Rules FAQ

• You only compare initiative when revealing new plots in the plot phase. That step is skipped when a player reveals a new plot with "The Rains of Castamere" or Battle of the Trident, so The Seed is Strong cannot be played at that time.

• If the initiative values are tied, you must first break that tie to determine who wins and loses initiative. In a melee game, you still lose initiative even if some of the other "losing" players have a lower initiative value than you.

• The reaction is triggered immediately after you lose initiative, before choosing a new first player, and well before resolving any When Revealed abilities. For instance, if Valar Morghulis is revealed, you would need to discard a card for The Seed is Strong before you could discard it for cards like Ser Rolly Duckfield or Umber Loyalist. Discarding a card for The Skahazadhan would come even later in this sequence.

• Players are not allowed to rearrange the order of their cards in shadows. Once the cards stop being revealed, any player with a good memory should still be able to tell which card is which.

Rules FAQ

• When a value is "set" to a specific number, the set modifier overrides all non-set modifiers (including any new non-set modifiers that are added during the duration of the set value). If multiple set modifiers are in conflict, the most recently applied set modifier takes precedence. (See Modifiers.) In other words, the chosen player will not be able to raise their claim value above 0 with cards like Winter Is Coming while the set modifier of Lysa’s Letter is active.

• The claim value will initially be set to 0, but it will return to its "normal" value the moment the player initiates a challenge of the chosen type.

• If Storm's End (BtB) is used to change the challenge type to , the original challenge type is still the one that is considered to have been initiated.

• You can choose yourself with Lysa’s Letter if you wish.

Rules FAQ

• The Highroad will not reduce the cost to marshal a card into shadows, because that card does not have the "non-character" characteristic. It will also not reduce the cost of ambush, or the cost to bring a non-event card out of shadows, as neither of those constitutes marshaling or playing that card. It will reduce the cost to play an event from shadows though.

Rules FAQ

• You must control a defending character at the point when you would trigger the reaction, not at the point when the winner (and loser) of the challenge is determined. For instance, if Drogon (R) kills your only defending character first, The Bloody Gate’s reaction can no longer be triggered. Same thing if you use Ser Vardis Egen before triggering The Bloody Gate.

• Cards like The Haunted Forest do not count as defending characters, even if it means the challenge is opposed. On the other hand, a character that is participating in the challenge as a defender but contributes no STR to the challenge (due to Balon Greyjoy (Core), for instance) does allow you to trigger The Bloody Gate, even though the challenge is considered to be unopposed.

Rules FAQ

• It only matters whether The Vale of Arryn is kneeling at the point when you trigger its reaction, not at the point when the winner of the challenge is determined. For instance, you could use Nestor Royce to kneel The Vale of Arryn first, and then trigger the reaction to have him gain 2 power.