VERY nice Gualdo! I love the card! ~Now can we finally get a Lanni or Martell champ card someday and stop giving Stark/Bara so much love

Bomb said: fhornmikey said: The 4th Chapter Pack is not legal for Gencon. Is it overpowered or something? Not too crazy, but people were worried about a Martell card that took the top four cards out of your discard pile (including another version of itself). I am sure Dobbs tested the heck out of hit, but I didn't. It did look problematic though. I am with people who refuse to test cards until they are in my hands

ktom said: No, I got you. I was just taking things in a different direction. I noted that you (and others) were trying to prepare for the Gencon environment, and I didn't see anything wrong with that - because you were preparing for the environment. What I roll my eyes at is people who try to prepare for an individual card by arguing about how good, bad, broken, stupid, great, game-changing, or whatever it is before even trying to play with it in the environment that it will be released into. I get the point, but there are cards that you can talk about and argue about good/bad/broken/etc. pretty easily no matter what the 'evnironment' is it is released into. You know me and my taking logic way too far - if they released my usual 'cost 1 character, when comes into play you win the game' scenario. Is it fair that we can talk about that, argue about that? Obviously that would never happen, but there are PLENTY of cases where the boards knew of a card being a problem before it is tested in the current envionment (and, yes, cases in the opposite - such as MWNK although I don't remember the 'nuetrals are unplayable' conversation, just the 'that isn't a good direction for the game' conversation more). But I certainly see the point - the sky is usually falling

Congrats and thanks for posting!

Kennon said: rings said: Melee looks interesting, but the only two spoiled cards are tough to see. A 3/1 is always tough. A 3/2 is already a negative with so much 2-strength hate, plus it has it's own 'swing' mechanic which can be awesome or horrible. I usually don't like those type of cards. You don't like Aerys Oakheart or KL Varys? I love Aerys since it is optional (and he is a knight, and has renown, etc., etc.). Varys isn't making as many builds after Dissension came out.

Pretty good stuff. Not 100% happy it is a month from GC, but beggers can't be choosers. It brought Martell down exactly 3.5%, so not a huge change. Lewin will actually be able to sit down again after being abused for a few months. To me, the biggest change was the Bird. That does change things a lot - between Maester's and Birds (and the plot) pretty much any house could use trait manipulation for profit. Now it is pretty tough out of any house, even Lanni took a hit. Does it change the power levels? A bit (Martell down slightly, Lanni down slightly, Stark up decently), but that isn't a bad thing.

Joust looks to be just as good as it used to be (well, no Training Grounds for each house that really broke the mechanic - at least for Bara and Lanni). Melee looks interesting, but the only two spoiled cards are tough to see. A 3/1 is always tough. A 3/2 is already a negative with so much 2-strength hate, plus it has it's own 'swing' mechanic which can be awesome or horrible. I usually don't like those type of cards. Still very excited for the direction of the packs though!

I am not much for erratta, nor do I think Martell is THAT good that they need yet more restricted cards. However, I could see At the Gates hit the restricted list. And Compelled get un-banned and put as restricted (or not, it isn't that good of a card, and now that there is nuetral attachment hate why is Lanni having it that bad?).

Toqtamish said: Brienne has been cast grrm.livejournal.com/227044.html Just saw that - GRRM seems pumped about it, so I am excited. She is...a large woman to be sure.

So excited! I really felt like the last book was a set-up for this one, so looking forward to some serious movement and deaths in this one Who dies? Jeez, I really don't know. Littlefinger would be my first guess. Cercei a 2nd time (or 3rd) would be my second. Stannis would be my third. Who lives? Cercei, Jaime, Arya, Sansa, Brienne, Tyrion...

Stag Lord said: This is really exciting. I love the theme - I LOVE the emphasis on uniques, I love the focus on melee and specific effects designed for that format - for the first time since the King's Landing cycle was announced - I am really juiced about an upcoming cycle. The neutral tarited themes all elft me cold at first - this is more of what I am looking for in terms of an immersive gaming experience. Can't wait. Totally agree - I just love uniques (hoping for a Put to the Question reprint!). Reminds me slightly of the King's Edition which probalby is my favorite set of all time. And although it is well-documented my feelings on (competative) Melee I am actually excited they are dedicating some of the cards to it. I know people and even whole meta's that play it more than Joust, and anything that gets more people involved is a good thing. Also agree that it will be nice to have a theme that isn't taking a subtheme and making it crazy (and usually nuetral or useable in all decks al la Wildlings, Brotherhood - which was done well IMHO, and even Maesters which has really left me surprisingly cold). It will be nice to focus on the main house themes and hopefully see more different strategies within houses.

Kennon said: Haha, I think the criteria is "The Champs don't like to listen to the Chump." ~I thought I read between the lines into 'Agenda's Greg Likes Best' rather than best agendas

Just wondering what the criteria were on the rankings? Weird to see Brotherhood (won a big regional) behind Greg's and the Winter Agenda (did GJ win something yet ~Greg did win GenCon two years ago I guess...). Shadows did win overseas at least. I am 50% done so am sure to have more questions

mischraum.de said: Ruvion said: I'd love me some Bastard hate, but how about some Traitor hate as well while we're at it? And now tell me outside of melee which traitors are so powerful that they deserve some hate? I'd rather like some traitor love to make the traitors playable in joust... Erick had traitors in the Joust 'Worlds' both of the last two years (Lanni, and then Wildling if that counts ). I think both decks were the #1 seed going into the cut both years (?), and got 2nd both years. There is a place for them, if you read the meta right (and have lots of draw!).

Maester_LUke said: Kennon said: Bwahahaha. Funny, but I think he means the really butch feminist in the meat packing plant. Well played. You're actually thinking of Dot-Marie Jones... she's currently playing Coach Beiste on Glee. Wow, she IS Brienne: "15-time World and 6-time National arm-wrestling champion"

At least they are trying to branch out a little. There are only so many pins and power counters you can have I am not a huge fan of the patches as well, but it is a swing (although I agree a swing and miss). The playmats will ALWAYS be popular, especially w/ some new art.

Obviously I really enjoyed it. Obviously for time constraints they didn't keep everything that I would have liked, so that might go a long way into not explaining things like Jon's real background yet (seems to be alluded to a ton though - also in his conversation w/ Aemon IMHO). Really, Martin swings for the fences usually, so I would be very surprised if Benjen was the father. Nothing else really comes to mind. I agree that I enjoy Cercei and (in later episodes) Shea more. And Dany/Drogo was done really well.

~How about the gal from Bridesmaids for Brienne? www.imdb.com/name/nm0565250/ j/k - I just want to see her in something else, she was hilarious.

Kennon said: While I'm in favor of a handful of cards that reward for non-agendas or penalize for agendas, I just can't get behind Rings' idea of blanking agendas. While it would make Brotherhood or Nightswatch useless for the duration, the real problem is the City of Shadows agenda. If that agenda is blanked, you wouldn't just have some useless cards, you will actually have an illegal deck and be booted from the tournament as you'll have a deck of one house with "House X only" cards of other houses. Penalizing people reasonably is one thing. Ejecting them from tournaments is entirely different. Very true. I was just looking at big-picture mechanics rather than specific cards. It is kind of like our tax laws, there is a bunch of stuff that sucks, but we can't get rid of it because it will ruin a lot of things (i.e. taking mortgage interest off your taxes would instantly hit real estate prices 10-25% that day). Since I really don't think agendas are a broken (not in the too powerful sense, but the non-working sense) type of card, I will agree with you that some 'reward' cards (for not running one, or playing against one) is probably the way to go. With lots of playtesting

Kennon said: Haha, but if we supply the liquor, will they be intelligible at all? Having been both at GenCon and supplied with liqour every year for...um....too many years, I have to say this is a recipe for disaster. I can't wait actually! Drunk draft podcast! Good episode, you guys are getting more and more polished - less people talking at once (other than you and Z a couple of times saying the exact same ting), obviously very scripted at least on the direction of the episode. Congrats!

You see a lot of 'trait manipulation' (card that give a card a certain trait like Knight, or Ally, or Refugee or the such) plus Carrion Birds (they shuffle Raven's back into a deck, so you turn your opponent's cards into Ravens). ~Oh, and the House Martell card with anything... (just kidding - Martell is probably considered the best house at least in the US, although Lanni, Stark, and GJ seem to win some as well) Good luck and welcome!!!

I was just talking about that with someone - I loved Bastard and it was a very balanced Nedly card. As was the 'opposite' of it, Proxy, which I liked as well (it gave the power icon, and was a save mechanic).

Anyone seen anything on the taping for Season 2? Has it started? Did they get any of it last year when they were at location (probably not since Season 2 hadn't been announced, although considering they renewed it after the first episode maybe they told then earlier?)?

Dobbler said: However, we are now 4 years or so into that announcement, and we are nearing the three year anniversary of the release of the Core set and the "true" shift to LCG. (Summer of 2008 was the last Gencon where CCG sets were legal). As such the player base looks quite different. And accordingly, we have people, and even whole metas, that are more melee focused. So even in jest, the comments of "melee sucks", or "Melee is talentless" or "The melee game isn't diverse", are going to rub a large group of people the wrong way. Not only that, but if feels very draconian, particularly when it primarily comes from the CCG "old guard" players. The "old guard" played this game for the Joust format, we get that, but making people who play Melee feel like they are not as good, or not as talented, even if in jest, just isn't going to sit well, especially when it is repeated over and over and over. I see your point. And I truly am not trying to hit people over the head and make them feel bad. But, this is the internets! I guess I am not seeing what you are. I went to Kubla, and met some VERY nice people who play only Melee. It is great. I am very happy that the melee format bring more people in. But they would even say themselves that they are not competative players really. Did they make the final table @ melee (seriously, I have no idea), even when many of the known competative players (not only in Joust, but in other games, etc.) didn't play? I guess I am not seeing these 'competative melee' players you are discussing. I DO know a lot of competative players that would drop melee if it wasn't part of the overall point system, or don't play at all. *shrug* Is that because I am 'old guard'? Maybe...but I know a ton of newer players as well (Z for one, from your own meta), and I bet even the defending melee champion (from the US, yes, I know) would choose Joust if you MADE him choose? The newsletter decided to choose as well *shrug* I will change my tune a bit if this year there is no collusion. I know people will say 'that is part of the melee experience' or something, but it just seems too 'my meta is bigger/more willing to be obvious about it' for me. Some people will like that, but it doesn't seem very 'sporting' (read: competative) IMHO. Last sidenote and I will stay away from this thread (again, GREAT newsletter!!!) - the whole transition, espeically the focus on melee (ESPECIALLY at the beginning of the transition), also LOST the game a decent amount of members, some of which are now coming back which is great, but some of which are not. I am sure national sales are higher (again, great), but turnout to competative tourneys took a HUGE hit that it is now starting to recover from (four years and an HBO series later). It wasn't only the melee part, but that was a decent piece of it, espeically how it was handled.

Thanks for the head's up!!! That would be the biggest disappointment ever...