Valyrian

The line must be kept pure, Viserys had told her a thousand times; theirs was the kingsblood, the golden blood of old Valyria, the blood of the dragon.
   –George R.R. Martin, A Game of Thrones

Fantasy Flight Games is proud to announce the Valyrian draft set for A Game of Thrones: The Card Game, now available for order through our in-house manufacturing!

In the world of Westeros, your allegiance commonly lies with your House—but not always. Sometimes, treachery arises within your own family. Sometimes, you must look to your former enemies for aid in dire circumstances. After all, if your only goal is to claim the Iron Throne, there’s no room for sentiment in the game of thrones. 

Now, you can experience the power struggles, terrifying battles, and subtle intrigues of A Game of Thrones: The Card Game with an entirely new format: draft. By combining fixed Valyrian Draft Starters with algorithmically randomized Valyrian Draft Packs, you and up to seven of your friends can carefully draw together several factions, working with the options you’re given in order to create a deck and pursue victory. To experience the game of thrones in an entirely new and unpredictable way and play with some of the cards from the War of Five Kings cycle before anyone else, there’s no better option than to start a draft with your friends.

Choosing Your Allies

Some of you may be unfamiliar with the concept of a draft, especially in the context of a Living Card Game®. Essentially, it allows every player to simultaneously choose cards from a limited, carefully curated pool of cards. Then, each player takes their drafted cards and uses them to create a deck, before playing a series of games against the other players who participated in the draft with you!

At the beginning of a draft, each player sits down with his own Draft Starter and Draft Pack. The Draft Starter contains a series of basic, generally useful cards and plots to help you fill out the deck that you’ll eventually create. The heart of the game, however, is your fifty card Draft Pack. Each player has their own Draft Pack, and at the start of the draft, you and your opponents draw the top ten cards of your Draft Packs. You’ll each choose one of those ten cards, and pass all of the rest to your left. Then, you choose again from the hand of nine cards, and so on. In this way, you’ll choose a series of cards from a steadily dwindling selection. The cards that you encounter may belong to any faction in the game, so you’ll have to carefully choose which cards you want to take and which factions you want to throw your lot with. 

Once the ten-card set has been completely chosen by the players, everyone draws a new set of ten cards from their Draft Pack and drafts again, passing the cards in the opposite direction. This continues until every player has drafted fifty cards. Then, you’ll face the challenge of creating a new deck from the cards you have drafted and the cards in your Draft Starter! You don’t need to create a full size deck, though—draft decks consist of only forty cards and only five plots. After every player has created his own deck, you’ll play a series of games to test your creations and see who has made the most of their circumstances to ascend the Iron Throne.

A Unique Way to Play

The Draft Starters and Draft Packs in the Valyrian set offer a completely unique way to play, and not just because of the way that you’ll collect your cards and build your deck. Four new agendas are included in every Draft Starter and, although they’re limited to “draft format only,” they each give you a unique way to experience the game of thrones.

The Power of Wealth (Valyrian, 1) allows you to combine any two factions in your deck, but rewards you for supporting your main faction by reducing the cost of your units. Protectors of the Realm (Valyrian, 2) unites the Knights and Armies of the realm under your banner, while allowing you to grant them renown at will. Treaty (Valyrian, 3) lets you make a deck with three factions, as well as giving you the ability to cycle through your deck more quickly. Finally, Uniting the Seven Kingdoms (Valyrian, 4) lets you to bring every faction together in a single deck—giving you access to some incredible combos, though you must pay a greater price for your out-of-faction cards. 

In addition, every faction receives a single “draft format only” card, giving you access to a few new tricks that you can enjoy only while playing a draft game. For instance, House Martell may trigger The Viper's Rage (Valyrian, 12) after losing a challenge to strip all icons from the attacking player’s characters. Discovering these entirely new cards and the best ways to use them is just another reason that you may choose to start playing draft games of A Game of Thrones: The Card Game.

Finally, the Valyrian draft set has been liberally seeded with cards from the War of Five Kings cycle, such as Ser Edmure Tully (For Family Honor, 41). By playing draft games, you not only get a sneak peek at these upcoming cards, you get the chance to play with them and discover their power before they’re officially released. All cards obtained in these draft packs can be used in tournament decks, but unreleased cards are only legal after the release of their corresponding expansion. 

Please note: You can continue to use the same Draft Starter across multiple drafts, but a new Draft Pack must be purchased for every draft.

Fighting for the Throne

The game of thrones is constantly changing. Alliances are formed and broken in mere days. Take your place in the saga of A Song of Ice and Fire with the Valyrian draft set for A Game of Thrones: The Card Game, and order your packs at your local retailer today!