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Core Set Cards

A Friendly Open review:

House Lannister Fealty.

Goal:

Learn the basics of the game starting from the Core Set. We are reviewing decks that performed well, back in 2015, and why they were good back then. The idea is to help newer player understand the existent mechanics within a faction. Some of these mechanics are still strong today, many years later.

Themes:

Intrigue, Gold, Schemes, Ambush

The gameplan:

The main objective of the Lannister player is to generate economy with some of the best efficient cards in the game (Tywin Lannister (Core), Tyrion Lannister (Core)), control the opponent's board presence (via tools like The Things I Do For Love, The Queen's Assassin, Tears of Lys) and of course attack the opponent's hand via the challenge.

• Attack the opponent's hand: Cersei Lannister (Core) is a center piece for going "aggro" on . With Casterly Rock (Core), everything around the challenge is even better, especially if you can afford to bounce an opponent's character with The Things I Do For Love and discard it with the .
• Ambush: Burned Men is a good way to defend against Stealth after the opponent declared their challenge. Gold Cloaks are also some cheap ways to ambush on attack or defence. The other great ambush card is The Queen's Assassin. Yes, it is a high costly card, but it is extremely deadly when your opponent has less card than you.

Setup:

Try to get a combination of the following in your starting hand:

• Tywin Lannister (Core), Cersei Lannister (Core), Tyrion Lannister (Core).
• A combination of cards costing 6, 2 and 0
• A combination of cards costing 7, 1 and 0
• A combination of cards costing 5, 2, 1 and 0
• A combination of cards costing 3, 2 and 2
• The economy of the Core Set is limited, but Lannister have acces to Tywin Lannister (Core). If you can setup a Tywin without getting Marched to the Wall by your opponent, go ahead!

As in any deck, a starting hand with an economy card (limited locations, Western Fiefdom, The Roseroad) is always advantageous. Optionally Littlefinger (Core), Lannisport Moneylender (watch out for that limited keyword: only 1 allowed per round) and Lannisport Merchant are there to help. Note: Littlefinger (Core) would be better if used in marshalling for his draw ability.

Plots:

• If you have a Lord or a Lady in hand, open with A Noble Cause.
• If you already have great characters on setup and you draw back to 7 cards and you find Casterly Rock (Core), you may try to open with Calm Over Westeros to win initiative, name and go first player.
• The first turns are there for you to setup your deck's main game plan (think about draw Grand Maester Pycelle (Core) + Lannisport (Core) and/or going aggressively with the challenge).
• Keep the pressure on the hand of your opponent with Filthy Accusations as this plot may also benefit you to protect yourself against challenges, for instance.
• A Game of Thrones will be excellent turn 2, 3 or 4 when you are setup to win the .
• Summons can be excellent to get a duplicate copy of a character or anything else you need for that turn against your current matchup.

Key cards:

• Cersei Lannister (Core) + Casterly Rock (Core) + Seal of the Hand.
• Tywin Lannister (Core) on setup
• Tyrion Lannister (Core): can generate up to 4 gold per challenge phase. This is enough gold when you have Ambush cards or tricks in hand such as Tears of Lys, The Things I Do For Love, Widow's Wail.
• Remove a Milk on your character with Confiscation.

We inspired ourselves with decks that performed well in 2015, original list made by "ycombinator". You can contact the Friendly Open on Discord where you'll find more advanced decks, discussion with other players and you'll find information on how to join our weekly tournaments. We hope this deck will help you learn more the basics of the game. Enjoy! :)