“The glass candle is meant to represent truth and learning, rare and beautiful and fragile things. It is made in the shape of a candle to remind us that a maester must cast light wherever he serves, and it is sharp to remind us that knowledge can be dangerous. Wise men may grow arrogant in their wisdom, but a maester must always remain humble.”

–Armen the Acolyte, A Feast for Crows

There are many sources of wisdom in A Song of Ice and Fire. Some, like the maesters, find wisdom crying out among the ancient books and scrolls of Oldtown. Others look to their gods for guidance, whether it’s the Drowned God of the Iron Isles, the old gods in the north, or the fiery faith of R’hllor. And some carry the weight of tradition, of history stretching back to Old Valyria, and use that tradition to claim wisdom. No matter what the source, you have the chance to prove your own cleverness and wisdom with new cards for A Game of Thrones: The Card Game—the Favor of the Old Gods Chapter Pack is now available at your local retailer and online through our webstore!

The Flight of Crows cycle takes players on a journey through the events of A Feast for Crows, adding new cards with the bestow keyword and new incentives for players to build decks using the Banner agendas to bring two factions together. A new agenda invites players to explore what they will do with knowledge of the future, while characters like Selyse Baratheon and Ser Balon Swann lend their own strength to their factions. No matter which part of Westeros or Essos you’ve sworn fealty to, you’ll find new cards to support your faction in Favor of the Old Gods!

Arrogant in Their Wisdom

As Daenerys Targaryen travels through the Ghiscari cities on the shores of Slaver’s Bay, she conquers three powerful cities—Astapor, Yunkai, and Meereen. In Yunkai, the rulers of the city are known as the Wise Masters, and though they may never be truly loyal to you, this Chapter Pack gives you a chance to bring them into your service.

Wise Master (Favor of the Old Gods, 73) offers an intriguing proposition for any deck that’s allied with House Targaryen. You can bestow up to three gold on the Wise Master, and as an Action, you can discard one gold to return an out-of-faction attachment or event from your discard pile to your hand. In many ways, Wise Master is a fitting title for this card—its effectiveness is only limited by the combinations you come up with.

Perhaps you’ll bring House Tyrell into your Targaryen deck, using Wise Master to recur cards like "Lord Renly's Ride" (Guarding the Realm, 24). Maybe you’ll forge an alliance with the Night’s Watch to defend the Wall, and return Craven (Called to Arms, 26) to your hand whenever it’s discarded. You may even use Banner of the Dragon (Core Set, 204B) to take Wise Master into another faction’s deck, recurring Targaryen cards like Bloody Arakh (The Archmaester’s Key, 15) or The Silver Steed (The King’s Peace, 54).

If the Wise Master encourages you to forge alliances with other factions, the city of Yunkai (Favor of the Old Gods, 74) brings a new twist to one of House Targaryen’s most iconic themes. Burning enemy characters by lowering their STR is a classic play for the Targaryens, and Yunkai lets you use that power in a new way. Rather than killing characters once their STR reaches zero, Yunkai gives you a tool to remove characters from a challenge.

Yunkai reads, “Bestow (4). Action: During a challenge in which you are the attacking player, kneel Yunkai and discard X gold from it to remove each character with STR X or lower from the challenge (X cannot be 0). Then, if you win the challenge, place 2 gold from the treasury on Yunkai.” Suddenly, cards like Daenerys Targaryen (Core Set, 160), Astapor (The Fall of Astapor, 54), and A Dragon Is No Slave (Guarding the Realm, 34) have a new way to rule the game. You no longer need to reduce a character’s STR to zero. If you can drop their STR low enough, you can simply remove these characters from the challenge, letting you force whatever challenge you like as the attacking player. Even better, Yunkai has a way to reload itself, so long as you win the challenge. Still, if your opponent finds a way to win the challenge and keep you from placing more gold on Yunkai, this location can become useless… so you’ll need to weigh your choices carefully!

Conquering Essos

The continent of Essos is yours for the taking—but the Iron Throne in King’s Landing is your true objective. With the new cards included in Favor of the Old Gods, you can take your forces across the Narrow Sea and launch your assault.