Wolves of the North

“When the snows fall and the white winds blow, the lone wolf dies, but the pack survives.”
   –George R.R. Martin, A Game of Thrones

Fantasy Flight Games is proud to announce Wolves of the North, the first deluxe expansion for A Game of Thrones: The Card Game!

Those who dwell in northern Westeros can be as harsh and cold as winter itself, but words like honor and trust still have meaning there. Fearsome in battle and uncompromising in negotiation, the men of the North are hardy and well equipped to survive winters that can last for years. Though they may scorn the laws that come from King’s Landing, these warriors are fiercely loyal to the lords of House Stark, and some believe the time has come for the North to rise once more and become a true kingdom of winter.

Journey northwards and take your place among the knights, lords, and ladies of House Stark with Wolves of the North, the first deluxe expansion to be released for the second edition of A Game of Thrones: The Card Game. In this expansion, House Stark takes the spotlight as they gain new cards to guide your Stark decks in new and unexpected directions. You may use Direwolves to cow and overpower your foes, rush to victory with the aid of House Tully, or draw strength from the Winter itself. Throughout the box, you’ll find new versions of iconic characters like Eddard Stark, Catelyn Stark, Jon Snow, and Arya Stark, alongside characters entering the game for the first time, including The Blackfish, Shaggydog, and Rickon Stark. 

Though the focus of this deluxe expansion rests firmly on House Stark, every other faction receives two new non-loyal cards to push your deck exploration forward. An assortment of neutral cards, including six new neutral plots, change the options available to every deck, and you’ll be able to call on dangerous new allies like Mance Rayder, Quentyn Martell, and Aggo. 

Family, Duty, Honor

House Stark has ruled the north since the Targaryen conquest, and in recent years, one of their staunchest allies has been House Tully of the Riverlands. Wolves of the North invites you to call the banners of House Tully from their island fortress of Riverrun to aid the conquests of House Stark. 

In A Game of Thrones: The Card Game, House Tully brings a distinct focus on the rush for victory by giving you plenty of ways to quickly accumulate power on your characters, including with the new version of Catelyn Stark (Wolves of the North, 2). As a character that costs seven gold, Catelyn Stark can be one of the linchpins of your deck, and her abilities certainly give her the punch you need to rush to victory. Catelyn Stark reads “Reaction: After a Stark character you control is sacrificed or killed, Catelyn Stark gains 1 power. (Limit twice per round.)” In addition to standard losses through military challenges and other game effects, many Stark characters introduced in this expansion must be sacrificed for their effect, which accelerates Catelyn’s potential to gain power. What’s more, Catelyn Stark gains an additional STR for every power token on her. When you combine this with her valuable intrigue icon, Catelyn can quickly become an important leader for House Stark.

Your House Tully characters can rush even faster with the help of The Blackfish (Wolves of the North, 4). The Blackfish bears the renown keyword, and as soon as he has four or more power, each House Tully character you control doesn’t kneel to attack! Although he’ll need time to lay his plans and gather his strength, once The Blackfish has enough power, he could easily turn a game in your favor permanently. And if that weren’t enough, whenever you win a military challenge as the attacking player, The Blackfish allows you to draw a card—he doesn’t even need to be participating in the challenge for you to gain access to his draw effect. 

Both Catelyn and The Blackfish have enormous potential for outracing your opponent to victory, but they’re also expensive characters, and you’ll need gold to get them into play. Fortunately, House Tully can turn your power into economy with the House Tully Septon (Wolves of the North, 15). As an Action during the marshaling phase, the House Tully Septon lets you discard a power from one of your characters to reduce the cost of the next House Tully or The Seven character you marshal by two. Naturally, you need a character with a power token in play to use the House Tully Septon, but as soon as you have that character, you can use him to fuel your rush to fifteen power. 

The Winter Winds Are Blowing

In a realm where winter can last for year upon year, those who live in the north must be resilient and prepared for famine or cold. Often, armies from the south suffer the most in a northern winter, and when you play as House Stark, you can use the power of winter against your enemies. 

A number of other cards in Wolves of the North interact with plots that bear the Winter trait, including the ancestral seat of House Stark, Winterfell (Wolves of the North, 17). Winterfell's first effect offers a blanket STR boost to all of your Stark characters, increasing the effectiveness of all your challenges. Winterfell’s benefits don’t stop there, however—you can also use it to prevent your opponent from using the underhanded intrigues of the south against you. After a challenge begins, you can kneel Winterfell to prevent all players without a revealed Winter plot from triggering card abilities until the end of the challenge! Whether you use Winterfell to avoid a well-timed Dracarys! (Core Set, 176) or prevent your opponent from killing a key character with The Seastone Chair (Taking the Black, 11), Winterfell forces your opponent to play fair and approach you on even ground. 

Other cards in Wolves of the North also reward you for a focus on Winter plots. If you have a Winter plot card in your used pile, you can play As Hard as Winter (Wolves of the North, 22). After a Stark character is sacrificed or killed, you can play As Hard as Winter to immediately put a Stark character with equal or lower printed cost into play from your hand. Of course, As Hard as Winter can help you maintain your board presence in the face of military might, but because a large number of Stark characters need to be sacrificed, you may replace a sacrificed character with another copy of that character from hand. For instance, you may use Bran Stark (Core Set, 142) to cancel an event and by playing As Hard as Winter, immediately put a new copy of Bran into play. 

Encroaching Ice

Although the main focus of this deluxe expansion remains in the snowy wastes of northern Westeros, you’ll also find two non-loyal cards for each of the other factions in the game, alongside an assortment of new neutral cards. Whether you use a Banner agenda to include these cards in your House Stark decks, or you use them with another faction looking to invade the north, each of these cards offers new tools and strategies.

You may range far beyond the Wall with the help of Stonesnake (Wolves of the North, 33), bypassing your enemies with stealth and stealing their keywords for yourself. If you’re in need of gold, you may call upon the wealth of the Reach with To the Rose Banner! (Wolves of the North, 38), which gives you gold equal to the cost of a Tyrell character, provided you then sacrifice that character. You may even equip an opponent’s character with Motley (Wolves of the North, 25), forcing your opponent to discard a random card from his hand whenever he attacks or defends with that character!

The North Is Strong

Long ago, before the dragons came, the Kings of Winter ruled from Winterfell. Perhaps it’s past time those days returned. Call upon the iconic characters and unyielding strength of House Stark, and enter a new era of the war for Westeros!

Winter is coming. Look for Wolves of the North at your local retailer in the second quarter of 2016. 

 

A Note on Timing

Historically, LCG® deluxe expansions have been released between cycles. We are now changing this model to aid the regular release of deluxe expansions. Because of this new model, deluxe expansions like Wolves of the North may be announced and released in the midst of a cycle. The two Chapter Packs remaining in the Westeros cycle will be announced in following months.