Monday Night Cards @ The Hub

Come along to the Edinburgh Games Hub for some LCG action!
A Game of Thrones and Neturnner always popular with Star Wars, CAll of Cthulhu and Lord of the Rings on Demand.

We also play some L5R but it's not an LCG ;-)

What are we doing this Monday? James was proposing to try draft. Should I make some wacky joust decks as well, as a cooldown after Stahlek?

I'd love to try draft - has anyone got hold of packs?

cockbongo wrote:I'd love to try draft - has anyone got hold of packs?

James has 4 packs which I think he's bringing on Monday

So, as some of you know already, we did try draft and it was great fun. James won handsomely, with his mono-Stark deck. Things I took away in the terms of strategy:

- Non-kneelers are bonkers, I won against Tony simply on the strength of 1st turn Littlefinger.
- Spuds are very very useful in reasonable quantities. There isn't very much direct removal, so the most usual way for your good peeps to die is from claim. For example, Cersei's Attendant, while usually rubbish, is pretty good in draft, especially since you can trigger her off Wildfire
- Tying to the previous one, direct removal is awesome. Some characters are just that much better than others, be they huge armies or characters with actual abilities.
- Wildfire might be the most common reset (unless you see one of the rumores Valar Morghulis in your packs) but that doesn't mean it's an auto-include. Thanks for that tip, Tony!
- This might seem trivial, but getting 2 Houses that don't share a sea is actually better, since you get to play both seas.
- Keywords like deadly are even stronger as they're more rare, and the sacrificial chumps don't often have military icons.

Any other strategy insights from any of the other participants?

Yep, that Littlefinger was well worth building a deck around. I mean obviously he's a great character anyway, but you'll have answers in a normal deck for him whereas you're much less likely to in draft.

The 5 plot deck is an interest one. To me that gives rush decks an advantage but they're pretty difficult to build (having said that, Helen beat me with renown characters, which are doubly valuable here). After 5 rounds you will have seen every plot so you can figure out the flow of the game v quickly. And it goes without saying that if Wildfire is the reset of choice in draft then 2 claim plots are like gold dust. Speaking of which, Feast or Famine is a great include in the starter deck, since you're never wanting for gold late-game.

Location hate also seems rare - although Kostas you ditched my Citadel of Oldtown really early and I can't remember what with..!

The main lesson for me after drafting for the first time is that the novelty and excitement of the format musn't distratct you from building a deck to roughly the same specs as you would normally. Some character hate, some location hate, some cancels, some renown, good spread of icons, good use of house specific traits. It's easy to forget that when you're too bust jumping up and down in your seat going IVE GOT A DRAGON I"VE GOT A DRAGON etc etc

There is some form of location control around. I had a Pyromancer's Apprentice and a Viserion (though he never really saw play). Theon was also a form of it, practically, in my game vs James.