The Pirates of Lys Contents (A Game of Thrones)

41 Ser Lancel Lannister (x3)
42 The Bear and the Maiden Fair (x3)
43 Cersei's Scheme (x3)
44 Andrik the Unsmiling (x3)
45 We Do Not Sow (x3)
46 Victarion's Scheme (x3)
47 Salladhor Saan (x3)
48 Oakenshield Port (x3)
49 Ours is the Fury (x3)
50 Moreo Tumitis (x3)
51 Swamps of the Neck (x3)
52 Titan's Daughter (x3)
53 Hellholt Docks (x3)
54 Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken (x3)
55 House Targaryen Loyalist (x3)
56 Balerion (x3)
57 Fire and Blood (x3)
58 Torrhen's Square (x3)
59 Negotiations at the Great Sept (x3)
60 The Long Voyage (x3)

The Pirates of Lys Spoilers (A Game of Thrones)

Ser Lancel Lannister
Unique Lannister Character
2 Cost
2 Strength
Intrique, Power Challenge Icons
Holy Crest
Lord.  Knight
Ser Lancel Lannister gets +1 STR for each Holy Crest character in play.

The Bear and the Maiden Fair
Event
House Lannister only.
Response: After you win an Intrigue challenge by 4 or more total STR, the losing opponent chooses and discards 2 cards from hand. (Limit 1 per phase).

Cersei's Scheme
Plot
3 Income
6 Initiative
1 Claim Value
House Lannister only.
If you win a challenge as the attacker and defending player does not have more participating characters than you, choose and kneel 1 character controlled by the losing opponent.

Andrik the Unsmiling
Unique Greyjoy Character
3 Cost
3 Strength
Military (+Naval), Power Challenge Icons
Ironborn.  Lord.
Response: After you win a challenge in which Andrik the Unsmiling participated by 4 or more total STR, choose the topmost location in the losing player's discard pile and put it into play under your control.

We Do Not Sow
Event
House Greyjoy only.
Challenges: Kneel 2 influence or kneel a character with 1 or more Naval enhancements to turn all Warship locations you control into characters with STR equal to their printed cost, a Military icon, and a Power icon, until end of the phase.

Victarion's Scheme
3 Income
7 Initiative
1 Claim Value
House Greyjoy only.
During unopposed challenges, raise the claim value on your revealed plot card by 1.

Salladhor Saan
Unique Baratheon Character
3 Cost
3 Strength
Military, Intrigue (+Naval) Challenge Icons
Smuggler.  Captain.  Traitor
Response: After you play a Smuggler character, pay 2 gold to choose and discard from play 1 non-limited location with printed cost 3 or lower.

Oakenshield Port
Unique Baratheon Loation
2 Cost
The Reach.
When Oakenshield Port enters play put 6 gold tokens from the treasury on it.
Response: After you win a challenge, discard 1 gold token from Oakenshield Port to claim 1 power for your House (discard 2 gold tokens to claim 2 power for your House if a Naval attacker or defender was participating in that challenge).

Ours is the Fury
Event
House Baratheon only
Response: After you win a Power challenge by 4 or more total STR, stand all participating unique characters you control.

Moreo Tumitis
Unique Stark Character
3 Cost
3 Strength
Intrigue (+Naval), Power (+Naval) Challenge Icons
Captain.  Tyroshi.  Ally.
While you control at least 1 Warship, Moreo Tumitis gains renown.

Swamps of the Neck
Stark Location
1 Cost
The North
Challenges: Kneel Swamps of the Neck to choose a participating character you control.  Stand that character, and remove it from the challenge.

Titan's Daughter
Unique Stark Location
1 Cost
Warship
Response: After an opponent declares a Naval attacker against you, kneel Titan's Daughter to choose a standing character you control and kneel it as a defender.  If you win the challenge, search your deck for a character, reveal it, and shuffle your deck.  Then, put the revealed card on top of your deck.

Hellholt Docks
Martell Location
1 Cost
Dorne.
Response: After an opponent kneels a location, kneel Hellholt Docks to choose and kneel a location.

Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken
Event
House Martell only.
Response: After you lose a challenge, discard your hand of at least 1 card to reveal the same number of cards from the top of your deck, and put them into your hand.

House Targaryen Loyalist
Targaryen Character
2 Cost
2 Strength
Intrigue, Power Challenge Icon
Lord.  Traitor
If you control 1 or more Dragon characters, House Targaryen Loyalist loses the Traitor trait and gains: "House Targaryen Loyalist gains renown during Power challenges."

Balerion
Unique Targaryen Location
2 Cost
Warship
Any Phase: Kneel Balerion to lower the cost of the next character you put into play using ambush this phase by 1.  That character claims 1 power when it comes into play and until the end of the phase, it gains a Naval enhancement on its power icon, if able.

Fire and Blood
Event
House Targaryen only.
Challenges: Choose a Targaryen character.  That character gets +2 STR until the end of the phase.  Then, attach Fire and Blood to that character (counts as a Boon attachment with the text, "Attached character gains cannot be discarded from play").

Torrhen's Square
Plot
3 Income
4 Initiative
1 Claim Value
Military Battle.  City.
If you have no other City plots in your used pile, raise the claim value on your revealed plot card by 1 during Military challenges.

Negotiations at the Great Sept
Plot
3 Income
2 Initiative
2 Claim Value
Intrigue Gambit.  City.
When revealed, if you have no other City plots in your used pile choose an opponent.  You and that opponent may each choose to shuffle your hand of at least 1 card into your decks, and replace them with the top 5 cards of the same deck.

The Long Voyage
Agenda
Your minimum deck size is 85 cards.
When you draw during the draw phase, draw 1 additional card.

My recent LCG gaming

I have not been completely idle lately in actually breaking my games out, and figured I'd post about my recent games.

Let's go over my recent games by game.

Android: Netrunner
I've managed to get quite a few games of this in recently, all against Rob.  In the past few weeks, we've played a total of 7 games, 5 of them with me running a Criminal deck against Rob's various Jinteki builds, and 2 of them with me running Haas-Bioroid against Rob's Anarch deck.

I'm not completely familiar with the cards in the game, although I'm getting better, so I definitely walked into quite a few traps when playing against the Jinteki decks.  Overall, I didn't fare too horribly (I went 2-3), and I tended to win in landslides, or lose by net damage.  I've started to get better about protecting myself from the net damage, however.  It's hard to be patient as Criminals, but sometimes you can't afford to run when you don't have cards in your hand to suffer the backlash!

With the Corporation decks, I'm doing pretty well (2-0 against Rob's Anarch deck).  Both our games took quite a bit of time, as I tend to build up slowly, but they both ended about the same way.  Rob ran, figured he had a good setup, and I ended up rezzing either Archer or Janus 1.0, which he couldn't deal with at the time, and set him back so far that he couldn't recover.

Since Netrunner was released, my overall record has been 3-3 with the Runner, and 3-0 with the Corporation.  Not too terrible a start, but I really wish I could play more!

Game of Thrones:
Played two games against Rob.  Both times I took my Greyjoy Kings of Winter choke deck, which I'm trying to get the hang of.  The first game, Rob took a basic Stark Tully based deck that he hadn't updated in a while (no House of Dreams'd Riverrun?) and destroyed me.  He got three power on The Blackfish quickly, with a dupe on him, and I couldn't do anything to slow him down.  End score was 15-0.

Second game, I took the same deck against Rob's Lannister clansmen deck.  This one went much better for me, and I took a 15-0 win, as I managed to basically keep Rob's income low enough to prevent him from playing anything.

So... two games in, and I really couldn't tell you how good my deck was.  A lot of it is likely just my inexperience running such a deck, and I haven't really done any tuning to it yet.  If I could play it more, I probably could improve it though.

Star Wars
I've played two more games of this recently, again against Rob.  Played once as the Light Side, and once as the Dark Side, and both times ended up being absolutely crushed.  I mean, it wasn't even close.

I'm not sure what it is about this game.  I really love the mechanics, and the game as a whole seems to have a LOT of promise.  I just don't seem to 'get' it.  The overall flow of the game is just off for me.  I'm pretty sure I didn't win a single battle, nor a single edge battle, in either of these games.  For now, I'm not really sure what I can do to rectify this either.  My thinking is that I may just take all the cards, build the starter sets out of the box, and just keep playing against myself until I get a good feel for when I should attack, when I should defend, and so on.  There's some basic tactical step I'm missing here, and it's hard playing this until I figure it out.   I will though.  And with the great-looking upcoming expansions, I really want to do so quickly.

Warhammer: Invasion
I've only managed to get a single game of this in.  I've been trying to get it seen at the local game store (Games and Stuff), and managed to rope Rob into a game.  I let him use a copy of the High Elf deck that won the world championship (basically a combo deck that uses Eltharion the Grim to end the game), and I took a basic Orc Rush deck that I had built, with the goal of at least letting Rob get a feel for the game, and playing a deck which had a style that I thought closely matched his.

As you can imagine, I got crushed, which wasn't unexpected.  Still, it was a good time, and I did learn quite a bit from the game.  I don't know what I could do with Orcs to make the game any closer (aside from waiting for errata from FFG for a few cards), but even so, I think that with other decks, I might be able to stand a chance.  And hey, I managed to get a few people to see the Warhammer was a game that was played, so next time I have a Thursday free, I'll head over there, and maybe get some games in!

Various happenings from FFG

Man, lots going on from FFG lately, thankfully for all their games.


Call of Cthulhu has a preview of 'The Key and the Gate' expansion, covering primarily Yog-Sothoth.  However, they decided to use the article to focus on a specific card from the expansion, The Festival.

To be honest, I'm probably nowhere near the level of skill I'd need to tackle building a deck around this, but I would love to try to use this to power a deck.  Maybe some sort of Zoog deck (of course, I'd have to work to get the Dreamlands cycle, but that's beside the point).  Maybe try to use Servant from Out of Time to get the cards I want into the discard pile?  I'm not sure, but it would sure be a fun one to try.

Game of Thrones, after quite a delay, released their next Chapter Pack, Reach of the Kraken, introducing the new naval enhancement!  Of course, it's way too early to see how it'll influence the game, but with the included agenda, Black Sails, has a lot of potential that won't be realized for several more releases.  Still, you could fit what, four characters with naval enhancements (including the one neutral character) into a Greyjoy deck for now, so it's possible to get a start.  Another chapter pack release is probably needed before I even try building such a deck though.

The first deluxe expansion for Star Wars, Edge of Darkness, was announced.  Twenty Two new objective sets, eleven for each side make up this expansion which should turn the Scum and Villainy and Smugglers and Spies into fully functional factions.  Admittedly, I'm a little disappointed that I'll have to purchase two copies of the expansion to have a full playset, but overall I'm happy that they're including a lot of different options for the two factions.  Overall, I'll be happy to see it released.  As I'll mention in my next post, I'm not exactly good at Star Wars- I really just don't get the flow of the game very well, but even so, I genuinely enjoy the system, and I really love the cards.  One day, I imagine I'll get better as well.  I like that the capture theme is being strongly supported in this expansion as well.  Really fits the theme, if you ask me.

Lord of the Rings has an article discussing the deck lists from the next Lord of the Rings Saga Expansion (on the doorstep).  They also cover a few more of the cards in the set.  Lord of the Rings is probably the game I play the least these days, but hey, it's still a pretty cool article.

Finally the announcement of the next deluxe expansion for Warhammer: Invasion.  Titled Cataclysm, it finally provides support to the game for more than two players!  Fantastic news, not only is this something that the game really needed, but it's something that seems to be implemented in a unique and fun manner (having to fight over certain location equivalents).  They are also moving Warhammer over to the deluxe expansion distribution method that Call of Cthulhu has.  I'm a little sad to see this happen, but overall, it's probably a good move for the game.  This way, there will be fewer releases, each of which will have a lot more cards.  Although I'm loving the most recent set of Battle Packs, I am a little impatient to see what other options are available for the Raider and Ambush keywords, which are important parts of several cards.  If this was released as a Deluxe Expansion, I'd be able to have a lot more options earlier.  Definitely would be a bonus.

Gaming on November 3rd, 2012

Played a few games today.

The goal was to teach Frans about the game, but sadly, that didn't happen, as I ended up getting 'taught a lesson', so to speak.

Games 1 and 2, I played a Martell Icon removal deck (with Quentyn Martell as my agenda) against Frans' Stark Siege of Winterfell deck.  Game 1, I ended up with a mediocre start, and Frans' deck worked smoothly, taking me down (15-0, maybe?).  Game 2, more of my deck got working, but it wasn't enough, as Frans seemed to have answers for most things.  This one ended 15-9, in his favor.  I like my deck, but man, it's just too slow.  I think I need to drop a character or two, and add more cheap income locations.  I always felt like I was struggling to get going, so having something to speed me up will be nice.

Game 3, I ran a Greyjoy deck, using the Kings of Winter agenda, with the intent to choke his income.  We ended up having to cut the game short (after 7 rounds), but the choke part was working.  Unfortunately, I was doing just as good a job hurting myself, and I think I ended the game with only 3 power (Frans, I believe, had 2).  If we have more time, we may try giving that game another go.

So.... 0-2 on the day, but I did have fun.  Can't wait to get some time to tweak these decks!

FFG Posts for 6/18/12

Yeah, I'll probably end up doing this whole thing monthly- I just don't have the time otherwise.

General:
http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_news.asp?eidn=3318

New and updated tournament rules for three of the games!

A Game of Thrones:
http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_news.asp?eidn=3312

Report from the Joust Champion for the Days of Ice and Fire 2012 tournament, including the deck list (a Martell Maester's Path deck).  Pretty good, and interesting article.

http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_news.asp?eidn=3313

Report from the Melee Champion.  Another good article from the point of view of the winning player.

http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_news.asp?eidn=3322

More highlights from the Days of Ice and Fire tournament.

http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_news.asp?eidn=3325

Announcing the new Chapter Pack, A Roll of the Dice, and a card from it: Old Bill Bone.  Looks like a great combo with House Dayne cards (and Starfall), which is mentioned.

http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_news.asp?eidn=3334

Among the best news in the past month: FINALLY reprinting the Ravens cycle for Game of Thrones!  Finally, the cards based around Winter and Summer will be available for everyone, and some of the popular decks (read: Greyjoy Choke), will be available for everyone.

http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_news.asp?eidn=3350

Not as great as the previous one, this is still GREAT news- the deluxe expansions are all being reprinted.  Since I haven't been able to find a copy of 'The Kings of the Storm' for a long time, this is very very good news.

http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_news.asp?eidn=3354

Valar Dohaeris is now available.  There's a review of the cards on cardgamedb.com if you want to see what's coming in the Chapter Pack, and what players think of the cards.

Call of Cthulhu:
http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_news.asp?eidn=3311

Some ideas for the card Corrupted Midwife from the Ebla Restored Asylum Pack.  Some interesting ideas, but nothing earth shattering, if you ask me.

http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_news.asp?eidn=3326

And the announcement that the Asylum Pack is now available (it's definitely in stores).  Even reveals another card, Professor of Folklore, which looks like an awesome addition.

http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_news.asp?eidn=3343

Tournament report from the Munich Regionals, from the 3rd place player.  Contains a deck list.

http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_news.asp?eidn=3360

Preview of the next Asylum Pack, 'Lost Rites'.  Mentioned- two new conspiracies, which have a different ordering of the icon struggles!  Conspiracies that may actually get used, even.  Of course, Hastur gets The King in Yellow Folio, which could really screw with a lot of the investigator decks.  Regardless, exciting stuff on the horizon.

The Lord of the Rings:
http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_news.asp?eidn=3319

A look a Asfaloth from the Foundations of Stone Adventure Pack, and some (fairly obvious) points dealing with it.  Still, good to see a preview of what's in the new pack!

http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_news.asp?eidn=3329

Some previews from the Foundations of Stone Adventure Pack.  Path of Need, for instance, looks like a VERY sweet card.

http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_news.asp?eidn=3344

Preview of the Hero from 'Foundations of Stone': Glorfindel!  And not just any old hero, is he.  With great stats, only 5 starting threat, and a drawback that can be easily negated (they link to Light of Valinor in the article, which is a perfect way to avoid it), he's going to be seeing a LOT of play.

Warhammer:Invasion:
http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_news.asp?eidn=3327

Notice that Fragments of Power is now available (again, I've seen it in stores).  Preview of a card: Snotling Invasion.  That's going to be a lot of fun to use!

http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_news.asp?eidn=3332

Preview of the next pack, 'The Accursed Dead'.  The card, Rebuild the Hold, is an interesting one- one of the first (only?) to allow you to remove burned markers from your hold!  That can keep a Dwarf player in the game a VERY long time.

http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_news.asp?eidn=3346

Focus on Purged By Flame from the upcoming 'The Accursed Dead' pack, including two high-elf decks, both of which look awesome (and one of which, the one based off Eltharion, I've been trying to use myself), and both of which look to use this new card.

FFG Posts for 5/22/12

Got a little sick, which really screws with my ability to blog.  Regardless, here's the things off FFG from the last few days.

http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_news.asp?eidn=3284

Warhammer: Invasion card spotlight, on Dance to Loec (a neutral Wood Elf tactic).  Some interesting thoughts, as well as a pretty cool deck idea using developments, Wood Elves, Dwarfs, and aggression to take a quick win.

http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_news.asp?eidn=3287

More information about the A Long Dark Adventure Pack.  Discusses some uses of the new hero included, Hama. 

http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_news.asp?eidn=3293

Preview of the next Chapter Pack for A Game of Thrones, Valar Dohaeris.  Talks a lot about Castle Battlements, and how to get some use out of them.  The extra defense for your locations will be really handy against some decks.

http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_news.asp?eidn=3296

Preview of the next Asylum Pack for Call of Cthulhu, Ebla Restored.  Focuses on the card 'The Gate of the Silver Key' for Yog-Sothoth, and ways you can abuse it.


http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_news.asp?eidn=3297

Strategies involving a new ally from the upcoming Lord of the Rings Adventure Pack (Foundations of Stone).  For some reason, I can't see the ally, so I can't figure out how excited I should be, but since my only successful solo deck uses the Zigil Miner/Gildor Inglorion combo for a ton of resources, and the ally, Imladris Stargazer apparently works with that, I have no choice but to be pretty excited regardless.  Also, mention is made of an error made in the rules insets for the last two Adventure Packs.

http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_news.asp?eidn=3298

Card Spotlight for a new Dwarf card from an upcoming Pack, which seems like a pretty good card.  Probably would make a great card combination with Grombrindal.

FFG Posts for 5/10/12

http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_news.asp?eidn=3259

Preview of The Long Dark Adventure Pack.  A bunch of GREAT new Dwarf stuff.  Ever My Heart Rises is going to be pretty handy in some of the quests.

http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_news.asp?eidn=3264

A little bit of preview from the upcoming Fragments of Power Battle Pack, mainly focused on the use of the new High Elf support, Tor Elyr (which prevents your opponent from targeting other High Elf support cards).  That's going to be pretty helpful in keeping some of these High Elf decks ticking.

http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_news.asp?eidn=3271

A notice that the new Chapter Pack, Valar Morghulis is available.  I've seen this in stores, so I know it's out there.

http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_news.asp?eidn=3274

Information on the next Chapter Pack for a Game of Thrones, The House of Black and White.  New Arya Stark, the House of Black and White (as a House Stark location?), and mention of changing you and your opponent's characters.  Pretty interesting looking!

FFG Posts for 5/5/12

http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_news.asp?eidn=3253

Preview of the newest Chapter Pack, Valar Morghulis.   Primarily focuses on how you can use Aeron Damphair.

FFG Posts for 5/2/12

Very exciting news today!

http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_news.asp?eidn=3249

New Asylum pack for Call of Cthulhu.  Next month, hopefully I'll get the game!

http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_news.asp?eidn=3251

Reprinting several of the old packs is exciting enough, but moving them to the 60-card format (so that each pack has 3 of all the cards you need to play) is doubly so.  Now, you can go and pick up these older packs, and get a bunch of sweet cards.  Return of the Others is my first goal- would love to get my hands on Balerion the Black!

FFG Posts for 4/30/12

http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_news.asp?eidn=3238

Designers discuss their favorite cards from the 'A Tale of Champions' cycle of cards.  Mainly highlighting changes to the Melee game and the Joust keyword.

http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_news.asp?eidn=3241

Preview of next Asylum Pack for Call of Cthulhu.  Looks incredibly sweet, I think :).

http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_news.asp?eidn=3244

Preview of next Adventure Pack for the Lord of the Rings LCG, called The Long Dark.

Finally picked up Game of Thrones!

Which means that finally, I can start appreciating the Game of Thrones articles and podcasts and websites out there, as well as the game itself.  About time!

I've already started tinkering with a House Stark deck and a House Targaryen deck.  Can't wait to actually play some games!

All that's left to start is Call of Cthulhu, but that may have to wait a bit (maybe I'll ask for it for my birthday, haha).

FFG Posts from 4/24/12

http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_news.asp?eidn=3228

An event announcement for the Game of Thrones LCG, as well as mention of a new print-on-demand expansion.

http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_news.asp?eidn=3229

Card spotlight for Warhammer: Invasion, from the Fragments of Power pack.  The card is Swift-Moving Storm, which gives all your units the Scout keyword, really helping with the hand-destruction theme from a few articles ago.

FFG Posts from 4/21/12

http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_news.asp?eidn=3220

Stuff about the Joust Metagame for A Game of Thrones.

http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_news.asp?eidn=3225

A preview of the new Asylum Pack for Call of Cthulhu. 

Unfortunately, as of yet, I don't play either of these games, but one day these will be exciting to me :)