Not sure if this is the right discussion to post this, but as it's quite close, I'll just post it here. :)

I've been running the LCG now with only one copy of core set and one copy of each chapter pack (except for regugees yet), trying to keep all 4 core decks evenly matched and even building a winter greyjoy on the side. This means you have only one copy of valar and wildfire assault, so the choice of where to include, while still maintaining the balance is a bit of a problem. Since others might face this as well, I'll comment on this a bit.

I've ended up with having valar in targyeren, with recycling attachments, Pentos and rhaegar there to combo with it. Also the Queen's knights and Disgruntled Mercenaries are good with Valar. I even have Westeros Bleeds also in my Targyeren, since the needed influence is otherwise hard to come by. My Stark deck has been more than competetive without a need for any resets, mainly due to having maximized it's killing potential otherwise using icy catapults, events, berserkers with midnight sentries, several copies of Bear Island and of course Robb. Lannister has kept it's original Wildfire Assault due to thematical reasons, I find the idea of Lannisters having some key characters but treating other troops as expendable very nedly. It also seems to balance out very nicely with Stark and Targyeren, since Lanni gets all the best control elements (card draw, gold, kneeling etc.). Having plots with good amounts of gold helps put weenies on the table to be used as cannon fodder.

The problem for me has mostly been with having the Baratheon compete with these other three decks in joust. Targyeren's plentiful resets and Stark's killing power play merry hell with my idea of a fast power rush renown deck (using Fox's Teeth combined with high iniative plots), while Lannister control is quite able to neutralize my most valuable characters and walk around me otherwise.

So the idea of having a reset in all decks sounds good, but is not possible if you want to run all decks with just one core set. The work-around for this would of course be to buy two core sets, but somehow this goes against the idea of the game being LCG (imho). So balancing the decks so that some have resets and some don't seems to be a key issue in such an environment. :)

If anyone has good ideas for improving the baratheon deck or balancing the decks out better, do tell. :)

Side-note: I built Greyjoy to be a winter resource denial with lots of good weenies (carrion birds etc.), haven't tested this more than once, so not quite sure if it's up to par with the others. Any ideas for this one are also welcome.

BTW - just to report that i think Lannister has one every Joust event we have had for the past three months. i think unless we get some cancels and more location control, they will continue to be way overpowered.

Stag Lord said:

That´s really surprising me, it´s my impression that Targ and Lanni are on the same eye level in the LCG as well as in the standard format.

I think well-built Stark can win.  Their plot rocks vs. lanni, they can actually get some card draw, and their control cards can really hurt Lanni.  They have issues vs. the locations, but Bear Island is just crazy.

Old Ben said:

I'm not seeing Targ as close. Teh To be Event helps a little, but Lanni can easily outrdaw them. Recurive burn is very card intensive, and lanni has the gold to pump out enough characters to get around even the endless atatchments and infinite Forever Burning (which actually considering targ's gold curve in LCG isn't as inifnite as you think).

In Standard - its a little better fo a matchup, but everyone matches up better with lannister in Standard.

And I'm with Rings too on Stark in L:CG. I think those are the two best Houses in teh LCG format at the moment. And a lot of it has to do with locations and events. So maybe the metagame will osrt this out down the road when we get a balanced format with future CPs.

With two strong players in the NYC meta playing Lannister in joust, building "against Lannister" is playing significantly into my deck construction. Rule by Decree is a must have. Fleeing to the Wall is a near-must have. And it's nice that the Stark Fury of... plot is anti-Lannister, although often I don't get the most bang from it since I need it in my plot discard pile early so as to activate the To Be a Wolf events (pretty much an auto-include, regardless of opponent). Northern Scavengers also have made it into a few decks (cheap cards if you can get them in your setup and then a chance to hurt Lanni players later in the game makes them somewhat attractive). Although I haven't gotten War Horn out of my decks and into play much, I'm starting to think that War Horn may be necessary to deal with some of Lanni's brutal locations --there are several good reasons for Stark to build winter themed decks anyways.

One thing about Stark in LCG is that, to me, it seems to lacking any worthwhile non-resource "effects" locations when compared to the other houses. There's Bear Island, but adding it pretty much means you build for it and that isn't compatible with a winter themed deck and you lose access to some very strong neutral cards. I haven't tried to build a Bear Island deck taking into account the most recent chapter packs, so maybe it's more viable now. The Kennels would be fine with a direwolf themed deck, but that theme seems to be more fun than competitive. Gates of Winterfell is great in standard, but a crap shoot in LCG.

LetsGoRed said:

Ranger of Winter is reason enough! Although "The Long Winter" can set your opponent back by an unreasonable degree, too.

LetsGoRed said:

Northern Cave could be interesting in a Winter deck. I haven't tried it, but the ability to "overcommit" your attackers, then pull them back after defenders are declared seems like to offer some possibilities. But yeah, fewer options for location-based effects in Stark-LCG.

I'll add my vote for bara (~in yet another thread). With three different people in our meta playing them regularly i've seen a lot of variations of them, and they've all been pretty solid.

Summer makes them ultra fast for lcg.

Vigilant provides some protection from castellan (really lanni's best card right now) and helps get around the other kneel and speed.

Winter has the basis of solid control. Stalker in the shadows should get some more chalk time on these boards. With the ability to win an intrigue challenge and then assaisnate a charcater of your choice....wowzer.

Oh and bara steal is back. Fury/seductive/support/men with no king...

 Well, Bara does have the odd distinction of being the House in LCG that has more than one distinctive build....

Heh, I just noticed that Kennon's recent article already was championing Fleeing to the Wall and Rule by Decree as anti-Lannister plot choices. Kennon, is there a way to call up all of your AGOT articles at the MGUinc site?

 In our meta, we have Kennon, and his major Lannister love.  I myself, a major Stark lover.  He has won most of his games, but he can be beat, as I have done it.  Lannister built well is difficult to beat, just as any deck is difficult to beat from any house that is built well.  As for Stark and Valar, I have played Stark deck's for a long time now, even when Valar was a rare, and I did not own one.  I have played with and without one, and I think that they are both useful.  A deck without Valar, you must concentrate more on winning challenges, and defeating you opponent with killing them and raising claim.  With valar, you kinda have to be careful you don't overdo yourself and put too much on the board and then have to valar.  And as someone else pointed out earlier, in Stark, Valar can be a very offensive plot, Stark has got some saves, and can raise claim like no other house can.  With Robb, Winter is coming, and if nothing else, on their challenges, pull out a Lethal Counterattack, and then you have cleared the board again with a 0 claim plot, which is not very common.  But the Lannisters can be beat, the gold and draw advantage to them does suck majorly, but you gotta use that to your advantage.  Try and pull a Rule by Decree on them when they have a ton of cards is a fun one.  The characters, just gotta kill them, or make a better defense deck, to try and keep up your defense and offense against all their characters onslaught.

LetsGoRed said:

Oh crap, that's a good question that I haven't thought of. I'll have to ask Jeff (their webmaster) if some kind of archive of past articles is possible.

Lol, and I'm glad someone noticed my anti-Lannister treatise. Be on the lookout this week for some thoughts on playing Lannister. Who knows, that might provide more useful insight for people looking to beat them as well.