LogFAQs > #939550675

5. A Game of Thrones: The Card Game (2nd Edition) (2015)

Category: Player vs Player
Genres: Collectible card game, tableau-builder, player combat
Rules complexity (0 to 7): 7
Game length: 30-60 minutes
Experience: 100+ plays with 2 players, 2-4 plays with 3-4 players, incl online (2015-2020)
Previous ranks: 3/100 (2016), 3/80 (2018)

Description - AGOT:TCG is a LCG (Living Card Game) that finished its run early in 2020. Like Magic the Gathering, it was expandable and put the impetus on you to build your own deck out of a large set of cards, and you played your deck against others. In the game, you control one of eight factions in the ASOIAF universe. Each round is split into subphases, the most important of which consist of a simultaneous plot card reveal, drawing cards, using cards to build a tableau of characters and locations, and using your characters to attack your opponents or to defend from your opponent's attacks. The goal of the game is to win 15 Power, which can be accumulated by a wealth of card effects, or by winning challenges.

Experience - After my initial foray into the world of ASOIAF with AGOT:TBG, I decided to get into the LCG, since it appeared to allow you to play a smaller number of players. The game came out in the fall of 2015, which was perfect timing, and I got in by November or so. Problem was, you needed more than just a single copy of the base core set to field any fun decks; the pre-built suggestions were inconsistent and unfun. I delved into what it would take to make the game fun and discovered that it had a dedicated fanbase from the first iteration of the game, mostly on CardgameDB, Reddit, and Facebook.

Through these resources (and about a dozen different game-devoted podcasts), I discovered that in fact, you needed three copies, and expansions were beginning to come out already. In order to make any interesting decisions, you really had to give your deck meaning. But then, as I fell into the rabbit hole, I started identifying more with the AGOT community instead of my board gaming friends. I wanted to participate in their tournaments, and soon the nicely assembled beginner-friendly decks gave way to a single constructed deck that I fruitlessly attempted to parlay into tournament victories. The community in my city isn't as robust as you might hope for as big of a city it is, but Thrones became a weekly appointment, and many weekend days - including multiple Gen Cons - were devoted to traveling around the city or even out of state to other tournaments. I've got several memorable losses, some memorable wins, and enough plays to forget about many of them as well.

I've fallen out of the community in the last two years or so, but the community really made it - I'm still able to follow along on Facebook threads at the game-memes, and when it does come time for a tournament, if I'm willing to travel, I'm almost always able to find someone friendly enough not just to provide me a deck, but to recommend and construct a good one for me to play there. And I still have fun playing it.

Design - If you've ever played Magic the Gathering or Yu-Gi-Oh!, you know what you're getting into here. You build up a set of dudes and play some cards to empower them, then start sending those dudes after your opponent's dudes, and get some help from special effects. AGOT has these qualities, of course, but it deepens it with several different layers.

There are three primary differences between AGOT and the other games I've mentioned. The first is the round structure. In many card games, the gameplay is relatively uninterrupted. I draw my card, then I play my dudes, then I attack your dudes (and you perhaps get the opportunity to react), then maybe I play a few more cards, and then I pass. Then you do the exact same set of steps. AGOT takes more of a round structure, where we both draw our cards at the same time. Then you play your dudes, then I play my dudes. Then you make your attacks, then I make my attacks. This tactical element means that the ability to bust out combos that depend on playing and then immediately using cards/guys is significantly weakened - theoretically, your opponent will always have the ability to react and adapt (unless of course they have no answers). AGOT co-opts Magic's "tapping" system as "kneeling"; i.e. turning a card sideways to indicate usage. Due to the system of the challenge phase, deciding which characters to leave standing for defense and which to commit to attacking provides great tradeoffs.

The next is the plot deck. AGOT has a simultaneous action selection plot phase, during which each player selects a card from a separate deck, known as a plot deck, and simultaneously reveals it. This is the beginning to each round, and a plot card can have not only a powerful immediate effect (such as killing all characters, or letting you draw cards, or letting you kneel characters, and more), but it also has ongoing conditions that determine how the round goes. Some some state that certain challenge types cannot be made; some give extra strength to characters; some reduce the gold cost of cards you play. The plot cards also give you the stats that help you determine who is first player, how much money to collect during the plot phase, and how potent your successful challenges will be. The simultaneous nature of the plot phase feels utterly unique to Thrones; among high-level players with evenly matched decks, the plot phase can win or lose games.
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yet all azuarc of all sorts are more or less capricious and unreliable - they live in the varying outer weather, and they inhale its fickleness