - 1 out of 5
This guy has been spoiled for a long time now and I think I’ve had enough time to come to the conclusion that he’s essentially useless for pretty much all the reasons you are thinking of already. The only reason you’d want to play this is to provide advantage to yourself, but you have to pay the cost to bring him out and then kill/discard him allowing any of your opponents with better initative to take advantage of it. I like the idea behind it, but I don’t see anyone seriously playing this. The text of the title is also a bit odd and annoying. It reads like an Any Phase effect but lacks the bold keyword so Brienne or other trigger effect blockers can’t stop it.

Ire & WWDrakey - 3 out of 5
Two naval icons, a new trait and a Melee-only ability. Thanks to the naval icons, this guy can do well in a Melee table to hinder challenges made against you. Why? Since people tend to challenge in the direction where they can gain unopposed power from, and Naval stops stealth dead in it’s tracks. If you have built a Black Sails melee deck you can be sure that not many opponents are willing to take the Title... except maybe to spite you. In which case they’re doing something that won’t really benefit them. Overall, you could get some pretty interesting benefits out of this Character/Title, and it sure is something completely new. Hopefully in the future FFG will explore this design-space further and we can get more cards that help different themes be more viable in Melee.

JCWamma - 2 out of 5
I love that this card exists. That doesn't however make it good. That 3 cost 2 STR factor hurts again. In Melee this card is obviously a heap of fun (although running it could risk the other players ganging up on you just to be able to get the new title in play!), but you need to build your draw-deck and plot deck around him to get full use. It's a lot to ask. In Joust he could be useful in a pinch in Black Sails decks for his naval icons, although it's getting to the point where there are better options available.

mnBroncos - 1 out of 5
Ummm I just don’t get why you’d play this guy not sure what else to say about him. However, on the positive I do like that are adding Character agenda like cards for more titles and if they make other BETTER ones will be very interesting thing. See it making more play in Joust with a Black Sails deck wanting a character with 2 navel enhancements.

OKTarg - 1 out of 5
So I wonder if FFG realizes that they made the rule that you can’t Naval in to challenges that you are not involved in? Sometimes I don’t think so, since their blurb on their site trumpeting this pack seems to imply otherwise. Short of that, I can’t see any enhancement to having Naval dudes in melee.

So, poor Aurane Waters is, in my opinion, unplayably bad.

rave - 2 out of 5
Seems too limited, even with Black Sails. I don’t play much Melee. But if you really need this, and the board knows it, I feel like someone is just going to block you from getting it anyway.